The Ice Dragon King & The Slave-Queen

Chapter 4 - The Ice Dragon

King Einar ran down the stairs two steps at a time so that he could get to the castle grounds quickly. Stig, his general and first commander, followed closely behind him. Even though the night was still young and the festivities were still underway for many of his people inside the castle, news of King Einar's burning warship and the possibility of its crewmen perishing was enough to make his trusted men sober up from the liquor and their excessive celebrations.

As King Einar stepped out into the open courtyard, he saw some of his councilmen were already waiting for him, their fur coats covering their necks and chests as they stood in the cold night. King Einar could feel the strong gusts of wind coming from the west. King Einar looked up into the sky, noticing that the moon was no longer visible, now covered by dark clouds. There were no stars in the night sky either and as he took a deep breath, he could smell the rain in the air that he was sure would come very soon.

"We had better hurry. The rain will be coming our way soon," he said, as he nodded to his waiting men and rushed along with them to the bay.

“What happened?” King Einar asked General Stig as he walked on the double, the General trying to keep up with his long strides.

“Your Grace, earlier tonight, our scouts reported they saw something burning in the East but it was too far out in the distance, about twenty-five miles away from the Twin Peaks. They couldn’t make out what it was due to the limited lighting and the wind was picking up. Only when the burning ship was about ten miles away did they realise it was the Skadi,” General Stig explained.

“There were some swimmers coming in after the ship made it past the Twin Peaks. When General Stig went to look for you, we hadn't found the captain yet. We suspect there might be some of the crewmen missing, Your Grace. Although we have yet to confirm this,” one of the king’s men on his left chipped in.

The Varangian king walked closer to the cliff as they all descended towards the bay. He looked out at the sea to try to see the burning ship. Although his view was hindered by thick tree branches near the hillside, he could still make out the burning ship that was floating somewhere in between the bay and the Twin Peaks. He calculated that his Skadi would be about two miles or less from the bay.

“How about the ship’s crew? Any of them made it to shore?” King Einar asked.

“Yes, there were some who were swimming to shore but we do not know the exact number that had made it for now, Your Grace. However, two of our scouts and five of our men have gone to the bay earlier to tend to the swimmers, giving out blankets, lighting up fires and such,” General Stig replied.

King Einar nodded in understanding, almost jogging to the bay now in his rush to see his crewmen, and his men jogged along with him. The wind was picking up speed, ruffling their hair. Most of King Einar's men already felt numb from the cold, their fingers and noses had turned red. However, even though this was a regular occurrence when it came to King Einar, his men still found it incredible that their king could be out in the cold with only his tunic, trousers and boots on, yet didn't seem to be much affected by the weather.

Since he was a young boy, Einar Asgerson never seemed to need protection from the cold weather, even though the weather in their kingdom was cold most of the time. Out of all the seasons, it is only in the summer when the sun comes out every day and the Arctic wind will make everything and everyone feel comfortable. When spring or autumn rolls in, the temperature will start to drop but it will still be bearable. They would need thicker clothing to protect them from the cold weather, especially at night. But when winter is about to make its appearance, the sky in this part of the world will always be cloudy, the wind blows sharply on the skin and, during the coldest period of winter, everything will freeze over, even when a person takes a piss outside. Yet the remarkable thing remains, the king would walk around his lands looking indifferent to the weather changes, while wearing only his regular clothes, no matter if the sun was up or if the snow was falling. As a matter of fact, most of his close companions doubted that he even owned anything thicker than his thick animal-skin boots.

When King Einar and his men arrived at the bay, they saw that most of the crewmen were already on the pebbled shore, some of them lying down as they tried to catch their breath, while some were staring into the distance. All of them had taken off their wet clothes and were shivering, but luckily, each of them was bundled in thick blankets made of animal hide that someone had distributed earlier. Someone had also thoughtfully built a small fire nearby, where more men were crouching close together, trying to share their warmth and hopefully gain some energy before they could walk up the small hill to get back to their homes.

King Einar saw the captain of the Skadi and quickly walked over to him.

“Your Grace,” the captain tried to stand up and bow to his king, but King Einar stopped him, noting his blue lips and how he pulled his blanket closer around his body. The other crewmen nearby stood up and bowed to the king.

“Captain Bjørn. Tell me what happened,” King Einar commanded the elder captain.

“Forgive me, Your Grace. Well, we—,” the captain stopped and took a deep breath, trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

One of the king’s men handed the captain a waterskin filled with liquor that they had managed to swipe from the festivities in the castle. A few sips of liquor might be able to help warm the captain's blood. King Einar nodded, telling the captain to drink from the waterskin before it was later passed around to the other drenched crewmen. King Einar waited for the captain to feel a little better before he turned to face the captain once more.

“We were attacked, Your Grace. About more than a hundred miles to the north of here,” the captain pointed to his right side. “In fact, we were attacked twice. The first time happened three days ago as we made our way back home. The ship attacked us after the sun set. We fought back and managed to turn them away. We used arrows because they were very close to us and we feared they might ram their ship into us. We killed maybe two of their men before they fled,” the captain said.

The captain continued, “Less than fifty miles after we had navigated towards the West to come back home, we were attacked once again by the same ship. Even though it was already dark, I knew it was the same ship because I recognized the long broken line on the right hull of the ship. The line was very prominent. This time, however, they shot at us with fire arrows. The ship caught fire very quickly, especially after the fire arrow hit the sails,” the captain stopped once again, looking crestfallen.

King Einar stared at the Skadi that was now floating about a mile away from them, the flames reaching high up into the sky, the fiery heat could be felt by all of them that were sitting and standing at the shore. King Einar tried to keep his face neutral but he couldn’t deny the fury that was slowly building inside him.

The Skadi was one of King Einar’s oldest warships. It was made many years ago when he was just a young teenager. The ship was of his own design, one of the very few things that he was incredibly proud of. He told his father of his ideas one day and his father encouraged him to build it. He loved the warship because it was one of the very few things that he made with his father, King Asger, before his father’s untimely death. Along with some of his father’s men, they had built the warship together, wood by wood, plank by plank, turning it into one of the biggest warships owned by a Varangian back then. Young Einar named it Skadi before he flew his family's sigil as the ship's flag, in honor of the Norse jötunn or giant, since it was quite a big warship back then. In Norse mythology, Skadi also happens to be a goddess and one of the many wives of Odin, the God of War and Death, the same God that his people worships.

The Skadi held a special meaning to King Einar and seeing it up in flames as it floated askew in the water was painful for him.

"Did you remember anything else about the ship or the men that attacked you?” King Einar asked, his words clipped, his tone flat as he stared at the ship.

“The first time they attacked us, they did not carry any flags, Your Grace. But the second time they attacked us, they flew the pirate flag. In the midst of the battle, I thought it was odd that they forgot their pirate flag the first time and then decided to fly it the second time when they came after us again," Captain Bjørn said.

"The men on that ship looked different, Your Grace. They do not look like us. Their ships were also slightly different than ours. There were no long oars coming out from the sides. Some of the men on the ship were pale-skinned, but I remember distinctly that there was a dark-skinned man on the ship too. He almost fell overboard at one point. One of the white men shot a fire arrow at my second officer, Your Grace. Gorm perished at sea,” Captain Bjørn finished, his eyes filled with tears and his voice broken.

“May our brother Gorm walk tall and proud into the halls of Valhalla and be welcomed in the arms of his ancestors,” King Einar said softly, his head bowed.

The men behind and near him repeated the same words softly, bowing their heads as well.

After a few moments of silence, General Stig inquired, “Are there any other casualties, Captain?”

“No other deaths, my lord. Some of us took quite a few hard tumbles when Gorm was no longer there to control the steering oar. But we managed to quickly take our ship right back. It’s just after the sails caught fire that we knew we had to return as soon as possible.”

Many people, including pirates from the free cities, know of the Varangians and their brutality when it comes to fighting. Many think the Varangians are immortal, being so hard to die, even when they are faced with swords, lances, or bows. Most people have heard of King Einar too. They know about the Varangians and their kingdom, and they know that nobody who is not a Varangian could cross beyond the Twin Peaks and survive. So, in dire times like this, his men knew that the best way to be safe is to head for home and cross the Twin Peaks as quickly as possible.

The Twin Peaks are two extremely large limestone hills, jutting out in the middle of the sea about ten miles from the shore. The two hills looked like Thor’s own hammer had slammed itself into the sea. Some would say that the depth of water around and along the Twin Peaks is bottomless. To his people, the water was their safe haven, protecting them from enemies. For their enemies, however, the waters beyond the Twin Peaks towards the bay were a danger — as ruthless and unforgiving as the Varangians themselves.

“By the time we passed the Twin Peaks, we had to jump ship, Your Grace. The sail and the masts were almost gone. Half of the back hull was already gone and we were going to sink. We jumped and swam to shore as the ship floats its way closer here, Your Grace,” the Captain continued, his breath steadier now that he had taken more than a few sips of the liquor and imparted whatever he had experienced to the king.

As King Einar looked on, the burning ship’s hull slowly turned to face him. He could see the fire was eating up the ship’s body slowly. The wood was too thick for it to burn rapidly, but the slow fire made it harder for him to watch. He saw fire spreading to the ship’s bow, going for the figurehead of Skadi that he himself had placed as the finishing touches of the warship many years ago. They all stood there quietly, numbly. Then, King Einar thought he saw the face of Skadi looking sad, almost crying as the body of the ship turned slowly toward him, but later he realized it was just the heat of the fire melting the figurehead.

After another short while of silence, King Einar said, “Thank you, Captain, for informing me of what happened.” He turned to his general and said, “Please bring the crewmen to the castle, General. Feed them before they leave for their homes.”

He then turned to his other companions and said, “I would like to be left alone now.”

His close companions, who were also his councilmen, had followed him to the bay without question. At that moment, they knew better than to query further about his motives for wanting to be alone. They exchanged glances with each other and quickly went about, helping the crewmen up. They worked in harmony with each other and before long, the last of King Einar's companions bowed at his back discreetly and took his leave.

King Einar stood in the same place a while longer, watching the figurehead of Skadi now melting as the fire enveloped it, leaving nothing else in its blazing wake.

As he stood there, his wrath began to match the scorching fire, the sky opened and rain started pouring out of the heavy dark clouds, the same dark clouds that had hovered over them since morning. King Einar looked up into the sky, seeing a stray lightning strike the sea, its current brightening up the sea for a moment before the water turned dark again. The rain was helping to douse the fire on his warship but it did not douse the burning anger in his heart. King Einar could not believe that so many consequential things could happen in a span of just a few hours. Was this a coincidence or was this a sign? How was it that he just had his wedding in the morning and at night, he lost one of his beloved warships? The pain he felt in his heart was quite similar to the day when he found out his father had died.

King Einar walked to a small rowing boat marooned next to the pier at the edge of the shore. He pushed the boat into the water, not caring that his whole body was now drenched with rain. He sat in the boat and rowed it towards the Twin Peaks as his eyes trained on the quiet shore and his castle that sat atop the hill overlooking the cliff. He hoped the merrymaking was still going on for his people in the castle, knowing that such a festivity does not come very often for them, especially not during these uncertain times. He cursed aloud in the rain at this turn of events and a chain of thunder and flashes of lightning agreed with him. He blamed it all on pure bad luck that bad news like this had to come on the same day that was supposed to be festive — for his people and even for himself.

When King Einar was about to reach the Twin Peaks — and the waters that they said are perilous to many — he made a sharp turn to the left and continued rowing hard towards the cliff near the peaks. From the untrained eye, this side of the hill looked like any other natural cliff, its surface white like all the other limestone hills surrounding it. But, in a few short rows, King Einar was now in a narrow opening, where the sea meets with the karst spring, hidden from the view of anyone who might have been watching him.

The narrow opening was a cave, filled with stalactites and stalagmites in between. Due to this, King Einar had to lie on his back in the boat as he rowed the boat slowly so that he wouldn’t hit any of the sharp mineral formations. The cave was pitch black but even so, the king could maneuver his way into the cave easily because he knew the way in there like the back of his hand. After he rowed for a while, the size of the cave started to grow bigger, and the king could now sit straighter in the boat and row easily. There was an eerie silence in the cave, the only sounds made were his oars hitting the still water in the cave.

After a while, the king came upon a fork where two cave mouths awaited. He chose the right-side cave, once again rowing his boat confidently. By then, the king’s damp tunic was already mixed with his own sweat, the air in the cave being moist and humid. As he went deeper, the walls along the cave started to change. In the beginning, when he first rowed into the cave, the inside of the cave was darker than the night sky, but along these deeper parts of the cave, it was brighter because the walls were illuminated by insects called glow worms. The insects were hanging from the walls and the roof of the caves, the ends of their tails glowing with bioluminescent lights of blue.

Again, King Einar continued his rowing, enjoying the lighted-up cave, watching some of the insects and their glowing tails that hung low and close to his face, taking refuge in its pleasing colour. He rowed the boat until, at one point, he felt a change in the cave’s atmosphere. Somehow, deeper into this part of the cave, the temperature had dropped drastically, and all around him, it got much colder.

The cave walls here are different too. A few minutes ago, the walls of the caves before him were lighted up by bioluminescent lights coming from insects, but in these parts of the cave, the walls are made of thick ice. So thick are these ice walls yet so cold that if you threw a wet meat at it, it would turn frozen in mere minutes. The ice walls here are light blue in color, which makes the interior of the cave bright as if there were hundreds and thousands of candles trapped behind the thick ice walls. King Einar’s eyes adjusted to the lighted cave quickly, noting that he was close to his destination.

He rowed slower here, listening intently for the sound of moving streams. As the sound got louder, he turned his boat to get through a sharp corner. He ducked under a low ice roof and, not long after, came out through an enormous opening. The cave here was brighter than the last and the water here is not salty seawater anymore. The saltwater of the sea ended before the ice cave appeared, so the water in these parts of the cave is freshwater. In fact, the water in the enormous part of the cave King Einar was in is actually a lake.

The roof of the cave here is many times more elevated than all the other caves combined. The higher the roof of the ice cave goes, the brighter the interior of the cave becomes. Here, even the lake water was crystal clear. The temperature here was below freezing, the cold mist hung low, and the edges of the lake are also frozen into ice.

King Einar turned his boat slowly around and saw a waterfall in the distance near the opposite side of the cave's entrance. The cascading water then streams into the nearby flowstone before it slowly makes its way into the lake. Everything inside the extensive cave looked magical.

King Einar lifted his oar and placed it inside the boat, letting the boat move on its own slowly toward the middle of the lake, until it eventually stopped. He took a deep breath and looked around. Apart from the sound of the waterfall in the further distance and the small plunge pool at the bottom of it, everything else was still and calm. The calmness might scare some people, but not the Varangian king. For this was one of his favorite places, one of the places he often frequented before he became king.

King Einar looked up at the roof of the cave and smiled. He remembered the calmness in this place and had always come here when he was younger to find peace and quiet. Right at that moment, he would love to see his best friend again. He missed his best friend. The last time he met and played with his best friend was many moons ago. As a king, he could not leave his station for long periods of time like he used to when he was a young man, especially not right now when there were tiny disputes rising amongst his chieftains and there were other issues that needed to be settled quickly, like the prolonged treaty agreement with the Celtic king. He wished things were different, but alas, wishes were for lesser men.

The king scooted to the side of his boat. He looked over the side into the clear lake, seeing the clear blue water, so clear that he could see the deep end of the bottom of the lake. The lake is a mesmerizing thing, magical in its own way, calling out to anybody who stares at it for too long. King Einar would be an exception to the magic of the lake, however, because of what sleeps beneath it.

The king held his right hand out and let it hover steadily above the water. He stared into the clear lake for a while before he whispered softly:

“Beast of the sea that lies within,

Thou shalt awake from thine deep domain.

Wherever the stream brings thou shalt rise,

Bane in thine maw; Elixir in thine eyes.

Rise now the seed of Jörmungandr,

Thou now summoned from down under.

Come to thee now, come to thine master.”

At first, nothing happened. The king’s hand was still hovering above the cold lake as his eyes searched the clear water below. Even though nothing changed at the moment, he couldn’t say the same about his heart, however. His heart's tempo started to increase, like the beating of the drum. Only that, with each second, the drum beat escalated. The tips of his fingers started to feel tingly, an electrifying feeling, like when a person is out in the open at the same time as a shot of lightning strikes nearby. An excitement ran through him, a feeling he knew very well, and when he blinked, he saw a dark and long shadow in the clear waters below him.

The dark shadow in the water moved fast, curled and uncurled, disappeared, and reappeared close to the boat. King Einar smiled wide when the beast under the water swam towards the water surface, almost breaking above the water, causing his boat to rock violently.

King Einar shouted with laughter, an exhilarating laugh, for he too could feel the excitement and the pleasure that his beast felt at the moment. Once again, he saw the shadow of the beast swimming deep to the bottom of the lake before it circled the boat and catapulted itself out of the water. When the beast fell back into the lake, the freezing water splashed onto King Einar and into his boat, making him whoop in happiness. He didn't mind, however. King Einar called out his beast’s name as he laughed, now once again drenched in cold water.

The beast emerged from the lake. The beast's head was large with hard, black scales. It rose out of the water slowly. The beast was an ice dragon with a large snout, its nostrils breathing out steam and cold water. At the top of the ice dragon’s head were two long horns, with honed pointed ends. As the dragon ascended slowly out of the water, he bared his teeth to King Einar, teeth that were as sharp as his horns. The beast may be a dragon, but he is an ice dragon and since he swims, his body is similar to his ancestor, the Jörmungandr. From the tip of his horn to the end of his tail, his teeth, his neck, and his spinal plates in between are all black and shimmering, very much like slick oil. However, his eyes were light blue, just like the color of the ice cave, sparkling and mesmerizing.

King Einar chuckled when his ice dragon bumped his nose at the king’s side. He said, “I’ve missed you too, Draki, my beautiful ice dragon.”

The king patted the side of Draki’s head and ran his palm along Draki’s long and large neck. He enjoyed the electrifying current that passed between him and his best friend as he played and scratched the beast for a little while longer.

As King Einar looked into his dragon’s eyes, he was reminded briefly of his new wife’s eyes too, their color being so similar. He gave himself a mental shake before he held his ice dragon’s head between his hands. So big was the beast’s head that the width between the king’s hands was almost four feet apart.

“Draki, I need your help, my boy. The Skadi was burned. I need to know who did it. I need to know why they did it. Find the people who did it and bring them to me, boy. I need you to bring the culprits to me, my boy,” King Einar said quietly as he held Draki’s head in front of him.

Then, the king pulled the dragon’s head close to him. He pressed his own forehead on the top of the dragon’s snout and closed his eyes. In his mind, he recalled what he had seen earlier, his burning warship, his men sitting by the shore shivering in the cold, the report from his captain, and the image of the Skadi figurehead melting in the distance. Then, he lifted his head and looked into the beast’s eyes.

The king’s ice dragon stared at him for a while. His intelligent light blue eyes showed that he understood what the king asked of him. He then slowly submerged his body in the ice-cold water but before his head went in, he bumped his snout playfully at the king’s side again. The king smiled wide and patted the top of the ice dragon’s hard head before the beast dived back into the water, disappearing under the deep clear lake. The king sighed softly, happy to be united with his best friend even though it was only for a short while.

He would be seeing his beast again soon.