Imprisoned in the Ice Kingdom

==Imprisoned in the Ice Kingdom==
- NOTICE - This is a WIP! If you want to suggest content comment this page, but no adding characters, and suggested content has to correspond with this history blurb. Also, in this story the Great Ice Cliff and the Gift of Order have been recovered.
==Chapter One==
Am I ever going to see them again? Pine wondered, as he looked back at the only home he had known for four years. 
His friends, his beloved forest, and most of all, his sister Stardew, were fading into the distance as Pine and his father flew on and on toward the Ice Kingdom. Ice Kingdom. It sounds weird in my head. 
"Pine." Beluga's deep voice jolted him out of his thoughts. "I know you must be sad about leaving your home and your sister, but we cannot possibly bring them with us even if we wanted to."
"Why? Why can't we? I've just lost my mother, and now you're tearing me away from everything else I have? Do you know what that feels like? And why can't we even bring Stardew?" 
Beluga sighed. Pine wanted to bite him just for that. "I loved her, Pine, you know that? I loved Ginkgo as much as you did, maybe more. I know what it feels like. And Stardew, we can't bring her because of the coldness and the Great Ice Cliff. She would suffer." 
Pine brightened a bit at the mention of coldness, and his natural curiosity kicked in once again. "What's the great ice cliff?" he asked. "What's that hafta do with Stardew?" 
"The Great Ice Cliff is a wall that prevents any dragon who is not at least half-IceWing from crossing it. If a non-IceWing tried to cross, the Cliff would shoot and they would be encased in ice and killed." Beluga replied. "How's it work?" "Magic." "You're just saying that 'cause you don't know." Beluga turned his head around to face his son, a hint of a smile on his face. "You'll learn."
==Chapter Two==
Pine gasped. An expanse of white plains, evergreen forests and snow-covered mountains approached in front of him. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Pine had never experienced snow, for the Leaf Kingdom was warm and the rare snowfall was blocked by the vast roof of leaves above their heads. If this is the Ice Kingdom, and I get to live here, this might be one of the best moments of my life! Pine thought. "Do we get to live here? Do we?" Pine chattered in excitement. "No, my son." came Beluga's reply. "A little further north." 
As they flew on, a gleaming palace of blue-white ice came into view. Beluga suddenly tucked his wings in and dove toward the palace, Pine at his heels. The dragonet was suddenly overwhelmed by a fanfare of goat horns sounding from a balcony. "Prince Beluga of the IceWings, First Circle!" An announcer called. "Prince..." Pine breathed, awestruck. "You're royal? Does that make me royal too? Whoa..." "Pine," Beluga hissed, suddenly adopting a regal demeanor, "you will not speak during the announcements." Once they were inside the palace, Beluga said, "You will address me as father. And when we are in the throne room, you will bow." 
"Yes, father." Pine hung his head. He hated laws and order. As they passed through halls of ice into the throne room, he noticed that dragons who passed them by pointed at him and whispered. He suddenly felt a pant of anxiety. What if they are mean to me? He wondered. 
But Pine had no time for further wonderings. They had arrived. Keeping in mind what his father had said, Pine bowed low. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father addressing the Queen. "Queen Khione. Mother. My son, Pine." 
==Chapter Three==
The Queen made a noise of interest. "Hmm. You may rise, Pine." Pine rose, and saw the her properly for the first time. She was startlingly beautiful, and much younger than Pine expected, only thirty or so. He could see the resemblance between Khione and Beluga, the bluish white spikes, the pointed snouts, and the deep blue eyes clearly stating, 'mother and son'. 
"Pine," the Queen spoke. "Welcome to the Ice Kingdom. I am Queen Khione. You are royalty, my grandson. Dragons shall address you as Prince Pine. In the Ice Kingdom, we follow a strict set of rules called the Gift of Order." Great. MORE rules. But it's kind of cool that I'm a Prince. 
"The Gift of Order is a list in which every citizen of the Ice Kingdom is depicted." Queen Khione continued, "When you do well, your name will be moved up on the Wall. Doing badly, breaking laws, or failing in school, will cause you to be moved down. There are also seven Circles. Your Circle will determine your status in the tribe. Second and First Circle dragons live in the Palace. You are now at the bottom of the Seventh Circle, as you are new. As you are a Prince, you will be given a suite of rooms and servants. You will be educated in politics, etiquette, geography, and Kingdom history. You are dismissed. Beluga, show him to his rooms." 
==Chapter Four ==
"Prince Pine. Your attendance is required in the grand hall." Pine awoke on a slab of ice covered in thick polar bear furs. He pinched himself. Nope. Still real. Pine rolled off the bed and looked around. His room was large, larger than his room in his mother's treehouse. "Prince Pine." The servant's voice jolted Pine out of his thoughts. He was out the door in an instant, and he was bolting down the hall when he slipped on the icy floors and went flying head over heels, spinning to a stop at the entrance of the grand hall, thankfully out of sight. He shook himself off and walked into the room, where the Queen, Beluga, and several other dragons he assumed were his relatives were gathered at the banquet table already. 
"Prince Pine." Beluga scolded, "in the Ice Kingdom we have strict schedules and tardiness is not acceptable. You have been warned. Now sit down." 
Pine took his place and stared at the polar bear on his plate. When had he last eaten? Not since the Leaf Kingdom. His belly gave a pang of hunger. "Now that we are all here, you may all begin." The Queen said. Pine started at the bear, reveling in its warm taste and the delicious meat and blubber. When will I hunt like this? He could hunt well in the Leaf Kingdom, where he would camouflage against the evergreen forests, and he wanted to try hunting in open space too. 
He looked up from his plate, thoughts racing through his head, and saw that everyone was leaving. He scrambled after them frantically. A servant met him at the exit. "Prince Pine," he said, "here is your schedule." He handed Pine a slab of ice and left. Pine looked at the sheet. Okay, he thought, training is next. 
==Chapter Five==
Pine would have been lost without the map on the back of his schedule. He reached the training center with five minutes to spare, and sat down, waiting for his instructor. A minute later, another IceWing walked in. She was about his age, and there was something peculiar about her, although Pine couldn't pin it down until she spread her wings and shook the snow off. They were huge, and her scales reminded Pine of a SkyWing's scales. Of course, Pine thought. She's half SkyWing. 
She sat down beside him and said, "Hey, Pine. I'm DiamondDust, but you could call Diamond." 
"H-how do you know my name?" Pine stammered. Diamond laughed a little. "The news that Beluga's son had come was announced to the whole Ice Kingdom yesterday, and besides, I'm your cousin, shouldn't I know?" Pine wanted to hide in a hole and cover his face with his wings. More dragonets filed in, all Pine's age, until most of the courtyard was filled with dragonets in neat, orderly rows. "Where should I sit?" Pine asked. Diamond whispered back, "you're in the seventh circle, so I'd wager in the last row. Hurry up, Tempest's almost here!"
As Pine scurried into his spot, a tall IceWing walked in. His scales were white, and his back and spikes were the color of thunderclouds. This must be Tempest, thought Pine, as the IceWing skimmed over the dragonets with stormy gray eyes. He finally took his place at the front, facing the young IceWings. "My name is Tempest." He barked. "I will be your martial instructor." 
==Chapter Six ==
As all the dragonets filed out of the courtyard, Diamond caught up with Pine on his way to history. "I saw you sparring," she said breathlessly, "that'll probably bring you up a few spots!" Pine grinned. "History too, Diamond?" "Yep," came her reply, "Snowstorm's really nice, not like Tempest, that old grump. She'll probably tell us some old animus stories! This lesson's only royals, you'll meet my siblings!" As Pine stepped in the history classroom, he gasped. Desks and chairs of ice and been set up in neat rows, and in front of them all sat a large writing desk. The dragon sitting at it had scales that matched the color of the ice, so it was almost impossible to see her unless you squinted. She had wire, half moon spectacles propped against her snout, and was deeply immersed in a scroll. 
"Hello," she said in a warm voice as Diamond and Pine walked in. "Princess Diamond, good to see you. And I assume you must be Prince Pine." Pine nodded. "Take your seats." Snowstorm said. "Sit where you like." Pine chose a seat in the front next to Diamond, who suddenly waved to two dragons who must have been her siblings. 
Once all the dragonets came in, Snowstorm did roll call. 
"Princess Blizzard," 
"Present," 
"Prince Boreas," 
"Present," 
"Princess DiamondDust," 
"Present," 
"Princess Everest," 
"Present," 
"Prince Overcast," 
"Present," 
"Prince Pine," 
"Present," Pine called. 
"Princess Snow Leopard," 
"Present," 
"Prince Icewolf," 
"Present," 
"All right, we're all here," Snowstorm clasped her talons together. "Let's get started." 
==Chapter Seven==
Throughout the whole lesson they learned about the Darkstalker, the NightWing animus who was the child of Foeslayer and the kidnapped IceWing Prince, Arctic. The dragonets listened with rapt attention while Snowstorm told how the Darkstalker had immortalized himself just so he could torment the IceWings forever. She told the story of how Whiteness, the last animus IceWing, had attempted to trap the Darkstalker and how he turned her own curse on herself, and how Whiteness was frozen into an ice statue, and how she and Foeslayer are locked in eternal combat within the Diamond Trial.
Snowstorm told stories of the animus gifts before the IceWings lost their magic, of the gifts of Light and Defense and Order and Splendor. She brought the dragonets into the minds of the animi and how they spent months, years of planning and carefully crafting the gift that would benefit their tribe for all eternity. Pine was most amazed by Frostbite's Gift of Light, and how she had spent months painstakingly carving a block of ice into the sculpture of the tree that now stood in the courtyard. 
The lesson was the whole rest of the day, and when it finished, the dragonets didn't go to bed, as he thought they would. Instead, they all went into the castle courtyard, and started looking at a wall that had every dragon's name on it. The Wall, Pine realized. Before, he had seen his name all the way at the bottom of the Seventh Circle, below all the newly hatched dragonets. Now it was in the Fourth Circle, nearly in the Third. Pine suspected he had only moved up so much because Queen Khione could not bear to have a royal in last. As the other dragonets started checking where their names were, Pine decided to go to bed.
==Chapter Eight==
The next morning, Pine awoke by himself. He did not want to be shaken awake by an impatient servant again. As he walked out the door, he met his father coming down the stairs.
"Come to the pavilion," Beluga said. "There is a royal hunting party today." "What's that?" asked Pine. Beluga readily replied, "Royals are going out to hunt polar bears for the Queen's grand hall. The one who catches the first polar bear will be invited to sit beside the Queen tonight, and she will eat their bear." Pine didn't care much about sitting with the Queen, but he did want to see a wild polar bear. "Make me proud, my son," Beluga said, "catch the first polar bear."
Pine sighed inwardly. Out loud he said, "Alright, Father." Beluga gave no response, but started walking up to the pavilion. "Follow me," 
Pine and Beluga came to the pavilion, where almost everyone was waiting. Diamond and her family weren't there yet. Pine went to stand with the other dragonets. As Diamond's family arrived, all the dragons took off. 
Pine soared into the air. his sharp IceWing eyes missing nothing as he searched for a lump of white fur. A bear was sitting near her den, and Pine started to dive. Upon closer examination this polar bear was a young female, and her belly was round with pregnancy. Pine veered sharply away. No killing new life, He thought. It was his philosophy, a philosophy he had come up with in the Leaf Kingdom and defended fiercely. He flew on, looking for a male bear that he could kill without any guilt. There! A bear walking away from the bones of a seal. As he started to dive, a flicker of movement caught his eye. A small snow leopard cub was backed against a tree, hissing and spitting in fright. Four arctic wolves were advancing slowly, growling, ready to attack. Pine was suddenly seized by the sudden impulse to rescue the kitten. But if he did, the polar bear would escape, and his father would be furious. Pine had his mind made up in a split second. He dove as fast as he could toward the snow leopard, and at the same time, reaching to his leafspeak and searching for something to kill the bear with. A small seed of a pine tree, right below the polar bear-the perfect weapon. Would you like to grow? Pine asked the seed, sending it images of grandeur, the tree it would become if it accepted Pine's help. Yess, want it, want it, want it now! The pine shot out of the hard-frozen earth, impaling the polar bear, who roared with surprise and agony. 
All the while, Pine sped to the earth, snarling at the wolves, who tucked their tails in, whimpered, and ran. He curled his tail protectively around the small snow leopard, and said, "It's okay. I won't let them hurt you again. You can come with me. I'll call you... Wisp," Wisp purred with joy and rubbed her small body along Pine's. He lifted her gently on his back, and went to retrieve the polar bear carcass, which was impaled upon the top of the pine tree. He left to find his father and the rest of the hunting party. 
Pine found them returning to the palace. "Father!" He called. "I caught one!" Beluga nodded. "Good, you have caught the first, we were going to check further south-wait. What is on your back?" "Her name is Wisp, and she's going to be my pet." Pine met his father's gaze evenly, and Beluga harrumphed, "Fine. But you will take care of her. Your grandmother will provide the essentials." Pine nodded eagerly, and flew to join the group in the back. 
==Chapter Nine==
As the hunting party re-entered the palace, nearly everyone carrying a bear, Pine disentangled himself from the praises of the older dragons and headed for the throne room, Wisp at his heels. When he entered, he bowed to the Queen, and said, "Your Majesty, I found an abandoned snow leopard cub and would like to adopt her. Father said you would provide the essentials."
Queen Khione sighed. "Well, Prince Pine. Only dragons above the Fourth Circle are allowed pets. And you are currently near the top of the Third Circle, hmm?" She went on without waiting for his answer. "Tell me, Prince Pine, did you catch the first polar bear today?" 
"Yes, your Majesty, I did." 
"Well then, that ranking change will be sufficient enough for you to be moved to the Third Circle. I will send for essentials tonight." 
Eyes brimming with joy and disbelief, Pine bowed and left. Wisp's tiny claws skittered across the ice, scampering eagerly alongside him. He smiled, and she purred and rubbed her small body along his foreleg. 
As Pine returned from the grand hall to his room, he noticed saw what Queen Khione meant by "the essentials". A blue leather collar, food and water bowls, and a large polar bear pillow were stacked neatly next to the door. Pine put the collar on Wisp and saw that the was a little engraving on the diamond pendant. "Belongs to Prince Pine of The IceWings". Pine laughed a little as Wisp stared at her new necklace, mewing. Wisp walked around the bear pillow, sniffed it, then wrinkled her tiny nose and prodded the fur with one paw. After a few moments, when it became clear that the bear was clearly not alive, Wisp walked onto the pillow, curled up, and promptly fell asleep. 
Pine clambered on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Maybe it won't be so bad here, Pine thought. I have Wisp now, and Diamond. But nothing he said to console himself could ignore the huge chasm that had opened in his heart. Stardew, Pine thought, I'll ask father if I can go visit you soon. Pine slept peacefully, dreaming of his little sister and Wisp. 
When Pine awoke the next morning, Wisp was still asleep. He silently walked out the room, and made his way up to his father's chambers. He was thinking about how Stardew would react to Wisp when Beluga almost ran into him. "Father," Pine said hopefully, "when can I visit Stardew?" Silence ensued. "Well, Pine," Beluga replied awkwardly, "Dragonets aren't aren't allowed to leave the Ice Kingdom unsupervised." He noticed the crestfallen look on his son's face and remedied, "Maybe I can um, maybe I can take you when you reach the First Circle as a treat. Don't tell your grandmother" 
Pine's eyes widened. "Really?" Beluga nodded. Pine dashed off, calling, "Thank you, Father!" behind him. He skidded into his room, where Wisp jumped onto him. Father was a bit hesitant, Pine thought. Is it possible that I'm really not allowed?
== Chapter Ten ==
Weeks went by, and Pine clambered up the rankings, albeit slowly. Finally, three months after his arrival, Pines name was slotted into the last spot in the First Circle. He was about to run to his father's room when he remembered that Beluga was out hunting. Pine decided to wait and play with Wisp in the meantime. On his way to his room, he heard his name. "Prince Pine," a servant said somberly, "Your attendance is required in the main courtyard." Pine nodded, wondering why the servant seemed so sincere. As he reached the courtyard, he gasped. All the royals were standing in a circle, and in the middle of it, on a slab of ice, looking almost as if he were peacefully asleep, lay Beluga.
"-and may his spirit rise into the sky and watch over us from the coldest clouds." Queen Khione finished her speech, but Pine was not even paying attention. When I said goodbye to him this morning, it was the last time. It can't happen like this, he thought. First Mother, then Father. What next, Stardew? Maybe I'll never see her again either. Tears welled up in this eyes. No, He thought fiercely. No, that can't happen. Tonight, I'm sneaking out. And I'm never coming back. 
==Chapter Eleven==
Pine was ready. Wisp was next to him, and his belongings were strapped in a satchel on his back. It was almost midnight. The sky was cloudy, a perfect night to run away. He snuck out of the entrance of the palace as quietly as his possible. As he and Wisp arrived at he entrance of the palace, Pine scooped up the little snow leopard and was about to take off when a voice behind him said, "Wait." Pine froze, and slowly turned around. Diamond was standing behind him, and she was holding something in her claws. "You're leaving, right?" Pine nodded. His cousin murmured softly, "I thought so, and I get it. In your shoes I totally would have left, too. Here. Take this." She handed him a ring, smooth and sparkling like the blue sky. "Remember me, wherever you go. I'll miss you." Diamond had an expression in her eyes that Pine couldn't make out. Sadness? Disappointment? Fear? Pine nodded. "I won't forget you," he murmured. Then he took off, disappearing into the clouds. 
==Gallery==
File:IITIC_Cover.png|Cover (art by Joy Ang and Peregrinecella, edited by Tigerbat6099)
File:FullCover.jpg|Full Cover (art by Joy Ang and Peregrinecella, edited by Tigerbat6099)
File:33CBFFD8-480F-4D59-97C3-8C589149FA16.jpg|GN Cover (Constelli, edited by Tigerbat)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Content (Tigerbat6099)