"It's the venom that's making him freeze. Fire's not gonna do anything."

"Think you could maybe give it a try? Ice is getting really cold," I say. "We don't have any better ideas, so please?" This really isn't the time to be so grouchy.

"Why?"

"Because Ice's body is literally freezing! Look!" The ground I'm kneeling on is covered in ice crystals, and my legs are starting to go numb from the cold. Ice's fur freezes in clumps, shimmering in the sunlight.

"It's not gonna do anything," Phoenix protests.

"Do it! What do we have to lose? Ice is going to completely freeze soon. You know what that means? His heart freezes, and he's dead."

"His heartbeat is getting super slow, so shut it with the arguing and give it a shot."

My fingertips tremble with the cold, but I keep them beneath Ice's foreleg, straining to feel his heartbeat. Phoenix opens his mouth to come up with a retort, but when Ky's eyes begin to turn foggy, he stops.

"Don't do it, Ky," he growls.

"You know I will. I know what your worst memories are. I was there too. Don't be a jerk and help Ice." Ky tilts his head to the side.

"Fine. Happy?" Phoenix rolls his eyes and steps toward Ice.

Flames roll across his spine, flickering out from around each clump of fur on his body. A wave of heat washes over me when the black cat draws near me.

"Get on with it, Phoenix. We don't have very long before Ice completely freezes," Ky presses.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting on it."

Phoenix lowers his head, carefully looking at Ice. "What the hell are you doing? Hurry up!" I snap.

"I'm seeing where he's the coldest."

"His paws!"

"If I heat up his paws, it's just gonna send the cold blood right to his heart. What do you think's gonna happen then? His heart's been frozen before, but I think suddenly freezing it again iss gonna have some bad effects."

"So heat up his middle or something! Just start! His temperature's plummeting."

"Ok, ok. Jeez. Chillax, would'ja?" Phoenix snorts before beginning to slowly melt the frost and ice. Come on. Faster!

But Phoenix answers me before I can speak, "Dove, before you say anything, let me reply. I'm going slowly on purpose. What do you think would happen if his body temperature suddenly went way up? Yeah, there would be problems. I'm not a doctor, but it's just a bit of simple logic."

"Ok," I murmur. You're going to be ok, Ice. I'm not letting anything happen to you- we just got you back from the Amethyst Throne, and you've just found Clap and Brook again. You're not going anywhere.

Ice's temperature slowly rises, but nothing happens. "What the hell! Am I, like, the only one with any logic? Ice isn't just gonna wake up in a split second- it's gonna take some time!"

"It's been, what, like an hour?" Ky frowns, looking up at the sky to find the sun.

"Something like that." I nod.

"I like him the least out of the three of us, but here I am defending him. Ice had who knows how much venom sent through his bloodstream by the snake. Now I don't know about you, but that was a lot of venom doing who knows what to his body. Doesn't it make sense that something like him going unconscious and his body beginning to freeze happened? His heart was frozen for years before finding Clap again and having the snake's fangs embedded in the back of his neck. If you really want to, take off the bandage on his neck and see what the wounds look like. I'm gonna make an educated guess and say they're no longer healing. Any more questions that I'd just love to answer? Cuz this is pretty stupid. Use some logic."

"Why didn't I think of that?" I lift up Ice's head onto my lap and carefully unwind the bandage wrapped snugly around his neck. Sure enough, true to Phoenix's prediction, the puncture wounds have returned to how they were when Ice tore the snake's fangs from his neck. Pus oozes from the red and puffy wounds, beginning to drip down into his fur. I look away as my stomach turns.

If only there was something I could do.

"So what do we do?" Ky suddenly asks after a few moments of silence.

"What do you mean?" I reply.

"KG14 has surely sent Guard and Soldiers after us."

"Easy. Burn them all to the ground until they're nothing more than a pile of charred ashes. Then pick them all up and deliver them back to KG14 as a warning. Then, when he's looking at them or, more realistically, finding new Guard and Soldiers, we barge into his throne room and slowly kill him. Then we destroy the Amethyst Throne."

"Don't get too carried away, Phoenix."

"It's not getting carried away. I'm going to kill him. Repay him everything he's done to me, but make it tenfold cuz then -and only then- is it revenge."

"Ok."

Minutes bleed into hours. Soon, it's nightfall. Ice still hasn't even twitched. His body has gotten a bit warmer and his paws no longer feel completely frozen, but they're still chilly. But then his ear flicks. At first I thought it was just me imagining things, but it flicks again.

"Ice? You waking up?" I ask cautiously.

"Finally. About time."

"How many more times do I have to say to be nice?" Ky grumbles.

"Be quiet," Phoenix mutters.

Ice draws in several shaky breaths. He groans before opening his eyes, blinking rapidly against what I'm assuming is blinding light.

"How long was I out?" Ice murmurs. He stiffens, claws digging into the soil, before relaxing slightly.

"A couple of hours. What happened?" I shift so I'm sitting down, no longer kneeling. My fingers clench around the bandage I still hold in my hands.

"I-I don't know. I remember walking... a-and then there. The snakebite began to burn. It really hurt. The pain just spiked and I became paralyzed and my legs just kinda gave out. And I felt myself begin to freeze. A-and I don't... I don't remember anything after that." Ice's sides tremble as he speaks.

"Told you guys it was the snake's venom," Phoenix says.

Ice suddenly gets up, breaking into a speed walk. "Come on, we've got places to be," he says.

"Don't you think you should rest some more?"

"King Garonda XIV has undoubtedly sent his army after us. There's no time."

"I'll hold them off. I'd like nothing more than to burn them to ashes as KG14 watches his army crumble." Phoenix's eyes glow with a fiery fury.

"Hey, we really should be going!" Ky hisses. "They haven't seen us yet, but-. Go!" I glance over my shoulder, and, sure enough, a group of maybe twenty Guard and Soldiers are scouring the forest. We break into a run, being as quiet as we can. Elastica appears from behind a tree, but she doesn't seem to have noticed me.

We don't stop until we've reached the edge of the forest and are onto the stone portion of Ragdon Volcano. "Up there!" I look down and curse.

There, a couple hundred yards below us, are two or three dozen Guard and Soldiers and Elastica. I wouldn't be surprised if Cotton Candy was here too, I think.

"You," Phoenix spits, his voice dripping with bitterness.

"Hello to you too, Phoenix," Elastica replies, her voice smooth. Her long eyelashes brush her cheekbones as she slowly blinks, a smile oozing across her face. My skin crawls. Her head tilts to the side, revealing jagged scars just beneath her throat, and they mar her nearly flawless skin.

"Catch me if you can," Phoenix growls. A smile works its way across his face as his flames explode and reach for the sky. The black cat and the She-Wyrm exchange glares that could easily put someone six feet under.

"You're not getting away this time," Phoenix snarls.

"And what makes you so sure about that, Phoenix?" Elastica asks with a sugar-sweet tone, but there's nothing pleasant about it.

"Cuz there's no way any of you are leaving here alive." Phoenix's fangs glint in the sunlight. 

Thank god I'm not on the receiving end of that anger. Despite being the prophesied Dove, nothing can compare to Phoenix's fury. He's a self-made force to be reckoned with, not someone who's been gifted power.

The Guard and Soldiers make the first move. "I've got them," Ky says quickly. "Come with me, Dove. Phoenix can take Elastica. Ice... stay back- we've got this. You rest."

"On it," I reply, racing after Ky as he begins to weave the first illusion. Phoenix breaks into a sprint, hurling himself down the hill with a roar that rolls across the hillside. He meets Elastica halfway, rearing up onto his hind legs to launch an attack.

I duck under a swinging sword and lash out, kicking a Soldier's legs out from beneath him. His head slams into the stone and his eyes flutter shut. There's barely a moment's pause before two more attacker's weapons fall upon me. A dagger slices a shallow wound in my forearm, and I'm able to dodge out of the way before a sword can bite into the flesh of my leg. Blood runs down my arm, dripping off my fingers. The Soldier goes down as easy as the previous one did, but the Guard takes a little longer- he's got more experience than the two Soldiers did. But a simple illusion, courtesy of Ky, turns the Guard's mind against him, and he doesn't last much longer. I rip his dagger from his hands and slit his throat.

When several Guard and Soldiers manage to pin me to the ground, I shift into my bird form, throwing them off and grabbing two Guard in my feet. I rise up into the air and then release two Guard, watching them plummet to the ground and stay motionless once they crash to the ground.

Off to the side, away from the class between us and the Guard and Soldiers, Phoenix and Elastica remain locked in a bloody brawl. Elastica's skin is covered in green blood. When they pull apart, I see that there are only a few wounds on Phoenix's body, but I know Elastica doesn't have claws.

"No!" Ice cries out. Two Soldiers advance upon him, making Ice press himself further against the rocks behind him. Clumps of fur catch on the rocks as Ice's legs give out and he collapses to the ground. I start to tuck my wings into my sides to dive towards him, but the look Ice sends me tells me to stop.

"You traitor," one of the Soldiers growls.

"I-I," Ice stutters.

"I-I," the other Soldier mocks. "You're a traitor. You've abandoned My Sovereign, His Excellency, His Honor, His Highest of all Highnesses, King Garonda XIV. You know what happens to traitors?" The Soldiers take another step closer.

"Nothing." Ice's voice is almost inaudible.

"Nope. They're killed."

Thanks a million for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Please vote and comment!

Who's going to win: Elastica or Phoenix?

Is Ice going to be ok?

Will Dove and the rest of the group be able to make it to the other side of Ragdon Volcano? Or, more pressing, will they be able to make it out of this wave of Guard and Soldiers King Garonda XIV has sent after them?

-Werewolf14-