Short story - Hearts of Stone and Ice, Part II
It took a while, but here's the second part of “Hearts of Stone and Ice.”. I originally wanted to write the story in two parts, but it's gotten a little longer. A third part will thus follow!
If you missed the first part, you can here reading. Enjoy!
Years later, the kingdom of Aldevar had fallen into chaos and debris. The empire tumbled from an uprising to a civil war which in turn gave rise to a new uprising. The population didn't remember what they were fighting for. Far from everything, Isa and Petra grew up. They only knew vague stories about their father and about each other, but otherwise they knew little.
All the way across the world, in the far cold north, Princess Isa lived in a small remote village. The inhabitants took her under their wing and taught Isa the wonderful secrets of the wonderful ice world. She didn't have much, but she was happy. The princess grew into a young lady. Her skin was still white, her eyes had taken an ice blue color, and her long hairs were colored platinum blond. People called her a walking ice sculpture.
On her seventeenth birthday, Isa walked through the mountains. As usual, she took a fixed route and did not pay attention to her surroundings. In the snow, she could dream away for hours and she didn't notice that anyone was spying on her. Isa startled when a heap of snow fell from the tree to the ground in front of her. A lone blue blue tit had set off against one of the branches and flew away into the valley. At that moment Isa felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She turned around and saw an old, skinny man standing. His gray hair had once been black, he had strangely purple eyes and wore a cloak as black as night. Isa thought he'd never seen the man before, but still he gave her a sense of recognition.
