“What‘s all this? Snow in the middle of summer? Impossible!” Cried a maid.
By the time the mage and the ice coffin made it to the king, the whole kingdom was covered in snow.
The king, of course, was unhappy.
“Mage of Winthrop, who told you to let winter come early?”
“…”
“You ignore your king. A foolish thing that you dare… still, what is the meaning of this woman sleeping in an ice coffin? Are the rumors true? Have you imprisoned her?”
“I have not.” Said the mage flatly, “I have lost much of my magic over the last few days. I suppose nature has become angry that a mage manipulated the weather to his bidding. As consequence, I am powerless and the kingdom will likely be sentenced with ten years of winter.”
“You threaten my kingdom?!” Shouted the king.
“Not at all. I only relay to you what I think is going to happen.”
The mage looked at his chained hands. He sighed.
“As a mage I have done nothing but upset the balance of nature and took no consideration of the natural law. I have abused magic and for that I now have no more magic…”
The king rolled his eyes.
“Cast off this man. He is a mage no more. Find me someone to replace him. Find them at once! I will not have my kingdom snowed down. Search every town and village until a mage is found. Bring them to me at any cost. Hunt down every last mage until one is found!”
The king turned his attention to the woman in the ice coffin and a cruel smile came across his lips.
“A woman so beautiful is frozen. I will set her free. I will have the blacksmiths pour burning metal on her or capture a dragon so he can breathe fire on to this ice coffin. At any cost she will be mine!”
The queen sitting next to the king said nothing. She was glared at the woman in the ice coffin and then looked at the row of concubines standing to the side.
The king had seven concubines and now it seemed he would have another.
The mage immediately revolted.
“Leave the woman alone. She is an unfortunate victim of my abuse of magic, I’m sure of it. She should be left alone and returned to the mountain where she came from!”
“Silly thing you say mage… or should I call you that?” Said the king, “I know you have been trying to free her. No man could resist her. Not even you.”
The mage flushed with embarrassment.
“I-I don’t deny it… but I did have the hope to return her to her homeland… wherever that may be.”
The king laughed.
“Is that so?”
“Yes it is!” Said the mage firmly, “I know that she deserves at least some respect seeing how she is helpless in her current state… so yes… I wish to free her, but I would never imagine claiming her… it is her choice to make.”
A freezing wind blew open the doors.
A blizzard had swept across the city.
People were being frozen alive.
The screams were terrible.
A guard rushed in from the outside with his arm frozen.
“My king! The air is so c-cold!!! I have came to warn you-“
The wind blew and froze his legs so he could not move any further.
“Help!” Shouted the guard.
The king stood up and his thick fur robe draped his shoulders warmly.
“We must leave immediately.” Said the king.
The guard who had come to warn them all was freezing. He reached his hand forward and called for the king again.
The king glanced in his direction and turned his back.
“Make my ship ready. We will leave before we are killed as well. Ensure my first concubine and the queen are ready to go. The rest are free to go.”
The remaining concubines screamed in terror. They had been left to die. They ran off in hopes to survive.
The mage noted that the guards had all left and all that remained was him and the ice coffin.
