The Cursed Prince

They stopped by the next town called Kilshade to rest there, buy some supplies and new coats to tackle the cold weather on the mountain. Kira was excited by the opportunity to visit Mount Tempest and see the eternal snow.

"You are going to Mount Tempest?" the inn owner was surprised when he heard their plan. His face turned pale as if they said they were going to meet the devil himself.

"Is that wrong?" Emmelyn asked the inn owner. "Why are you looking scared?"

"Well..." the inn owner swallowed. "People try to avoid going to Mount Tempest as much as possible. If you don't disturb her, then she won't disturb you. Let's just put it that way."

"Ahh.. I see," Emmelyn and Maxim exchanged glances. The witch seemed to be feared by the locals. Did the white witch do something to them that made the people feel scared of her?

"Did she curse anyone or...?" Maxim decided to probe the inn owner. He wanted to know their opponent if the white witch ended up being a wicked person. "What did she do to people who 'bothered' her?"

"Oh, yeah... she had cursed so many people into ice," the inn owner said. "She is very powerful. We leave her be and try not to be on her way."

"What? She cursed people into ice?" Emmelyn couldn't imagine what exactly happened to the people that were cursed by the white witch.

"Yeah... They will turn into ice statues. You will see so many of them on the way to her castle."

Emmelyn swallowed hard. This sounded very dangerous. She was not a witch and didn't have the magical power to fight the snow queen if they went atop Mount Tempest and found out she was not Margueritte, or if she was indeed Margueritte but she didn't care about Emmelyn's relationship with Mrs. Adler.

"Maybe... it's best if we just continue our journey to Castilse and meet your mother," Emmelyn said in a low voice to Maxim. She didn't think it was worth the risk to see the snow queen.

"But you want to make sure the snow queen is your friend's sister," said Maxim. "If you never ask, you will never know. We are here already. Why not just go up? Unless you are in a hurry to go to Myreen."

"I want to go to Mount Tempest... but I am worried that we will get the wrong person and end up offending the snow queen. I have enough problems on my plate as is. I shouldn't take a risk and offend another witch while trying to get the other wizard family to lift my curse," Emmelyn explained.

Maxim looked at her deeply, trying to see what bothered Emmelyn the most, that she suddenly changed her mind.

"Are you worried that the snow queen will give us trouble?" Maxim asked her gently. "I can assure you that it won't happen."

"How could you know that? The inn owner already explained how many people had fallen victim to her curse. She is THAT powerful to turn people into ice statues. I don't want to risk getting cursed into a block of ice, not until I could see my daughter again," Emmelyn said curtly. "No, thank you."

Maxim finally relented. He wanted to see the snow queen and Mount Tempest too because this area was part of his kingdom.

He wanted to know what was going on, and if the witch really did evil things to the people, he must do something to restore order.  Nobody should be allowed to do whatever they wanted to other people.

However, since Emmelyn had changed her mind and decided to go straight to Castilse, he could only oblige. Emmelyn's wish was his command.

"Very well," Maxim nodded. "We will just spend the night here and then leave for Castilse tomorrow."

"Thank you," said Emmelyn.

Kira furrowed her brows when she heard their conversation. She asked curtly, "We are not going to see snow?"

"No, Kira... I'm sorry. It's too dangerous," said Emmelyn apologetically. She only realized now how much Kira was looking forward to seeing the snow.

Having lived in Wintermere for so long, Emmelyn was used to seeing thick snow in winter, and she took it for granted. Apparently, for someone like Kira who never saw the snow before, this was something very interesting.

Emmelyn felt bad to see the look of disappointment on Kira's face. She cleared her throat. "We will see snow in winter. We don't have to go up to Mount Tempest. Only 3-4 more months."

Kira pursed her lips. "That's really long. We are here now."

"I am sorry, okay..."

Kira stomped her feet and left the inn, looking very unhappy. Emmelyn wanted to chase her, but Maxim shook his head. "Let her be. She is probably just feeling disappointed. She will get over it."

"I feel bad about her," said Emmelyn haltingly.

"Well.. we can just go up the mountain a little and then go back. What do you think?" Maxim asked her. "Actually, what are you afraid of? Are you worried that the witch will curse us into ice blocks?"

Emmelyn nodded weakly. "Yeah. None of us have magic, we cannot possibly win if she treated us as her enemy."

"Well... we can summon a powerful wizard to go with us if that's what you're worried about," Maxim said. "Actually I know a very powerful wizard several towns ahead of us. I can call him to ask for help. Let me know if you want it."

"Huh? You can just summon a powerful wizard?" Emmelyn looked at Maxim intensely. "Who are you..?"

Maxim coughed and waved his hand. "He is a family friend. That's it. I am not someone special that I can have wizards at my beck and call."

He conveniently lied again. This was not the time to tell Emmelyn the truth about who he was. Emmelyn might lash out at him because he sent people to look for her.

Maxim had decided, he had to make up for all his lies by helping Emmelyn before he could even hope to be forgiven. If Emmelyn wanted to go to Myreen, he would help her.

Now, if Emmelyn wanted to see the snow queen in Mount Tempest, he would make it happen too.