Frozen Wolf, Fire Dragon

Chapter 8

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In a remote area of the north, a man wearing a black cloak stood in darkness. A snowy wind grazed across his cheeks. Frowning in annoyance, he removed his hood. His black hair contrasted sharply with his pale skin, and his eyes were as red as blood. He also was wearing a restrictive device that looked a lot like a dog collar. To think that he’d come all the way to the north, of his own accord. He scoffed, full of contempt.

Noelier was so pissed off that he felt ready to destroy everything in his sight. The heat inside his body was begging to be released and it didn’t help that his anger fueled it even more. He sighed as he felt the beginnings of a migraine, caused by his lack of sleep over the last few days. His crimson eyes flashed with murderous intent.

“Chief.” Another man with a black cloak approached and bowed respectfully.

“Did you find her?” Noelier snapped.

“Not yet...”

“This job should be simple,” Noelier said flatly, but his cold, rumbling voice made the cloaked figure flinch.

“B-but we have managed to find a clue.”

“What is it?”

“We’ve discovered someone who was wearing what appeared to be the lady’s ring.”

Hearing that, Noelier’s eyes darkened ominously. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir. Apparently, they were demanding fifty million gold for it.”

Noelier sneered. How dare they sell something that doesn’t belong to them. But he supposed it was only to be expected from a lowly northerner. But he couldn’t just put all the blame on them. Noelier groaned in frustration and rubbed his forehead. He was reminded of that day...

It had not started unusually. His strong heat had been giving him some trouble as usual, but then his only sister had begun developing a major fever that soon endangered her life. The intensity of the fever was too overwhelming for her little body, and the heat made it difficult for even Noelier to approach. He yelled for a doctor as he saw his sister cry out in pain for the first time. However, even after carrying out all the treatments they knew, there was nothing the doctor could do.

“Sir, I think you need to say your goodbyes to her now...” the doctor had said hesitantly, as he clearly had no hope that she would survive much longer.

For some time, Noelier did everything he could to find a cure but had no luck. He was in despair, thinking he’d lose his only sister, when—

“Brother?” Rahel had called out to him as she suddenly woke from her feverish state.

Likely from the pain of the fever, tears had begun to roll down Rahel’s cheeks, and Noelier cursed himself for not being able to come close and hug her. He didn’t want to lose Rahel like he’d lost their parents, due to his uncontrollable power. He asked her whether she was in pain and if there was anything else that was wrong, but she just shook her head.

“I just... I had a nightmare.”

She said it had been really terrible.

I should’ve realized something was wrong then. Noelier bit his lip angrily. Being so relieved that Rahel had woken up, he had let his guard down. I had no idea that she’d found out about the legend... He raised his hand and put it on his chest. His heartbeat was still calm.

That small child had left the south in hopes of saving her brother. It didn’t even cross his mind that she could’ve gone to the north. That was why it had taken so long to find her. His blood boiled at the thought of northern wolves tormenting his little sister.

“Where is this person?” he growled.

“We’re following close behind, but...” The man’s voice trailed off and Noelier looked daggers at him.

“You can’t capture them?”

“They’re pretty agile for a wolf. We couldn’t approach them easily—”

“I can’t believe this,” said Noelier, cutting him off.

Although the man was much older than Noelier, he had to bow his head to the chief.

“I apologize, sir. No matter what, we’ll find—”

“Enough.” Noelier snapped his mouth shut and stood in silence. “I’ll go myself.”

Hearing his words, everyone who had gathered around him bowed in respect. The black-cloaked men all began moving forward, ready to show him the way. Noelier’s breath visibly huffed out of his mouth, the steam curling up and around his smooth lips.

“That bastard wolf,” he muttered quietly, looking ready to breathe fire any second.

A single heart.

It was, simply put, a miracle that he’d stayed alive this long without having a partner. That showed how great his power was. And now? The fire burning at his fingertips felt ready to engulf the northern land at any moment. The chief looked intent on unleashing all of his flames to destroy these arrogant wolves.

The cloaked men all felt nervous about what might happen. One of them even thought that perhaps the fragile relationship between the north and the south would come to an end today, and this place would fall to ruins.

* * *

“Hey! Show yourself already!”

Eve huffed as she wiped away the sweat on her forehead. She was sure she’d heard the apple hit something, but no one had fallen.

It sounded like a rock splitting open!

Just how hard is their head? Eve reached into her basket to count how many apples she had left. There were only three more.

“Look, as long as you’re not a creep, why don’t you come out so we can talk it over?” Eve said in her most reasonable-sounding tone, but whoever was hiding did not budge. She could only hear the wind blowing through the trees.

Well, I didn’t want to resort to this, but...

Eve let out a small sigh and slowly reached her hand out. A dense swirl of snow gathered around her palm, and when it cleared, a sharp icicle had formed in her hand. She listened intently for any sounds that didn’t belong in the wintery forest. She knew some sound would eventually escape the perpetrator in the middle of these usually silent woods. That was when she heard a slight rustling sound.

Got you!

Eve hurled the icicle toward where the sound had come from, and a shadow quickly disappeared behind a tree. From the movements, she could tell that there was more than one.

Apparently, they were all very agile, as they continued dodging icicles that Eve repeatedly threw at them. Suddenly, she heard footsteps running up behind her.

“You bastard!”

Eve quickly turned back and threw a frozen apple. Icicles did the job she needed, but apples had much better accuracy when thrown.

There’s nothing like an apple to crack someone’s head.

She had years of practice from chasing intruders away, and as the apple shot into the darkness between the trees, Eve smirked, knowing what would happen next.

Whack!

She heard a sharp thwack, followed by a groan.

Bullseye!

Internally, Eve squealed with delight.

I might not look threatening, but I held the shot-put record back in school!

Of course, that had been in her past life. To keep the momentum going, Eve froze another apple and pulled it out. She saw a figure quickly duck between some trees, and she was about to throw it when suddenly...

Those are... blue flames!

She had only ever read about them in the novel, but they were now beginning to ignite the dark winter forest.

“What the—”

Rahel was the little sister of the southern chief, so of course a multitude of people would want to catch her, but this was too many. It was as if...

Oh no. It’s just like in the novel when Rahel annihilated the north.

Huge flames with a blue hue soared up through the trees. Eve staggered back in fear. She remembered her short life in the novel where she was burned to death right at the start. The snowy forest was now melting away in the raging fire, and the flames were getting closer. She grasped an apple and prepared to throw it when she heard a cold voice coming from behind her.

“To think that my men scurried away just because of an apple.”

Startled, Eve turned around. A man wearing a long, black cloak looked down on her. He was at least two heads taller than her and had clear, crimson eyes. She recognized those eyes.

“Where is she?” he demanded.

Eve wanted to talk back but feeling the wave of intense heat from his body, nothing would come out of her mouth.