The Amulet's Curse: Part Seven

      Reginald felt groggy. He attempted to open his eyes, but he could only make out vague colours. Where am I? he thought. Waking up under these circumstances was a completely new experience for him – he was used to awaking in his bed in Neovia with a book in his hand from the night before.

      Neovia. That was something familiar. Though he hadn’t been there in a while. Why haven’t I been home? he wondered. With a gasp, he recalled everything from the past three days. His eyes flew open, and he could make out his surroundings clearly.

      He seemed to be in a tall, square room, with the ceiling in a dome shape. The walls and ceiling were made of perfectly smooth frozen ice. Reginald had read of a place like this. Taelia’s house, he deduced.

      All of the furniture, however, had been moved to the edges of the room. Acknowledging himself, he noticed he was sitting on a wooden chair, his arms and legs tied down by rope. Hannah was next to him, placed in the same position. However, she had not awoken yet.

      “Next left is the treasure.” She mumbled in her sleep. Reginald could guess what she was dreaming about.

      But who brought us here? he thought. He remembered feeling someone blindfold him and start taking him away, but that was it.

      Almost as if it was a direct answer to his thoughts, a figure walked into the room.

      “Ahh, I see you have awoken. Like what I’ve done with the place?” The voice spoke very eloquently, but there was a mean edge to the words. It was a female’s voice Reginald noted, but that was all he could surmise. As the figure walked into the light, a large hooded cloak covered their face and body.

      “It-it’s okay.” Reginald managed to speak. This person seemed dangerous, and he was understandably nervous.

      At his words, Hannah awoke. Quickly gathering her surroundings, her eyes landed directly on the unknown figure.

      “Who are you, and what do you want?” Hannah asked outright. She had no nerves.

      The figure laughed. “It’s lovely to meet you, Hannah. Evidently you are as brave as you are bold.” Hannah’s face turned to one of disgust, while the mysterious neopet continued talking.

      “I found these, though.” The figure drawled. She pointed to the sword of flame and ice, resting against the wall. They were far out of Reginald’s reach.

      “They’re very pretty. A bit impractical don’t you think? My henchmen quite hurt themselves attempting to remove them from you. Swords that burn and freeze your hands. Ha! Useless.”

      Both Reginald and Hannah kept quiet, not revealing their hidden secret.

      “My henchmen were able to gather the two of you, but your other side kick managed to get away. Shame. Not to worry, though, she barely presents a threat to me on her own. Hahaha!”

      It was then Reginald became aware of the Princess’ absence. Where is she? he worried. Though he was thankful for the unknown neopet’s underestimation of both the swords and of Princess Amira. She’s our only hope to save us now…

      She stood still, her eyes closed, not even daring to breathe. Please don’t notice I’m here, please-

      “Hello, Princessss.” A deep voice whispered in her ear.

      Slowly, she turned around and opened her eyes. The Snowager had stretched his long, large body, down his pile of treasure to bring his face directly in front of Amira. He could swallow me whole, she thought, gulping.

      “I know why you are here.” He spoke incredibly slow, enunciating each syllable. “I know all the happenings upon this mountain. I sense the heat emitted from each neopet. You are separated from your travel companions. You are alone.” Amira was truly scared now.

      “You are fortunate that I need your assistance, the outcome is very different for others that disturb me normally.”

      Amira began to breathe normally again.

      “You must defeat the curse.” The Snowager continued, slowly. “I am suffering great pain. I will help you in this task as best I can. First, you must gather some rope from my pile of treasures.”

      Amira immediately started rummaging through the endless items to find some rope. It didn’t take too long before Amira held a long piece of brown rope in her hands.

      “Very good.” The Snowager stated. “Take great care next. You must tie this knot around my neck. Place yourself upon me, and hold on to the ends of the rope for balance.”

      Amira gasped. “You are letting me ride you?” This was unheard of; no-one had ever been granted something like this from the Snowager before.

      “Yes. We must travel to the mountain top, where we can aid your companions. I understand how the fate of Neopia is dependent on us now, and I will grant this in the name of that cause.” He said.

      Hesitantly, and a little excitedly, Amira did as the Snowager asked, and was soon sitting on the great beasts’ neck.

      “We will go now.” The Snowager stated, and soon he started sliding across the ice caves’ floor.

      Amira was amazed at how quickly he moved, but noticed the drops of water left on the caves’ floor every so often where the Snowager had been. He must be in so much pain, she thought.

      Suddenly, they emerged from the caves, the bitter wind hitting Amira’s face as the Snowager charged forward, directly towards Taelia’s house. With the building in sight, the Snowager roared, Amira screamed in fright, and partial excitement, from the sound.

      They were approaching the house at a fast pace, and Amira realized what was next about to happen. Leaning down in an attempt to protect herself, the Snowager smashed through the side of Taelia’s house, destroying the wall of the room Reginald and Hannah were being held captive in.

      Looking up, Amira was able to see both Reginald and Hannah looking somewhat okay, but tied down to some chairs. A cloaked figure ran in fear from the Snowager’s appearance.

      The Snowager turned back to speak to Amira. “Help your friends, I will deal with the others.”

      Amira jumped down running towards Reginald and Hannah. She immediately started untying them when she approached. “Oh, I am so glad to see you two are okay.” She said.

      “Boy, am I glad to see you, too.” Hannah said, beaming. The trio were almost giddy with relief from being reunited. Their reunion was soon interrupted, however, by the sound of the still-unknown neopet’s voice.

      “Guards! GUARDS! Destroy the beast, destroy it!” The cloaked figure ordered, a hysterical edge to her once serenely composed voice.

      In the next moment, guards filed out from the adjourning room, prepped to fight. The Snowager roared at their emergence, and the guards stumbled back, frightened and intimidated at the sight of Terror Mountain’s great beast.

      A few ran forwards, ready to attack, but they were nothing the Snowager could not handle. Using his head, in one great sweep, the Snowager wiped out any forthcoming enemies. The other guards watching immediately dropped their weapons and ran in any direction away from the Snowager.

      “No. NO!” The cloaked figure screamed, watching the scene. “Just wait, this is not finished!” She yelled at the trio, running back into the room the guards emerged from.

      It was now the Snowager that spoke to the trio. “This is as far as my fight extends. I am weakened from this curse and cannot fight further. From now, you three are on your own. It is only you whose destiny it is to complete this mission.”

      “Thank you, Snowager. We would have surely failed without you. We now have the chance to save Neopia.” Said Amira.

      “Yeah, thanks. I know how much effort this would’ve taken you.” Spoke Hannah.

      The Snowager simply nodded his head in response. “Good luck.” He said, quickly turning back and heading back towards the Ice Caves.

      “Are either of you hurt?” Asked Amira, finally having the chance to ask.

      “No, we’re fine.” Said Reginald. “We were worried about you.”

      “Well maybe he was, I was more concerned with myself, honestly.” Hannah said, smiling. Reginald turned his face away, as a small blush emerged on his cheeks.

      However, as he did so, something on the opposite side of the room caught his eye. “The swords!” He exclaimed, running over to pick them up.

      Holding them in his hands felt so natural. He immediately felt more in control once he started holding them. He could feel them thrumming, flowing with power, ready to fulfil their purpose. His moment was interrupted when the cloaked figure came back.

      “Do you think that was it?” She teased. “Those guards were nothing, and now your great beast is gone. You will be no match for this!”

      At the end of her sentence, the wall dividing the rooms fell. Inside, the trio finally saw Taelia. She was glowing, hovering off the ground. Her eyes were closed; she was in a hypnotic state. Around her neck, was the Amulet of Thilg.

      To be continued…