Forged In The Flames By Karima Sa’ad Usman
Chapter 57 The Trip To Snow (Nikolas’ POV)
The drive to Snow was very bumpy. Qusack had to drive fast because we needed to get there on time. The summon letter arriving late was suspicious.
I wondered what happened to the mailing service, or did the sender deliberately send it late?
King Aleksander’s letter was late too. I wondered if someone was intercepting my letters. If that was the case, I would need to find the person. It could also be a coincidence, a mistake at the post office. I just hoped we would get there on time.
“Why would Fredrick set the meeting so suddenly?” my mother asked, and I figured she knew the man more than I did, so there was no way she was expecting me to answer that question.
“There might have been a delay in the post office. Sometimes if a receiver receives a lot of letters frequently, the post office tends to pile them up and send them to save the delivery cost,” Abraham said, and Qusack disagreed.
“Not an obvious summon letter with the Joint Committee seal on it,” Qusacksaid, and Abraham was quiet.
I knew he was trying to calm the tension in the car, but the worry about what we would face in Snow intensified the pressure.
Qusack stepped on the accelerator like a madman.
We needed to be there before three in the afternoon to make it for the meeting. Failure to show up may cause undesirable effects. I was already dealing with a lot. I didn’t want to add disrespecting the joint committee to my list of issues.
“I can’t believe Fredrick took Mathias’ bastard from that bitch. I thought she died with her child. Leon told me she died with her child. I felt so sorry for Mathias when I heard the story. Little did I know that we would be married and I would be living in her shadow. It was bad enough that I was in competition with her ghost; why would Fredrick try to use her son against my son? I know he is lying,” My mother grumbled angrily.
I knew that was the reason she followed. My mother hated my father’s first love more than she hated Aliana, and the last thing she wanted was for the woman’s child to be placed above hers. I knew the right buttons to press.
All I wanted to do was abolish the Unity law in Forest, and I planned to do whatever it took to get it done. That was all that drove me now. Not revenge but reform.
We arrived in the Snow region by one thirty in the afternoon. There were people at the border, and they looked serious. I figured Fredrik put up the security because of my hunters. It was good to see he knew what it felt like to guard against intruders.
“State your reason for the visit?” A man said at the border’s gate.
He was rude and unreceptive. I guess his attitude came with the job description.
“Prince Nikolas Kowalski is here to attend the Joint Committee meeting,” Qusack said, and the man’s facial expression changed. It seemed he had heard my name before or might have been given instructions about my arrival.
“Wait a minute,” He said and went to speak to someone who seemed to be his supervisor.
The man walked to where we were and bent by the driver’s window to speak to Qusack.
“Do you have an invitation?” He asked, and I was offended because we had just introduced ourselves.
“The meeting is by three, and we still have an hour to get to Ice Hill,” Qusack said, handing him the letter from the committee leader.
It wasn’t supposed to be necessary, but since Forest had not partaken in these meetings for almost thirty years, they were expected to behave like this.
The man read the letter, which I felt was supposed to be private because of the things mentioned in it. Nothing was worse than growing up like a wild animal, so I could live with this. I just had to keep my eyes on the goal.
The man stepped back.
“I will need you all to alight so we can search the vehicle,” The man said, and I realised what he was doing was deliberate. Why would he want to waste our time like this?
“I beg your pardon?” Qusack asked, and he growled.
“We have had issues with Forest hunters lately, so this is our protocol now,” The man said.
“What are you searching for, if I may ask?” Abraham asked him.
“Weapons,” he said, and it was ridiculous.
No one in their right mind would drive all the way to Snow to enter the territory through the border with the intention to attack unless it was a war situation.
“Is this how you search everyone? I have told you that the prince of Forest is here. Did your King put you up to this?” Abraham asked him, and I told them there was no need to argue.
“Let them search the vehicle. I will deal with Fredrik alone,” I said, and the man growled.
“It is King Fredrick to you,” He said out of annoyance, and I laughed.
“If he doesn’t give me the respect I am due, I am bound to reciprocate the treatment. It is
Fredrick to me. If you have a problem, report it to him or start a war here,” I warned the guy.
I was bluffing about the war part. Of course, I dared not attempt it now, not when I do not have an army, but he did not need to know.
“I took Forest; Snow would be just as easy. I also know your King has been unable to take Forest. I doubt you will want me as an enemy,” I said, and his eyes showed sudden fear.
“The rogue Prince?” the man said wide-eyed with fear. I guess my reputation precedes me. “Open the gates!” He called out to his men.
He did not want trouble with me and did not want to create problems for his King.
Very few people know I was Mathia’s son. I might not have met resistance if I had come as the rogue prince. Qusack started the car and drove through the gates into the territory.
It was a frozen land, with many desolate lands and abandoned homes on the way.
“Fredrick did a number on the werewolves that used to live here,” My mother said, looking at the place that looked like a ghost land.
I was sure there were better places, but this was just horrible. It looked like the people living in the buildings fled from war a long time ago. An ambush of some sort.
Thinking people once lived in run-down isolated buildings and farms on the way was heart-wrenching. I just wondered what happened to them.
“This is awful. I can see why he wants the slave trade badly,” I said, feeling sorry for the occupants, knowing deep down that there was a possibility they were werewolves.
“Actually, Alpha, Snow originally belonged to werewolves. This was their home until the
Lycans took over their territory and installed a monarch. They lived in packs, and each pack had an alpha with a head alpha leading them; similar to the system we met in Forest, the Lycans took over and enslaved the people.
The land was rich in Iron ore. The Lycans then used the werewolves to mine the mineral. Due to cruelty, werewolves began to flee to Forest and Hill.
Two hundred years later, there was no one to do the job. The majority of the werewolves had fled the territory leaving Lycans.
The leadership now had a labour problem because Lycans could not easily be controlled as werewolves.
The Lycans would go to other territories, capture werewolves, and force them into slavery. They will Kill off the Alphas and betas, so they can quickly subdue the rest.
It continued like that, and when the Hill and Forest Kings saw how profitable it was because of the rapid development of Snow and the strength of Snow’s army due to slave labour, they decided to adopt the practice.
Slowly, the demarcation between both races began.
Every time a King tried to make slavery a universal law to make the slave trade legal, another would do the opposite due to how profitable the slave black market was or for moral justification purposes.
Werewolves became the primary target for the slave trade because they were better servants than Lycans; they would never strive to be better than their masters. Their loyalty to their Alpha was absolute. That was how it all began. It wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the Lycans of Snow,” Abraham said, and my mother sneered at him.
“Lies, Delta. Stop telling lies,” She said, and I knew it would get to her because those were awful things to say about her people. It made them seem like thieves and usurpers.
“I am only stating what is in the archives, Luna,” Abraham said peacefully, and she hissed.
“My ancestors never meant harm. They came here for greener pastures, and the werewolves were cruel to them. They would not allow them to join their packs because they were different. They wanted to return to where they came from, but their land was far away.
They would have to cross the great sea to get there, so they had to survive in Snow.
The only way to survive was to take over from the unfriendly head Alpha and create a home for themselves,” She explained, and she had pretty much said the same thing as Abraham, just a nicer version.
I kept quiet because I wasn’t here to argue about who owned Snow first. I was here to fight for my crown, to restore my family’s name and be with the woman I loved. Every other thing was a none issue.
“I think it is best both of you drop it. The past doesn’t matter,” I said, and I did not realise what I had said until the words escaped my mouth.
If the past didn’t matter, why did I seek revenge on Gabriel? Why did I hurt him and Aliana and enslave the werewolves? Why does my blood boil whenever I hear the werewolf Alpha’s name? The truth was the past mattered, and I was stuck in it. Stuck with the emotions of a past I did not live in, a past passed down to me by an unstable hurt woman, a past that plagued my life, my present, and maybe my future. The past mattered a lot.
We were silent in the car, and Qusack drove with speed. It was almost two in the afternoon. The bastards at the gate had cost us thirty minutes. I hoped we would make it to Ice Hill on time.
Soon we arrived in a small town. It was beautiful, with tiny modern houses that had chimneys. Maybe not as stylish as it should be. Smoke escaped through the chimneys, indicating a fire in the fireplace.
Their snow-covered lawn and roofs gave the town a frosty black-and-white look.
The black came from visible parts of the stone walls of their buildings, and the white represented the Snow that covered everything else. The trees were covered in Snow with no leaves. I wondered how they managed. I wondered if the Lycans were the ones living in that town or werewolves. I had to appreciate the weather in the Forest. It was pleasant. It wasn’t as hot as Hill, and it wasn’t as Cold as Snow. It was a place to be, and I could see why Fredrick would envy and want the place for himself.
We finally arrived at a gate that read, “Welcome to Ice Hill”.
I looked at my wristwatch, and it was two in the afternoon.
The gate was opened with no questions asked, and we drove in.
The houses in Ice Hill were built on the mountains. They, too, were covered in Snow, but the buildings looked stronger and wealthier than we had witnessed on our way there. The place was highly developed.
The building was modernized with glass windows and polished wooden doors. The houses were painted. Not all of the houses had visible granite finishing.
The city was exquisite, but it was quiet and cold.
The people’s eyes were dull, and they tried hard not to look at us. Most were werewolves, while others were Lycans, but the demarcation between both races was broad.
It was an invisible line neither dared cross. I wondered how King Fredrick could live like this. “We are almost at the palace. Alpha,” Qusack said, and I adjusted myself in the car. I looked at my mother, hoping she was ready for what would happen. I prayed it would go in my favour, and soon, I would be free to do whatever I liked.