Frozen III

Prologue: Vuelie

A remnant of winter blew crocus petals across the dark blue night.

The petals fell upon a jagged cliff, where round, moss-covered boulders rested.

But one boulder shook and reared up like a pillbug. Not a rock, but a small creature like a gargoyle.

Gold crystals hung from his neck, and a grass cape draped over his back.

His large ears perked up as his nose sniffed the air. His dark eyes tensed and scanned the sky.

Something had come, barely detectable.

The wind blew over a small city below, their lamps and windows dark.

A decent-sized castle rose above the city, between the curled roofs and the cliffs beyond. Like the houses, its doors were locked and candles doused.

The wind slipped through a crack in a high window and entered a vast, dark room.

Moonlight illuminated a white-haired figure curled upon a canopy bed under a thin sheet, the quilt kicked in a bunch to the foot.

She rolled onto her back, and her limbs stilled.

The wind rippled a short lock of hair on her pale forehead as it jumped over her. It crept through a keyhole, down a corridor, and turned left into another keyhole.

A new room emerged, the same size as the first, but its double bed made it appear smaller.

Two shadows sprawled across the mattress, one burly, the other slight. The thinner one's snores quieted, and her eyelids fluttered.

—