Chapter 16 - Kon vs Ally

November 15^th, 5:42 PM

“Psalm 91:1-2 says, ‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”’ May this soul rest in the presence of the Lord. May she and everyone who loved her be filled with peace. Amen.”

The sun shone brilliantly that day. So why was it, the air was so cold? Why was it that no warmth could fill the heart? Why was it that the ice could not melt? Izo’s mother, whom they all held dear, was dead. She had been the sun of that town. She had brought them all warmth in those troubled times. But their sun could no longer bear the weight on her own and was swallowed up by the sea which turned to ice. With no sun, is it possible for the ice to ever melt?

~*F*~

“What’s that?” Konrad exclaimed.

The two young men gazed in horror at the sight before them. A giant tree house with a hole blown right in the middle and a broken sign hanging down, reading, “The Ice King’s Evil Lair”. Ven and Konrad took one glance at each other before rushing through the rubble and finally reaching the second floor.

“Looks like the girls had a blast,” Konrad spoke, sifting through the splinters and bits of ice.

“Don’t even joke about that! What if they’re in trouble?” Ven asked.

“I’m not joking. This ice is different from the rest of the ice. It doesn’t break no matter what sort of pressure I put on it. For it to be broken like this only means one thing: There was a powerful and magical blast which caused this. If that’s the case, it could very well be they’ve blown themselves up with no trace left.”

“What! If that’s the case, then-”

“That’s not the case!” Kon yelled, punching the wall beside him, causing another bit of it to fall off. “It can’t be. Ally would have found a way, I’m sure of it. Come on, let’s search the place, I’m sure we’ll find them safe and sound.”

Suddenly, ice shot out at Kon and Ven from a dark corner and a voice called out from the shadows, “Who are you? What business do you have here?”

~*~

“Ahahaha! Those stupid fools! Carumati may have released Izo, but she simply delivered herself and Ally over to me instead. Izo will come again soon enough in order to save her, and when he does, I will simply capture him again. Ahahahahaaa!”

“Sir! There are two men who have intruded and are currently on the second floor,” an underling stated.

“Who are they?”

“Unknown. Probably those girls’ friends.”

“Kill them. We have no use for them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, while we wait for Izo to come back, shall we try out this bracelet on you? My precious little kitty cat.” The ice king gazed up at Ally Kat who was hanging in Izo’s place on the wall. Ally Kat glared at him in return, her blue and green eyes penetrating the darkness of the room.

“I wonder what your father would think if he saw you now? Hmm? For certain he would be disappointed. Disappointed that his best little assassin would waste her abilities for good rather than evil. His entire organization would have been turned over to you, had you just behaved yourself.”

“Assassin?” Ally asked.

“Hmm? Of course! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten all those people you killed.... Well, if you did forget, it makes sense. Those people weren’t even worth remembering after killing them. I suppose you don’t remember all the times you kill cockroaches, after all. You are indeed, truly evil. That is why I want you to join me in my quest for power.”

“I was an assassin?”

“You really and truly don’t remember? Well, in that case, perhaps the one thing that will cure you of your kindness will be to jog your memories. Ajax! Come here.”

“You’re majesty,” the man with the raspy voice spoke.

“Jog this girl’s memories,” the ice king commanded.

Ajax climbed up the steps so that he stood right beside Ally Kat and placed his hands on top of her head. His eyes rolled back into his head for a moment and then he removed his hands and opened his eyes.

“It’s no good.”

“What?”

“Another mage has placed a seal on her memories. The only way to obtain her memories is if she remembers them herself.”

“Bother! Then I will tell you. I will tell you the entire story, and see if that does anything to jog your memory.”

“Sir! We are unable to contain the men. They’re on their way here,” the underling exclaimed, bursting in the room.

“Arg! Ajax, put the bracelet on Ally Kat, quickly. We will have her stop them instead.”

Ajax placed the bracelet on the girl’s wrist and locked it in place using magic. As soon as it locked on, Ally’s eyes glazed over and her head hung low in a mock sleep.

Suddenly, Konrad and Ven burst in the room, Konrad with a spear in hand and Ven with a handgun. “Ven, get Ally down!” Kon shouted, quickly taking in the scene. Ven ran up the stairs, but Ajax used a magical forced which threw him back down.

“You have to fight my new pet if you want to fight me,” the ice king spoke calmly. “Kathrine! Open your eyes! Now is your moment to shine. Draw your gun against your old friends.”

Ally obeyed and dropped lightly as soon as the chains were released. Determinately stepping in front of the ice king, she pulled out her gun and gave a sly smile. Aiming straight at Konrad’s heart, she pulled the trigger with no hesitation. Kon dodged her attack and threw his spear at the bracelet on her arm, but she easily avoided it, circling around behind him, faster than even Kon could see. Instinctively, he threw himself to the ground as shots rang out above his head and he pulled out a whip. He swung it at her arm and she jumped, however Kon cleverly twisted it so that it wrapped around her ankle while she was in midair. Pulling her towards him, he grabbed her arm, but she kicked him in the stomach and he was forced to let go. Pointing her gun once again, she shot at Konrad who was forced to dodge by hiding behind a chair. Konrad grabbed a knife and waited. As expected, Ally came around the corner. Konrad threw his knife at the same time that Ally pulled the trigger. Konrad was shot in the shoulder and Ally’s gun was broken by the knife slicing the gun and cutting her wrist.

“Kon!” Ven shouted.

“Stay back!” Konrad warned, standing and backing up as the gun-less Ally advanced. She had picked up the knife and held it carefully in her left hand, her right having been damaged.

“Ally, please, listen,” Kon spoke softly. “This isn’t really you!”

“How do you know?” Ally asked menacingly. “How do you know who I am, when even I don’t know? How do you know that I’m not a murderer?”

“Ally, are we really going to discuss this again? You said you wouldn’t let your past control who you are now. You then and you now are completely different persons.” Kon ran up against the ice barrier that the ice king had put around himself for protection and found he was slowly being cornered by Ally Kat. “Don’t let what you were take over the you of today and tomorrow. The you of tomorrow hasn’t done anything wrong. The you of tomorrow still has a chance. Don’t let the you of yesterday take that chance away by what you do today.”

Ally approached him, placed her lips by his ear and whispered something, drawing the knife up to stab him. Ducking at the last minute, Ally Kat drove the knife into the ice, breaking the barrier.

“Impossible!” the ice king exclaimed.

Ven ran up behind him and knocked him over the head with the end of his gun and the ice king fell unconscious. “Kon, Ally, are you alright?”

“I could be better,” Kon mumbled, clutching his shoulder.

“Sorry, Kon. I had to do it in order to fool him,” Ally replied. “I wanted him to be completely confident that he was in control, when in fact this thing didn’t work. Nice speech, by the way.” Ally took off the bracelet and threw it aside.

“I’m just glad that my magic knife was enough to do the trick. I got a little scared when the knife cut you. That thing can cut through bone, you know. But you didn’t even wince.”

“Ah, well, I was lucky, it only grazed me.”

“So what happened exactly? Izo told us that you planned on substituting a fake bracelet for the fake one and that you needed to use the magic knife in order to break the ice that the ice king used, but other than that, I have no idea what happened.”

“Ah, that. Well, Carumati and I came here and found Izo and fought him. I ended up getting caught in the ice bars and as I shot at them to break them, I realized we wouldn’t be able to defeat the ice king without your special knife. Carumati on the other hand, managed to break the bracelet on Izo, but it created a huge explosion. At that time, I thought we’d all be finished just like that, but then a most unusual mage came to save us all. He shielded us and told us he would substitute the bracelet if we could think of a way to defeat the ice king. So we created the plan and let Izo stay back in order to tell the plan to you when you came and our helper took Carumati and me into custody and turned us over to the ice king.”

“Who was this person?” Ven asked.

“The one you attacked,” Ally informed. “Ajax, who’s been a double agent all this time. I see he allowed you to knock him out.”

“He let me-”

At this moment, Ajax groaned and sat up, mumbling, “I’m getting too old for this.”

“Ah- I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Ajax, sir!” Ven exclaimed, running over to help him up.

“It’s alright, boy. It’s alright. Rather, go help Carumati out of the box.”

“Huh?”

“Carumati was locked in the box over there- Ah, I see Izo has already come let her out.”

“Mati! My love! Are you hurt? Have you come to any harm? I shouldn’t have let you go. It should have been me that got captured and you stayed behind. I will never let such a thing happen again. For you are the only one I love. Mati!” Izo continued to hug and caress Carumati who finally brought out a metal stick and zapped him with it. “Mati... why....” Izo collapsed, still clutching firmly to her shirt.

“To think that Izo would fall so much for my daughter,” Ajax spoke bluntly.

“What?” all four GWANAN members exclaimed.

“Ah, perhaps this will help.” Ajax cleared his throat, stood up straight and tall, then pulled off a layer of clay from his face and put on some glasses to reveal a very handsome, intelligent looking man.

“Dad? Daddy?” Carumati whispered, her eyes wide. Suddenly, she grinned and leaped in the air. “Yahoo! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” They ran to each other and he picked her up and swung her around.

“Carumati! My little Carumati!”

“Huh? So... Carumati’s dad didn’t run off after all, but rather he disguised himself to get close to the ice king?” Ven asked.

“I guess so. Come on, let’s leave them be. We need to get the ice king to the police before he wakes up,” Kon replied.

The three of them did as suggested and left the tree house.