Fire and Ice by Lauren Stiller (latest novels to read TXT) 📕

Tom walked through the thick forest, squinting his eyes to see through the dense blackness. The pine trees seemed to go on forever with no sign of any light or person. The eerie silence swept over him, unnerving him with each step.
I shouldn’t be here, he thought, scanning the trees for signs of life. Suddenly a distant murmur made Tom jump. He stopped and listened.
Faint voices drifted towards him from his left side. Breaking off from the trail, Tom weaved silently through the undergrowth. The voices were becoming clearer now, and they sounded oddly familiar. He could make out a light that was growing brighter with each step. Tom’s shirttail snagged on a bramble, and he stifled a gasp as he stumbled forward. Regaining his balance, Tom caught his breath and continued towards the voices. He was beginning to hear snippets of conversation.
“- and so I have brought you here to give you warning,” a strange voice said.
“So tell us again what the debt was,” This voice sounded bored.
Wait… I know that voice! Tom thought. That was the voice of Delwyn, commander of the Ice Tribe. Though he was around forty years old, Delwyn was still a bulky man who was often unconcerned by others’ opinions. His sandy colored hair was white with age, but his brown eyes flashed with energy.
Tom stepped closer to the voices and ducked behind a tree. He could now see a clearing with three people in the middle. They were seated around a blazing purple fire, which illuminated their faces. There was Delwyn, a young girl with blonde hair, and a smaller figure that was hidden in the shadows.
The third person snorted. “Honestly, Delwyn, must you forget everything?”
Tom felt his mouth drop open. He knew that voice very well. It was his own commander, Abilene, a small lady with auburn hair. Many people were not intimidated by her size, but her stormy green eyes could stare anyone down.
The stranger spoke again. “The debt was to repay me for restoring your climates to match your powers. If it had not been for me, the Fire Tribe would have frozen and the Ice Tribe would have melted. I know you were just commissioners then, but your commanders told you about this. It was only thirty years ago. You were supposed to repay me by sending some of your battlers to kill the griffin that was threatening my home.”
Abilene glared mutinously at the fire and muttered something about the debt not being fair.
“Yes, I agree with Abilene. The former commanders should have taken care of this. They had ten years before I became commander and another five until Abilene was appointed,” Delwyn pointed out.
The stranger sighed. “I do not know why your former commanders did not take action. I had to move away from my home. I gave the Tribes thirty years to repay the debt, but you have not. I have brought you here to warn you that I will let the climate change once again.”
Abilene looked up. “Isn’t there anything we can do to repay the debt some other way?”
The stranger gazed into the purple flames. For the first time, Tom noticed that her eyes were a golden yellow color. Though she looked about eleven years old, her eyes glowed with wisdom.
“I must go,” she whispered. “I must travel west to find my new home.”
Abilene’s eyes flashed with panic. “Wait! Don’t leave yet!”
The stranger erupted into a shower of silver sparks, momentarily blinding Tom. When he looked again she had disappeared, leaving Abilene and Delwyn alone in the clearing.
“That’s nice. Very nice departure,” Delwyn said, studying his fingernails.
Abilene whipped around to face him. “Don’t you get what this means? This could destroy the Tribes and you just don’t care!”
“Oh, I do care. I just don’t think it will be the end of the Tribes. We’ll think of something, Abilene.” Delwyn stared calmly back at her.
Suddenly the forest started spinning beneath Tom’s feet. The light from the fire disappeared. He tried to cry out, but the blackness seemed to choke him and he couldn’t make a sound. Tom closed his eyes and fell to the ground.

Tom sat straight up in his cot, his eyes adjusting to the dim light of the battlers’ cabin. To his right his friend Sam rolled over, groaning.
“Dawn already?” Sam blinked the sleep from his eyes.
“Yeah,” Tom gazed at the cabin door, thinking about his dream. Maybe I should mention it to Abilene, he thought. No, then she would know about him poking his nose where it didn’t belong. Tom shook his head and pushed the dream to the back of his mind. There were more important things to think about.
Tom pulled on his boots and stepped out of the cabin into the scorching heat of the Fire Tribe’s territory. The warmth soothed his muscles and awakened his senses. He looked around the clearing of the camp. A group of hunters were standing outside their cabin sharpening their arrows.
Tom nodded a greeting and went to find Calix, the Fire Tribe’s commissioner. Calix spotted him and motioned Tom over.
“You’re going to be practicing knife technique with Phelan today,” He said.
Tom groaned inwardly. Phelan was definitely not his favorite person to practice with.
Seeing Tom’s expression, Calix added, “Isabelle will be tagging along. She’s great with a sword, but you two need to help her master knife skills.”
Tom perked up. Isabelle was an enthusiastic thirteen-year-old with a bubbly personality. She would cheer him up and keep Phelan from being so bossy. Tom cracked a smile as he remembered Phelan’s little crush on Isabelle.
His excitement faded when he saw Isabelle step out of the cabin. Her hair was in knots and her green eyes, usually full of energy, were dim and unfocused. As she dragged herself past him, Tom put a hand on her shoulder.
“Are you okay, Isabelle?” He studied her face.
Isabelle’s eyes grew wide as she turned to face him. “Oh, Tom, I didn’t see you there. Yeah, I’m fine, just a bit sleepy.” Her eyes drifted towards Calix, who was at the other end of the clearing, talking to the hunters. “I better go see what Calix wants me to do today.”
Tom turned to see Phelan standing behind him. “What’s wrong with Isabelle?” He fretted, his eyes full of concern and sympathy.
“I don’t know. She said she was just tired,” Tom looked at his belt, then at Phelan’s. “You better go get your knives. We’re practicing with Isabelle.”
“Okay,” Phelan walked towards the cabin.
He must be really concerned about Isabelle to take orders from me, Tom thought.

The three battlers tramped through the undergrowth on their way to the meadow. A cold wind suddenly hissed through the trees, and Tom jumped, remembering the little girl’s warning.
Isabelle uttered a small gasp. Tom whipped his head around to face her.
Phelan looked at them with narrowed eyes. “Why so jumpy this morning? Quit being ridiculous and let’s go. We don’t have all day.”
Tom rolled his eyes and followed reluctantly. They emerged from the trees to the meadow, which was a large, grassy field they used for practicing battle skills and luring deer out.
Phelan led them to a spot where the grass grew shorter. “Alright, let’s start off with a review. Who can tell me the first block in hand-to-hand combat?” He looked pointedly at them.
Tom stepped forward and opened his mouth to tell Phelan he wasn’t the head of this group. Before he could say anything, Isabelle huffed behind him.
“Stop being so bossy, Phelan. We’re supposed to be working together. Besides, I already know the first six blocks.” To prove her point, she drew her machete and slashed a maple sapling to pieces. “-and I know that quick X move!” Isabelle whirled around and marked a clean, perfect X on an oak tree.
Tom was impressed. She knew more than he thought she did. “Okay, how about distance throwing precision?” He offered.
Phelan nodded. “Is that alright, Isabelle?”
Isabelle nodded eagerly. “That’s something I need to work on.”
Tom looked around for the perfect tree. There. He spotted a pine tree 12 yards away. Pines were good for this sort of thing; all you had to do was scrape off the outer bark and the knives would stick into the inner soft bark. He jogged over and carved a target into it.
Suddenly, a knife whizzed past his ear and he ducked, drawing his knife and turning around at the same time. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he looked around for Ice battlers.
There was no one there. No one except Phelan and a red-faced Isabelle.
“I’m sorry, Tom!” she called as he stomped up to them. “I didn’t mean to almost hit you.”
Phelan snickered, and Tom gave him a deadly glare. “That’s okay, Isabelle, except for the fact that you almost took my ear off.” He looked back at the tree. Her knife had stuck in the second ring of the target. Maybe she was better than she let on.
“I’m really, really sorry. I was aiming for the tree next to you.” Isabelle looked at her feet. “Maybe we should do something safer.”
Tom gave a small laugh. “No, it’s fine. You actually have pretty good aim.”
“Shhhh!” Phelan hissed quietly. “Look,” He pointed across the meadow.
A couple of does had appeared at the edge of the clearing. A red arrow shot towards the does and took one down. Another red arrow sprouted in the neck of another.
A group of hunters, led by Amanda, raced over to the deer. Soon they had the deer tied up and were carrying their kill towards the battlers.
“Nice shot,” Tom told the hunters as they passed. “Can’t wait for dinner.”
Amanda smiled. “That first one was killed by Auralee.” She nodded at the smallest of the group, a young girl with brown hair like Tom’s, but her eyes were brown, not blue.
Tom smiled at his little sister. Auralee was only twelve years old, but she was tall, lithe, and agile; good qualities for a huntress.
Amanda was shining with pride for her. The 24-year-old was like an older sister to them, especially after their parents died in a flood three years ago. She turned to Tom. “Calix wants you three to meet up with Sam and Kaela near the north border to check it for footprints.”
“Who’s- the Ice Tribe’s or ours?”
“Both. The tension between the commanders seem to be pretty high, and we don’t want anybody crossing the border.”
Tom watched the hunters disappear into the trees. Another gust of cold wind blew. He looked at the sky. Could the weather really