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The Ends of the Earth: Saving the Huntresses
By Olivia Kay Lightfoot
Genre: Fiction Level: Elementary 4-6
Category: UAA/ADN Creative Writing Contest

Misty was terrified. Alone on the tundra, only sixteen years old, with hardly any supplies and an army chasing her. This was bad. She glanced at her fingers and they were covered in snow but not at all cold. There was a howl in the East, thundering paws raced towards her from the West and most horrifying of all, in the South a high cruel laugh. Devil horns sprang from Misty's head, a devil tail from her bottom and angel wings sprouted from her back. She soared up into the sky fifty feet... a hundred...a hundred and fifty..... "Oof!" She had slammed into something. Beady eyes locked onto hers. It had sleek feathers and was made of ice. She identified it quickly. 

"Seriously," she muttered, "my assassins had to send a peregrine falcon." 

The bird lunged. Dodging, turning, twisting she flew down, the beast right behind her. Suddenly a crazy idea entered her head. Turning quickly she zipped around an iceberg and with a shriek the falcon exploded into ice shards. 

"Whew. That was close."  She dove into the icy water and checked her surroundings. A glance inside her backpack showed her that she had enough food for about a month, ten pairs of clothes, a GPS, and her weapons and potions. 

"Great. Just great. I need to get more supplies soon." Hopefully the- "Ba-bump, Ba-BUMP, BA-BUMP!" Crud. A sea stalker, huge dragon-like creatures who could breathe underwater. She kicked up to the surface and huffed indignantly. Who wasn't trying to kill her? 

 

A few hours later she was struggling through a blizzard, in the middle of nowhere. Then, all of a sudden she saw a... Was that a bar? Oh well. At least it was somewhere to rest. No sooner had she stepped inside than someone had blocked the door and tons of other people were crowded around her. They all looked about fourteen with wild eyes like they'd been living on the streets. 

"Welcome! You must be a huntress!" a girl said coming forward. Her hair was so blonde it looked white. Mascara and black eyeshadow were smudged around her eyes. Otherwise she was dressed casually in jeans, lace up black boots, a white T-shirt and an army jacket that was a size too big. 

"Stay here! You must stay forever!"  

Misty stepped towards her. "Whoa back up. Who are you, and why do I have to stay forever?"  

The girl smiled, which was a horrid sight with her makeup. "Heather, and this is why." 

Heather began to change. Her eyes turned completely black, she grew fangs, and her hair burst into flames as the color drained from her face. Misty yelped dodging the monster while it circled her. The others turned as well. 

"What- what are you?" Misty screamed, trying to get out. 

"We are Marli," said the other teenagers as they changed as well. "Servants to death itself. Which way shall you die?"  

She started attacking the demons. They were harder to defeat than she thought. 

When she went outside it was dark. She flipped out a phone and looked at the date. June 30th. No. No that couldn't be right. It had been June 9th when she went into the bar. Unless that was one of the places where time sped up. Yay. She looked around, and the bar had vanished. Well... she was going to have to find another place to rest. 

Later, she was looking at the Huntresses of the Ice fort, but something was wrong. She climbed down from the ice cliff and gasped. Her friends, all of them were ice statues. Some were frozen in positions of agony. Others had looks of fury on their faces.  A sob built in her chest, but she forced it down. A message was carved in the wall:  

Stay Silent  

Fury and anger built up inside her. Her dagger smashed into the message. For months...years, the huntresses had delivered messages to villages and cities about the snow queen to protect them from being turned into ice statues... Now she couldn't if she was this powerful. Suddenly the statues cracked. Misty stumbled back as her friends looked around shocked. Hope, one of her most trusted comrades, noticed her first. "Misty? What ..." she looked around "what happened?" Shila, another good friend, picked up a note on the ground. Misty peeked at the note.  

Dear Thalia, 

If you are reading this, know that the huntresses are frozen and Misty must be gone. The Marli will have taken care of her if our assassins didn't. You know the directions. I have taken over the Lila, remember time is short. It has to be here by sunset on July 7th. Take care of the wolves. 

                                  The Snow Queen * 

Stunned silence filled the room. "What?" Serafina said making everyone jump. "Thalia is on her side? I thought she was with us." 

Kikil smashed a wall with her fist. "I think I know what she stole. The Untilo." It was a weapon of great power that could destroy a city if you even breathed on it. It was a dagger. 

"I'm not on her side. I'm buying time," a voice behind them said. Misty wheeled around to see a girl with short hair and freckles.

"Thalia!" Thalia yelped as Kikil lunged. Hope tackled Kikil and sent her into a wall.

"Where's the Untilo?" Kikil demanded. 

"Here." Thalia unwrapped a silk package of teal. A dagger that was well polished and had a leather handle glinted inside. "Let's go find The Snow Queen." 

 

Misty observed the army at the Lila. There were lycanthropes, demons, phantoms, more Marli which she was not happy to see and many other horrible creatures. Most horrible of all, sat a young girl with flowing black hair, silver robes and deep purple eyes with flecks of pure black. 

"The Snow Queen." Thalia growled in a voice of ice. Misty turned to her friends pausing to glance at a scar on Thalia's face. 

"Okay," Misty said, taking a deep breath. "Isabella, since you have the silver knives, you'll take care of the lycanthropes. Kikil, Shila and Hope you try to get the phantoms and demons. Thalia can you get rid of the Marli?" 

Thalia nodded and then spoke. "Misty, why don't you take the Untilo." Before Misty could protest, Thalia handed her the dagger. 

"Okay." Misty said, hands clamped on the weapon. "The rest of you take out the others." Eyes fixed ahead of her Misty sighed. "I'll take The Snow Queen." 

 

The battle was chaos. Isabella took down the lycanthropes in two minutes, as Hope slashed down two phantoms. Shila cried out as a werewolf clamped it's jaws down on her leg. Misty slew the monster and poured a potion on Shila. The wound instantly healed and fur that had been spreading rapidly on Shila's face fell off and vanished. Thalia was shouting insults at the Marli. "Your friend called you pretty! That one is making a face at you! Oh look! They think you're a coward!" Soon the demons were too busy fighting to do anything. Thalia slew the last Marli standing. Getting to The Snow Queen was tricky. She had to dodge tons of monsters but when she got to the iceberg, Misty charged the Snow Queen. She was quick enough to dodge Misty and draw a sword.

 

"We meet at last," the Snow Queen's mouth did not move, but her voice filled her head. Misty thrust her dagger and the Snow Queen staggered back, white blood dripping from her arm. Her sneer was worse than salt in a wound. "You do well in combat. A fine weapon, alas my final lesson is that a dagger is only able to defeat me if the welder is mightier than me. That is not possible." 

Misty smiled. "Then I also have a lesson for you. Nothing is impossible." Then she stabbed the Snow Queen in the chest and with a long bloodcurdling scream she dissolved into a small snowflake that was carried away by the wind. Misty climbed down from the iceberg she was on and helped her friends take out the rest of the monsters who were gawking at the last place the Snow Queen had stood. Once the monsters were gone, Misty turned to her team, "Good job everyone," Misty said with a smile. "Now let's finally go home." 

 

The group of girls walked back towards the Huntresses of the Ice Fort such a long way away, until they were just a dark smudge against the horizon. Before the sun blinked out of sight, Misty hugged Hope. "You all are the best family I could ever have Hope." Hope grinned. "Well what did you expect?" Laughter echoed across the frozen tundra, seeming to brighten the whole sky.   

 

To be continued in next year's story . . .


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