Frozen heart (Heart Series 2)

**Book one- The prophecy**

    Snow was falling from grey clouds as a small carriage advanced slowly on the lonely road. The carriage was surrounded by war horses—their riders looking battle worn and tired. The warrior in front, who seemed to be their leader, kept looking at the sky from time to time with a frown. Then he would look at the carriage as if he could see the young woman inside of it.

Ice wolves howled in the forest, and the young woman shivered because of the cold. Or perhaps she was afraid of the wild beasts. When the howling stopped, she looked out the window while she pulled her cloak tight around her. In the distance, the tall peaks of the mountains were hiding between the dark clouds. The woman opened the window, stuck a gloved hand out, caught a snowflake in her hand, and studied it until it melted.

‘The snowflakes are quite pretty,’ she thought, ‘but I wish I could see something else.’ After almost three weeks of seeing snow all the time, she had grown tired of it. She sighed as she closed the window. The Kingdom of Nordmar was her new home, and she would have to get used to the snow.

As the carriage got close to its destination, she thought about everything she had read about Nordmar.

Of all the kingdoms on the Uzhor Continent, the Kingdom of Nordmar was the biggest, wildest, and coldest. It was the home of the Eternal Winter, and snow covered almost all of it. Up in the vast mountains of Nordmar, it was so cold that few animals lived there. The peaks were so tall they seemed to reach the sky. Big forests of winter oaks, pines, and evergreen trees covered the many plateaus of Nordmar's mountains.

Scattered across the land were clans inhabited by strong men. Tall, wild, and proud, the Nordmarians were born to dominate the inhospitable land they lived in and were often called barbarians.

Many claimed that Rhobart Braveheart, the king of Nordmar, was one of the cruelest men on the continent. The stories told about him around campfires described him as a man with a heart that was as cold and cruel as the land he ruled. After a long absence from the Royal Castle, fighting a thirteen-year war against the Kingdom of Myrthana, King Rhobart was making his way home. But he wasn't returning alone. For in the carriage was Princess Ayla, the daughter of King Amul, former king of Myrthana. A Fire Mage, seven Paladins, and a few knights formed the group that traveled with King Rhobart.

When Nordmar won the war, Prince Galian, the newly crowned king of the Kingdom of Myrthana, begged King Rhobart to spare the lives of his people. He also wanted to make peace between the two kingdoms. In return, Princess Ayla, King Galian's sister, would become a war prize. A slave to the Barbarian King. Upon hearing King Galian's proposal, King Rhobart looked insulted, as if Princess Ayla was not good enough to become his slave. To King Galian’s relief, the King of Nordmar signed the peace treaty, grabbed Ayla, and left Myrthana.

From the day Ayla left Myrthana behind, all she ever saw from the small window of the carriage that brought her closer and closer to her upcoming prison were forests, mountains, and roads full of snow. Most lakes and rivers were frozen. Ayla hated the cold more than anything.

Myrthana was nothing like the cold Nordmar; it was full of life and always warm and home to Everlasting Spring. Ayla was sure she would have frozen to death if not for the Fire Mage, Milton. He had been kind enough to buy her a warm dress, boots, gloves, and a cloak.