Frozen Water Knights

With the fox safe on the other side of the frozen wall, I sighed a little in relief... But there was no time to lose, I needed to find a way to melt the frozen doors and get to the Underground Lake on the other side of one of those walls. But I had no source of fire or heat...

I attempted to use my body temperature to melt at least a little the walls, but they were too thick... I would die cold before I melt only a little of the wall. There should be something else in this room, something unusual, different, that stands out, probably hinting me to the answer to escape this place... But I couldn't see a thing like that in the pattern of the rocks or on the frozen wall...

I was getting a little desperate with the situation in my hands... Was there no escape? Was that a death trap no one can escape? Was that why no one was ever allowed to head inside Underground Lake?... That's how all would end? No... I refused to let it end like that. I refused to let the princess have her reputation ruined while I die helplessly here. There needed to be another way out.

Without much thinking, I raised my trustworthy sword, and put all my strength on my arms, attacking against the frozen wall that kept me apart from the underground lake.

It was hit once, but the ice only cracked.

It was hit twice, the crack seemed to have only increased slightly.

It was hit thrice and, basically, there was no difference from before the attack.

It was hit yet again, but anyone could already say this was just as good as walking in circles... It's pointless. But I continued to strike the wall again and again... It's not like I had any other option, did I?

We all have a limit, however... There was a moment I could no longer keep attacking the wall in front of me. My tired muscles, my loss of breath... I could just lean on the solid wall beside me, resting myself a little...

I guess there really isn't a way out... But as the already hopeless me started to feel like sleeping, I managed to think a little more carefully... A little more calmly... What guided us here, what gave us hints... It was that sheet of paper with the riddle. Could the answer for escape this place be on that sheet of paper?

I carefully picked it up from my pocket and looked at the words written there. "With patience and purity..."

That... That didn't mean I just needed to wait here until the frozen wall melt, did it? There were two meanings for patience I could take from this riddle... Either it was not to get frustrated and desperate like I was a moment ago, or it meant what I just said, to wait for the wall to melt.

If the answer was really to just wait, then I guess there was only one thing I could do to wait this time to pass by more properly... Fall asleep and let myself be taken to the world of dreams again...

I woke up with the sound of water echoing in my ears... Standing up with the sword in hand, I stared at the frozen wall... Nothing had changed, they were exactly like before. But... On the rocky walls close to the frozen wall which farthest away from me, I could see a kind of reflex... As though they were covered with water... Was there that the sound of water was coming from?

The answer came quickly to me, the water over those rocky walls started to go to the floor, forming two water puddles. I took a step forward to examine them closer, but the water started to rise from the puddle and shape itself in the form of two humanoid figures...

Both looked like knights, one wielding a long spear and the other a bow with some arrows. In a matter of seconds, parts of them started to freeze, creating the armor and the sharp parts of their weapons. Inside their heads, something was different, however... There was a yellow crystal, glowing... It stood out way too much, it could only be their cores that keep the knights' shape.

I drew my sword to fight against those two and they started their attack... Despite being in a tight place, the bow managed to fire an arrow without hitting the spearman - I'd rather call it a spearwater - sending it flying on my way.

I was almost hit, the tip of the arrow brushed against my armor... And I did not hesitate after I dodged, I charged forward to face the spearwater first... We met with the weapons, the ice and the blade crashing against each other, forcing us both to retreat.

In the second after, I already started my second attack, aiming for the yellow crystal inside its water head. My sword should pierce through the surface of the water and shatter the crystal easily, but instead, the spearwater leaned down his head, making me hit the cold hard ice helmet of his, protecting the crystal. Of course this wasn't going to be that easy.

The spearwater took its chance and held me by the wrist, pulling me away from him. I didn't understand why he had done that, until the archer managed to pierce through my armor on the arm, just barely missing my arm itself. The spearwater tried to expose me to the archer, that was pretty smart... I needed to eliminate one of them quickly, before this outnumber advantage took over me.

Thinking that the archer would be the most annoying out of the two enemies I was facing, I decided to charge against him first and the heavy ice armor of the spearwater did not allow it to prevent me from doing so.

I managed to get closer to the archer just at the moment it fired another arrow at me. I dodged by sliding over the rocky floor with a kick, standing up back again just behind the archer. I spun around with my sword I hit the archer through the crystal on his head... The crystal only cracked, however, and the archer retreated a little with the impact.

The archer, apparently angry, attempted to attack me next. It got one of the arrows and used it as a melee weapon, attempting to hit on the belly... I was faster, however, striking the crystal and giving the archer its last seconds to live, until the ice started to melt away and the water fell over the rocky floors, disappearing through the spaces between them.

Smiling with the victory, however, I celebrated too soon. The spearwater came running towards me and attempted to impale me. I got myself lightly cut on the right part of my stomach, but it was, luckily, a light wound.

As an answer, I knocked him away from me and attempted to strike... He had enough time to use the spear to protect itself from my blade, however. But my weapons were not exclusively my sword, I have my fists and feet, which I used to kick him on the face, hitting the crystal... Strangely, instead of cracking or breaking, it faded away in the air like an illusion...

But it couldn't be an illusion, could it? After all, just after the crystal disappeared, the frozen wall melted away and the path to the Undeground Lake was now open... But the adventure through this cave... Had only now truly begun.