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Last Battle Of The Icemark is the Third and presumably final book in the Icemark Chronicles by English author Stuart Hill. It was released on the 7 July 2008 in the United Kingdom and was released on 15 April 2009 in the US. It is currently out of print in the United Kingdom.

Plot

Two years have passed since The Icemark managed to defeat the Polypontian Empire in Blade of Fire. This has caused the Polypontians to break up and many civil wars have started to take their place. With the defeat of the Polypontians at the end of the second book, there is now another enemy of the Icemark. That settles on Erinor of Artemision and her dinosaur cavalry of Tri-horns, creatures described to look like warrior Triceratops, and Oskan's father Cronus, his Ice Demons and his granddaughter, Medea.
Erinor's dinosaur cavalry move in on what remains of the Polypontian Empire, fully intending to move on to the Icemark afterward and to murder anyone that has a bloodline containing that of the northern Hypolitan. Responding to a plea for help from the Empire, a reluctant Thirrin leads her army into the heart of what was once enemy territory in order to prevent them from invading Icemark as well. Thirrin's strong prejudice against the Polypontians is transformed upon meeting their emperor, who is only a young boy, not yet in his teens, and she realizes that everything she hated about their Empire came from the Bellorum clan. However, by invading the Empire to confront Erinor, the Icemark is left open for an invasion from the Darkness (Cronus and his ice demons).
While Icemark and their allies are gone, oblivious to the attack, the Vampire Queen defends Icemark in hopes of being given a soul, as her husband was for loving her. When the other vampires hear the undead may have souls, they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the Icemark, and therefore able to delay Medea and Cronus. Pious, an imp that has learned the power of friendship and love, is able to give Oskan and Thirrin the warning of the attack after they have defeated Erinor and her armies. Oskan, entrusted with the (until that point) secret knowledge that says that Dark Adepts cannot kill the ones they love without dying, defeats Cronus and Medea, though at the cost of his own life.

Characters

Oskan

Thirrin

Meda

Orla

Cronus

Kirimin

Mekhmet

Sharley (Charlemagne)

Arc-Adepts (Cronus')

See List of Characters in the Icemark Chronicles.
See Medea (The Icemark Chronicles).

Plot (Incomplete)

This story starts off in Icemark, the night just before Samhein, or "Halloween," as Oskan is listening to the voices of the spiritual world over the physical world. Just as he starts to find listening to the spiritual world peaceful, he hears the evil voice of Meda. Determined to enjoy his Samhein, Oskan starts to listen to the physical world instead and thinks over the progress done preparing for Samhein. While he rests, Thirrin storms into the room, calling out “arse” multiple times. After sarcastically asking how her day was, Thirrin reveals that she is annoyed of all of the distressing news from the werewolf relay. Once Oskan eventually gets her to calm down a little bit with some more sarcasm, Thirrin just complains about sitting around, waiting to see who wins the wars outside of their country, guessing it would be Erinor of Artemesion and her unstoppable Hordes. After Thirring realizes that Oskan is not paying attention to her, she snaps at him. Oskan apologizes, then reveals that Meda was still alive. After sensing his wife’s worry, he assures her that Meda was not in pain; instead of being tormented, she was the tormentor.

Thirrin barely misses this as she is overwhelmed by her guilt and anger towards Meda. Once Oskan realizes Thirrin had also been distracted by the news, he questions if she had heard him. Thirrin then becomes angry, asking how long Oskan knew, why he had not told her earlier, and if he was happy she was alive. Oskan replies he felt no guilt for banishing her and openly wishes she had died. Before Thirrin can explode into anger again, she calms herself down and asks Oskan what to do. He replies that they must make dissensions, but to do that, they need to know all of the information. Once said, Oskan explains how Meda has turned completely evil and wants revenge on Icemark. He also notes how she is almost like a queen and soon the only one more powerful than her would be her own grandfather.

Just as Oskan says this, he is trapped within the Sight, where he meets a golden-haired messenger of the Goddess. The golden-haired messenger then enforces Oskan to live through the fall against those of the Goddess' love and judgment alongside his father. After he suffers through the vision, the golden-haired messenger asks of his opinion and he merely states that those who went against the Goddess were fools for rejecting the second chance of forgiveness the Goddess offered them before their exile. Pleased with his answer, she tells him of the task the Goddess had given him to destroy Meda. She tells him that he has been given the knowledge to defeat her, but with a price, saying it was his choice whether to use the knowledge or not. She also warns him not to tell anyone of it, or it would be rendered useless. Overwhelmed by responsibility, Oskan finally snaps back into the real world.

The book then switches to Meda, who has barely survived in the Darkness for two years. With her now is her handmaid Orla, an old witch she had saved from the Darkness. While she is there, she meets Oskan's mysterious father, Cronus. After the encounter and comparing Cronus' mind to Oskan's, Meda falls asleep for 2 days, marveling the event.

Meanwhile, Kirimin thinks about her love for Samheim's ghost stories, games, and scares. As she does this, she sneaks around, looking for Sharley and Mekhmet in order to get revenge on them for scaring her so much that same night. Successfully, she scares the two boys and relishes her victory. Soon, the three find themselves fighting and playing in the mud. When they are done, they all agree that they should sneak into the palace to clean up, before anyone notices. After sneaking into the castle, Kirimin grooms herself while listening to Sharley ad Mekhmet get washed and dressed in their room. Soon, the two boys come out of their room, surprising Kirmin with their well-picked choice of desert robes. Mekhmet wears a blue and gold robe, while Sharley wears a black robe with silver stars on it.

During this time, Meda has found herself fighting Cronus' Arc-Adepts in an attempt to prove her worth to her grandfather, with a fearful Orla at her side. After fighting for a while, she seemingly gives up. When all of the Arc-Adepts come to believe this, she takes the form of Cronus and tricks them all into thinking she is her grandfather. After preparing to obey their false commander, she orders them to die and kills all of the arc-adepts, then she returns to her female teenager form. Once she was completely finished with her task, she expresses her excitement to Orla.

References

1. Hill, Stuart (2008). Last Battle of The Icemark. United Kingdom, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1DS: Chicken House, Scholastic. pp. Chapter 1, pages 1–14. ISBN 978-0-545-09329-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
2. Hill, Stuart (2008). Last Battle of The Icemark. United Kingdom, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11: Chicken House, Scholastic. pp. Chapter 2: pages 15–20. ISBN 978-0-545-09329-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
3. Hill, Stuart (2008). Last Battle of The Icemark. United Kingdom, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11: Chicken House, Scholastic. pp. Chapter 3: Pages 21–26. ISBN 978-0-545-09329-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
4. Hill, Stuart (2008). Last Battle of Icemark. United Kingdom, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11: Chicken House, Scholastic. pp. Chapter 4: Pages 27–32. ISBN 978-0-545-09329-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

• 2005 British novels
• British fantasy novels
• The Icemark Chronicles