The Book of Snow

by J. S. Skye

  Flurry scanned the area and saw Jack at the doors to his palace. “You! Come here!” Jack ordered the polar bear who presently towered over Flurry and Honja. The polar bear did as ordered. “Make sure nobody comes in here! Understood?”

  “Yes, your Majesty,” answered the guard. He was among eleven other guards who stood with their weapons ready. With a grand total of twelve polar bears, Flurry was uncertain how to get past them undetected.

  Flurry tried to think up a plan, but it was too late. The next thing he saw was Lotora being marched out onto the street by Nero. The arctic fox called out to Flurry. “I know you’re out there, cub! If you don’t want me to kill your friend, come out from your hiding place!”

  Flurry turned to Honja. “Stay here and hide. He has never seen you before. You’ll be safe here.” Honja had a tear in his eye. The bunny hugged Flurry goodbye. Honja felt that despite their differences, it was touching that Flurry cared so much about him to try and conceal him from danger.

  “Here I am! I’m coming out!” shouted Flurry. He walked out into the open area in front of Jack’s palace. His arms were still wrapped around the book.

  “Very noble of you, cub!” Nero ridiculed Flurry’s brave decision. “Guards! Apprehend these two!” Nero ordered.

  “We can’t. We’re on strict orders to guard this palace,” answered the highest ranking of the polar bear soldiers.

  “I’m your general, and I said …‌” Nero began.

  “It doesn’t matter. The order came directly from Jack,” the polar bear replied.

  “Very well! I’ll take them in myself!” Nero pulled his sword and pointed it at Lotora. “Both of you walk, or this raccoon gets it first.” Flurry and Lotora walked up the steps to the palace. The guards opened the doors and let them in.

  Nero led them down a hallway and into the throne room. “Your Majesty, I caught these two trying to catch up to you. I can only assume they planned to harm you,” Nero informed his master while down on one knee.

  Jack turned and saw Lotora and Flurry. At the sight of Flurry, Jack became furious. “Him! Where did HE come from? He’s responsible for what happened at …‌” Jack stopped mid thought. Then, as if he had been enlightened, he said, “Wait a minute! Is this rebellion your doing?”

  Jack’s face twitched. He stopped to take a breath, but clenched his teeth and made fists with his paws. He placed one paw on his sword and darted down the steps toward Flurry and Lotora. “You’ve done well, Nero! Now leave us!” Jack instructed his general. Nero bowed and stepped out of the room.

  “Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me, little one?” Jack addressed the teddy bear cub. “Answer me!” Flurry was startled. He looked up and noticed that Jack did not have any scars on his face. Flurry clearly remembered that Jack had three scars down his right eye, but they were not there. This must be a younger Jack, he thought to himself. That’s why Jack knew who I was when we met in the cave. It was all starting to come together in Flurry’s mind.

  Flurry sarcastically replied, “Uhmmm, no. What did I do? Did I give you a hug? Probably not, because you seem like you really need one. Oh, I bet it’s because I’m cuter than you! Is that it? I bet that’s it!”

  Flurry’s words infuriated Jack. He pulled his sword, raised it above his head, and was about to strike Flurry down when a shout came. “Stop!” Jack looked up and saw Tomodachi. The warrior stood in Jack’s throne room, sword drawn.

  “How did you get in here? I had this place heavily guarded,” Jack growled at the samurai.

  “Those twelve? Ha!” Tomodachi replied. “They …‌ died well.”

  Jack shoved Flurry and Lotora out of the way and ran toward Tomodachi. “Ahhh!” Jack screamed. “This ends here!”

  As Jack drew near to Tomodachi, the samurai’s new sword glowed a bright, radiant blue. Their blades met, and their duel commenced.

  Flurry rushed over to Lotora and helped her up. “Quick! We need to do something,” Flurry insisted.

  “What? We aren’t warriors,” Lotora replied.

  “Hmmm, that pedestal looks a lot like the one that I found this on.” Flurry pulled the glowing blue gemstone from his pouch.

  “You took it out of the book? Why did you do that?” Lotora exclaimed. She was clearly upset.

  “It wouldn’t stop glowing. I had to do that so I could get some sleep,” Flurry replied. “What would happen if I put this thing up on that pedestal?”

  “That’s Jack’s source for turning people into ice. It would probably freeze you,” Lotora theorized.

  “Nah! The cold never bothers me,” Flurry replied. He was so sure of himself.

  Meanwhile, Tomodachi and Jack’s battle raged on. Tomodachi was so fierce that anyone would have feared him. He was a force to be reckoned with. Jack struck Tomodachi in the face and pulled the samurai’s sword down for another blow, but Tomodachi struck first and raked his claws down Jack’s face.

  “Ahhhhh!” Jack screamed in agony. The villain took his paw away from his right eye to return to their fight. Tomodachi had left his mark. Three claw wounds marred Jack’s face. “You’ll pay for that!” Jack shouted and viciously swung his sword at Tomodachi.

  Flurry attempted to place the stone on the pedestal, but Nero and some guards had arrived and attempted to grab him. Flurry tossed the stone to Lotora. “Catch!” Flurry shouted. The guard grabbed Flurry, but it was too late. Lotora now had the stone.

  Lotora ran across the room to evade the arctic foxes, but she was cornered. They closed in on her from two sides as Flurry was held by another guard.

  Out of desperation, Lotora threw the stone. It landed on the ground and rolled up to one of the pillars that encircled the throne room. “Grab it! Honja, grab it!” she shouted.

  Behind the pillar a little rabbit stood. He had snuck into the palace. He looked at the gemstone and back at Lotora, then at the gemstone and up at Flurry. His legs shook, and his mouth quivered with fear.

  Nero saw Honja and shouted to the guard that held Flurry, “Take care of that mouse!”

  Suddenly, Honja was outraged. In his own language, he thought to himself, A mouse? A mouse? Who does he think he is? Honja ran as fast as he could straight at Nero, head-butted him in the leg, and bit him. Nero screamed in pain and shouted, “Someone kill that rodent!”

  Honja then made a dash for the gemstone. He picked it up in his mouth, and its color changed from blue to red. Honja rushed off with the stone. The guards chased him around the room. They leapt at him and dove into his path. Honja was so small and nimble that none of the guards could catch him. He weaved in and out of his obstacles with ease.

  Flurry was now free and glimpsed Jack advancing on Tomodachi. Flurry needed to think fast. “Say goodbye,” Jack snarled at Tomodachi and raised his sword to strike.

  “Okay, goodbye!” came a small voice from across the throne room as a stone struck Jack in the head. The blow caused him to drop his sword and collapse to the ground.

  Tomodachi looked over at Flurry, and for the first time had a genuine smile. He nodded with gratitude. Tomodachi jumped to his feet with his sword in paw. Jack struggled to get back up, dazed from Flurry’s attack. Tomodachi resumed the duel. Jack pulled himself together enough to block Tomodachi’s strike. Their battle raged on, and Flurry now turned his attention back to Honja.

  Flurry ran back up to the pedestal. One of the guards had fallen nearby, and Flurry knew he could use the guard as a footstool to reach the pedestal. Flurry shouted to his friend. “Honja, throw it here!”

  Jack and Tomodachi were still in a sweltering battle a few feet in front of the throne. Honja leapt over a fallen guard and tossed the gemstone to his friend. Flurry caught the stone. In an instance the bear cup jumped from the prostrate fox and over to the pedestal. The cub hung on with one paw, and with the other he placed the stone on the pedestal’s surface.

  Suddenly, a thunderous sound shook the palace walls. Jack and Tomodachi paused to see what Flurry had done. Tomodachi took a few step
s back from his opponent. A shockwave burst forth from the crystal, which threw Flurry across the room and knocked everyone else to the ground. A beam of blue light bolted out from the gemstone, struck Jack, and flung him straight into the throne. The red panda was instantly frozen in place. Ice formed all around the throne so quickly that it took place in the blink of an eye. It narrowly missed Tomodachi.

  “No!” shouted Nero. He ran up to the pedestal and reached out to grab the gemstone. A flash of energy emitted from the crystal and instantly turned Nero into a pillar of ice.

  The room fell silent. The guards realized that Jack and Nero were beyond saving and would remain frozen forever. Tomodachi’s blade no longer glowed. The samurai turned toward the arctic foxes and advanced on their position. In fear they laid down their weapons and surrendered to the red panda warrior.

  Lotora was shocked at what she had witnessed. She came up to Flurry and asked, “How did you know?”

  “Well, I found a crystal just like that one in a cave once. It was on a thing like that one there. When I took it, Jack got free. So I thought that maybe it would work the other way around,” Flurry replied.

  Lotora’s chin quivered in fear as she turned to Tomodachi. The raccoon bowed her head and cried. “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done. Jack murdered my husband and held my daughter captive. I’m truly sorry, and I vow to do everything in my power to find a way to free Yujin from Jack’s curse.”

  Tomodachi huffed at her words. The samurai turned away from Lotora and promptly marched out of the throne room. Outside the battle raged on. The fighting had spread into streets of the city. Ursidea was in ruins. Jack’s forces were diminished significantly. Tomodachi exited the palace, looked around, and called back for one of his prisoners inside. An arctic fox rushed out the palace entryway and up to the samurai. “Use horn! Stop fight!” Tomodachi ordered.

  The fox pulled out his horn and blew loudly. The call announced their defeat. The other warriors ceased their advance. Nikolas and Katie, when they heard the horn sound, looked at each other with amazement. “Could it be true?” Nikolas asked. “Help me up, please.”

  Katie brought Nikolas to his feet. He looked out over the battleground. Nikolas saw many casualties, but he also saw victory over Jack’s forces. He could not believe his eyes. So many things could have gone wrong, and their numbers were initially inferior to Jack’s.

  He continued to scan the battlefield, and saw a little white bear cub run across the grass toward him. “Santa! Santa! We won! Jack and Nero are both gone!” Flurry shouted with much enthusiasm. Nikolas could hardly fathom what he heard. Could it be so? This was the best news in many years. There would finally be peace.

  Later that night, there were grand celebrations all over the different regions Jack had once ruled. Fireworks exploded in the air. The streets and forests were filled with singing and dancing. It was the merriest of occasions. In fact, it was the biggest party Flurry had ever seen. His favorite part was all of the food. It was a royal feast that he could enjoy while he listened to the wonderful music and partook in all of the various forms of entertainment the night had to offer.

  Over the course of the following days, the different kingdoms met together and came to a consensus to demolish the entire city of Ursidea. They would take the stone and rubble to bury the throne room and pack it all in with dirt, so that it would no longer be remembered. This marked a new beginning for them all.

  In Ebongreene Forest, Nikolas and Katie stood tall and were immeasurably proud of Flurry and Honja. Flurry told them that Honja was the true hero, which resulted in the little rabbit receiving a lot of wonderful treats to munch on. Honja was happy it was all over, but his thoughts were elsewhere. The bunny longed for his home.

  “Now, it’s time to rebuild and to focus on cultivating peace,” Nikolas said to Katie.

  “Since this is a new era for everyone, maybe you should start going by Christopher instead of Nick,” Katie teased the young man.

  “You know I hate that name, Katie!” Nikolas retorted.

  “Hmmm, I kind of like it,” she replied, and kissed him on the cheek. Nikolas blushed.

  “Very well, I’ll do it if you go by Catherine from now on, too.” Katie laughed without providing him with an answer.

  Honja and Flurry had wandered away from the crowd, and both sat beside a little brook. Honja enjoyed a carrot while Flurry pondered what to do next. He wanted to go home, but he had no idea how to do that.

  Drift came up and sat next to him. “Well, you did it again. Great job!” said Drift.

  “Again?” Flurry asked. “Did what again?”

  “Oh, uh …‌ never mind,” answered Drift.

  “What will the teddy bears do now?”

  “I suppose we’ll try to find a new place to call home. I’ve always wanted to build my own home and settle down. Maybe have a cub or two of my own.”

  “You should try the north. It’s a great place. I love it!”

  “Noted. I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” Drift commented.

  At this time, Lotora walked up to join them. “Flurry, I have bad news,” the raccoon spoke with anguish in her tone. “Since you traveled here by the book, you can no longer get back by the book, because you removed the crystal. The book is powerless now.”

  Flurry felt tremendous grief and did not know what to say. Honja looked even sadder. Flurry’s reeyu, who stood by, came up and licked him. “Awww, I wish I could get back home and bring you with me, but the book isn’t working, see?” Flurry demonstrated by touching a page in the book. Instantly Flurry, Honja, and the reeyu vanished. The book slammed shut on its own, and the clasp locked.

  Drift and Lotora were both startled by what they saw. They shouted for Nikolas, and he rushed over. “What happened to Flurry?” Lotora asked the man.

  Nikolas smiled and replied, “He’s home now.”

  “What do we do with the book?”

  “Give it to me. I’ll keep it safe and give it back to him at another time.”

  Lotora got up and handed Nikolas the book. “Well, I need to head over to Ursidea, what’s left of it. They’ve already relocated Nero and plan to put a plaque on the pedestal as a warning for generations to come. They asked for my direction on the matter. Thank you for all you’ve done, Nikolas.”

  Nikolas and Lotora exchanged hugs. As she prepared to leave, he said to her, “Good luck, take care of your daughter, and you can call me Christopher from now on.” Lotora smiled and nodded.

  She shook paws and hugged the others. When she turned around, she saw Tomodachi standing in her path. Fear overtook her. She was surprised when he bowed to her. She bowed back. Drift looked to the samurai and said, “You just missed Flurry. He’s gone back home now.”

  “Not miss. Remember,” answered Tomodachi. He then walked down the hill, mounted his reeyu, and flew off into the sunrise of a new era.

  Back in Middleasia, the sky was pitch black. The town slept peacefully. Most of the houses were unlit and silent. However, one home was an exception.

  Boaz glanced toward Noah and asked, “What are we going to do? Flurry and Honja are inside the book!” Boaz had a look of sheer terror on his face. Noah shrugged. Caboose had already gotten out of bed and now sniffed at the book. The polar bear dragged the book back out from under Flurry’s bed.

  “Maybe we should open it and see if say are in sare,” lisped Caboose.

  “No way! What if we open it, and we get sucked in, too?” Boaz replied. “I don’t know how we’re going to break the news to Mommy. We need to talk to the person Flurry calls Santa. Maybe he’ll know what to do.”

  “I’m going to try it,” said Caboose. With his mouth he pulled on the locked clasp and pushed on the book with his front paws.

  “Caboose, no!” shouted Boaz.

  Suddenly the book sprang open, and blue light radiated from its pages. Flurry, Honja, and a baby reeyu came forth. The book slammed shut and locked again.

  Boaz’s mouth dropped open. “Uh,
what just happened?”

  “Oh, hello!” Flurry giggled.

  Honja was so delighted that he hopped up and down and danced back and forth before he realized that they all stared at him in disbelief. He quickly sat down and crossed his arms.

  Laughter broke out, and everyone hugged each other. “I feel like it has been a month since I’ve seen any of you!” Flurry exclaimed. “I missed all of you very much, and Mommy, too! Where is she?”

  “Flurry, be quiet!” Boaz exclaimed. “Mommy and Daddy are still in bed sleeping.”

  “Not anymore!” came a voice from the door.

  “Mommy!” Flurry shouted. The cub rushed over to her and hugged her leg. Honja did likewise.

  “What has gotten into you two?”

  “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you,” Flurry replied.

  Lynn looked over at what she deduced to be a baby dragon on the floor, and then back at her boys. She smiled and said, “Try me.”

  EPILOGUE

  FAITHFUL AND TRUE

  After Flurry’s return to Middleasia, he told his mother the entire story of his adventures with Honja, Lotora, Tomodachi, and Yujin. To his surprise, she believed him. Flurry then got her permission to take his baby reeyu to his home in Ursus, so someone could take care of her for him while he was in Middleasia. His mother agreed, and Flurry made the trip.

  While in Ursus, Flurry contacted a friend whom he thought might be the most appreciative of an infant reeyu. While he waited for his reeyu’s new caretaker to arrive, Flurry sat in Christopher Kringle’s comfy chair by the fireplace and ate some of Catherine’s chocolate chip cookies.

  Christopher had been out for a while, but was now returning home. He was amused to find the little cub in such a big chair. “Well, hello there,” came Christopher’s greeting.

  “Hello, Santa!” Flurry replied with cookie crumbs on his scarf and chocolate all around his mouth.