by Eva Brandt
The silence in our small group stretched awkwardly since our parents’ presence made it impossible for me to discuss the issue with Raijin. I valued them as fighters and understood that their abilities might come in handy, but it was so frustrating to have to worry about their interference at a time like this. Jerika’s earlier comment about the enchantment troubled me deeply. The only bright side of the situation that I could see was the fact that our female wouldn’t have to handle their unavoidable prying.
As if to confirm my thoughts, Noboru decided to shatter the quiet and asked a question that had probably been on all of their minds since before we’d even left The Palace of Serenity. The question itself was, however, not one I had expected. “Do you truly think this creature is as powerful as Her Majesty says? I do not mean to place doubt upon your female’s words, but I can’t help but deem it unlikely that this Snegurka would be able to defeat all of us as easily as Her Majesty seems to believe.”
Despite Noboru’s level and reasonable tone, I couldn’t help but bristle at his words. Raijin intervened before I could say something regrettable to his father. “That is because you haven’t seen the true extent of Cheimon’s power. She can immobilize any one of us with a thought if she so pleases. That is the whole point. Our reptilian blood makes us very vulnerable to the cold. And even if that hadn’t been the case, we’d still be no match for her magic.”
“Your female is that powerful?” my mother asked. “You’ve witnessed it before?”
“Yes, of course,” I replied, pride surging through me and sliding into my voice despite the seriousness of our circumstances. “The most powerful female of all. And if Cheimon says that Snegurka is that dangerous, we trust her. You have to understand that this is not Terra Dracones, Mother. The authority we had there is meaningless in Chronikos. We would not have agreed to leave her side if we hadn’t known she was right.”
“We appreciate your desire to help,” Raijin added, “but remember, this is not a game. Don’t say anything that would question Cheimon in front of the people we are about to see. It’s the last thing we need right now.”
“We will be careful, darling,” Kasumi said. “We understand the necessity of respecting your female’s position. But again, you can’t blame us for being concerned. This whole business with the demonic enchantment is very strange.”
I would have probably trusted her promises of “being careful” more had I not still suspected them of being the indirect cause of all of this. The only other option was Jack. I wondered if Jack’s actions and those of our own parents had both contributed to Snegurka’s ability to escape her prison, and the thought made me seethe.
“We don’t like it any more than you do,” Raijin said tightly. “The spell that brought us here ended up hurting Cheimon. We were investigating the issue at the time, and we returned to her side to find her... practically dying. We managed to fight it back, but it was pretty ugly. And now, this. I just... This is all wrong.”
I understood exactly what Raijin meant. The incident with Jack was still fresh in our minds, but in some ways, our current problem was worse. We were all flailing, trying to find the best way out, and fighting a shadow that almost seemed to be in two places at the same time. The only thing we knew for certain was that Snegurka was our enemy and possessed skills beyond our ability to challenge, but that didn’t help us that much.
To top it off, a small, petty part of me was angry at my secretive female. Even before this whole thing had happened, I’d noticed some reluctance in her demeanor, but since we hadn’t courted her properly, I’d deemed it natural and had not wanted to push her. To a certain extent, I still understood her point of view. This wasn’t something that could be brought up in casual conversation. However, considering the fact that Jack had used Snegurka’s own spell to harm Cassia—albeit by accident—one would think our soulmate would trust us with the whole story. She hadn’t, and that burned.
Fortunately, our parents did not question us any further, although that could’ve had more to do with the fact that we were reaching our destination, rather than their sudden decision to trust our assessment.
The Bridge of Frosted Leaves was straight ahead and Abominable—or Abby, as Cassia called him—had stationed himself in front of it, together with a handful of others. Before we could go talk to Jack, we needed to speak to him.
As expected, Abby noticed us as soon as we started to descend from the clouds. However, he showed no sign of the fear and anger he’d displayed in the past. Instead, he waited patiently until we landed in front of him.
Yetis were an odd species. They weren’t the most intelligent bunch, but at the same time, they could communicate through their own language, a language Cassia understood. She claimed their vocabulary tended to be oddly flowery when they spoke to her, which didn’t suit their appearance at all.
In any case, we didn’t have her skills, so our conversation with Abby went about as well as we had expected. “We were sent here by Queen Cheimon,” I said. “The former queen of this land, Snegurka, has escaped and may be headed this way in the future.”
The only response we received was an infuriated roar from Abby and some snarls from the others. They apparently remembered Snegurka—or were at least familiar with her identity—and weren’t very happy with her. We could empathize, but we didn’t have time to wait until the yetis roared themselves hoarse.
Raijin used his magic to make them stop and sternly continued, “You are to be very careful and stay put. Do not engage Snegurka if she shows up. That is the queen’s command and you must obey.”
The yetis had no trouble understanding that. They nodded, although they still chose to express their obvious displeasure through a series of grunts that I suspected might hold a hefty amount of insults.
Since there was nothing more to do here, we left the yetis, and took off once again, crossing the bridge and heading into The Realm of Eternal Bounties. As we entered the land Cassia’s sister ruled, we started looking around for the den we knew had to be around here somewhere.
Raijin and I had never actually visited Lerna’s lair in the past. We’d spoken to her when we’d been searching for Jack, but we hadn’t gotten the chance to do much more than that and she hadn’t invited us into her home either.
Even so, it was not difficult for us to locate it. I’d originally intended to just use my senses to track Jack down as I had in the past, but it wasn’t necessary. Not long after we crossed the Topaz, we caught sight of a small building being erected in the shade of some weeping willows. It reminded me an awful lot of Jack’s original cottage, minus all the ice and snow, although I also suspected it concealed the entrance to whatever Lerna had used before as her home.
We had made tentative plans to build Cassia a lair as well. The idea had been temporarily set aside, as we’d decided to get used to Tou Cheimóna a little more before we could push for such a thing. A part of me wondered if maybe Cassia had in some way sensed that we’d taken an inappropriate approach to our mating, and that was why she had not trusted us with her secret.
Frustrated with my own morose thoughts, I pushed back my bout of self-pity and focused on the matter at hand, finding Jack. Mercifully, this proved to be even easier than finding Lerna’s lair. He was in front of the cottage, slicing through some vines with a knife made out of ice. He must’ve heard us approach because he abandoned his work and looked up. The moment he saw us, his knife dissipated into a flurry of snowflakes. Despite the fact that he’d set his weapon aside, I had a feeling that he had already realized this wasn’t a courtesy visit.
As we landed in front of the cottage, he came to greet us, his brow set in a deep frown. “Raijin, Kerryn. Err... Welcome.” He stole a glance at our parents, visibly confused by their presence. In the end, he seemed to decide their identity was irrelevant and asked, “Is everything all right with Cassia?”
“Yes and no,” I answered. “She sent us to give you a warning. It’s about Snegurka.”
Jack’
s complexion had always been pale, but what little color he’d had in his cheeks completely faded when I said his half-sister’s name. “W-What? What do you mean? Is she...”
He trailed off, unable to finish the phrase. Raijin did it for him. “She’s free, yes. We aren’t sure about the reasons right now, but Cassia thinks it’s possible she might target you, especially now that you’re here with Lerna.”
I didn’t go into too many details regarding his bond with the hydra, as we hadn’t exactly gotten the chance to explain it to our parents. They did know she was here, but we hadn’t revealed the whole soulmate business since we had deemed it a private affair and it hadn’t been our place to make such revelations. It was probably why Cassia hadn’t mentioned it at the palace either.
Lerna seemed to sense that we’d come here to disturb her lair, which surprised exactly no one. She emerged out of nowhere, in her human form, but somehow, still managing to be just as threatening as she usually was when she looked like an eight-headed serpent. “What is happening, Jack?” she asked. “Who is free?”
She must’ve heard at least part of the conversation, enough, at least, to alarm her. “My half-sister,” Jack answered. “You know, the one I told you about.”
“Ah.”
It was just one syllable, but it told me everything I needed to know about Lerna’s take on the issue. Clearly, Jack had given his hydra soulmate all the details about his past history with Snegurka, and Lerna wasn’t any happier about it than we had been. “What must we do?” she inquired.
“For the moment, Cassia doesn’t think Snegurka can leave Tou Cheimóna,” Raijin replied, “and she might not be aware of the full details of your relationship. However, it would be useful if you could go warn Queen Phthinoporon.”
A deep scowl settled on Lerna’s face. “What happened to Karasu? He passed over the bridge recently. We were expecting his return.”
“He was attacked by Snegurka,” I explained. “We have no idea when he will recover. It appears that Snegurka can overcome the protection on the messengers, as Mariko is missing, and Oki disappeared with her. Cassia believes Snegurka must’ve harmed them in some way.”
“I see,” Jack murmured. “Of course I will go and warn Cassia’s sisters of what is happening, as long as Lerna is safe in my absence.”
Why was I not surprised he’d decided to take the same approach as Cassia? “Don’t make me beat you, Jack Frost,” Lerna hissed at him. “I’ll be perfectly fine. I can defend myself.”
“Not from that kind of ice magic, you can’t.”
The two of them glared at one another, and not for the first time, I wished I’d gone with Cassia instead of sending Emmerich with her. It wasn’t that I thought we’d made the wrong choice. On the contrary, I still believed we’d been correct in our strategy. It was just maddening to have to run into the same argument over and over again.
Our parents must’ve been as exasperated as I was because Jerika intervened before Raijin or I could. “Look, not to interrupt here, but we’ve just witnessed the same exchange between our sons and Queen Cheimon earlier. I think you are both aware that the matter at hand is much too serious to let your concerns about one another get in the way.”
“It’s perfectly normal to be concerned about your female,” my father added, “but we don’t have time to argue.”
Jack stared at them in disbelief, at which point it occurred to us that we’d completely forgotten to make the introductions. “Right. Jack Frost, we’d like you to meet our parents, who recently arrived in Tou Cheimóna to congratulate us on our mating.” That wasn’t accurate in the least bit, and it would’ve probably been more polite to allow our families to introduce themselves in a proper manner, but like my father had said, we didn’t have too much time at our disposal. I swept over the whole thing in a rush, not bothering to pretend I thought it was that important. “This is my mother Brigid and my father Devin Thurlacht, Raijin’s parents, Kasumi, and Noboru no Kurapati, and last, but not least, Emmerich’s parents, Isebrand and Jerika von Adalberd. Everyone, this is Jack Frost. And of course, you already know Lerna.”
“Yes, yes, dear.” My mother rolled her eyes. “We know, and we’ll have time to catch up later.”
I was grateful that they had chosen to be practical and sensible about this. “Good. Now, Jack, there are a few more things you should probably know. The injury on the tengu? It was some kind of possession. Snegurka’s spirit took over Karasu’s body. Cassia attempted to use that to trap your half-sister, but your father got in the way and she escaped. I’m afraid this won’t end well for him.”
Jack let out a slow breath. “I can’t say I didn’t see that one coming. He took my exile poorly.”
“There’s more. Mere minutes after Snegurka fled the palace, we were notified of an attack on the amarok pack stationed next to The Bridge of Melting Snowflakes. We don’t have a lot of information about it, but it is worth noting. We’ve already told the yeti here to stay put, but you might want to keep in mind as well.”
“I will remember,” Jack answered. “Thank you for telling me. I’m heading out now. You all be careful. Cassia will kill me slowly if something happens to you. Lerna...”
Lerna shot him an exasperated, but fond look. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
I didn’t know what to say that would make things better so I said nothing. Raijin managed a simple farewell, using the traditional words Cassia fell onto for the formal goodbyes she hated so much. “May the serenity of the gods guide your steps.”
“And may their bounties grant you the perfect weapons to smite down your foes,” Lerna replied.
I was pretty sure that wasn’t Pandora’s equivalent of the words Raijin had offered, but at the end of the day, we were dragons. Serenity could only help us so much. Smiting suited us far better.
Ironically, I suspected Cassia was the same, this time around, at least. If she had been inclined to display mercy before, she would definitely not hold back in any way after what Snegurka had done to the amarok pack.
Turning away from Jack and Lerna, we launched ourselves into the air once again and headed back the way we’d come. Now that we were done here, the next issue on our agenda was Cassia’s missing undead guards. They would not be so easy to find since we had never actually been to Snegurka’s prison, nor had we met the wendigo who guarded it. We did know the general location of the outpost in question, but we hadn’t deemed it any more important than the other garrisons. We hadn’t run into December on the way here as we had hoped so he would not be able to help us. Perhaps he was already at the prison.
As it turned out, our concerns over a possible inability to find the missing people proved to be for naught. On the blindingly white terrain of The Realm of Eternal Ice, everything that wasn’t of that color stood out, and minutes after we had crossed the Topaz once again, we noticed a prone black figure lying on the ground beneath us. I might not have met Oki before, but even from the distance, I could identify the body as belonging to a wendigo.
It was nothing if not suspicious, and the fact that no one else seemed nearby did not make it any less so. Cassia should’ve been able to detect the people whose essences she was familiar with anywhere on Tou Cheimóna. Had Oki been so easy to find, she would’ve tracked him down without us having to come here. Still, that didn’t mean we could afford to not investigate. According to Cassia, the wendigo had been faithful to her and to her family, and if we could provide him with assistance, we would.
“Be careful,” Raijin’s mother said as we started to descend. “I don’t like this at all.”
“Neither do we,” Raijin replied, “but we have no choice.”
We landed a few feet away from the black figure and slowly strode toward him, all the while keeping a close eye on our surroundings. Everything was quiet, almost too quiet. The Realm of Eternal Ice wasn’t exactly known for its vivacity, but even in the most barren wastelands, there was always motion of some kind. If living beings were not around, t
he blizzard always was, and the wind alone seemed to have substance and cognizance. Here, I could sense none of that. No matter how serene Cassia wanted her realm to be, I had a feeling this was not what she had intended.
Raijin walked steadily by my side, and the sway of his long serpentine form settled my restless beast. Our parents felt nowhere near as confident. “This is wrong,” Noboru mumbled. “This is all wrong. We shouldn’t be here.”
I ignored him. As I reached Oki’s side, I gently turned the wendigo over with my foot.
The second my body made contact with Oki’s, a pale, slim hand reached out to grab me from underneath the snow. I wasn’t in the least bit surprised, but I had a feeling that whoever had dared to ambush us would be.
I was Cassia’s soulmate and a wyvern, and I was not happy. Ice magic user or not, our attacker would soon find that there was a reason why dragons were one of the most feared species on the planet.
* * *
Raijin
It was a little amusing, but since my arrival in Chronikos and my subsequent bonding to Cassia, I’d noticed an interesting shift in my magic. Prior to my agreement with Kerryn and Emmerich, my beast had identified them as rivals, but we’d more than surpassed that. I didn’t know how or at which point it had happened, but we instinctively moved around one another, and I could almost always tell what they were thinking or planning to do.
For this reason, when Kerryn decided to lure out whatever creature was lurking underneath the wendigo by using himself as bait, it was easy to fall in line with his plan. When the hand emerged from beneath the frozen soil, I used my magic to take hold of the creature. Kerryn leaped back, avoiding its hold in deference to Cassia’s earlier warnings.
I expected to encounter some resistance from our would-be attacker, but no such thing happened. Instead, whoever was underneath the snow almost seemed to... welcome my touch?
