I really don't like snow.
The wind gusts were not as bad as they had been, but the snow still fell hard between each rush of cold and ice. I walked straight into the wind, of course. Oh, I might have taken another way, but the sleigh had been heading into the wind, which meant that was the direction to Lord Ice's realm. I didn't know if there was anything in any other direction.
Then I saw something hopeful. A snow drift had grown almost as tall as me -- but right through the middle of it was a cut.
"That's where the sleigh went through," I said, my voice too loud. Edmond looked where I pointed and then ducked his head back into the jacket. "We can't be too far behind. I can still see the marks."
"Yay," Edmond mumbled. He did not sound impressed or happy. He was also shivering again, so I tried to up a bit of warmth, even though I knew that using so much magic was going to deplete me.
If we didn't stay warm, no amount of hoarded magic was going to help. My father had told me something like that just a couple days ago. I didn't know very much about magic, really, but I thought if I could just keep us warm long enough to reach somewhere --
The ground began to tremble. Not, not the ground -- the snow on which I had been walking, hoping it would not give way. I could not imagine what might be beneath us. If we were lucky, it would be more ice caves. If not, we might sink a long, long way into the white --
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The snow around us began to billow upward, and for a moment, I was sure we were dropping into the ground. I held tighter to Edmond and then thought I ought to throw him out --
My feet, I could see, had not dropped into the snow.
Thump, thump, thump.
The wind came harder, and while the ground still trembled, the thumping noise came from the air --
And then something appeared.
I'd only met Lord Ice once. The vast, silver-white dragon flew over us, blocking out everything for a moment. I started to call out, thinking he'd missed us, but he swept back around --
"I think I'm happy to see him," Edmond said and then buried his head farther into my jacket.
I knew what he meant. Dragons are huge and scary, even if you are on the same side. The dragon moved overhead, a wide enough circle that I could only see bits of his wings and the tip of his long tail, but not both at once.
Then with a single swish of his wings, he swept over us and went down, sending a massive billow of snow up and shaking the snow so much I feared we were still going to get buried and lost.
I shook off the snow -- and found myself staring into the bright blue eye of a dragon so large that I had to turn my head to see the other eye. His head rested on the snow, and he stared at me as though he was trying to figure out just exactly what he'd found.
"Hey," Maggie said. "Up here."
I forced myself to look upward. Maggie sat on the dragon's neck and leaned down, offering her hand. I stared at it.
"Come on, Mark. The others are going to be worried if we don't get back soon. Good that you already found Edmond. Mark?"
I had been staring at her because my brain had shut down for a moment. Just too many things going on, I realized. I needed a break. I also needed out of the snow. It was awkward climbing up the side of the dragon, but soon enough, I sat behind Maggie and wrapped one arm around her, just to make sure she was real. The metal wings on her back fluttered a little. I wrapped the other around Edmond to make sure we didn't lose him.
"You made it to safety," I finally managed to say.
"Yeah. We weren't far from the border," Maggie said and sounded calm. "You two okay?"
"Didn't think anyone would come back looking for us," I admitted. "I wasn't sure how far --"
And then the dragon took off, and I lost all sense of what I was about to say. Lord Ice had no trouble taking off and circling back the way we had been heading.
We went up, the wings moving in long slow strokes that, along with a rush of magic, lifted us into the sky. Something as massive as a dragon didn't just fly, but between the two forces, we were leaving the snow-covered land behind.
We flew upward into the snow-laden cloud and reached a world where even the idea of a solid surface disappeared. Edmond's head popped out of his jacket. He looked around, his ears back.
"I am starting to think cats weren't meant to fly," he admitted. Then he disappeared back into my jacket again.
"Glad you're both alright," Maggie said with a laugh. This was not bothering her, but then she did have wings of her own.
We popped out of the snowy and clouds and into bitterly cold and thin air. My eyes watered until Maggie spread a nice blanket of warmth around us.
"Thank you!"
It as pretty up here once I could see and breathe again. The clouds spread out below us, a long line of white fluff that looked like rolling hills. It also looked as though it went on forever, but Lord Ice must have known the way home. He gave a little grunt of warning, and then we slid down into the clouds and out again --
Magic surged up from below us, something bright and powerful. It hit Lord Ice somewhere underneath his body.
And then we were falling like a rock.
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