The Frozen Rainbow

by Astrid Foss

  “Aunt Veronika did it,” Hanna said heavily.

  She sat down beside her sisters and told them what had just happened. “She must have tied us up, dragged us in here and blocked the cave entrance with ice. We’re trapped. I’ve tried to move the ice but I think Aunt Veronika has placed a spell that stops my magic from moving it.”

  “And I can’t draw anything with my hands tied up,” said Ida.

  “And there are no animals for me to turn into,” said Magda. “We really are trapped here.” She shivered. “It’s so cold. We’re going to freeze to death.”

  “Or starve,” said Ida.

  Even Hanna couldn’t find anything positive to say. She shuffled closer to her sisters. “We can’t do anything about being hungry but we can keep each other warm,” she said.

  They huddled together in the dark.

  “I’m sorry we argued earlier,” said Ida shakily.

  “Me too,” said Hanna, glancing apologetically at her sisters. “And I’m sorry I was the one who told Aunt Veronika where we were going.”

  “You didn’t mean to,” said Magda. “You couldn’t have known she would be there in disguise!”

  “I should have said something to you both,” admitted Ida. “I saw her earlier in the market and I knew there was something strange about her.” She hung her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have worked it out and told you both. Mother told us to beware of a stranger. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine, not yours, Hanna.”

  “You couldn’t have guessed that old lady was Aunt Veronika,” said Hanna. “And if we’d had a proper plan like you’d wanted, then maybe none of it would have happened and we’d be safely on our way by now.”

  They bent their heads together – red touching brown touching blonde.

  “I wouldn’t like to be on my own in here,” said Magda, shivering. “I’m glad we’re together.”

  Her sisters nodded in agreement.

  Suddenly, there was a snuffling, scrabbling noise at the entrance to the cave. “What’s that?” said Ida in alarm.

  The scrabbling got louder.

  “It’s an animal!” said Magda. “It’s trying to get through the ice into the cave.”

  “What sort of animal?” said Hanna in alarm. “And why’s it trying to get in?”

  “Do you think it’s something sent by Aunt Veronika?” Ida said, her eyes widening.

  They edged cautiously to the entrance. The scrabbling got louder and then they heard a whining. What was going on? The girls gasped as a white hairy foot with long sharp claws appeared through the ice. Then another paw appeared and a familiar head with soft brown eyes poked through.

  “Oskar!” the girls cried in amazement. The polar bear had used his strong claws to carve a narrow tunnel through the block of ice. His eyes lit up as he saw them and he scrabbled through the ice, before collapsing exhausted on the cave floor.

  “Oskar, you followed us!” said Magda. “You tracked the sleigh!”

  Oskar whimpered as if asking them why they weren’t stroking and fussing over him.

  “We can’t pat you, Oskar,” said Ida, half turning to show him her hands tied behind her back.

  Oskar heaved himself to his feet and shuffled round behind her. She felt his damp nose on her wrists as he snuffled at the ropes and then she felt a strange gnawing sensation. “He’s chewing through the ropes!” she said. “If he frees me, I can draw some scissors and cut your ropes off.”

  The others looked at her in excitement. “And then we can escape through the tunnel he made!” said Hanna.

  “Go on, Oskar,” Magda encouraged. “Good boy!”

  The cub chewed even harder, being careful not to graze Ida’s skin with his strong teeth. She felt one rope snap, then the other, and finally her hands were free.

  “Oh, thank you, Oskar!” she gasped. She rubbed her wrists. They felt numb at first, but as she moved them they started to hurt and ache. Ida ignored the pain. Pulling out her sketchbook, she drew some scissors. They appeared beside her and she picked them up with her trembling fingers. Oskar was already chewing through Magda’s ropes. Ida carefully cut Hanna free.

  “Ow!” her sisters said as they rubbed their sore wrists and hands and shook the stiffness from their arms and shoulders.

  Magda scooped Oskar up and kissed his soft head. “Oh, Oskar, you’re amazing. Without you we would have been trapped here forever!”

  The polar bear cub made a contented wuffling noise.

  “Let’s get out of here,” said Hanna.

  Bending down, they squeezed through the tunnel Oskar had made in the block of ice and emerged shivering into the forest.

  Hanna spotted the blankets and bags that had fallen from the sleigh when it had overturned. She ran over and picked them up. “We’ve still got these.”

  “There’s food in my bag,” said Magda. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

  “I’ll magic up a fire to keep us warm,” said Ida.

  Soon the three girls were sitting round the blazing fire, sharing out the bread and cheese and apples and feeding Oskar bits of dried meat. With the blankets round their shoulders and the fire warming their faces they soon stopped shivering. The sky was dark now and through the tree canopy they could see the faint glimmer of the moon.

  “We’ve got to decide what we’re going to do now,” said Magda. “Do we carry on or go home?”

  “We’ve got to go on,” said Ida.

  “Definitely!” exclaimed Hanna. “We can’t give up now. Even if Aunt Veronika’s got to the Rainbow Pools, she might not have found the orb yet. The blue and pink orbs were really well hidden, so hopefully the purple orb is hidden too. And, remember, she doesn’t know she’s looking for a frozen rainbow.”

  “Whatever that means,” said Ida.

  “You’re right. We have to go on,” said Magda, remembering how weak their mother had sounded. “We can’t just sit back and let Aunt Veronika win. We’re Auroras. If there’s still a chance we can stop her, we have to try.”

  Ida got to her feet. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  Oskar grew to full size and the girls climbed on to his back. They’d done this once before, on their last adventure. Hanna clung to the thick fur at the back of his neck while Ida and Magda hung on behind her. Riding a polar bear was nothing like riding a pony; Oskar rolled from side to side and they had to hold on tightly! As they came out of the trees on to the plains, the moon shone down, lighting their way. It was so close to the Day of the Midnight Sun – the girls knew that night would only be an hour or so long.

  Oskar galloped over the plains and across the icy tundra, heading towards the snow-capped volcanic mountains that loomed in front of them. As they drew closer, they could see steam rising from the land in great white clouds. “Those must be the lava fields!” cried Ida.

  “The snow’s thinner here,” Hanna pointed out.

  “It’s because it’s warmer at the base of the volcanoes,” said Ida. “Underneath this rock there’s a sea of boiling magma – the fiery liquid that pours out when the volcano erupts. It heats the hot springs and mud pools and creates the geysers that shoot water into the sky.”

  “I hope the volcano doesn’t erupt today,” said Magda with a shiver.

  The sun had already started to rise over the horizon like a golden eye, its rays lighting up the black sky with streaks of pale grey.

  Oskar reached the edge of the lava fields and stopped.

  “What a strange, strange place,” breathed Hanna.

  In front of them grey rock covered the land in weird ripples and waves where lava flows had cooled in the icy air. The snow barely covered it. Everywhere they looked there were steaming pools of bubbling water and craters filled with gurgling pale-blue mud. Geysers shot jets of scalding hot water high into the sky like strange fountains, and gas streamed out of holes in the rocky ground. Clouds of steam floated across the landscape.

  The girls slid off Oskar’s back.

  �
��You can turn back to your usual size now,” Magda said, stroking him. With a relieved sigh he shrank back down and padded around, sniffing the air and growling softly.

  “Do you think Aunt Veronika is somewhere here?” Ida said, looking about uneasily. It was hard to see much through the clouds of steam. Their aunt could be anywhere.

  “I wonder if she’s found the orb yet,” said Hanna.

  “She might be here so we’d better be really careful,” said Magda. “I wonder where the Rainbow Pools are? I can’t see any rainbows anywhere.”

  “Maybe it has to be daytime before the rainbows appear,” said Ida. “A book I read in the castle library said the Rainbow Pools are at the base of the volcano.”

  “Let’s head over there then,” said Hanna. She hurried forward but stopped with a cry as a column of boiling water and steam shot up directly in front of her. Magda and Ida pulled her back to safety as the water column disappeared back down into the ground.

  “We’re going to have to go slowly!” Ida said, her heart beating fast. “There are all sorts of dangers here. Not just the geysers shooting hot water up but the boiling pools of mud. And even the pools that aren’t boiling have such thick mud that they could suck us down into their depths.”

  “We’ll go very slowly,” said Magda. “Won’t we, Hanna?” She held on to her sister’s arm, knowing how impatient she could be.

  “All right,” Hanna agreed reluctantly.

  “And keep our eyes peeled for Aunt Veronika,” warned Magda. “Remember, she could be anywhere.”

  They set off cautiously across the lava fields, Oskar bounding along beside the girls. The rocky ground rose up and down, and they had to skirt round the treacherous mud pools and geysers, being very careful not to slip into any of them while keeping alert for any sign of their aunt. They made very slow progress.

  Magda watched the sun rising in the sky and thought of Madame Olga. She would be so worried about them. She wished they could go faster but she knew it wouldn’t be safe.

  “If only we knew where Aunt Veronika is,” Hanna said. “I keep thinking she’s going to appear at any moment.”

  “Or that the lion is going to pounce on us,” agreed Ida.

  “Maybe I can use my magic to work out where they are,” said Magda, looking thoughtfully at a family of white Arctic hares who were playing on a patch of short grass just ahead of them. When they had been searching for the blue orb she had transformed into an Arctic fox. She could still remember how vivid the smells had been and how clear her eyesight had become when she had been a fox. Maybe if she turned into a hare, the same thing would happen? “If I turn into an Arctic hare, I might be able to track down Aunt Veronika.”

  Hanna nodded. “Good idea. We’ll be able to go faster if we’re not having to watch out for her with every step.”

  “Be careful, though,” said Ida.

  Magda fixed her eyes on the hares and let the rest of the world fade away. She imagined having four paws, sensitive ears and a twitching nose. Magic rushed into her and she felt herself starting to shrink. Suddenly she realised she was staring at Hanna and Ida’s knees. She blinked and gazed around. The world looked very different now she was a hare. Colours weren’t as bright but she could hear things very clearly – the rustle of the map in Ida’s pocket, Oskar’s sleepy breathing, the faint rattle as the arrow in Hanna’s compass made tiny movements.

  She sat up on her hind legs and sniffed the air. Beneath the overwhelming egg-like stench of the mud, she could catch the smell of the other hares and her sisters’ unique scents – Hanna smelling like fresh grass and Ida smelling of rose petals. She could also sense something else, a faint scent coming from the base of the volcano. She felt her whiskers twitching in alarm. It was something to be scared of, something large and fierce that made her want to bolt into a hole. She realised what it was – the white lion!

  Magda fought back her fear and headed towards the scent. She knew she would have to be careful. If the lion saw her, he’d probably eat her in one gulp! She hopped past steaming pools and craters filled with blue-grey mud. To her relief, she no longer had to think which was the safe way to go, an animal instinct for danger guided her nimble paws. She stopped as a cloud of steam cleared and she saw an amazing sight in front of her – at least thirty geysers randomly shooting columns of steam and water up into the sky at the foot of the volcano. The sun was shining down and rainbows were forming over the geysers, forming shimmering arches of multicoloured light. She’d found the Rainbow Pools!

  She spotted a tall figure with long dark hair standing some way off beside the sabre-toothed lion and she pressed herself to the ground, her whiskers twitching frantically. She’d also found Aunt Veronika!

  Every instinct in her hare body told her to turn and run but she forced herself not to give in. Heart pounding, she hopped closer.

  Her aunt didn’t notice. Her eyes were fixed on the columns of steam and she was muttering to herself.

  “It’s got to be here somewhere, but where?” the Shadow Witch was snarling. “I must find it.”

  Magda felt a rush of relief. Aunt Veronika hadn’t found the orb yet! That meant they still had a chance to save Nordovia and their parents.

  The Shadow Witch tossed back her hair and raised a hand to the sky. She called out a string of harsh words. Lightning flashed from her fingers but then sizzled to the ground and went out. She stamped her foot in frustration. “Why is my magic not finding it?” she screamed.

  Magda hopped away. Now she knew where Aunt Veronika was she could warn the others. She raced back across the lava fields to where Ida and Hanna were waiting. Reaching them, she transformed back into herself.

  “What happened? Did you find the frozen rainbow?” demanded Ida.

  Magda shook her head, gasping for breath and pointing back to where she had come from. “No, but I’ve found Aunt Veronika. She’s over there!”

  “But where’s the orb?” Hanna cried in frustration, stamping her foot.

  “Let me think,” said Ida slowly. “There was something in the book I read about one geyser set apart from the others that shoots into the sky so often that it appears to always have a rainbow over it. Maybe we need to look for that geyser.”

  She scanned the landscape and noticed something – in the opposite direction to where Magda had seen Aunt Veronika the sky looked slightly different. It was a paler blue with a slight lilac tint. Ida watched two birds that had been flying in a straight line towards the paler sky suddenly bank and swoop round it. That was odd. Was there something over there that was making the sky different? Something magical?

  Excitement rushed through her and she swung back to her sisters. “Come this way! I think I know where we should look!”

  The girls and Oskar edged their way carefully round the pools and craters until they reached the foot of the volcano. Ida suddenly saw something that made her stop. “There!” she exclaimed, pointing ahead to a large dark–blue pool.

  There was something different about this pool. The column of steam that was shooting up from its depths into the sky had paused mid-eruption as if it had been frozen. The floating column of steam was glowing a dusky purple and over the top of it arched a single perfect rainbow, frozen into place just like the steam. It was stunningly beautiful.

  “The frozen rainbow,” Hanna breathed, looking at the perfect rainbow glittering in the sun.

  “The orb’s got to be hidden here!” said Magda in excitement.

  “Let’s start looking!” said Ida. She thought of Aunt Veronika on the other side of the volcano and crouched down. “Oskar, please can you stay on guard for us?”

  The cub knew what “on guard” meant. He gave a short bark and pricked his ears as he turned to scan the surrounding geyser pits and craters.

  “Perhaps the orb’s buried somewhere nearby,” Hanna suggested.

  “There’s not much snow or earth,” Ida said, looking at the barren rocks around them. “It’s just lava with magma underneath.”
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  “Wait!” said Ida suddenly. “Look at the light – the purple light. It’s deeper at the top of the column, isn’t it?” The others followed her gaze and nodded as they saw she was right. At the top of the column the light was dark purple, fading to lilac at the base where they were standing. “It could be because the orb is hidden at the top of the geyser – where the rainbow is,” Ida said.

  Hanna nodded. “But how are we going to get up there to find out?”

  “Maybe I could draw something we could climb up? A ladder perhaps?” suggested Ida.

  Just then Oskar gave a warning bark. They swung round and saw their aunt coming round the volcano with the lion. She gave an enraged shriek as she spotted them. “You girls!” she exclaimed, her voice carrying across the craters. “How did you escape?” Her eyes fell on the suspended geyser behind them. “The orb!” she breathed, looking up at the purple light.

  Oskar growled fiercely and started to bound towards her.

  “No, Oskar!” Magda cried.

  But she was too late.

  A ball of green light flew from her aunt’s fingers and hit Oskar’s chest. He gave a whimper and collapsed.

  “What have you done to him?” screamed Magda.

  “It’ll be you next, nieces!” cackled the Shadow Witch.

  She raised her hands to the skies and screeched out a command, then she pointed to the ground in front of her and made a snatching movement with her fingers. A stream of molten lava bubbled out of the ground, glowing yellow and red. The Shadow Witch brought her hands together and the magma turned into a huge blazing ball. She sent it rolling towards the girls like a bowling ball made of fire. Hanna grabbed Ida and Magda and pulled them out of the way just in time. It bounced over the rocks and hit the wall of the volcano, exploding into molten pieces.

  “Ow!” gasped Hanna as one of the pieces scorched her cheek.