by Joel Ross
26
THE BEAST LOOKED like a six-eyed polar bear—hulking and white and furry—except for the turtle shell covering her back. She looked like a “she,” too, though Ji couldn’t tell exactly why.
“A bug!” Roz gasped. “A bear!”
“Whoa,” Ji said. “Wow.”
“Hoo,” Sally added. “Boy.”
“Hi!” Chibo fluted, spreading his wings happily. “I’m Chibo!”
We’re Nin!
The bugbear gestured like a butler, inviting them to enter the white-blue glow beyond the door.
“A pleasure,” Roz said with a slight curtsy. “May I ask if the Ice Witch—”
“And that’s my sister, Sally,” Chibo continued, swooping past the bugbear and through the open door.
He vanished into the glow. Sally growled and bounded after him, with Roz and Ji following. They darted past the bugbear into a hallway made of white-blue ice. The floor was ice, the ceiling was ice. Everything was ice. Warm ice.
“Okay,” Ji said, “now this is happening.”
Farther into the hallway, Sally grabbed Chibo’s wrist. She snarled at him not to fly off alone, while Roz whispered, “This is where the Ice Witch lives.”
When the bugbear touched her icicle necklace, the door sealed shut. She beckoned again, then headed down the hallway. Ji followed, staring through the translucent floors. The blurred shapes of bugbears moved on levels below him, like snapping turtles swimming in an icebound lake. Blue-white domes were lofted above semitransparent ceilings, and slabs of ice shifted and spun in caverns behind the glossy walls. Wonder and hope chimed with each of Ji’s footsteps. They’d survived demons and goblins, armies and mountains and magic. They’d reached the Ice Witch’s palace.
The hallway ended in a great hall that stretched wider than a dozen ballrooms and rose higher than a castle tower.
Chibo gasped.
Nin mind-spoke in Ogrish.
Roz rumbled, “Beautiful.”
Sally eyed the bugbear suspiciously.
And Ji stared in awe, stepping onto a balcony decorated with sculptures of snow and carpets of frost. Ice columns lined the ground floor, and a dozen more balconies clung to the walls. A white-blue chimney, big enough for an entire river of smoke, opened in the ceiling. In the center of the hall stood an enormous onyx platform holding a boulder-sized crystal.
“Do you think that crystal is the Ice Witch’s throne?” Sally asked.
“It doesn’t look like a throne,” Ji said.
“What does it look like?” Chibo asked.
A cloudyboulder, Nin told him. On a tablestone in the middle of an emptyfloor.
“Oh,” Chibo said. “Thanks.”
The bugbear gestured toward a curving stairway that swept down to the ground floor. Except there were no stairs. It was a slide—a wide, curving slideway—and the bugbear shuffled onto it and glided away. Her white fur ruffled and her six eyes glittered. She didn’t even hold the banister; she merely slid off when she reached the lower floor.
Sally bounded onto the slide, keeping her balance like a miniature version of the bugbear. “Wa-hoo!”
Ji stepped onto the slide and whizzed downward. Too fast! He heard Roz rumble in alarm behind him while Chibo hooted in pleasure. The world whipped past; then Ji landed on the softest rug in the world. Well, not a rug exactly. More like a bugbear belly. Still really soft, though.
The bugbear set him aside and caught Roz’s arm when she stumbled off the slide.
“Th-thank you,” Roz said.
The bugbear led them across the white-blue floor to the onyx platform. The cloudy crystal atop the platform reminded Ji of uncut diamonds, and he felt the throb of treasure somewhere, but not close enough to touch. He followed Sally up the platform stairs to the crystal, his heart pounding in his chest.
“Are we supposed to knock again?” Chibo asked, flitting beside him.
“I have slept for six huNdred years,” said a voice like hail on a frozen lake. “Waking only for each diadem riTe.”
Ji jerked away from the crystal. “You’re the Ice Witch?”
“The crystal?” Sally growled. “The crystal is the witch?”
Crystalwitch! Nin said, as ant lions dropped from the backpack and spread across the platform.
“We—” Roz curtsied. “We are pleased to meet you, ma’am. We’ve come a long way to beg for your help.”
Blue-white light gleamed along the facets of the crystal. “I’ve waiTed for centuries, Winter Snake. I watched you travel to my mouNtain.”
The words “Winter Snake” dug a pit in Ji’s stomach, but he managed to say, “Then you know why we’re here.”
“You’re the Winter Snake!” Chibo stared at Ji. “You really are the Winter Snake.”
“He is not the Winter Snake,” the crystal said. “He is a Winter Snake.”
Roz touched Ji’s arm. “He is Jiyong, ma’am. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“Any human bespelled iNto a dragon is a Winter Snake.” The crystal gleamed. “I knew this day woulD come! I knew the day would come when a winter snAke ventured to my mountain to end this tyranNy.”
“There’s something in there,” Sally growled with an edge of fear. “Something’s moving inside the crystal.”
The bugbear tapped the crystal again, and the cloudy quartz cleared.
Ji’s breath caught. Because a tiny figure stood in the center of the hollow crystal—a woman the size of Ji’s forearm. She looked like a glass sculpture: delicate and beautiful. Sapphire and garnet gleamed on her skin, emerald and ruby and opal swirled in her gown.
“You’re inside the—” Roz gasped, caught between shock and wonder. “I . . . We didn’t know, we thought—”
“I’ve slepT in this crystal bed for centuries,” the tiny glass-woman said. “The summer queeNs imprisoned me, yet I turned my prison into my palace. Now my tiMe comes to an end. Today my dreams will succeeD or fail.”
“Ours, too,” Ji told her, his throat tight. “Will you break the spell?”
“I shall.” The Ice Witch stepped toward him inside the crystal shell. “But first you must grant me a faVor.”
“Sure,” Ji said.
“Wait a second,” Sally said, her eyes narrowing. “What do you want from him?”
“Slept for centuries?” Roz rumbled, pressing her hand to her chest. “So you’re the original Ice Witch? You witnessed the final battle and met the first Summer Queen and—”
“I didn’t meeT the first Summer Queen,” the Ice Witch interrupted. “I was the first Summer Queen.”
27
“I DON’T—” ROZ swallowed. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“I defenDed my people,” the tiny Ice Witch told her, “but I brutaliZed the other nations. I gave the White Worms power and trapped ogres in their mounTains.”
“We . . . all make mistakes,” Roz said.
“And we must fix them,” the Ice Witch told her. “I have planned for ceNturies to repair the damage I did. Do you wonder why snow does noT melt in these mountains?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Because I do not let it. Six hundred years of snowfall is collected on these mouNtain peaks.”
“That’s a lot of snowflakes,” Chibo fluted.
“And this is my tasK for the Winter Snake.” The Ice Witch turned her gemlike face to Ji. “You must melT all of that snow.”
“Then you’ll turn us human again?” Ji asked, trying to stick to the main point.
“You want him to melt the snow?” Roz furrowed her granite-flecked brow. “Won’t that unleash a flood? A six-hundred-year flood?”
“Yes,” the Ice Witch said.
“That much water . . .” Roz shuddered. “An ocean would pour down from the mountains! It would drown entire villages and sweep away everything from Mirror Lake to Summer City—”
“Thus destroying the humaN realm,” the Ice Witch said, her tiny eyes glittering. “And fixing my mistaKe.”
“
It would kill thousands of people,” Roz rumbled in horror. “Tens of thousands.”
The dread in her voice sent a shiver down Ji’s spine. Destroying villages? Drowning kitchen maids and footmen? Killing boot boys and goblins? He’d vowed to pay any price to stop the Summer Queen, but what if he couldn’t? What if he shouldn’t?
“It will free the ogres from the Gravewoods,” the Ice Witch told Roz. “It will bReak the power of the White Worms and return magic to the huMans.”
“If any survive,” Sally growled.
“You’d let the oGres die?” the Ice Witch demanded. “You’d let the goblins live in slavery?”
“I’m not saying that!” Sally’s ruff rose. “I don’t know!”
We cannot let the ogres foreverdie, Nin said. We cannot.
Ji nodded slowly. Nin was right.
“We also can’t drown thousands of innocent people!” Sally snarled.
Ji frowned slowly. Sally was right too.
“Nobody is inNocent,” the Ice Witch told Sally. “The humans flourished using the laNd and power I stole.”
“They never asked!” Chibo fluted angrily. “They never asked for any of it!”
“You are correct,” the Ice Witch told him with a regal nod. “They neVer asked where their victory came from. They never cared.”
Ji tapped his claws on the cool crystal shell. Forget about humans and goblins and ogres, forget about realms and floods. What about Roz and Sally, Chibo and Nin? Forget everything else; he needed to take care of them.
He needed to lie.
“You want me to melt the snow?” he asked the Ice Witch. “You want me to flood the valley?”
“That is the only way to defeaT the Summer Queen.”
“Then you’ll turn us human again?”
“Yes.”
“Turn us human first,” he told her.
The crystal shell gleamed. “And afterward, you will refuse to meLt the snow.”
“And afterward, I’ll do whatever you want,” he promised.
She gave him a knowing look. “If you do not flood the reaLm, the Summer Queen will simply caSt a new Diadem Rite and raise a new water tree.”
“Well, yeah, but—” He frowned. “Melting the snow won’t stop her from casting a spell.”
“It will,” the Ice Witch said. “The queen will exhauSt her power trying to protect her people from the fLood. She’ll have no strength to transform you again.”
“Okay.” Ji paused. “That actually makes sense. If I flood the realm, she’ll have other things to worry about.”
Chibo’s wings flared. “Like all those farmers dying . . .”
“All those servants,” Roz rumbled. “All those families.”
“And horses,” Sally added. “Trapped in stables . . .”
“And the weaver kids,” Chibo whispered. “Tied to their looms.”
What about cubs trapped by the Gravewoods? Nin asked. And goblins trapped in hatecollars?
“So if I flood the realm, the queen will be too weak to kill us,” Ji told the Ice Witch. “But I can’t. There’s no treasure here.”
“There is a single gem,” the Ice Witch told him. “One jewel, crafted for centuRies. This crystal is my cell but also my shield. Not even you can feel a geM through its walls.”
“What are you talking abo—” he started.
The Ice Witch sang a throbbing note, and panes were shed from the crystal to shatter on the floor. As the translucent shell collapsed, the roar of treasure filled Ji’s ears. The thunder of a priceless gemstone struck him like a battering ram. His skin tingled and his eyes burned. Hunger seized his heart and fire climbed his spine.
“What’s happening?” Roz asked him, stepping closer. “What is it?”
“She—” Ji pointed a shaking finger at the Ice Witch, who now stood exposed on a crystal podium. “She turned herself into a living gemstone. If I touch her, I can melt every flake of snow in this mountain range.”
“What if she still won’t turn us human?” Sally growled.
“With this much power,” the Ice Witch said, “the Winter Snake can do it himself.”
Despite the dragonmagic roaring through him, Ji managed to stammer, “I c-can?”
“Dragons can do more than transforM gems into fire.” Shards of crystal gleamed on the onyx platform. “Your magic is the same as that of the Diadem Rite.”
“It’s the s-same?” Ji asked, his body trembling.
“Identical.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “It’s the same magic? Stealing fire from treasure and stealing souls from people?”
“Yes. You can draw humanity from your eneMies, just as you draw fire from gems.”
“I can use their souls,” he whispered, “to fix ours.”
“After you melt the snow, or the queen will simply transfoRm you again.” The Ice Witch pointed to the hole in the ceiling. “Shoot your flaMes into the chimney and spread them across the mouNtains until—”
“You’ll die,” Roz told her. “If Ji draws on your power, you’ll die.”
“I have lived too long,” the Ice Witch said, her jeweled face serene. “I must repair the damaGe I caused.”
“You cannot repair damage by doing more damage,” Roz said.
“You cannot repair damage by doiNg nothing.”
Roz looked near tears. “There must be another way!”
“Unless you can defeaT the Summer Queen, there is not.”
“We can’t beat her,” Sally growled. “Nobody can.”
“I know that!” Roz rumbled. “But this is horrible and wrong and—”
“HumaNs have reigned for too long.” The Ice Witch lifted her miniature hand toward Ji. “It is time to balanCe the scales.”
There was no other way to break the spell. No other way to survive. If Ji melted the snow, he’d hurt the humans but save his friends. If he didn’t, he’d hurt the ogres and goblins—but lose his friends. He didn’t want to make this choice. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. But did that matter? Kitchen maids didn’t want to pluck chickens, boot boys didn’t want to shine shoes. The world didn’t care what you wanted, it only cared what you did.
“Okay,” he said.
The Ice Witch smiled and rested her palm on his finger. Dragonpower thrummed in his chest and—
“Stop!” Brace shouted, and ice shattered across the great hall.
28
WHITE LIGHT GLEAMED around falling chunks of the shattered wall. Armored in magic, Brace and Mr. Ioso strode into the hall. Posey and Nichol followed closely, while farther back the queen melted through icy walls for her army of knights.
Fear spiked in Ji’s chest. He needed to stop them. With a grunt, he reached for the Ice Witch’s arm to draw on her power.
She jerked away. “Don’t waste your dragoNfire on this fight! Melt the sNow!”
“For the Summer Queen!” Brace called, his eyes glowing. “For her realm!”
Mr. Ioso blasted magic at Ji. “And for her prince!”
The Ice Witch sang a crystalline phrase, and a snowy shield blocked the attack.
“Bugbears!” Ji told the Ice Witch. “Make your bugbears stop them!”
“They’re not mine,” she said, uttering another chant. “And they don’t fight.”
She was right: the bugbears didn’t fight. Instead, they turtled, curling beneath their shells, while shimmering white snakes formed around Brace.
“Well, I do,” Ji told the witch, reaching for her again.
A sheet of ice blocked his hand. “I can handle the pRince.”
“The queen’s right behind him.”
“I shall holD her off.” A massive block of ice rose to repair the shattered wall and delay the queen. “While you do what muSt be done.”
“Ji!” Brace yelled, sending white snakes slithering between the ice columns. “You’ll kill thousands of people!”
Ji scowled. “Like you’ve been trying to kill us?”
“Please listen, Prince Brace,” Roz sai
d, as Chibo’s wings struck at the white snakes. “You’re asking us to sacrifice the ogres and goblins. We must—”
“Of course I’m asking you to sacrifice the beasts! They’re beasts.”
“And so are you,” Mr. Ioso said, bringing his glowing fists together.
Magic crackled around him, but an even brighter glow glimmered deeper in the ice palace: the glow of the queen burrowing through the final wall at the head of her army. The Ice Witch’s chants thickened the ice almost as quickly, her glimmering white-blue snow swirling from the air.
“They’re people,” Roz told Ioso. “As are we. Not humans, but peop—”
Mr. Ioso’s blast smashed her shoulder, spinning her around. “Die!”
Roz grunted, Sally bounded forward, and one of Brace’s snakes smacked Chibo against an ice column.
“Roz is right!” Posey said. “They’re people. We need to—”
With a flick of his hand, Brace swept two bugbears into the air and whipped them together, crushing Sally between their shells. She fell gasping to the ground, a spray of blood at her muzzle.
Rage reddened Ji’s vision. Without even touching the Ice Witch, he drew on the power of her gemstone form. His heart turned to fire. Flames roared in his eyes, then erupted at Brace. A white shield sprang from Brace and Ioso and blocked Ji’s attack, while the Ice Witch chanted faster, keeping the queen from breaking through the wall.
“All this,” Brace said, through gritted teeth, “to save filthy animals.”
With a snarl, Ji unleashed more flames. “Why should humans rule?”
“Because we’re human,” Brace said.
“That doesn’t mean—”
“Remember the games we used to play?” Brace’s voice shook with the effort of maintaining his shield. “We were always the heroes, Ji. But you’re the villain of this story.”
“I’m not,” Ji snarled.
“You’re the Winter Snake,” Brace spat. “Now, Ioso!”
Pouring all their power into the white shield, Brace and Ioso forced the dragonfire backward. Sweat beaded on Ji’s face. His eyes stung, his fists clenched—and he remembered what the Ice Witch had told him: stealing fire from gems and stealing souls from people was the same magic. Dragonmagic. His magic. You can draw humanity from your enemies. . . .