18 Winter Star

She flew along the line barrier, looking for any elder tree on the south side of the barrier.

After all, the north side is Frontier. Given what she has seen three days ago, going even a single mile is deadly these days.

After thirty miles, she found one in a grove on the south side of the barrier, a new elder tree, grown right from the foundation of the Barrier.

Then she returned to the Barrier to stay the night in her place.

Dan was waiting for her when she landed.

Sasha readied herself for getting a scolding, but all Dan did after the initial harsh words was to sigh and guide her to the dinner.

Dinner was just three of them, in the kings tower, with a rich white soup, and a hearty black bread.

Sasha ate without reservation, while Dan ate ravenously.

Bran pecked at his food, even so, he did eat more than he did during the afternoon.

Seems he has almost starved to death during his expedition in the Frontier.

"Bran! How did you think of going to the Frontier ? After all, it was dangerous, and your condition is not quite suitable for taking a stroll in the wild of the shadow forest ? " Sasha asked.

She has long been curious.

Sure, Frontier is one place Flayers can't reach, but Bran is a prince. No matter who weak the Winterchild's finance, they will still have more than enough to run east and live comfortably.

Why did he not do so ?

" I had to go north, to be the new oracle. I was late as is." Bran answered.

Sasha frowned.

" Late for what, exactly ? " she asked.

Bran did not answer.

" Where did Rudy go ? " she asked after some time. Let Bran keep his secrets.

Bran stayed silent. He spoke just as Sasha was about to repeat her question.

" He went to Fang island." Bran spoke.

A chill began to sweep Sasha's heart.

Fang island is not the same as frontier.

In the frontier, they could at least hunt some sort of food, a snow rabbit here, a reindeer there.

However, it's not so in Fang Island.

There, hunts are thrice as dangerous, given none of the prey are smaller. Rather, human's are the easiest prey.

Thus, most tribes there are cannibalistic, and it is not even held in contempt, as it is done among Snorcs.

A child in such a dangerous area….

Sasha's hands and feet cooled, for a moment, she did not know what to say, neither did she know what to with the blazing anger and utter helplessness she felt.

Had she stayed here for one more moment, she felt like she would explode.

" Please, Excuse me. " She said in a trembling voice, then left immediately.

She ran as fast as she could to catch the elevator, and the next moment, she was on the wall.

She breathed in the cold like one does fresh air.

The emotions welling up within her settled with that. Her mind is cleared of the commotion.

She must get Rudy back as soon as possible.

However, the party that goes to search for Rudy must be strong, flexible, and determined.

Dan is a must in this party.

Then, perhaps Moiree Icemount.

Arthur twincastle…

And kittie from Wisden.

She went through the names of scouts, knights and otherwise who might be helpful for the job.

But first, she will scout Fang Island to determine their state.

With that in mind, she called for MoonSnow.

In a few minutes, the dragon swept through the clouds, diving straight for Sasha.

Sasha ran straight for the edge of the pedestal, and leapt off the tallest cliff in the world in a single motion.

The surrounding guard screamed in fright at her actions, newbies among them scared right into silence, only to feel relieved when the dragon soared with Sasha on it's back.

Sasha does not have any idea how many legends her move sparked that day.

Afterall, who in their right mind leapt off a mountain cliff to land on the back of a dragon?

Even if they did land on the back of the dragon, how many were able to find balance immediately, and seat themselves on the dragon ?

None, one might say.

At least in the history thus far, Sasha is the first.

Even dragon riders of the east won't be able to do that, they are absolutely sure.

Sasha moved in a straight line after they arrived on the sea.

Fang Island is the single largest island in the northern sea.

It is the farthest island from any known mass of land. There was a hypothesis that Fang Island is not a piece of land, but an iceberg, which was too tall and too large to move in the sea.

No matter what, the fact remained it was big enough with nothing to eat on it save for the wandering birds.

If storms on the sea were fierce enough, then the populace of Fang island would not even be able to eat bird shit.

That's how hard life in Fang island is.

Even Snorcs who live in the ice world of Frontier consider themselves better off than Fang island.

A six year old and a wolf in such an environment ?

Sasha is too frightened to even imagine.

She made her first stop at the edge of the Barrier, to allow for Moonsnow to hunt and feed.

It has taken four hours to get here, to almost the edge of the world, like everyone else calls it.

Sasha camped atop the wall in her knightly cage she brought with her.

The wind was raging, yet, the sky was clear.

Many say this is the place Barrier is at its weakest, but also at its tallest.

Sasha closed her eyes, and came into her spirit body.

She had never tried this before.

The cold magic swirled around her beautiful strands of dark blue.

At this height, there is no difference between frontier and Winterland, and the cold magic from Frontier entered Winterland as if a sea was overflowing over a dam.

The cold magic slowly dissipated as it reached ground, but some of it made it intact to the ground.

For the first time, Sasha understood why the Barrier was necessary. Sure, the mages taught them repeatedly that the barrier stops the extreme elements of Frontier from leaking into winterland. However, knowing is one thing, and seeing it right in front of your eyes is entirely another.

'No wonder winterland is cold ! If this continues, soon, winterland will turn into another frontier.', she thought as she looked at the ever increasing flow of cold magic.

She returned her spirit body to her own body, then started absorbing the cold into herself, just like she did when she broke the dragon killer.

Unlike the magic of the dragon killer which was very unwilling to choose her, the cold elements came to her as soon as she called them.

She could see herself grow powerful by the minute.

With how easy it has been to absorb the cold elements, Sasha got immersed in accepting more and more magic, till the magic formed an excessive river of tide flow towards just herself.

The rumble was as loud as a lightning.

However, Sasha's body is frozen.

She couldn't move any of her limbs. Her entire being is frosted over, along with her gown, her tidy bamboo cage's door. What little fire there was has gone out long since.

It's like an entire river's worth of water is going to crash into her. If and when that happens, her soul will be shattered into pieces.

Jojen Gator appeared beside her once more.

'Use the winterstar! The winterStar!' He screamed, but the force of cold elements washed him away.

Sasha's mind worked at the speed of ten thousands RPM.

Winterstar ?

Wait !

There is this necklace she found in Wisden castle.

The blue sapphire is surrounded by white gold embellishments, then more sapphires, diamonds and obsidian in various shades of blue, to form a single most beautiful snowflake in the world.

Use it ?

How ?

The rumbles from the waterfall increased in volume.

Click !

Clack !

Crinkle !

That is the sounds of sheets of ice shattering to form avalanches in frontier.

Think!

Think!

Sasha forced herself to calm down, even as her entire being trembled with fright.

Sure, she could say strong in the face of a thousand angry stares, but they have no physical effect on her.

However, this flood of cold elements is different.

It's starting to coalesce into the single most glowing blue strip of cold the same size as her body, and rushing towards her with the speed and strength of a thousand mammoths.

As long as even a hair tip of that cold magic touches her body, Sasha could say goodbye to ever staying alive.

Sasha panicked even more.

Acts of men could be blocked with the hands of men.

However, natural disasters could not be stopped the same.

If her body must be sacrificed, then she would at least save her spirit body.

With all of her will, Sasha's spirit body separated from her body, and dived into the Winter star pendant.

The next moment, the river of cold crashed into the sapphire pendant with all its strength.