Arctic Chills
Flame shook the newly fallen snow from her back as Keeta scouted up ahead.
Hearing a rustle, she turned quickly, flaring her wings to look more aggressive
and large. "Who's there?" she hissed. The air was still and silent for a moment,
a soft winter breeze breaking it for a moment, but stopping quickly, as if sensing
the tension.
Two Unis stumbled out of the trees, startled, Flame darted at them, but, noticing
who they were, she pulled up short, panting along with the two Unis. "___SkyDancer___,
_FireFrost_? What are you two doing here?" Flame asked, surprised.
"We... We escaped, but barely. We've been looking for shelter, safe shelter..."
FireFrost, a fire Uni (strangely enough), explained.
"How'd you get all the way out here? We'd have figured that you'd be hiding
away with the NeoRenegades," SkyDancer, a striped Uni, asked suspiciously.
"We were battling, captured far too soon. We escaped with the help of a rebel
guard," Flame said, observing the Unis with caution. Who knew? They may
have been impostors.
"Flame, all's clear!" Keeta hissed, running back. She stopped short as she
saw the two Unis. "You two... You two are free!"
"Obviously..." Flame muttered as the Unis nodded. Keeta still gazed at them
in wonderment.
Shaking herself out of it, Keeta said, "We're about to free the two Snowagers,
will you help us?"
"There are two?" The Unis yelped in unison.
"Yes, they're mates," Keeta said. "Will you help us?" she repeated more
sternly.
"Of course," SkyDancer said, standing up straighter. FireFrost looked uncertain
for a moment before nodding her head in silent agreement.
"If you two are up to it, let's go. No time to die like the present," Keeta
said, forcing a smile. But the joke was a grim reminder of their most probable
futures.
***
Flame, Keeta, FireFrost and SkyDancer crept slowly and silently behind the
two guards guarding the Snowagers. With two silent swipes, Keeta and Flame knocked
them to the ground with their giant ebony wings.
They all turned to the cave. It was frozen shut by giant ice stalagmite and
stalactites. "All right," Flame ordered. "Keeta, FireFrost and myself will throw
flames at it, SkyDancer," she turned to the striped Uni. "You hit it as hard
as you can with your hooves. To make the blow more severe, add your Flaming
Torch ability to your hooves and legs, it will also help the echoing of your
limbs after you hit the ice. Let's get to it."
After about fifteen minutes of pounding and melting, they finally made a good-sized
hole in the cave mouth. Creeping in quietly, the four walked inside. Each step
reverberated off of the stone walls, causing each member of the small party
to cringe. After what seemed like an eternity of walking, they made it, only
to find that the two ice worms were awake, glaring and hissing at them.
"Whoa, now, just relax there," Keeta said, taking an involuntary step back.
"What do you want here?" One of them, the larger one that was presumably the
female, hissed.
"We've come to free you," SkyDancer said, looking the female Snowager straight
in the eye. Just like SkyDancer, she never lost her cool.
"Free uss?" The smaller male snorted. "How do we know that you are not leading
uss into a trap?"
"Would we? Do you really think we would? You two are one of the last hopes
for Neopia, and you're going to question your freedom and the rest of Neopia's
when you have the open chance to get out there and do something about it? Come
on!" SkyDancer retorted as icily and as cold as the Snowagers themselves.
"Sshe hass a point..." The female hissed, lowering herself so that she was
eye-level with the Uni. "What iss your name, girl?"
"___SkyDancer___," SkyDancer replied, her voice still as hard as stone.
The female Snowager smirked for a moment. "You do dancce in the sskiess, ___SkyDancer___."
SkyDancer glared. "What makess you think that we" she motioned her tail to mean
her mate and herself "Can sstand up to Sssloth?" She drawled out Dr. Sloth's
name and slithered slightly closer.
SkyDancer stepped forward, her striped snout just inches from the worm's giant
head. "Because he fears you and because you are saying his name with hate and
not with respect! If you have the flame of hate in your heart for him, why not
do something about it, huh? Why just sit here when you know for a fact that
you could have broken out of that ice wall and killed those guards or that your
mate could have tunneled you out? Did you want your eggs to be destroyed? Did
you, Lady Snowager?" SkyDancer bellowed, shaking the entire cavern.
The Snowager recoiled, her tail lashing while her mate glared. "It iss true,"
he said. "We have been afraid of Ssloth... Afraid that he will desstroy uss
like he desstroyed our unborn..."
"How could you know if you never tried? Even if you did die, it would be swifter
and nobler in a battle than to rot in here," Keeta said, stepping forward and
motioning throughout the cave with her hand.
Both Snowagers put their heads down in sadness, shame, and thought. "We..."
The female began. She looked up, re-thinking her statement. "We will help you.
For the revenge of our children. For only that. For what did any of you Neopianss
do but to ssteal the treassure that warmed our young children?"
"I'm sorry," Keeta said, looking down in shame, now, herself.
"You sshould be!" the male cried out. The cave was silent.
"So you'll help us?" FireFrost asked softly.
"Yesss," the two Snowagers said in unison. Together, the now six of them left
the cave, ready to face whatever challenge lay ahead of them.
To be continued... | 
