Disclaimer: I don't own Spirit Animals.


Hey, Seriphina, do you see anything? We were doing the midday patrol, she in the sky, and me on land with the dog sled. So far, we have seen nothing besides ice bergs.

When she answers back a no, I sigh and let the dogs take a break. I was by the only way to the palace by water. Pulling out the binoculars, I check the canal. Water, water, oh look ice! Water, water, and… a ship! I squint and look harder. It was a ship, but only one. That doesn't mean it wasn't bringing any trouble, though.

Seriphina, we've got a ship!

Immediately, I get a response. I'm on my way, don't do anything stupid.

No promises, I tell her as I crack the reins, causing the dogs to sprint closer to the edge of the ice. Leveling them out so they ran parallel to it, I peer down at the twenty foot drop off. The ship was getting closer and closer. Finally, it got close enough and I stopped the dogs. I wait till the ship was basically right beneath me before I jump off the edge.

The winds rushes back me as I free fall and I spread my arms and angles myself flat like Seriphina taught me to do to slow myself for one of the masses. Reaching out, I grab on to the solid piece of wood and my body jerks to swing underneath it, causing me to almost lose grip. When I'm still enough, I hull myself onto the beam.

I peer down at the deck to see that, almost magically no one noticed me. Hmmm, no compliments on my awesome landing then. Pulling a deadly look on my face, I check for my bow and arrows before dropping the rest of the way.


#

Abeke's POV

#

Terik had called all of us on deck so he could tell us something. Why we had to be on deck, don't ask me. The extreme coldness was literally the polar opposite of the heat of Nilo.

I pull my fur coat closer while I wait with Terik for the others. Urza was in her tattoo form on my arm as she refused to come out on deck otherwise. The others finally join us and Terik starts to speak.

"The Inut says that we are close to where Suka is resting." I feel myself get excited until I hear what he says next, "But that we will have to be more careful."

"Why did they say we have to be more careful?" Connor asks.

Terik replies, "They say Suka has a fierce protector. The Inut helped her last year and they said that it would be easy for her to take us out."

"Just one?" Meilen asks. "We've defeated a full army before, why would just one person give us that much trouble?"

He shrugs. "I don't know exactly but they did say she bonded with a special beast. I have a theory…" he's cut off when we all hear a loud thump.

We all turn around to see a person jump up and quickly load and an aim a bow at us. Their white fur coat covers most of their features, so I couldn't tell if the intruder was a boy or a girl. Then they spoke. "Who tries to come into Suka's Passing?" Their high smooth voice shows that the intruder was female.

Quickly, I load my own bow and aim it at her. "We are Greencloaks. We don't come to fight but we need to find Suka's talisman," Terik replies calmly.

She stays quiet for a second, probably still studying us. "Why do you want Suka's talisman?" Her voice is filled with suspicion.

"The Devour is back and is trying to take over Erdas again. We need her talisman to help us defeat them," Connor explains.

It only takes a second for the girl to fire off another question. "And why should I believe you? You could be Devours in disguise, for all I know."

"This is why you should," Rollan says and Essix swoops down and lands on his shoulder. Rolling up my sleeve, I release Urza. The others quickly follows suit and soon Briggan and Jhi appear.

The girl gasps, "The Fallen." She quickly puts the arrow away and does a low bow. Essix lets out a cry and the girl straightens herself. I look at the others and see they look as bemused as I felt.

"Sorry, I had to make sure you didn't come here with a bad intent," she quickly apologizes. Uncertain, I lower my bow a bit. Meilen had other ideas though and charged at the girl.

All of us froze as she swipes at the girl with her staff. The girl easily sidesteps but doesn't make a move to attack. When Meilen tries to swipe her legs from underneath her, she jumps and lands gracefully on the end of the staff. Not able to hold the extra weight, Meilen drops the staff, but not before the girl does a back-flip off of it. Quick as a viper, she kicks it away, far away from either of them.

In one fluid motion, the girl flicks back her hood, revealing wavy blond hair with black tips and baby blue eyes with soft strokes of purple in them. Looking slightly irritated, she takes off the sheath of arrows and drops them, with the bow, onto the deck. Crossing her arms, she says, "Look, no weapons. I'm sorry that we started off on the wrong foot so I'm asking for a truce." She holds out a black gloved hand.

Terik apparently thinks it was in our best interest to shake her hand. She smiles and her attention flickers to the sky for a second. I narrow my eyes at the action and I see Meilen do the same thing. Terik sees the action but a knowing look fills his eyes instead of a suspicious one.

"Before I completely forget my manners, I should introduce myself." She flashes us what we are all quickly learning is her signature smile. "The name is Rosa."

Rollan takes the job of introducing us. "I'm Rollan, the warrior girl is Meilen, the girl with the bow is Abeke, shepherd boy here is Connor, and the tall man standing in front of you is Terik." Rosa laughs at the horrible description while Meilen and I glare at him.

The older girl tilts her head for a second before continuing, "I should probably let you continue before it gets too late. If you have an Inut navigating, they should know the way. But if you don't, just go straight till you see me again." With that, she picks up her weapons and launches herself off the deck.

We all gasp and run to the rail but she landed safely on a piece of ice near the cliff. After turning around and giving us a wink, she starts to climb quickly. Soon, she is halfway up.

"That was definitely interesting," Rollan states. All of us nod our head in agreement.