Chapter Sixteen

Turbulence

Author's Commentary:

For those who're wondering, we're about halfway through the story. I know everyone's waiting for the big Elsa reveal, and I can drop that it's going to come in chapter 22 :) We're almost there guys! I'm going to try to speed things along by uploading thrice a week, or maybe even four times, so that you guys can swing over to my main story once we're done here. If you enjoy this one, I can guarantee you'll enjoy my main stories (Book 1 to 4). For now, let's jump right back into this one!

VALLOKEN

This caper is getting more insane by the minute. Valloken looked out of the window of the jet. So on top of being a spy working for the Exonian government under the guise of a librarian, Peggy was a fighter who could take on sorcerers and survive, and also fly a jet. Not to mention she'd successfully broken into her division's pilot facility and stolen the jet from under her superiors' noses.

Val glanced over at Talya, who was sitting beside Peggy. And then there was his sister: a sorceress with powerful ice magic. I'm out of my league here.

"So, you're sure we're going in the right direction?" Talya asked Peggy for what must have been the eighth time since they'd lifted off from the ground about an hour and a half ago. The skies had already grown dark, and night was setting in. Soon it would be pitch black, and they would be surrounded by nothing but darkness as the jet cut through the night.

"Yes," To Peggy's credit, she hadn't lost her cool yet. She ducked her head back in Val's direction. "Ask your brother."

Talya glanced at him.

Val sighed and checked the radar on his tablet. "Yes, we're headed straight for Ahtohallan. Assuming it actually is there."

"Your data confirmed it, right?" Talya probed.

"No data is a hundred percent certainty." Val said. "In hypothesis testing which is applicable to data and statistics evaluation, we cannot positively and outright accept the null hypothesis which claims that we are definitely headed in the right direction. But we can fail to reject the null, which still leaves a certain percentage of probability unaccounted for, and-" he stopped when he realised that Talya was no longer listening, and grunted softly to himself.

The jet rocked a little from side to side, and Val held on to the seat in front of him. "Turbulence?"

"Yeah." Peggy confirmed as she checked the readings on her control panel. "We're going through a rough patch of clouds and the winds are giving us quite a bit of resistance, but we'll be fine. We just made an arc around Arendelle to avoid being caught on Southern Isles military radars, so it should take us about an hour more maybe, to get to Ahtohallan."

Just for good measure, Val checked the weather forecast. To his relief, it showed clear skies and a warm night. He'd never been a fan of flying - or basically heights. The sooner they were down again on solid ground where he was again in control of his own fate, the better he would feel about this whole quest.

Talya got up from her seat and came over to where Val was seated. She took a seat in the aisle beside Val and leaned over to him. "We're so close, Val." She said excitedly, very nearly bouncing up and down like a small child. "We're finally going to meet the Snow Queen. I knew she was real. I just knew it all along."

Val hesitated. He still wasn't entirely convinced that this plan would work. Even if the Snow Queen was real and she was there on Ahtohallan, would she even agree to take Talya in as a new student to be trained as a sorceress? How long would that kind of sorcery training even take? And would that training be enough to stand up against a powerful Blood Mage like General Bjorn? But Val stuffed those questions to the back of his mind, knowing that they weren't going to deter his sister in the slightest. Once she'd made up her mind about something, there was no stopping her.

"Hmmn." Val said noncommittally. On his own, he would have to work on a viable backup plan in case this quest was a flop.

Talya must have caught on to his lack of enthusiasm. "You don't think this is going to work, do you?" She questioned him. "You still think that I'm chasing shadows. An ancient legend."

"I have my reservations." Val admitted. "I just want to be prepared just in case this doesn't work out."

"Isn't everything you've seen these past few days enough to convince you that sorcery is real? That the world out there is much bigger than we realise?"

"I still believe that sorcery is just science that we aren't able to explain yet. Maybe someday we will."

Talya sighed. "Whatever it is, I'm glad that you stuck around. Couldn't have done it without you, you know."

Val let a tiny grin escape from the corner of his lips. "It's been…educational."

"Guys." Peggy called from the front of the cockpit. "You might wanna see this."

The two siblings exchanged raised eyebrows, and made their way to the front of the plane amid the turbulence that still rocked the aircraft. Come to think of it, the turbulence felt like it was getting worse. Val gritted his teeth as he clutched the seat in front of him to pull himself forward.

"What is it?" Talya reached Peggy first.

Peggy pointed outside the windshield as a streak of lightning lit up the sky. "The weather."

"Shit." Val swore. "The weather seemed fine a minute ago." He checked the weather forecast, which still showed a prediction of clear skies and a warm, dry night. "What the hell's going on?"

"We might have to turn back and find somewhere to land." Peggy said as she flipped a couple of switches on the control panel. "The winds are getting worse too. At this rate, we might not be able to go on without the storm pulling us down into the sea."

"No!" Talya protested. "We'll be wasting time!"

"Don't be daft," Val shot her a stare. "You want us all to go down in a storm? It's a horrible way to die."

"No one's going to die. It's just some turbulence. We'll be fine, we just have to keep moving!" Talya set her jaw, glaring back at him. "We've already come this far."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say there's some mysterious forces at play here." Peggy said cautiously, checking her radar. "Is there anywhere nearby we can land for the night at least?"

Val checked his tablet and surveyed the terrain. "We just passed the Northuldra territory, where there's nothing but thick forest. Landing there'll be suicide. The only clear landing spot is at least a good forty miles back."

"Look out!" Talya shouted as a flash of lightning zipped not more than a few feet in front of their aircraft.

"We have to get out of this storm!" Val roared, holding on to the back of Peggy's seat. "Turn this plane around now!"

But it was too late. Another bolt of lightning struck, and this time it hit the plane's wing. The alarms blared as the aircraft rocked from side to side, drifting off balance as one wing exploded. Immediately, the plane tipped to the right, and almost sent Talya and Val flying off their feet and crashing into the side of the cockpit like bugs on a windshield.

"Turn us around!" Val shouted. "We have to make it to land, or we're dead!"

"I'm trying, damn it!" Peggy hung a right, and the entire plane vibrated and shook violently with the effort to correct its course with one wing damaged. The plane spiralled and threatened to lose control, but Peggy directed it with all her skill and might, navigating through the clouds as the aircraft began to plummet.

"Grab on to something and hold on!" Peggy shouted above the blaring of the alarms and tremendous vibrations. "I'm going to try and crash land this thing!"

"What? Are you insane!" Talya yelled.

"Don't we have parachutes?" Val shouted.

"We'll impale ourselves on the trees if we go down that way! No, we have to stay in the craft! It's the only way, just hang on!"

Val was knocked off his feet and found himself flying towards the back of the plane, where he hit the wall back first. Dull pain spread throughout his back but he ignored it, instead focusing more on the nauseating feeling that shot through his belly and up towards his throat. Forcing down the horrid feeling of bile, he gritted his teeth and tried to claw his grip onto something. Anything.

In her fear, Talya's sorcery had turned the entire interior of the plane frosty and exceedingly cold. It was so chilly that ice had begun crystallise on the windows of the aircraft as it whooshed towards the ground at breakneck speed. Val could see Talya gripping the back of a seat till the entire cushion had been frozen over by her sorcery.

"Brace!" Peggy shouted at the top of her lungs as the plane continued to plummet and Val saw trees outside the windows. "Brace for impact!"

The last thing that went through Val's mind was the idea that all this could've been avoided if they had just tried reaching out to their allies for help instead, and then the sudden impact threw Val into oblivion.