The sun was setting when they reached the closest mountain peak to the ice maidens' floating island. Hiei had been here before, making it easier to find it again. The ice master and the big demon were with him. They had left the ocean demon back with Nishi. The big demon still grumbled about that since he cared about his apprentice, but Nishi refused to put her under her protection. If the big demon had not been so integral in the plan to rescue her boy, then Hiei would not have put up with his moaning at all.
They went over the plan one more time. The big demon would summon up an ice bridge up to the island. They would go up it, rescue her boy and the mute, and slide back down the bridge. Hiei would stay back with the big demon while the ice master went to rescue her boy and the mute imprisoned with him. Hiei would enter the minds of all the other ice maidens on the island and keep them asleep so they could not prevent the escape. If either of the three of them messed up...
Hiei went over the plan with them one more time, eyeing the big demon hard. If anyone messed up the plan, it was going to be him. Claimed he could conjure anything from the ice and make any structure with ease. When he demonstrated though by building a house out of ice, he was panting with the effort. To get them up to the island, he would have to build something even longer and maintain it until they had escaped.
When the sun sank down, the big demon and ice master rested, but Hiei found he could not sleep, even though they would need it. He wanted to get this over with. Get her boy and that mute and get out. He had the unfounded fear that the mute would go into an early labor, thus ruining their whole plan. Or that the big demon would fail and they would never reach the island. Or both.
At midnight, the ice master and the big demon awoke. The big demon had Hiei and the ice master stand back, far enough away since he was going to need to use the snow and ice on the mountain top to form the bridge he would make.
The big demon started by shouting and chanting in a language unfamiliar to Hiei. He watched as a narrow and steep bridge began to grow from the snow and ice that surrounded them. It all packed together and shot up into the sky. It looked like a precarious bridge, but a bridge nonetheless. Hopefully he had stopped it just short of the island in case making contact with the island would send out an alert.
The big demon panted, saying, "there... it's completed. It should hold, unless there's an earthquake or something."
"Hn," was all Hiei had to say from that as he ran up the slick and steep bridge.
His mind felt numb once he reached the end of the bridge. The big demon had enough sense to give them a long platform to leap to and from at the end. Removing his headband, he sought out first every awake mind on the island, except for two, sending them to sleep where they were. Some resisted him, but he managed to get them all asleep after a minute. Two tried to send out an alert, but failed. Then he went into the minds of everyone who was asleep and kept them that way.
Once done with those minds, he backed up a few paces. Next, he ran and jumped over the void that separated the bridge from the island. He stood stock still once he landed, looking and listening for any signs of an alert. He noticed nothing, but at least all the inhabitants of the island that should be asleep, stayed asleep.
The strain of keeping so many asleep was taxing on his mind, but he could handle it. He had to.
He looked back over his shoulder, seeing both the ice master and the big demon had reached the end of the bridge and jumped onto the island. The big demon was breathing heavily, the ice master not so much. Hiei nodded at them, putting a finger to his lips. Both of them knew to be absolutely silent on the island; not to speak, especially to Hiei, lest it break his concentration and an ice maiden woke up.
He sought out her boy's mind, 'wake up.' He sensed her boy jumped awake. 'Touya is on his way to get you.' Her boy reached over to wake the mute with him. 'Don't,' Hiei told him. 'Wake her when Touya arrives. I've put all the ice maidens asleep, but some were difficult to do. The guards nearby are asleep, but if she makes noise, they might break free and wake up. Keep her silent.'
'Stay with me,' her boy blurted out mentally. 'Until Master Touya reaches us. Please.'
Hiei nearly told him no because the mental strain was a lot to bare. He needed to be more focused on keeping the ice maidens asleep, but said none of that. 'Alright,' he promised.
Mentally he was juggling a lot, keeping ice maidens asleep, keeping in her boy's mind, and keeping tabs on the ice master to make sure he was going the right way. When he almost took a wrong turn, Hiei warned him back onto the right path.
Thankfully the ice master was a fast runner, not as fast as Hiei, but fast nevertheless. When he reached the dungeon, Hiei warned her boy that he was there and to wake up the mute with him.
Hiei watched through her boy's eyes as the mute awoke. He was tapping his fingers and moving his hands in an odd way, trying to convey to her that 'a friend of his mother's was on the way to rescue them, but you need to be quiet.'
The mute looked at him wide eyed, but dared to hardly breathe. Amazingly, she understood him. She looked so hopeful. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.
When the ice master got there, he stopped abruptly in front of the jail cell, finger on his lips. Her boy and the mute stood up. The ice master swore under his breathe.
'What's wrong?' Hiei asked him through the fog of the headache he was feeling coming on.
'The wards, the ones against ice demons. I can't touch them...' the ice master admitted.
'You have to!' Hiei practically shouted back. 'Hit them with ice shards or something.'
'That doesn't work...' the ice master said.
'Try,' Hiei insisted. He watched through her boys eyes how the ice master tried and failed. The noise nearly woke two guards at the top of the stairs. Hiei had to turn his attention to them to keep them asleep.
Hiei was nearly at the thought that he would have to go himself now. The wards would not affect him.
"Wait," her boy whispered, holding his hand up. He was looking at the mute with him, her hands moving furiously. "Kotone says they have... gloves... the guards have gloves they use to take down and put up wards." He stopped talking, but shooed the ice master with his hands to go find some.
Hiei turned his mind back to the sleeping guards. They each had gloves in their pockets for the wards. Hiei rushed to tell ice master that.
The ice master lost no time stealing gloves from one of the guards and rushing back to tear down all the wards as silently as possible. Once the wards were down, her boy took the mute by the hand and ran with her after the ice master's lead.
She was too weak though, could hardly keep up with the ice master nor her boy. Her boy stopped for only a moment to pick her up and put her on his back and carry her. Her hands clung tightly to his shirt and her legs around his waist. Her boy struggled with her added weight, but pushed himself on to keep up with the ice master. By now they were close, so very close. Hiei could sense just how weak both of them were, and worryingly so.
"I see your father," the ice master puffed out just loud enough for her boy to hear. The mute stirred on her boy's back.
When the three of them reached Hiei and the big demon, Hiei half let himself relax, but made sure to keep all the other ice maidens asleep. Her boy stopped in front of him, gently letting the mute slip from his back. The tiny thing with a large belly took a brief moment to look from Hiei to her boy and back again. Her eyes went wide. She gave a frightened, guttural scream before turning to run back towards the ice maiden village.
"Kotone," her boy whispered when he would rather cry out.
He ran after her, taking only half a dozen steps to catch her and pull her over to him. She fought him; she hit him and kicked at him. She screamed, too. When none of that worked, she bite his hand, drawing blood, when he tried to cover her mouth.
"Why are we saving this feral one?" the big demon asked.
"Kotone, stop. Please," her boy begged with a quiet voice. "They're friends of my mother's." The big demon snorted in the background. "They're here to save us. Please. I will explain everything once we're free, I promise."
The mute still was trying to escape her boy and screamed. Her boy looked over at Hiei as he desperately dragged her towards the ice bridge. He would never make that jump with her in that state.
Hiei went around in front of her, entering her mind. She knew it the moment he did, too. He made sure of that. 'Cursed child! A cursed child! Son of a curse child!'
Hiei grabbed her batting hands, holding them tight. She tried and failed to break away from his grip. 'Yes, it's true,' he admitted. 'He lied about his parentage to keep himself safe. To keep me safe.'
She was still struggling, but tiring out now. 'You'll kill us all, I know you will! I grew up on stories that one day, if you survived your fall, that you would come here and kill us all!'
Hiei felt like he had been kicked in the stomach, remembering the last time he had been on this island and what he had intended to do. What he had almost done. Why he never carried it out.
'I am not here for that, and I don't plan on ever doing that,' Hiei told her, sending soothing thoughts into her mind. 'I am here for my son. To save him and to save you.' She stopped struggling then, but her boy still held tight to her.
She tightened her grip on Hiei's hands. 'How can I trust you...? Knowing what you are. Knowing what he is?'
'If you don't trust me, then trust her,' he told her, showing her images of Nishi: her strength, her power, her loyalty, her fierceness, her love. 'That's my mate. That's Izo's mother. Even if you can't trust any of us, you can trust her. We'll take you to her.'
The mute looked down at him, confusion on her face. She quit struggling against her boy. Hiei let her hands go and stepped back. "Let her go, Izo."
Her boy, shook his head. "No," he said, pulling her closer to him. He looked over at the ice bridge.
"Let her go," Hiei told him more forcefully. "Let her choose to either go with us or to stay here."
"If she stays, she'll die. Her child will die," her boy's voice cracked.
"You will not force her to go with us if she doesn't want to," Hiei told him.
Her boy's face went soft and his arms went slack. He dropped his hold on the ice maiden. She jumped away from him. She looked back and forth between her boy and Hiei. She also looked forward over to the ice bridge and back towards the village. 'She will keep me safe?' Her hand came around her stomach. 'Keep us safe?' Hiei nodded to her. Once Nishi learned of her, she would do anything and everything to help this mute.
The mute let out a whimper. She turned and ran. She ran away from the village and towards the ice bridge, jumping and making the distance, but just barely.
"Kotone!" her boy called after her. He ran after her, making the jump and staggering to stop right next to her. He pulled her over to him, hugging her tightly.