OMGGGGG! Total Nudge moment, I know, but really, you guys are amazing. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, put me on their favs and alerts...Love you all. Special shout-out to Amaya Calypso Yuumei for her fantastical reviews and PMs. She is an amazing person to talk to, and is hilarious! I could go into all of the story stats, but that would take too long, so suffice it to say that I love you all for the enormous amount of reviews, view, and PMs. Drink Chai, Live Life, Love Fax. :)

Fly on,
~Stardust

P.S I don't own MR, only the plot, so... the characters are not mine. ;)

)/*(/Teehee! My name is Alicea! I love Fanfiction! I love people too! TeeHeee!/)*(/

We woke up around dawn the next day. We ate and talked and laughed, except Fang, who was sitting near the edge of camp, not talking to anyone. After we ate, we packed up our belongings, rolled our tents, and prepared ourselves for the journey ahead.

Today we would be crossing the mountian path, the treacherous sliver of land between the mountian that was prone to avalanches, landslides, and blizzards. I prayed to Lady Ice that we would make it through without any major injuries, frostbite included.

Firestorm flicked her ears constantly today, and wouldn't sit still. She arched her neck, tossed her mane, stamped her feet, bared her teeth, and was in general, in a bad mood. I saddled her, much to her displeasure, but she knew better than to act up even more than she already was. I mounted, and saw Fang hving the same problems with Blaxton as I had with her. The rest of the horses were relatively calm, so I wondered if it was just a thing between them. I dismounted and held Blaxton steady while Fang finished saddling him.

"Thanks for helping," Fang said, "But I know that you want something out of it, so cough it up."

"Well, look who woke up on the wrong side of the owls' nest," I grumbled, "And is it really so hard to believe I would do something just for the kindness?" I looked up at him through my lashes at the end, which he rolled his eyes at.

"To be honest," he retorted, "It is. So just tell me what you want, because the faster you do, the faster we get out of the hell-hole we have to ride through."

He had a good point there. It was no use arguing when we could be riding. "Fine, I want to ride up front today."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's not fitting for a princess." I snorted at that.

"Since when have I ever been an average princess?"

"It's not a question of whether you are an average princess, it's a matter of the fact you are a princess at all. Anything else?"

"You stupid, arrogant, self-absorbed, concieted PAIN! I HATE you! You have no respect for any one or thing besides yourself and occasionally your horse! You are a pitiful excuse for a knight, much less an ambassador!"

"I could say the exact same thing about you Princess, and hypocrisy is never a good thing." His voice was warning me not to push him, and his eyes were blacker than I had ever seen them. I stormed off, and mounted Firestorm in a huff, holding my head high. I wound not give him the satisfaction of seeing that his words hurt me, even though Firestorm and Blaxton without a doubt could feel it.

/)-*-(/ I am a time skip. Call me Logan. /)-*-(/

We had been riding for about an hour, and we were now approaching the pass. It was a for-boding landscape; rocky, barren, and gray flecked with white. Great gleaming peaks rose high above us, threatening to trap us in their freezing embrace.

We had barely ridden into the echoing chamber when one of the gaurds let loose a gigantic, deep boom of laughter, which thundered up the mountian. We waited in silence for a moment or two, and my keen eyes picked up on a miniscule movement in the snow. I had ridden in front of Fang, despite his earlier remarks, so I signaled to quicky and silently back out of the chamber, but it was no good. The snow started tumbling down the slope at an alarming rate.

I abandoned any pretense of control and wheeled Firestorm aroud and shouted, "RUUUUUUUNNNNNN!"

Firestorm and I quickly took the lead, galloping around the rest of the company with a speed I had never seen in her. We led them in a diagonal path, the quickest way to the forest, which would be our only hope. I somehow knew that Fang was in the back, keeping everyone else ahead of the avalanche, and that the coach would be in the greatest amount of danger. We had reached the forest, and were still going all out. I called for the girls to be pulled out of the coach; and for those horses to be unhooked. I heard a wild clattering of wheels that said my orders had been followed.

Finally, we reached a shallow portion of river that all of the horses plunged through to the other side. Once I determined that the avalanche had halted, I started counting heads. Nudge, Angel, fifteen soldiers, twelve pages, thirty two horses, Fang... FANG!

"Has anyone seen sir Nickolai?" I wasn't used to calling him by his name, so I almost slipped and said Fang.

"No," Nudge said, "We thought he was with you."

I was desperate, and Firestorm seemed to echo my thoughts; she let loose a sky-shattering whinny that could've started another avalanche had there been anything left to move. After an agonizing moment, a much softer whinny reached our ears at the same time.

She wheeled around and took off running even faster than when we were coming down here. We were galloping too fast to really care about form, I was leaning over her neck, urging her to go faster, faster. I imagine we looked like nothing more than a reddish-gold blur as we wove through the maze of ferns, saplings, and ancient trees around us.

She pulled up short as we reached a clearing near the edge of the forest. The first thing I saw was Blaxton. Then I saw he was nudging a large, dark shape covered with a thick layer of frost and snow.

/-*-/ Hahaha! I am Damien! I shall dominate the Earth!/-*-/

Mwhahahah! Bet you weren't expecting that were you? If I get... ten reviews I will let Fang live. If not, that kind of explains itself. ;) Love you all! Drink Chai, Live Life, Love Fax!

~Stardust.