Alaia Skyhawk: Well I said I'd work in stuff from the books, after I'd read them. And after having read the first book in one go before I wrote yesterday's chapter, and chugging through all of book 2 and half of book 3 today, I'm doing just that.

Time to see how Jack ends up on North's "Naughty List" for the first time as Jack Frost :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 11: Accidental Misdemeanour

The winds carried him east and north, over the North Sea, over Sweden, onwards to Russia and then Siberia. That in itself wasn't that odd, as quite a bit of his avalanche duties happened in the many areas of mountains in this part of the world. However, what was surprising, was that when he got close enough to sense the danger-zone of an impending avalanche, the winds seemed to forget where it was.

They circled around for a while, as if they'd lost the trail to the avalanche zone he needed to tend to. At this point Jack started to get a bit impatient with them, for interrupting his talk with Sandy only to keep him hanging around while they find the danger zone that they've just 'lost'.

So he hung there in the air, still waiting, until the winds suddenly surged beneath him as they relocated the trouble-spot. He was then led to a mountain valley which felt odd to his senses, almost as if it were hiding from the world, and then he saw the 'avalanche zone' the winds had gotten all worked up about.

He stared.

"What the-." He glared at the winds. "How the heck did you lot not find this before now?! That thing has built up so much it could go at any second!"

The winds curled around him apologetically, but Jack had every right to be worked up. Because below the danger-zone, which has at least several years' worth of snow built up on it, was a village.

Jack flew in closer, aware that dawn would be arriving soon, and dawn plus this avalanche could equal serious problems. If he wanted to trigger the thing in a controlled manner, he needed to do it before the sun started warming the surface of the slope.

He examined the snow and the slope, careful not to disturb so much as a single snowflake, and then he flitted towards the village for a look there... and cringed.

The place echoed with masses of magic, not surprising given that the biggest home seemed to be a massive tree, and lots of bits of the other homes looked utterly impossible in terms of normal construction, which made it obvious that it was quite likely the hideaway of an immortal or other powerful being of some kind... Great, now he had to do this avalanche without angering whoever the place belonged to.

Jack frowned, cautiously inspecting the hundred-foot high hedge of thorny vines that formed a barrier around the settlement. Beyond that was a woodland ring of massive oaks, and in both circles he could sense great protective magic and the presence of some form of lesser immortals. Closer inspection of those revealed some sort of woodland spirit, and a massive bear... But none of that would be a defence against the thousands of tonnes of snow teetering on the slope of the mountain above the village. There was enough up there to bury the village as completely as if it had never been there.

As for why his winds hadn't found the build-up of snow, he could now guess. The protective veil that radiated out from the village, had kept the winds from looking too closely at an area which radiated a sense of 'safety'. It was also why they'd had trouble leading him to the spot once they'd told him of it.

He contemplated going down there to deliver a warning of what he was about to do, but decided there wasn't time with dawn barely an hour away. Instead he went back to the slope and started to get to work, creating spires of ice, frozen right down through the snow to the rock beneath, in a series of arrow-shaped snow-breaks between the teetering snow and the village, set to take the snow off to the sides. Once he had three rows of them he then went to the top of the avalanche zone and very, very carefully gave it a small tap with his staff.

The reaction was instant, as a gaping crack appeared in the snow-pack where he'd struck it. He then streaked down the slope ahead of the tumbling snow, and watched as it hit the first snow-break. Some of the snow went to the sides, and the rest passed through as he'd planned, taking part of the force out of the avalanche and slowing it down. The next line of spires slowed it even further, and the last line left only a two-foot layer of snow to tumble to a halt well short of the forest around the village.

Jack grinned at his apparent success, and was all set to congratulate himself on a job well-done, when another sharp snapping crack of shifting snow made him look up the mountain again.

And he stared in horror... for all he'd done with that first tap was take the top layer off! There was still so much more underneath it, and now all of it was heading down the mountainside towards him and the village!

In the village, the faint trembling of the ground and the distant roar of falling snow from the first avalanche, had woken everyone and brought them outside in curiosity. They saw the falling snow being slowed and broken up, and despite the event being unannounced they were quite philosophical about it. In fact the children were very curious about it, eagerly chattering and asking if the avalanche meant Mother Nature was going to stop by and visit like she used to. But curiosity quickly became concern, then fear among the children, when the second and much larger wave of snow started its descent.

Ombric, having come out of Big Root, the great magical oak that served as his home and the heart of the village, watched the scene surprise that wasn't quite but was still very close to horror. His mind searched his memories, through all manner of possible spells that might save the village, but he knew he simply didn't have the time to react. But then all of them saw a flicker of movement against the advancing snow, and a white-haired figure in a dark cloak, taking the snow from the first avalanche and shaping it upwards into a massive wall.

On the slope, Jack worked frantically, fusing snow and ice together into as solid a structure as he could manage. When the avalanche hit it, the wall shuddered and started to creak under the force even as excess snow was being channelled to either side of where the village was. But then it started to crack, and Jack knew it wouldn't hold.

He darted backwards from it before it could collapse on and bury him, and as the last of the tumbling avalanche broke through, he found himself as the last thing between it and the village below. He summoned up every ounce of his will in that moment, clenching his staff with two hands, and braced himself in mid-air. He didn't have time to make another wall, so he would have to be the wall. Him and his will.

The avalanche hit him, and for a few seconds he honestly believed he could force it around the village. But then as if to add insult to injury, a final yet thankfully small slab of snow-pack broke off the slope above and added its weight to the mass he held back.

Jack yelped as he was overwhelmed and caught up in the tumbling snow, curling around his staff both to protect it and make sure he didn't lose his grip on it. But even then he didn't surrender to the white mass, and instead concentrated on freezing as much of it as possible into clumps that would drag on the ground more and slow down faster.

He knew he hadn't quite succeeded when he hit the first massive tree-trunk, even if when he hit the second, third, fourth, and fifth he was going slower each time. But at least the trees were helping, and really, the remainder of the avalanche which was careening him through the forest, wasn't anywhere near large enough to damage them. The ground would be scoured a bit, but the surface of the soil had been frozen, so barring some unfortunate bushes and shrubs above ground, any seeds below the surface that would be unharmed and still sprout in spring.

Ombric and the villagers watched the snow rushing through the forest towards them, and in fact he'd started to order everyone to get inside Big Root. But then the snow had visibly lost most of its speed, and the front edge of it came to a powdery stop about twenty feet from the edge of the village proper.

A faint curse echoed from that direction, and after gathering at the edge of the the now stilled avalanche, Ombric and the villagers watched in puzzlement as a hand holding a gnarled wooden stick with a curled end, burst up out of the top of the piled snow.

Jack let go of his staff, freeing up his hand to grab at any reasonably firm handhold he could, and managed to drag his head up into the open air. That let him free up his other arm, and with the leverage from both he pulled himself out of his predicament and began to dust himself off.

...And then he saw the old man with his long beard, robes, and staff... and the gathering of what were obviously parents and children... and also realised that every single one of them could see him and the royal mess he'd just made.

Under that regard, he winced.

"Whoops."

~(-)~

Alaia Skyhawk: And the "Whoops" makes its first appearance! ...Right after Jack almost buries Santoff Claussen under an avalanche... Whoops, indeed, heehehehehe!