They passed into a ravine, worn smooth by the whistling wind. Butler didn't like it. His soldier's sense was beating a tattoo on the inside of his skull. He raised a clenched fist.

Root doubled his pace to catch up.

"Trouble?"

Butler squinted into the snow field, searching for footprints. "Maybe. Nice spot for a surprise attack."

"Maybe. If anyone knew we were coming."

"Is that possible? Could someone know?"

Root snorted, breath forming clouds in the air before him.

"Impossible. The chute is totally isolated, and LEP security is the tightest on the planet."

And that was when the goblin hit squad soared over the ridge.

Butler grabbed Artemis by the collar, unceremoniously flinging him into Alex's drift. His other hand was already drawing his weapon.

"Keep your heads down, boys. Time for me to earn my salary."

"Why? What's wrong?" Alex asked as he crawled out from the opposite side of the drift, finding his brother's head under three feet of snow.

Artemis may have responded testily, even if no one could've heard him, but opted instead to blindly grab the collar of his brother's coat and yank the boy to the ground.

There were four goblins flying in loose formation, dark against the starlit sky. They quickly rose to a thousand feet, making no attempt to conceal their presence. They neither attacked nor fled, simply hovered overhead.

"Goblins," grunted Root, pulling a Farshoot neutrino rifle into his shoulder. "Too stupid to live. All they had to do was pick us off."

Butler picked a spot, spreading his legs for steadiness.

"Do we wait until we see the whites of their eyes, Commander?"

"Goblin eyes don't have whites," responded Root. "But even so, holster your weapon. Captain Short and I will stun them. No need for anyone to die."

Butler slid the Sig Sauer into its pouch beneath his arm. It was next to useless at that range, anyway. It would be interesting to see how Holly and Root handled themselves in a firefight. After all, Artemis and Alex's lives were pretty much in their hands. Not to mention his own.

Alex, meanwhile, glanced sideways over his brother's hand. The Commander and Captain were pumping the triggers of various weapons. Without any result.

"I don't understand it," muttered Root. "I checked these myself."

Artemis, naturally, was the first to figure it out. He shook the snow from his hair and released Alex's collar.

"Sabotage," he proclaimed, tossing aside the useless fairy handgun. "There is no other alternative. This is why the B'wa Kell need softnose weapons, because they have somehow disrupted fairy lasers.

But the Commander wasn't listening, neither was Butler. This was no time for clever deductions, this was a time for action.

Alex, however, heard every word and suddenly remembered his own "weapon". He scrambled to the other end of the snow drift—away form the others—as several softnose laser bursts bored hissing holes in the snow at their feet.

Now understanding why he felt compelled to the pale blue coat, he reached under the front and pulled out the flare gun. Then his hasty intentions hit a dead end. Was there some sort of safety he'd have to click off? Could the flare possibly kill the goblins? Was this thing even loaded?

His questions were halted as he noticed Butler grab Artemis by the collar and hoist him aloft. Out of time, Alex aimed the general direction of the hovering goblins and pulled the trigger, a bright red flare faithfully shooting out of the nozzle milliseconds before Butler's large arm wrapped around his middle and lifted him up.

While Alex's flare providing a thankful distraction, they struggled through the snow to the shelter of the overhang. Maybe a million years ago the ice had melted sufficiently for a layer of ice to slump slightly, then freeze up again. The resulting wrinkle had somehow lasted through the ages and now could possibly save their lives.

They dived underneath the lip, wriggling backward against a wall of ice. The ice canopy was easily thick enough to withstand gunfire from any conventional weapon.

Butler shielded Artemis with his body as the older boy wrapped his arms around his little brother. After a moment, he risked an upward glance.

"Too far. I can't make them out."

Alex watched as Captain Short poked her head from under the frozen ledge, he Optix zoomed into focus.

"What are they doing?" He asked.

The Captain waited a beat, until the figures sharpened.

"Funny thing," she commented. "They're all firing now, but…"

"But what, Captain?" Root barked.

Captain Short tapped her helmet to make sure the lenses were working.

"Maybe I'm getting some Optix distortion, sir, but it looks like they're missing on purpose, shooting way over our heads."

Butler felt the blood pounding in his brain.

"It's a trap!" he roared, reaching behind him to grab his charges. "Everybody out! Everybody out!"

And that was when the goblin charges sent fifty tons of rock, ice, and snow tumbling to earth.

They nearly made it. Of course, nearly never won a bucket of squid at gnomish roulette. If it hadn't been for Butler, not one of the group would have survived. Something happened to him. An inexplicable surge of strength, not unlike the energy bursts that allow mothers to lift fallen trees off their children. Intending to grab the two boys, Butler reached to each side. Unfortunately, Alex was still pressed up against Artemis's side. So Butler grabbed Holly, while Alex was violently ripped from his brother's embrace, falling onto his hands while the two were sent spinning forward like stones across a pond.

For the second time in as many minutes, Artemis landed nose-first in a snowdrift. Behind him Alex scrabbled to his feet beneath the ledge alongside Butler and Root, boots slipping on the icy surface. His ears were filled with avalanche thunder. Suddenly, the ice beneath them split, sending thick chunks of rock and ice to spear the cave opening like bars. The three of them were trapped.

AN: Alright, now that I've got this chapter done I'm gonna be taking a break to clean up YB a bit-fix grammar errors and group all the chapter parts together like I did when I finished book 1. I'll also be doing the same thing with Ryn's story and getting started on book 2 for her.
So hope you've liked the story thus far, I'll be back at this once I get Ryn caught up a bit more. But for now be sure to leave a comment (cuz who doesn't love getting those?) and enjoy the cliffhanger!