Author's note: Yeah, I KNOW Season 3 is coming out next year but I'm not waiting up. Starting with the next chapter I'm going to follow events by the book with some mild twist in store by Arc 3 and 4.

Also I extended the chapter little by adding a brief clip showing the maternal side of Elisheva's family, to eventually show some context before I get started on the new drabble for Key and Wingfeathers per poll results.

In the meantime, read on and feedback via reviews about the fic is always appreciated.

Last time, Elisheva, Janner and Zev make their way to the Strander camp and find Maraly in one of the cages. She tells them that Kalmar was taken by the Black Carriage and she was locked in a cage as punishment for trying to save him.

After a brief scuffle with Claxton, the four escaped and hid in the branches of a tree and Janner tells Maraly he, Elisheva and Zev needs to get to the Ice Prairies. Maraly decided to go with them to the North.

Back on Earth, the maternal side of Elisheva and Zev's family tree, the Sonnenbergs were worried for news. The Bennet family had been missing for two entire seasons.

Gathered in the penthouse where their late mother Rivka grew up with her siblings and parents, the phone ringing startled the inhabitants.

"That must be the police!" Dr. Dulcea Sonnenberg, the maternal grandmother, grabbed the receiver. "Hello, Officer?"

Nerine, younger sister to the late Rivka, leaned forward anxiously. "What are they saying? Have they found them?"

Dulcea shook her head, and looked to everyone else with meaningful eyes, "No, it's one of Rivka's friends, you know the ones who helped once...?"

Eli, Rivka's older brother, got to his feet in surprise. "You mean...?" he paused, not knowing who else may be listening. "Do they know who was responsible?"

"Well, what is it? Are they calling to confess one of their own did it?" Cleavon Sonnenberg, the maternal grandfather, demanded.

Dulcea covered the phone and shot him an indignant look. "Cleavon, please!"

"Daddy, seriously?!" Nerine glowered.

"Yes," Dulcea replied to their secret allies, "we're doing every- thing we can. The police won't tell us anything either. Yes, thank you, we'll let you know."

Dulcea hung up and turned to her husband, Cleavon. "That was uncalled for. You know full well that they have no motive, or reason to target our grandchildren or Samuel. Remember Rivka was a good friend to that sweet young girl, Rose."

"For me, they're still number one suspects." Cleavon put his hands o his hips, "It's already convenient that the police have found no inkling on who might've done it."

Nerine then spoked up, "Dad, both sides have presented airtight alibis and the investigations have turned up nothing. What more do you want?"

Cleavon shook his head and sighed. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I just feel so helpless."

On the couch, Eli slumped back. "I just can't understand it. They followed the trail plain as day right to that park, then all the footprints stopped at the base of that willow tree." He shook his head. "It was as if they just vanished into thin air!"

Where could they be?

Miles away in Phoob islands, something was coming. In moments, four black steeds emerged, harnessed to the Black Carriage. A figure in a flowing black robe sat atop the carriage with a torch in one hand. Crows followed the carriage even here; they cawed and flapped around the driver, and one perched on its shoulder.

The driver halted the carriage and released the children in the six casket like cages. They crawled out and huddled together. Even from this distance Peet could see they were trembling.

Two Fangs chained the children hand and foot and led them to a dais in the center of the chamber.

On the dais was an iron structure about the size of a house. A door swung open, and out walked the Stonekeeper flanked by two fangs. "Line them up."

The Fangs placed the children into a single line until they faced the Stonekeeper.

"Oh, it's alright," the Stonekeeper spoke soothingly to the children. "It had been a terrible journey, but you'll soon have a new home. A new name, and great strength."

Arthram lay in the cage, watching the proceedings with sorrowful eyes.

If the Stone Keeper, whoever she was, kept her word, all he had to do was sing the song and give himself over to the madness once and for all. He would forget what he had done. He would forget that he had failed his brother. He would lose himself, but at least the children would be free of this place.

Then he remembered the jewels, the key, and he knew he couldn't. Much as he would like to give up his fight and let Gnag do with him whatever he would, he couldn't abandon Janner, Tink, and Leeli or Elisheva. He couldn't abandon Anniera.

The Fangs stood the children in a line at the foot of the dais. All of them trembled and cowered.

All but one.

One of the children didn't tremble. He only stared at the ground glumly.

He was skinny as a rake, with deep brown hair. The look on his bruised and swollen face was not one of fear but shame. He merely glanced at the Fangs, the children, and the iron box, and sighed. Then he hung his head and closed his eyes- much as Artham had done when he gave up all hope.

As soon as Artham laid eyes on the boy, he leapt to his feet. His head smashed into the top of the cage, but he didn't care. Arthram shrieked his birdlike shriek, then fainted dead away from shock.

When Janner woke the next morning, the first thing he saw was a fazzle dove. It perched on a branch just beyond his feet, eying him with great irritation. Maraly was nowhere to be seen, but Janner wasn't surprised. She was a Strander.

As he had drifted off the night before, he decided that if he and the Bennet siblings were alone when they woke up, they'd push on to the Barrier and not give her a second thought. He had survived the Fork Factory, Miller's Bridge, and countless Fangs.

Elisheva and Zev survived being abducted by Fangs, forced separation and more, they can do it.

The fazzle dove hoodle-oodle-oodled and flapped away. The air was chilly enough that he could see his breath lifting through the yellow leaves of the glipwood tree.

Elisheva and Zev were at the foot of the tree, sorting out berries and nuts atop a spread out cloth.

"Morning, Jan." Zev greeted.

Elisheva added, "We gathered these while you were still asleep."

"Thanks," Janner climbed down. He hadn't eaten that well in days, and it only made him hungrier.

The siblings had done a good job separating what was needed for the trip and what they could eat on the spot.

Then a fine smell drifted, Maraly was poking at a small fire nearby.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she answered.

She sat on her haunches, picking her teeth with a small bone. All around the fire lay gray and white fazzle dove feathers. Maraly pointed at a flat stone beside the fire where the remainder of the bird lay.

"Thanks," Janner said, and he meant it. The meat was hot and juicy, but there was too little of it. "Is there any more?" he asked when he had picked the little bones clean.

"You can catch one of your own if ye like. Might take ye awhile, though."

"Oh."

"Is there any water?"

Maraly stood and wiped her greasy fingers on the front of her shirt. "Aye. There's a creek about an hour north. Up near the Barrier. I see that's where you're all headed," she added when Janner's face lit up.

Elisheva then piped up, "Right, do you know a way through?"

Maraly snorted. "Gettin through's easy enough. Especially now that the Fangs are scarce. It's after the Barrier that's the hard part."

As wary as Elisheva and Zev were about Maraly, right now she was their and Janner's best hope at reaching the Ice Prairies.

So they traveled north for an hour. Twice Maraly calmly told Janner and the Bennet siblings to get into the nearest tree just as a toothy cow charged past. Janner never heard them coming, and he thought each time how glad he was that Maraly was with him and the Bennet siblings. They would never have made it this far alone.

Zev was about as lost as he would've been. He'd obviously never seen a Toothy cow before and babbled that the cows back where he and his family lived were plant eaters.

When they reached the stream, they dropped to all fours and drank deep from the dear water. After they filled the water skins, Maraly turned to the three. "Now listen. The Barrier is just over the next rise. Don't know the last time I seen a Fang patrol this far east, but keep watch anyhow. There ain't no breach, but there's enough trees that we can climb right over. Once we're past the wall, the goin' ought to be easy enough. Until we get to the mountains, that is. Do ye have a map or somethin'?"

Janner showed her the instructions on the letter, and she nodded. Just over the next rise, the trio got their first glimpse of the Barrier.

Zev titled his head, "Pfft. That's the Barrier? The Great Wall of China is bigger than this."

Janner also looked unimpressed. He was only twelve, and he felt he could've done a better job than the Fangs had done.

"Yeah, modern lumberjacks back home would've built a better looking walls to scare off trespassers." Elisheva commented.

The logs that made up the Barrier were roughly hewn, and some still had branches sticking out at odd angles. They were of uneven lengths, different sizes and kinds of trees. It looked as if the Fangs had built the wall in a day, with blindfolds on.

And yet, it was a wall. It stood between them and the foothills of the Stony Mountains and indeed made it much more difficult to travel that way, so it accomplished exactly what the Fangs intended.

If the wall hadn't been so rickety and tall, it might have been easy to climb up one side and down the other. But as Maraly had said, the Barrier wound through Glipwood Forest, so they took to the trees. They climbed an oak, scooted along a fat limb that hung over the wall, then down another tree. As simple as that, they were on the other side.

There wasn't a Fang in sight.

Janner, Maraly and the Bennet siblings sat with their backs against the Barrier and rested. "Have you been to this side before?" Janner asked Maraly.

"Nope. This is new territory for me."

"Same." admitted Elisheva.

"Ditto." Zev raised his hand.

They walked in silence all morning and into the afternoon. The hills steepened and trees grew sparser.

A north wind snaked over the land and howled at the children, as if warning them they were unwelcome. The air grew colder with every step, and Janner began to worry about keeping warm. The gray sky hinted at the coming winter, not to mention the cold north. They would have to find skins or thicker clothing if they were to survive.

Maraly didn't seem concerned, however, perhaps she knew how to acquire warm clothing. She seemed to know a lot of things Janner and the other two didn't.

Her dagger provided their food. Whenever a flabbit or thwap or diggle ran across their path, she flung her blade faster than they could blink. Each time, they stopped so she could clean the meat and store it in a satchel until they stopped for the night.

Once, she grabbed Janner by the elbow to stop him. She held a finger to her lips and pointed at a slight depression in the ground, no bigger than a wagon wheel. She crept to the edge of the circle, slid her fingers beneath a sort of lid, and flung it open. With a great croaking and belching, an enormous bumpy digtoad leapt from its nest and slopped away into the woods. Maraly fell onto her back, howling with laughter at the look of surprise on Janner's face.

Toward the end of the day, the four climbed up a slope that seemed to go on forever. The hill was barren but for one leafless elm at the top.

Maraly pointed at the tree. "It's a snickbuzzard," she said.

Janner wasn't sure he believed her at first. Nothing in the tree moved. Then a black shape at the top spread its wings and adjusted its position.

"Looks like vulture." Zev commented.

"Is it dangerous?" Janner said.

"Yeah," she said, "but there's just one. They swoop in from downwind, seek out with their beak till it's too late. Then it's all slash n' claws and chompin' beaks!"

And she charged it before any of the other three could say anything else.

The snickbuzzard swooped down at the girl. She screamed as she ran. When the bird dove, she dropped into a roll and the snickbuzzard's talons just missed her. Maraly spun around and flung her dagger. The bird squawked, tumbled to the earth, and lay still.

Maraly brushed herself off, dragged the snickbuzzard to the tree, and gathered branches for a fire. Janner shook his head and climbed the hill, wondering what other surprises Maraly Weaver had in store.

Elisheva and Zev shrugged at each other and followed.

…..

Soon after eating they continued onwards and reached the top of a rise, the sight ahead made them freeze.

"Whoa, get a load of this." Elisheva's jaw dropped.

Before them stretched the magnificent crags of the Stony Mountains. The snowy peaks jutted into the sky like shards of glass. Clouds gathered and poured through the passes like a slow-moving waterfall. To the west, the mountains were smaller, and soft hills rolled at their roots.

In the east, where Podo's note had told Janner where to go, the way looked impassable. There was nothing between the group of four and those peaks but cracks and fissures and jagged cliffs.

"The Stony Mountains." Janner stated.

Maraly walked up to the three, then pointed in the distance with Nurgabog's cane. "That one's Mog-Balrik, the Witch's nose."

At the center of the eastern range rose the Witch's Nose, Mog-Balgrik. It towered above the other peaks. and truly looked like the hooked nose of a witch from a children's scary tale.

"Once you're past Mog-Balgrik, the land slopes away into the Ice Prairies. After that, your guess is as good as mine," read Podo's note.

"Well, crud." Zev said at the sight.

Janner squinted at the pass to the left of the Witch's Nose. "Maker help us," he said. "That's where were going."

"What?" said Maraly from behind him. She had removed the head of the snickbuzzard and was busy plucking its feathers beside a crackling fire.

"Look," Janner said. She stood and looked north for the first time. "Oh," she whispered.

A gust of icy wind blasted the hilltop where they stood.

"We got our work cut out for us." Elisheva said.

"Maybe five days hike?" Maraly surmised. "With you lot slowing me down it might take us a week." she teased.

"According to Pembrick, this is the edge of Bomnubble country." Janner said.

"What are Bomnubbles?" Zev asked.

"This country's version of a yeti." Elisheva replied. "Huge, poor eyesight but dangerous."

Zev's eyes widened. "Whoa… this place has got everything."

"At this rate, it's more the snickbuzzards I'm worried for." Maraly said.

"After all we've gone through, the worst has got to be over." Zev remarked.

Elisheva placed a gentle hand on her little brother's shoulder. "I sure hope so, Slugger."

"Well at least there won't be any Fangs out here in this cold." Janner remarked.

"Aye, we ain't yet met a Fang who could survive the Ice." Maraly confirmed.

None of them knew that they were tempting fate with their words.

Miles away, in the freezing plains. Two Fangs shivered, they'd been called to relay a message.

"Sir, w-will that be all?" One of the Fangs whimpered.

Three feet away, something casually walked to the edge of a campfire.

"Yes..." answered the figure. The figure turned around to reveal himself as a six foot grey wolf walking on its hind legs. Its eyes were yellow and there was a scar over its left eye. It wore armor and a cloak.

"Slither back to the Phoob islands. Tell the Stonekeeper my troops are heading to the Ice Prairies, and tell her the weather is fine." the wolf said.

Then it threw back its head to howl, no doubt sending a message to it's pack.

To be continued…