The five of them stood on the great mountain at the height of the world, knee-deep in snow, blades aglow in the moonlight, and waited for the birds to strike.

Thunk!

The bird split cleanly in two and poofed into the drift beside Janner in a spray of snow and feather. Maraly hissed and flung her dagger at the next snickbuzzard when it was still fifteen feet above them. The bird squawked and tumbled to her feet. She snatched her dagger from its breast and braced herself for the next attack.

Thump!

Zev hand threw a stone that hit a snickbuzzard in the head. It wasn't injured enough and swooped down but Elisheva slashed at it with her sword.

Buzzard after buzzard wheeled in the sky, black swaths against midnight blue. Except for the sound they made when the youngsters struck, the birds were eerily silent as they circled.

When the next snickbuzzard dove at Janner, he swung too late. He killed the bird, but its talons found his shoulder and tore through his covering of skins like a knife through paper. He pushed the pain away and readied himself for the next attack, trying not to pay attention to the way his left arm trembled.

Maraly killed another bird and screamed, "Hurry it up, Gammon!"

"Got it!" he cried before she finished her sentence. "Get on! Quick!"

Gammon was kneeling at the front of a sort of sled. It was long and flat with no sides, but ropes ran from the rear of the boggan, looping through pulleys and into holes in the curved nose to form what must have been some kind of steering mechanism. Gammon held the ends of the two ropes in one hand and waved the youngsters on with the other.

Elisheva shoved Zev towards the sled as she cut down another snickbuzzard. "Get to the sled!"

Janner halved another and leapt after Maraly onto the boggan. Maraly knelt behind Gammon, then Zev and Elisheva and Janner took the rear.

"Janner! Pull the anchor!"

"What? Where?"

"Hurry!"

Maraly hissed again, and Janner knew without looking that she had flung her dagger. A dead snickbuzzard crashed into Janner and sent him sprawling. From beneath the smelly pile of feathers, he saw Gammon leap to the rear of the boggan and pull a stick from a hole in the deck. Immediately, the boggan slid forward.

Janner heaved the dead bird off himself and raised his sword as another bird swooped.

A heartbeat later the boggan was carrying Gammon and the youngsters down the slope so fast that snickbuzzards no longer swooped at them but glided right beside the sled.

By the light of the moon their black eyes could be seen set in fleshy sockets; the hard, curved beaks; the featherless necks; the batlike wings. A string of the birds flapped behind the boggan like feathery smoke so that whenever the Bennet siblings, Janner or Maraly killed one, another took its place. Every moment the boggan picked up speed and the snickbuzzards became less interested in their quarry, until finally the birds were gone.

"Yeah, alright!" Zev cheered.

"We're outta here!" Elisheva grinned.

Janner and Maraly whooped in spite of their exhaustion. They hugged and laughed along with Gammon as the boggan zoomed down the long slope.

"Well done, little warriors!" he cried.

Zev put Elisheva's sling back in the bag, Elisheva, Janner and Maraly sheathed their blades and looked out at the Ice Prairies for the first time.

Mog-Balgrik's western slope was formidable, a steep sentinel warning travelers weak of spirit to keep their distance, but if the traveler braved her icy face, the reward was sweet. A long, smooth descent to the frozen desert of the Ice Prairies lay at her back, and to those like Gammon who knew where to find them, boggans hid in the snow to bear them home.

The moon cooled to white as it climbed, and it lit the ice fields so that the four could see as clearly as if it were day. For hours the five glided down from the mountains, faster than the fastest horse, with a plume of snow arcing behind them like a spray of water.

"Isn't this great?" Zev laughed.

Elisheva crowed, "Didn't I tell you we'd go snowboarding someday?"

Moonlight caught the flying snow, flashing prisms of color on the prairie surface as they passed. White mice and snow foxes, burrowed beneath the snow for the night, twitched their ears when the boggan zoomed by, thinking that perhaps the Maker had bent low to the earth and whispered, "Shh."

Janner and the Bennet siblings slept for a while, and when he woke, the moon looked straight down at him. When he didn't see Maraly, he gasped and sat up, thinking she had fallen off sometime in the night. Then he heard murmurs from the front of the sled. She knelt next to Gammon and held the ropes as he instructed her in a quiet voice. "Don't pull too hard, now," he said. "That's it. See the bank up ahead? Swing us wide around the left side. Good."

Janner winced his wounded arm was stiff and stung when he moved. Gammon and Maraly turned, and Janner was surprised to see her smiling.

"Are we there yet?" Zev asked.

"Yes," Gammon said. "Very close, in fact. See that rise in the distance? Over to the right, just below Tirium?"

"What's Tirium?" Janner asked. He could only see moonlit prairie stretching away forever.

"It's a constellation, just above the horizon. It makes a triangle—see it?"

Three bright stars, a perfect triangle tilted and slipping into the horizon, and just below them a gentle slope in the snow.

"I see it. Is that Kimera?" asked Maraly. Her voice had lost some of its edge. She sounded more like an ordinary girl than a dagger-throwing Strander.

"That's Kimera," Gammon said.

"This is it then, we made it!" Elisheva crowed.

At last Gammon took the ropes and pulled back on them like he was reining up a horse. Something at the back of the boggan shifted, and the sled slowed gently to a stop, just at the foot of the rise Gammon had pointed out. "Here we are," he said with a smile. "Kimera."

Elisheva and Zev tentatively got up from the boggan, glancing around. Janner leapt from the boggan into ankle-deep snow. They expected to see a village, smoke rising from chimneys, yellow lamplight pouring from windows, but there seemed to be nothing but snow. Everywhere there was snow, from horizon to horizon.

"Janner?" said a voice.

Janner froze. "Son?" He turned slowly around.

A wide trapdoor rose from the bed of snow. Yellow light streamed out of the hole, and a figure ascended a long, curved stairway. It was Nia. She wore a green, long-sleeved gown, her wrists and collar adorned with fine white fur, and a gold necklace hung at her neck.

"Nia." Elisheva murmured, making Zev spin around to see.

After so many hours beneath the cold white stars, sailing on a blanket of blue-white snow, the yellow and gold that surrounded his mother was the most magical color Janner had ever seen. And his mother! She was clean. Her dark hair was braided into fine, intricate loops that cascaded around her shoulders like a gilded waterfall. She was a queen. If ever Janner had doubted it, now he knew.

"Mama?" Janner breathed. Nia's breath caught in her throat, and a hand went to her mouth. A moment later the two of them rushed forward—a boy wrapped in animal skins, wounded and sore, skinny as a tree branch, and the Queen of Anniera, wrapped in gold and light. They embraced, and Janner all but melted with joy.

Nia, overcome with emotion, cradled her first born child, tears cascading down her cheeks.

Elisheva, smiled warmly, enveloping her young brother Zev within the tender embrace of her arm, the boy mirroring the profound sentiment evoked by the tender scene before them.

Then the Queen of Anniera looked over at the two siblings with misty-eyes, extending her hand in a gesture that initially appeared to evoke a customary handshake. Zev accepted it, when the queen suddenly pulled both him and Elisheva right into the tight, warm embrace.

It's simultaneously a gesture of thanks for bringing Janner and welcoming the Bennet siblings.

Janner soon fainted in his mother's arms from exhaustion and from guilt over losing sight of his younger brother.

"But where is Tink?"

Elisheva's face fell. "I'm afraid, that's an awful long story..."

A few fleeting moments elapsed before Podo, his face adorned with an expansive grin, approached the assembled group, enveloping them in a robust, bear hug. Meanwhile, Oskar's countenance radiated with unbridled joy, a testament to his elation upon Janner's return with Elisheva, and a small boy who could only be the girl's younger brother.

So at long last, Elisheva found herself afforded the opportunity to acquaint her beloved little brother with the cherished friends she had forged within the confines of Glipwood Township, while simultaneously facilitating the introduction of her newfound friends to Zev.

"Elisheva, I don't know how you managed to bring Janner here alive and well... but thank you." Nia held Elisheva's hands.

"Don't thank me." Elisheva said kindly, "Thank Janner. Without him or Gammon's guidance, none of us would have found our way here."

Zev gently nudged his sister with his elbow, his eyes dancing with a hint of mischief. "Yeah," he teased, "You would've had us walking in circles for days. I bet we would've ended up in the same spot every time."

Elisheva rolled her eyes, pretending to be offended. "Me? Slugger, you don't even know how different the constellations are here compared to home. Even Maraly had to drag you away before you walked onto a hunting trail."

"Oh, right! I'm SO sure!" Zev theatrically waved his hands in mock disbelief.

The group watched the playful banter between Elisheva and Zev with amused and affectionate smiles, silently acknowledging the bond between the two. It was evident that despite their teasing and banter, they shared a deep sibling connection that couldn't be mistaken.

Just as the banter reached its peak, Elisheva abruptly sneezed, causing everyone to pause and look at her.

"Sounds like you're not fully recovered from your sickness, Wildcat." Maraly remarked, raising her eyebrows.

"Sickness?" Both Nia and Podo turned their attention to Elisheva, their expressions filled with worry.

"Recovered?" Oskar adjusted his glasses, his concern mirroring the others'.

Elisheva was taken aback by their sudden concern. "Oh no, no, no. I'm fine, that was days ago," she assured them with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Zev looked at his older sister soberly, "Lish, Maraly's grandma said you had a fever that gave you intense nightmares."

"onDay'tay entionmay ethay ightmaresnay…" Elisheva tried to tell her brother discreetly in pig latin, 'Don't mention the nightmares!'

Nia, breaking the silence, beckoned them all inside. "Let's get you all inside," she said, her eyes twinkling with warmth. Turning to Elisheva, she added, "You're getting a change of clothes and something warm to drink."

She meant what she said, once inside, they'd all gotten a change of clothes and cleaned up. Maraly hadn't been fond of the idea, but Nia insisted.

Author's note: And here they are, they made it.

Meant what I said, I won't wait for the series I'll be going by the book from here on in.