The entire area laid in ice. The scene had a beauty to it with the way the orange light reflected off of each facet. The jagged spikes of ice and the lost vegetation and trees put a damper on that look.

The hilgar stood a few yards away, searching the area around another dip in the landscape with its back to us.

I moved around a grouping of broken trees, doing my best to walk silently on the ice. Years of being a thief had given me fair control over my movements, but this was a test of them. Amber followed, nimbly following each of my steps. Her ears swayed from side to side, taking in every sound.

‘I think this a good place for me to hide out,’ I said, using the mental link again.

She took a deep breath and blew it out. It clouded in the air and she leaned toward me a bit. ‘Right. Here I go, I guess. Just so you know, I’m only slightly regretting bonding with you.’

‘Told you I was trouble,’ I said, and she chuckled. ‘Just remember to activate your spells as you move to it.’

‘Yeah, yeah. No worries,’ she said before darting across the open area, her feet cracking through the ice and drawing the creature’s attention. It stumbled on its little legs as it tried to face Amber. By the time it could, she had already dashed to its side and landed a solid hit.

I glanced over to where we had hunkered down and saw Brandi clambering up the rocks. At the top, she pulled down on the hem of her shirt and caught me watching. She gave a quick nod and started the chant for mimic.

From the frozen ground, jagged spears of ice cracked up and sounded like glass breaking. The ice formed together just like it had for the creature, and in a few seconds a dome of white and blue ice surrounded her and thickened.

‘How long?’ I asked her and turned my attention back to Amber. She caught the tail in the gut and was flung into a tree. I used my heal spell on her as she got up and rushed back at the creature.

‘Five minutes, I guess, depends how long I should wait to get energy from the dog.’

‘Heard that, Satty.’

‘Keep it clear,’ I said, hoping to keep them from starting a fight. I moved to get a better vantage point on Amber as she moved all over the place. She took hits, but only when it was impossible for the creature to follow up. She was being smart, I just had to keep her from getting too hurt.

I set a timer on my MBD for six minutes and ignored Brandi. She was in little danger, especially with the ice dome. Amber was the one that needed all my attention, and she needed to get all the hilgar’s.

The hilgar broke away from Amber. It took notice of the new ice dome and probably knew what it meant. It made a lumbering run at the dome, ignoring Amber’s constant attacks. It practically rolled into the side of the dome and knocked huge chunks of ice away that crashed into the ground.

‘What the hell was that?’ Brandi shouted through the mental link and I squinted. ‘Get that thing away from me before it breaks through.’

‘I’m trying,’ Amber called. She continued to wail on the creature, but other than its tail swinging at her, it kept its focus on breaking the dome.

I racked my brain for an idea, but nothing came to me. I quickly glanced at the spells that I had at hand, but nothing there would help. Brandi had one seeded magic, but from the dome there wasn’t anything she could do either. The only thing I could come up with seemed very stupid to try.

“Gods damn it all,” I said aloud and rushed from my place of hiding. I ran across the ice and slid to a stop a few feet away, looking for the canister we had dropped. I scrambled about and found it frozen to a tree.

‘Amber, get over here and help me.’

‘Busy right no—’

‘Get over here. Now,’ I said in a dead, cold voice. I felt the surprise rush through her as she twisted away from a hit that was just about to land. She was knocked down hard but got to her feet and ran to me.

“What is it?” she hissed. I pointed at the canister. ‘And what do you need that for?”

“I just need it, okay? Break it out.” I took a step back to give her room. She glared at me as she took up her stance and then with one good punch, she broke it free from the ice.

I scooped up the canister and ran while I worked on the lid. My only hope was there was still some spice inside.

Coming to a stop a few yards away from the ice dome, I dug my fingers under the top of the lid and pried it open with everything I had. If this failed, then Brandi’s spell would fail and if that happened… we were all in big trouble.

The hinge snapped and the top of the cannister popped off. A small flow of the orange spice fell from the canister and caught the wind. I poured a bit of what was left inside into my hand and threw it at the hilgar as soon as I was close enough.

“Hey! Stop playing with that stupid ice sculpture and come get what you really want!”

The hilgar froze and turned its head up toward the air, its large nostrils bringing in air and the scent of the spice. It growled and stomped away from the ice dome.

“That’s it, come and get it! This is what you want, isn’t it? What you came all the way up here for?” Globs of drool fell from its enormous mouth and it came for me like an overgrown dog. Then it roared and bared its rows of teeth, charging at me. I dodged to the right, which gave me a lot of distance as the beast was slow to turn.

‘What’s going on out there?’ Brandi called.

‘Our bedmate is doing something dumb,’ Amber said, and I caught a glimpse of her as I ran past. ‘He found some spice and is luring the creature around like a pup after a treat.’

‘He’s what? Are you insane, Aidan?’

‘Seems like,’ I said back and slid to a stop and went back the way I had come. The hilgar snapped at me as I passed, but all it got was air. ‘How much more time do you need?’

‘A minute… maybe more? I’m not getting any more power from Amber.’

‘You think you got enough?’ Amber asked, and I caught her running for the creature out of the corner of my eye.

‘I don’t know… should be. You guys need to get into cover.' There was a long bit of emptiness following her words, and then a feeling of overwhelming dread washed over me. 'Shit!’

‘What—?’ I broke off when I saw cracks in the ice. Beams of white came from them and shot into the sky. I considered then that we may have over did it. I tossed the canister toward the dome and ran to the ditch, but someone tackled me into a shallow one as the world exploded and I lost all sense.