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They exchange a strange glance—it’s odd for the Prince of the Flame to be giving them direct orders.
“Axel said you could stay near me,” Liz says. “I asked.”
They nod and fall back, waiting until the first earth blessed column has passed through. With more than eight thousand earth blessed to journey through, even moving two at a time, it takes quite some time for them to all pass.
By the time the last column finally ends, Liz and her siblings are all soaked to the bone. Asteria’s waiting alongside Rufus and Gordon, and finally, I wave them through as well.
“It’s weird you don’t go through first,” Liz says. “What if there’s danger on the other side?”
We’re traveling into the mountains to avoid harming any human settlements with our arrival, per your request. I’d have sent Hyperion first if I thought there might be any risk to the blessed, but from our research, Iceland is both peaceful and harmless.
“The humans could?—”
Nothing they’ve been able to do in your precious United States has been able to hurt me. You confirmed that Iceland doesn’t have a military at all, and it relies on its location and lack of natural resources to keep it safe.
“Still,” she says. “I’m sure the other nations of the world are united in hating you.”
Then we should go through quickly to make sure everyone’s fine.
Liz looks around the now-empty convention center. “Now that we’re leaving, I’m actually a little sad. Your tower was nice, and everything I own is completely soaked—probably ruined by now.”
We’ll find new things for you in Iceland. I step through the portal, and the wave of cold air slaps into my face like an icy fist. It’s honestly a little refreshing to me. My whole world is always heat and light, but I can only imagine that for Liz it feels terribly cold.
It’s quite dark when we arrive, which I understand it will be all but five hours a day, but the sky’s painted with brilliant, shifting green lights. It’s bright enough that I can easily make out the shapes of dwellings down to the south of our location. There are a few on our side of the winding river, but most of them are congregated to the south.
It must be Selfoss.
I don’t know many words in Icelandic, but ‘foss’ is one of the few I do know. It means waterfall, so I expected there to be quite a few waterfalls near this area, with a town named Selfoss. So far, I don’t see any. Everything’s coated in a layer of white, which I understand is called snow. I haven’t yet experienced it myself.
“It’s so beautiful,” Liz says with a sigh. “I’ve always wanted to see the northern lights.” Then she shivers.
That, I can fix easily. I inhale the freezing cold air deeply and radiate some of my excess heat. The white snow, already trampled by thousands of large feet into tightly-packed heaps around us, melts and Liz leans down closer, patting my neck. “Thanks.”
“Wow, what time is it?” Sammy asks, yawning from Gordon’s back. “It looks really late.” He’s also shivering, so I radiate a bit more than usual.
“They’re six hours ahead of us,” Liz says. “So it’s almost midnight here.”
“That’s why it’s so dark.” Jade’s eyes are wide as she watches the shifting colors overhead. “But I’m not tired at all. Can we stay up all night?”
Liz laughs. “We should head into town and get the introductions over with.” She’s absolutely positive that, with her help, things will go very differently than they did for us when we landed in Houston. I have my doubts, but I haven’t argued with her about it. She slides off my back and begins hiking toward the edge of the mountain shelf, like she thinks she’ll be walking all the way down.
What are you doing? I use a tight communication channel, not keen on others hearing me ask a question that could be perceived as mocking her. An irritated Liz is adorable. An embarrassed one, not so much.
She doesn’t slow down. “I’m going to introduce myself to the town.”
It’s miles away. You want us to wait here for three days while you slide down the frozen mountain and die of hypothermia?
She stops moving, and I can tell by the shaky timbre of the bond that she’s really irritated. “I’m athletic. I’ll make it just fine by tomorrow afternoon.”
I can’t help rolling my eyes, but at least she can’t see it. We’ll go together.
“Yes, riding in to talk on an enormous fire-breathing red dragon will set just the tone I’m going for.”
I launch into the sky, swing around in a large arc to land squarely in front of her. If you think you’re going down there alone, you don’t know me at all. I will never allow that risk to you.
She jogs a few steps toward me and jabs me in the chest with her tiny index finger. “You don’t know me if you think I’ll allow you to fly over there and spark some kind of war here.”
I lift my head. Then we are at an impasse.
