Free Kerka's Book by Jan Bozarth Page A

softly. “I’ll think of something.” Every problem had a solution, even in Aventurine. I had solved the elf’s riddle and opened the boulder gate. And Queen Patchouli’s magic rope had summoned the wind to carry the reindeer and me across the canyon. “That’s it!”
    â€œDo you have a brilliant idea?” Ardee asked hopefully.
    â€œI have an idea. It’s too obvious to be brilliant.” I would have grinned, but the cold hurt my teeth. Instead, I reached under my coat. The pouch was stiff with cold, and I struggled to open it. Finally, I pulled out the rope and touched the second knot. “Here we go again!”
    â€œOh, fiddlesticks!” The reindeer stiffened and closed her eyes. “Just tell me when it’s over.”
    The ribbon wind sliced through the purple sky, a ghostly streamer of arctic breath. I tried to hang on to the reindeer’s fur, but the wind didn’t pick us uptogether this time. First it sailed under Ardee’s belly, looped over her back, sailed under her belly again, and jerked tight as it yanked the reindeer off the ground.
    At the same time as Ardee’s hooves left the ground, the wind whipped around my chest. Still clinging to the rope, I raised my arms so they wouldn’t be trapped when the ribbon wind tightened. Takeoff was sudden, and the wind rose skyward too fast for sightseeing. It did not adjust course to avoid the bulges in the frozen waterfall. I had to be on guard, pushing off the ice wall with my free hand and my feet so I wouldn’t smash into the hard mounds. Ardee squealed every time she banged into the ice. Her sharp hooves cut deep when she hit, causing a spray of ice crystals.
    The icy specks were so cold they stung my face. I tried tucking my chin, but slivers of ice cut the skin on my cheeks anyway. My first impulse was to swat the bits away. Then I realized that the crystals swarming around my head like angry bees were actually alive. Since Ardee and I had disturbed them, I couldn’t justify doing them more harm. I was sure someone was keeping track of such things in Aventurine. How else would the fairies know whichfairy-godmothers-in-the-making deserved to return and complete the training?
    All such thoughts ceased when the ice creatures fled in a sudden, frantic flurry. Just as the last one flew away, a hairy hand burst through the ice and grabbed my wrist.

7
Fairy Lights
    I am hardly a screamer, but
this
made me scream—as loud as I could. Thankfully, the wind stopped instantly, so that I hung suspended against the ice wall instead of having my arm ripped off.
    â€œWhat’s happening!” Ardee shrieked. “Why did we stop? Are we there yet? Oh, I can’t look!” The wind had clearly stopped going up with her, too.
    The hairy hand was attached to the hairy arm of a monster trapped in the ice. Round eyes glared at me from a misshapen face that was framed by black spikes streaked with silver. The mouth was curled in a sneer, showing yellow teeth. A blood-red coat covered the monster’s bulging belly.
    It reminded me of another folktale my father used to tell me, about a fur trapper who had been frozen behind a waterfall at the sudden onslaught ofwinter. He could escape only if he captured a human girl to melt the ice, freeing him as she froze in his place.
    My arm had started to freeze in the monster’s grip. While my flesh was turning to ice, the ice encasing the monster’s arm melted.
    I gasped.
I
was the girl! And if I didn’t find a way out, I’d be frozen in the waterfall! I still held the magic rope in my free hand. There was one knot left. I was already using the ribbon wind, so the knot couldn’t help me. But I didn’t dare drop it to grab my Kalis stick. It couldn’t smash through tons of ice, and if I survived, I would need the knot later.
    â€œI think I’m going to throw up,” Ardee moaned.
    I had one thing to offer the monster,