Chapter 2 Part 2

"That’s just plain weird," Avery shook his head. "I could understand the appearance of such a sudden change from a distance, but I was sure that up close the temperature would change enough for us to feel it."

"It just occurred to me," Ruk commented, "that we don't have any heavy clothing."

"If we’re lucky," Armegon offered, "the temperature there’ll be the same as it is here."

“Not with our luck,” Avery mumbled.

"That doesn't make sense," Ruk stated. "What’d keep the ice from melting?"

"None of this makes sense," Ultrecht added. "Let's just go ahead and find out if we’re going to need extra clothing.

They covered the last kilometer and the air grew no colder until they were standing no more that a few paces from the boarder of the ice.

"Incredible," Avery murmured. "It's like the joining of two entirely different pictures."

"Well, ranger," Armegon urged. "Go scout it out."

Avery stepped across the invisible line, then jumped back quickly. "Yeesh!" he chattered. "It’s freezing over there."

"No kidding," Armegon tossed the ranger a blanket. "It's made of ice, silly."

"Well I guess we’re going to have to break out the blankets," Ultrecht suggested.

"It won't be enough," Avery assured him.

"Then what do you suggest?" Ultrecht patted a foot on the green warm grass of the plain.
Avery sat down and huddled under the blanket. "How about a snowmobile and half dozen parkas?" Calista looked at Ruk who shrugged. More private humor she decided.

"Get real," Armegon said as he pulled some blankets out as well. "We don’t have a lot of
choices. We must cross to that mountain range.” He pointed to the distant, barely visible peaks.

Avery waved his hand back across the tundra. "Be my guest," he said with and edge in his voice as chilling as the ice itself. "I’ll consider hauling your frostbitten hide back as soon as I thaw out."

"I think it’s time to make camp," Ruk suggested. "We can take the time to think of a solution while we rest."

"Ruk's right," Calista added. "We figured out how to get across the lake. We’ll figure this one out too." She felt a little strange that Avery, Armegon and Ultrecht should be getting on each other's nerves like that. It was very unusual, but no more became of it.

They all set up a camp and Avery and Ruk disappeared to attempt to locate some dead wood. Calista, Ultrecht and Armegon gathered rocks to make a fire pit while Ganatar watched. Being a quadruped, there was little he could do to help so he made conversation.

The topic began with how easy it would be for them to complete their tasks and escape this prison if they could use magic, but soon Ultrecht and Ganatar were discussing the magical abilities of the unicorns. "We of the emerald cerous posses telepathic and telekinetic abilities. I presume that’s why to fight a mental attack it’s my blood you seek," Ganatar was saying. “Our king was of the diamond cerous and possessed the ability to dominate and posses others. He was reluctant to use that power, however. He preferred we obey out of loyalty than for him to force his will upon us. In the end I think that’s why we fought for him." Ganatar hung his head. "Some of us fought, that is."

"I once saw a sapphire horn," Ultrecht mentioned. "What kind of abilities did its owner poses?"

Ganatar smiled. "Ahhh, The blue ones. They traveled like the wind across the skies and the outer planes. They could be anywhere they wanted in and instant."

"Teleportation?" Ultrecht surmised.

"And more," Ganatar said. "For they frequented the outer and inner planes."

"What other kinds of unicorns were there?" Armegon asked.

"There were those of the ruby cerous who burned like fire and commanded such as well," Ganatar said. "They had a marvelous sense of humor. I often wished I had been born red."

Calista though of an interesting question. "Are all the remaining females of your kind? I mean will the lack of the other males be the end of the other breeds?"

"Fortunately not," Ganatar said. "Our offspring are of the color that our mothers are. My own father was one of the blues, but my mother was a green. We are not monogamous. Once I am free, we will begin to rebuild our race."

"Won't the gods be a little upset about that?" Ultrecht asked.

"I hope not," Ganatar said, "but it is of no matter. We will live or we will die. No longer will we stand as we are. One way or another it will end."

"Those are brave words, Ganatar," Armegon said as he arranged the stones into a rough circle. "Do you plan to fight all those gods?"

It was hard to tell, but it almost looked as if Ganatar was smiling. "The gods now have something to contend with that they fear much more than me," he said. "I am just a minor irritation to them. As long as I do not seek them out and oppose them directly, they will content themselves with you."

"Do you know something we do not?" Ultrecht asked pointedly. Ganatar nickered. It might have been a laugh or it might not. "I shall not tell you. You need my blood and my silence is one of the conditions you must accept." With that the unicorn rose to its four legs and wandered to a cluster of bushes and started nibbling at the leaves.

"Arrogant cuss isn't he?" Ultrecht muttered.

It was about that time when Avery and Ruk returned with two meager arm loads of wood. Armegon looked skeptically at it. "Is that going to last the night?"

"No," Avery said. "We’ll just have to make due in the dark and save the wood for an emergency."

"I don't think that this little bit of wood’s going to last more than two hours," Ruk estimated. "Because they can see warm bodies, Avery and Armegon should take the watches. We can set the wood to burn before dark, and if there’s an emergency it can be ignited quickly."

"I’d rather we have some light," Avery said reluctantly, "But Ruk's right. That meager amount of wood won’t last long. We haven't encountered anything dangerous yet. I think we’ll be safe, but I also agree that we need to set the wood to burn at a moment's notice."

Ultrecht offered that he still had a little of the brightly burning powder they had doctored the torches with. They mixed it in with the kindling. "Once the tender catches," Ultrecht said, "this will burn very hotly and that’ll not only light up the area faster, but it’ll catch the wood too."

"Don't use too much," Armegon advised. "We may need some for later."

"A handy talent," Ruk commented, "to know powders and stuff like that. Are you an alchemist or a wizard, friend Ultrecht?"

"Any good mage is a fair alchemist," Armegon explained.

"Just what’s the difference between a wizard, a sorcerer, and a mage and an archmage?" Ruk asked.

"That’s an intelligent question and deserves a detailed answer," Ultrecht replied. "Unless you delve deeply into magic, the details would confuse you but I think I can explain it anyway. You see anyone who’s a magic user is a mage. A mage who’s a master of his particular expertise is an archmage. Wizards and sorcerers are both kinds of mages."

"What of warlocks?" Ruk asked.

"No, they’re not called mages. Though in reality they’re also magic users, it wasn’t known that they use magic until much later. At first, when they were classified as non-mages, it was thought that their power was psychic. In actuality, their power is magic, just the control of it is psionic."

"I see. And the difference between wizards and sorcerers?" Ruk asked.

"Wizards are those like me who draw magic from their surroundings and manipulate it with incantation and external focuses. Sorcerers like Armegon control magic with their emotions and mind. In a way they are much like warlocks."

Armegon felt a small amount of insult in that last statement. "Hey there now!"

"And those like Avery?"

"Avery’s a healer and draws power from his own life to heal others. But for the non healing magic that he does, hes a wizard like myself, but not an archmage."

Ultrecht rattled on for a couple more hours until the night approached. When the light began to fade, they all huddled around and made ready for sleep. Avery and Armegon conversed momentarily and decided that the ranger would take the first watch. Then as the last of the light faded, Avery sat alone beside the small yet valuable pyre of wood.

Armegon was on watch when Calista woke, though she did not know it. Her human eyes could not see the warm bodies around her as the halfelves did. Sitting up, though she did hear the soft sounds of breathing and occasional shifting of a body nearby in the darkness.

"Cal?" Armegon whispered. "Are you okay?"

Calista turned to the direction she thought the voice originated from. "Yes," she answered. "Armegon?"

"I’m here." he said from her left. A warm hand reached out and touched her shoulder gently. In spite of herself, she inhaled sharply at the unexpected contact.

"Nature calls," Calista informed the mage. "My bladder's aching for relief and I can't wait for morning."

"Well do be careful," Armegon said. "You don’t have to go far. No one will disturb your privacy. When you’re ready to come back, I’ll come and get you."

Calista thanked him and went about twenty meters into the darkness. In spite of Armegon's assurances, she just didn't feel comfortable doing her business so close to the others.

Armegon watched the receding reddish glow of Calista's body vanish into the dark. Silently he cursed that her bashfulness would require her to go so far away to take care of a simple bodily function that they all had to do as well. She was well aware that the halfelven vision that allowed Avery and himself to see heat was unable to resolve details. All he could really see with that vision was size, distance, and direction. He would have a little chat with her when she returned, he decided. In the darkness they were dealing with, it was far too easy to get lost.