34

After a day of heavy seasickness (on Jason’s part), they finally arrived at the Frozen Islands. Or at least, everyone referred to the mist in front of them as the Frozen Islands. While they dressed in all their thick clothes, Jason was still as confused as he had been when the mermen had slowed to a stop at a point where there was what appeared to be a wall of fog. The calm sea simply gave way to a frozen, foggy terrain.
Jaye spoke to the mermen for a few minutes while everyone carried their bags. Jason didn’t know what they were talking about but from their solemn expressions and serious nods, it was probably important.
Jason wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about Jaye being the alpha male in their little group. As powerful as everyone claimed Zemar was, she gave way to Jaye when it came to matters. It seemed like Zemar herself didn’t know when it happened. Jason guessed it must be werinam. Their soul bond meant they barely ever got into arguments and Zemar pretty much ignored Jaye as much as she could. Jason wasn’t sure but he had a feeling Zemar and Jaye had had an interesting conversation while he and Barine had explored the ship. It had been an intentional discussion too, because if Zemar hadn’t wanted to be in Jaye’s company, she could’ve insisted on doing an inspection of the ship by herself. Something was going on between the two of them and Jason didn’t like it one bit. The fact that they were bonded mates didn’t change the way Jason felt about Zemar and he was finding it harder and harder to stay away.
He heaved his leather backpack onto his back and poised to walk through the wall of fog when Zemar told him to do so. “The temperature when we walk through this wall is going to shock you because you haven’t been here before. It will be extremely cold, even painful but remember it only lasts for a few seconds.”
“Longest damn seconds of your life,” Jaye commented and Zemar shot him a scolding look.
“Anyway, Jason, it will stop. I'm just hoping that warning you will make it better,” she said, “oh, and please, don’t wander off while we are in the Frozen Islands. Ice creatures are not generally friendly. You think the Kraken was bad? Just don’t go about alone, okay?”
Jason was about to tell her he would do what the hell he wanted when their gazes connected. He didn’t know exactly what he saw in her eyes. Pity? Amusement? Fondness? Intimacy? Love? Whatever it was, it compelled him to nod in agreement and stare into her molten gold eyes until she pulled her gaze away.
Immediately, he felt like a lasso had been loosened over his mind. When it was placed on his conscience in the first place, he had no idea but what he did know was that there was a lot of power in those gold eyes Zemar possessed.
“Alright everyone. Step in on the count of three,” Zemar said and counted, “One, two… three.”
At three, they stepped into the fog and were temporarily blinded. Jaye, Zemar and Barine let their eyesight adapt to the foggy atmosphere consisting of ice and snow. The first person to notice Jason was Zemar. She dropped to the floor beside him where he writhed and whimpered in pain. It would pass but she whispered words of comfort to him while he underwent the effect of the weather while internally thanking their stars that he was not screaming in pain; no need to attract beasts to themselves when they hadn’t even been there for twenty seconds.
Jason felt like he was being stabbed all over his skin with razor sharp icicles. He was sincerely shocked he wasn’t bleeding but the pain that had engulfed him the second he had stepped through the wall of fog was so intense, it robbed him of sound and movement. All he could do was squirm on the floor when he wanted to scream out in agony. His blood burned up but didn’t manage to chase away the bitter cold. With shaky hands, he brought his cape closer around him and clenched his chattering teeth really hoping this wasn’t the end of his life, because it really felt like it.
But Zemar was murmuring to him softly. He had no idea what she was saying but the sound of her voice gave him something to hold on to. Slowly, the pain abated and his body temperature began to normalize. He was able to get up and breathe the cold air deeply, sighing in a puff of smoke.
“That was awful. How long did that last?”
“About twenty seconds, give or take a few,” Barine replied, her eyes standing out starkly against the white background. Jason didn’t notice, he was too busy bulging his eyes out.
“Twenty sconds???” he turned to Jaye, “Jaye, you were right. That was the worst twenty seconds of my life.”
“Told ya,” Jaye replied with an amused smirk on his face, “but kindly get your ass up. We have to find our way to a place to stay for the night. We cant be out here when the sun sinks. It is extremely dangerous.”
Since Zemar and Barine also seemed to agree, Jason got up as quickly as he could and he was able to look round briefly. They currently stood on ice but he could see thick snow a short distance away. The snow stretched as far as he could see with just a few rocky hills here and there. It was a frozen wasteland in his opinion and they were supposed to find a member of Zemar’s court here.
They began to walk, breaths coming out in cold smoke.

They walked for a few hours and when the sun just started to dip in the horizon, a long howl filled the air.
“Wolves,” Jaye said, “but luckily for us, there is a small cave just a few yards away. We can stay there safely for the night.”
They trudged tired legs to the cave and huddled in. It was freezing cold and Jason wondered how they were meant to stay there for the whole night. Surely they would have frozen intestines by the next day. They dropped their bags and Zemar moved to the front of the cave. After a few movements of her hands, the freezing temperature in the cave changed. It was still chilly but at least it was manageable.
“What did you just do?” Jason asked.
“I created a sort of protective field around the cave. So nothing can get in, not even the element,” Zemar replied, kneeling down to concentrate on concocting a fire that would last the whole night with magic.
Jason was glad for the absence of the biting wind and was even more grateful when Zemar had the fire going. It was so warm that they could remove their outer clothes and eat comfortably. After the meal of berries, fish and some bread, Jason washed it down with the sweet nectar Zemar handed him and the water Barine gave him. Holding in a burp, he lay down on his sleeping mat and used the thin blanket to cover himself. He used his backpack as a pillow since there was no pillow and started thinking about how lucky he was to have a friend who could keep everyone safe and warm.

Jason woke up to find Zemar also jerk up and look towards the entrance of the cave. She gave a small yelp and scrambled to wake Jaye and Barine. They groggily got up but straightened immediately at the sight of what was banging on the protective force field, intent of breaking it down somehow. Right at the entrance of the gate, stood a whole pack of hungry wolves with their fur as white as the snow behind them and teeth gnashing and gnawing. They stood on their hind legs and used their front paws to slam at the force field. The rest was about 5’7 on his hind legs.
Zemar looked at the rest of her comrades, “I’ve never seen anything like this. They usually just ignore my forcefields.”
“Maybe rabies is spreading through the pack,” Jaye offered, trying to explain the strange behaviour.
Zemar ignored the unlikely answer and scrambled to her feet, “Rabies or not, I can’t the forcefield up much longer. They’re testing the limits of my power and I'm not fully recovered. That forcefield could come down at any second now.”