37

A little distance away from them, snow gave way to icy sea and Jason thought he would weep for joy. He was numb and so cold. The sea meant that they were close to the island Muna inhabited and it also meant he wouldn’t have to walk anymore.
Jaye ushered them onto a large slab of ice and it started moving fast, rushing towards snowy mountains that Jason could just make out in the distance. Looking around, Jason could also make out two other islands apart from the one they had just left and they were arranged in such a way that each island faced north, south, east and west. They were currently gaining on the one facing either North or South (Jason wasn’t sure) and all around them, icy slabs like the one they were on floated, some covered with snow. Jason looked at Jaye, whose eyes were glazed over in concentration, and remembered what he had told him last night.
It made total sense to Jason why Zemar should have Bound him the second they stepped foot on Erogon. But she hadn’t and he didn’t know how to ask her why. How would you ask your friend who just happens to be an all-powerful queen why she wouldn’t let you suck her blood? It was weird, even in Erogon. Now, he was supposed to be super strong; a strength he hadn’t even noticed yet, part from the part that he wasn’t at all tired from a full day’s trek and feltlike he could still run a marathon if it wasn’t so damn cold. He felt the same and his hazy reflection in the dark water showed him that he pretty much looked the same. But his supposed strength now played a role in his ‘threat’ to Zemar’s throne. It wasn’t like he was interested in her throne in the first place but with Tiledonian power AND super strength, it would be easy as pie. Zemar didn’t seem bothered, though. She just sat stoically, facing the direction in which they were headed and taking deep breaths, her crown glinting even in the absence of direct sunlight. She didn’t seem to be using any magic, though. In fact, Jason was sure she wasn’t using any magic. There was a certain aura he was learning to detect around her whenever she wielded her powers and it was absent at that moment.
Jason shrugged. She had left Jaye to the duty of moving their icy slab and he couldn’t blame her. With the way Muna had been described, Zemar was probably preparing for battle. If the mistress of these lands was anything like the creatures that dwelled within it, they would be up for a dangerous, cold battle indeed.

Muna waited for her visitors at the edge of the icy sea. They had survived the harsh weather and the creatures. They had to be resilient and more importantly, strong. Most people would turn away the second they felt the biting cold raking deep in their bones. She had felt it when they had entered her domain and scoffed; amateurs who thought they could make it in the Frozen Islands. Only one presence had made her stop and reconsider but she had shaken it off. A day later, she had looked in her Orb to find their carcasses, only to see them still pushing on and once again, she had felt that presence. Now here they were, racing towards her with great speed and the presence was getting stronger and stronger. She could no longer deny that it was curious indeed.
They finally got to the edge of the sea and stepped onto the snow. Immediately, Muna summoned rock ice to circle their feet, trapping them where they stood. Three of them stood in place, looking shocked at the sudden hindrance in their movement. Only the light-haired one took a step and broke the ice like it was not even there. Muna drew her brows together. This could only mean that the light-haired one had encountered the yuki-onna and survived. Impressive. The other man and woman smiled sheepishly at her ice traps and stepped out of them like they were also nothing. She wasn’t all too shocked. She could already sense that they were incredibly strong although she had not sensed strength from the light-haired one. Muna looked at the last of her visitors, a woman with a commanding stance and smooth brown skin; she still stood in the ice but stood and stared like she could break through at any time she felt like it. Then Muna looked at her face, saw the golden eyes and the shining crown and took a step back.
Jason was pretty sure that the ice on his feet had been pretty hard, but he hadn’t even felt it there. He had felt the pressure on his foot as he broke through it, had known it was bloody hard but hadn’t had any trouble stepping through it. He looked at his now free feet with an eyebrow raised. Looked like his strength was kicking in. He looked up at who he could only assume to be Muna. She was at least 6 feet, 2 inches tall with long white hair pulled back by a braided band and pale skin. She wore a thin robe cinched at the waist and Jason shuddered on her behalf, wondering how she could stand in this blasted cold without so much as a shiver. She had grey eyes that almost looked silver and a mean look on her face with a deep scowl and stubborn white eyebrows. All in all, she was somebody Jason definitely did not want to piss off.
When it seemed like Muna had gotten a good look at Zemar, she took a step back and Zemar chose that moment to advance forward, breaking her rock ice trap with the ease of snapping a pencil. Muna’s silver eyes darted among them and she raised her hands up, palm facing them.
“Stand back,” she said in a shrill cold voice and icicles seemed to materialize out of nowhere. They hovered in the air and Jason could see that each one had a deathly sharp point and all said sharp points were facing them. Zemar didn’t seem bothered though, she scoffed and waved a regal hand. All the icicles dissolved into water on the floor in an instant.
”Have you always been this immature, Muna?” Zemar asked in an unattached voice, “Or am I just deluded from my absence.”
Muna’s gaze hardened even more, “You left Erogon to suffer. You should have stayed away.”
With that, Muna erected a huge wall of ice between them and they all had to step back. It was about thirteen feet tall and so thick, Jason couldn’t even see through it. He looked at Zemar and if there wasn’t water behind him the look on her face would have made him take a few more steps back. Zemar looked a few steps angrier than ‘angry’ could describe. The gold in her eyes seemed to move and her mouth was set in a firm line of disapproval. Jaye and Barine appeared to be equally as mad.
Despite her anger, Zemar turned to Jason, unaware of the wave of discomfort he felt at being subjected to her angered gaze. “Why don’t you use your newfound strength to bring this wall down for us, Jason?”
Jason stared at her blankly, his brain not exactly deciphering what his ears had just heard. She expected him to bring down a wall that was probably thicker than he himself? How?
“Go ahead,” Jaye said with a suspicious glint in his eye, “give the damn wall a nice smack.”
Jason raised his hand back and did as Jaye said, fully expecting his hand to be useless on the thick ice. His shock was great when the entire wall groaned and exploded the instant his hand touched it. Muna stood on the other side looking shell shocked.
She didn’t stand for long because almost as soon as the wall was gone, Barine was behind Muna, holding her long hair in one hand and yanking it back until Muna was forced on her knees. Barine spoke directly to her face, “You will not speak to my queen like that. You will not address my queen like that. You will give her ALL. DUE. RESPECT.” With each word, Barine yanked Muna’s hair even harder, making the ice monarch whimper in pain.
“Thank you, Barine,” Zemar said calmly, “you may release the poor girl now.”
Barine hesitantly did as she was told, still pinning Muna in place with a threatening glare. Muna quickly recomposed herself and regained her scowl, although she did not dare to get up from her position on her knees.
“Do you have a problem with me?” Zemar asked her with feigned innocence. There was still anger swirling in her eyes, “If you have a problem with me, just say so now.”
“Yes, I have a problem with you,” Muna spat out, “I have a problem with the way you left Erogon to its devices six years ago. Firgewan did not get here but my Orb shows me all the agony the rest of Erogon goes through. It also showed me the fat life you went to live on Earth.”
“Did your dearest Orb also show you that I had no way of returning to Erogon?” Zemar sneered, “That I used the last of my garganum to get to Earth? Or did your precious Orb tell you that if I hadn’t left and had gotten killed by Firgewan, Erogon would stand no chance today?”
Muna had no reply to that, she just kept on scowling.
Zemar clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, “Senseless. No reasoning whatsoever.”
Jaye stepped forward from the background where he had been, “You don’t need to explain yourself to her, my queen. She needs to take the Binding and that is it. We still have a lot more court members to find.”
Surprisingly to Jason, instead of arguing as usual, Zemar just looked expectantly at Muna. It seemed Zemar was gelling more and more with Jaye these days and Jason didn’t like it one bit. He had felt proud to break down that wall of ice but the thrill was fading now and he scowled deeply at the thought that Zemar could have easily brought the wall down as easily as she had dissolved those icicles. She had just wanted to make him feel important and probably test the extent of his strength.
“Fine!” Muna said, raising her hands in surrender, “I will be Bound.”
Barine and Jaye smiled smugly while Zemar lifted a brow. There was absolutely no way it was going to be this easy. Zemar had never known Muna well because of the distance between their abodes but her parents had been two icy figures sitting stiffly during the court meetings Zemar’s father and mother held. She remembered that her father had let her hide and watch so she could learn from the confidential meetings and she also remembered that Muna’s parents, although wise in counsel, were generally negative and difficult to be around. She didn’t expect their child to be any different.
As Zemar expected, Muna had something else up her sleeve. She smiled a quick confident smile and spoke, “But there is actually one small issue hindering my Binding though.”
“And that is?” Zemar drawled out.
“I have a pet. He is the dearest of all creatures, honestly. But he won’t want me to leave him at all.”
The water behind them rippled and Muna found her way to her feet, standing tall once again. the water continued to ripple and out jumped a fully-grown orca. Jason almost screamed at the sheer size. He had never seen once up close before and this killer whale looked so close that Jason felt he could just reach out and touch the velvety black skin. But of course, he would lose an arm for his indulgence.
Instead of jumping back into the water, the orca faced the direction of the land as if it wanted to land in between Muna and her guests. A flash went off that forced them all to close their eyes and when they opened them, it was not a killer whale that stood in front of them but a huge black wolf with the whitest teeth Jason had ever seen. White teeth bared at them and dripping with saliva as the wolf growled menacingly. Jason was sure the orca hadn’t changed in size but only in form.
“To get to me, you’ll have to go through him.” Muna said smugly.
The wolf lunged at lightning-fast speed.