Here's the next chapter (at last)! I was getting really frustrated with what I'd already written of this chapter, so I decided to completely rewrite it. I hope you enjoy!

Also, I'm hosting a giveaway! I'll be making a book trailer for the winner- check it out on my profile!

The song above is one that I've listened to a lot while writing Icebound. It's given me a lot of great inspiration!

As always, thank you for reading!!! ^_^

XXX

Shesh bounded down the mountainside as Anyu clung tightly about his neck with both her arms. Wherever Shesh's hooves touched, the scorching liquid fire dulled and cooled into soft black earth, moving with them to speed them on their way.

Anyu watched the molten fire move and twist around them with awe and fear. Somehow, not of the blazing drops splashed onto her or Shesh. Shesh continued to leap and run around shaking boulders and rising ridges, frantic and desperate but unharmed.

Around them, the mountain seemed to be tearing itself apart. Waves of fire the size of tidal waves rose from the peak of Yahal and surged to meet the equally massive storm of ice and snow that ascended from the tundra. The noise of it was indescribable, louder than anything Anyu had ever experienced before. The roar of thunder magnified a thousand times.

The mass of ice, like a living and breathing glacier, tumbled with Seqineq's fiery waves, and the two forces rumbled and clashed into each other. Anyu couldn't look away, her eyes trapped by the simultaneous majesty and destruction. It was like watching two gods collide, like seeing the sun itself battling the collective force of the tundra.

Shesh neighed in fright and suddenly swerved sharply to the side as an icy projectile shot straight for them. Anyu's arms began to slip from his fur. She felt her body become weightless for a split second, but at the last moment reached out and clutched Shesh's mane with her right hand, keeping herself astride his back.

Her heart pounded inside of her chest and she wrapped her arms securely around Shesh's neck once more, thinking with horror about what would have happened if she'd fallen into the liquid fire around them. With only one hand left to her, it was harder to hold on tightly.

She spared a glance back to the ice storm. More projectiles began to detach from the main storm and shoot towards them, but tendrils of molten earth rose up to block each of the attacks. But sooner or later, Anyu feared, the attacks would reach them. Shesh's pace gre even faster.

They were almost at the base of Yahal now, the path of black rock and earth still guiding their way. A few more bounds, and Shesh's hooves hit snow, leaving the epic battle of flame and ice to play out on the mountain behind them.

"You're doing great, Shesh," Anyu tried to encourage him. 

Now that they were on flat, snowy terrain, Shesh's home element, he began to reach his fastest speed, his legs pumping harder and harder with every second. Anyu could feel his heart hammering and his lungs reaching for as much air as they could get. "Just a little more."

There, in the distance, only small dots on the flat, white horizon, Anyu saw them. She couldn't see more than their mere outline, but her stomach flared at the sight of them- both in hope and in fear.

The icy wind stung her eyes and blew loose strands of hair from her braid. She loosened her grip on Shesh and straightened, forcing herself to take a deep breath. It was clear Siku intended to take Tavra and Kano as prisoners to somehow use later- she wouldn't have killed them. At least that's what Anyu fervently told herself as Shesh's hooves pounded against the ice, kicking up snow as he flew across the plain.

Anyu's mind raced as the imminent battle came closer and closer. She glanced to the wrist of her left hand and quickly looked away, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She could never wield her spear again. It was a two handed weapon, impossible for someone with only one hand to use. How would she hunt, how would she survive without her spear strong and secure in her hands?

With great effort, she pushed the despairing thoughts away and focused her mind upon the current situation. She still had in her belt a single weapon, if it could be called that- a snow-knife, a simple blade carved of whale bone, about the length of her forearm. 

It was never meant for hunting or combat, thus why its tip was flat and square rather than pointed. It was a tool for cutting through ice, whether to build an igloo or saw through a frozen lake. But it was a blade, nonetheless- it would serve its purpose.

And it's not your only weapon, Anyu forcefully reminded herself. She used her teeth to tug off the mitten on her right hand. The biting wind rushed against her skin, but her fingers felt warm and sure.

She examined her hand for a minute, unsure of what she was looking for. She flexed her fingers, curled them into a fist. She prayed to whatever spirits were watching over her that she would know, when the time came, how to use this power.

Anyu exhaled slowly, the steam of her breath instantly dissipating in the rushing wind of their momentum. She withdrew the snow-knife from her belt, gripping the bone handle tightly.

She could make out their shapes now. Four figures moving in the opposite direction of the catastrophic storm on Yahal.

Anyu straightened as Shesh's speed brought them closer and closer. Siku and Sakari weren't moving nearly fast enough to outrun him. Anyu moved to pat his flank, like she always did to reassure her friend, but was once again reminded of her missing hand. She winced and withdrew it.

"We're almost there, Shesh," She told him instead, and felt him pick up one last burst of speed.

It was clear that Siku was not at her full strength- how could she be while she was controlling the monstrous ice storm behind them? It would keep the summer indwellers trapped on the mountain for a little longer. Not forever, but long enough for Siku to escape with her granddaughter and their two prisoners.

Anyu felt sweat bead on her neck despite the cold. The summer indwellers were trapped on Yahal for now and wouldn't be able to stop the fleeing tyrant in time. She was the only one able to stop Siku now.

Her heart leapt when she caught sight of Kano and Tavra. Their wrists were both bound with manacles of ice. Sakari, her long black hair whipping in the wind, held the end of the chains and dragged them forward.

Tavra was in human form, his dark hair tangled and standing on end. He was hunched over as he walked, as if he were trying to fold in on himself and disappear. It made him look even smaller and younger than ever.

Kano had Tavra's arm over his shoulders, supporting him as much as he could. His steps were shaky but he somehow dragged Tavra forward with him. With his free hand he clutched his stomach. Blood dripped from between his fingers and into the snow.

A heat flared in Anyu's chest, not warm or comforting, but burning and angry. She bared her teeth in a snarl as they approached. Shesh growled as well upon seeing their friends hurt, the rumbling noise vibrating in his chest.

Kano and Siku caught sight of her at the same moment. Kano burst into a grin so wide one could almost forget how battered and beaten he was. Almost. Anyu tried to meet his eyes as Shesh barreled across the remaining distance between them. I'm sorry, she tried to say. I'll save you, I promise.

Siku's expression darkened as she took in Anyu riding astride Shesh across the tundra, a snow-sword gripped tightly in her hand. The cataclysm of ice and fire on the mountain outlined her form in a backdrop of smoke and ash.

Siku's appearance had somehow changed in just the short time since Anyu had last seen her- when she had pushed her into the chasm of Yahal to leave her eternally imprisoned with the other summer indwellers. Her face, before mature but smooth and beautiful, now betrayed wrinkles and blemishes. Too much of her inua must have been occupied supplying her ice storm on the mountain. Her powers were weakening. Anyu couldn't help but thinking of her as a figure of ice, cold and regal, but slowly fissuring with cracks.

While Siku's face turned grim at the sight of Anyu, Sakari's face at the sight of her was positively livid. Anyu recalled Sakari's pride and arrogance when they last faced her at the edge of the mountain range. Against all odds, they had survived her avalanche, thanks to Anyu's powers of summer. Clearly, that fact still enraged her.

Sakari tugged sharply on the chains of ice and Kano and Tavra tumbled forward with the force. Tavra stumbled to his hands and knees, coughing. Sakari moved towards him angrily, but Siku held up a hand to stop her as Shesh's gait at last slowed to a stop mere feet away from them. She met Anyu's gaze and a silent agreement passed between them. There would be no running away from this battle. One of them would win and one of them would lose, one way or another.

Shesh stood panting, his large chest heaving as he caught his breath. Anyu didn't move, regarding Siku in silence. Now that her age appeared older, it was impossible to miss the resemblance to her grandmother. It was so obvious. She must have been blind to miss it- blind, or willfully ignorant.

"I underestimated Seqineq," Siku spoke at last. Her voice was deeper than her appearance indicated, but it was smooth and clear. "She was clever to think of cutting off your hand to use the bones as a tamga. It couldn't have been guaranteed to work, but it seems your blood was strong enough after all."

"Anyu!" Tavra cried out in surprise, noticing her missing left hand for the first time. 

Anyu only looked at him out of the corner of her eye, not daring to take her gaze away from Siku. Kano had grabbed the boy, stopping him from running forward. Tears formed at the corner of Tavra's eyes, and he didn't try to hide them. Kano only looked at her with a defeated expression, one that conveyed both sorrow and hopelessness. Blood still seeped from his wound, slowly staining the snow at his feet.

Anyu's nostrils flared, her empty wrist twitching unconsciously. 

"She didn't cut off my hand," she said. "I did." Anyu kept her gaze level as Siku's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. You underestimated me, she thought with a ferocity she had never experienced before.

Siku seemed to take that in. Her expression returned to its previous mask of grim determination.

"You don't have to fight us Anyu," Siku said. Her voice was sincere, filled with pleading and desperation, but her eyes remained the same- icy blue pools frozen in emotionless greed. "We are your family."

Family. The memories that word conjured up flashed in Anyu's mind. Days spent learning the old stories of the world from her grandmother, of trying in vain to teach Anik to hunt and instead laughing together when a group of small penguins managed to trip him in the snow. It brought up hazy memories of her mother when she was still alive, when there was still someone who could take care of her and keep her safe.

Those memories seemed so distant now, as if from another life, another world. But she still felt their warmth, kept them close to her heart and didn't let go.

She allowed herself a glance to Kano and Tavra, to Shesh who was still trying to catch his breath beneath her. 

Tavra, who was nothing like Anik, and yet so much like him that it made her heart ache. Certainly he was more strongwilled and wild than Anyu's little brother ever was- Anyu sometimes wondered if he was truly a boy who could take the shape of a wolf or a wolf who could take the shape of a boy. He had been through too much for a young boy should ever have to- but he'd survived it. Anyu felt a fierce sense of protection over him, as she did for her own brother.

And Shesh, her best friend and companion. She could never forget Shesh. She never would have survived for a single minute on the tundra without his help and friendship. After this was all over, she was going to force the stubborn reindeer to retire- no more hunting, or running, or danger. He could stay nice and safe amongst his heard for the rest of his life.

Then there was Kano. It was funny- the first time they'd met he'd been in chains as well. It seemed like so long ago now, since that day. She remembered how perplexingly cheerful he'd seemed to her, how illogically optimistic. Now she knew more of what lay behind that happy façade- someone who'd faced so much fear and pain, but who somehow still found a way to move forward with a wink and a grin. He gave her a weary but reassuring smile now. Anyu nodded to him and turned her gaze back to Siku.

"You're not my family," Anyu said, feeling more certain of those words than in anything she'd ever spoken.

She raised her left arm towards her collar. The gesture still felt familiar, even when the tamga was long gone and her hand destroyed. She imagined the light but solid weight of the bone hanging from her neck, the curve of imaginary fingers closing around it in prayer. Siku only smiled in thin amusement at the motion, but Kano understood her signal.

He tugged sharply against his chains. Sakari, who had been mesmerized by her grandmother's confrontation with Anyu, fell forward with a startled cry.

Siku's gaze darted towards her granddaughter. In that moment, Anyu leapt from Shesh's side. He galloped away, not needing her direction to tell him that Kano and Tavra needed his help more than she did.

Siku's head swiveled back to Anyu, her pale eyes narrowed. She outstretched a hand to the side. As if summoned from crystallized ice in the air, a blade formed in her hand, long and sharpened to a point. The blade was made completely of ice and was near-translucent. Somehow it only made the weapon seem all the more deadly.

Anyu's own dulled, ivory snow-knife looked pitiful in comparison. But it would be enough- it had to be. She tightened her grip on the handle, took a deep breath, and rushed forward to attack.