Mirror, Mirror

3.09 Storm

The storm hit them hard.

The wind howled, whipping their faces with stinging snowflakes. Starla squeezed her scarf around her head, protecting her nose and ears. Even squinted against the frigid air, her eyes watered. It was a frozen hell, and Starla instantly regretted the decision to keep going. It was too late to turn around now.

Rayvin held out his mittened hands, and magically pushed the snow away from the two of them, creating a pocket of air. It was like a make-shift eye of the storm. Rayvin and Starla plowed forward through the snow doggedly, more or less keeping up their normal pace.

Soon, they couldn't even tell what time of day it was— it was just white and grey in every direction. Were they still even going in the right direction?

Starla nearly ran into Rayvin as he stopped short. He had stumbled across a dying snow bear. There was something incredibly disheartening about seeing such a great beast felled by the winter storm. It didn't bode well for them.

They argued about whether or not to kill it and carve its pelt to create an extra coat. When it came down to it, neither of them could do it. They both halfheartedly said something about how it would take too much time and energy. But Starla knew that Rayvin knew that neither of them had the heart to do it. So, they compromised, putting it out of its misery with a killing blow, and kept moving.

Eventually, Rayvin's energy began to dwindle, then disappear entirely, and the two of them were forced to weather the storm head-on. Rayvin began to lag behind, sapped from his use of magic. At one point, Starla looked around and saw that she was alone.

"Rayvin? RAYVIN!" she screamed against the wind, panicked. She backtracked, and nearly tripped over him. He had fallen to his knees. For a second, she almost knelt beside him, tempted to rest, if only for a moment. But, she resisted, terrified she would be too exhausted to stand up again.

"Get up," Starla shouted. Rayvin clumsily lowered his scarf with his mittened hand, exposing his face to the elements.

"Too tired," he said, or at least Starla thought he said from reading his lips. "Need rest." He must have overused his magic. They'd never tested how hard he could push himself.

"I'm tired too," Starla said, leaning forward so that she spoke directly next to his ear. "But we need to keep going."

"We're lost," Rayvin shouted. "What's the point."

"Rayvin, I need you to listen to me," Starla said seriously, stepping right in front of him so that he looked up at her. "If we stop moving, we will die. Moving is the only thing keeping us warm enough." She held out her hands to him, hoping he was able to hear anything she was saying above the wind. He gave her a despairing look. What would she do if she couldn't make him keep going? Leave him? She didn't think she could.

Starla didn't notice when Rayvin took her hands because they were so numb. She pulled him to his feet. They dragged forward at an excruciatingly slow pace. Starla linked her arm through his, terrified they'd be separated. If they were going to die out here, she would rather they die together.

Suddenly, Rayvin collapsed again beside her.

"Rayvin, we can't stop," she yelled, alarmed.

Rayvin shouted something back at Starla. She couldn't hear him over the wind, nor the scarf wrapped tightly around her head to protect her ears. She attempted to loosen her scarf slightly to hear him better, and wisps of her white blonde hair escaped her braid, dancing frantically in the violent wind. Rayvin shouted something again, but Starla still couldn't understand. Then, she saw what he was doing— digging. She caught a glimpse of something dark against the white snow. There was something down there, something important enough that he was moving fervently, with renewed vigor. Wordlessly, she knelt beside him and started digging too.

Brick.

"It's a chimney!" Starla screamed triumphantly over the howling wind. "Help me find an entrance, Rayvin." The two of them kept digging through the snow, spurred on by a feverish burst of hope.

Glass. A window! And was that light? Starla and Rayvin started pounding on what appeared to be a slanted roof window. Was anyone there? And if so, would anyone hear them above the storm? Or would they be all tucked away in bed now, deep below?

And then, they saw a little face with big dark eyes looking up at them. Starla and Rayvin waved frantically. Would they understand? Would they help them?

The face disappeared. Starla's heart sank.

Starla and Rayvin kept pounding frantically against the glass. Starla couldn't feel her limbs anymore. They were going to die out here...

Starla was about to suggest that they try to get in through the chimney.

And then the face was back, with several others. The window unlatched, and Starla and Rayvin tumbled into the room face first, snow surrounding them.

Starla carefully untangled herself from Rayvin and stood up, facing the people who had saved them.

"We are the Ice Princess, and you all are angels," Starla said before she passed out.