Rise of the Winter

Chapter 11

"Really? Gone for two minutes and there is a fight and a snogging fest! Oh, look Jack is awake, or is he sleeping?" Pitch said.

"What do you want, Pitch? I know that I'm awake, so what are you trying to achieve?" Jack demanded.

"I want Elsa to marry me and I want to get rid of you. Plus, how did you figure it out?" Pitch responded.

"Easy, those nightmares you gave me, well, I don't use the room that North set aside for me at the Pole!" Jack explained.

"Huh," Pitch huffed, clearly unimpressed that the psychological torture didn't work at all.

Jack smirked and tilted his head. Oh god, that was going to tick Pitch off for sure.

"North, what are we going to do?" Tooth asked, straight after the impostor took Elsa.

"I do not know. Wherever Pitch is keeping them, is not good. Bunny, what do you think?" North said.

"What do I think? I think we dodge the bullet and go after 'em!" Bunny explained.

"But how do we know where he took Elsa and Jack? Assuming that they're at the same place, that is!" Tooth exclaimed.

Sandy jumped up and he looked fairly exited.

"What is it, Sandy?" North asked.

A bunch of pictures flashed above his head too fast for the Guardians to decipher.

"Whoa, slow down there, mate!" Bunny said.

Sandy played the pictures more slowly and it showed the Guardians waiting, then the night sky and then Sandy spreading his dreamsand to find the winter spirits.

"So, we wait for night and Sandy uses his dreamsand to find them?' Tooth translated unsurely.

Sandy nodded his head vigorously, confirming Tooth's translation.

"Now we wait for..." Bunny trailed off as he looked at the sun. He hesitated for a couple more seconds before finishing what he started to say, "five hours."

The guardians sat down and caught up on some sleep while they waited.

Five hours later, three of the guardians were ready to find them. Sandy was still asleep.

"Hey, mate, WAKE UP!" Bunny shouted in Sandy's ear while shaking him hard.

Sandy opened his eyes slowly, still half asleep. Bunny threw him up in the air and when Bunny caught him, Sandy was wide awake.

"Sandy, you know what to do!" North exclaimed.

Sandy nodded once and rose into the sky on a cloud of sand. He waved his hands and golden sand shot out and went everywhere. The guardians watched as his face went from concentration for frustration because he couldn't find the winter spirits. Then, his face lifted. Every trail of golden sand faded, except for two. Those two trails were intertwined and seemed to go beyond the horizon. The Sandman floated down to them and pulled them onto his, now enlarged, sand cloud and they zoomed off after the trails. They flew for hours and the trail still hadn't ended. It was almost dawn when the trail went into the cave. The sand cloud dissipated. The guardians all knew what the others were thinking: we go on foot from here. They walked silently and stealthily into the cave, still following the trail. Once the guardians reached an opening, the sand trail they had been following disappeared. Tooth stuck her head around the corner and saw Dark Jack on top of Elsa, she was unconscious and he was asleep. Normal Jack, their Jack, was chained to the wall, beat-up and bloody. Tooth turned to the other guardians and nodded. They were there. North and Bunny seemed to have the same things going on in their minds: get in there and beat the everlasting snot out of Pitch and the impostor. Sandy rolled his eyes to heaven but Tooth could see that he agreed with what they were thinking. Tooth decided to just roll with it. North nodded and the guardians charged towards the winter spirits and their captors. Tooth and Sandy went to Jack while North and Bunny went to Elsa and Dark Jack. Tooth and Sandy freed Jack from his chains with little effort. Bunny and North had a hard time with Elsa. Sandy floated over to help them and left Tooth to haul Jack over to them. Elsa was free and starting to wake up when Tooth finally managed to get there.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pitch demanded.

Oh gods, she had forgotten about him.

"We were just leaving!" North deadpanned.

Bunny tapped his foot against the ground and they fell into it. Once they had gone down it, it closed off immediately, stopping Pitch from following them.

"Where are we going?" Tooth screamed.

"The Warren. We can hid there and figure out what to do!" Bunny answered.

"Jamie... He has Jamie, in his lair," Jack mumbled.

Since when was he awake? Tooth looked down at him. He was still unconscious. Not to mention, he was bleeding all over her beautiful feathers. She looked over at Elsa. She was fully awake but she seemed unable to move. Suddenly, light filled the tunnel and Tooth was blind until her eyes adjusted. They tumbled out of the tunnel and Tooth hurriedly got off of Jack. He was still out of it. Bunny put Elsa down beside him and she shut her eyes. Snow began to fall and Jack seemed to look happier. The heat must have affected him worse than they thought. Elsa collapsed but the snow kept falling. She closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep.