Icebound

Chapter 8

Back with Aiden, Maya, Gill, and Ashlie, the four friends continued their trek up the north mountain. As they made their way up, the air got colder and thinner than back in the forest. In addition, while there was still snow on the mountain, icy spikes were also out, and they were pointed like spears.

Maya felt concerned with how the ice appeared, but Aiden and Gill didn't seem to care.

"So... uh... How exactly are you going to fix this winter?" Maya asked Aiden.

"Oh, I am going to talk to Reggie," said Aiden.

"That's it? The faith of your kingdom lies on you talking with your brother?" asked Maya.

"Yeah!" said Aiden.

Maya was about to speak up, but she almost walked into an icy spear. She cut herself off so that she could walk around the spear.

"So... you're not afraid of Reginald at all?" she asked Aiden, forming a concerned look on her face.

"Why would I be afraid of him? He's my brother!" said Aiden.

"Yeah! I bet he's the nicest person in the world!" Gill, said, agreeing with Aiden.

As he spoke, he accidentally walked into an icy spear. Luckily, since he was a snowman, he didn't feel any pain.

"Oh look. I've been impaled!" he joked.

"Well... I guess you got a POINT," said Aiden.

He and Gill started laughing at Aiden's pun. While the guys laughed, Maya snickered a bit. She did enjoy Aiden's pun, but her smile didn't last long.

She was worried about Aiden, because he stated that he wasn't afraid of Reginald.

'Reginald must've shut out Aiden to protect him from his power. Aiden's not afraid, but he better be careful still...' she thought.

She let out a sigh.

'I know Aiden wants to stop feeling trapped in his castle, which is why he wanted to go on an adventure, he obviously wants to rekindle his connection with his brother... but he can't go through all this alone. That's why I decided to help him find his brother,' thought Maya.

She noticed that Ashlie was glaring at her.

"What?" she asked her horse.

Ashlie just grinned.

"Hey Maya! Are you coming?" she and Ashlie heard Aiden call out to her.

Aiden and Gill were ahead, but they stopped so that Maya and Ashlie could catch up.

"Yeah! We're coming!" Maya called out to him.

They quickly walked to catch up. As Maya walked up to him and Gill, Aiden noticed that something was bothering Maya.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her with a concerned look.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay," she said.

"What held you back? Were you... FROZEN in place?" asked Gill.

"Ha! Good one, Gill!" said Aiden.

He and Gill started laughing again. Maya couldn't help but smile, but she didn't look at Gill. She looked at Aiden. Ashlie noticed her owner looking at the prince, and she couldn't help but grin again.

About an hour later, the group reached a higher point of the mountain, but it looked like they ran into a dead end.