Adrianna estimated that she had crash-landed on the south of the Northern Mountains and Ziu was in the west. Creating a portal wasn't an option in this land. She kept her mind open in order for Mun to find out about her, although she was cautious about Ziu too. If he came to know that her mental shields were low, he would take a second to enter her cell.

The inn was located towards the north and so that meant that Mun must be with her Grandfather. It was impossible for her to send signals to Mun from so far off. Even though she was tempted to go to the north only as far as she could communicate with Mun, but at the same time she didn't want to give any time to Ziu to recover. Time was the essence of the night. So she decided to go to the west to find Ziu.

As she neared the mountains in the west, she realized that the mist had swallowed their entire base. The land rose to the brutal mountain peak that was covered with layers of ice. The moon had dipped down a little more. As she entered that terrain she shivered at the curtain of mist that wafted past her as she glided through on her broom. The mist was thick and the visibility was poor. Even the trees were hidden behind the grey and white haze that swirled around the area so densely. She reduced her speed. The chill of the mist was soothing her skin as the remnants of heat inside her body still remained. She had to tread carefully for she didn't know where Ziu might be hiding and she didn't want to bump in a tree or any other formation for the fear that he would get alarmed. And this was the reason why she wanted Mun. He knew everything about this terrain. But she didn't have the time. She closed her mental shields.

The west side of the Northern Mountains was spread over miles and miles. In the dense mist there was no way to know as to which direction Ziu had gone. The darkness swallowed the silence to the extent that it was eerie. As she traversed ahead, she realized that the physical formations could be made out by the rough outlines that looked as though they had been erased on the edges.

Adrianna must have traversed for about half an hour taking each cautiously as like a red fox, but there was no sign of Ziu. The stillness of the air was stifling her. The wasteland of white ice was only adding to her impatience. Suddenly her broom bumped into something soft and a growl emanated. Shocked at her tardiness, she brought her wand forward to protect herself. An image of a mountain fox appeared in front of her. It growled baring its fangs. There were more growls, as more mountain foxes gathered to feast on the meat that had travelled to their territory.

The herd surrounded her from all the sides.

"I am here to find a wizard,

" she communicated immediately with the fox who seemed to be their leader.

"We don't know anything,

" replied the leader in a gruffy tone as it closed upon Adrianna.

"Kill her. Her meat smells good,

" said the other behind her brusquely.

They howled together.

"Look, I don't mean any harm,

" said Adrianna slowly rising further from the ground. The dense mist was not helping her. It impeded her view to the extent that she had to use her mind to find out about all of them. She knocked at each one's mind and found that there were no less than five. And these animals were well versed with the surroundings.

With a loud gnarl, the leader lurched at Adrianna. On a quick reaction Adrianna moved to the right avoiding the clash but the claw of the animal razed through her leather jacket and tore the skin inside. She stifled a scream of pain as the blood oozed out, the smell of which only attracted the beasts around her. On an instinct her broom nudged her to gain height. But she knew that another fox would leap at her from the backside. When it leapt on her, she raced forward a little and then moved up. Turning back, she moved her wand in front of her and whispered,

"Obstufacio!

" The spell hit the fox and it fell on the ground paralyzed. If she wanted she could have paralyzed all of them, but she could barely see their physical forms.

More hounds leaped on her at the same time. She threw her body to the side avoiding the beasts. Her broom kept in sync with her movements. She rose and rose up in the air, in the opaque mist. The foxes howled loudly as they kept screaming at each other for missing the prey.

Adrianna was about to dash away from there when she heard the leader grunting,

"Let us wait for the man to extinguish the fire.

" She had protected herself merely guided by her instincts.

"Fire?

" Adrianna thought. That meant that Ziu was somewhere around. The pain in her arm was stinging but the news of Ziu being somewhere near subdued the ache. She had already traveled the fields behind her and Ziu wasn't there, so she decided to move forward.

She navigated through the mist with her arm seared in blood. She knew that being a werewolf, her arm would heal within a few hours.

The moon was about to disappear completely. The mist was slowly turning from dark grey to soft white tufts wafting past her when all of a sudden she felt a miasma of stale smoke as that of fire burning the tinder. Bit by bit, she moved closer stealthily like a mountain lion. From a distance she noticed a small fire that struggled to penetrate the wintry mist. She inched closer. Her eyes glowed with inner murderous thrill. Biting down a smile she swallowed excitement.

The soft yellow light emitted from the lit the surroundings as if a painter's brush had smudged the outlines. Adrianna flew nearer and saw the sparks from the burning wood were flying into the freezing air only to wither mid-flight. Ziu was fast asleep.

---

The crackling of ice spread to other trees. But Ziu didn't notice. He had been awake from past three nights preparing for the war and now it was not possible for him to even move a finger.

The crevices in the ice spread like a spider's web. The sound of crunching pierced the air to the extent that he couldn't sleep. He jolted his head when he heard that the crunching had increased. Was the ice cracking? He got up from his place, irritated as hell. The ground shuddered a bit and he lost balance. He clung onto the wood of the hut he had built. Then with a loud sound as if something had snapped, a tree creaked. Ziu spun his body to see the source of the sound. The tree whose branches he had cut and had made the hut, was falling. And it was falling right above him. The ground on which it stood had cracked. On a reflex, Ziu dived forward and ran on the crackling ice. The tree behind him fell to the ground with a roar demolishing his tiny hut, extinguishing the fire completely and surging the place into darkness.