The way Adrianna was attacking him, Ziu had to buy time. He had to make sure that her energy burnt out fast. She was defending herself extremely well and it was impossible to break through cover. So the best approach for him was to tire her. The last attack was deadly. If he hadn't defended himself, the knives would have pierced his neck. He was in excruciating pain when the knives slid into his flesh. He had ducked to protect himself. He took advantage of that position and bumped his head in Adrianna's chest. As soon as she staggered a little, he dashed out towards the entrance of the cave, with his hand bleeding profusely.

Adrianna balanced herself. She chased him. Before he reached the cave's hole, Adrianna hurled her knives at him one after the other. While one knife rammed into the wall, the other touched Ziu's thigh and fell on the snow. He shrieked in pain as his pants got covered with blood but he didn't stop. He simply kept on running. Ziu knew that his only chance of survival was out in the open.

The dawn's early beams had started to crack up the mist. The visibility had become clearer and Ziu continued to run as far as he could. He rushed higher up in the mountains. While running he used his wand to heal his wounds. They didn't heal but the blood stopped gushing out and it caked on the surface.

When Adrianna came out, all she could see were the red drops of blood on the snow. She pursued that blood trail through the mist but it disappeared after some time. Angered at her lack of timing she wished the fog to clear up as soon as possible. The sun was rising slowly.

She started moving in the direction of the blood trail slowly. These last hours had been extremely tiring for her and she was exhausted. Climbing the mountains was a gargantuan task. She panted heavily and her feet ached. Suddenly she noticed that some ice had fallen about ten feet away from her. Adrianna took her wand out immediately. At first glance she thought that some ice had fallen off from the pines. She went near to see it better. When she actually saw what that was, she almost knew that Ziu was in vicinity. Those were large chunks of ice that had fallen. There was a sudden movement behind her, and so she spun around on her heels. She cast her gaze wide to stare through the mist. There was silence again. She pulled a knife in another hand regardless. She liked surprises but certainly not from Ziu. Gnashing her teeth, she tread the ground trying to make least noise when without warning something happened that made her drop her knife.

"Mun!

" she squealed.

It was Mun who emerged from the mist. Adrianna was so happy to see him that she rushed to greet him. She sat down in front of his face and hugged him.

"Adrianna, why didn't you warn me when you entered these lands?

" he chided her affectionately, loving the way she held him.

"Thank the spirits that I was out hunting for my food when an owl passed the message that a girl was calling me.

"

Adrianna laughed and cried at the same time. She was ecstatic to see him.

"It's good to see you too,

" she replied.

Mun let her pat him for a while and when she calmed he said,

"Sit on me. I can carry you up. It won't be difficult to track Ziu.

"

Adrianna's eyes were wide with surprise. How did he know that she was hunting Ziu? As if he had read her mind, he said,

"I told you last time also. These are my lands and I know everything about them. Your magic won't work much here.

"

"Then let's go,

" she replied.

Adrianna mounted him and held his antlers and Mun took off. The way he climbed up the slope so swiftly, it looked as if he was made for these mountains. He galloped despite the soft snow. After they had gained some height, Mun said,

"It seems that instead of going any higher he has followed this path.

" Adrianna looked at the fresh footsteps that were going horizontally now. She was surprised as to how fast Ziu had come so high.

Mun started to trot in that direction slowly flitting his gaze around. They must have walked not even for five minutes when Adrianna noticed a beam of thin yellow light coming in her direction.

"Run,

" she shouted. Mun rushed away from there just in time to avoid the spell. Once he had run a few meters, he turned around to charge at Ziu.

"Mun, don't go anywhere near. His magic can still kill you,

" Adrianna warned. But Mun was very angry. He didn't listen to her and kept charging.

"Mun, stop!

" Adrianna commanded. But there was no stopping him.

Ziu had alimbed to a comfortable altitude and thought that he had lost Adrianna. However, when he heard her coming after him, he threw a spell at her. He was taken aback by the sight of the animal she was riding on. Mun became his new target.

"Die! Die! Die!

" he kept saying and throwing whatever spells he could conjure.

Adrianna on the other hand was in line of those spells. She picked her wand and conjured her spells with as much force as possible but every spell came out weakly. At the same time Mun was charging at Ziu.

The sun was up and had lit the snow-clad mountains in its yellow light. Ziu held his wand towards the sun, pulled as much energy as he could from there and directed it through his wand towards Adrianna and Mun.

Suddenly, Adrianna saw a huge flash of light coming in front of her.

"Nooooo!

" shouted Adrianna. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact when everything went silent. Everything was in slow motion. Instead of high heat, she could feel the cold wind whipping her hair and grazing her cheeks. She opened her eyes and shouted in glee. Mun had leapt ten feet in the air and avoiding that lethal blow he had landed behind Ziu. He had landed so gently that Adrianna felt a slight jolt.

Ziu was shocked. He spun around and once again sent the same killer spell her way.

"Ponos!

"

Agitated to hell, Mun clucked his beak. Adrianna, on the other hand, was quick to respond. She took her wand out and directed the same spell at the one coming towards her. The two strong yellow beams met mid-air and formed a huge ball of fire that exploded. Ziu retreated a few steps.

Seeing the situation, Mun said,

"Adrianna, now listen to me.

"

"What is it Mun?

" she asked in an angry voice.

"Get down from me and when I say

"Now,

" hurl the wand in the air.

"

"What? Why?

" she was confused.

"Because that is the only way you can defeat him. So just do what I am saying.

"

"Hurling the wand away means inviting instant death.

" How could he even think of such a ridiculous idea?

"No, it isn't. Trust me.

"

Mun sounded so sincere, that Adrianna nodded reluctantly.

After another explosion, when Ziu had stumbled far more, Adrianna got down from Mun. She looked at him questioningly.

Ziu in the meanwhile had steadied. He raised his wand to the sun.

"Now!

" shouted Mun.

Adrianna hurled her wand in the air. Mun ran towards it and leapt as if to catch it in its beak but what happened next was beyond words.

Mun merged with Adrianna's wand.

And then—