Adrianna's body froze mid-movement. Her upper lip curled back. Her head recoiled as her eyes became wide. She stared at Yanga and said,

"Those serpents have entered the slope of the mountain on which the inn is built?

"

Yanga nodded vehemently with an evil grin.

"Yes, my Queen,

" she said with sarcasm.

"One of them is the King of Serpents, whose son Ziu was killed by you. He will slither inside and swallow your people just the way you swallowed my happiness. Soon they are going to gnaw and create huge holes inside. That would make it shallow and the mountain will cave in.

" Yanga couldn't hold her excitement. She clapped her hands and hopped from one foot to the other. There was madness in her eyes.

"Dmitri and Ileus are going to get buried in the mountain deep inside.

" She looked at Adrianna and shook her head,

"Tsk tsk. Now you will know what it is to be deprived of your loved ones.

" She jerked her head back with a hollow laughter. When she stopped she said,

"My revenge will then be complete.

"

The anger in Adrianna's eyes showed the fear that she experienced at this time. She was the girl who was starved of love and finally she got it in the form of Dmitri and Ileus. And this woman was planning on destroying the love that she had craved for the life. Ever since she was a child, she only wanted to be accepted—by her father, by her siblings, but none of them liked her. They all ridiculed her, used her and even tried to sell her into a marriage. Eventually when she found her soul mate, she had started living. They had a baby. She had sacrificed so much for the Wizard Kingdom. She had fought for these people and saved them from dark forces. Wouldn't they ever realize that? Wouldn't they ever realize that she had risked her life, her husband's life just for them, for their betterment? When was it going to be enough? It was time she acted selfishly.

There was so much pain in her eyes that she felt her whole body drowning in the wave of it. Tears pooled in her eyes but she stopped them from coming out. She had to fight the tears and act. She couldn't let herself be pushed in the dark. At that moment she became aware that Dmitri was not wrong in being paranoid. His anxiety to save Ileus was justified. She had to fight for her sunlight, for her right, for those she loved.

She closed her eyes. Her throat choked. In the background Yanga was still laughing like a mad. When she opened her eyes, they were furious golden yellow. Magic crackled ferociously around her hands. All she did was to bring her hands forward and the magic flowed. It surrounded the woman in front of her. The beams of white light sparkled like a firecracker, splitting, emitting and crepitating with yellow, orange and blue sparks that flew around.

"Noooo!

" Yanga screamed.

"Stop it! Stop it! It hurts!

"

Adrianna was relentless. The magic flowed continuously until the woman who was surrounded by it was charred to death. Her body fell on the ground, stiffened in a pained posture. Yanga was dead. But Adrianna's fury was so uncontrolled that the magic continued to flow out of her hands. It went and hit the ceiling of the cave, which shattered with a loud explosion and the debris that splintered covered Yanga's body burying her there and then.

Adrianna withdrew, her breathing ragged. She looked at the debris and said,

"It is you who will be buried in these mountains.

"

After that she came out of the cave. Her broom was waiting for her. As soon as she mounted it, the broom took her Master to the destination she had in mind—the slopes of the mountain on which the inn was standing.

Her broom came and stopped right in front of the large crater that was created by the blast. It was wide enough for five men to enter together and tall enough for people with Haldir's height to easily get in.

The moment the ball of fire hit the rocky slope it created an explosion forming a large hole in the rock. The serpents were then pushed inside the hole. From there, they would have gnawed their way in. The hole in the mountain looked like a gaping mouth. Ringed by white snow from all the sides, the opening was pitch black, exposing the bare rocks.

Adrianna entered the newly formed cave. It was like a huge worm. She thought that there were two explosions, which meant that there would be two serpents. It didn't make sense for two serpents entering the came worm-cave, so was it that the other serpent created another hole. The thought sent tremors in her body.

She started to go further inside and the deeper she went, the darker it got. Suddenly her broom struck something solid. She became afraid. Did she stumble upon the serpent? Immediately she took her wand out and lighted the tip. She frowned when she noticed rubble of small rocks—all in a heap. The heap extended inside and so it was not possible for her to go any further.

She realized that if this was the speed of the serpents, then within a day they could create unimaginable havoc. They started masticating the upper part of the mountain, which was narrower than the base. This clearly meant that they knew that by doing so that part would crumble fast. She had to stop it. Suddenly she heard a rumble, mixed with a hiss. It was subdue as if coming from deep inside. The mountain moved very slightly. On a second thought instead of going after the serpents, Adrianna did something interesting. She hurried out. Once she was outside, she took her wand out. She pointed it towards the white snow-covered mountains that flanked it. Slowly, the snow rose from there. It started forming a shape. Adrianna's eyes followed the first shape that emerged and a pained word escaped from her mouth,

"Mun!

" The snow had transformed into Mun. It started running towards the place Adrianna was standing. Within a few seconds more of her favorite animals sprung up from the snow. They all followed the leader. A wave of them rose, and within a few minutes hundreds of Mun were running across the mountain slopes only to reach their Master, only to do as the Master bade them. This wasn't an avalanche—this was a swell, a tide of white snow in the form of Mun that surged like a wave.

It was so fast that Adrianna chuckled with a tear in her eyes. Mun never failed her. She was sitting on her broom that hovered around the cave's opening.

As soon as the first animal reached her, it stopped for a second, bowed at her and entered the worm cave. Rest of them followed it. Soon the cave was flooded with thousands of snow beasts.

The miracle continued for a long time. Adrianna kept standing there with her wand pointed to the mountain slopes to generate more and more of snow beasts.

Loud rumbles were heard as the serpents inside swished their tails and tried to escape but Adrianna could well imagine that the snow must have stuffed around them freezing their movements, freezing their bodies to the extent that they would eventually die.