Johannes glanced at Canute who was inspecting the area. The crystal clear mirror seemed endless no matter how far they went.
"Lake Bovali?" Chaol mumbled with shock.
"There is no opening. At this rate, our horses might slip on this thick sheet of ice."
Canute rubbed the tip of his chin. An idea sparked in his mind.
He gathered the knights and instructed them to cut the minimum available dead trees around them.
They began whispering among themselves until Johannes disciplined them with his menacing aura.
"Chaol.Gather the mages who are familiar with metal bending."
"Aye!"
To their luck, there were only two mages among them including Canute.
"We need to bend spikes of longer length beneath the horseshoes. This will provide resistance against the slippery ice."
"And there are several hundred horses." One complained.
"It might take us a day for this work. And we've been riding along the lake since we exited the city."
The other protested against the idea.
"We might be attacked by those mountain beasts."
Canute blankly stared at them without a hint of emotion.
"Just do as I say," He got to work.
The bending wasn't strenuous but time-consuming.
The knights and the rest of the mages set to work making sleds that were shaped more like a raft.
By midday, they succeeded in making the sleds large enough to carry thirty men each.
"It's time we crossed the lake," Johannes called out.
The troops were now on the horseback ready to pull the sleds.
Slowly each of the three sleds was slowly pulled on the slippery sheet of ice.
Tension exerted pressure in the atmosphere.
They tried their best to look calm.
When the third sled reached the edge of the lake, to their luck the ice started to break into large chunks separating the sled from the bank of the lake.
The horses whined with fear and pulled themselves away from danger. The harder the horses pulled the weaker the rope grew in elasticity.
Canute immediately pulled the sled by using water magic. Too late, the horses slipped and drowned in the lake. He managed to save the remaining two.
They barely made it on to the lakeside with the help of the other mages.
"How long has it been since we got into a situation like this?"A mage asked the other while she pulled him up.
" Nearly two decades?"The other assumed breathing heavily.
"No time to rest. Hurry up and keep moving."
Johannes called up from his steed.
The rest got on their horses while few had to keep up on foot since their horses drowned in the freezing cold water.
They entered the forest of the dead. Canute ordered the mages to form a shield around the army.
The dead trees stood high. Rotten corpses covered the forest floor while the air filled with a foul smell that arose from the corpses.
"I sense mana from afar in this direction."
Canute assured them as he galloped down the trail.