The children atop the mountain have no inkling about the troubles they sparked at the base of the mountain.
In the morning they walked forward, still with Ise at the front, Elantra by her side, a step behind or beside, then, the children in ones and twos.
As of yesterday, they passed the part of the mountain that could be walked on like steep ground. Now what they are passing through is a chiseled ice crag, with a very thin road of solid ice.
Only one adult could stand straight on this road.
Since they are children, they could stand side by side at some places, but most places, even children have to stand behind one another.
" Halt ! " Ise announced when they came to the windy part of the path.
" From here on, we will tie a rope and move forward. " Elantra announced.
" One rope for five people. Move carefully. " Ise announced after she counted the number of children.
There is a guide rope, passing through iron hooks in the mountain. What they do is put a rope through a guide rope, then move from one hook to another. Once they pass the hook, and move on to the next yard, the team behind moves forward in that yard.
This way, if a person slips and falls, they will be caught by rope between two hooks with the rope they are holding, and chances are among five people, at least three could have found sure footing.
Also, in case of an avalanche, it will not affect the entire group only, a part of the group. Even those could be rescued easily, provided they follow the protocol of hooking with the guide rope before moving.
" Hey ! I bet you ! walk without the rope ! " Katarina Greenmont challenged Irene Hoarfrost.
Ise interrupted before Irene could respond.
" I forbid you of such a dangerous act. Lady Greenmont ! If you wish to walk without the rope, you can do so at your own peril. " Ise snapped.
Her voice carried absolute authority, scaring the children a bit.
" Hey ! Don't be such a wuss. Also, you are only a princess, not a queen. You can not forbid me from doing anything. " Katarina puffed up her chest.
" Lady Hoarfrost, I order you to follow every safety protocol to the last T. Do you have a problem ? " Ise asked, ignoring Katarina.
" It will be my pleasure, Your grace. " Irene answered with a sweet voice, curtsying to her.
" I, Princess Ise, hereby give my orders to climbers of Reotonarch. You are not allowed to skip a single safety protocol step. " Ise called out.
The wind carried her voice to the furthest corner of the trail.
" It is our honor to accept your orders, your grace. " The children answered, the ladies curtsying, and the boys with bent heads and their right hand on their left chest.
The children are easily swayed. The wise ones wanted to refute the reckless ones who wanted to walk without a rope, so they accepted the orders happily. The reckless ones are pressed by the atmosphere, so they had no choice but to agree to follow safety protocol. Majority are just accepting orders on reflex, for they came from the royal family.
Even so, many children heaved a sigh of relief. They were scared to walk the ice path alone.
It's high in the sky, no parapets on the side, slightest misstep will push you into an ice valley, where they could die in various ways. Frozen to death. Eaten by wolves. Starved to death. Buried in ice.
Even to walk forward, they have to grope slowly.
Fog swirled around the mountain. When the fog passes by, they have near zero visibility, with not even being able to see where they are placing their feet.
Usually, there are only two people per rope, as most of the children would have given up long since. In Ise's previous life, that's what happened.
This year happened to be the year with the highest dropout rate, yet, now, it's becoming exactly the opposite.
The ice mana increased in its ferocity as they moved forward.
The sunlight glinted off the sharp edges of the mountain. The drop shaped icicles formed on tree branches tinkled with each wind, creating a relentless sound of high pitch cacophony. Ice bubbles knocking on each other usually is a sweet sound, but on the mountain, the sound arrived before the wind, creating a sort of foreboding and ominous atmosphere.
Clink ! clink ! Clclclclliiinnnnkkssclkinsk!
That's a wind faster than thirty miles.
The first accident happened on the mountain.
A child, who had just crossed eleven, and with the smallest frame among the children rose into the air horizontally with the wind.
The wind lifted him up and waved him like a flag on a rope.
"AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh" the child screamed.
" Calm " Ise said.
Her voice is her proudest part. It's commanding, yet gentle, sweet, and long carrying in the wind.
The children calmed down immediately.
" Hold on to the rope. We will rescue you. " Ivan Sekov screamed, for the little kid was in their group.
" Hang tight, little mage. Call upon your power. You can make it. " Ise said to the boy fluttering in the air.
By some miracle, the boy seemed to have heard her voice.
He released his power, but his power is ice wings.
The wind is too Strong, the span of his ice wings is too wide !
In a moment, the power the wind exerted on the little boy increased a hundredfold.
The rope slipped out of his hands during that moment he concentrated to release his wings. His fingers became lax when he concentrated. Before he knew it, he was airborne, the buffeting wind throwing him in every direction.
Ise extended her hand, and closed her eyes.
She absorbed the ice mana consciously, reducing the load on the boy's wings, directing the very fog.
The others did not see her, save for Elantra, who was right beside her, thus could keenly feel her power.
It could be said if Ise claims her ice control is second best, no one would dare claim to be the first.
She was the goddess of control, given that she has the yin neonate core.
Soon, the wind carried the boy around the mountain. Halfway in between, the boy calmed down. He started controlling ice wings to glide rather than flailing around.
It became easy on Ise once he did that.
She gently guided him to his original place.
Ivan, who had been looking around for his team mate, immediately condensed the fog into a thin layer of water.
His teammate, who saw what Ivan was doing, instinctively helped by freezing this thin layer of water into ice.
The little guy who was thrown into the air, stepped on this ice sled, then gradually reduced the size of his wings as he came down.
He held the rope back excitedly.
" I can fly ! I can fly ! " he said exaggeratedly, his eyes sparkling and all of little crooked teeth on display.
Unlike most kids here, he had just turned eleven yesterday.
On top of that, he had a thin frame like most fliers.
" Aye. We saw that. Congratulations. " Ivan told him.
" Thank you ! I think the princess saved me. She could control the wind ! I thought yesterday that she could probably control the temperature, that's why it was so warm on the mountain ! My mom told me not to hold on and come back as soon as I feel cold. It was not too late to come back next year ! Even if I don't make high on Reotonarch, I could still practice on the Hellstep mountain, which is like a curved hook. There, we will have the support of the fliers, but I think I can do it on my own. " The boy continued babbling, flushed with happiness of surviving.
" Don't try it again. It was luck and princess Ise's help that brought you back. If the wind was stronger, or the fog was lighter, I cannot make water. If I could not make a water sled, then instead of landing neatly like this, you would have been splashed on the walls of the mountain like a pancake. " Ivan warned the little boy.
" But I did not ! " The boy answered excitedly, his blue eyes sparkling with happiness.
Ivan gave up.
Nothing he said seems to go through the boy's head.
" We will take a five minute break. Those of you who could, see if you could exercise your powers as we walk. " Ise said.
After this, the little boy tied the rope to his hand instead of holding it, and then released his wings.
In the next wind, which was peaceful, he slowly rose into the air like a kite.
" Who is he ? " Ise asked the children other than Elantra in her team.
" Eliza Pollen. Their family is merchants. They came from aqua three generations ago. They live in hellstep. Their family runs the caravan to northern Aqua. " one of the children answered.
It's a name Ise did not know at all.
In the past, Eliza withdrew in the first climb, after that, he never touched flying at all, because he became a caravan merchant following his family trade.
' He would have made the finest flier Frigia has ever seen. ' Ise mused looking at the boy.
One more talent they lost because she had chosen the easy path.