The Snow Princess by Matt Larkin

Author:Matt Larkin [Larkin, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Incandescent Phoenix Books
Published: 2016-10-04T05:00:00+00:00

15

The amount of mana coursing through this woman meant she was another Princess. A third Princess on Poliahu’s island. The first intruder was intriguing enough, but to have a second come—and claiming to be friends with Namaka—that went beyond mere curiosity. Something was going on, the likes of which Sawaiki had not seen since the days when Kū himself walked the Earth. Whatever it was, she was going to find out. She tried not to sneer, nor to reveal that she knew what this woman was. She had given that away freely to Namaka. She wouldn’t repeat that mistake.

They trekked back up the slope, dragging their sleds behind them. The other woman said nothing.

A sled race was as good a means to test this Princess’s limits as any. Let her push herself in a contest she could never win. Who was the other Princess, really? What power did she hold? Poliahu had to discover it. She could not afford to make the mistake of trusting this one as she had blindly trusted Namaka, allowed her to roam freely across the Friendly Isle. Trust was for fools.

Maybe she should have killed the Sea Princess. Lilinoe had urged her to do so, to end the curse. The spirit had been disappointed with Poliahu’s failure to conceive a child, but agreed slaying Aiwo was only just.

It took maybe half an hour to return to her place near the summit. By then, Poliahu’s muscles ached. She wasn’t used to dragging a sled around. She could have simply dissolved the thing and formed a new one at the top, but then her guest might have accused her of switching them again somehow.

So now this other Princess carried Poliahu’s own sled, for all the good it was likely to do her. No, the woman clearly had too much pride to admit Poliahu was simply better than her. Indeed, it was the epitome of arrogance to think anyone could defeat a Snow Princess in such a contest. Given the price she had paid in mind, body, and soul for her recent sorcery, Poliahu dared not cast further, not now. But she could destroy this Princess with her Gift alone. Maybe she still would do so, whatever the outcome of this race.

Smirking, Poliahu hefted her sled. “Ready?”

“Do it.”

Poliahu ran forward a few steps then threw herself onto the sled, kneeling to speed its flight. It skated across snow, rapidly building momentum. She spared a glance over her shoulder to see the other woman lagging behind, glaring at her, eyes burning like red hot coals. What in Lua-O-Milu? Was the Princess possessed?

The next instant, the other Princess punched her fist into the ground. The mountain rumbled at her assault as if she had somehow damaged the stone itself. And it kept shaking, trembling in agony. A crack raced out ahead of the other woman, a spreading crevice that split so deep it swallowed snow from both sides. The crevice sped toward Poliahu, now billowing out a curtain of steam.

She jerked her sled to the side, out of its path, sending herself dangerously close to the precipice.

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