A snowy adventure

Rose watched how Lucky put on the showshoes, before doing so herself. "Right, where we off to?" She asked, smirking at the dogs wrestling.

Lok smiled and point off in a direction where there is a lot of white. "There is a forest a little that way and some critters under the snow before that. So we start off in that direction and see what the animals like." He said with a small smile, shouldering a bag.

"Sounds good." Rose said, hopping onto Jennys back and following Lucky. Jennys claws should be wide enough to support her on the snow.

Lok walked Tini and Rawr ran ahead, wrestled and played, run back and repeated this cycle for a while. Snowstar trotted next to or behind Jenny the whole time.

The village was long behind them, when Tini and Rawr stopped their fun and suddenly just took off. As far as Lok and Rose was concerned, they could just see white and the forest we just starting to come into sight.

"This forests really dark..." Rose observed, seeing how the snow and thick barrier of leaves blocked out most of the harsh afternoon sunlight as they came tothe edge of the forest.
"Would not want to be stuck here overnight." She sighed, having had a different idea of a forest.

"While theyre hunting, we should totally explore and try find a trolls lair or something!" She said excitedly, hoping there was some awsome secret to uncover here.

Lok chuckled smiling, "and here I thought I was the one excited for an adventure. As for Tini and Rawr, ya they are hunting. Don't you want to let Jenny go try too?" He said looking at his mounted friend.

Roses smile faded slightly as he suggested Jenny hunt.
"Jenny, what do you want to do?" She asked, leaning forward to listen t the birds answer. Jenny cawed, Rose sighed. "Right. be careful then." She said sliding off her back as the girffon flew off.

"Take this. Incase we get split up, or in trouble or something. Its a whistle that Jenny will respond to." She said, digging the griffon whistle out of her pocket and handing it to him.
"Lets try this way first!" Rose said, running off as best she could in the snowshoes.

Lok took the whistle as Snowstar fly after the griffin. He smiled and motioned her with a hand, "come on. I know there is a lake nearby, surely there should be something there right?"

~~~

Coming up to the frozen lake, Rose smirked excitedly.
"See over there?" She said, pointing to a large jagged hump in the snow near the centre of the lake. "Thick and blue, tried and true. Thin and crispy, way too risky." She smirked, seeing the ice looked safe before she took the snowshoes off and skidded over, falling flat on her face just as she reached the weird snow.

"You coming?" She yelled back to Lucky, dusting the snow off the strange object that appeared to be a jagged stone chest with a heavy lid, sealed shut with a thin layer of ice.

Lok followed and smiled wide, when they reach the chest. He pulled a pick and a knife out of his bag, "here" he said handing he knife to Rose as he sat about trying to remove the ice. Knowing the chest would be hard enough to open. Even without the ice covering it.

"A knife, huh?" Rose asked, handing it back to him.

"Stand back." She warned before drawing her sword a d smashing it down heavily onto the ice surrounding the chest. Sure enough, it shattered, skidding across the frozen lake.

"Ready to see whats inside?" She asked, putting her fingers on the heavy lid ready to help him lift it.

Lok chuckled and smirked, "not everything requires brute force you know." He said, before putting his hand on the lid and trying to help her open it. Excited at all the possibilities of what might be in there.

"I know, but apparently this chest DOES require brute force." She said, struggling to shove the lid off with his help.
They finally slid it off, revealing a strange canister. Rose reached in to pick it up, the icy metal surface making her fingers feel numb.

She examined the engravings on it closely. "Its a pretty old language, and its a northern sprite language. I can only read a few words. Something about follow the heat..." She said, turning it round in her hands before dropping it suddenly with a sqeal. Where it landed, the ice began to melt slightly. She picked it up again in a hurry, falling through the ice here would NOT be good.

"Its like a compass. One sides hot, the others cold." She said, turning it round in her hands to find the hot side of the canister always pointed south, towards the deeper part of the woods.

"So, wanna follow it...?" She asked, still examining it carefully trying to make out a few more words in the engravings.

Lok smiled and said, "So long as we are back by tomorrow. I don't see why not," pulling out an extra pair of gloves and offering them to Rose. As they headed farther in the forest, he knew this might not be the best of ideas, but he didn't care either. This was one of the adventures he had been wanting to do for so long.

"Thanks." Rose said, taking the gloves. She could still feel which sides were hot and cold, but it didnt sting now.

~~~

After a few minutes walking, they canisters heat stopped turning. "I guess this is it...?" She said, looking around for anything interesting or suspicious, when suddenly she notced an icy gateway hidden behind the thick pine leaves. She pushed her way through, holding the branches back for Lucky. Inside was what looked like a maze, with winding ice passages leading deep into the glacier. She stepped inside, seeing the canisters heat was definitly pointing towards the left passageway.

"We follow the heat in, the cold side to get out, d'ya think?" She asked, checking she was right. "Well, does the prince of north want to lead the way?" Sh smirked, knowing he wanted the adventure, holding out the canister.

Lok smirked and said, "only if you insist." Pulling out a knife and marked a symbol that looked like a tree in the first tunnel. "In case the canister stops for some reason," and went down farther into the tunnel. No sign of rocks, just ice all around.

"Is this whole place jst going to be ice...?" Rose said, the original excitement starting to wear off slightly as they has been walking through identical caverns for a few minutes now, marking each as they entered.

She paused slightly as she noticed something, almost glowing, through the ice. "I think were nearly there." She said, the excitement showing in her voice, wondering what it could be.

Lok looked at her curiously, before following her gaze. He smiled and took off towards the light, "then what are we standing around for?" He called back, excited to see what it was. Before tripping over, a piece that had been sticking out of the ice.

"Take things slow, enjoy the adventure and dont rush it." She said softly, helping him up. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Lok chuckled and rubbed his aching head, "ya I'm ok. Sorry about that, I'm just excited, I've never been this far from the city and I never would have thought an adventure was so close. Just waiting to be found," He admitted with a smile and stood up.

"Yeah, adventure can be found anywhere, you just need to look carefully." She smiled. "Im still a bit sore from the contest, so id rather we avoid fighting any monsters today though." She added, holding back a comment about how they werent actually that far from the city. Not by her standards anyway. She was usd to pure wildreness for such a long time now, that cities still felt exciting to her.

Lok nodded and smiled, "alright I understand that. However, we do still need to be sure and be back for the contest tomorrow though."

"Of course well be back." Rose assured, "we marked the way out, and if we dont finish for some reason we can always comeback another day."

"Besides, we dont have any camping supplies, so wed be stuck if we didnt get back... So lets get moving then." She said, waiting fo Lucky, who had the canister, to lead the way.

Lok nodded and heading out following both the light and the canister. Until the hallway was so filled with light, that there might as well be a sun in front of them.

After a few seconds their eyes had adjusted to the bright light, they could see large, beutifully carved icy doors in front of them.

"Whatever it is, its through here. You ready?" She asked with a smirk, getting ready to shove the door open.