Two Worlds: Land of Ice Ch. 03

Hello everyone! So even though this isn't actually the end of the story it might be the last chapter I post. I haven't started the next chapter at all because honestly I don't entirely have the motivation to do so for multiple reasons. Mainly it's because people don't seem to be liking the direction it's going and this originally was just supposed to be a three chapter story, not a multiple part story... So basically I'm kind of giving up on this one for now and working on other ones that people might enjoy and that I am more passionate about.

But enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think and I will try to post some of my other stories soon. I already have three chapters in one so hopefully I can post it soon. I'm hoping to find an editor first though.

~Vixen

*

Riz started to scream hysterically as I scrambled back quickly, more startled than scared, but definitely scared. I heard the thing move and then suddenly the flashlight was turned back on and the creature was moving it around, as if looking at it curiously. Suddenly the light went to its face and what I had thought I had seen was proven to be real and I gasped.

It had a human face! It looked completely like a polar bear but the face was obviously human. I looked up at it in awe and still a bit of fear before Riz screamed again. I turned back to her and then covered her mouth.

"Riz. Calm down. I don't think it will hurt us." I whispered to her. She panicked for a bit more before freezing up as the creature came towards us. He got closer and then sniffed at us before grumbling disappointedly.

Disappointedly? As if it was human? It does have a human face... I thought to myself as I watched it get a bit closer. It looked us over and then looked at the flashlight again before grunting and then standing up completely. I looked at it with wide eyes as I realized it had to be at least 7 feet tall. Riz tried to scream past my hand and mitt as she started to struggle again but I held her still. The creature looked as if it was trying to think of something and then suddenly looked at me with completely black but human shaped eyes.

"Human?" I gasped as it spoke and then nodded a bit stiffly, completely shocked. He grunted again and nodded back before sniffing at us again. He sniffed at Riz, who froze up again before looking at me.

"Sky?" I nodded again and he smiled before handing me the flashlight and then motioning with what looked like a combination of a paw and hand. I realized after a moment that it wanted us to follow him.

Follow it and possibly get eaten or stay here and freeze to death? I thought before standing up and helping Riz up. Riz whimpered from fear and the pain in her ankle as I threw her arm around me to try and help her. I dwarfed her of course so it didn't work so well. The creature snorted and then came over to us. Riz screamed as it suddenly picked her up and put it on its back. I chuckled slightly and then started to follow the creature as it lead us down a tunnel.

I followed it for quite awhile and made sure Riz didn't panic as she clung on to it tightly. I also had to make sure I didn't slip on the ice and snow, but my legendary klutziness kicked in and I fell at least twenty times. I started to watch my feet more and more and so almost missed when we suddenly walked into an ice cavern at least 20 minutes later.

I gasped through chattering teeth when I finally looked up and saw several beautiful igloo like structures in a semicircle around one big one. There were furs blocking the doors of the igloos and each was painted with a different symbol in red. We headed for the big igloo in the center and I wondered what we would find inside. The creature pulled the fur aside for me and I stepped in, gasping again at the sight.

There were several of the creatures sitting along the edge of the room with two of them on what looked like thrones on the far side. The creature on the right looked taller and bulkier than the one of the left and I realized that the bigger one was male while the smaller was female. The male had a crown make of bone and teeth or claws on his head and the female had a circlet of fur on her head. I also realized that she had long white hair running all the way down to her knees. I turned to the one that had brought us here and realized that he must be male then.

"Mina?" I heard a familiar voice ask. Suddenly a much smaller figure covered in white fur came up to me. She lowered the hood of what she was wearing and Riz gasped.

"Sky?! What the hell?" she asked as she was sat down by the male who had brought us in.

"Hey sis." Sky greeted sheepishly, her hand around her stomach. Suddenly something clicked and I dived my hand into the fur of the jacket like thing she was wearing. I was met with warm skin and the slightly bump I had been looking for. I stared at her in wonder as I realized exactly what it meant.

"That's why you reacted so badly when we saw the news..." I whispered as I saw tears come to her eyes. She nodded and looked around.

"I can't let them be hurt that way... I can't let my baby be hurt that way..." she responded in a weak voice.

"Your what?" Riz stared at her in shock from the ground where she was sitting.

"My baby, Riz." She said before pulling up the jacket she was wearing and showing the small baby bump. Riz stared at her in complete shock and horror.

"You mean that you had... With one of these... Things?!" Riz exclaimed, sounding disgusted. I looked at her, slightly shocked at her tone. I was about to say something when someone came in and I looked up to see another one of the males in the doorway. Suddenly he looked at me, his whole face lit up and I found myself on the ground with him on top of me. I gasped lightly as he ran his nose along my neck before shivering as he nuzzled me.

"Refre." I heard Sky giggle as the male above me grumbled and started to speak to her in a weird language. I heard my name mentioned and then he looked at me with a smile.

"Mina." He sighed softly, making me blush. Finally he stood up and then offered me his hand. I looked at it for a moment, noticing that the back was covered in the white fur and then the palm and fingers were completely human with black claws at the end of them. Finally I took the offered hand and let him help me up.

"Mina? This is Refre. He is one of the tribe's strongest hunters." Sky introduced us while I was still blushing slightly. I had a feeling that there was something going on here but I wasn't sure what. Another male came over at that point and wrapped his arms around Sky, making her look tiny. It made me wonder how I looked to these enormous creatures. I suddenly was very aware of how small I really am.

"Mina, Riz. This is Faraf. He is my mate. Or as you would call him, my husband." She said while looking up at him happily.

"You're married?!" Riz practically shouted. I realized that her ankle was still hurt and turned to Sky.

"She might be able to absorb this better if her ankle was taken care of. I think she twisted it when we fell." I told Sky. Sky nodded and then turned to look at the two who were sitting patiently in the thrones. She bowed respectfully to them before beginning to speak with them in their language. It sounded like she introduced us and then asked about taking care of Riz. The female said something about me that made Sky laugh and I blushed brightly as I realized that Refre was right behind me and they were probably laughing at how tiny I looked compared to him.

I must look like a child to them... I thought, biting my lip a bit. I quickly let go of my lip as my teeth started to chatter a bit and then felt a heavy weight on me. I looked up and realized that Refre had put one of the jacket like things on me. I smiled shyly and he smiled back before his name was called and he went up to talk to what I assumed was like the queen and king of this tribe. I cuddled into what I realized was more like a cloak and sighed happily at how warm it was.

"Mina?" Riz whispered, pulling my attention from everything going on around me. I knelt down beside her while looking at Refre and motioning at the cloak, hoping he would get that I wanted one for her. He tilted his head before nodding and turning to a few of the other polar bear men sitting around.

"I don't want to be here Mina... We should leave..." Riz whispered when I turned back to her. "Please? I don't like it here..."

"We can't go anywhere with how your ankle is Riz. I mean I wouldn't mind going back to the house and getting warm but you know you can't walk right now..." I pointed out softly. I thought back to our plans about going back to California at that point and really missed the heat. Even with the huge cloak on I was still pretty cold and I missed being able to run around in a tank top and shorts.

"As soon as my ankle gets better I want to leave." Riz stated.

"Alright. We can do that." I agreed.

"And we are taking Sky with us." She added firmly. I blinked at her in surprise before noticing that Refre was right beside me. I smiled shyly as I took the cloak from him and put it on Riz.

"I think Sky wants to stay here. She seems very happy." I noted before the very person we were talking about came up to us.

"Hey sis. This is Ero. He is like the tribe's doctor. He will take care of your ankle." She smiled brightly at her before moving to let the doctor do what he needed. I moved with her so I wasn't in the way either.

"How far along are you?" I asked her.

"About 6 months. I only really started showing a few weeks ago thankfully. I've been hiding it with all the baggy clothes I wear ever since. I wasn't sure how to tell everyone. I didn't think any of them would believe me and would just think I got knocked up by some random guy. Not the love of my life." She smiled at the last part, looking back at Faraf.

"How are you so sure? I mean you are only 18. And you can't have known him very long... Unless you found this place when you first moved here."

"No. I found it about a year and a half ago. And I know because he is my mate. It's hard to explain. Basically... He's my soul mate." She smiled back at Faraf then and he came over and hugged her to him. I looked at the look of love that passed between them and felt jealous for a moment. I jumped slightly as I noticed that Refre was right beside me again.

"And it looks like you've been claimed as well." Sky giggled as she looked at the two of us.

"What?" I asked, confused before looking up at Refre and realizing that he was giving me the same look that Faraf had been giving her. I blushed brightly before looking back at Sky, wanting an explanation.

"I'll explain everything later. The King and Queen welcome you by the way." Sky informed me, a bit formally. I looked towards the King and Queen and bowed slightly to them. They nodded back, giving me a friendly smile.

"Tell them thank you for me. Also if they could all start ducking down, that would make me feel much more comfortable." I giggled and she joined in.

"It definitely takes some getting used to."

"At least you are almost 6 feet tall! I'm stuck at my 5'3" height! I must look like a child to them." I muttered. I blinked as Sky suddenly hugged me.

"Don't worry Mina. You definitely look like a woman to them. I mean you've got amazing curves." Sky giggled slightly before looking back at Refre and then winking at me. I blushed brightly and looked back at him as well, blushing even more when he smiled at me.

"Ow!" Riz cried out, interrupting any response I could even think to come up with. I looked over as I saw the doctor start to wrap her ankle and foot up in some sort of cloth.

"Will she be okay?" I bit my lip, looking at Sky. She turned and started to talk with the doctor in their language before turning back to me.

"It's badly sprained but thankfully nothing seems broken. She will just have to hang around for a few weeks." She relayed back to me.

"A few weeks?!!" Riz screamed. "What do you mean a few weeks?! I cannot stay here that long!"

"Sis, calm down. It's not as bad as you think." Sky soothed her. Riz glared at her slightly before looking at me.

"Do you want to stay here a few weeks? We could always make something to drag me out of here. I'm sure we can find an easier way." I bit my lip at this, looking back at Refre and everything else. It was honestly really interesting to me and I was sure that the outside world could wait a bit.

"And besides, what would mom and dad say? What are they going to do when they find we aren't at home?" she added, which made me sigh as she pointed out the one hiccup. They would definitely be starting to wake up soon and then they would find that we aren't there anymore. What would they do when they found the car in the garage? Would they start a search party?

"She's right. They might send out a search party then and it will be as bad as it was with the nekos. We all need to get back." I pointed out sadly. Sky looked sad and anxious and looked back at Faraf who quickly wrapped his arms around her. I suddenly felt a clawed hand touch my arm gently and looked up to see Refre looking at me worriedly. I smiled sadly at him, wondering why he seemed so attached and why I didn't mind it too much. I looked back at Sky, who was talking quietly with her "mate" before looking back at me.

"They can bring us through the easiest route and help get us out of the caves but then we are on our own once we reach the surface. And it might take at least half an hour before we get there." I nodded at this before looking at Riz.

"Think you can handle that?"

"Yeah. Anything to get back home." I nodded at her reply, wanting to get back to the warmth as well.

"They need a few minutes to pack up but then we can go." Sky informed us as Faraf went off with a few of the other males.

"Sky?" I whispered.

"Yes?"

"What about you? I can see you want to stay here and that baby bump isn't going to be too easy to hide soon..." I pointed out gently.

"I'm going to stay a few more weeks before telling my mom I'm moving out. I don't know if I will tell her anything else yet... I'm scared she will react badly." she admitted weakly. I pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back.

"Let's see how things go. We won't talk about any of this unless you decide you want to. Alright Riz?" I turned my gaze to Riz, who was looking rather cross.

"What?"

"We won't talk about any of this unless Sky decides she wants to tell everyone else, alright?"

"Whatever," was her short reply. I sighed before turning back to Sky.

"Can we help them prepare in any way?" I asked her.

"I think they got everything covered..." she muttered, looking a little worried as she looked at the door. "I'm sure they will be ready very quickly. You are going to have to be on one of their backs Riz. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah sure. It's fine." Came her short reply. I sighed, hoping that Riz wasn't going to cause issues like she sometimes does when she isn't happy or not getting what she wants.

We waited a few minutes while Riz pouted slightly, Sky talked to some of the polar bear people and I just watched. I noticed the polar bear women looking at me and started to feel very uncomfortable.

They are probably thinking how small and tiny and insignificant I look. I thought as I saw Sky go over to them. She started to giggle slightly before looking at me.

"Quit looking so uncomfortable. They are just talking about how pretty your hair is. They have never seen hair like yours. The color and shape is just so different. They are fascinated by it." She assured me with a smile. I pulled down a lock of my black spiral curled hair and then looked at all of their beautiful straight white hair that blended in with their fur.

"Oh. I guess I didn't think of that." I shrugged.

"They are wondering if they could touch it." I blushed at that slightly before nodding and stepping closer. They all smiled and reached out excitedly to touch my hair. They started chatting away about it, making me blush as they fawned over it.

"Ra says it's incredible and Fay says your family must be very proud to have such a beautiful daughter." Sky translated with a smile. I smiled back and realized just how much she had blossomed here. She had become such a wonderful young woman.

"I always forget how you are only a year younger than me." I chuckled slightly. One of the males came back in at that point and called out to Sky.

"Alright. Time to go. Sis? Oro will be carrying you, okay? He is the one who brought you both here."

"Fine. Let's just go." Riz grumbled.

Sleep. Sleep will make her less grumpy. I noted before yawning as Oro picked up Riz and we headed outside. Sleep would be very nice. As would a fire.

"Also Refre offered to carry you if you want Mina." I blushed at that but realized it might make things a bit quicker.

"Well I guess if he offered..." I started to say before squealing as I was suddenly picked up.

"Hey! Some warning would be nice next time!" I yelled slightly at Refre as I was put on his back. Sky laughed and Refre just grumbled slightly before starting off. I kept my arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders while clinging to him with my legs as well. It was a bit difficult but we were definitely moving faster than if I had been walking. Within about a minute we were out of the cavern.

Faraf soon caught up to Refre and I smiled at Sky since she was on his back. She was definitely staying on a little easier than I was and I chuckled slightly.

"Do this often?" I called out. I thought I heard her chuckle but it was a little hard to really hear her.

After a bit more time through the tunnels we started to slow down and I looked at Sky to ask her why. She shook her head before I could even say anything and put her finger to her lips. I closed my mouth and just stayed clinging to Refre. All the polar bear men were obviously on guard and I wondered just what would scare them. We passed a few other tunnels as I tried to keep my teeth from chattering loudly.

"Why are we going so slow?" Riz broke the silence, sounding a lot louder since there had been no other noise. Sky quickly shushed her as the men grew a bit tenser, their eyes darting around quickly. There was a very loud growl coming from one of the other tunnels and the men bolted. I clung on tightly as they ran as fast as they could away from that growl.

"What was that?" Riz called out a little breathlessly since she was also clinging tightly and it probably wasn't helping her ankle.

"Rival tribe. They have been at war with each other as long as they can remember." Sky called back. We ran like that for a several more minutes before we started to slow down again. There was a steep tunnel up ahead and the men carrying us started to head up it but the other three men stayed put at the bottom. We heard snarls and growls before we were met with even colder air. The men stopped and Sky slowly slipped down and Refre loosened his hold on me so I slipped down as well.

"Will they be okay?" I asked through chattering teeth. Sky looked worriedly up at Faraf and I saw a heartbreaking look of love pass through them. She whispered to him a few words before kissing him lovingly. I looked away, letting them have their moment as I went to help Riz. Refre hovered over me slightly as I offered my hand to pull Riz up.

"Let's hurry this up. I'm freezing." Riz complained a bit loudly.

"Alright. Sky?" I called out, hating to interrupt their moment. I turned and waved goodbye to Refre, who looked at me longingly, making me blush slightly.

Sky will explain this to me hopefully... I thought before said person came over and took Riz's other arm to help her along.