Secret of Frost and Moon

A Shot Fired True

Alaia Skyhawk: Someone asked if Jack's power is what holds his staff and bow to the moonsilver belt/bandoleer under his clothing. Since it's waaaay back that a chapter explained it, it's actually Jack's Belief that holds things in place on the belt. He wills them to stick, so they stick :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 86: A Shot Fired True

Far off, half a day later and nigh the other side of the world in fact, the rest of the Guardians and their two mortal allies were rather the odd-ones-out at their present location. Even if the sleigh had not been flying on a road of starlight created by Nightlight, the sight of it and the reindeer pulling it would have drawn attention had they not been in the middle of nowhere. After all, whoever heard of reindeer being found in a jungle.

Katherine peered over the side of the sleigh, frowning as they continued to circle the area.

"Are you sure this is the place, North? There's nothing down there but trees and vines."

North glanced at her, holding up the sword in his grasp. Just as it had done for them in times before, the hilt of the Relic had changed shape to show a globe-map of the world. Two lights blinked on it, one of which was where they were now, and the sword itself was chiming softly with each blink of that light.

"This is definitely the place. If we cannot see the Relic from the air, we must find a place to land and then search on foot."

"There's a fallen tree in that direction." Ombric pointed with his staff. "Do you think the clearing it has created, will suffice?"

North smiled in challenge.

"Only one way to find out. Nightlight, lead on to that clearing!"

The spectral boy nodded, darting ahead of them spreading glittering motes in his wake. What followed, is to say, not the best landing North had ever managed. About the only thing good about it, was that the sleigh remained upright. Because just about nothing else did.

The reindeer snorted as they got up from where they'd tripped and stumbled in the thick undergrowth. Bunny clambered up out of a hole he'd landed in. Ombric was forced to float himself down from a tree, with some assistance from Toothiana and Sanderson. And Nightlight drifted down carrying Katherine, who he'd caught mid-air after she'd been launched out of the vehicle in the same fashion that the wizard had.

They all stared at the way the sleigh was perched drunkenly on top of the very fallen tree that had made the clearing, and after noting the expressions on their faces, North huffed.

"Hey, good landing is one you walk away from. Yes?" He drew his Relic from the scabbard on his belt, and checked the little map before pointing off among the trees. "It's this way."

All of them quickly followed. That is all of them except for Bunnymund. He stood where he was for several moments before he too trailed after the Russian, muttering quietly to himself.

"If this weren't about the fate of the world... and were I not so far from any of my tunnels... I would never get into that sleigh ever again."

The Pooka shuddered at the very thought of ever riding again in something driven by North. But circumstances would mean enduring it, for now.

The group trudged onwards over the rough terrain, North clearing the way for them using his sword. They hadn't landed that far from where they'd been circling above, but it felt like it took forever to get back there from the ground. But when they did, their perseverance was rewarded by the discovery of a suspicious dip in the ground.