The mountains were certainly higher and the snowflakes bigger, some even resembling snowballs that hit the procession of vehicles as they rumbled along. It seemed a curious way to celebrate a beloved ruler passing through a district that had not seen him for a while.

"Brigands!" the High Chancellor could be heard saying from one of the carts behind where the girls sat smothered in pink and purple fur enjoying the short ride to the Glacial Park Zone. "Why doesn't Vonrigg send the spiders after them?"

"They are only children," one of the other Lords of Council was heard to reply as small figures scampered along the track, laughing and running away.

"Disgraceful," came the unforgiving response, followed by, "Argh!" for Bubbles had gathered some flakes together that had fallen on the covering of her vehicle and tossed a missile back to where she could just see the tall hat of the High Chancellor jerking this way and that with disgust. She scored a direct hit once again.

The early start and the bright if hazy sunshine meant when the battlements of Frozen Folly were reached the royal procession quickly broke up into its various departments and arrangements made for the King and Queen to visit the people to be cheered and snowballed by turns. The princess was happily content to see her father welcomed warmly and only some particular Lords in Council seemed to be the victims of slushy attacks as they stood in the open near their monarch.

Bubbles resisted the temptation to join in and instead sought out Arry from among the death spiders. She had no fear of the great leggy beasts as they watched her with large telescopic eyes. One of them though seemed more menacing than most, for someone had adjusted its vision to glow a baleful and unpleasant green. She spotted Arry hovering around this particular monster and when she went to approach the little creature flew at her, pulling on her hair so painfully she stumbled back down the slope where the spiders had been parked, so to speak. They always took high ground when out and about to make them more visible and to enjoy the advantage of falling upon enemies.

Bubbles took the hint from Arry to stay well away and returned to the castle oddly named as Frozen Folly.

"Never mind," the princess soothed the puzzled girl. "He is perhaps a little confused by all the other spiders around. They communicate by invisible ways and he is no doubt a little tangled in their web of commands."

"He's never hurt me before," the Frangea girl said sullenly, barely mollified by this speech. Those spiders, she thought, were a bad influence on him. "What are these?"

Princess Rapture was smiling and holding out a pair of boots not much different from the warm and comfortable ones Bubbles was already wearing.

"Put them on. We are going skating. See that lever? Depress it and the blades appear when you want them." She demonstrated the mechanism and changed into a pair of her own. They were indeed just like ordinary boots and the girls walked down to the lower levels of the castle to where an opening led directly onto a great glassy lake solid with ice that stretched off into the distance. A slide sloshed with water had been made as the perfect launching pad onto the natural skating rink.

Bubbles stood by the open door and felt the cool air rushing in. She wore a super thick fuzzy sweater and heavy skirt, the thick skating boots and a scarf over her normal daywear, yet she hesitated on the threshold. The princess noticed this unwonted timorousness.

"Is the brave and hardy Bubbles of the House Bannatyne wary of our summer blizzards?" she teased.

"No. It's just that I know they're out there, waiting for me," the redhead said, peering into the dancing clouds of snowflakes just beyond the door. All seemed clear however and she took a step forward. Then another, feeling a chill seize her not all to do with the cold, for there were eyes out there in the gloom, hundreds of them. Before Bubbles could take a defensive step back she was smothered in pink and purple fur, blinded and sneezing and fighting for her life. She just managed to pull the lever that released the skates from the soles of her boots and felt herself sliding blindly down the ice ramp towards the lake.

With a shriek of mingled joy and fear Bubbles launched into the air and it seemed like breaking the surface of a strangely furry surf back in Frangea, for the creatures let go, all but one or two persistent souls, and the girl was free to see where she was about to land. Cutting deep grooves in the ice and spraying its reflective surface with crystals she managed to steady herself, flip half a circle and watch with some satisfaction as the furry creatures scurried desperately off the ice and back onto the more congenial surface of rock and earth. Princess Rapture glided up to her friend with her usual nonchalant grace.

"They do not like water, even in solid form," she explained as the little things slipped and scampered this way and that until they had regained safety to watch for another opportunity to be helpful.

"Why is it they always attack me in legions?" Bubbles said. "You get a few and they sit nicely over your costume as furry accessories. As soon as I'm in the open air I become an instant puffball."

"The Furrybits do appear unusually keen I must say. I think they recognise you as a stranger in this land, but also they feel your Frangea sun glowing off your skin. You are very popular with them it seems."

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"If Arry didn't keep running off I'd suggest he protect me a little more from the over eager beasts," Bubbles said as the two girls performed a coordinated sweeping arc around the lake with half a dozen minders each following their every move.

The scene was enchanting. Big wet flakes floated down from an apparently clear blue sky, a blue of intense colour quite different from the pale tints of Frangea. Surrounding the lake were dark conifer forests coated in white and soaring above them jagged peaks of solid crystal or so it seemed. A pink light hovered on the horizon where the sun was supposed to be and it kept sneaking in and out of the peaks like some ashamed maiden blushing and hiding and blushing again when discovered.

Bubbles absorbed all this romance happily enough as she skated quietly along, making figures in the ice. She was going to spell out her name on the shining surface for there were lots of demanding curls in it but a booming sound followed by a cheer floated on the air from some high placed valley that spoilt her spelling.

"Am I to call you Bobbins from now on?" the princess laughed as she traced her friend's efforts in the ice.

"What's that noise?" was all the girl said in reply.

"Oh, avalanche races," came the casual explanation and Bubbles halted so suddenly one of the few remaining Furrybits lost grip, squeaked pitifully and ran off to the nearest frozen shore, legs flying like a demented hamster.

"I like skating," Bubbles said thoughtfully. "The rinks back home aren't as picturesque as this glacial lake but still, ice is ice. Avalanches though are rare in Frangea and avalanche races unheard of."

"You wish to observe?" came the suggestion.

"Can we get there without Furrybit intervention?"

"I'm sure we can, if we skate fast enough," the princess said, looking back towards the castle and the ice ramp leading from it like a long wet tongue. "See? The little things are all over there, awaiting your return and the races are off in that direction," indicating a series of steep climbs to a crest of snow covered hills on the opposite side of the lake. As she gestured, there was another distant boom and a cheer.

Unable to wait any longer Bubbles was in motion, skating for her very life. She imagined the Furrybits on the other side of the frozen lake noticing her attempt at escape suddenly breaking into a run along the shore after her. Princess Rapture and the minders also pursued the fugitive from furriness to a landing point where the inevitable guard of honour already awaited the heiress of Xenia.

"We will observe the races," she said to a saluting officer and he led the way with a springy step up a series of stairways cut into the rock that took the two girls to the crest of the rise so they could look down into a steep sided valley clouded in misty vapour.

Hundreds of people were gathered on terraces that overlooked the winding slopes and jutting cliffs. Banners were being waved and some clusters of people could be heard chanting as two tiny specks stood upon a ridge, one in a puffy green costume, the other in red. Below was a massive drop into snowdrifts and the ledge the participants stood upon looked precarious in the extreme. Then there was an explosion, the ledge collapsed and the two figures were swallowed up in snow and ice. The crowds cheered and when the mist had dispersed one lone figure emerged at the bottom of the valley seemingly none the worse for wear and the predominantly red banners were waved in celebration. The green-clad figure eventually staggered forth very much in second place.

"Is anyone allowed to take part?" Bubbles asked eagerly.

"Um," the princess replied non-committally until an official stepped forward, having been listening in as all efficient officials tend to do.

"The races are being held on behalf of your exalted father Exalted One. His visit here to Frozen Folly does us great honour. At least two lesser barons have wagered your flame-haired friend could not possibly compete, being a stranger here and not used to our dangerous ways." He gave Bubbles a significant look that fired her up in an instant.

"Dangerous ways!" she scoffed. "Tumbling about in soft snow is no comparison to rockslide surfing amid razor sharp shards of glassy feldspar," she spat out defiantly. "Lead the way. I won't even wear a hat."

In spite of the princess's misgivings Bubbles Bannatyne would brook no denial as she quickly donned a padded suit to protect elbows and knees. The only sign of nervousness came when she glanced over her shoulder and saw a mass of pink and purple fur scampering over several slopes towards her like a flood of ravening softness.

"Give me those," she said to a man holding a tray of orange roses.

"Only one is required madam," the man said nervously, "and it is my job to throw it against that small rock there." He seemed put out that a contestant was usurping his role but Bubbles wasn't listening. She snatched up five of the blossoms, all he had left on the tray and tossed them high into the air. Everyone else seemed to duck for cover but Bubbles barely noticed as she watched the roses drift gracefully down towards a large slab of rock. And then they struck.

A deafening roar filled the valley and at least seven separate avalanches were started in various places with frantic wagerings among the spectators as to who would climb out of the debris at the bottom first. The ledge upon which Bubbles stood gave way beneath her with a satisfying shudder and she shrieked lustily as everyone and everything disappeared from sight. She tumbled this way and that, buffetted in her padded suit amid strange blue light and flashes of glittering fragments. When she stopped moving after an endless plummet the roaring continued all around though it mainly centred between her ears.

Figuring which way was up she dug frantically with the spade hands of her avalanche suit and burst through a dusty layer of snow fragments. It was eerily quiet as a mist blew in a swirly greyness and she could see only a few feet around her. A click and whirring sound grew louder and Bubbles shook her head, thinking it was still her brain protesting at such foolish behaviour. A disturbance in the snow drift approached her, then paused, then approached a little closer. Little black legs cut through the surface and spread out, balancing a glossy black body amid the whiteness as a series of beady eyes focused on the half-buried girl.

"Arry?" Bubbles said uncertainly. The minuscule death spider stood there staring at her a moment as if assessing the situation, and then it burrowed beneath the snow and disappeared again. "Wait!" Bubbles cried, but he was gone. The mist cleared, and when Bubbles's bright hair became visible to the spectators they gave her a resounding cheer as she pulled herself from the drift. Had she won?

There was no time to find out for she then became a victim of another avalanche as she was instantly buried under a mass of pink and purple fur.