The ambush got them the best of the three warriors. The surprise assault from the white mist brought chaos to the newly founded friends. Although Dovos luckily blocked a missile with his Warhammer, it was not the same happy story for the native warrior 'Igüan'.

A missile happened to hit the wobbly bridge and took it down to the bottomless pit between the two cliffs. And Igüan who was crossing to get the flint stone back was brought down along with it.

Ethan dashed to the cliff in the hope of Igüan dangling to part of the bridge which was still attached to the ground while Dovos kept the perpetrator busy by taking on all the missiles with his Warhammer.

Ethan was right. Igüan was still holding onto the rope of the suspension bridge and the planks were no longer there.

As soon as he saw Ethan, his eyes lightened with hope. Yet at the same time, he felt uneasy.

Ethan noticed Igüan could not look straight into his eyes.

He pulled up the rope with all his strength and soon brought Igüan out of dangling in mid-air.

Right after his feet touched the ground, he pulled out his shield and blocked for Dovos.

"Sir Dovos! Take cover behind those rocks. This is the whitegrowl we are up against. They are cunning monsters, as smart as monkeys. It is intentionally targeting to destroy your hammer. It is trying to play with us."

"Destroy my hammer? Heck! I will take the challenge. It doesn't seem so bright if it thinks a ball of ice flakes would shatter the block of steel."

Igüan gave up explaining. He meant the hilt, not the block. With his white-painted shield, he blended into the surrounding.

"Just get behind a rock! He has more experience in fighting this monster." Ethan yelled to the stubborn Dovos. Only then he took cover.

After its targets are no longer visible, it approached near. From the snow, they could see the sketch of it. It grew bigger and bigger as it got closer until it was twice the size of Dovos. It was a big ape-like monster; hairy and scary. It did not possess any big sharp claws like other monsters but a fist from it might smashed the ribs.

A frontal attack might be devastating, Ethan concurred so he made a ball out of snow and threw it to the side behind the monster from his cover. It dropped right where it was supposed to be and the whitegrowl turned its sight to the sound. Right at that time Ethan burned up his blade and slashed the monster.

"Flameno!"

Since it was a snow monster, Ethan thought a fire would scare it hard. Except he was so wrong. Whitegrowl was not a monster made of snow but a monster that dwelled in snow. And like humans, it loved the warmth.

The blade failed to cut through the thick skin. The hair soaked wet in snow easily put out the flame. His attack was like a bite from an ant. And his ignorance punished him.

The whitegrowl turned back to him and swung its big arm hard. Ethan was thrown into the air and hit by a wall of rock. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he reinforced his blade with divination and blocked his ribcage from a direct hit, saving his life. However, the hit to the rock with his back nearly broke his spine.

"Oh_hell." Dovos was shocked at the sight of Ethan's flight. He ran out from his hiding and dropped a smash to its toes to keep its attention away from Ethan. It did a lot more damage than Ethan. At the same time, Igüan used his camouflage to cross the field and took a good position. From there he nocked his arrow and shot one to its nape. It missed.

The whitegrowl kicked Dovos but he did not fly much because of his weight. Also, the legs were not its strong forte.

"It hurts like hell. As if I was run over by a stallion. Damn, you in hell!" Dovos swore. At least he could still shout, unlike Ethan who could not any more. It hurt just by breathing.

Dovos took out a potion from his stash and drank it. Then he popped another and drank again. He also threw one to Ethan.

Ethan gulped it down immediately and soon found his pain lessen. Such potency, it must be expensive he concluded. Soon both found themselves on their feet again. But Dovos got more than just anaesthesia. He got temporary strength.

It was the kind of potion which warriors without talent for spells used to fight the monsters.

"Aim the nape while sir Dovos is catching its attention, sir Ethan. That's where their skin is most delicate." Igüan shouted the plan. Since these monsters live in the mountains, the muscles in their arms and back turned rock hard from continuous climbing. The skins of the chest and abdomen became scar-thick from friction and healing. The rigorous environment turned the already-monstrous giant into an unkillable beast.

The plan was good but very hard to execute. Dovos was not agile enough to dodge unstoppable attacks. Ethan's slashes, even with divination, were not deep enough to inflict considerable damage. And Igüan arrows; they kept failing to hit the nape or distract the monster.

The worst was the ground they were fighting on, which was half the size of the barn. There was not much space to dodge the attack from twice-the-size monster.

Dovos got up quickly to execute the plan. He ran to get his hammer back which was thrown away near the cliff. It flew out of his hand when he was thrown away. He rushed to it since the monster was already heading toward him and he had nothing to defend without his hammer. As he approached the cliff, he took the wrong step on the slippery edge and fell. Earlier, he dropped some water while drinking and those drops became a thin layer of ice which resulted in this deathly drama. Igüan predicted this and told him not to spill any water. But he disregarded it at that time.

He tried to get back up by himself but the snow-covered land did not give him a good grip. Little by little he dropped lower and nearer to death.

"Sir Dovos! Don't shout or it will see you! Hang in there, I will come." Hastily he went to Dovos while Ethan distracted the monster loudly.

"Look here, you dimwit!" He taunted the whitegrowl. He made a ball out of snow and coated it with divination then gave it its own medicine. It hit to cheekbone and he got its attention for good. Except he got more than he could handle. Angered, the monster threw right back at him in a volley. Ethan had to run for his life and was covered by a big rock. As the snowballs hit the rock, he saw the pieces of the rock splattered little by little.

Then the volley stopped suddenly. He got to worry if the whitegrowl decided to go to Dovos and Igüan so he got up to taunt them again. He was wrong. It was planning to punch him to death. The moment his head reached over the rock, he felt a gust of wind beside his face. It grazed his left cheek.

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Swiftly, Ethan rolled to the side and dodged the second attack in time. A less experienced warrior would be stunned by the first attack and got killed instantly by the second one. Right away he got away, the rock he took covered earlier was flattened to the ground by its hammer-like attack.

Ethan sprinted to the next cover but he was hit by the missile and knocked down. Again he managed to block with his enchanted blade which saved his life. Before he got up, he saw a big dark shadow umbrellaed over him. It was the whitegrowl; it already reached him. He was perplexed by the agility of the monster. Is this the end_ a thought came into him.

"Take this!!" Dovos swung his Warhammer hard at the Achille's tendon the monster. The sudden jerk on the heel threw it off-balance, giving him a chance to escape from certain death for Ethan and he took it. The moment he got up he saw Igüan looking straight into his eyes and he knew exactly what that meant.

"You and your brother have the same eyes!" Ethan shouted as he took a step over Igüan's shield and jumped with the propelling from Igüan. Ethan turned toward the whitegrowl in mid-air and with his sword, he stabbed the middle of the nape. He could see a glance at another day as his blade swopped into the flesh of the whitegrowl and cut the spinal cord.

"Divination!!!"

In a flash, the white giant dropped to the ground like a puppet with broken cords. Dovos celebrated like a madman and Igüan, he smiled meaningfully while Ethan was on all four, panting from exhaustion.

It took them a while to end their celebration until Ethan suddenly picked Igüan by the collar and asked, "You knew it, didn't you? Answer me!"

Flustered and confused, Dovos tried to calm Ethan down till he saw the expression of Igüan. It was mysteriously filled with shame and trouble. So he let Ethan be. Ethan put Igüan against the wall and asked again, "Tell me! You knew! Didn't you!?"

Igüan rolled his eyes down and stared into the snow before he could answer. With the most regrettable voice he mumbled, "Yes, I did. I am sorry."

"Sorry? That's it? Is this how the mountain tribe repay their debt? To be killed by some white monkey?" Ethan cornered him.

Igüan could not answer. There was no way out for him. So he decided to come clean.

"The words from the elders are absolute. No outsiders must be allowed to set foot on the mountains. And we must always repay our debts. You pushed us to meet the two contradictories. So this is the only way. The council decided to let you on the mountain and die on the mountain. That was the only way to meet both."

"I can't believe it." Dovos breathed out heavily due to frustration. He found it so ridiculous. If they were determined not to let anyone on the mountain, they should have insisted. They did not need to pretend like goody-two-shoes and then tried to kill later. He contemplated much then told, "Let's go back. We are not welcome anyway so let's get back. We had already admired the view and it's nothing but white so why bother? I am sure the view would be the same in their village too."

Dovos decided to end their journey of North since the atmosphere became uncomfortable to keep on going. He noticed Ethan was still angry so he persuaded him and tried to defuse the tension.

"Come on, man. Give him a break. We know he had no choice but to comply with the orders from his elders."

Since Dovos had decided to go back, Ethan decided it would be best too although he still regretted that he could not reach the real goal he was here for after coming all the way up here. He could not get any chance better than this.

"Fine. Let's go back. But I doubt we could go the same route now that the bridge is gone."

The three automatically looked back at the cliff where the bridge was before and sighed hopelessly at the same time. Dovos asked if they should wait while Igüan went back to the village and brought others to rebuild the bridge. Of course, Igüan said no. He was not rude enough to leave the men who had saved his life in the unfamiliar mountains where water would freeze instantly.

Although he hated the idea, Igüan decided to go back down through another way.

"There is another way. The Temple track. The two roads are connected by a small track up the mountain. Our village used to provide food and materials for the Temple through it. We will go there and use the temple road to go down."

"There is a temple up there?" Dovos asked in surprise. He did not know the Temple even reached the stubborn mountain tribe.

"No. Not a temple," Igüan replied, "I think it is some kind of training ground for Templers. There used to be an army station up there. Not anymore though."

Ethan nodded meaningfully after hearing the news of the temple leaving the area. Is the artefact already moved somewhere after the incident in the twin rivers? Then he was too late. He came here for nothing, he concluded.

After discussing their way back down, they caught a breath and a meal before they went back to their rigorous climbing. Igüan went near the wall and looked for something. Dovos and Ethan had no idea what he was doing until he dug up some snow and pulled out some meats from it. "The foods rarely go rotten when hidden in snow so we usually place some games we hunted under the snow at every rest point. Anyone in the tribe has the right to eat them. That way we reduce the load we carry."

Igüan cooked up the mutton stew with some parts of the liver. He said it was the best dish to revitalise in the mountain. While Dovos swallowed up the stew without a single care, Ethan could not eat much. After the betrayal, the awkwardness still lingered in his heart.

They resumed their journey after refilling their stomach. Igüan was right about the liver revitalising effect. They could feel their body emitting much heat, repelling the cold. They could barely feel the iciness of the snow and chilling wind. Their steps got faster and their body lighter. They easily climbed the uphill road and soon, by the night, they reached the crossing called 'temple track' which connected the village and the Temple. The crossing was the peak of the mountain they have been climbing. And from the peak, they looked around.

"Amazing," Ethan exclaimed at the exotic beauty of nature. Dovos was also brought to tears by the magnificent view of the scenery. Never in their lifetime, they had seen such a stunning sight. The colourful lights glow in the night sky. They felt their wounds healed and the exhaustion blew away just by the sight of it. Ethan had heard about such magical lights in the northern sky from his acquaintance once. But he did not believe it.

"We call her 'Aurora'," Igüan explained proudly.

In some distance afar, they saw some lights from the torch fire and some children sliding down the snowy peak. "We used our shields to slide down," explained Igüan while smiling as he revisited the innocent, pure joy, past memories.

"Damn. You should have insisted on us back then." Dovos said regretfully about the shield he did not take.

"The east side of this mountain is my village. The west was occupied by the Temple. See that peak over there, that's where the Temple was. Follow me, we have to reach the west side to rest."

"Why not rest here?"

"We can't make a fireplace here. The people from the village will see us. Let's go. Be careful not to step wrong or you will roll down the peak and then fall off the cliff to the very base we just climbed from."

Regretfully they descended to the west side of the peak and said their final goodbye to the magical lights and the cheerful village while Ethan was thinking about only one thing. How to get rid of these two and get to the temple?