‘I’m going some day,’ Beanie said. ‘I’m going to be the first explorer to reach the other side of the Black Ice Bridge.’
Stella already knew that Beanie hoped to do this, of course, but his ambition was news to the others, and for a moment there was a stunned silence.
Finally, Ethan said, ‘I’m honestly not trying to be mean, but that’s like a mouse saying it’s going to eat a walrus. No one comes back alive from the Black Ice Bridge. No one.’
‘I will,’ Beanie said. ‘I’m going to complete my father’s unfinished expedition.’
‘It can’t be done, Beanie,’ Shay said gently. ‘And if you were to perish on the Black Ice Bridge yourself, then that’s no way to honour your father, is it?’
‘I don’t care what anyone says or who tries to stop me,’ Beanie said, perfectly calmly. ‘I am going to find out what’s on the other side of that bridge.’
Shay glanced at Stella, who shrugged. If she was completely honest, she wasn’t sure whether Beanie should, or could, try to cross the bridge either, but she wasn’t about to risk knocking his confidence by telling him that.
But before anyone could say anything else about it, a low wailing sound started up beyond the cave, making them all jump.
‘What’s that?’ Beanie asked.
The four junior explorers turned and squinted into the darkness. Stella thought it was the most mournful sound she had ever heard. Although it didn’t sound quite human, it reminded her somehow of crying children. All the hairs on her arms stood up and she felt a cold, prickly feeling at the back of her neck.
‘Cold spirits,’ Shay said.
‘How do you know that?’ Ethan demanded.
‘The wolves told me. They’ve been sensing them for a while now. It’s all right, the wolves say they can’t hurt us.’ Stella wasn’t sure whether he was speaking to them or the wolves at his side who had started to cower. ‘It just means we’re getting closer to the coldest part of the Icelands. The wolves say that’s where they come from.’
‘But what are they?’ Beanie asked, frowning.
‘Who knows?’ Shay said. ‘The wolves seem to think they’re the lost souls of all the men and women who’ve died feeling cold.’
The explorers looked back at the mouth of the cave once more. Koa had appeared there and stood staring out, completely motionless from the end of her snout to the tip of her tail. It was impossible to see anything beyond the cave except for the snow and ice. But, suddenly, what had seemed like unintelligible moaning began to sound to Stella like whispered voices.
Pity the cold ones, your highness, they said. Pity the cold ones.
‘Who are they talking to?’ Stella asked Shay.
He gave her a strange look. ‘I don’t hear any talking.’
‘Me neither,’ Beanie said.
‘Ethan?’ Stella asked. Surely if anyone else was going to hear magical voices, it was the magician. But he shook his head and said, ‘It’s just noise, Stella.’
‘The wolves say the cold spirits won’t come into the cave as long as we keep the fire burning,’ Shay told them. He glanced over at the other wolves, who’d all become agitated since the voices started up.
The moaning voices disappeared after only a few minutes, but they kept the fire going all night, just in case they came back.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The explorers spent a restless night in the cave and were glad to be on their way bright and early the next morning. Stella had taken some time to examine the map and consult the compass, and had calculated that they should be no more than two days away from the coldest part of the Icelands.
‘We’re going to do it, aren’t we?’ Shay said excitedly. ‘We’re actually going to get there.’
‘I so hope we’re the first,’ Ethan said. ‘It would be such a worthy achievement to go back with.’ He glanced at Beanie beside him and said, ‘Might even shut your uncle up for a bit, don’t you think?’
‘I doubt it,’ Beanie replied. ‘Mum says Uncle Benedict could talk the hind legs off a polar bear – which isn’t possible, of course, but I think it just means that he really likes to talk.’
‘No, I meant that it might make him think you can be an explorer.’
‘Oh.’ Beanie frowned. ‘Yes, it might. Why didn’t you say that to begin with?’
‘Come on,’ Stella cut in, because she could tell that Ethan was rapidly losing patience. ‘There’s no time to lose if we want to be the first ones there.’
They spent all of the next day sledging across the ice, making no discoveries other than a rather worrying number of yeti footprints stamped into the snow. They stopped at a couple to photograph them with the camera and take some measurements, and found that even Ethan – who was the tallest member of their group – could lie down in the middle of the yeti footprint with room to spare.
‘Do we have any kind of battle plan should we happen to stumble upon a yeti?’ Ethan enquired, still lying in the footprint whilst Beanie took the photograph. ‘I mean, we still don’t have any weapons other than that axe we got at the Snow Queen, so—’
‘I don’t think one axe will be much good against a yeti,’ Stella said. ‘Felix says the best thing is to remain completely still and hope it doesn’t see you. Yeti eyesight is supposed to be really bad, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but they have a very good sense of smell,’ Ethan pointed out as he stood up and dusted snow from his black cloak. ‘And none of us have washed since leaving the Bold Adventurer.’
Stella had to admit that he had a point. They probably were smelling a bit ripe by now. The lack of washing and toilet facilities were definitely Stella’s least favourite part of the expedition so far.
They found another cave
