”NOW!” Votzhem let his snowball fly, building up another and throwing it immediately as his daughter joined the barrage. He knew he had taken too long – Kaalnia was bleeding and might be dying – but if there was still time, if he could still stop this madness, he wanted to try.
”Chi's breath!” Ruelash cursed, his final swing interrupted by the barrage as he raised his arm to protect his face. ”Oi!” He glared at Votzhem, ”Oi! Stop it!”
”No, you stop it!” Votzhem took the opportunity to rush forward and push Ruelash away, ”Stop it now!”
”V... Vosh...” Kaalnia pressed her hand against her wound, giving him a weak smile. Votzhem had just saved her life. Again. She scurried away from Ruelash, pulling her spear close to her as she wrapped herself in furs.
Volkarosh ran up too. She touched the snow, the very red snow, in stunned silence, staring at the red. She didn't understand what she'd just seen. She didn't know if she wanted to.
”You...” Votzhem began to build up a head of steam, preparing to lecture them both on how they would have upset Iroia and traumatized his daughter. After that, he would have sprung into medical care for Kaalnia, and a few more lectures for Ruelash, that the iceling would probably ignore...
Except...
Now they all heard the rumbling.
”Daddy...” She moved closer to his part of the cluster, glancing uneasily up at the cliff above, ”What's that?”
They soon had the answer, as their world became suddenly very fast moving, cold, and white...
