The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (32 page)

             
“Then why have you left your precious North Pole?” General Polar Bear demanded.

             
“We didn’t know it was dangerous,” Rome said.

             
“That is a lesson I’m certain to teach you,” the polar bear said. He growled deeply again in what Flea assumed was the bear’s form of laughter.

             
“What are you and your Army doing outside the North Pole?” Flea asked, hopeful that the polar bear wouldn’t punish him for asking a question.

             
One of the snowmen slid forward to answer proudly.

             
“We are here to serve our master, J – ”

             
The general growled again and jumped to action. For an animal so tall and muscular, General Polar Bear moved like lightning. He swung the snow-block end of his weapon in a wide arc. Flea watched in horror as the dozens of tiny daggers swung directly toward his head. He was so shocked by the sudden movement that he didn’t budge, though he heard his two friends gasp in horror behind him. Flea instinctively shut his eyes before impact, but no pain ever came. Instead, he felt a stiff breeze that nearly ripped the hat off his head. When he opened his eyes and turned around, Flea saw the polar bear had hit the talking snowman and turned it into a snowy puff of nothingness. Another Army snowman immediately moved forward and took its new place in line.

             
“Nobody else is to speak to these prisoners except me,” the polar bear growled at his troops. “Front line, slide forward!”

             
The first line of snowmen simultaneously moved several feet ahead. The general ordered the squad to proceed to the edge of the North Pole zone to wait for any potential rescuers. The squad quickly disappeared into the heavy snow.

             
“Hopefully Santa Claus himself comes looking for you,” the polar bear growled, licking his lips at the thought. “If I can destroy him and the North Pole, then I can destroy Christmas once and for all.”

             
“No, you can’t do that,” Rome pleaded. She was clearly distraught and for good reason;
she
had been the one to stumble into danger and felt at fault for anything bad that would happen.

             
In one quick step, the polar bear crossed the distance to Rome and raised his weapon. Minko tried to move between Rome and the general but his ice-block handcuffs were so heavy that he lost his balance and crashed to the ground, the sight of which caused the bear to growl in laughter again. He lowered his weapon but remained inches in front of Rome’s face.

             
“I can do
what
I want
when
I want,” he growled. “And why shouldn’t I? Once the North Pole is wiped off the face of the planet, I will become the second-most powerful being this world has ever known. I’ve waited years for this opportunity, for anyone to wander out of the North Pole, and I have
you
to thank for that.”

             
The general returned to his upright position and paced in front of them. Rome looked sick about what the general had just said but she wasn’t alone.

             
“This is finally the chance I need to accomplish my goal,” the polar bear continued, “as long as I can either destroy Santa or capture the elf with a split ear.”

             
Flea suddenly felt like he’d been whacked in the stomach with the general’s ice block. He had no idea how
anyone
– especially the polar bear – could know about his ear or why the South Pole could want him captured. As the wind continued to whip around them, Flea was suddenly more aware that the top of his hat flapped in the wind and threatened to blow off at any moment. Instinctively, he reached his hands toward his head to make sure his hat stayed secure. But he felt the ice-block crumbling around his wrists and knew that any sudden movement might cause it to break free. Since Flea didn’t want the polar bear to know that he could free himself, he remained still and hoped his hat would hold tight.

             
“Do any of you know of such a split-eared elf?” the polar bear asked.

             
“No!” Rome and Minko said at the same time, answering a bit too quickly. Flea knew his two friends well enough to know when they were lying, though he couldn’t remember them ever having seen his deformed ear.

             
General Polar Bear also must’ve sensed their dishonesty because he approached Rome and ripped the big red hat off her head. As the bear closely examined Rome’s ear, Flea watched her hat blow away, headed in the direction of the North Pole. The polar bear then moved on to Minko, who he handled roughly while checking the side of the pudgy elf’s head. Flea tried not to panic but a part of his mind screamed for him to take this last opportunity to attempt escape. But Flea knew that it would be impossible to get his friends out of here with so many snowmen around and the general so close.

             
“Why are you suddenly so quiet?” the polar bear growled as he rumbled toward Flea.

             
Flea could do nothing but shrug his shoulders as the general ripped the hat off his head. Flea’s hair blew in the wind and he could feel the frigid air on his split ear, which had always been a bit more sensitive than any of his other facial features. The general casually looked him over but Flea saw the powerful animal tense when he looked at his ear. The polar bear’s powerful paw yanked Flea clear off his feet and pulled him so close for an examination that he could smell the sour stench of death on the animal’s breath.

             
“I can’t believe it,” General Polar Bear growled excitedly as he continued to hold Flea. “It’s him, I’ve found
the
elf!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Split Ears

When General Polar Bear gently placed Flea back on the ground, the entire snowman Army simultaneously backed up. Flea wasn’t sure how he expected the enemy to react but he
definitely
hadn’t expected the bear to be
nicer
to him. Flea saw expressions of shock on his friends’ faces but he merely shrugged at them, as he had no idea what was happening.

             
“I’m
what
elf?” Flea asked.

             
“I must bring you to
him
right away,” the polar bear said. The general suddenly became nervous and paced back and forth. “Now we’ll finally be able to stop Christmas.”

             
“
Who
are you bringing me to? I don’t understand what’s going on,” Flea said.

             
The general stopped pacing and returned to all fours, coming face to face with Flea.

             
“Don’t play dumb with me,” he growled. “You
know
what the split ear means. If you weren’t so important to my master’s cause, I would destroy you right now for lying to me.”

             
The general slammed the blade-end of his weapon into the snowy ground before reaching into his icy armor and producing a small pouch. He dumped the contents of this pouch – some sort of silvery, sparkly dust – into his huge paw and studied it closely. He glanced toward Rome and Minko before grabbing Flea with his free paw.

             
“I only have enough for you and me. But that’s plenty since I
never
want to come back here again,” the general growled to Flea. The animal turned toward Rome and Minko as he addressed his snowy troops. “There’s a chance they’re telling the truth and nobody else at the North Pole knows they’re here. And that’s exactly how I want it to stay. Once I’m gone, finish these two off and make sure their bodies are never found.”

             
“
No,
just let them go,
please
,” Flea begged. “You’ve got me, you’ve got what you want. You don’t have to hurt them.”

             
But the general obviously disagreed. He snarled in the direction of Flea’s friends. Flea started to break free from the icy cuffs just as the general lifted the dust above both of their heads. However, both the elf and animal stopped when they heard a commotion in the distance. Flea recognized the sound of
clashing
ice and within seconds, pieces of destroyed snowmen flew toward them and landed at their feet. The polar bear growled as he looked through the falling snow. With the general’s attention turned away, Flea took the opportunity to act. His ringed-hand glowed golden within the icy block and a gust of wind shot directly toward the general’s paw. Nearly half the dust blew away before the polar bear noticed and shielded his paw from the wind.

             
General Polar Bear
roared
with rage and shoved Flea to the ground before carefully placing the remaining dust back into the pouch. He yanked his weapon from the ground and prepared himself for a fight as more snowman fragments soared toward them. Through the heavy snowfall, they all watched a figure approach.

             
“That’s not the elf you want!” a familiar voice called out.

             
Niko was the last elf Flea expected to come after them –
well, maybe Artimus is the
very
last one I’d expect,
he thought.

             
“Get him!” General Polar Bear ordered.

             
An entire row of snowmen slid forward and attacked Niko. Flea thought that there was no way a single elf could survive such an assault, but Niko surprised them all by going on the offensive. With only a simple ice spear – far smaller and less dangerous-looking than the weapons wielded by the Army – Niko sliced and diced his way through dozens of snowmen. Santa’s son didn’t waste a single movement as he ducked and dodged, bobbed and weaved, flipped and rolled, all the while striking down the squad sent after him. Needless to say, Flea and his friends were amazed by his fighting abilities, especially since Niko still looked so insubstantial wearing his familiar red Christmas hat.

             
Once the last snowman was obliterated, the next row began to slide forward until the general held up a paw to stop them. Instead, he raised his weapon and stepped in front of Niko.

             
“How do you know which elf I want?” General Polar Bear asked.

             
“Because you probably want the one with a split ear, right?” Niko asked matter-of-factly.             

             
The general roughly grabbed Flea and turned him, showing Niko the split ear. Flea tried to break free from the bear’s grip but that was impossible for a mere mortal.

             
“My master has been waiting
years
for the chance to find the elf boy with a split ear,” the general growled. “And he stumbled right into my waiting paws.”

             
“Too bad that’s
not
the elf you want,” Niko said.

             
Niko spiked his spear into the ground and for the first time since Flea had known him, Niko carefully removed his hat. Niko turned his head and the moonlight shined perfectly onto his ear, which was split exactly like Flea’s.

-         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -        -        -

             
Although the wind still
howled
loudly, Flea heard the gasp from his two friends behind him.

             
“Does that mean that Flea and Niko are…” Minko started. Even though Flea lost the last word in the wind, he figured it was the same thing he’d been thinking.

             
Brothers.

             
General Polar Bear was clearly confused as he looked from Niko to Flea, seeing the same exact ear.

             
“It can’t be you,” the general finally growled at Niko. “You look too old, my master said the elf with the split ear would be very young.”

             
“He
is
young for an elf, one of the youngest at the North Pole,” Rome said.

             
“I did not
ask
for your opinion,” the general growled at Rome. He was clearly frustrated by this new problem.