The amount of Mana coursing through this woman meant she was a more significant threat than Poli‘ahu had anticipated. Worse, this Pele had declared herself a queen of Vai‘i, and Poli‘ahu could not let that stand. But an open fight might turn against her. Was there any chance the woman would keep her bargain if she lost?
Probably not.
They trekked back up the slope, dragging their sleds behind them. The other woman said nothing.
No, Poli‘ahu didn’t really expect this Pele to adhere to any agreement. On the other hand, people would hear about her losing, and that would further sway the public into Poli‘ahu’s favor. The last thing the people of Sawaiki needed now was a war between kupua. Not like this.
Could she persuade Pele to just leave, though? Send her back to Kahiki or elsewhere in the Worldsea?
Again, probably not.
These kupua had come from Kahiki and had no intention of returning. Her sources indicated at least two very powerful kupua had come, one controlling the tides, and the other—this Pele, apparently—mastering fire and magma.
A sled race was as good a means to test this queen’s limits as any. Let her push herself in a contest she could never win. Who was the other queen, really? How much power did she hold? Poli‘ahu had to discover the answer.
It took maybe half of an hour to return to her place near the summit. By then, Poli‘ahu’s muscles ached. She wasn’t used to dragging a sled around. She could have simply dissolved the thing and formed a new one at the top, but then her guest might have accused her of switching them again somehow.
So now this other queen carried Poli‘ahu’s own sled, for all the good it was likely to do her. No, the woman clearly had too much pride to admit Poli‘ahu was simply better than her. Indeed, it was the epitome of arrogance to think anyone could defeat her in such a contest. Of course, up here, she could probably destroy this queen with her powers over the snow. Maybe she still would do so, whatever the outcome of this race. Truly, Pele was a fool to have sought her out here.
Smirking, Poli‘ahu hefted her sled. “Ready?”
“Do it.”
Poli‘ahu ran forward a few steps then threw herself onto the sled, kneeling to speed its flight. It skated across snow, rapidly building momentum. She spared a glance over her shoulder to see the other woman lagging behind, glaring at her, eyes burning like red hot coals. What in Lua-o-Milu? Was the Flame Queen possessed by a Fire spirit?
That changed things.
The next instant, Pele punched her fist into the ground. The mountain rumbled at her assault as if she had somehow damaged the stone itself. And it kept shaking, trembling in agony. A crack raced out ahead of the other woman, a spreading crevice that split so deep it swallowed snow from both sides. The crevice sped toward Poli‘ahu, now billowing out a curtain of steam.
She jerked her sled to the side, out of its path, sending herself dangerously close to the precipice. Even as she turned back, the crevice had arced around in front of her. Her sled was racing too fast for her to stop it in time. She was going to crash right through that scorching curtain—and it had to be ten feet thick at this point.
All she could think of to protect herself was enveloping her form and sled in a thick cloud of mist and snow flurries. She summoned it from all around her, forming more and more of the barrier even as the sled leapt the crevice, flying through the air. The mist and snow evaporated faster than she could reform it, allowing steam to scald her flesh even as the sled crashed down on the far side of the gap.
Poli‘ahu realized she was screaming in pain, and still her sled wasn’t slowing. Indeed, the other queen’s own had just raced past her. If Pele couldn’t win a fair race, she planned to cheat.
Well, no one beat Poli‘ahu on her own mountain.
She summoned a ripple of snow, using it to fling her sled forward with ever-increasing speed. When the Flame Queen looked backward, her face fell as she realized how fast Poli‘ahu was gaining on her. First, Poli‘ahu was going to thrash her in this race. Then she would freeze the woman to death for her temerity.
The Flame Queen waved her hand and the mountain shook again, breaking apart. A river of lava—lava!—surged forward in front of Poli‘ahu’s sled. The molten earth was quickly turning her beautiful mountain into a wasteland of slush, steam, and toxic vapors.
And she could not stop herself from crashing into it. Instead, she poured Mana into the snow beneath her sled, using it to build a ramp and fling herself upward. Her sled flew through the air once again as snow plummeted below her, cooling the lava, though destroying itself in the process.
Her teeth slammed together as the sled touched down with such force it almost threw her free. But it kept its momentum, and she was still gaining on Pele. A fountain of lava exploded in front of her like a geyser, spilling its molten death all around her.
Poli‘ahu jerked her sled to the side, trying to avoid it like she would a tree. Except this tree rained fire on her. Spots of it struck the sled, sizzling and melting through the ice almost instantly. Another fountain blossomed in front of her, and again she darted around it, so close she felt its heat would burn her skin right off.
She glanced back only to see her kihei, streaming in the breeze, was on fire. Kāne! She tore free its clasp and let the cloak fly away in the wind.
Poli‘ahu extended a hand behind herself, using snow to speed her way once again. Her sled launched past the Flame Queen’s and Poli‘ahu cast a withering gaze at the woman who had declared war on her home. Well, maybe it was time Pele learned just what the mountain could do to defend itself.
She eased her power out of the snow behind her and instead reached up to the mountain shelf above. Already the snows were loosened, trembling from the torment the other kupua had wrought. Poli‘ahu jumped off her sled and drew both hands in toward her chest, calling the snows to her.
High above, a curtain of snow rose, accompanied by a cacophony fit to rival any eruption the Flame Queen had wrought.
And then the avalanche began.
Poli‘ahu called more and more of the snow, endless tons of it to cleanse and bury the interloper. She allowed her form to become mist and flew past the Flame Queen, relishing the look of horror on the other woman’s face as she saw her end.
And then the avalanche crashed into Pele and carried her right off the precipice.