“I am so tired.” Elspet yawned and played with her scrambled eggs. She lifted a bite to her mouth.

“I am too. I hardly slept thinking about the look on Drayton’s face when the bucket of ice water splashed on him.” Fiona giggled.

“He’ll probably do something else bad to us now, just to get even with us. I think he hates us.” Callum shoveled a pancake into his mouth.

“I’m sure of that. He’s no more powerful than I am,” Fiona said.

“But he’s evil. He’s got that evil wizard helping him and teaching him bad stuff,” Callum said.

“He might, but we’ve got good people on our side. We’ve got Johnny and Jesse, Jimmy, Jack, Uncle Angus and Mum. I know King Kegan is helping us too. I think his wizard Zerahemna is helping in some way, but I’ve not figured that out yet,” Fiona said.

“Yikes! It’s 8 a.m Shane will be waiting for us. We’d better get outside,” Elspet said.

They pushed their plates away. Fiona left enough money for their meal and a tip and they ran to meet their guide.

Shane stood next to the dark blue SUV. “You’re just on time,” he said. “I’ve got a pack for each of you. It’s got snacks, flashlight, rope, water, and a few other things we might need. I’m glad to see each of you dressed properly. It might get cold, though the weather forecast promised good weather for us today.”

They took their packs and climbed into the car. “How much will this cost?” Fiona pulled the money out of her pocket. “I hope you don’t mind British money. That’s all we’ve got.”

“Don’t mind that at all,” Shane said. He quoted them a price, Fiona paid him and they drove toward Kluane National Park.

                                    * * *

Drayton watched them leave. “I’m not following them. They can find the jewel themselves. I’m going to pan for gold.” He read his brochure and walked down to the  Yukon River. “It’s freezing out here.” Instead of standing around waiting, he went back into town and found a sports shop. “I hope they sell gloves in here.” Opening the door he stepped inside.

 A wall covered with gloves and mittens caught his attention. After slipping a few pairs into his coat pockets, he picked another pair up and took it up the check stand. Along with the gloves he bought a hat, some warmer socks and a pair of hiking boots. The sun was out when he left the shop. He saw several people heading down the river. “Time to pan for gold.”

*  *  *

The road bumped and twisted all the way to the Donjek River. Shane told them about the St. Elias Mts. and Mt. Logan, Canada’s highest peak. He pointed it out to them. “This range is the world’s largest massif.” He boasted, obviously proud of his homeland.

“We don’t have any mountains like this in Scotland,” Callum said.

“I put a portable camera in each of your packs. Why don’t you use them and take some photos. You’ll never see anything like this again.”

“Elspet, you have a camera. Will you give me your throw away one?” Callum pleaded.

“Here it is.” Elspet dug into her pack. “This one,” she said holding up Angus’s, “is so great. I bought some more film in the hotel gift shop. I’ll take some good shots.” She handed Callum her disposable camera.

“Thanks, Elspet.” Callum looked out the front window of the SUV. “Is that the glacier?”

“That is Donjek Glacier. Magnificent, isn’t it?” Shane pointed to it so the girls could see.

“That’s awesome, Shane,” Fiona said.

“We’re going to have to park the SUV and hike in closer. Make sure everything is in your pack. Lock the door and follow me.” Shane locked the doors with his car keys.

“It’s pretty with all that blue ice, but it’s kind of dirty.” Elspet stopped to tie her shoe.

“Glaciers are like that. They pick up dirt as they move. You know they’re called rivers of ice, don’t you?” Shane sat down on a rock next to the river. “It’s a long hike. I suggest you take a drink now.”

Fiona sat down and opened her bottled water, happy that she’d transferred all the things in her pack into the one Shane gave them. A vision came into her mind. She saw the emerald, inside the glacier, and a patch of stones marking the spot. She didn’t say anything as she didn’t want Shane to know. She moved closer to Elspet. “I know where the emerald is. When we get close, you and Callum will have to distract Shane so I can dig it out,” she whispered.

“What about the booby traps? I don’t want him to get hurt.” Elspet glanced at Shane.

“I thought about that. We’re going to have to ditch him then. I figure we can ask for a rest and wait till he closes his eyes and then run off. By the time he finds us, we’ll have the stone,” Fiona said.

“I hope that works. He seems pretty smart to me. What if he doesn’t need to close his eyes?” Elspet stole another glance.

“We’ll have to knock him out then,” Fiona said. “I don’t want to do that, but if there’s no other choice, we might have to.”

“That would be a horrible thing to do, Fiona. Don’t hurt him, please?”

“What is our other choice? You think up something else then and let me know before we get to the glacier.” Fiona picked up her pack, slung it over her shoulder and back. “Let’s get going, Shane.”

He stood up and slipped his pack on his back. “I’m ready. This will be worth it. If you think it’s magnificent now, wait until we are close up. The ice is bluer than the sky.”

The pebbly ground wasn’t easy to walk on. They kept tripping and stumbling over bits of jutting out granite. Shane had told them if they got hungry to nibble on their snacks and not to let themselves get tired or weak. Fiona pulled a bag of jerky out of her pack. “What is this stuff?”

Shane laughed. “It’s moose jerky. I hope you like it. Everyone loves it.”

“Moose jerky?” Elspet’s face scrunched up. “I don’t want to eat that. Here, you can have mine,” she said, handing her bag to Fiona. “I’ll just eat this trail mix stuff. I like nuts and raisins and oats.”

“Whateve.” Fiona put a piece of jerky in her mouth. “It’s great!”

“I like it too.” Callum took a bite.

Elspet happily munched her trail mix. “Enjoy eating moose. Yuck!”

Two hours later they arrived at the base of the glacier. Fiona walked over to Elspet. “Well? Did you come up with an idea?”

Elspet shook her head back and forth. “I couldn’t think of a thing.”

“Shane! We’re tired. Can we stop here for a while and take a nap?” Fiona shouted at him.

“A nap? I suppose we can afford a short one. You three take your naps. I’m going to scout around for a few minutes.” Shane took his pack off and disappeared over a hill.

“Now’s our chance. Come on, Callum. Grab your pack,” Fiona said.

“What? Why? We can go without Shane?”

“Let’s go. We’ve got to get the emerald. If we ditch him now, he won’t find us for a while and won’t get hurt. Come on, right now!” Fiona grabbed Callum by the arm. The three of them ran along the ground at the bottom of the glacier. “We’ve got a few more miles. We need to hurry before he comes back and finds us missing.”