She turned around, presenting her back to Jiang Lan and Doro, leveled her scorpion tail, and spread her pincers slightly to either side, inviting them to climb aboard.
Holding Doro, Jiang Lan ran to the Ice Empress and scrambled up using both hands and feet, settling securely in the center of her shell.
Doro crouched in front of him, her two stubby hands gripping the ridges along the edge of the shell, her large purple eyes sparkling with excitement.
Zhu Zhuyun stood where she was, looking at the Ice Empress's back, and hesitated for a moment.
"Sister Zhu Yun, you come up too!" Jiang Lan turned and waved to her.
Zhu Zhuyun looked at the Ice Empress, then at Jiang Lan, and finally stepped forward.
She sat sideways on the rear half of the Ice Empress's shell, bracing her hands against its edges, her legs hanging down on either side.
Once all three were seated securely, the Ice Empress pushed off with all eight legs at once.
The Ice Empress was incredibly fast. Her eight legs churned alternately over the snow, her shell skimming the ice as she raced along, leaving a streak of interwoven jade-green and ice-blue light in her wake. The cold wind battered Jiang Lan head-on, blowing back the hood of his penguin suit and exposing his little face, flushed red from the cold.
"So fast!" Jiang Lan excitedly slapped the Ice Empress's shell.
"Don't slap it," the Ice Empress said coldly.
"Oh, okay." Jiang Lan withdrew his hand and gripped the ridges along the shell's edge instead.
Doro crouched up front with her two stubby arms spread into the wind, making excited whooping sounds.
Zhu Zhuyun sat at the back, her long hair streaming behind her in the wind. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she