Winter Spell

by Claire M Banschbach

  “Against my counsel, she decided to go search for him. She gave you to me and left me to carry the news back to the ocean. And to ask your family to take you in and shelter you in the ocean. Then she disappeared and never came back.”

  A tear detached from Tonya’s eye and floated away to merge with the salt water around her.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she whispered.

  His light green eyes met hers, sorrow and regret furrowing deeper lines in his stern face.

  “The king himself forbade it. What your mother did was unheard of, and the king had no wish to offend the ice king or draw the wrath of whatever was chasing them. And even from the start, you were a puzzling thing. Many thought you shouldn’t have been able to exist. There’s been no intermarriage between the different kinds of faeries, and certainly no children.”

  “But I could at least have known the truth about them!” Her voice gained strength.

  “I’m sorry I never told you.” His sincerity killed some of her anger. “But I did believe that it was to keep you protected. Whatever was after them, it scared your mother. And I’d never seen that before.”

  Tonya turned her gaze up to the icy blue of the surface, wondering and a little afraid. “Do you think that whatever was following them, found me?”

  Kostis tipped a glance at the ice. “Perhaps.”

  She swallowed hard. Maybe going with the land faeries is a bad idea. What if it’s still out there and finds me? I could vanish like sea foam and no one would ever know.

  Chapter Seven

  Tonya didn’t have to wait long before the summons came to appear before the king. Kostis stayed by her side during the long swim to the king’s court. Tonya stroked with her arms, fluttering her feet, pointedly not looking at Kostis as he effortlessly maintained pace beside her with rippling wings. The other guard with them was not so gracious, sighing heavily from time to time at their slow progress.

  Tonya resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

  Word must have spread about the land faery’s message, because the court was packed full of faeries, jostling one another for space as they floated, stood, or perched atop the coral ridges. Tonya swallowed nervously as her guards began to push their way up to the throne. She kept her head ducked as whispers began to spread and a hush marked her progress towards the king.

  She wobbled through a bow, barely managing to meet King Stavros’s gaze. The queen once again sat beside him, though this time a bit of hope edged the constant fluttering of her hands.

  “As you all know, this ice also covers the continent,” Stavros said.

  The whispers increased in intensity. Kostis rested a briefly comforting hand on her shoulder.

  “Our land kin have called a summit. I have decided to send Tonya Freyr-dottir, with several representatives, to this council in the hopes that their combined magic will perhaps be able to undo this curse.”

  Tonya flinched under the word. I didn’t mean to curse anything. But her guilt went unnoticed as louder conversation burst forth, arguments erupting like tiny storms among some faeries who didn’t think that the ocean faeries needed any assistance.

  “You leave by the next tide. Captain Kostis will lead the expedition.” King Stavros deigned to look at her before swimming from the court, followed by his queen.

  Sophie darted up, dodging a guard’s halfhearted grab at her.

  “They won’t let me go with you!” Red tinted her pale cheeks and a scowl distorted her normally cheerful features.

  “That’s probably for the best,” Tonya tried to say. She had the ability to breathe in and out of water, but for someone as young as Sophie, it would be more difficult, as she hadn’t practiced spending extensive amounts of time out of the water.

  But Sophie didn’t let her finish. “It’s ridiculous! Do they expect you to go marching overland like some prisoner?”

  “I don’t—”

  “And what if you get attacked again?” Sophie jabbed a finger at her.

  Tonya shut her mouth, pursing her lips and shifting hands to her hips while she waited for Sophie to finish railing about the dangers of the land and the supposed ineptitude of the faeries who would be going with her, and land faeries as a whole.

  Kostis cleared his throat, a faint smile playing across his face.

  Sophie broke off, glaring up at him. Tonya stared at him in mild affront. I need to practice that sound if it’ll get Sophie to shut up for a second.

  “As King Stavros said, I will be leading the expedition, so rest assured, she will be safe,” Kostis said.

  Sophie didn’t look convinced, only narrowed her glare.

  “Sophie.” Tonya tugged on her sleeve. “I’ll be fine. And, who knows, maybe I’ll figure out how to undo the spell.”

  Sophie humphed a little, but flashed a smile, even though they both plainly didn’t think it would happen.

  “Are you going to keep her under guard while she goes to pack?” she asked Kostis. “The next tide is only in a few hours.”

  “No, I think you will do an excellent job keeping an eye on her,” Kostis replied, voice suspiciously even. Tonya smothered a grin as Sophie tilted her chin up. Sophie grabbed her hand and whisked her away.

  Tonya didn’t have much to put into her bag woven of thick kelp strands. She had no idea what to bring to be on land for longer than a few minutes. She packed two spare sets of shirts and trousers, a comb, and a whale-bone knife.

  Sophie sat on one of the rounded corals that bulged from the ocean floor, watching her. Tonya set aside her bag and sank down to her bed of sea grass. They stared at one another in silence.

  “I’ll miss you!” Sophie finally blurted.

  Tonya blinked rapidly. There was no guarantee when she’d be back. “I’ll miss you too.”

  Sophie darted to her side, wrapping her in a rib-crushing embrace. “You’ll figure it out. I know you will.”

  A trembling laugh escaped Tonya.

  “I don’t have any magic.” Nothing worth trying to use.

  “Is there a rule that says you have to have magic to undo a crazy ice spell?” Sophie released her hold by a fraction.

  Another giggle built in Tonya’s chest. “I’m sure it’s helpful.”

  Sophie cleared her throat suspiciously as she straightened and let go of Tonya. “Ice or no, I’m glad you’re getting a chance to go onto the land. Maybe it’ll help your magic.”

  “You think so?” Tonya twisted a bit of kelp in her fingers. Maybe nothing can help it.

  Sophie jerked her chin in a nod. “You’ve always been half in and half out of the water. Maybe it’s time to try something else.”

  Tonya slung her bag over her shoulder. “I hope you’re right.”

  Sophie sniffed in superiority. “I’m always right.”

  Tonya bit back listing the many times Sophie had not, in fact, been right. Sophie rolled her eyes and gathered her in another hug.

  “All right. Let’s go meet Sir Shark Head.”

  “Kostis,” Tonya corrected with a giggle.

  “Whatever.” Sophie smirked.

  Their amusement dampened a fraction as they left the house and met Tonya’s aunt and uncle.

  “Be safe.” Her uncle awkwardly patted her shoulder. Her aunt looked more reluctant, but finally gave her a small nod. Tonya returned it, understanding a little more in the light of the story that Kostis had shared. Her aunt had lost a sister twice. Once when the storms swept Thalia away, and then again when she married an ice faery before vanishing again.

  Tonya began to swim towards the edge of the reef where she would meet with her escort. Sophie swam beside her, the silence stretching between them once more. The shimmering blue of the ice crept closer and closer as they approached the surface, broken only by a circle of sunlight where the guards had managed to break through again.

  Kostis and five other faeries waited. Three were soldiers, and the other two Tonya recognized as part of the king’s council. They all carried bags si
milar to hers, but the guards carried extra bundles under their arms.

  “Ready?” Kostis asked.

  Tonya nodded. She accepted another hug from Sophie before leaving her behind to join the others. Kostis went first, disappearing through the hole with a mighty kick. A soldier followed, and then Tonya was next.

  Sophie offered a small wave. Tonya drew a deep breath before kicking up towards the surface. A cold breeze swept around her as she broke the surface.

  Kostis extended his hand and helped pull her up onto the ice. She slid a step on the ice before gaining her balance. One by one the other faeries emerged onto the ice, leaving a thin sheen of seawater over their skin.

  Tonya bit the inside of her cheek and spun in a circle, slicking the water from her skin and hair in concentrated motion. She’d never needed to keep the seawater close to her skin when she was on the surface.

  No one had seemed to notice her, engaged with unwrapping the bundles the guards had brought. Kostis handed her a bundle and she shook out a coat and soft boots made of shark skin and lined with sea otter fur.

  The other faeries shivered as they shrugged into the lined clothing. Tonya pulled on the shoes, finding they gave her much needed extra purchase on the ice. But the coat she balled in her hands.

  “Put that on,” Kostis instructed. “You’ll freeze.”

  Tonya hesitated, not sure if she should call their attention to the fact that she wasn’t the least bit cold. In fact, the air was invigorating, like she wanted to fly and cavort with snow geese. No matter that she’d never seen a snow goose and definitely couldn’t fly. She regarded the coat in her hands once more.

  I don’t really want to look like more of a freak. So, she pulled it on, but left it unfastened.

  She settled her bag back over her shoulder, gripping the strap in nervous excitement as she stared around the waves frozen in tumbled curls. To the north lay Myrnius, and hopefully some answers. But maybe more importantly, a chance to explore the land that her mother had walked.

  Kostis led the way, walking out over the creaking ice. A soldier indicated that she should follow. She slid a few steps before she found her stride. The others slipped and slid their way across the ice with muttered imprecations.

  Not even hours of walking could wear down Tonya’s excitement at being on the ice and walking toward Myrnius. A few seagulls swooped in to croak questions to the other faeries. Tonya caught snatches of their conversations—the animals were just as concerned about the ice.

  Tonya quickened her pace to walk closer to Kostis.

  “How much longer till we reach the shore?”

  “It should be soon,” he answered.

  The sun hovered low at the western edge of the horizon, drawing extra sparkles from the frozen waves, when the ice gave way to the firmness of land. Snow crusted the sand dunes along the beach, ice crystals skittering across the tideline where waves had been frozen in their tracks.

  Tonya sank up to her ankles in the snow. She bent to scoop a handful. Its chill sent tingles across her fingertips and the whisper of words just out of reach teased her. She tilted her head, closing her eyes as if to hear the words better, but they whisked away in the wind.

  She let the snow fall from her hand in a miniature blizzard. Not really knowing what she was doing, she released a breath through pursed lips and the falling snow danced in a circle, swooping up in defiance of the breeze.

  “What are you doing?” one of the soldiers snapped.

  The snow collapsed to the ground and the tingle vanished from her fingers, leaving them a little cold.

  “I—”

  “Ice magic?” He kicked the snow at her feet as if it would come to life and attack him.

  “I just wanted to see what the snow felt like.” She lifted one shoulder, hoping it would appease him. I don’t know what I did. Except, maybe, it was a little bit of magic.

  The thought both exhilarated and frightened her. If she could control a fraction of snow, perhaps all the ice and snow had come from her.

  “There’s a sheltered cove up ahead where we’ll stay tonight,” Kostis broke in. He shepherded them down the beach toward a rocky outcropping. Tonya trailed along, turning her face away from the soldier who walked alongside her.

  She pursed her lips again. But nothing stirred the snow and her fingers returned to their normal warmth. She sighed. Maybe she’d imagined the whole thing.

  *

  Tonya woke to the entirely new sensation of aching feet. She pushed aside her insulated whaleskin blanket to sit up. The other faeries huddled around the fire that one of the guards had started the night before. The dancing flames had mesmerized Tonya, and she’d stared at them until they sparked in her vision whenever she looked away. The faery hadn’t even used magic to create it, all the more amazing to her.

  She took a few minutes to comb her hair out and tuck it up with whalebone pins. She appeared to be the only one who had passed a somewhat restful night, as even the normally stoic guards had expressions of cold misery on their faces.

  “Sleep all right?” Kostis came to stand by her as she folded up the blanket, brushing off some stray snowflakes.

  She nodded.

  “Cold?” he continued conversationally.

  Tonya frantically snatched up her coat, discarded the night before, and pulled it on.

  “Yes,” she lied.

  Kostis released another one of his grumbles, the sound compelling Tonya to shake her head.

  He’s got to be using some sort of song magic in that noise.

  But Kostis smiled. “I thought you might not be. Perhaps that’s the ice faery in you.”

  A little bit of the knot inside her eased, and a faint smile touched her lips. She’d always been compared to her mother while under the waves; she’d never really thought about the part of her that was like her father.

  “I saw what you did with the snow yesterday.”

  Her mouth dried in alarm. If he knew, then the councilors knew, and maybe they’d poke and prod her with more magic.

  “I think you should keep practicing.”

  “What?” She stared up at him. “But wouldn’t that make everything worse? What if I cause a blizzard, or an avalanche, or freeze—”

  Kostis held up a hand. “Calm down, Tonya. I don’t think you’re nearly that powerful yet.”

  She subsided with a sheepish grin. Her fears did sound ridiculous when he put it that way.

  “I don’t think practicing will hurt. Maybe it’ll release some more of your power and help us figure out a way to undo this.” He pointed farther inland where snow mounded in drifts as far as the eye could see.

  Tonya drew a breath of the chill air and nodded. For the first time she felt some eagerness to try to use her repressed magic.

  She edged a little closer to the fire and took her share of dried fish tucked in a thin wrap of pale pink kelp. She ate while the others packed and finished the last bites as they walked on.

  After a quarter hour, square shapes with peaked tops appeared. Tonya stared at them, trying to puzzle them out. A tremendous noise split the air, and a dark shape ran towards them on all fours. It was covered in thick fur, muzzle bared wide to reveal teeth that were not at all friendly.

  A figure ran from a cluster of humped dwellings and chased after the creature.

  Kostis lowered his spear, holding off the creature as it snarled and growled. Tonya edged back a step, reaching for the knife stowed away in her bag.

  The figure neared and Tonya caught her first glimpse of a human. He didn’t look too different from the faeries. About two hand spans taller than Kostis, broader-shouldered, and without the aura of magic that surrounded her companions.

  “Who’re you?” he demanded in a gruff voice, resting a hand on his sword. The creature retreated to stand by him, still growling and showing its fangs. A few more men appeared from the dwellings to join him.

  They all wore heavy coats, gloves, and expressions of mistrust. Tonya swallowed hard. What i
f they find out I caused all this?

  “We are from the coast,” Kostis said. “We’re going to the council that your king and the faeries called about this winter.”

  The man relaxed a fraction. He snapped his fingers, and the animal subsided, its muzzle opening into a more friendly expression.

  “Faeries?” he guessed.

  Kostis nodded.

  The man looked them all over again, pausing over her, possibly marking the differences between her and the rest of the faeries.

  “Don’t know that we’ve ever seen ocean faeries ’round here, even during t’ war. Must be bad, then.”

  “Like it’s not bad enough?” one of his companions grumbled.

  “We’re affected too,” Kostis admitted. “I wish we could do something to help.”

  “First faeries in a while that’ve come around t’ say something like that.” The man shifted and reached down to ruffle the animal’s ears.

  Tonya couldn’t jerk her attention from the animal as its furry tail swished back and forth, tongue lolling in pleasure. The man caught her staring, and a small smile softened his features.

  “Ever seen a dog before, miss?” he asked.

  Dog. Tonya filed the word away as she shook her head.

  “Want t’ pet her?”

  Tonya glanced at Kostis for permission. The captain nodded with a faint smile and she hesitantly stepped forward.

  “Let her smell you first.”

  Tonya stretched out her fingers as the man demonstrated. The dog stretched its nose closer to her, sniffing cautiously, then allowed her to brush a hand across its smooth fur.

  A rumble of enjoyment broke from it as she scratched behind its ears. It butted her hand, reminding her of the dolphins that would sometimes come to seek out a faery or two to play among the waves.

  “How far to the king’s palace?” Kostis leaned on his spear.

  The man barked a short laugh. “Palace? Our king hasn’t had a castle t’ his name since his father’s time. You must really not know much about us.”

  “We knew of the war.” A bit of defensiveness edged Kostis’s voice.

  “Aye, the war,” the man scoffed. “King Edmund’s doing his best after it all, but he’s still young, and now all this?” He gestured around with a shrug of his shoulders. “I hear that Durne and Calvyrn are just as bad off as we are, so maybe that’ll force us all t’ work together again.”