Winter Spell

by Claire M Banschbach

  He dodged, but Freyr lunged forward, knocking him to the ground. Steinn stabbed the knife at Freyr’s shoulder, driving him a pace back to avoid it. He whistled and his caribou lunged forward, lowered horns driving into Freyr’s side.

  Tonya shouted in alarm as her father tumbled to the ground under the force of the caribou’s charge. Arvo galloped forward, slamming his horns against the other caribou’s and driving it back.

  A quick movement snapped her attention back to Steinn and she jerked her arm up to protect against a beam of light. It burned her arm on impact, drawing a cry.

  Diane helped Dorian struggle upright. Her eyes widened and she threw herself over him as Steinn shoved a wall of ice at them. Most disintegrated on impact when it hit Diane, but she and Dorian toppled back to the ground.

  Tonya released another uncontrolled burst of ice at Steinn which flung him against the cave wall. He gasped a breath, but stayed on his feet.

  What do I do? Tonya desperately let green and violet light stream from her hands. Steinn brushed it aside almost carelessly.

  Find the right words…

  Freyr lunged forward again, swiping heavy paws at Steinn. The faery dodged away as Freyr kept coming with angry snarls. Tonya looked down at her hands.

  What do I want?

  Desperate, she closed her eyes, trying to find the whispers that had called to her of magic all her life.

  They rushed about her, one deeper whisper calling her toward the ice, the other lightly sighing of waves and currents. She closed her hands and whispered back to the ice.

  It pressed around her heart, rushing down to her fingertips. She whispered to the ice to trap Steinn’s feet. He lurched to a halt, shock creasing his features as it wrapped around his legs to his knees.

  She commanded it to stay. It held under his attack.

  Freyr backed away.

  “What now?” Steinn sneered again. “You kill me?”

  Tonya swallowed hard. Despite her anger and hate, she didn’t want to kill him and plunge into the darkness beside him.

  “No. I want you to answer for everything you’ve done to my family and friends. To me!” she shouted, then whispered another command to the ice.

  It leapt from her hands and swept up from the ground to freeze his arms to his chest. Icy chains pinned him in place, locking him where he stood. He struggled against the ice, but Tonya whispered strength and binding into the ice. It held.

  Fury covered Steinn’s face when he could not break free. He hurled curses and imprecations at them until Diane shoved a piece of cloth into his mouth, gagging him.

  “Can I hit him a few times?” Diane brandished her staff. Steinn glared.

  Tonya covered her mouth with her hands, trapping a cry of relief and exhausted emotion. Her father came up beside her, letting her lean against him for a long moment.

  “No,” Tonya said.

  “You sure?” Diane turned a disappointed frown at her.

  A giggle broke from Tonya, bringing with it the sudden urge to cry.

  “That’s impressive binding for someone who’s never been able to use her magic.” Freyr’s soft growl urged more tears.

  “I just found the right words,” Tonya said.

  Dorian’s smile took up half his face. He struggled to his feet. The sight of his torn wing brought back the horrible reality to Tonya.

  “How’s August?” she whispered.

  “Not good. We need to hurry.” Dorian staggered into the cave.

  Diane followed after a last scowl at Steinn. Tonya took a deep breath and stepped inside.

  The lantern still burned by the ice wall. Remnants of a fire scattered across the cave floor. August lay sprawled on the ground, torn out of a nest of blankets, one hand reaching toward his knife. His chest jerked in a faint gasp. Swirling patterns of frost covered his face and parts of his neck visible around his coat collar.

  Dorian tried to drag him back to the blankets and Diane hurried to help him.

  “Tonya.” Freyr nudged her to the ice wall. “Break the ice.”

  She rested a hand on the wall, feeling every particle of water frozen in place along with the binding resting in between. Her mother stared back.

  “How?” Her voice trembled in a whisper.

  “Trace the binding back to its source. There’s always a starting point left in a spell. And—and it looks like she was trying to cast back. There will be weakness there.” An extra gruffness covered his voice.

  Tonya broke off her stare to look down at her father. He stared longingly up at the faery trapped in the ice. Tears pressed up against her eyes. She closed her eyes against the sensation and focused on the binding.

  This time she found the starting point. She moved her hand up and to the right to center over the gentle shift in the binding. Another ripple in the spell occurred around her mother’s hands. Tonya pressed her other hand even with Thalia’s outraised fingers.

  Break, she whispered. Give me back my mother, please.

  A fracture formed under her fingers.

  Wider.

  A crack echoed through the cave. She opened her eyes. The fissure ran all the way to Thalia. Her mother’s chest rose and fell in a quick breath.

  Tonya flexed her fingers, drawing her hands back as if opening double doors. The ice fell away. Freyr jumped forward, allowing Thalia to collapse against his broad back as the ice no longer supported her.

  Tonya took her mother under the shoulders and laid her back. Another breath jolted through her, and then she breathed normally. Color rushed back to her pale face. Her arms jerked and she pushed up with a cry, hands outstretched.

  “Thalia!” Freyr’s voice halted her.

  She lowered her hands, disbelief slackening her jaw. She leaned forward towards him.

  “Freyr? What happened? It was Steinn, he—”

  “I know,” Freyr gently interrupted. “We’re safe.”

  “Tonya!” Thalia’s hands flew to her face. Tonya froze, heart pounding.

  Freyr looked past Thalia to her. Her mother slowly turned, her green eyes widening.

  “Tonya?” she asked hesitantly.

  Tonya pressed her lips together to keep from crying. She managed a nod.

  “You’re—how long has it been?” Thalia half-turned back to Freyr.

  “Seventy years,” he quietly answered.

  Thalia gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. “Seventy...” She reached a careful hand out to Tonya as if afraid she wasn’t real.

  “I wanted to be there as you grew up…” she whispered.

  A tear trickled down Tonya’s cheek. A tiny breath edged past her lips. Thalia grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a ferocious hug. Tonya clung to her, burying her face against her mother’s shoulder.

  My mother…She couldn’t believe it.

  A nudge on her shoulder brought her head back up. Freyr leaned close.

  “We need to help the others,” he growled gently.

  Thalia looked past Tonya and gaped at the sight of August lying terrifyingly still on the blankets, and Diane and Dorian staring back.

  “Thalia,” Freyr said. “Steinn made the warding on me such that only you could break it.”

  She pushed to her knees. “How?”

  “You just have to touch me.”

  A smile curved her lips. “That’s easy enough.” She rested her hands on Freyr’s face and pressed a kiss against the top of his head.

  A shudder and groan ripped through his body. He collapsed to the ground, limbs spasming, then shrinking. His last growl turned more human, then a faery appeared on hands and knees, shaking and gasping.

  Tattered clothes of blue and black, edged in the same red stitching as Thalia’s, clung to a muscular frame. Tousled dark hair edged in white covered his head. Thalia rested her hands on his shoulders, then brought his head up.

  Tonya stared at her father. His features were similar to Steinn’s, but laugh lines creased around his eyes and mouth which seemed to stay quirked up at the co
rner. His grey eyes sparkled with laughter.

  His arms buckled and he winced as he caught himself on an elbow. Thalia pulled him back up.

  “What’s wrong?” She gripped his tunic as he leaned against her.

  He shivered, a breath blowing out in a frosty plume. Ice crackled about his fingers. He sucked in a deep breath and closed his fists. The ice vanished.

  “Freyr?” Thalia whispered in alarm.

  “My magic’s been cut off for the last seventy years.” His voice was still deep, though lacking the extra growl of the bear. “Stings a little to have it all come back at once.”

  “I know the feeling,” Tonya said.

  Her father grinned and her heart leaped at the twinkle in his eyes. She understood what had pulled her mother away from the ocean.

  “Come. I might need help.” He shakily made his way over to August. Tonya hurried beside him.

  Diane cast wide-eyed glances between Freyr and Thalia. Tonya offered a small smile of understanding. I think I’m still in shock myself.

  Diane had to undo August’s coat and tunic, loosening the bandages underneath at Freyr’s orders. Dorian propped August’s head up in his lap, slumping against the wall himself. Tonya swallowed hard. She hated how grateful she was that it wasn’t Dorian lying near-frozen on the ground.

  Freyr pressed fingers around the biggest wound. Deep blue spread around the edges and over August’s chest where it faded to the same frost as his face. Freyr closed his eyes, lips moving soundlessly for what felt like an eternity.

  “Look!” Diane whispered.

  The frost had begun to recede from August’s skin, back towards the gashes. The frigid blue lightened, fading back into the wounds. August took a deep breath, shoulders jerking a little. Dorian pressed a hand to his shoulder and another on his forehead to keep him still as he moved again.

  Freyr kept his hands in place. Threads of blue coiled about his hands. He opened his eyes and pulled his hands away. He rubbed them together and a ball of ice began to take shape. He stopped once it became as big as his fist. Then he smashed it down against the ground. It shattered, pieces skittering across the cave floor.

  Another deep breath came from August and then a normal pattern resumed. Blood oozed from the open wounds, a stark contrast against his pale skin.

  “Of course, they start bleeding again,” Diane muttered. She reached trembling hands to try to replace the bandages. Dorian tapped her wrist.

  “Let me.”

  “No,” Thalia’s firm voice interrupted. “You look drained of magic. I have a little healer training. I’ll take care of him.”

  Dorian didn’t even argue, just shifted away from August and nodding his permission. Tonya moved over to him as Thalia bent over August.

  Freyr touched Tonya’s shoulder. “Find the ice. The binding spell isn’t as strong in him.”

  Tonya’s cheeks warmed as she met Dorian’s eyes. She gingerly reached out to touch around the cut on his cheek.

  “I don’t really know what I’m doing,” she whispered apologetically. “My father should do this.”

  Dorian brushed the back of her hand with cold fingers.

  “Just find the right words.”

  It gave her the courage to close her eyes and send a tentative tendril of magic through him. He flinched as the ice in his blood jumped in response to her call. The binding rested in a small crystal slowly making its way towards his heart.

  No, you don’t, she whispered, pulling it back toward her as gently as she would brush a hand over the waves. She opened her eyes to see a lighter blue pooling in her palm.

  “Shape it like a snowball,” Freyr said.

  Tonya rubbed her hands together, pressing the ice together. It didn’t form as big a crystal as with August, but it still gave her savage satisfaction to hurl it against the wall and watch it shatter into a hundred pieces.

  She glanced back at Dorian, who still leaned against the wall.

  “You all right?” She brushed her thumb against his cheek, wincing a little at the dark bruising around his mouth and nose.

  “Better now.” His eyes crinkled with a smile. “Not as cold anymore.” He reached up and combed a bit of her hair where it still hung loose over her shoulders. “I like it.”

  Her cheeks heated again. The white and blonde streaks would take some getting used to.

  “Thank you.”

  “Y-you sure he’s all right, Tonya?” August’s cough held amusement. “He might need some mouth-to-mouth for full recovery.”

  Fire engulfed Tonya’s face. Dorian rolled his eyes.

  Diane smacked August’s shoulder. “Obviously you’re feeling better.”

  “Ow.” August stirred a little more, grabbing at the blankets. “I’m still c-cold.”

  “The ice had begun to freeze your heart,” Freyr said. “It will take some time for you to recover fully.”

  “We should build this fire back up,” Thalia said.

  August blinked owlishly at them, bits of confusion in his face. “I missed something.”

  Freyr’s booming chuckle brought smiles to all their faces. “Until a few minutes ago, I was a bear, so you did miss a bit.”

  August raised an eyebrow before turning his attention to Thalia. “You’re Tonya’s mother?”

  She nodded, turning an almost shy smile at Tonya.

  “You should be proud of her.”

  Tonya fought the burning in her eyes at August’s words.

  “I already am,” Freyr said.

  Then he raised a teasing eyebrow at her hand still resting on Dorian’s chest. She reflexively jerked it away. But, unlike Steinn, there was no judgement or anger there.

  Something like panic came over her.

  “Diane, do you want to help me get more firewood?” she blurted.

  Diane pushed to her feet, understanding in her eyes. She shouldered her staff and followed Tonya as she practically ran out of the cave. Tonya jolted at the sight of Steinn still standing frozen in place. She’d nearly forgotten about him in the last few minutes.

  Diane scowled again and kept one eye on him until they stepped into the forest just out of earshot of the cave. The darkness settled under the trees like a gentle blanket pricked with patterns where the moon- and star-light trickled through the branches.

  “You all right?” Diane rested a hand on her shoulder.

  “I don’t know.” Tonya started pacing, flapping her hands by her sides and taking shuddery breaths. “I’m just—my parents are alive—my magic works—I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

  “Since that all happened in the last hour or so, I think you’re entitled to panic a little. Your life just turned on its head.”

  Tonya pressed hands to her cheeks. “You think so?”

  Diane nodded, a smile curving her lips.

  Tonya shook her head, taking another shaky inhale. “Then I guess I’ll panic.” She huffed a bit of a laugh.

  Diane chuckled and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “It wouldn’t have happened without you.” Tonya’s heart steadied a beat. “Thank you.”

  Diane gathered a breath, and Tonya thought she’d shrug it off. But then she said, “You’re welcome,” in a shaky sort of voice.

  They clung to each other for a long moment, before Tonya sniffled again and flicked her hand across her nose.

  “We should probably get some firewood.”

  Diane squeezed her shoulders and then released, wiping at her own eyes. Tonya unfurled her wings to give some extra light as they gathered fallen branches and sticks in silence. Tonya straightened and adjusted the wood in her arms.

  An unfamiliar sensation rippled across her skin as a breeze wafted by to stir the branches. Her skin prickled and she shivered.

  “You all right?” Diane hurried to her side in concern.

  A smile crept across Tonya’s face. “I’m—cold?” She laughed. “I’m cold!”

  “Usually that’s not something to be excited
about.” Diane raised her eyebrow. “The novelty will wear off soon enough.”

  But she chuckled as Tonya headed back to the cave with a spring to her step.

  Now that the warding was gone, she could feel everything more. Tonya tipped her head back to the sky. Thank you.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Inside the cave, Dorian lay on a pallet next to August. His chest rose and fell evenly in sleep. Thalia stood at the entrance to the passageway.

  “There’s another room back there with more blankets and things,” she whispered. She wore a coat that was a size too big for her, and she’d tucked her hands up into the sleeves.

  Tonya and Diane stacked the wood as quietly as they could. Diane gingerly gathered the half-burned logs back together and set about trying to bring the fire to life again. She met with little success until August reached out a hand and set them ablaze with a wave.

  “You should be resting!” Diane scolded.

  “I am,” August mumbled back.

  Tonya rubbed a hand over her sleeve, shyly meeting her mother’s gaze. Thalia seemed just as unsure now. Her mother lifted a tentative hand and gestured to the cave wall furthest from the shattered ice.

  “Could we talk for a few minutes?”

  Tonya nodded, stepping her slow way over. “Where’s—Father?” She stumbled a bit over the words.

  “He went to go see to the animals. And make sure Steinn couldn’t get away.” Thalia twisted her fingers together, looking nervously at the cave mouth. “I almost didn’t want him to go.”

  Tonya nodded, a small fear taking hold that her father might not walk back through the entrance. They sat down on the ground. Thalia pulled a blanket over her lap, offering an edge to Tonya. She scooted closer and let her mother tuck it around her legs.

  “I never quite got used to how cold it can be here.” Thalia offered a smile.

  Tonya returned it. “How long were you here before—everything?”

  “Almost two years. If we’d not been attacked, we might have stayed here.”