The Maid of Chateau Winslow

by Pippa J Frost

“Most of it.” I strode past him to saddle my horse.

  “Fire-breathing dragons?”

  “As real as I stand before you now.” I grinned. “I’ve met a Barbegazi. Helped me out of a bind once. Quite a friendly creature.”

  His eye widened. “It isn’t so!”

  “You better believe it. There are plenty of adventures to keep a man away for a lifetime.”

  He thrust his hands in the air in exasperation, the yearning for adventure born in every man alive in his face. “Then why return?”

  “Grew weary of life on the road, sleeping under bridges and sharing lairs with whatever creatures lived within while sheltering from the rain.”

  I saddled my horse and led it from the stables as Flicker rode in on his steed. The animal’s head reached only to my horse’s chest.

  The livery master’s countenance darkened. “We don’t offer service to dwarves.”

  “He is with me,” I said.

  “You’re hanging out with the likes of them now, are ya?” He turned his stony expression on me.

  “Flicker and I’ve known each other for years. He’s a friend of mine.”

  “Well, you better get him out of my yard. You know how I feel about the bastards.”

  I pulled myself up on my mount. “You can’t blame every dwarf for the scoundrel who stole your eye.” I inclined my head, wished him a good day, and urged my horse over to where Flicker waited.

  “What’s his problem?” He nudged his chin at the livery master.

  “One of yours left him without an eye.”

  “Then he must have earned it,” he said under his breath, keeping a straight face to avoid upsetting the man further.

  “Any word or sighting of Orell?” I asked Flicker as we left the village behind.

  “Nah, and I can’t say I’m disappointed. Valentina had good reasons to abandon the place. I ran into a man claiming to work at the Winslow estate, and he said she was faring well.”

  “That’s good to hear. I’m waiting for the day Orell will show his face and cast her life into an uproar.” Indignation centered in my gut. As boys, Orell and I had hunted together. Reflecting on those years, I recognized the evil filling him. I bore a scar from the day he’d come undone over my choice to let go a mother doe.

  “He won’t hear of her whereabouts from me.” The muscles in Flicker’s face grew taut. “She should have left years ago.”

  “And go where?” I looked at him as our mounts plodded along.

  “Anywhere is better than being within his grasp. Maybe now she will have a life where she doesn’t have to fight for every meal. She worked herself almost to death, trying to keep the homestead running, even when there was no hope. I tried to help her, but she refused most offers.”

  “She told me of the ruby,” I said.

  “Did she now?”

  “It’s an honorable thing you tried to do for her.”

  “She didn’t see it that way. You’d have thought I’d emptied the mines, the way she reacted. I have little coin of my own with my mutter and siblings to care for, but Valentina is like family,” he said.

  The next hours passed with light conversation. As we reached the outskirts of the next village, we came across the gruesome blood trail spattering the snow.

  “Whoa,” we said in unison and reined our mounts to a halt. We cast a look at each other, and the jitters that had chased me all morning manifested on Flicker’s face.

  “What do you figure it was?” he asked.

  “I don’t rightfully know.”

  Flicker stood up in his stirrups and pointed at something on the ground about ten yards away. “Look there.”

  I nudged my horse forward to investigate, and upon reaching it, my stomach lurched. A human hand, shredded at the wrist, lay in the snow.

  “Well, what is it?” Flicker pulled up beside me. Seeing the hand, he gagged.

  I lifted a hand to shield myself from the stench that threatened to spew the contents of my own stomach. Tension pulled at every part of me as I scanned the banks and forest skirting the road.

  “It’s the work of the Seelenfresser,” Flicker said.

  I swung back to him. “What makes you say that?”

  “The tribes talk of a creature that feasts on the innocent and vulnerable. Our ancestors foretold that the beast comes into his true form when the devil awakens within him.”

  “Have your people spotted the creature?” I’d seen my share of monsters in my years abroad, but our canton had remained safe. Although rumors of the creature that lived in the face of the mountain surfaced from time to time, no actual proof to back up the tales existed.

  “No, but this isn’t the first of its victims.” He enlightened me on happenings in the dwarf kingdoms as we followed the blood trail into the forest.

  “But how does the beast get beyond the kingdoms’ barriers?”

  “Magic, we assume,” he said. “The beast’s evolution is of grave concern, and our tribesmen will not rest until it is destroyed.”

  The trail dried up where tree branches hung snapped, and the snow was trodden down as though an oversized animal had thrashed about trying to make a bed.

  “Let’s leave these woods. We need to report this to the village, finish our business, and hit it for home,” I said.

  “I am with you. I don’t seek to be on the roads after dusk.” The gravity of our discovery was etched on his brow.

  We pushed our mounts at a gallop toward the village and informed the authorities of what we’d found on the road before tracking down my vater’s associate to tie up our business.

  Kingdom of Schattenberg—Mining Kingdom

  Sixtus and King Jörg had traveled hours into the dank bowels of the Kingdom of Schattenberg to speak with King Gian. Now they stood before him, at the bottom of the stone steps to his throne. Posted on either side of him were his loyal subjects, creatures with the faces of gargoyles, their humanoid bodies covered in black feathers, like oversize hybridizations of ravens. They observed the prince and his vater with slitted citrine eyes, their snake-like tongues flicking out. One gurgled, then hissed.

  Shadows stretched across the cave floor, cast by creatures that soared overhead in the infinite cavern canopy, awaiting the signal of their king. The air was heavy with the pungent scent of iron and brimstone from the flames that burst forth with their rasping cries.

  “What have you done?” King Jörg’s voice reverberated off the red-stone walls glittering with gems of various colors and sizes.

  King Gian’s long nails clicked repetitively on the skulls of his enemies, fashioned into end caps on the sleek arms of his copper throne. “It is as I stated, cousin: the power belongs to me.” His tone remained calm, but his gnarled face twisted with hatred for King Jörg.

  King Jörg’s mouth gaped before he snapped it shut. “For how long? I knew you were capable of such corruption with your hatred of humans, but do you feel no allegiance with your kinsmen?”

  “To rise, it must devour souls, and the blood of the innocent has been proven to accelerate its mutation.” His insinuation was unmistakable.

  Bile rose in Sixtus’s throat as he recalled the aftereffects of the Seelenfresser when he and Crispian had investigated a tip. “Our informant notified me of the creature’s trip to the human village.”

  “It is young and not yet tamed. The man was an obstacle. Consider him target practice. You needn’t worry, I’ll see it’s trained appropriately.”

  “You will cause the destruction of us all.” King Jörg’s hands clenched at his sides. “Greed and the need for dominance have fueled your actions for too long.”

  “We must defeat the monster before there are no dwarves or humans left,” Sixtus said.

  King Gian cocked his head at the sound of Sixtus’s voice. “Don’t tell me you feel pity for the humans.”

  Sixtus grimaced. “I hold no love for humans, but it isn’t only humans that are in jeopardy.”

  A sinister smirk rippled across King Gi
an’s face. “Dwarf magic stands no chance against what is coming.”

  Sixtus’s hand moved to his sword, but his vater stopped him. “Speak what you know,” King Jörg said.

  King Gian’s laughter thundered. “Has your mind dulled with age? Why would a commander reveal his strategies to the enemy?”

  “We are enemies now, are we?” Spittle sprayed with the force of King Jörg’s words. “It is no secret, the animosity we feel for each other, but we are kinsmen. It is our duty to our tribesmen to put their interests and that of our kingdoms above our rivalry.”

  “Do you think I’m still bitter that the people of Himmelart chose you to be their king, and I was elected to rule Schattenberg? Then you’re more of a gull than I thought. This place has grown on me.” He raised his hands. “You’ve underestimated me, cousin. While you sang to your flowers and grew fat, I’ve spent years researching and searching for the Totholz forest.”

  Sixtus inhaled sharply as cold panic washed over him.

  “No! Tell me it isn’t so.” King Jörg careened forward, grabbing the hem of King Gian’s robe.

  The wardens struck their staves on the ground and let out an ear-ringing protest. King Jörg was thrown back with so much force he hit the ground and grunted in pain.

  “Vater!” Sixtus bolted to his vater’s side and cradled an arm around his shoulders, never letting his eyes leave King Gian. Befuddlement enveloped him as the curtain over his eyes parted, then he saw King Gian as his vater did.

  King Gian rose from his throne, descended the steps, and hovered over them. His crystalline eyes blazed. “You see, my wretched cousin, I do not seek to possess benevolent dwarf magic. No, such magic is inadequate. When the Seelenfresser comes into his own, I will meld his power with the vial of our ancestors’ blood—”

  “And raise the Vormacht and become immortal,” King Jörg finished for him as Sixtus helped him to his feet.

  “Yes.” Exhilaration shone in King Gian’s face. “We are warriors, and our hearts and swords thirst for blood. The battlefield is where we belong.”

  “You seek to unleash a war?” Sixtus felt sickened that he’d ever defended the king against his vater.

  “If you won’t join me, you’re my enemy. I will not rule this kingdom while the gods and men like you nestle amongst the clouds.” Venom dripped from his words.

  “No,” King Jörg declared, with more vigor than the prince had witnessed in decades. “We fight for what is right. For all folks. We fight to protect our universe from the deformity and covetousness of men like you. If we are to survive, we need to preserve what was bequeathed to us to protect. Our lands grow barren, famine sweeps our canton, and species are vanishing. Now you wish to massacre dwarves and humans alike. What is this world to us if it has no life forms left?”

  “I will create an army more powerful than all the ones recorded in the scrolls of our ancestors.” He held out his hand and a dark, globular mass whirled and stretched with the movement of his fingers. The ball revealed iron-clad monsters marching along mountain paths, and the biggest amongst them turned and peered at the human village below. The vision changed; now the prince saw a nation engulfed in flames, prowled by aliens of demonic creation.

  King Gian clasped his fingers closed, and the globe disappeared, taking with it the vision. “You will remove yourselves from my sight and go back to the comforts of your sector.”

  His guards escorted Sixtus and his vater to the mouth of the cave. They struck the floor with their staves, and the barrier wall rose. The creatures shoved them forward. Sixtus swung around as the barrier closed, sealing off the entrance of the mines with an illusion of a snow-covered cliff.

  “Your Majesties, I’d begun to worry about you,” Crispian said. He and the king’s men had stationed themselves near the entrance to await their return.

  “Ready my men and bring my mount,” Jörg ordered. Weariness hunched the king’s shoulders. “We ride back to Himmelart without delay.”

  “Right away, Your Highness.” Crispian thumped his armor with a fist and went to do the king’s bidding.

  Sixtus stared after him. He turned when his vater placed a hand on his arm. “If he succeeds in melding the Seelenfresser with the Vormact, we stand but one hope.”

  “What is that?” Sixtus said.

  “The Reinheit.”

  “Valentina?” The prince’s pulse pounded in his ears.

  “She does not know the power that sleeps within her. You see, my son, your assignment is not an easy one. The existence of all folks depends on her safety until her time comes, when she must make the greatest sacrifice of all.”

  Nisse

  The Teufel on the Rampage, the newspaper headline announced in glaring black print, and beneath it the illustrator had sketched a hideous-looking monster. Dread settled in my soul, and my body stiffened. I laid the paper down and peered around the empty shop. Months had passed since the morning Vater had set out to visit his friend who lived outside the village limits. Later that day a wagon tore through the streets, taking down anything or anyone in its path. Hearing the pandemonium outside, I’d stepped out onto the front stoop of the shop as Herr Schneider reined his team to a halt.

  “Nisse.” His eyes had been bright and feverish with fright as he’d jumped down from the driver’s seat.

  “Herr Schneider, what’s happened?” Fear clutched my chest.

  “It’s your vater. I found him on the road.” He seized my arm to stop me as I rushed to the back of the wagon. Disregarding his warning, I threw back the tarp and gasped at the sight of my vater’s mangled body. A sight that still woke me night after night, leaving me trembling and drenched in cold sweat. Vater had asked me to go with him that day. If only I’d gone, maybe together we could have fought the creature off.

  I folded the newspaper and shoved it in a drawer under the register. The shop had remained closed since Vater’s passing, and a layer of dust had settled over the counter and glass display case. Moonlight crept through the wooden slats of the closed shutters covering the storefront windows.

  A decree had gone out, banning people from roaming the streets at night or venturing beyond the village limits. Our once somnolent village turned into a ghost village as fearful townsfolk took to their homes, barring their doors and windows. The priest offered a prayer for the farmers, who refused to abandon their homes and seek shelter in the village. I searched for Valentina’s face amongst the folks pouring in daily, but to no avail. No word had reached her of my vater’s passing, or she would have come. As the days blended together, thoughts of Valentina and the Winslow household being slaughtered left me in a state of turmoil. Patrols blocked every road from the village; I tried to slip out daily, only to be apprehended every time. Nevertheless, I’d come up with a new strategy, and no matter the risk of traveling alone and at night I would use the cloak of twilight and the changing of the guard to step into whatever awaited me beyond.

  When I found Valentina I’d take her far away, with or without her consent. Once she was safe, I’d return to search for the cave in the face of the mountain and slay the monster who’d killed my vater. Flicker had spoken of the Seelenfresser, and after seeing the condition of Vater’s body, I wondered if such a beast had finally come to Schläfrigz. Past the barriers of our canton, all the mythical creatures in the fairy tales mutters and vaters read to children were very much alive.

  I strapped the leather scabbard at my waist, and my sword took its rightful place at my side. I moved to retrieve my cloak from the peg by the back door of the shop and froze as Vater’s scent wafted from his wool coat hanging next to mine. A sob clogged in my throat as I lifted the jacket from the peg and pressed it to my chest. The scent of his pipe captured my breath. Vater’s smell lingered in every crevice of the apartment and shop, haunting me. Each time I’d inhaled it, a pang of guilt hit me. He hadn’t deserved to die in such a horrific way. I punished myself for the years I’d spent fighting against the beasts overtaking foreign lands. “A young man
needs to get the adventure out of his system,” he’d said.

  “I’m sorry. So very sorry,” I muttered into the solace of his coat. Life had stolen the most incredible man I’d ever known. A man who’d shooed imaginary fiends from under my bed when I was a boy. Before I’d grown old enough to wield my sword to rid the world of trolls, ogres, and similar vermin.

  I replaced his coat on the peg and wrapped my cloak around my shoulders. Lifting the hood over my head, I took one last look around before exiting through the back door and hurrying to the livery. I saddled my horse while keeping an eye open for anyone seeking to report me.

  I kept to the shadows of buildings, weaving through alleys and streets until I came to the edge of the village. A bonfire shot high into the night sky and sprayed light for several feet into the darkness beyond. At their stations, guards conversed amongst themselves while keeping their eyes alert and weapons handy. I retreated into the shadows to wait. Minutes felt like hours until the church bell struck the twelfth hour, signaling the change of the guard. The wives of villagers came into sight, carrying covered baskets filled with food for the guards. I had but minutes to escape into the darkness beyond before those with fresh eyes would relieve the sentries, and another day would defeat me.

  I shrouded my face with the hood of my cape. My heart pounded fiercely against my ribcage as I led my mount into the narrow space that was the guards’ blind spot, and my only chance of slipping by unnoticed.

  “You there,” a man called out.

  A chill ran through me, and I quickened my pace.

  “Stop that man.”

  I grabbed the mane of my mount, swung myself up, and kicked my heels into his flanks. Hands yanked at my cloak, trying to seize me, but my thighs gripped the horse, and I held on as he charged through the barricade at the entrance of the village and into the unknown.

  The black night blanketed me and swallowed the lights of Schläfrigz. Though I was sure no one was fool enough to come after me, I waited until I was a safe distance away before I reined my horse to a stop and dismounted. Using the full moon as my guide, I searched the roadside for a branch to use as a torch. After unearthing one that would suit, I removed a tinderbox containing fire steel, flint, and char cloth from my saddlebag.