Crimson Snow

by D A Rice

  “What good would that accomplish?”

  Eason peeked out from under his arm to find Brie’s gaze towards the window.

  Her words came in almost a whisper. “Even if I could do that to you, and I am not sure that I could, Snow would still have control over you. She would still find a way to come here, to take your heart.”

  “Then kill me,” Eason replied in his own whisper, and Brie’s gaze snapped down to his. “If she gets control of me like that, where I don’t know who I am anymore, Brie... kill me. I would much rather that, than be the reason for your suffering after all you’ve done for me.”

  Brie considered him for a moment. “I’ve already told you, Eason, that I will fight for you as long as you are fighting for yourself. If she is to gain control of your mind, you’d better have given everything you could. You’d better have fought to the last minute. Do not speak of giving up quite so soon.”

  Eason nodded, letting it go. She’d not answered his question, but she’d answered another. She cared about him. He could see it in everything she was trying to accomplish tonight. Not just in giving him hope, but in the way she refused to let him think that dying or being locked up was an answer. So much had changed since they’d first met. He sat up, a smile forming on his face as he glanced at her and she met his gaze, comfortably.

  The singing began again in that moment, creeping into the back of his mind. His hands came up to his ears as he shook his head, trying to stave it off, to force it out. Brie watched him intently, placing a hand on his knee. She couldn’t possibly hear what he was hearing, but she was there for him all the same. He took comfort in this, focusing on the presence in his mind. My love, came her voice, almost mocking him.

  Eason shivered as her voice cascaded across his mind, a gentle caress amidst the chaos. Almost, he wondered why he was fighting her, then Brie was there, pulling his hands down and cupping his cheeks with her palms. His eyes flickered open, focusing on her face, her voice. “Fight, Eason.”

  You cannot fight me. I have your heart, Snow giggled in his head. Then he saw her, a heart in her hands as she tilted her head in curiosity, watching it beat. She met his gaze over it and he shivered again, his eyes losing focus over Brie’s shoulder. She wasn’t in the room, not like she’d been the night before, but that didn’t make her existence and less present. Had Grimhilde strengthened the shield around the castle to keep her out? Had Brie told her mother what’d happened before she came to his room that night?

  Eason didn’t know. All he knew was that her presence in his mind was thicker than ever, and he was having a hard time fighting it. He could feel his body shaking as Brie moved, wrapping her arms around him.

  “Focus on me, Eason, not the voice in your head,” Brie said, her lips next to his ear.

  “I can’t. She’s too strong. How could she come back so strong from this morning?” he ground out, his head pounding with the fight taking place there. Snow laughed inside of his head. I am ever-changing. I told you, my love, I will come for you.

  Eason, another voice echoed across his mind and his eyes snapped opened with a start as recognition crept in. Brie watched him. “Eason, what is it?”

  “I think… I think it’s your mom,” Eason told her, voice quiet. Brie nodded as Grimhilde’s voice in his head continued. Yes, it is I. I have a psychic link to you now through our training session this morning. I had to develop it to be present in your mind. I am here now, but only you can push Snow out. Together, we can make a wall she cannot easily breech, at least for awhile. Perhaps enough time to find an answer.

  Eason met Brie’s gaze. “She says she can help me build a wall.”

  Brie pulled his hands into hers, interweaving their fingers. “Then do it. I will help where I can.” She pulled him further on to the bed, pivoting to face him. She sat cross legged and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Eason followed her example, his mind pounding with the pressure of everything going on inside it.

  Snow was growing aggravated. You cannot save him, Stepmother. He is mine! Her voice was shrieking in his head now.

  You forget who you are speaking to, came the queen’s voice in response and Eason jolted with the strength he felt flow into every part of him. Brie’s fingers squeezed his. Could she feel what he did? He took a deep breath as the pressure in his chest built, grinding his teeth against the pain. Brie’s forehead met his, a quiet support as her mother spoke again. Choose your mind, Eason. When you do, push her out with force. Let me worry about the wall, understand?

  Eason nodded, though he knew the queen couldn’t see him, and opened his eyes to find Brie watching him. “I choose Princess Brielle,” he said softly, and she blinked in surprise. Eason smiled before his eyes closed again, and he pushed. Snow exploded from his mind with a screech, her last warning clawed against his mind even as she spoke it: Do not think you are safe from me.

  Grimhilde’s power exploded out from Eason and he flew back on the bed. Brie ripped from his hands and flew the other way, landing with a grunt near the bookshelf, which shook with her force. Will cried out as he toppled off of it and Brie gasped, diving forward to catch him before he hit the stone floor. Eason was shaking on the bed as he felt something build up around him, a fortress he hadn’t had before. Be at peace, Eason Grimm, came the voice of the queen before she too was gone from his mind.

  Every muscle in Eason’s body relaxed as the shivers within him subsided. “Thank you,” he whispered to the queen as a shuffle near the door had him looking up. Brie, clutching Will to her heart, crawled back to the bed, leaning her back against it. Eason sat up before sliding down next to her on the floor. She looked as sore as he felt.

  “I will never get used to the aftereffects of magic,” she said with a grin as she glanced at him, her eyes speaking volumes. Eason nodded.

  “Is that why I hurt so bad?” he asked as she lay her head on his shoulder. She smiled, but before she could respond, there was a banging on her door, and then a click as Fallon forced the door open. He took them in with a quick glance, assessing the situation before him, his dark hair falling chaotically into his eyes, as if he had just awakened. His face held no clues as to what he thought, seeing them both on the floor like that.

  “Princess Brielle, you must come quickly,” Fallon said, his voice urgent as the morning sun began to filter through Eason’s room. Brie was up in an instant, eyes worried.

  “What is it, Fallon?”

  Fallon hesitated, his eyes changing as his contained panic filled the room. “It is your mother, princess. We cannot wake her.”

  Chapter 14

  Eason followed Brie as she rushed from the room, Fallon falling into step beside him. “What the hell happened last night?” the guard asked in a low, almost dangerous tone. He’d told Eason how he’d left to double-check the city wall and make sure they were ready if anything happened. “When I felt that magic surge, I knew something was amiss, so I rushed to the queen. She was… not well. We transferred her to her rooms until I could get to you and the princess… I would be very interested to hear your side of this, however.”

  The captain glared at Eason with the intensity of the moment, no doubt unnerved by what he’d felt in the night. “Are you going to tell me?” he snapped as they headed towards the main hall that led to the queen’s quarters.

  “Snow is what happened,” Brie said, with a snap of her own temper. Eason said nothing, he knew she had to be worried. Nobody thought the queen could be weakened, yet it seemed as if Snow had succeeded in just that. Brie glanced at the guard. “What is her appearance like?”

  Fallon’s look turned grave which had Eason looking back and forth between the two of them. “What? What do you mean, ‘what’s her appearance like?’” he asked in confusion, his thoughts cycling in a whirlwind of panic. Fallon probably kept forgetting that Eason was not of their world. It wasn’t as if Eason knew what was really going on, but he could tell it wasn’t good. The guard was clearly unnerved, and Brie had a knowing look in her face,
as if resigned to the fate of her mother. Eason knew that Fallon hadn’t liked him at first, but even as the guard glanced toward him now, he could feel a kinship between them that wasn’t there before.

  Even knowing this, however, did not help his emotions. Whatever had happened to the queen was his fault; Eason could feel it and he knew that Fallon could as well. Guilt etched his mind as Brie burst into the queen’s chambers, taking in her mother on the bed, old and frail. Her hair was a wispy white, as if one touch from them would make her bald. Eason gasped as Fallon held out an arm to bar him from entering. He could see the gentle look in his eyes as he watched Brie, the look of a brother’s love.

  “Give her space,” the guard said under his breath.

  “What happened to her?” was Eason’s soft reply as they watched Brie ease herself onto the bed next to the queen, gently taking her hand. He wasn’t mad at Fallon for keeping him outside, he knew better than Eason what was going on.

  “Whatever she did to help you last night, she used far too much magic. This is the consequence.” Fallon watched him out of the corner of his eye. Eason could feel the guard evaluating him, evaluating his risk factor, if Eason had to guess. He wondered what Fallon was thinking and he wondered if the captain was right to think it.

  “Alchemy.” Brie’s voice surprised them both and Fallon took a step forward.

  “Your highness?”

  When Brie met Fallon’s gaze, it was fierce and Eason could see the tears she held at bay as she spoke. “Don’t ‘your highness’ me, Fallon. You heard me perfectly well.” She glanced back down at her mother. “Alchemy can fix her. She told me of a mixture I could use if this should ever happen.”

  Fallon tensed. “And the ingredients for this mixture?”

  Her eyes met his again. “You know where they are.” She stood as she spoke, setting her mother’s hand on top of her abdomen.

  The guard’s hands clenched around the hilt of his sword as Eason caught on to what she was saying in the same moment he had. “In the enchanted Forest?! Are you kidding me?!” Eason began to pace in the entryway. “You can’t go back in there!”

  “I can and I will.” Brie walked back to them at a clipped pace, pausing as she made eye contact with each one of them in turn, before gently pushing them aside and marching into the hall.

  “I’ll go with you then,” Eason said, catching up to her after sharing a look with Fallon.

  Fallon laughed sardonically. “There’s no way. If you go with her, she will never make it back alive. I will go.” Eason’s eyes narrowed, but the guard held up a hand before he could retort, “I have more experience, Eason, and Snow is not after my heart.”

  “Neither of you are going. She may not be after your heart, Fallon, but she will take your mind if she gets the chance to. I cannot afford that risk.” Brie pulled open a door and Eason recognized an armory as they all stepped inside, the men following the princess. She pulled down knives, sticking them in her boots before pulling a belt with two swords on it around her hips. Her hands grazed a series of quivers before falling on a leather one, full of what Fallon explained to be spelled arrows. Lightweight, but lethal, the arrows could pierce through anything and come out the other side.

  Eason watched her for a moment before speaking. “It’s too dangerous for just one person! No matter how much of a warrior you are!”

  Brie patted the armor over her breast, meeting Eason’s desperate look with a lethal one of her own. “I will not be alone.”

  “The mirror doesn’t count!” He glanced at Fallon. “Does it?”

  “Hey!” called Will from inside her hidden pocket, voice indignant.

  “He’s right, Brielle.” Fallon’s hand fell over hers as she tightened the quiver over her chest. “What if you encounter the dwarves?”

  “I will go in with stealth. I am not looking for a fight, Fallon.” She brushed the guard off, turning before she added, “today.” Then she was disappearing in a mad sprint down the hall.

  Eason glanced at Fallon, but before the guard could react to what he’d likely seen in the other man’s eyes, Eason was sprinting after her.

  ~

  Eason caught up to her as she was swinging into her saddle. She shook her head the moment she saw him, but Eason grabbed the reins before she could kick her horse into a gallop and get away from him. “No, Brie, I’m not letting you go alone. So either you let me get on this horse or you kill me.” Eason could hear the scuffle of running feet sliding to a halt behind him and he guessed Fallon had caught up to them. His adrenaline must have made him faster than he thought.

  Brie rolled her eyes as the horse shifted impatiently. “Or, I could just knock you out.”

  “Yeah.” Eason’s grip on her reins tightened. “Yeah, you could do that, but you’d better make sure I’m out until you get back. Because as soon as I wake up, I’ll be coming after you, whether you like it or not.”

  Brie’s eyes shifted over his shoulder to the man behind him, and Eason found himself glancing back to a look of approval from Fallon, who shrugged. “I could lock him up, princess, but I cannot guarantee he’d stay there. He’d more than likely find a way to pick the locks by sheer force of will.”

  Brie sighed, her eyes searching the heavens in her exasperation. “Are they teaming up on me, Will?”

  “It would seem so, Princess. Better one idiot than two, I’d say.” Will’s voice sounded muffled and amused. “I have a feeling, even if you chose Fallon to assist, Eason would find a way to accompany you.”

  “Well-spoken,” Fallon agreed, a smile clear in his voice.

  Brie rolled her eyes down, before holding out her arm, “This is a bad idea….”

  Eason grabbed her arm with his, meeting her eyes. “Whatever your mom did, I don’t feel Snow. She must have… I donno… hidden me or something. I’ll be fine.”

  Her grip tightened on him as he let go of the reins with his other hand. “Can you guarantee this, Eason? If she gets ahold of you...”

  “She won’t. Stealth remember?” Eason’s lips twitched up. She tugged on him and he swung up on the horse behind her, securing his arms around her waist. When he glanced down at her, she was smiling.

  “You are one strange boy, to walk into a death trap.”

  Eason shrugged. “I’m walking into it with you. Neither of us should go alone.”

  Brie nodded, focusing on Fallon, who tensed up into a salute. “Fallon, I leave the palace grounds to you. Protect my mother with your life.”

  “Consider it done, Princess.”

  Chapter 15

  It’d taken them two days and a night to escape the forest. Eason wondered if it would take two days to get back as Brie took off at a gallop. He knew they’d have to rest the horse at some point, as well as get water for all of them, but instinct told him Brie wouldn’t stop for food. She’d more than likely just hand what she’d packed back, splitting it between them. Would they ride through the night? Eason wasn’t sure.

  He hadn’t left Cylentra empty-handed, either. He’d found a lightweight sword and buckled it around his waist before his mad dash to catch up to the princess. He still wasn’t confident he could use it, but he was prepared nonetheless. Eason only hoped that what he’d said about the queen hiding him from Snow was true.

  He’d been in Cylentra for almost a week: five days and four nights. He’d trained every morning and night he could, when Brie forced him to. He’d had less training with the queen. He hoped it was enough, for he was terrified to go back to the forest, even if he wouldn’t show that to Brie.

  “The ingredients we need will be at a lake on the east side of the forest. If all goes well, that should keep us well out of Snow’s path. She will sense us there. I hope you were not lying when you said my mother hid you.” Brie called to him over her shoulder.

  Eason cringed. “Me too!” He called back and she flinched underneath him. “All I know is that my head feels the clearest it’s been since before I got here. That has to mean something, right?�
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  Her silence didn’t boost his confidence, but he left it alone. “What happens if we see the dwarves?” he asked her instead. Eason knew they’d been her friends, and he didn’t want to fight them. Neither did she, by the turn her face took as she thought about their options.

  “If we come across them, and we must fight, we aim to take them out without killing them.”

  Eason nodded. “Easy enough. I’m not even sure I could kill them. You’ve seen my swordsmanship.” His tone was light as the joke hit and he saw her lips twitch up in the slightest of smiles. He knew how worried she was about what they would find, as well as about him being there in the first place. She’d wanted to protect him. In the end, that was what spurred her to bring him at the last moment. If he was there with her, he couldn’t get into trouble leaving the palace after her.

  Eason wasn’t sure why she wanted to protect him so much after everything he’d done. All he knew was after everything he’d learned about who he was, about what he could do, he’d do anything to protect her as well. There was a mutual understanding between them. He wasn’t sure when they’d gone from disliking each other to something close to friendship, but he’d take what he could get. Eason had always respected this warrior princess in his arms as they rode across the grasslands, but it was nice to see that she treated him the same way. He’d gone from a nuisance, in her eyes, to another citizen of her country.

  “We will keep to the edges of the forest as much as is possible. If my mother hid you as you think, we will find out soon enough.” Though her words were ominous, the princess’s voice sounded calm, focused. The horse’s hooves scuffed with every beat they pounded, and Eason found his grip around her tightening.

  A few hours later, Brie reined the horse in, recognizing its need to rest and drink. She pulled off to a nearby stream, her eyes focused on the horizon as she dropped the reins. She dug into her pack, pulling out dried fruits and handing them back to Eason, who took them with a grateful nod. He could see the beginnings of the brush from where he sat as it thickened around him. It didn’t look like the same spot they’d come out of a week ago, but Eason barely remembered that time. It’d been a rush to get out, to get free of her voice, so prominent in his mind. But now? He didn’t even hear a whisper.