Black Frost

by John Conroe

  Greer was sitting on a rock, his huge wolverine at his feet, watching us.

  After reloading and holstering the Sig, I swapped a new mag into the HK, checked to be sure a round was chambered and safed the weapon.

  “I only have one goal…get my daughter back. I’ll use anyone and anything to achieve that, so if you want to help, great. But I will kill you if you endanger her in anyway. Got it?”

  He nodded.

  “I’m younger than my sister and cousin, so I haven’t had as much contact with humans, just the two previous Gatherings I’ve been on. What I knew came from records of older Guardians and my teachers. They have always said that humans have a weakness for their children, one that the Fae do not share. I am beginning to believe that my people have grossly underestimated both your technology and this bond you have with your offspring.”

  He waved at the bodies on the ground, which were already melting and sparking. “Between you and your father, more of us have died than probably any other single Gathering. Any three Gatherings! ”

  “Listen, bub, I’m not even a soldier. My dad was federal law enforcement, but there’s a big difference between DEA and combat troops. Wait till the President orders special ops troops to deploy backpack nukes to your world or with a big enough gate, a division of armored tanks. And we’re just one country. This planet has over six billion people on it. Word gets out that aliens are stealing our kids and all hell will break loose.”

  His eyes widened at the numbers and the dark face paled noticeably.

  “Ian, I do not know what a ‘back-pack nuke’ is, but the Queens control living weapons that would sweep through your people in their entirety.”

  “Hmm, yes…biological weapons…plague and disease right?” I asked. “You’re right. I realize that your people use biology as we use technology. But I also know that no biologic agent is one hundred percent effective. Out of six billion some would survive and eventually rebuild. But let’s talk about nuclear weapons. You are familiar with the forces that hold things together? The binding of the smallest portions of matter – atoms we call them?”

  He looked blank for a moment then nodded suddenly. “Yes, of course.”

  “Our nuclear weapons split those forces apart and create a chain reaction that continues to split apart atoms releasing all the power at once.”

  He thought about that for a moment, then frowned.

  “That’s an abomination! It would render vast areas toxic to life!”

  “Yes it does. We used them to end our last global war, but we have enough of them to basically sterilize our world…or yours.”

  He now looked horrified.

  “I do not believe you.”

  I pulled my phone from my pants pocket, pulled up youtube and found a video of a nuclear explosion, then passed the phone to him.

  He watched the video, his face bleak.

  “In truth, I do not believe we had any idea how big your numbers had become or the change in your weapons.”

  “ A lot changed in the last one hundred or so years. Oh, I have no doubt that it would be a mutual slaughter, but we have the numbers, and if our kids are involved, absolute ruthless disregard for anything that threatens them,” I said, before continuing.

  “We’ve spent the last hundred years learning to kill each other in ever greater numbers. We’ve had two global wars and countless smaller ones. We spend more money on weapons than food, and as you are beginning to find out, we have a trip wire instinct to protect our children at all costs.”

  A pair of military helicopters flew across the horizon of the new day, moving from the west toward the center of town, the thumping beat of their rotors pounding the cold air around us. They were probably coming from Fort Drum in Watertown, but who knew for sure. I watched Greer watch them, new realizations dawning on his face.

  “Look, I need to get moving.”

  Greer nodded then led the way to the top of the mountain, stepping over the mostly disintegrated bodies in the path and a gray bundle of scrap fur that I recognized as the possum carcass that I had found just days ago.

  We came around the hilltop to face the cracked granite summit and I got a shock when I saw it. The mini-chasm was not visible, the opening of the crack filled with a quicksilver surface that covered the split from side to side, top to bottom.

  “The Pathways between worlds usually form surrounded by rock; very old, very stable rock.”

  I didn’t say anything, speechless at the sight of the mirror-like surface of the open topped cave.

  “If you climbed on top of the rock and looked down into the crevice it would look normal, except for a paper thin line at the front. The plane of quicksilver you see has no depth in this place, but has great depth between worlds,” Greer said.

  “What do we do?”

  “With a weaker portal we would need a source of power, either an object or a person of Talent. I can usually get through fairly weak gateways, but this one is so strong that we require none of that. We simply step through,” he said, then he looked at Coel and spoke in his own language. The great white wolverine was sniffing at the bluish remains of the elf he had killed, but looked up at Greer’s call. Then he shambled forward at that deceptively fast, almost awkward looking gait that was peculiar to wolverines. He sniffed at a cowering Charm, then simply ran through the portal and was gone.

  “I will go next. Once I’m through wait for a handful of seconds then step through. You may need to carry your dog.”

  I nodded my understanding, checked over my gear and was ready. He was watching me steadily and when he saw me look up, he swung around and stepped forward. Two strides of his long legs and he too was gone.

  Charm looked at me and whined, her tail low, her expression uncertain. I scooped her up, settled her in place and walked straight at the mirror-like wall. I closed my eyes at the last moment, the feeling of being about to run into a solid surface too strong to fight.

  Stepping off my left foot, squirming dog in arms, submachine gun banging on leg from its single-point sling, I felt a cobwebby sensation all over my face, hands and body. Then my stomach threatened to leap out of my throat as I was pulled upside down, sideways and backwards. It was a bit, a very little bit, like taking an a waterpark slide that spins your tube backwards, up and over bumps, faster and faster till you flip ass over ankles into a deep pool. A little like that. But it went on and on. I opened my eyes, but immediately slammed them shut almost sick to my stomach. Can’t quite describe the images I saw in that brief glimpse. A nauseating, swirling, blot of light and dark, moving in all directions at once. Then my right foot struck ground and I was standing (well, wobbling) under a reddish sun that was all wrong, on a plant covered hilltop in the middle of an endless plain.

  Greer caught my elbow, keeping my wobble from becoming a complete collapse. I took a step, but my foot collided with something soft. A woozy look down revealed an unconscious Guardian, his hands bound with plastic cable ties like an electrician would use. I looked at Greer, who was tucking the plastic bag with the remaining cable ties into his shirt pocket. He shrugged.

  “I found them in one of your barns….pretty brilliant really,” he said. He seemed to be spinning in place but when I blinked a few times he slowed down.

  “There is a considerable amount of disorientation at first,” he said, noting my condition.

  “Ya think?” I muttered, letting Charm down. The little dog promptly heaved up what little was in her stomach, then lay down and looked at me with accusing eyes.

  “Yeah, I know how you feel!” I said, giving her a squirt of water from the Camelback in my vest.

  “Believe it or not, it helps to eat a small amount after transitioning the portals,” Greer said, handing me a piece of dried meat from his belt pouch. He tossed a couple of pieces to Charm, a handful to Coel and chewed one himself. Not sure what kind of meat it was I gamely popped it in my mouth and bit down. Not bad. A bit like beef but more gamey. I swallowed and took a sip of water. �
��What is it?”

  “Goblin,” he said, matter-of-factly.

  My gorge rose all over again, but I clamped down and after a moment my stomach settled.

  “More?” he asked.

  I quickly held up both hands. “I’m good, thanks”

  “Never thank one of my people,” he replied immediately. “It implies a debt, to be collected at random.”

  “Okay, , I forgot,” I answered.

  He moved away from the Portal which was much more defined on this planet, but still on a hilltop. The opening was a more uniform arch, intricate carvings worked into the black stone.

  Turning back, Greer waved for me to follow, so I heaved myself upright and staggered after him. The path he was on moved down slightly and to the left, taking us out onto a rock ledge that opened up the view considerably. A vast plain spread out before us, and revealed that ours wasn’t the only hill in sight. There were at least fifteen small hills arraigned in a roughly semicircle, each with a basalt black mound of rock on top. Our hill was almost at the end of the arc. One lone one was off to our right, the last one on the semicircle. The arc faced the rising red sun in what would be east back home. Looking across to the other end of the line of gates I saw a heavy forest that met the plain and ran to each horizon. A glance behind us in the opposite direction showed a another similar line of vegetation, but this one more tropical than the other.

  Greer caught my eye and pointed down into the center of the semicircle to something I couldn’t see. I moved up to the edge of the ledge, the scene below suddenly coming into view.

  Arrayed below us was a huge gathering of Fae, looking at first like a jumbled mess of elves, goblins and strange looking steeds. A moment more revealed a certain order to the crowd. The group of elves closest to the forest side were all in black, white goblins mixing in and around them, small dark, flying objects hovering over the white tent- like structures at the center of them. Across from them was another gang of elves and goblins that wore green, with mottled brown and green tents that looked almost like military camouflage. A third group milled about on bizarre horse-like creatures, their backs to our position. At first appearing to be a jumbled riot of red and black, it became apparent that what looked like confusion was just constant motion; side-stepping steeds, milling hounds and goblins, all under the supervision of elves, both mounted and on foot. A closer look at the horses showed more reptilian features than mammal. Instead of hooves, each foot ended in a three clawed lizard paw; the head long and predatory; heavy jaws filled with sharp teeth. The ears were oddly horse-like and a mane of fur ran down the muscular, scaled neck.

  The two Courts were faced off against each other as well as the Hunt, all three warily watching the others. Each of the other hilltops was occupied by at least two Guardians, all of whom had their attention focused on the tense meeting below.

  The Hunt had obviously just come down from our hill, several stragglers still moving down the trail, the rest facing away from us.

  Three of the lizard horses moved together at the center of the Hunt horde. I looked through my Father’s monocular to get a better look. This biggest beast was ridden by an elf that looked almost like an ordinary human, if you discounted the antlers erupting from his head. The hunter in me automatically counted the points on his tines; thirteen. He was facing our position, conversing with two other elves. Antler boy was the obvious leader of the Hunt, the other two his seconds. Then I noticed a small hand grasping his side and I focused on the saddle behind him. His body blocked my sight until the big black beast under him cantered sideways, exposing a black haired girl in sweats – Ashley.

  I recognized her expression, which was part anger and part fear. I had seen it on her face and many more times on her mother’s. I had long ago labeled it ‘resigned determination’. Sarah had worn it when things were out of her control yet she was focused on bringing them back on track. Ashley had, in her short life, brought it to a whole other level, the result of the Moore stubbornness coming through mixed with her mother’s tenacity.

  Her face was streaked with tears, dirty with a mud streak on one cheek, but she looked whole and unharmed. The cold lump in my gut melted at the sight of her, but refroze harder when I concentrated on the leader’s back.

  “His name is Gwyd, he is the current Hunt Leader and he is what you would call a ‘prick’, I believe,” Greer said.

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  “The Hunt was sent after your daughter, commissioned by both Queens. It allowed the Princesses to meet with you without breaking their word. They were not the ones to go after Ashley, so technically they didn’t cause you or yours any harm.”

  I didn’t answer, too angry to speak. After a moment, he continued. “The other children Gathered around the world are being held in that large tent further out,” he said, pointing at a large earth colored pavilion set up a tenth of a mile away. I hadn’t paid it much attention before, but now I could see that it was ringed with elves, positioned in pairs, one Hunter and one Guardian in each set.

  “It looks as if the Hunt is attempting to renegotiate the deal they had with the Queens….bold, not necessarily smart, but very bold.”

  I studied the layout of the terrain between me and Ashley, the position of the red and black Hunt and the two opposing Courts. The trail down to their position started to my right, crossing under our ledge and then making a series of switchbacks till it straightened out and led to the flat area where the monsters of the Hunt milled about. Arrayed over about a football field-sized area, there were something like a hundred to a hundred-twenty elves, goblins and hounds, mixed in with ten or so lizard-horses. Because our hill was so far out at the end of the arc, the Hunt had, by necessity, traveled closer to the Summer Court then they appeared to like, the thick bunching of guards on both sides indicating a lack of trust by each party.

  “They are just about at the beginning of negotiations. Each Queen will attempt to out bargain the other.

  When that fails, as it most likely will, there will be a fight. Our best opportunity to get Ashley back will be around that point in time. Do you have any more of those objects that you threw at the Guardians and Hunt on your side?”

  “I have two more of the flash bangs and a couple of other, even better surprises, as well. How big a fight will it be?” I asked, looking out at the large encampments of both Courts.

  “Well, since each Queen is backed by her army, both of which are camped out of sight, it has the potential to be huge. But what will likely happen is that there will be a Queens Challenge, a fight between champions. Mother has several but I suspect that she will call on Neeve to fight for her,” he answered. “This will be our only real chance to get Ashley back. The Hunt will hold her, waiting for the outcome of the challenge, then whichever Queen is victor (most likely Winter) will lay claim to your daughter. Once surrounded by her army, it will be virtually impossible to get near her, even for me.”

  “Then let’s get it done now!” I answered, staring down at the Hunt Leader and the small girl riding behind him.

  Chapter 21

  We planned out our assault, as much as we could, then began to sneak closer to the meeting point. Greer told me that our chances weren’t great, probably less than forty percent, but that this was our only shot. Whichever Queen ‘won’ Ashley, would quickly transport her to their most secure location and begin a time tested brainwashing technique to inculcate complete loyalty to that Queen. He seemed pretty certain his sister would win whatever contest she fought, telling me that Queen Morrigan rarely used her daughter for challenges, but that Neeve had never lost.

  Our plan, such as it was, was extremely simple, a fact that may have lent some small measure of potential success to its odds. We would circle around behind the Hunt, lining up on the straightest path to Ashley, then Greer would move a bit closer to the Winter Court’s position, letting himself be noticed in the process. When the fight started, he would create a side diversion, then I was to throw my flas
hbangs and stir things up even more. At that point, I would drive directly to Ashley, killing everything in my path, while Greer did the same from his angle. Once we had Ashley, we would beat feet back to the gate and jump through. Like I said, not much of a plan, yet Greer felt that each Court would think the other was starting something and the Hunt would suspect both Courts of foul play. He handed me several elven throwing darts he had picked up and explained how they might help our plan.

  At the base of the hill the terrain was choppy; natural erosion had cut channels deep enough to provide concealment. This environment was mostly dry, but from the look of things it got pounded occasionally by torrential rains, like the Sonora Desert back home. The runoff channels fed together eventually forming an arroyo type of river bed that headed toward the rising red sun. The flat section where the elven courts were gathered was higher than the drainage basin we were in, which gave me hope that we could actually sneak around behind the preternaturally alert elves and their minions. Coel led the way, with Greer next, then Charm and myself. We followed the basin for quite some distance before climbing out of it and creeping through the scrubby vegetation that covered the ground. Pausing to observe the elves, I noticed movement at the Winter tent. Pulling Dad’s monocular I watched carefully, Greer moving up next to me to see as well. Two armored elves stood to either side, long glittery halberds held before them, while a female elf in white pulled back the curtained door simultaneously falling into a deep bow. The opening was almost immediately filled by an enormous, black form. The creature was easily eight feet tall, shaggy and immensely muscled, and very familiar looking.