Winter Cursed

by NIcki Chapelway

  “Is that me favorite sword?!” Alban cried, drawing her attention to Cedric.

  He looked down at his sword before smiling mischievously and holding it up. “I think you are mistaken- this is my favorite sword.” He turned and glanced out the window, the smile sliding from his face. “And it looks like I may be needing it… Florian, Gabriel, grab your own favorite swords. You are coming with me.”

  “And just where are you going?” Elisabeth demanded, past her clattering teeth as she stepping toward him.

  Cedric pointed toward the door. “Outside. To investigate the storm, if you must know.”

  “I’ll go with you,” she said, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders more tightly.

  Cedric reached out and grasped her hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. “Actually, about that...” He turned to Lucius. “The rest of you, keep Her Royal Highness in this passage until I return. Can’t have her trying to wander off again.” Cedric smirked and brought her hand to his lips. Elisabeth snatched it away before he could kiss it, glaring at him.

  “And if you don't return?” Lucius asked tentatively.

  “Then I guess you're in charge,” Cedric replied almost jovially as he stepped toward the door. He pulled it open and saluted them. “Good day, princess!” And with that he slipped off into the storm, followed by Gabriel and Florian.

  Chapter

  Nine

  A steady crackle from the fireplace filled the air of the otherwise quiet cottage. Elisabeth paced back and forth, her dress swishing softly against her legs with every frantic step. It had been nearly an hour and still no sign of Cedric or the other dwarfs. The wind howled loudly outside. “He's going to get himself killed!” she cried, stepping toward the door.

  As one, the dwarfs surged in front of her, blocking her path.

  “He's not going to get 'imself killed. The prince knows what he's about,” Lucius said patiently.

  Elisabeth sighed and stepped away. The dwarfs broke up and returned to their previous positions.

  “Why are ye even so concerned about the prince anyway?” Alban asked darkly as he knelt nearby sorting through his various daggers, making sure that they were easily accessible.

  “Aye, I thought ye didn't like him,” Aldrus added looking a little hurt. He turned to Kenrick and whispered, “Didn't she not like him?”

  “She didn't.” Kenrick frowned.

  “That's what it seemed to me too, but why… why I think she actually does like him, and more than that I think she has… affection for him,” Aldrus whispered loudly.

  “I don't,” Elisabeth said, but her voice lacked the conviction she needed to feel. “And I'm not concerned.”

  Alban raised his eyebrows as he watched her pace. “Oh, really now?”

  She crossed her arms. “Well, I'm not concerned for his welfare anyway. I would rather he not die before he can help me defeat my stepmother, that’s all.”

  “You are more powerful than ye give yourself credit, princess,” Lucius said, staring at her with his unsettling grey eyes.

  Elisabeth snorted derisively and rolled her eyes. “Well then, how do you suggest I defeat my stepmother?”

  “Learnin’ to control yer ice powers would be a start,” Lucius replied, pulling at his beard.

  “You know I can’t do that.” Elisabeth gestured around her as the house creaked in the howling wind. “I could make things worse.”

  “Things can’t get much worse,” Alban murmured.

  “And that is where ye fail to give yerself credit. Ye allow yer doubts to hold ye back.”

  Elisabeth turned away, staring at her clenched fists, unsure of how to respond. Before she could think of anything, the door burst open.

  She whirled to see Cedric step in, followed closely by Gabriel, who had Florian propped over his shoulder. They were all covered in blood, but Florian seemed to be the worst off.

  Cedric slammed the door shut and wiped at his face with the sleeve of his tunic. His sword which he held at his side was dripping dark liquid.

  “What the frost happened?” Elisabeth demanded, hurrying to their side. She knelt next to Florian. He was pale, disturbingly so.

  “I knew your stepmother had something planned,” Cedric spat, wiping blood from his lip. “Wights. They’re everywhere out there, hunting for you no doubt.” He nodded to Elisabeth. “I knew you were trouble.”

  “As did I,” Gabriel muttered as Fergus rushed forward with bandages.

  As he knelt Elisabeth stood and turned to Cedric, frowning. “Wights?”

  Cedric nodded. “That’s what I said. They shouldn’t be too far behind us.” Just as he finished speaking, the glass broke. Elisabeth screamed and jumped back as a horrific creature that had ashy blue skin and protruding icy blue veins covering its body began trying to drag itself through the window.

  “Well, now they’ve found us,” Gabriel said.

  “Oh no you don’t, you naughty little creature,” Cedric said in a condescending tone as he slammed the hilt of his sword into the wight’s face, knocking it back outside.

  “They’ll tear down the cottage to get inside,” Lucius said, glancing around as the cottage groaned, though whether from the wind or the creatures outside, Elisabeth had no idea.

  Cedric turned to Elisabeth, smiling, a ghastly sight with his split lip. “I guess you get your wish after all, Liz. We’re attacking Ismena today. Because we won't survive till morning if we don't strike now.”

  “The wights will tear us limb from limb, they will,” Gabriel muttered.

  “Fergus, help Gabriel with Florian,” Lucius said. He turned back to Cedric. “We’ll have to escape through the catacombs.”

  Cedric nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

  “Catacombs?” Elisabeth asked numbly.

  “Of course. Why do you think the dwarfs built their cottage here?” Cedric replied in a strained voice as he shoved the table aside. “I can assure you, it wasn’t for the scenery.” He knelt and turned an engraving of the tree of life that protruded from the floorboards and with a groan a circular area of the floor rolled away.

  “I didn’t realize that the catacombs extended this far,” she murmured, leaning over to peer into the dark expanse.

  “Well that was silly of you,” Cedric said, jumping down the hole.

  Elisabeth huffed a breath.

  “These catacombs were built in the time that the fae still walked the earth. They wouldn’t have shied away from the forest then,” Lucius explained.

  “Are you coming, Liz?” Cedric called. She glanced down to see him standing below the mouth of the passage his arms held out. “Or would you rather be torn to pieces?”

  Elisabeth glanced over her shoulder at the house that appeared to be being torn apart from the outside. She caught sight of a wight’s piercing blue gaze before she sat down and dropped into the dark passage. Cedric caught her around the waist and set her down. He hollered up. “I hope none of you expect me to catch you, too.”

  She heard the dwarfs muttering as they dropped down one by one behind them.

  “I see how it is,” Gabriel growled as he hit the ground hard, losing his footing. “We’re not pretty little lasses so ye just leave us to fend fer ourselves.”

  Cedric dipped his chin. “Precisely.”

  “We didn’t buy ourselves too much time,” Lucius said, dropping down and glancing up nervously as the passage door rolled back into place. “It won’t be long before the wights realize where we went.”

  “Then we should get going,” Cedric said, hurrying down the passage. Elisabeth hiked her skirt as she followed Cedric down the passage, the dwarfs trailing behind them.

  As she followed, Elisabeth heard a scuffling sound above her and glanced up as a spray of dirt fell in her face. She coughed and wiped at her eye, to dislodge the dirt. Suddenly a hand burst through the ground above her head. It groped the space near her ear, the fingers snagging on her hair.

  Elisabeth screamed and ducked her head, pulling he
r hair in the process. Cedric whirled and muttered a word that he probably learned growing up surrounded by a group of mercenary dwarfs as he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her head down further. He ducked as another hand burst through the ground.

  “Pays being short, it does,” Aldrus said with a small chuckle, but even he sounded nervous.

  “They found us faster than I thought they would,” Cedric said as more hands burst through the ground. “I suggest we run, because if they catch up with us that would be… well, I'm not going to lie- that would be most unfortunate.” He grabbed Elisabeth's arm and propelled her further into the catacombs.

  “Can't we kill them?” Elisabeth gasped as she glanced over her shoulder at the hands protruding from the ceiling. It appeared that they were trying to dig their way in. Frozen as the ground was, it wouldn’t hold up against them for long.

  “Not without difficulty,” Cedric replied, his voice strained. “I suppose we could dice them into little pieces, but other than that we won't stop them. Mortally wound one?” Cedric shrugged. “He'll walk it off. They are berserkers, ones who cannot be killed, at that, because they are already, in a word, undead.”

  “How do you know so much about wights anyway?” Elisabeth gasped as she struggled to not trip over the ancient uneven stones that made up the floor. Behind them, the dwarfs huffed and puffed trying to keep up with their long legs.

  “Did you think the wights just disappeared that night you were born?”

  Elisabeth spluttered, how was she supposed to know what happened to the wights? She had only just been born!

  Cedric shook his head. “Nay, your stepmother simply diverted their attention elsewhere. To Mooraven, actually. They lay into our defenses until we finally managed to tear them apart. But even after that, it took a whole army to do so, and we lost many men in the effort. Do you really think that Mooraven would have been so easily defeated if our forces had not already been weakened?”

  “Easily defeated! The war lasted seven years.”

  “It should have lasted a hundred, or more. My father hoarded power like a dwarf hoards gold.”

  “Ahh, gold,” one of the dwarfs sighed behind them, followed by a general murmured consensus from the other dwarfs.

  “But then how did you defeat them? Is there a way to stop them?” Elisabeth glanced back over her shoulder. The wights were no longer visible, but the passage was eerily chill.

  “Nay, only the person who created them has the power to halt their progress. Not even my father could stop them from attacking our lands, and they had once been his men.”

  “But could my magic...” Elisabeth swallowed her distaste at the word, but after what Lucius said, she was beginning to wonder if embracing her powers over ice might be the only way she would live to see the morrow. “Could that not do something to slow them down?”

  “I doubt it. These wights are different from the ones who attacked that night. I may have been only a child at the time, but I don't think I'll ever forget what they were like. And these wights… well they’re not the same. These creatures are cold to the touch and from the way they flourished in the blizzard, mayhap even caused it, I'd wager that your stepmother probably already imbued some of her ice magic in them. Using your magic on them might actually help them.”

  “What do you suggest we do then?” Elisabeth gasped, tripping over her skirt.

  Cedric, pulled her along, not bothering to pause for her to catch her footing. “I suggest running.”

  A crash echoed through the catacombs as the hallway filled with a cloud of dirt. Elisabeth coughed.

  “They're in the catacombs!” Lucius said between coughs as Florian signed frantically.

  “They'll be on us faster than we can run, and then it will be the end of us.” Gabriel glared at Elisabeth like she was responsible for that.

  Cedric shook his head. “There is a junction ahead. We can break into two groups. That way the wights will have to divide their numbers in order to hunt us all. Or perhaps- which would be lucky for some of us but quite unfortunate for the others- they will all decide to converge on one group.” Cedric slowed and glanced over the dwarfs. “Lucius, you take Florian, Gabriel, Fergus, and Aldrus down the tunnel on the left. The rest of us will go down the tunnel on the right. Don't stop unless you make it to the palace, or you're dead.”

  “Well that's motivational,” Aldrus mumbled.

  “I try my best,” Cedric said, shooting him an aggravating smile.

  Both the passages were partially collapsed, and so low that a grown person would have to crawl through. Fortunately the dwarfs did not have to crawl. Unfortunately Elisabeth and Cedric did.

  Elisabeth got down on her hands and knees while Alban stepped into the passage followed by Cedric.

  “Why did you group yourself with me?” she asked, crawling in behind him. Kenrick followed close behind.

  “Because you're the person they'd be most likely to converge upon,” Cedric called back. “Watch it, there's a sharp rock.”

  Elisabeth crawled around the shard of stone. “Then I would think that you would want to stay as far from me as possible.”

  Cedric sighed and glanced back at her. “Princess, when have I ever shown myself a coward?”

  “I've barely known you more than a day.”

  “And in that time, I've never proved to be a coward. Why can't you admit that?”

  Elisabeth glanced over her shoulder at Kenrick. The catacombs were deceptively silent, as if there was nothing hunting them whatsoever. “I'll admit it when you get me out of here alive.”

  “As you wish.”

  Suddenly the temperature dropped. Elisabeth glanced back over her shoulder to see several figures dragging themselves through the tunnel after them. She gasped. “The wights have caught up with us!”

  “Yes, they are exceptionally fast, did I mention that?” Cedric crawled faster and Alban broke into a run.

  “Could you perhaps move a bit more quickly?” Kenrick asked, his voice strained.

  Elisabeth struggled to crawl faster, but she could hear the clawing scrape of the wights gaining on them.

  Finally, the tunnel opened up again. Cedric stood and quickly pulled Elisabeth to her feet. Kenrick stumbled out behind her. They raced forward, but as they rounded a bend they came face to face with more wights.

  “Garmr’s teeth,” Cedric cursed. “They must have found another way around.”

  Alban and Kenrick echoed Cedric's sentiments.

  Elisabeth glanced over her shoulder to see the wights dragging themselves out of the tunnel behind them. “We can't go back the way we came.”

  “Then we'll make a way through.” Cedric drew his sword- or at least Alban’s old favorite sword- and sliced at the nearest wight. Alban and Kenrick also drew their swords, but even with them fighting the wights ahead, they were still surrounded.

  If she didn’t do something they would all die. Gabriel was right, things couldn’t get much worse than this. With shaking hands Elisabeth summoned the cold from the air to make a wall of ice between her and the wights coming up from behind. She had never tried to control her power to this scale before, but the wall formed easily.

  She let out of a sigh of relief, one that quickly morphed into a scream as a wight smashed its hand through the wall of ice.

  Cedric turned at the sound of her scream. As he did a wight lunged forward, its weapon burying itself in his shoulder. Elisabeth's hand flew to her mouth to stifle another scream as Cedric collapsed to his knees.

  Alban let out a cry that echoed through the passages and launched himself upon the wights with a renewed vigor.

  Elisabeth rushed to Cedric's side. “Are you all right?” she breathed, examining his wound. He was bleeding heavily, but it did not appear that the blade had pierced his lung or heart. Cedric managed a jerky nod, but his skin was paler than her own.

  “I'm so sorry.” She pressed her hand to his shoulder. Warm, sticky blood oozed against her fingers. “This is my fault.”
/>
  Cedric shook his head. “My fault,” he gasped. “I broke my own rule. I let my guard down.”

  “We need to get you out of here. Kenrick, help me!” Alban's assault was keeping the wights back for now, but there was no knowing how long he could keep it up.

  Kenrick hurried to her side and helped her lift Cedric. Together they dragged him down the passage away from the wights. After a few steps Cedric regained enough of his strength to walk with them.

  “Alban!” Elisabeth cried, looking over her shoulder.

  Alban turned and raced after them, but he stopped halfway to them and flung his sword into the ceiling. Huge chunks of stone collapsed to the ground, burying the wights and blocking the passage.

  “Excellent work, Alban!” Kenrick said.

  “It won't hold them for long. We must keep going,” Alban said grimly.

  Elisabeth shook her head and began trying to tear off a strip of fabric from her skirt to use as bandage. “We must tend to Cedric's wounds first.”

  Cedric stilled her hands. “No, we need to keep going. I'm fine, really. It's only a scratch.”

  The blood soaking through his tunic said otherwise.

  However, they really didn’t have any time to argue. Alban was right, the collapsed passage wouldn’t hold off the wights for long.

  Elisabeth wrapped her arms around Cedric's waist to help support him. “I'm sorry,” she said again.

  “It's no one's fault but my own.”

  Elisabeth struggled to walk at a faster pace, but even with Kenrick's help they were still traveling too slowly. She kept glancing over her shoulder, wondering if the wights had broken free of the cave-in yet, or if they had found another passage altogether.

  Finally they made it to a branch in the tunnel. Elisabeth drew to a halt. “Which way do we go?”

  Cedric pulled away from Elisabeth and Kenrick's hold and collapsed against the wall, gasping for breath. “Take the passage to the right. I'll veil it behind you and lead the wights down the other passage.”

  It took Elisabeth a long moment to understand what he was saying. She grabbed his arm. “What? No! We can’t leave you here.”

  Cedric waved her away. “I'm only slowing you down.”