In The Depths Of Winter

by Bradley Mitzelfelt

  The door closed shut behind him.

  At first he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to find a way down. The snow was almost half way to his knee and he couldn’t see anything beneath it. The result was that he had to shuffle his feet in order to move as he approached the slope downward, which he felt when his toes met no resistance. He wished for a warmer pair of stockings, because he knew his toes were going to be frozen soon enough.

  It was a slow climb down in the snow. Though it had been day when he walked out of the Hall, it was night by the time he was certain he’d reached the valley between the mountains. He couldn’t see anything in front of him so he stopped and huddled up beside a boulder that was blocking most of the wind out of the north. He didn’t dare light a fire, though he could surely have used the heat it would provide to him. He had to resort to keeping himself awake in order to ensure that he didn’t freeze to death while he slept. Though he soon found he wished he had slept.

  It was a long night, and by the time the sun began to rise, the snow had stopped and the clouds were breaking apart. His teeth chattered and he looked around, trying to get his bearings as best he could. There still wasn’t any sign of goblins stirring, so he rose and shook the snow free before beginning the trudge through the heaviness towards to the west.

  He soon found evidence that the goblins had been around. Their dead littered the snow; hands grasping up at nothingness, frozen eyes betraying fear. The cold had caught them when they hadn’t been prepared to be out in it. He had no doubt this was the work of his uncle. Not the weather itself, perhaps, but the drive to attack the dwarves at a critical time in the weather cycle had surely come from him.

  It was as he looked away from the dead, focusing ahead once more, that he first noticed the change in the sky. The clouds had previously hidden it from him, but now he could see that what was once blue was now green. A vile, evil green.

  “What could have caused this?” he asked as he stood in the snow, a large black cloaked figure in a field of white. If he had been more worried he would have thought twice about standing still. “Surely this is an omen of things to come. Perhaps the elves will have answers for this as well.”

  He picked up the pace again, trudging along as fast as his feet could carry him through snow. The cloak billowed behind him with each light gust of snow coated wind. It wasn’t so windy as to blow the snow into tempests and berms, but it was windy enough to sting the face with frigid bites of frost covered air. He shivered as he walked, wishing for the warmth that was sure to still be present in the southern lands. No crops would grow there now, and it would be cold, but not nearly as cold as what he felt in the mountains.

  Most of his walk was monotonous. It gave him time to let his mind wander to what his father was doing. The father that had raised him, not the one who’d died shortly after his birth. He still didn’t think he would ever be able to think of anyone other than the King as his father. Not even his mother called to him as he did. He hoped beyond hope that his father was still alive, and that all was not lost against the Devan, but he could not bear the thought of more loss and so quickly banished that line of thinking from his mind.

  He tilted his head and looked up at the sky again.

  “If only the past had been different. The future might not seem so dire, then.”

  Chapter Nine

  It was early when she woke. She sat up in bed and looked around the room, expecting to see that Daedre was already awake and watching the door or something of that nature. Instead, all she saw was that everything seemed to be in place, and her sister was sound asleep on the other bed.

  She rubbed her eyes and then slid to the side of the bed, feet dangling over the edge. Yesterday had been a long day of making salves and poultices for the people of Nautil, and she was still tired. The sun wasn’t yet near rising. Darkness still prevailed outside of their room. She stared out of the window, watching the light from the lamps that dotted the street flicker across the faces of buildings across from the Inn.

  A small sigh passed between her lips. Why am I even awake? she thought to herself. Feet inched down towards the floor, and she immediately withdrew them when they touched. A sharp inhalation of breath was followed by a slow exhale as she lowered them again. The floor was cold. Though she knew this was normal, she still would never get used to wood being as cold as stone was. In a hurry, she slipped over to her shoes and put them on, for the comfort they would give against the coldness of the floor on which she now trod.

  The glass on the window would be even colder than the floor, she knew, so she didn’t reach out to touch it as she stood in front of it in not but her shift and the cloak she now pulled over herself. In the street below she could see no one milling about. Everything seemed like a peaceful evening.

  “Are you awake too?”

  She glanced behind her to see Daedre’s eyes reflecting the light from outside.

  “Yes,” Persephone said. “I don’t know why, but I feel like something is wrong.”

  It wasn’t something that she could place. Everything seemed as it should, but she had the sensation that something was amiss. This wasn’t something she was used to, waking up in the middle of the night. It was not normal for her. She took a deep breath and looked back out the window. Her stomach grumbled, but she wasn’t hungry. Strangely, her heart felt heavy and she found one of her hands moving up to clutch fingers just above her bosom.

  “I feel it too,” Daedre said.

  Persephone didn’t turn around, but clutched her cloak tighter to herself. She didn’t like the feeling that she was getting. Outside she saw her first person. It was a man, walking swiftly away from the direction of the wharf. She watched as he glanced back behind him, and then started to run. As she waited, she didn’t see anyone following him, or anything that would have caused him to suddenly turn and start running, but she couldn’t see all the way to the wharf itself.

  Turning about, she walked over to where she’d laid out her dress for the next day. The cloak fell to the floor as she struggled her way into the crimson colored garment. Delicate fingers would reach around behind herself and tie the few ties that held it all together before she looked at her sister, who was up and getting dressed as well. Unlike Persephone, Daedre had grown prone to wearing clothes that befit most of the men of the city, not a woman. It kept many of the men from being interested in her, but it also got her looks of disdain, and drew more attention to Persephone.

  “I saw a man running,” she said as she pulled the cloak back on. “I’m going to go see if I can figure out why.”

  “Not without me, you aren’t.”

  “I can take care of myself, Daedre.”

  “Not well enough in this place. You know that. I’m going with you.”

  A sigh escaped her as she walked for the door. There would be no dissuading the older woman from accompanying her, she knew that. No matter what she said, Daedre was going to follow her out. Sometimes she was grateful for that, but at other times she hated it. She could never get a moment of peace.

  Like she’d been taught, she opened the door quietly and waited a moment before looking up and down the hall. It was clear. Everyone that was staying in the Inn was clearly already asleep, or was not there. There wasn’t a single sound drifting up from the mead hall below them. She slipped out, holding her cloak about herself, and made her way down the hall and down the stairs to approach the front door. Not even the innkeeper or a guard was awake.

  She opened the door and slipped out into the frigid winter night. Her breath coalesced before her, but she ignored it as she first looked in the direction that the man had been running. She could no longer see him. She didn’t hear him either. The only thing she actually did hear was a low hum coming from the direction of the wharf. She looked that way, but all she could see was a dark shape out in the water. It looked like it could have been a couple of ships that were anchored offshore, waiting for docks to be freed so that they could come in and unload their cargo.<
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  “See anything?” Daedre asked as she stepped up beside her.

  “I don’t know. Everything looks normal to me. Why would he be running from nothing, though?”

  “It’s possible that what he was running from wasn’t actually real. He might be touched in the head, seeing things that aren’t there. Or maybe he was running from a crime he committed.”

  “But he wasn’t actually running at first. He was walking,” Persephone said as she clutched her cloak closed in front of her. “Then he looked back, and it seemed to me like he saw something, because that’s when he started to run.”

  They both looked out over the water. Strangely, the shapes that seemed like ships were moving closer. So they aren’t anchored. Perhaps they are coming in then. Though, now that I think about it, why can I see them out there so well defined? She frowned and stepped closer to her sister as the shapes drew ever closer to the docks that would be waiting to receive them.

  As they drew closer, lights began to glow across, and she realized it wasn’t two ships, but one large one, and it didn’t look anything like what she’d seen before. There were no masts. The top was completely flat, aside from a large dorsal protrusion. A blue light was arcing across the surface, almost like lightning in a spring storm.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  There was no response from her sister. Instead, the blue light lanced out from the ship, crackling through the air, and smashed into one of the docked ships, obliterating it in an ear splitting explosion of timber and metal that peppered surrounding boats and buildings. Another lance struck another ship, and another. People started coming out of buildings to see what was going on. Many stared at the ship mesmerized by the explosively beautiful light show it was producing. From the docks the first screams resounded. Many still ignored it for the wonder of the lights.

  Persephone found a hand had grabbed her arm. She looked away and saw her sister staring at her.

  “We have to go! Now!” Daedre yelled as she started dragging Persephone backwards.

  “But my things!”

  “No!”

  She glanced back as she was pulled along the street and away from the Inn that had become their temporary home. More lances of the strange blue light came out, now striking the buildings and structures along the wharf. Whatever this thing was, it had no problem with destroying everything in its path. She suddenly felt like moving faster.

  A wash of heat ran over her as a lance of energy slipped past them and slammed into a group of people not far from them. Those people became suddenly lit up as if they were on fire. They screamed and Persephone stopped in her tracks, staring as they seemed to burn until there was nothing left but bone. Her eyes were wide and she suddenly felt ill, but Daedre wouldn’t allow her a moment as she was nearly jerked off her feet and into a run by her older sister. She didn’t argue. Her feet hit the cobble street almost as fast as her sisters did.

  They left everything behind them as they fled down one street after another. Mass hysteria had broken out, and all around them people were running too and fro, searching for loved ones, grabbing things they should leave behind. Ultimately most of them would die, she knew, because they had focused on their possessions, like she had wanted to. Only the soundness of Daedre’s logical mind had saved them from being killed thus far.

  Tears had formed in her eyes as they ran. As much as she tried to scrub the vision of the deaths she’d witnessed out of her mind, she couldn’t. These hadn’t been soldiers for their father, bent on keeping them under his rule, but regular people, even children, which had been just trying to live their lives. What kind of monstrosity would destroy that? She knew her father would, but she hadn’t thought anything, or anyone, else would do that. Now she realized she was wrong, that this world was even worse than she could have imagined it being.

  “Almost there,” Daedre said as they approached the city gates.

  They were, unsurprisingly, ajar. The guards had abandoned their posts when the destruction began. They were probably almost halfway to Sessan or Brivan. Persephone trailed behind. They hadn’t gone far, but her shoes were not made for running about in and her feet had started to ache. She tugged on her sister to slow down. When she did, Persephone slowed to a walk.

  “What is that thing, Daedre? Why is it killing everyone?” she asked as she wiped her sleeve across her eyes.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. The technology of this Kingdom is not sufficient for creating such a thing. They have even forgotten how to make the golems they used to be famous for.”

  Persephone glanced back as they walked away from the city. More people were running out of the gates, and new explosions continued to rock the walls within. At least some people besides them would survive. She saw children, as well, and that made her feel a small sense of hope. The continuous destruction of the city only provided a backdrop to her throbbing feet and mind, now.

  “All of those people-” she said before trailing off.

  “They’re dead if they haven’t left yet, Persephone. There’s nothing that could be done about it. We must go. The further we get from the water, the safer we will be from that ship.”

  They trudged along now, heading for the forest in the distance. None of the light lances seemed to be leaving the city, as she noticed when she glanced back. She wiped her eyes one more time, but pulled her sister to a stop again and sat down on the crest of a knoll far enough from the city that she could barely hear the sound of the continuing explosions. She could still see them, and she watched them, feeling as if each explosion was a ripped hole in her being. She didn’t understand why she felt that way now. She wasn’t even human, at least not fully, so why did she care for them?

  The Devan in her relished the death, but not the horror of it. The human in her was terrified. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, watching each new explosion. Daedre did not sit beside her, but stood with a dagger clutched in her hand. She didn’t disturb Persephone. Nothing could take her from that spot but death and she knew it. When Persephone was transfixed by something, she was oblivious to the rest of the world.

  “What do we do now?” she asked after a bit.

  “We will go to Sessan,” Daedre answered. “The Thieves Guild there should take us in considering they know me. It will be much safer than remaining here. That thing may not be alone.”

  “I liked the sea.”

  “I know you did, but it’s too dangerous for us now. We have no choice, Persephone. There was nothing that we could do for the people there, and nothing that we should do. These people are not our family, and Gregor will just kill them all eventually anyway. You know this.”

  “Doesn’t make it right.”

  “Who cares about what’s right? The only thing I care about is keeping us safe.”

  “Well congratulations. We’re safe. Thousands are dead, but at least we aren’t. The world is surely better off for that.”

  Persephone climbed to her feet and walked swiftly away, heading for the road that would wind back through the forest. She still remembered it from when they had left the Vale to go south, away from their father and his influence. She felt angry, and she wished she had something to vent it upon. It would have been fortuitous if they had come across some form of bandit at that point. She would have ripped them to shreds just for having the audacity to try and rob someone.

  She was mad at her sister, too. Her nonchalant attitude was a problem for Persephone. Sure, she didn’t want to die, but it was also important to her to keep other people alive. The more she’d lived with these free people in Nautil, the more she’d come to realize that their father had been wrong to condemn the world. Perhaps he had misunderstood them, but it didn’t seem likely the more she thought about it. Daedre was right about him; he was a monster. She even found that she hated him for what he did to people, even to the beings that had formed her.

  “Hey! Slow down!”

  Daedre sprin
ted to catch up with Persephone. Neither of them slowed down. Behind them was carnage and in front of them was an uncertain future, but it was one that they had to face now. Persephone vowed she would do something, somehow, to fix what their father had started in the world. She just had to find a way, without Daedre’s help.

  “Look, I’m sorry,” Daedre said. “I didn’t realize these people were so important to you.”

  “It’s not just that. It’s our father’s fault. All of this was because of him. I’m sure of it. What we saw back there does not happen without magic being involved.”

  “You think he was trying to kill us.”

  “No, I think he created whatever that thing was, and its sole purpose is to annihilate those that don’t follow him. We just happened to be there. What we saw would have happened either way.”

  “That is possible,” Daedre said, frowning at her little sister. “Since when did you vehemently oppose him?”

  “Since now.”

  “Good. Now you understand what we’re up against.”

  Persephone didn’t respond to the barb from her sister. She knew what they were up against the moment that they left. Whether Daedre believed it or not, she’d been aware of what was going on in the fortress around her. Yes, she’d had her nose stuck in her books most of the time, but there was a lot of time in the day, and she was as sneaky as any Devan elf could be. She’d seen a lot of things, and heard worse than what she saw. As soon as they had left they were the enemy. She knew that even as they rode away from their home. It had been accepted because it meant freedom.