Snowfall

by Brandon Cornwell

  They made their way back through the village of perhaps twenty buildings. There was no grand mayor's mansion, nor lofty walls to protect it from invasion. All around them the forested ridges rose sharply, creating a sheltered valley that sloped to the east, which was the direction Talore was traveling. The trees encroached on the houses, sometimes growing right in front of or next to the structures as if they had always been there.

  On the north side of town, where the valley and forest extended for a way before rising into the clouds, there was a half-frozen stream, from which Amethyst assumed they drew their water.

  One of the buildings they walked past belonged to a hunter and had several large deer carcasses hanging under an overhang that had been built onto the side of the house. Keeva steered them towards the elf that was outside and struck a deal for a venison quarter, then they continued on their way.

  “I notice that you've bartered for everything,” said Amethyst. “Do you not use any coins? Any currency?”

  “What are coins except a way to turn goods into something else?” Keeva replied. “If I need something, I provide bread to the village in exchange for what I need.”

  “But what if they don't need bread? What if they need eggs instead?”

  “Then I would trade bread to the farmer that raises the turkeys to get eggs, and trade them instead.”

  “But what if they didn't need bread either?”

  Keeva shook her head. “Everyone here needs bread. There will never be a time that they don't.”

  “But if you used coins,” said Amethyst, furrowing her brow, “then you wouldn't have to make the extra trip to the turkey farmer and make a trade with them. You could complete your trade in one stop.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” asked Keeva. “I enjoy my time with the turkey farmer. He is a lovely person, his wife is very kind, and his children are a joy to spend time with.”

  “If you were to start using coinage, though, you could-”

  “Amethyst, I spent almost three decades with your father, and he felt the exact same way. I could carry coins with me when I traveled, and there could be a set value in place to allow me to purchase what I needed in places other than my village, to have goods that would otherwise spoil, and so on and so on...” Keeva shook her head. “Coins were created so that kings could tax their subjects, and have a form of wealth that they could hoard. So that they could expand their kingdoms and bring more and more people under their control. We have no use or desire for that here.”

  She spread her hands, indicating the village around them. “We are happy. We don't make war, we don't seek conquest, we don't have raids, we don't have poverty or starvation, and we don't have coins or taxes.”

  Amethyst sighed. “It all seems very... rudimentary, like there could be a better way.”

  “Better than what? If the path is not wrong, then why destroy the forest by cutting a new one?”

  “Because it would be faster, of course!”

  “I, for one, enjoy seeing the trees. A longer path doesn't bother me.”

  They reached Keeva's bakery and stepped inside, kicking the snow from their boots. It was a good thing that Amethyst was almost the exact same size as her mother, else she would have had a hard time finding proper protection against the cold. Unfortunately, the snow elf owned very few heavy articles of clothing – her natural resistance to the cold made them unnecessary.

  Amethyst stoked the fire in the oven to heat the front room while Keeva retrieved the clay from its leather pouch. Amethyst pulled up a chair and placed her three stones on the table in front of her.

  “All right. So... what do we do?”

  “Well, first off, we need something from each element,” said Keeva. “We, as living beings, are comprised of all eight elements, and we're trying to make a copy of a living being. She's not going to be alive, exactly, but we're still going to get pretty close.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “When I made mine, I used specific herbs and stones. There are other methods too, but-”

  “Would my blood work?”

  Keeva was startled at the suggestion. “Your blood? Why on Erde would you use that?”

  “Well,” said Amethyst, “the only element that I am able to sense at this point is Earth, so I can't channel the others yet. But, if we are made up of all eight elements, then using a part of myself would have all eight, right? We want this to be as close to my energy as possible, so that it feels like me. By using my blood, wouldn't that achieve that goal?

  The older woman stared at her for a moment, then shook her head slowly. “That... is beyond anything I have ever heard of. Here, we don't do much more than just diverting the elements to assist us in small ways. Things like starting a fire, clearing dirty water, pulling something towards us that is out of reach... a golem is about the most complicated thing we do. I don't know if it would work.”

  The more Amethyst thought about it, the more convinced she was that it would work. “What's the worst that could happen?” she said. “It wouldn't work, and we'd just have to do it a different way.”

  “I don't know. Something terrible might happen. That is, by definition, blood magic.”

  “True, but it's my blood.” Amethyst shrugged. “I won't use very much, just a cut on my hand.”

  “Well...” Keeva said, seeming conflicted, “all right.” She went into the back room, and brought out an old white cloth and laid it out on the table. “Hand me a piece of charcoal from the oven.”

  Amethyst fished out a mostly burned stick from the oven and passed it to Keeva. She watched as the other woman traced out a rough circle, and instead of the octagram, the eight symbols used to represent the elements, spaced evenly around the ring. In the center, she drew the crude outline of a woman's body.

  “From here on out, until the end of the ritual, you are the only one to touch the stones. Place them here, on the figure in the middle. Put the amethysts on the head, and the tiger's eye on the chest.”

  Amethyst did as she was told, arranging the stones on the cloth. Keeva stepped back into the bedroom, returning with a long dagger in a sheath. It was of distinctly Lonwick design and resembled the blades that the Royal Guard carried on their belts. Keeva drew the knife and set it in front of Amethyst.

  “Normally, we would place an herb or stone on each corresponding element, but since we're using your blood, you'll need to place a drop on each one. Once you do that, pluck one hair from your head, and lay it over the stones.” Keeva pantomimed all of the motions as she said them. “Finally, do what you can to channel each element from its place into the stone, and imagine it growing and filling to a shape that looks like you. Push as much energy as you can into it; the more you do, the more your golem will be capable of. Just a little bit, and it might be able to fetch water or firewood. If you put a lot into it, then it will be able to speak, follow orders, and impersonate you to an extent.”

  “That is what we're going for,” said Amethyst, picking up the knife. She closed her eyes, honing her focus. Around the village, she could see the faint glow of the earth, and far beneath her, under the snow and dirt, she could sense the raw power of the stone. She channeled it into herself, bolstering her energy in preparation for what she was about to do.

  Quickly, she drew the tip of the knife across the lower part of her left palm. Instantly, her blood welled up, spilling down her wrist and onto the table. She held her hand out over the circle, letting the drops of hot red blood spill down onto the sigils, going clockwise around the diagram. Her hand was still bleeding at a pretty good rate, so she held it over the tiger's eye and anointed it with herself. It was the work of a moment to pluck a hair from her own head and lay it over the tiger's eye.

  As soon as she did, she felt a pull from the stone. It was as if being in contact with it and using her own blood made the polished sphere hunger for it. She closed her eyes, channeling her energy into the stone, forming a tendril of light running from her navel to the tiger's eye.

  She s
aw the light filling into a form shaped very much like herself. In this form was a skeleton, standing with it feet shoulder width apart, while its arms were outstretched and reaching for the heavens.

  “Keep going,” she heard Keeva murmur, and Amethyst redoubled her efforts. The details of the woman were becoming more and more clear, mirroring Amethyst's own. The more she pushed into the figure, the closer the resemblance became.

  Amethyst's concentration wavered, and she felt herself growing weary. She must have been using too much of her own energy... Rasul had cautioned her against this when teaching her how to create a magical barrier. Nevertheless, she needed this golem to be perfect. She gritted her teeth and bore down, pushing as much of her own energy into the stone as possible.

  “Alright, Amethyst you can stop now, before you fall down,” she heard Keeva say, but it was as if it were from under water. She pulled back, but the stone held on to her, drawing more and more of her energy into itself. Panic gripped her, and she tried to sever the connection, but it held on, tenaciously pulling from her.

  She opened her eyes and reached out, picking the stone up off the diagram, using her last shred of consciousness. As the polished tiger's eye left the sheet, the connection that drained her was broken, and her vision faded, growing dim. She caught sight of Keeva rushing around the table to catch her before she toppled off the chair.

  Though Amethyst didn't entirely lose consciousness this time, the rush of numbness that passed over her body rendered her incapable of movement. She felt Keeva's hands on her, slowly lowering her to the ground, and could hear her name, though it was muffled and barely audible. She shook her head to regain her vision and struggled to move her arms and legs, to push herself back upright. It took some time, but eventually, her sight returned. Keeva was crouched over the top of her, patting Amethyst's cheek to rouse her.

  As Keeva helped her into her seat, Amethyst felt like she was wearing a suit made of lead. She leaned back, resting her head on the back of the chair. Keeva sat next to her, an arm around her shoulders.

  “So,” Keeva said after a moment, “you were wondering what the worst thing that could happen was?”

  Amethyst laughed, weaving slightly. “I suppose you're right.”

  “You should get some rest. We can see if it worked in the morning.”

  “No. I want to try it now.”

  “I don't think that's wise.”

  “I'm not that wise yet,” Amethyst countered. She reached for the clay and set it on the floor. Then, just as she had seen Keeva do with the snow, she pressed the stones into the surface. Immediately, the clay started boiling upwards, bubbling and reshaping itself into a humanoid appearance. It took a few moments, but soon there was a figure standing next to the table with the same build as Amethyst, its delicate features lost in the rough-shaped texture that covered its skin.

  Amethyst took the hair that she had used to start the ritual and pressed it into the scalp of the golem. From where she touched, black hair sprouted out, spreading over the figure's head and growing until it was almost to its waist. Its skin smoothed, rippling down the golem's neck, chest, arms, back, stomach, and legs. Lashes sprouted from its eyelids, and its lips took on the same hue as Amethysts. It stood there, not breathing, a perfect copy of Amethyst.

  Keeva nodded, impressed. “Alright. All you need to do now is give her your breath.”

  Steadying herself by placing her hands on the golem's shoulders, Amethyst put her lips near its mouth and breathed into it. As she did, the figure took its first breath, its chest rising and falling in a slow, natural rhythm. It opened its eyes and looked directly at Amethyst, its expression blank.

  Amethyst stepped back, leaning against the counter. It looked for all the world like her twin, staring straight forward at her.

  “Can you hear me?” she asked the golem, and it nodded in response.

  “Can you speak?”

  It nodded again.

  “They aren't terribly intelligent at first,” said Keeva. “You have to teach them mannerisms. They learn quickly but are very literal. It takes a while for them to pick up nuances of behavior.”

  Amethyst frowned. “How would I teach it how to act like me?”

  “Tell her to walk to the door and back.”

  Though she didn't understand, Amethyst did as Keeva said nonetheless. “Golem, walk to the bedroom door and then return to where you are now.”

  In a smooth, almost mechanical fashion, the golem turned and walked to the door. As soon as it reached the other room, it spun on its feet and returned to where it had been standing. There was nothing really wrong with how it walked, but it still seemed unnatural.

  “Now, tell her to watch how you move, then walk to the door and back,” Keeva said, pulling the chair to the corner and sitting down.

  “All right, golem,” Amethyst said, “Watch me. See how I move and step, and remember it.” She pushed herself off the counter and walked to the door, careful to maintain good posture. She paused at the entrance to the bedroom and turned around, walking to the exterior door of the bakery, then returning to her place at the counter.

  “Now you do it,” she said, gesturing to the golem.

  The golem turned again, walking along the same path as Amethyst, but this time it was much more organic, with a slight sway to its hips and backside. It kept its back straight, slightly puffing up its chest. Instead of hanging straight down, it allowed its arms to move as it walked. It was already much improved, though not perfect. It returned to its original spot and stopped again, waiting for more instructions.

  “You'll have to spend some time showing her how to do things,” said Keeva. “Anything you want her to do, you need to show her, and then she will copy you quite literally. If you make a mistake, she will copy that mistake until you show her otherwise.”

  Amethyst nodded, the possibilities racing through her mind. “I could have it do most of the tasks that I am charged with. Cleaning, washing, so on...”

  Keeva shrugged. “You could. She will never be as efficient as a real, living person, as she would only be going through the motions, without any discerning judgment, but it could be done. That is why they make very poor guards... they either let everyone through, or nobody at all, potentially stopping even your friends and loved ones.”

  Amethyst frowned, considering that. “Hmm. That makes me wonder how well it'll be able to... perform the tasks it's been created to perform.”

  “That one is going to be a bit more difficult,” said Keeva. “As I said, they learn by observing and copying. You would need to show her what to do; otherwise, she won't know.”

  “But the whole point of this was to avoid having to do that!” said Amethyst, frustrated.

  “Well, you could have her observe someone else, or you could create another golem in the shape of a man, and have her observe you with him.”

  Amethyst stared at Keeva, incredulous.

  Keeva laughed. “Alright then, no. There are some practical obstacles to overcome, but I'm sure we can come up with a way.”

  Amethyst furrowed her brow, thinking. She looked up at the golem. “Do you know how to read?”

  The golem nodded.

  Amethyst huffed. “When I speak to you, I want you to reply to me verbally.”

  “I will reply to you verbally,” the golem said with Amethyst's voice.

  Amethyst turned to Keeva. “Do you have a recipe written down for your bread?”

  “No. It's simple enough that I've never needed one,” Keeva said, shaking her head.

  “Let's write it down and see if we can get it to make a loaf of bread from written instructions.”

  Keeva furrowed her brow. “What good would that do?”

  “I found a book in Giriraj's library,” Amethyst explained. “It detailed many different... ways to couple with another person. Illustrations, descriptions, instructions, on and on. If we can get the golem to be able to learn by reading, then maybe I can show it the book, and it can get some bas
ics that way.” She shrugged. “Then maybe it can learn the rest on the job, as it were.”

  Keeva raised her eyebrows. “Well, alright then. That's a book I'd like to see.”

  Amethyst squeezed her eyes shut. “I... just... no.”

  Keeva laughed. “Oh, come on now. It's perfectly natural when it's wanted. Hold on a moment, I've got some parchment in the back. I'll fetch it.”

  A few minutes later, Keeva had the simple bread recipe written down on a piece of parchment paper, using the same piece of charcoal from earlier to jot down the instructions. She handed the parchment to Amethyst, who showed it to the golem.

  “Read this and follow the instructions to make a single batch of bread.”

  The golem glanced down at the paper, then started moving around the bakery, gathering the bowls and ingredients. As it scooped out the flour with the measuring cup, Amethyst intervened.

  “Make sure that the flour is not packed into the cup,” she said, demonstrating the proper way to scoop the flour. She remembered making the same mistake the previous day and wanted to see if the golem could learn to adapt.

  Obediently, Amethyst's doppelganger dumped the flour back into the bag and scooped again, this time keeping the flour light and fluffy. It went through all of the instructions, standing motionless while it waited for the yeast to be ready for mixing. Keeva took the opportunity to clean and bandage Amethyst's hand, wrapping a clean white cloth around the cut in her palm.

  It wasn't long before the golem upended the bowl onto the floured surface of the table. Keeva examined the dough and nodded appreciatively.

  “It's good,” she said. “Basic, without any flair, but good.”

  “Well, that seems like it will work then,” said Amethyst. “Hopefully, at least. Now, how do I turn it back into clay? I can't have a golem walking around, following me everywhere... it would be hard to keep it a secret for long like that.”

  “That's the easy part,” Keeva said. “You just touch her flesh anywhere and will her to return to her original form. The gems will fall out, and she'll shrink back into the clay or snow or whatever she is formed of.”