Winterbringers

by Gill Arbuthnott

  ***

  “I’ll get it,” said Callie and went to open the front door. She gaped with astonishment when she found Josh and Anna standing outside.

  “Josh … thank goodness. You came back.”

  “We had to,” said Anna, as Rose and George appeared in the hallway. “The road was blocked, and anyway, we came off the road and ended up in a snowdrift.”

  “Oh.” Callie had thought somehow he’d come back because of her message.

  “Let them in, Callie, for goodness sake. They look half-frozen.” Rose shoved her aside and pulled the door wide.

  “We were hoping your offer of a bed was still open.”

  “Of course it is. Come away in and let’s get you warmed up. The car came off the road you say? Are the two of you sure you’re not hurt?” Rose was in full flow now, shepherding them towards the kitchen.

  “Yes; there was this awful flurry of snow and then a tractor …”

  Callie caught Josh’s arm and pulled him back. “Did you get my text?”

  “No. My phone’s in the car boot.”

  “I found something – in the box from the chimney. I think I’ve found what was taken from the Queen of Summer.”

  He looked completely bewildered. “I don’t understand. Can I get warm first? I’m frozen.”

  “Sorry. Of course.” She gave up for the moment, although she was seething with impatience.

  In the kitchen, Rose was making hot chocolate. “This’ll help. George is running the bath and then you can get into some dry clothes.”

  “You still have hot water?”

  “Yes. There’s a back boiler in the smithy.”

  “What’s that?” asked Josh.

  “It’s a boiler behind the fire. The fire heats the water,” said Callie.

  “And we’ve got gas for cooking,” Rose went on, “so you’ll be as well here as anywhere just now.”

  An hour later they were all in the smithy, warm, dry and, for the time being, safe. Anna had phoned their neighbours to ask them to do what they could in the meantime and seemed resigned to being stuck in Pitmillie for the moment. Josh’s head still ached. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and go to sleep. His mother and Rose and George were chatting away inexhaustibly. On the other side of the fire he could see Callie fretting.

  Eventually she could stand it no longer. “I’ll go and make the spare beds up, Rose. Come on, Josh, you can give me a hand.”

  “Thank you, Callie, but leave Josh where he is. He looks worn out.”

  “No, I’m fine. I need to get up or I’ll fall asleep.”

  Callie led him to her room and pulled the box out from under the bed. She let Josh open it while she lit three candles in jars and found her torch again. She glanced out of the window as she did so.

  “It’s stopped snowing.”

  “Well, that’s something.” Josh examined the bottle, rubbing at the cloudy glass with one finger, trying to see if there was anything inside.

  “Go on – read the letter-diary thing. I’ll go and make the beds up.”

  She came back ten minutes later to find Josh reading the last page, a frown on his face.

  “What happened to her?”

  “I don’t know. That’s all there was.”

  They were silent for a few seconds, considering the fates that might have befallen Agnes.

  “But she was only sixteen,” said Josh. “They wouldn’t have …”

  “Yes they would,” said Callie fiercely. “Age made no difference. If they thought she was a witch they most likely killed her.”

  “She was a witch.”

  “Or thought she was. She doesn’t seem to have done anything. Anyway, that’s not the point. She and the others brought this bottle out of the Kingdom of Summer to change the weather. The King said some of the Queen’s power had been stolen and that’s why all this,” she waved vaguely towards the window, “is happening.”

  “But they didn’t steal this; she gave it to them.”

  “If Agnes is telling the truth. But maybe they stole it. Agnes wouldn’t want to say that on top of everything else. It would be easier to pretend they’d been given it.”

  From downstairs, Rose called “Tea’s ready.”

  “We need to get back to the cave and show the bottle to the Winter King, and if this is what’s been stolen, we have to find a way to return it,” said Josh.

  “Exactly.”

  “But how are we going to get back to him? We can hardly suggest popping out for a nice walk in this.”

  Callie looked triumphant. “We’ll wait until everyone’s asleep, then we’ll drive there.”

  Josh burst out laughing. “If only!”

  “No, I’m serious. Listen: my parents’ car is in their garage. I’ve given you the downstairs spare room, so all we have to do is wait until everyone’s asleep then go and get it. I’ve got the house keys and I know where the car keys are.”

  Josh seriously considered shaking her. Instead, with an effort, he kept his voice level. “Neither of us can drive.”

  “I can. George taught me on the road at the old airfield on the way to Fife Ness. Rose doesn’t know – she’d be furious with him – but I can drive.”

  “But you’re not old enough!”

  She shrugged. “All right. Let’s hear your idea.”

  “I don’t have one.”

  “Well, then?”

  “Remember, I’ve been in a car today and look what happened.”

  “But you said yourself, it’s not nearly so bad here. And it’s stopped snowing.”

  As if in support, they heard the sound of a car outside just then and watched from the window as it went slowly up the road, its headlights on although it was barely six in the evening and the middle of summer.

  “You’re mad.”

  “Is that the best you can do? I get that at school all the time. Come on Josh, think. Really think.”

  He looked again at Agnes’ spidery writing and at the little bottle.

  “Okay, okay. But please let me get some sleep first. I can’t think properly any more.”

  “Callie! Josh! Come on.” It was Rose again.

  “Just coming,” Callie called back. She reached a hand out to Josh and half-pulled him to his feet. “Have you tea, then go to bed. I’ll wake you when it’s time.”

  He nodded, too tired to argue with her.

  ***

  Eleven o’clock.

  Josh and Anna had long since gone to bed, exhausted by the day’s events. Callie had followed soon after. George was making up the smithy fire so it would burn slowly all night. Luath at her side, Rose walked the boundaries of her snowy garden, muttering quietly to herself.

  She had started at the gate, and was walking slowly all the way round, keeping as close as she could to the garden wall. Luath was silent but uneasy, ears pricked, and she kept one hand on his neck as she walked.

  When she arrived back at the gate she sent him away to the door of the house. From her pocket she produced three candles, squat little night lights that wouldn’t fall or blow over. She set them down on the path in front of the gate. Straightening, she took a deep breath and held her hands, palm-down, over the candles. Tiny flames caught on the wicks, blue at first, then green and as the flames grew, finally golden.

  When the flames had grown as tall as she was she caught them in her hands and braided them together. She lowered her hands and from the braided flames a net of light began to form, spreading out along the walls and arching up and over the house and garden until the whole thing was surrounded by a web of silver-white filaments that glowed for a few seconds and then disappeared, and all that was left was the old woman watching three tiny candle flames waver in the cold air.

  She turned wearily back towards the house where Luath still waited. “Sleep easy tonight dog. Nothing from the Frozen Lands will enter this place for this night at least.”

  They went in and she locked the front door behind her. “Josh! Josh!” Callie shook Josh
’s shoulder as she hissed in his ear. “Come on, wake up. It’s time to go.”

  He stirred, then opened his eyes. She saw, in the torchlight, his expression change as he remembered what was happening.

  “Oh, no,” he groaned.

  10. Betsy

  They crept out through the back door, so that their footsteps in the snow wouldn’t be so easily seen the next morning, and climbed over the garden wall out into the lane that ran down the side of the house.

  Remembering how cold he’d been in the car earlier that day, Josh had piled layers of clothes on, only to find, now that he was outside, that it wasn’t as cold as he had expected.

  Callie was muffled in an old navy duffel coat that was too big for her and that Josh hadn’t seen before. Does she have any new clothes? Josh found himself wondering irrelevently. She carried a small rucsac containing Agnes’ box, a flask of coffee, a bar of chocolate and, as an afterthought, half a bottle of whisky.

  It was a quarter to one in the morning, and apart from them, no one was out on the darkened streets. The power still hadn’t come back on and it was fortunate that the moon was still full and the sky – for the moment – was clear. They had torches as well, but it seemed best to save the batteries: they didn’t want to find themselves without light in the middle of Fife Ness at night.

  They reached Callie’s house without incident. It was down the road that led to the beach and they should have been able to hear the rhythmic scour and suck of the waves, but it was strangely muted tonight.

  Callie unlocked the door and they went in. It was cold as only an empty house can be and Josh found it hard to imagine it as it must usually have been before Callie’s parents left for Ghana.

  “Wait here. I’ll get the keys.” She disappeared upstairs, leaving him in the sitting room.

  He walked around the room, peering at things, thinking of them as clues to Callie’s parents. He must ask her tomorrow to let him see a photograph.

  He made his way idly to the window that faced along the road towards the beach and looked at the faint, moonlit shapes of the road and trees and the other houses nearby.

  What was taking Callie so long? Presumably the keys weren’t where she thought they were, after all.

  He was about to turn away from the window and follow her upstairs to see what the problem was, when a flicker of movement caught his eye.

  Something was moving up the road from the beach.

  He watched, mesmerized, as whatever it was drew close enough to see properly by moonlight. Not it at all, but them. There were three figures moving up the road towards the house and the village, human shaped but not, somehow, like people. Unconsciously, he drew back from the window.

  At that moment, Callie came back into the room, waving her lit torch.

  “Got them.”

  “Turn that off!”

  “What?”

  “Turn the torch off – quickly.”

  She fumbled with the switch and it was suddenly dark again. “What is it?”

  “Look.”

  Moonlight gleamed off the approaching figures. They moved slowly, stooped as though into a powerful wind, although it was calm.

  Callie pulled at Josh’s jacket. “Upstairs – we can watch from there without being seen.”

  They hurried upstairs and she led him into a small bedroom whose window also faced the beach.

  The figures were closer now and clearer. They were taller than men, with thick, powerful limbs. Their faces were broad and flat, with a nose and mouth, but no visible eyes or ears, and they swung their heads to left and right as they came steadily closer to the house.

  “What are they?” breathed Callie.

  “I don’t know. They look as if they’re made of glass … or …”

  “… or ice.” She finished the sentence for him.

  “They must be the Winterbringers the King talked about.”

  “What are they doing? Where are they going?”

  He shook his head. “We’ll have to ask the King.” The Winterbringers were only about thirty metres from the house now. “At least they can’t see or hear.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  They watched the creatures’ heads swing from side to side as they walked.

  When they were almost level with the house, they stopped without warning and stood very still, for all the world as though they were listening.

  Callie and Josh stood frozen, not at all convinced now that the creatures were as blind and deaf as they looked.

  The creatures lifted their blank faces and sniffed. Callie and Josh could hear the sound of the air being sucked into their icy nostrils. Then, as one, they turned their massive heads towards the house.

  Callie gave a little gasp. “They know we’re here,” she whispered, terrified.

  For what felt like a long time, no one moved, but then the creatures seemed to come to life again. They moved out of Josh and Callie’s line of vision and after a few seconds she pulled him through to another room, this time with a window overlooking the road.

  The ice-things were directly below them, right outside the front door, pressing and pushing against it. Josh could hear the scrape of their icy hands on the wood. Speechless with fear, he heard Callie whimper beside him.

  Suddenly, the Winterbringers stopped moving again, frozen and motionless against the door and then, without warning or explanation, they stepped away from it back onto the road and continued on their lumbering way.

  Josh found he was on his knees, though he couldn’t remember kneeling down. He could hear Callie’s sobbing in the darkness beside him. His own hands were shaking and he knew that if he tried to stand up at the moment he’d fall over.

  He reached for Callie, found her hand and the two of them clung to each other until the worst of the terror receded.

  “Where do you think they’re going?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t care, so long as it’s away from here. Come on, let’s get the car.”

  There was a door from the kitchen out to the garage. They had to put the torches on now, because there were no windows. Josh gaped when he saw the car. It looked ancient.

  “What sort of car is that?” It had wood round the windows, as though it was a house on wheels.

  “A Morris Traveller.”

  “Are you sure it works?”

  “Yes – and it’s she, not it – she’s my dad’s pride and joy. Her name’s Betsy.”

  “You dad has a car with a name?”

  Even in the semi-dark, he could see her smiling.

  “He’s had her since he was a medical student. She’s one of the family, really. He’s got enough spare parts to build about another three, I think – just in case anything goes wrong, but it hardly ever does.”

  “Betsy … okay.”

  Callie unlocked the doors and they got in. The seats were faded red leather, lovingly polished. The interior of the car smelled of something Josh couldn’t quite identify.

  Callie heard him sniffing. “Beeswax,” she said, “to keep the leather and the wood happy. Well, here goes.” She turned the ignition key, and somewhat to Josh’s surprise, the engine started first time.

  Leaving the engine running, they got out to open the garage door. Before they went back in they crept cautiously round the corner of the house to look up and down the road, but there was no sign of the Winterbringers except patches of sand and weed and shells mixed with the churned snow. The door itself was marked and scraped as though by heavy nails.

  Callie stared at them, a horrible realization dawning in her mind. “Josh? That’s what was outside our front door a couple of mornings ago.”

  He looked more carefully, remembering the front door of The Smithy. “You’re right. Do you think that’s what disturbed you during the night?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see them clearly. But what if that’s where they’re heading now?”

  “Rose and George and my mum …”

  “We have to warn them!�
��

  They hurried back to the car. Callie switched the headlights on, then changed her mind and put them off again. “They’ll see us coming a mile off with lights on. There’s enough moonlight to see by.”

  She put the car into gear and they moved rather jerkily out of the garage and turned onto the road back to the village. They went slowly, peering ahead, not wanting to come suddenly on the ice creatures. Josh had to admit that she seemed to know what she was doing, although her gear changing was a bit jumpy.

  Where the beach road reached the village she stopped and turned off the engine. They listened intently but there was no sound that suggested the Winterbringers were near.

  There were tracks in the snow though: of big mis-shapen feet mixed with clots of sand and fragments of shell and weed. They went in the direction of The Smithy.

  They looked at each other and nodded in agreement, got out of the car and set off, following the tracks, keeping close to the wall that bounded the church yard to make themselves less obvious.

  Almost level with the church gate they stopped, staring up the road that led to the Smithy. Three bulky figures stood just outside the garden wall. The house itself was in darkness, but there was a tiny flicker of light from behind the garden gate.

  The Winterbringers were swaying from side to side as though unsure of what to do. Every so often, one of them would put a hand out to the wall and push against it, but pull its hand back almost immediately, as though the wall had burnt it.

  As they touched the wall Callie thought she saw a network of faint glowing lines in the air above the house and garden.

  “Look,” she whispered to Josh.

  “What?”

  “The lines.”

  But he didn’t seem to understand what she meant.

  The Winterbringers seemed to reach some sort of agreement and moved lumpishly towards the garden gate. This time all three put their arms out towards it at once and pushed against it with their hands, but as they did so the flickering lights behind the gate grew taller and stronger and the network of filaments appeared in the air again.

  The ice creatures made a sound that might have been a cry of pain and moved away from the gate and the lines of light disappeared as the flames behind the gate sank once more.