“Do you have a plan?” Sherri asked.
“Not exactly. I just have to find her. I do wish I had help. Any wizards, witches, even a friendly imp.” Dan squinted as he looked around the white winter wasteland.
“I'll help.” Brian stood next to Dan.
“No, you're just a mortal. I'm sorry. It's far too dangerous.”
Brian didn't budge, “I have to help. This is my fault. Besides, if you fail, then we're all doomed.” Before Dan could turn him down, he added, “You just said you needed the help.”
After a short, thoughtful pause, Dan gave a curt nod, “Alright. Stay with me, keep your eyes open.”
“I'm coming too.” Sherri joined them.
“Wait. You were scared of walking into harmless trees.” Brian said. “Now you want to help fight a demonic fairy queen?”
“Look. You're right. We're all screwed if that queen gets her way. Besides, I gotta keep an eye on you. How are we supposed to do the Brian and Sherri show without Brian?”
Dan didn't look too happy. “Fine. But, remember to stay close.”
“Watch me daddy! Watch me! Daddy, watch me!” A little girl begged from the side of a pool
A young father smiled from the floating inflated raft he was lounging on. “Okay, honey.”
The child, with big puffy arm floats, hopped off the edge of the pool and dove in. She made a tiny splash and then scurried to the side before smiling big. “Didja see me!”
“I did, honey.”
Just then a woman came out with a towel wrapped around her waist, “Luke, this is the best Christmas yet. I love that your parents live in Florida.”
Luke leaned back, basking in the sun, “We always spend Christmas down here, since the kids were born.”
“I know. But, this year has been the mildest winter yet. I grew up in Boston, we didn't go swimming for Christmas.”
Luke laughed, “I grew up in SoCal. So, this feels right.”
“It's nice, but one of these years I'd love to see a white Christmas. You know, let the kids play in the snow for once. Build snowmen and all, like I did.”
Luke was about to answer when he was interrupted by his child, “Daddy, what's that?”
He looked up and frowned, “I don't know.”
“It looks like a sandstorm?” His wife said.
They saw a rolling wall of white clouds racing toward them across the ground in the distance. If it were a little more brown, it would appear to be a massive sandstorm on the desert, though this was northern Florida.
“Oh, my! That wind just got cold.” His wife pulled up the towel and now wrapped her shoulders.
An older woman pushed the backdoor open, “LUKE! THEY JUST SET OFF THE EMERGENCY ALERT! SOMETHING BAD'S COMING! GET THE KIDS INSIDE!”
Luke rolled off of his raft and went to get his daughter out of the pool. Just as he got her in his arms, a wall of cold, icy wind hit. This was quickly followed by stinging snow and ice shards blasting through the air. All the open skin of the three people was riddled with small cut marks as the ice hit with great speed.
“Sharon! Get her!” Luke ignored the ladder out of the pool on the other side and pushed his crying little girl up to her mother.
Sharon ran over and quickly threw the towel around the child to protect her and then pulled her up into her arms. At that moment, the true winds pushing this ice storm hit and Sharon was tripped, falling to one side, still keeping her grip on their daughter. Luke was blown over and sunk into the pool for a second. Unfortunately, it was a second too long. The blast of wind was so cold, the pool water froze across the surface and was quickly freezing downward.
Sharon's open skin on one side turned blue and she cried out in pain. Forcing herself up, she made it to the door and got inside the house the moment the power went off. Her mother-in-law got the trembling child as Sharon looked out at the block of ice they had been swimming in. Her husband now still, frozen in place.
“LUKE!” She wildly pounded on the door, hysterically crying.
Dan walked across the surface of the snow without going through, Brian and Sherri were knee deep. Though Dan had stopped the blizzard around them, there was still snow fall, and they could see the blizzard raging across the lake.
“How can you walk like that?” Brian pushed through the snow.
Dan scanned the area with his eyes, “I'm a winter wizard.”
“I guess that's enough explanation.” Sherri retorted.
“We have incoming fairies!” Dan suddenly swung his staff around and sent a shockwave of blue energy out. The piled snow flew away and Dan landed on the ground standing now at the same height as the other two. He used his staff like a bo stick and hit two fairies in succession as they raced toward them. With a quick flash of energy he sent another fairy flying away. Two blasts of white magic hit Dan and he was thrown back into Sherri, she caught him and Brian caught her before they tumbled over. She pushed Dan up quickly and he used the momentum to slam a fair with the end of his staff, batting her into another fairy, both flying back through the trees.
“Good move!” Dan said.
A fairy flew right at Dan from another direction. Brian hit it with the back of his hand, slapping it away. Dan saw this and cast a spell that encapsulated the fairy in a ball of ice.
“Look, the storm's growing!” Sherri pointed up at the sky.
Briah gasped as he saw an eye forming, “My god, this is becoming a hurricane.”
“Oh, it'll be much worse than that.” Dan watched the hundred points of light flying toward them. “Hold onto something, now!”
Brian pushed Sherri over to a tree and they both hugged it, “Got it!”
Dan slammed the end of his staff into the ground and began to chant in a strange tongue. The wind around them twisted faster and faster. It became a screaming storm, picking up twigs and a lot of snow as it grew. Dan stood at the center of this, unfazed by the gusting winds. Throwing both hands out, the wall of wind blasted outward and pushed away the fairies. As the cyclone expanded, it took a great deal of the fallen snow with it, clearing most of the forest within eyesight.
Once his arms were down, Brian and Sherri felt good enough to release the tree. “Wow, you should lead with that next time.” Brian commented.
“Unfortunately, I've told them exactly where I am.” Dan soberly stated.
“Who, the fairies?” Sherri asked, “They already knew where you were.”
“Not them. Her warriors.” Just then loud thumping and crunching came closer.
“What now” Brian moaned.
Smashing through the trees stomped two huge warriors made of ice and snow. They each carried large ice clubs as big as the trees they pushed aside.
“Run, find the fairy queen. Get the Crystal.” Dan commanded.
“Us? But, what about her fairies?”
Just then the snow giants came bearing down on Dan. He thrust his staff to the side and sent Brian and Sherri out of the way. They were tumbled through the trees as Dan was met by a slice of the giants spear. It did not kill him, but he was thrown hard.
Getting to his feet quickly, Dan's outer robe fell free as it had been nearly sliced in half. He met the attack of the first giant by deflecting its spear with his staff. Back and forth he parried against each stab. Though they were huge and powerful, he was an ancient wizard that would not be bested so easily. However, each attack he deflected only pushed him back further. They were cornering him up against a cliff. He tried several shots of ice magic at them, but they were made of ice and it hardly did any damage. It was a stalemate.
Chapter 7: Military Strike
A military officer raced through the corridors of the compound. “Sir, we have information back from Jerusalem and Japan. They're saying this storm's covering most of the continent and is spreading across the ocean.”
“Jerusalem and Japan? I told you to get me NASA!” The general barked.
“Sorry, sir. But, NASA has no power right now and is under ten inches of ice.
I reached out to allies who had connections that might help.”
The general gave a short nod, “Good thinking, soldier. Clemmons! Any word from your area?”
“Not good, sir. Just before we lost contact with the NOAA, they were getting reports of seven feet of snow over most of the eastern seaboard, the Midwest is already under five feet. Temperatures are dropping so rapidly that we are having a hard time measuring them. At last report, two of the great lakes have completely frozen.”
“Does anyone have any idea what we're looking at!?” The General barked.
Clemmons answered, “No, sir. None of the meteorologist I spoke to can explain this. It does not make sense. And, there is one anomaly that is even stranger.”
“Anomaly?”
“Yes. It seems the epicenter of this was in East Tennessee, near the Smokey Mountains….”
“I know that. Ground Zero has already been identified.”
Clemmons continued, “However, the last report showed that the snowfall there was minimal. And there appears to be something unusual right at the center, something that didn't show up on the radars last time we scanned.”
“Let me see the images from ground zero, all monitors, all types!” The General bellowed and the many people working the computers followed orders.
All over the screens came various images looking down on East Tennessee. Most of them were only of clouds too thick to see through, showing the eye of this mega-storm. Some of the images were not standard, but unique radar images that cut through the clouds. One in particular caught most peoples attention. They could see a strange, monolithic structure directly over where there was a lake in the last images.
“What the hell is that?!” The General asked while pointing at that monitor.
“I don't know, sir. It appears to be some kind of...castle.” Clemmons answered.
“Get me the air force. I want that place taken down.”
“Air force? But we don't even know what that is?” Clemmons interrupted.
The General glared at the scientist, “We don't have time for extensive studies. We already have a death toll rising by the minute, this nation is on its knees, and that thing is at the center of whatever is causing this. I'll shoot first and ask questions later. GET ME THE AIRFORCE, NOW!”
Sherri grabbed a tree trunk to steady herself while she caught her breath. They had run a bit to get away from whatever had attacked Dan.
Brian stopped and held his knees. “Man, I gotta give up smoking, I can't breath.” He wheezed out.
Sherri looked up at the little dots of light flying over them. “Why are they ignoring us?”
“We must not be much of a threat.” Brian admitted.
“Can you still see him?” Sherri looked through the trees, hoping to see something.
Brian got up and climbed on top of a fallen tree trunk. “I can't see him any longer. I can only make out those strange snow things that attacked him. They were pushing him toward that cliff, I don't think they pushed him over it yet.”
“What makes you say that?”
“They're still there.” Brian jumped down. “If they had defeated him, they wouldn't just be standing there. At least I don't think they would be. What do I know about magical ice monsters?”
Sherri shivered and looked around, “What's happened? This still doesn't feel real. The world is about to be destroyed by a fairy. This morning we were just two people driving up to see a friend.”
“I know.” Brian said, “Worst of all, it's my fault that this mess is happening.”
“What? No, that queen is behind this.”
“If I hadn't screwed up and let her get free, we wouldn't be standing here wondering if tomorrow will ever come.”
“Blaming yourself isn't going to help.”
Brian searched his pockets, “No, but it certainly makes up my mind.”
“About what?”
He pulled out a cigarette lighter, “I'm gonna do something about this. I made this mess, I'm gonna help clean it up.”
“What do you have in mind?” Sherri asked.
Brian smiled, “Grab some of those branches.”
Dan was now at the very edge of the cliff. If he took one step back, he would fall to his death. He deflected another strike and then blasted one of the two monsters with a harsh wind that stumbled it backwards.
Suddenly, a tree limb pierced the back of the nearest monster, its branches sticking up from the left shoulder. The dried leaves on top and most of the small twigs were on fire, and it was quickly growing. The monster reached back to grab it, but another branch landed between them, having missed its target, but the flames were hot enough to set the ground on fire. Soon, more branches were lobbed at the beasts, most missing impaling the monsters. However, a small brush fire was now blazing at their feet.
Dan smiled and used his staff to cast a spell that caused the fire to twist up and churn around these snow warriors. They writhed and flailed, but melted quickly. Soon, puddles replaced the monsters that had been so menacing before.
Brian and Sherri ran up, each still holding a blazing branch like torches. “Got em!”
Dan joined them, “I should be angry. But, that was clever.”
Sherri asked, “Why didn't you think of fire?”
“I'm a winter wizard. I can't cast fire spells, even working with it hurts.”
Sherri held up her flaming branch, “Then you really can use our help.”
“I guess so. I defeated her before with the aid of the summer pixies, but I don't have any around to help me this time. You'll have to play that part.”
Brian grinned, “Lets go get that bitch.”
Chapter 8: The Ice Palace
Together they ran through the forest. They came to another ledge that overlooked Cherokee lake.
“Oh My...what's that?” Sherri looked out over the lake.
An enormous ice structure was forming across the lake, its base touching both sides. An ice castle grew up from the water, high into the heavens. It was only partially formed, but already it dwarfed the mountains. The pinnacle of the structure stretched up into the eye of the snow hurricane.
“It's her castle, her seat of power.” Dan said, “She's rebuilding what she lost.”
Just then, two massive explosions rocked the castle and a whole arm of it blew apart. It lurched to the side, but did not fall entirely. Three military jets flew by and came around, they shot another volley of missiles at the structure and obliterated the growing tower.
“YES!” Brian pumped his arm in the air, practically dancing around.
“No!” Dan responded.
“What's wrong?” Brian's jubilation faded quickly into curiosity.
“They're no match.” Dan held up his staff, “I have to distract them, make them leave.”
Before he could summon a thick fog the fairies attacked. Hundreds of blasts of magic hit the jets and sent one spiraling out of control. It slammed into the ground, demolishing two log cabins in a nearby resort area. The other two jets broke formation. They foolishly tried to fire at the enemy.
“What are they doing? They can't hit fairies!” Dan ran along the cliff, heading for the castle.
Brian and Sherri followed. They listened to the chattering sound of gun fire from the jets as they dodged trees and rocks. Dan led them out of the forest to where one of the legs of the ice castle met the side of the cliff. He was about to run out when another explosion came when the second jet was destroyed mid-air. The third jet flew away, followed by a smaller horde of the fairies.
Dan stopped and put a fist up to his face. “Dammit.”
“There was nothing we could do. We didn't even know the military was coming.” Brian said.
“I know.” Dan let out a harsh sigh, “It's just...my fears have always been her return. This world is not ready for her kind of sheer evil or her power.”
Brian looked around, “Where are all the fairies? I thought they'd be all over us by now.”
Dan pointed up
, “Most of them are up there, growing this storm. With the combined power of two full winters poured into this one storm, they are going to cover the earth in a matter of hours. But, that does give us an opening to get to her without fighting the fairies.”
“The castle, it's already rebuilding itself.” Sherri pointed up at the previously destroyed spire. It had already regrown. All the damage done by those missiles was almost fully repaired.
“Yes. And, that's where we must go.” Dan said, “She's inside.”
“How do you expect to fight her?” Sherri asked. “That door is huge and I doubt she's left it open for us.”
“I don't know.”
Just then they all heard a strange thumping sound, like huge footsteps.
“What was that?” Sherri asked.
Dan answered, “My guess is that would be one of her most powerful constructs, an ice giant.” He looked back at them. “This is going to be dangerous. I can't ask you to follow. But, I'd be lying if I said I couldn't use help.”
Brian sneered, “That bitch played me. If she wins, we all die. I'm going down fighting.”
“Well, I can't go.” Sherri backed away.
Brian scoffed, “What?!”
“I can't do this.” She reluctantly said and ran a short distance before meagerly saying, “Sorry.” Then she was gone.
Dan put a hand on Brian's shoulder. “It's okay. This is a lot to ask anyone. Are you ready?” Brian gave a short nod in agreement. “Then, lets move.” Dan said nothing more, he looked at the castle and then broke into a dash run across the ice bridge with Brian right behind him.
Chapter 9: Ice Giant
Brian and Dan walked through a gate in the wall running around the main castle. In front of them was an enormous ice door. It was a marvelous design with incredibly intricate carvings etched into the surface.
“It's too quiet.” Dan looked up and down the long area between the outer wall and the castle.
The Winter Wizard Page 4
