Dark Winter: Trilogy

by Hennessy, John

  ***

  Through the haze of the snowy mist, the two Zeryths glided through Gorswood Forest. They didn’t feel the cold, as they were already dead. Human, they had been once, but by a set of unforeseen circumstances, they found themselves at the bidding of Diabhal.

  Their modus operandi was simple – to kill, quickly and efficiently. Against pretty much everyone they encountered, the result was the same. Shrieks and cries, followed by pleas to let them live, quickly followed by the crunching of bone and tissue as the head was snapped to the side, separating itself from the body in most cases.

  Two had been released. It was supposed to be five. It would have gotten Dana released, and Diabhal off Curie’s back. At least, for the time being.

  It was all so messed up.

  Still, nothing. He wondered what would happen if Dana and the Zeryth turned up at the same time? He’d love to know who would win that one.

  Or maybe he wouldn’t like to know.

  "Hello, Curie," she said. "Having a bad day, are we?"

  "You could say that."

  "You don’t look so good."

  "You don’t look so great yourself. Bet the wind chills you to the bones." He laughed at the crassness of his joke, and the desperate situation he found himself in. "Dana, for once, do some good. Save me from this existence, and I’ll help you."

  "Do some good? Do some good?" said Dana, mockingly. "I already saved you once. You belong to me now."

  "I’m afraid that’s not good enough. The Zerythra are on their way."

  "That’s a bad day for you then."

  "Or for you, perhaps."

  "Oh, I get it. You play me off against them, is that the general idea?"

  "Naturally, I’m hoping you’ll win. Makes it easier for me."

  "The Zerythra. These are the axe-wielding whores, right?"

  "Yes," said Curie. "They can be corporeal when then want to be, just before they chop you up with their axe."

  "Corporeal suits me just fine, you know that," said Dana.

  "He’ll send more, even if you win."

  "Not without that Mirror of his, he won’t."

  "You can’t get to it, but I can."

  In the distance, Curie could see the two zombie-girls gliding towards them. He suddenly lost his composure.

  "Dana, for pity’s sake, it has to be now. Do it now, damn you."

  Dana waved her sparkly pink wand over him and he disappeared into thin air, just as the two Zombie girls arrived.

  One of them swung their axe at Dana, who just laughed at as it passed straight through her. The other zombie, enraged, grabbed at Dana’s neck, but again, could grasp only at thin air.

  Dana, on the other hand, grabbed the zombie girl by the neck. Dana could make contact.

  "Do you know how I kill?" said Dana. "You’re no different to all the others."

  "Release her now," said the other zombie, holding the axe to her neck.

  Dana used her free hand to grab the axe.

  "I too can be corporeal if and when I want to be."

  "We will kill you."

  "I don’t think so."

  "We must pass. Our business is not with you. It is with the human."

  "Shouldn’t you be going after something bigger? The Mirror, for instance?"

  They were at a stand-off. The Zerythra knew that they probably could kill Dana, but they knew for sure that she could kill them. There wasn’t any amongst the Zerythra who didn’t know about Dana. She wasn’t exactly contained by Diabhal in the same way.

  "Go."

  Dana smiled as one of the zombie girls glided off.

  At the other remaining zombie, Dana said "Just you and me then. Don’t suppose you want to tell me where she’s going?"

  The zombie backed off, just before rushing Dana. It was a delaying tactic.

  Dana had some limitations. As an eleven year old girl, she was quite small, and this zombie was at least another foot or so in height.

  As the zombie rushed at her, Dana, grabbed her hard by the neck, only for it to disappear into thin air.

  "What-" said Dana.

  The zombie swooped down towards Curie. Dana’s magic had only made him invisible for a time, and had not transported him to Redwood as he had wished. His eyes flashed open as the girl’s axe swung towards him.

  Curie cowered, and yet, the coup de grace never came. He heard an unearthly scream as the zombie girl disappeared above him. Dana had somehow penetrated the zombie through her back with her wand.

  "Why?" screamed Curie.

  "Because you belong to me," said Dana. "When your feeble heart gave up in your room way back when, it was me that saved you. Your soul was mine then, is now, and it will be forever."

  "I wish you had just killed me."

  Dana swiped the blood away on her wand and put in back in a pocket on her dress.

  "Now where would be the fun in that?"

  "The zombie…is she dead?"

  "More or less."

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  "It means, she’s not a problem for you any more."

  "What about the other one?"

  "She’s not a problem for you either."

  "I need to get to Redwood, Dana. If you are not going to kill me – again, then let me go." Curie spat the last three words out through gritted teeth.

  Dana paused perhaps too long.

  "Dana, damn you. I’m dying here!" screamed Curie. He tried to drag himself forward by his fingertips, which were turning blue in the snow.

  Dana crouched down beside him. "Why do you need to get to Redwood? You’ll just go and work for him, there, won’t you? No no no no no. I can’t have that. He might just turn you against me."

  "You need to stop her, that zombie creature. She’s the problem."

  "She’ll be waiting for you at Redwood. No. You’re mine. You service me."

  "She won’t be at Redwood," said Curie, confidently.

  "Oh?"

  "She’s on her way to Rosewinter, the Winter’s wood-cabin, you know it. When she gets there, she’ll get her hands on the Mirror of Souls, and we will all pay for your incompetence."

  "Now how would you know about that?"

  "The Winter girl, she’s got the Mirror, see. You need to go get it, or save me as you’re goddamnwell supposed to, and I’ll get it."

  "I’m really quite sick of your language. I’m still eleven years old, you know."

  Dana paused for a moment. If the Mirror was in safe hands, then there was no need for her to be concerned. If Curie got it, however, legions of Zerythra would be released, and she wouldn’t be able to contend with them all.

  Curie had failed in his thirteen kills. Maybe that’s what he intended all along. Either way he cut it, he knew his life was over.

  "We have a problem, Curie."

  "What?"

  Still, the legend of Dana was that once she was summoned, she had to kill, much like the Samurai. Those feared Japanese swordfighters only put their weapons back in their sheaths once the blade had tasted blood.

  "You know my story, don’t you? Now look at this wand. I jabbed it into our friend back there, and there’s no blood. Nothing. At. All. Now what would you do if you were me? Hmm?

  Hmm?"

  Dana jabbed the wand into Curie at different sections of his body.

  "What would you do?"

  She could kill Curie, this time for good. He’d been pretty useless at everything to date, and had he been a regular killer, if there was such a thing, he would be in jail by now. Still, Dana pitied him.

  Another option was to kill the Zeryth. One had gone in the direction of the Rosewinter house. The other, towards Redwood. But killing zombies would count for nothing. They were already dead, and staying that way. But it would mean that Diabhal would have to find another way to deposit a zombie, or a legion of zombies, to terrorise everyone.

  She could kill me, I suppose. After all, I had the Mirror, and I had the mark of someone who the Mirror was solely entrusted t
o. I could trap zombies, though I had only successfully done this one time and did not know if I could do it again.

  So, in the end, would Dana actually try to kill me? That would have unforeseen consequences. Who knows what would happen if the Mirror had no owner? I neglected to ask Nan who else had bore the mark. Apart from the fact that I didn’t want an early demise – I’d had a taste of that already, the Mirror had been used by one other person.

  Toril.

  Dana could kill Toril.

  Without a further word to Curie, because she had finished toying with him, Dana swished of wand, and transported Curie to Redwood.

  She then turned in the direction of the other large wood-cabin. Rosewinter.

  Forget Toril Withers.

  Dana, who seemed to be unbanishable by any force and impervious to any weapons man might have, decided she was coming for me.

  ***

  Sometimes Toril Withers’ spells worked. On other occasions, they didn’t. But this time, it really needed to.

  I was about to strike down Alix Andrews. He was about to take the Mirror of Souls, and I

  could not let that happen.

  He had this wild, crazed look on his face. He pulled hard at the draw in which the Mirror was being kept safe. I knew he would be able to get it open, even if it meant trashing the dresser to do it.

  I knew this, because Alix did not look his old self. I couldn’t recall much about him, except to say that he looked good on the rugby field, and was always with Troy.

  Troy.

  I was about to kill his best friend. Girls who tend to do that to a guy’s best friend don’t end up becoming their girlfriend.

  I looked at my hands, which were now free of their gloves. At first, they looked normal, but as time passed by, and I understood the Mirror more and more, I realised that the lines in my hands, wrists and forearms darkened. Still, you could see the blood moving through the veins. It was weird to look at, almost sickening, but sometimes I couldn’t stop myself.

  What was I becoming? Some kind of monster? Is this all I was capable of? Killing? I wondered if my Nan had ever killed someone using her hands like this.

  I looked at Alix with the most pleading facial expression I could muster, and begged him to look at me.

  "Alix. Please. Don’t do this."

  For just a moment, it seemed like I had gotten through to him.

  He looked distraught. His furrow was deep, and he didn’t look like someone not near twenty years old. He was sweating profusely, something I never witnessed when seeing him play rugby for the school team, and his eyes were all bloodshot.

  "Alix. Stop what you’re doing, otherwise I will have to stop you."

  I tried to sound more commanding, but that was the remit of someone like Toril, who was saying something Wiccan outside.

  It was too late though. Alix broke the drawer open, and the Mirror teased a bright gleam from inside.

  With the lightest of touches, I placed my hand on Alix’s back, and just about got out of the way as he flew backwards, his body making a sickening thud as it smacked against the opposite wall.

  ***

  "Toril, for God’s sake, leave it!"

  Troy was pulling Toril back from Rosewinter.

  "Damn you, Troy," Toril said as she scratched skin from the side of his face. "I’m trying to help Romilly, and trying to save Alix."

  "Jesus." Troy cupped his hand against his face. "Withers, you’ve cut me. What’s wrong with you?"

  "She has a Mirror in there. The Mirror. I don’t understand how Alix could cross the threshold though. Unless Curie or some dark force is helping him," said Beth. "He’d be capable of that."

  "That’s nonsense," said Jacinta dismissively.

  "Is it?" said Beth. "You were there, the night he came to the house. You remember the ouija game, don’t you Jacinta? He’s working for HIM."

  Jacinta looked at Toril. "Are you still going to chant, or shall we go in after Alix?"

  "We can’t go in," said Toril. "I’ve cast a Surrounding Spell. We can’t enter, but neither can anyone else."

  Not believing a word of it, Troy said, "Toril, I’ve had enough of this nonsense. Alix, get your ass out here." He darted towards the threshold.

  Toril wanted to scream No at the top of her voice, but Troy was too fast. He didn’t make it to the door before some unseen force blew him some twenty feet away from the front of Rosewinter.

  Beth and Jacinta wore ‘what the hell’ expressions on their faces.

  "Is he-" they both said in unison.

  "Dead?" said Toril. "Oh no, just stunned. Do the big galoot some good."

  "Yeah, but still-" said Jacinta.

  "Shh now!" said Toril, and started chanting a new spell.

  Toril could see Alix through one of the windows, he had also been knocked cold.

  "Romilly! Romilly!" cried Toril. "Come on out, and bring the Mirror with you. We have to get away from here."

  She broke off shouting orders at me to go back to her chanting.

  I grabbed the Mirror from the drawer, and hid around the corner, out of Toril’s view. After all, this was the girl who had stolen Troy’s heart.

  My father needn’t have worried about me bringing boys to Rosewinter. Yeah, like I would have that chance. Troy was all I wanted, and he belonged to Toril. I had no chance.

  I had wickedly hoped that the Mirror would have shown me some way to make someone fall in love with me, but I hoped to no avail. My teenage years carried on regardless whilst I stayed loveless and single.

  The cynic in me wondered if Toril had cast some kind of spell on Troy, but in the cold light of day I knew she didn’t have to do that. She had bewitched – no pun intended – all the boys at school, with her rather amazing looks.

  Perhaps it was inevitable she would end up with Troy. I was too much of an outcast.

  Toril was chanting some strange words. At the moment I realised this, Alix started to stir.

  Oh my God, Toril, why? Why are you doing this? She was helping him. She might have been made fun of at school, but since her experience with the Mirror, her skills as a witch had improved.

  Considerably.

  It was then that I realised Toril was looking to claim the Mirror for herself.

  ***

  I ran to the main room and flicked the master switch to kill all the lighting in the house. I had one crazed guy in the next room, four people outside who I could not trust even after all the crap I'd been through with them, and God knows what else was coming for me within the forest.

  I threw myself on the floor, forgetting for a moment that I was clutching the Mirror in my hands. The veins on my arms throbbed painfully, and my fingers were swollen too. My hair was damp with perspiration, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the Mirror.

  The reflection I cast terrified me. I looked like the zombie-girl herself.

  Resisting the temptation to smash the Mirror, I ran to where the cabinet had been knocked out earlier in the night. There was no blood on the floor there, and I felt safe.

  I cowered on the floor, and brought my knees together. I hugged myself to stay warm. My teeth were chattering, and tears flowed from my eyes.

  I wondered why Nan thought it was so important I stay at Rosewinter, and then I realised a massacre was at hand. If I had been at home, the Zerythra would have found the Mirror, and killed me for certain, along with anyone else who lived in the town of Gorswood. There would have been too many to fight.

  The spell Toril cast was meant to keep me inside the wood-cabin. I would be unable to leave with the Mirror intact, but that wasn’t all. By casting a spell like this, she had alerted all the minions of Diabhal to bear down on the place.

  As I looked over at my father’s bust up CD player on the floor, a blue light illuminated on top of it.

  "Play Me," it said.

  As the machine whirred into life, I already knew what it was going to say. At least, I knew the first part of what it was going to say. I didn’t bet
on the second part. Still, in a voice I recognised as being my Nan’s, the CD player said:-

  "Two Have Died, and She is Coming."

  There was a sadness in her voice. As she spoke, the Mirror illuminated in my hands. Images misted in, then out, and I could see both of my parents had perished in some kind of car accident.

  My father’s head lay at an awkward angle to the side, my mother’s neck snapped and a bloody gaping hole peeked out from where her heart should be. As the image misted out, I could make out a ‘D’ smeared in blood on the passenger window.