by Jenna Grey
“Oh my God, its breathing,” she said. She could feel its flank moving in and out under her legs, and it didn’t feel at all right.
Connor just laughed at her and slipped his arms around her waist; she snuggled into his warmth. The stag began walking at a slow pace, and Lily caught a flash of thought just as the creature picked up speed and began to stride out. She screamed her alarm, hanging on for dear life.
The creature beneath them took the ground at a good speed, and after a while Lily felt her fear subside and she began to quite enjoy the ride. The stag’s body was warm against hers and she began to get the feeling back in her hands and feet. She had no idea how far they had travelled, but the sun had moved a good distance across the sky and Lily thought it must be late afternoon. There had been a sudden drop in temperature and flurries of snow began to twist and tumble in the air around them. If it began to snow hard, Lily had no idea what they would do. One thing she did know ‒ she and Connor could never have done this on their own. They would have perished long before they’d got anywhere near the Winter Court. The stag had slowed down his pace now and Lily found herself slipping into a light doze, rocked into sleep by the soporific motion of the animal beneath her. A poke in the ribs suddenly made her look up.
“Look!” Connor said, pointing.
Lily’s eyes were drawn to the horizon and she could only stare blankly for a moment. There in front of her, was something that stunned her into bewildered silence.
“It can’t be,” Lily said, her words escaping through trembling lips.
But it was. There in front of them was a scene that would take anyone’s breath away, and Lily was stunned into numb silence for a few moments by what she saw. Before her was the exact duplicate of the scene in Kieran’s snow globe. The great castle sat high up on a mountain of ice… a magnificent, fairy tale castle, that looked so much more beautiful in real life.
“How is that possible?” Lily asked.
“That’s magic,” Connor said over her shoulder, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
The reindeer had come to a halt at the edge of a great cliff, and below them was a deep valley, the sides too steep for the stag to make its way down. Lily looked out over the great plain of snow laden trees and frozen rivers and felt her heart sink. They were never going to be able to make their way across that daunting distance. The war would be over and done before they ever got there.
“I think this is as far as it can take us,” Lily said. “Somehow we have to find our way down there.”
The both dismounted; Lily was so stiff from sitting astride the great beast for so long, she could barely move her legs, every muscle screaming at her, begging her for mercy. She moved alongside Connor, who was standing at the edge of the precipice, looking out over the great valley, contemplating the enormity of the task that lay before them. Lily’s heart sank when she saw just how sheer the drop was, how impossibly steep the sides leading down to the valley bed. The stag stood waiting patiently while they decided what they were going to do ‒ as if they had any choice.
“I think we might be able to get down,” Connor finally said. “Look there, a pathway. It’s narrow, but I think we can do it.” Connor was pointing to a narrow ledge that ran down the side of the cliff face. Lily gave it an appraising look and felt a wave of giddiness sweep over her. There was no way they could negotiate their way down that tiny path, covered with ice and snow.
“We can’t get down there,” she said.
Connor gave a sigh that told her that he secretly agreed with her, but said:
“We don’t have any choice.”
Lily took another look at the pathway, and if her heart had sunk before, this time it hit the floor with a resounding ‘thunk’.
“Can’t we go around? Rudolph here is waiting for us. He must think it’s a pretty dumb idea as well,” she said.
Connor looked back at the reindeer, who stood there stamping the ground, as if it was restless and wanted them to decide one way or the other. Connor made the decision for them.
He nodded a ‘thank you’ to the majestic creature and said:
“We’re grateful to you for your help, but we have another path to follow now.”
“A really dangerous and stupid one,” Lily mumbled under her breath.
They watched as the reindeer bent one front leg, and tipped downwards as if in a bow, lowering its head, until the great branches of antler touched the ground. Then it rose up again, and with a mighty bound leapt away, galloping off into the trees. Once he was out of sight, Lily turned back and looked down into the gaping precipice.
“Are you sure we can’t fly?” she asked.
Connor tilted just the corner of his lip up in an almost smile.
“Well, you’re welcome to try if you like.”
Lily just gave him the look, and moved a little closer to the small… no scrub that… teensy weensy outcrop of rock that marked the first point of descent.
“Now I know how Sam and Frodo felt… and we don’t even have any elven rope,” Lily groaned. “Are you going first or am I?”
“I’ll go first. Watch where I step and try to put your feet in the same place. If it will take my weight, it will take yours.”
She watched, fighting her natural instinct to grab him and drag him back again, as Connor edged forwards carefully, onto the small ridge. The cumbersome and heavy holdall on his shoulder was seriously affecting his balance, dragging him too far to one side. Lily winced as he tottered slightly, but then seemed to recover his footing. He turned to the rock face, so that he could move down the incline backwards, looking over his shoulder for the next foothold. Lily moved forwards cautiously, and took the first step.
Once they had gone a little way down, Lily found that it wasn’t quite as bad as she’d expected it to be. The sheer rock face had given way to a more gentle slope, and they could walk down, albeit carefully. To the left of them was still a sheer drop of several hundred feet, but there was at least a few feet of ledge now, making it possible for them to stay close to the wall, using it to steady themselves. Connor was just a few feet in front of her, stopping every so often to give her time to catch up.
“This isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to—”
Lily stopped breathing as she felt something catch around her ankles, almost toppling her. She screamed and windmilled her arms to stop herself falling, desperately trying to keep her balance and she managed to stay upright, barely. She looked down to see what had snared her and let out a strangled gurgle of horror when she saw what held her trapped. Two scrawny arms, the same texture and colour as the rock that surrounded it, had pushed their way out from the sheer rock face and had clamped around her legs, holding her in a vice-like grip.
Lily screamed, partly from shock and partly from paralysing fear. She almost toppled again as the arms gripped tighter, and it took every ounce of her willpower to stay upright as the rock crumbled away from around the arms, revealing more and more of the stick-thin figure that had been buried beneath the crumbling rock. The emerging form was humanoid, but without any real detail, a shop window mannequin, with no face, no features, just a blank form on which nothing had been written. Its whole form was like some bizarre sand sculpture that a child might make on the beach. There was no hair, no detail to it, just a blank canvas, as if its creator had forgotten to finish it off somehow.
The creature had fully emerged now, still clinging to her, clawing its way up her, using her clothing as leverage, until it was standing beside Lily, a disturbing, characterless form, blind, dumb, just clinging onto her cloak and trying to pull her closer. Lily struggled to pull away, but the edge of the ledge was just a couple of feet behind her and one false move would send them both toppling over the edge. She fought against it, though, trying to prise those stone hard fingers from her cloak; its claw-like hands were locked fast on the sacking cloak she wore, pinning her arms so that she couldn’t budge them.
“Get the fuck off of me!” she yelled, and her voice
echoed back to her, ringing around the rock walls, mocking her. She heard Connor cry out just below her as more forms pushed their way out of the rock and in the instant she was distracted the creature that held her clamped its petrified, fingers around Lily’s wrist. Lily tried to pull away, but was terrified of struggling too much in case she and her assailant lost their footing and toppled over the cliff. The creature pulled her even closer, tightening its fearsome grip so much that it made Lily cry out in pain.
She stared into that featureless face and felt real fear, because she could sense its thoughts, its malevolence and desperate need, and knew that it would stop at nothing to get what it wanted. Lily tried to push it away from her, but she was so weak and exhausted from hunger that all of her reserves of energy had gone. The creature clung onto her tenaciously, eerily silent.
The world began to spin around her, and she suddenly felt death cold. The creature’s face had formed ridges and furrows now, and Lily features began to form. She realised, to her horror, that it was taking on features she recognised all too well. She found herself staring at a rough copy of her own face, her features, but like the features of a statue: sightless rock eyes, staring back at her. Tentacles of rock had begun emerging from the scalp, eerie filaments that weaved a curled in the air, like anemones, as if they had life of their own.
“They’re sucking out our souls, Lily, our spirit,” Connor yelled. “Fight back. You have to break its hold on you.”
Lily glanced down over her shoulder and saw that Connor was struggling with his own vampire, because vampires they surely were, sucking out not just blood, but their very life force, their souls and personalities. Lily could feel her strength ebbing away, second by second, and the face of the creature, the face that now held a perfect copy of her features, wore a malicious grin. The rock was changing, plumping out and taking on a different texture, filling with colour, as blood vessels formed, and rock turned to living flesh. Lily could feel thoughts in her head that weren’t hers. These creatures had lain dormant in the rock for an eternity, waiting for a life form to pass their way, and they could never have dared hope for such wonderful prey. Her own thoughts and memories were being dragged to the surface as well, as the creature stole them from her: her adopted mother, Maggie, showing Lily how to use her magic, how to make potions and create charms, that terrible emptiness after her mother’s death, the years of loneliness in foster home after foster home, until she finally went to live with Claire. All of the memories flooded back and Lily found them becoming increasingly elusive as they surfaced, like trying to remember a dream.
Lily struggled as hard as she dare, but her feet were perilously close to the edge, and so numb with cold she could hardly feel them anyway. She knew, though, that if she didn’t act soon, then she was lost. She drew on every ounce of her will power and called on Hecate to give her the strength she needed to save herself. She brought her knee up, so that it was between her and the creature and with one concerted thrust she kneed the creature hard in the belly. Her knee met solid rock and she almost screamed out in pain as the impact shook through her entire body, but the sudden assault startled the creature enough to make it lessen its grip just a little and Lily took advantage of it, pushing hard against its chest. It struggled to hang onto her, this macabre copy, snarling its rage at her, and digging its fingers hard into her wrist, until Lily cried out in pain. She could see blood seeping out from between its fingers, where they had pierced flesh.
“I will not let you take my life!” she screamed at it, ignoring the pain, and although she hardly knew or understood what she was doing she raised her hand and called power. Where this power was coming from she had no idea, because she had never felt anything like it before, but she could feel it pulsing through her fingertips ‒ raw, primal, arcane power ‒ and it was hers to use. She threw a blast of magic at the creature that literally shook the whole ledge they were perched on. The rock behind them splintered, cracking and breaking apart, and they were showered with rocks and pebbles, a small avalanche, which almost send Lily flying. She managed to stay upright, battered by the cascade of falling rocks, and feeling their sharp bite as they cut into her face and scalp. Blood seeped down into her eyes, blinding her, but she didn’t dare try to wipe it away. She could see the creature in front of her wobbling, its feet shifting on the loose rock and for one brief instant it released its hold on Lily to try and regain its balance. It teetered momentarily on the edge of the precipice and then, arms flailing, it toppled over the edge. Lily watched it plummet downwards and gave a cry of triumph, but her victory was short lived. She looked down to see Connor still grappling with another of the creatures, but she felt so weak, so numb, her mind cloudy she could barely focus on him. She wiped the blood from out of her eyes with her sleeve, realising now that she was in serious pain from a couple of the wounds on her face and scalp, but she didn’t have time to acknowledge them. Another creature was heading towards her, formless still, until it touched her, but far too close for comfort.
“Oh, no you don’t, you bitch,” she screamed. She aimed a blast of arcane energy at it, and it slammed into its chest, sending it hurtling backwards over the edge. The other two creatures that had been behind it flattened themselves against the rock wall and seemed to merge into it, dissolving into the cliff face and disappearing from sight.
“Hold on Connor. I’m coming,” she called.
Summoning from a reservoir of will power she never knew she had, Lily raised her hand and called on her newly discovered power.
“Hecate, hear my prayer and help me,” she called.
She felt a great surge of power building inside her body, a ball of raw energy forming beneath her rib cage and for a moment it felt as if her heart was going to be crushed, overloaded with so much raw power. She had not idea how to control this kind of unimaginable power, but she raised her hand and almost as once she felt it surging through her entire body, tingling through her arm and burning her finger tips.
She flung a blast of power at the rock figure, who now looked unnervingly like Connor and watched lightning pour from her fingers, sizzling through the air and hitting the creature full in the chest. Lily gave a shriek of horror as the rock creature exploded into a thousand shards, showering Connor, and sending lethal daggers of sharp rock in his direction. Lily screamed ‘No!’ making her way down as fast as she could to Connor, who had dropped to the ground, covered in lethal splinters of rock, and… blood.
Lily knelt down beside him, scrabbling away the pieces of rock. He was covered in a film of dust and pebbles – all that was left of the creature. The thick sacking had taken a lot of the force of the blast, but Connor’s face was covered in cuts and streaming blood ‒ several large splinters had embedded themselves in his arms, and one large shard had pierced through his clothing over his right side, and the whole of the area around it was bright with too much dark red blood. The stain was spreading with every second that passed.
“Oh, God, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t stop to think,” she said, panicking, and unable to hold back hot tears that mixed with her blood and ran into her mouth, filling it with the tangy taste of salt and copper.
“It wasn’t your fault. I would have done the same,” he said, biting through the pain, his words coming out through clenched teeth. “We need to get that out, and stop the bleeding. You can heal me.” He screwed up his face in a grimace of agony as a bolt of pain stabbed through him. His breathing was laboured, his chest rising and falling in tortured spasms.
Lily looked around for the holdall to get out her knife; she needed to cut away the fabric so that she could get to the wound. The holdall was gone.
“The holdall...”
Connor sighed.
“It went over the ledge while I was struggling, sorry,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re all right. I daresay we’ll find it on our way down, but I could have used what was in it right now.”
She looked around for something
she could use to cut away Connor’s clothing and found a sharp shard of rock that would do the job. She carefully cut away from fabric and inspected the wound. It looked horrific. The shard had penetrated Connor’s flank, but she had no idea how deep the wound was and how much damage it had done internally.
“I don’t think... it’s pierced... anything vital,” Connor said, moaning the spaces between words. “Just pull it out.”
“You better bite down on something.” Lily stuff the corner of the sacking cloak into his mouth, and saw the terror in Connor’s eyes. Lily gave a little mewl of misery, and pulling down her hoody sleeve to protect her hand, she closed her fingers around the lethally sharp slither of rock and pulled, as gently as she could, easing it out millimetre by millimetre. Connor’s back arched and he threw back his head and screamed through the gag. It came from deep in his throat, a primal noise of terrible pain. The bloody shard gradually eased out of the dreadful gaping wound in Connor’s side and as the final few millimetres slipped out, a great gush of blood spurted out from the wound, pooling in the red crater that had been left behind. Connor, thankfully, had passed out. She had no idea what to use to pack the wound, everything they might have used had been in the bag. Lily could only think of one thing she could use that was even half way clean enough. She stripped down to her tee-shirt and peeled it off; it was sweaty and not that clean, but it was the cleanest they had to pack the wound. She wadded the still warm fabric and pressed it hard against the wound ‒ the sudden pain woke Connor up. He let out howls of agony.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but we have to stop the bleeding. She didn’t remember much first aid from school, but she’d watched enough episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI to know how to do basic triage. She took off her bra, and used it to secure the padding around him. He let out a pain-filled laugh.
“Great, now I’m cross dressing,” he said, but the pain got the better of him and he pulled in a lungful of air in an agonised gasp.
