Ice Burns (41 page)

“We’ll see if we can’t get you a bit of armor, but I’m not sure it will do much good. It isn’t as though these creatures can’t penetrate most of it with a casual swipe...” Alphonse was talking to himself as he wandered toward the door, and Chandra fought the urge to call her flame and let it eat him. She reached out and grasped Matta’s arm, tucking it into her own to follow Alphonse.

“He’s as daft an old fool, as I remember him,” Matta rasped near her ear, and Chandra’s anger defused as she smiled. “It's dangerous, and without Winterbournes who have done this in the past, we have little information to give you other than where to go and that you will face something out of nightmares...”

Chandra shuddered as the regular nightmare came to mind, and she understood what she had dealt with in dream might have been for a reason. She still didn't buy the princess idea completely, but she knew this was her task to complete no matter how much she wanted to run. Something in her clicked into place, and she accepted that this was her purpose for being.

“Follow the map, and it will lead you to the main cavern. Normally it would be covered in ice, but I’ve already seen it's not. We have to hope the rumblings we’ve felt is from only one beast or I cannot be sure this task is winnable,” Alphonse told her. “If there is more than one, please do what you can, but return to us.”

“Of course, because I thought I might stay and have tea with them, instead,” Chandra muttered.

“Please don't get killed or we won't have an heir to the throne and the Winterbourne magic will die away completely, leaving all the lands vulnerable,” Alphonse said with a stern look as though Chandra might think it was a good idea to jump in front of the beasts and offer herself as a snack.

“Death is, thankfully, not on my to-do list,” she told him and saw his blank expression as the sarcasm flowed right past him.

“Good. It's imperative you return and reclaim your place in Faust as princess of the realm...”

“And we would like you to return safely,” Matta interrupted and finished for him.

“Yes. Yes, of course.” Alphonse patted Chandra’s arm awkwardly before turning to walk off down the hall. “Oh, and please keep your eyes down. I think if anyone were to see them, it might cause some...discord.”

Chandra nodded at yet another obvious statement by the old coot and concentrated on watching Matta and Alphonse’s feet as they made their way down the hall. A few times Alphonse was greeted, and Chandra saw steel-wrapped boots of guardsmen walk past her. At one point, Alphonse led them into a tiny room and shoved random bits of armor at Chandra, most of which she gave back to him as either too large or too heavy to wear. She settled for a small vest of chain and a better-fitting pair of plated hide boots. He tried to give her a shield, but she gave it back to him.

“Take the shield, it will probably save your life,” Alphonse told her, pushing the dented metal disk back at her.

“I can’t use my magic if I’m holding a shield,” she told him and pushed it back.

“You only need one hand to call your magic,” he told her in a sing-song way that made her want to hit him with it.

“No, I need both,” Chandra told him, shaking her head. Alphonse frowned.

“That’s not possible,” he told her, mirroring her action.

“You’re wrong,” she told him, and Matta nudged her not-too-gently. “I cannot call my magic without both hands available.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. You only use one hand for summoning, though some use the other for manipulation. How can you control your magic if you do not have a free hand to manipulate it with?” Alphonse looked positively alarmed. Chandra fought the urge to correct him about needing hands to do magic when it comes from within.

“Well,” Chandra said, one eyebrow arched. “That’s the question then, isn’t it?”

“Then if you cannot control the power you hold, how do you expect to complete this task?”

“I guess I’m going to wing it,” Chandra said with a nonchalance she did not feel.

Alphonse gaped, and Chandra could have sworn Matta smiled.

“Chandra has her own methods of doing things,” Matta said with more confidence than Chandra would have ever had.

“Um...well,” was all Alphonse said and put the shield down. He reached over and grabbed a belt and a knife sheath and handed them to her. Chandra arched an eyebrow at him as she took them and put them on her waist. She tried to imagine taking down one of the death monitors with a knife and failed.

“I find that most people feel better when they have a physical manifestation of violence when sneaking into a dangerous situation,” Alphonse said with a straight face.

“So walk softly and carry a knife?” Chandra asked. Alphonse nodded and headed off down the hall.

After a winding path that was silent and bereft of people, the group stopped at a door.

“We’re here,” Alphonse said after they had all stood there for a few moments.

“Okay, so the cavern is on the other side of this door?” Chandra asked hesitantly.

“Goodness, no. This leads out to the gardens. You will have to find your way through them to reach the opening for the trail that leads to the mountainside. It is a wild garden that was enchanted by the first members of the royal line. It grows green and warm, unlike anywhere else in Winterbourne lands. You must get through it quickly and to the Willow Grove.

“There is a trail from the willows that leads toward the mountains. When you reach the trail, you will not need to do anything but stay on it until you find the caverns. They will be hard to miss.” Alphonse handed her a pack. “There is a torch in the bag, though the moon is bright tonight and you’ll probably not need it.”

“Are we sure I can’t wait until morning after a good bit of rest and a meal?” Chandra asked, her spine aching and her skin twitching with the anxiety.

“Every moment we wait is precious,” Alphonse said with a shake of his head. “We don’t know when the situation will explode if it isn’t already at the catalyst point. You need to go now. I cannot guess what might happen were we to wait.”

“I would guess my stomach wouldn’t feel so empty and I wouldn’t be so tired, but that's my opinion,” Chandra muttered at his back, and she heard Matta chuckling behind her.

Alphonse grunted as he shoved at the door, and Chandra stepped forward to help him push it open. It was dragged across the frame and ground, inch by inch as they shoved, eventually opening enough that they could see the still, dark garden and sparkling night sky.

Chandra stood in the doorway for a moment before turning to Matta. The old dryad looked at her and gave her a gentle smile.

“Control and release your fear, child. When it is time, you will know what to do,” Matta said, reaching out to squeeze Chandra’s arm.

“If you fail, horrors unseen in centuries will escape to wreak havoc upon the mortal world and possibly kill us all,” Alphonse added, his face stern.

“Good to know there's hope if I don’t succeed, hmm?” Chandra said to Frostwhite after they were halfway across the garden. She reached up to stroke his feathers where he perched on her shoulder. When she had walked into the trees where their shadows drew mocking parodies of the horrors she had already faced that night, she stopped.

“You can't come in with me, so you might as well stay here.” Chandra reached her arms up to offer a new perch and turned the great hawk to face her. “Even if it weren’t for Alphonse telling me I needed to go in alone, I wouldn’t have brought you. If you want to fly back and wait with Matta, you can.”

Frostwhite opened his curved beak and clicked several times in a rattling sound at her. Chandra smiled and brought her friend back to her shoulder where he tugged at her hair and made clicking noises in her ear.

"It was just a thought. No need for a lecture."

The garden she found herself in was planted like a maze. She pulled a heavy hawker's glove from the bag. She had seen it in the armory and had taken it because it would at least be comfortable for her and give her some protection on one hand. She was also hoping to survive and would need it then.

After she had it on and cinched, she reached up and helped the great hawk shift onto her wrist, guarded with thick hide and worked leather that was stiff like a saddle. Chandra tossed her arm into the air, giving Frostwhite a gentle bit of momentum. In her mind she pictured a willow. Find the grove, she told him. Frostwhite called from above and circled through the night sky. He was like a crescent moon, moving and arcing through the sky, his white feathers reflecting the evening light. She watched his graceful swooping from below, knowing she could shift to him and see his dizzying flight from his vantage.

After several curving paths back and forth overhead, the bird circled as though marking prey from above. He called out once and Chandra focused on her friend. Through his sight, she saw a line of graceful young trees with long sweeping branches. There was a mix of green buds and pale green leaves lining the long whip-like tendrils. The tree trunks were white and green with youth as though they had only been planted in recent months.

Several feet before the sweeping sentinels were short hoary bushes with bright moonlight blooms. The bushes curved oddly, twisted and thick with thorns. Beyond them and closer to where Chandra stood at the castle doorway were various other shrubs, some familiar like heavy lavender, white-blooming dogwood and some sort of rose with cream and rosy flowers growing together in knots.

From the overhead view, the distance was small, but abundantly filled with living obstacles in the form of shrubbery. She sighed and pulled her sight back to the landscape around her. She tried to find an opening in the shrubs but didn’t see anywhere that wasn’t mingled and overgrown. She followed the growth until she moved to a part of the hedge that was thinner than the others with an open area on the other side. When she looked at it, she couldn't see over the massive twisted hedge roses nor any thin spots. She reached forward and grasped the vines with her hands, seeking purchase on an area not covered with thorns. She was successful for the first few climbing handholds, but then found nothing but thorns.

“This is a ridiculous amount of aggressive shrubbery. Who in their right mind would plant so many thorny bits?” She couldn’t see far above her, so she stretched her arm as far as she could reach and grasped the vines with her gloved hand.

It didn’t matter. The thorns pierced the leather as though it was linen and Chandra cussed at the pain. She winced once and raised her other, ungloved, right hand to grasp the vines and found that they could not penetrate the black skin. She shifted between hands, trying to use her left as little as possible. The more pressure she put on the vines, the more the thorns dug in, finding her blood and freeing it from her veins to coat the greenery. She brought her face above where her hands gripped and the vines began to shudder.

“Nonononono, please don’t break!” she prayed to the vines as they continued to shudder under her hands and feet. As she watched, the vines moved, wrapping around her arms and digging into the flesh there. Soon the greenery was coated red, and Chandra wept as the vines moved her forward, dragging her by the knots around her arms.

38

Chandra was pulled deep into the shrub, and the thorns and vines swept across her face and body. Sometimes they snagged her skin and drew more blood until she wondered if there would be any part of her left un-assaulted.

Suddenly, she was dropped from a good height and landed with a hard thud on her back in the grass. Chandra lay there and waited for her breath to return or pain to decrease. She got one but not the other.

Her body stung from multiple points but was quickly forgotten when she heard rustling in the shrubbery coming from every direction. As she watched, vines moved toward her like snakes, sliding across the ground with intent. They moved toward her, and Chandra saw no spot of ground not swelling with movement. When they reached her, they slid along her legs and torso, curling and wrapping her like a massive second skin. In moments, her legs and arms were covered and the vines continued: burying her torso, chest, neck and then head. As they dug into the flesh of her checks and covered her mouth, she screamed. Her mind had not allowed that release of terror until that moment.

Chandra could not breathe. She could not see or feel anything other than the eerie movement of the vines pulling tight across her limbs. Then they stilled. They continued to squeeze, but no longer shifted or moved. Her lungs felt as though they might burst, and her senses called out for air. Then, the vines released her and she could breathe.

Chandra coughed on great gasping breaths. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she watched through teary eyes as the vines slowly withdrew from her. She didn't move. Chandra wondered if a new attack was coming, but the vines simply melted into the shrubs. She pulled herself into a sitting position and felt the ragged remains of the hawker glove poke at her. She yanked the scraps of cloth away. Her clothes were torn and bloody, but she was otherwise unmarked. The cuts and pricks from the vines were gone, though her skin itched and reminded her of tenderized meat.

Chandra shifted forward to her knees. The ground was rough on her palms and knees, but her energy had been drained. A new rustling got her attention and she wondered what the garden would try to kill her with next.

A massive leaf formed in front of her filled with clear water. Chandra lifted her head and saw it sitting on top of a long vine, covered in flowers as though it were a small table that had been there the entire time. She reached forward and touched the water, bringing the smallest drop to her mouth. It was fresh to her tongue like melted snow. She scooped some into her hand and drank slowly.