Winterbringers (11 page)

All his clothes, including his boots, seemed to be made of animal skin, and the dyed pattern of blues and greys swirled across it like mist or clouds. There were intricate patterns of stitching: spirals and waves and bird shapes, embellished with mosaic-pieces of shell and bone, which seemed to move and sway as though the sea was caught there.

“Hello?” Callie said uncertainly and he moved his arm away from his face and squinted at them then sat up slowly, as though it took a great effort. His skin was pale as bone and his grey eyes were the colour of the North Sea in winter. He looked unutterably weary. With an effort, he pushed his hair with its braided bones and feathers back from his face and waited for them to speak.

“We’ve made a boat like the one Agnes described and we think we know where the stream is. When should we try to do this?”

“Now. She is close to death. I feel it. And soon I will be too weak to be of any help.”

“Now. All right.” Josh swallowed. “Just let me get this jacket I’m meant to be borrowing.”

He went out to the hall with Callie and found the jacket and a pair of hiking boots.

“Do you think he’ll manage to walk that far?” he asked Callie.

“He doesn’t look as if he will. But it matters so much to him … Look at the weather now though. That’s not going to help.”

Outside the window there was nothing to be seen but a confusion of flying white flakes.

When they went back in, Luath was sitting at the Winter King’s feet, his head on his knee. The King played absently with the dog’s ears. Callie opened her mouth to speak and the lights went out.

“Not again!” She went to the window and looked out. There were no lights to be seen. “I think we’d better go while we can,” she said, turning back to the others.

They found another jacket for the King to wear to hide the oddness of his clothes as they went through the village.

“Though I doubt there’ll be anyone out but us,” Callie said grimly.

They stepped into the blizzard. At once, snow caught on Josh’s eyelashes, flew into his ears and mouth. He tugged the hood of his borrowed jacket as far forward as he could and huddled into it.

For a moment, he was completely disoriented, nothing but flying flakes in every direction, Callie’s coat a dark blur at his side. The King stood bare-headed in the snow in front of them, Luath beside him, squinting towards the beach.

“They are coming. I feel them making themselves, freeing their bodies from the ice. We must hurry. I am too weak to control them now. They will be here soon.”

They didn’t bother to ask who he meant.

They crossed the road so they could keep the wall at their side to prevent them from straying in the blinding whiteout, and groped their way along. Every time Josh tried to open his mouth to speak, flakes poured into it. He gave up for the time being and stumbled forward in silence.

A noise like sighing came from over the wall, from among the snow laden-trees beyond it. Josh saw Callie’s head whip round as she heard it, saw the King pause and frown, heard Luath start to whimper. It was as though the snow had started to breathe.

“The Black Winter begins to wake,” said the King quietly. “The deep cold, the endless cold, is stirring.”

There was no sound but the whisper of falling snow and the intermittent sighing from within the trees. Callie felt the
hair rise on the back of her neck. At the moment she wanted nothing more than to be past the wood and back in the proper human surroundings of the village.

They tried to quicken their pace, but there was nearly six inches of snow now and the ground near the wall was uneven underneath it. They stumbled forward, Luath pressed against the King’s legs.

There was a new sound. A creaking, cracking sound. Josh, who was last out of the three of them, looked back. It was difficult to be sure through the whirl of snowflakes, but he thought he could see two figures, tall and shining, about fifty metres behind them.

“Winterbringers!” he yelled to the others.

Callie turned and squinted into the snow. The King walked back to where Josh was.

“Go on ahead,” he said.

“But you’re too weak.”

“There are only two of them. I can deal with that number. I can send them back into the sea. Go on ahead.”

There didn’t seem any point arguing, and Josh certainly didn’t want to be at the back of the group if there were Winterbringers behind him.

“Luath, come here!” Callie called. The dog turned his head and looked at her, but made no move to leave the King’s side.

“Leave him! He won’t come.” Josh caught Callie’s gloved hand and they struggled forward together.

Behind them, the Winter King held his ground, watching the Winterbringers approach. He stooped briefly to pick up a handful of snow, stared at it thoughtfully for a few seconds, then blew on it.

The flakes floated out of his hand and hovered in mid air like a flock of tiny white birds, then began to shape
themselves into something. A few seconds later a sword of ice hung in the air before him.

The King curled his hand around the hilt and smiled grimly. “Come closer,” he muttered to himself, “and see how weak I am.”

The ice creatures had been approaching steadily and now were no more than ten metres away. They looked at him out of faces that were like a crude copy of his own, with the same wide cheek bones and curved nose, but their eyes were blank and white like those of statues. Ears flat, Luath began to growl.

Callie pulled Josh to a stop and turned to look back. They watched helplessly as the Winterbringers closed the distance between them and the King. Even if they had started back towards him they couldn’t have got there in time.

One of the Winterbringers reached a heavy hand towards the King. Luath barked and barked and rushed, snapping, at the figures. The sword swung, and swung again. There was an explosion of ice and a strange, high keening sound and for a moment the King was lost from sight among a fountain of ice crystals. Then they cleared and Josh and Callie saw that he had fallen to his knees. In one hand, something glittered.

They started back to help him, but by the time they reached him, he had clambered to his feet. Around him on the snow were shards of ice and shells and trails of weed. In his hand was an impossible sword, a sword made of ice. Luath pressed himself against his leg.

“Keep going,” he shouted at them and they turned and started back towards the centre of the village again.

For the moment, nothing seemed to be pursuing them, but the eerie sighing noise still came from within the woods at intervals.

They reached the junction without further incident and turned along past the church. They could only see a few feet in front of them, and no one else seemed to be on the streets, though Callie was half expecting to see George, come to find them. They came to the end of the church wall and fought their way through the snow across to Smithy Road.

It was almost impossible to speak. Josh clung to Callie’s hand as though it was the only real object in his world. Close behind, the Winter King and Luath walked together, the ice sword shaking slightly in the King’s grip.

“It’s there again,” Callie said in Josh’s ear.

“What is?”

“The net of lights.” She pointed. “You still don’t see them?”

He shook his head.

The four of them stood side by side in the road.

“Who has woven the net?”

“You see it?”

“Of course.” He looked at her as though it was a ridiculous question. “Few now have the power for a making like that.” Callie was going to ask what he meant, but before she could he went on. “I do not have the power to break it any more. I cannot pass through.”

“But the boat’s in there. We have to get it.”

“You two can cross, but not me. This net is woven to keep out everything from the Frozen Lands. I cannot pass through it. I will stay outside the wall and wait for you.”

“Okay. We’ll only be a few minutes. Come on Luath. Time you went in.” Luath stood his ground beside the King, paying no heed to his mistress’s voice. “Luath, come! Come here dog, we’re in a hurry.”

She put a hand through Luath’s collar to pull him away, but he bared his teeth at her and gave a soft growl.

Astonished, she let go and stepped back, staring. “Luath
…?” she said uncertainly.

“Perhaps you should let him wait here,” said the King gently.

Callie nodded, frowning, and turned with Josh to the gate. He pushed it open and they walked across the untrodden snow of the garden – the path completely obscured – to the front door.

Callie let them in and shut pulled the door shut behind them. They stood still, letting their eyes adjust to the presence of colours other than white and the absence of motion.

“Maybe we can get in and out without anyone knowing we’re here,” said Josh. “It would be a lot easier.”

They crept to the bottom of the stairs just as the smithy door opened and Rose came out.

“I’m glad to see you. I was starting to think you’d managed to get lost in the snow. I think your mum’s a bit concerned too Josh. You should go through and tell her you’re back.”

“Oh … er … right. I didn’t want to mess up the carpets with my boots.”

“You could always take them off,” said Rose, suppressing a smile. “Where’s Luath?”

“He’s still outside. I left him in the lane. He’s having such a good time in the snow. We just came back for a ball for him. We’re going out again – just into the field round the back.”

Rose frowned. “Are you sure? It’s terribly cold – you both look cold already – and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Callie’s voice was smooth as silk. “What could happen Rose? It’s snow, just snow.” Their gazes caught like magnets, then pulled apart. “You go and say hello to your mother Josh, and I’ll get the ball.”

He padded off obediently down the dim hall while Callie
disappeared upstairs. When he opened the smithy door, a wall of heat and light hit him. The fire was roaring up the chimney, the kitten was curled on the rug, and at least a dozen candles burned in jam jars around the room. It looked like the most perfect sanctuary from everything that was happening outside; he longed to stay, knowing he couldn’t. He spent a couple of minutes reassuring his mum and talking to George, then shut the door reluctantly on the glowing warmth.

Callie waited impatiently as he laced his boots again.

“Are you sure you’ve got everything?” he asked.

Callie shot him a warning glance. Rose, in the kitchen, would be able to hear what they said.

“Yes. I’ve got the ball and my gloves,” she said carefully. “See you in a bit Rose.”

Even in that short time indoors they had forgotten how bad it was outside and the whirling chaos of snow took them aback once again. It seemed even colder now, but that was probably after the relative warmth of the house.

They walked through the gate and felt the cold intensify immediately. The snow lay in drifts against the lane wall, freezing as soon as it landed. The wind was like a blade cutting at their skin. They pulled their scarves over their noses and mouths and walked back up the lane to where they had left Luath and the Winter King.

It didn’t look as if they’d moved since Josh and Callie last saw them. Little drifts had formed against the King’s feet and Luath’s paws, and as he saw Callie the dog shook himself free of the snow that had gathered on his coat.

No snow lay on the King. It was as though the flakes slid around him as he stood, the ice sword dangling from his right hand, and heaped themselves round his feet.

“You have the boat?” he said.

Callie nodded and took it from her pocket to show him.

He nodded, mouth curving in what was almost a smile. “It is well made. Perhaps with this we can reach the Kingdom. Which way is the river?”

Callie pointed. “This way; but it’s hardly a river – it’s hardly even a stream. I only hope it’s the right one.”

They set off up the lane to go round the back of the garden and over the fields to the tiny stream. Callie watched the sparkling threads of light in the air above the Smithy. She had no idea why Josh couldn’t see them or what the King had meant when he had asked who had woven the net, and there seemed no time to ask now.

As they moved away from the Smithy garden and into the field they began to hear the breath of the Black Winter around them. Despite their layers of clothing, Josh and Callie were both shivering, although the King seemed impervious to the cold.

The constant blowing of white flakes in front of his eyes made Josh feel dizzy and disoriented. He wanted to stop and sit down and close his eyes, just for a moment, to get some rest from them.

Luath began to bark just then and suddenly a figure loomed out of the snow in front of them: a shining figure, like a copy in ice of the Winter King, every detail right now, even as it was so terribly wrong.

“Stay behind me!” he said to Josh and Callie and waited for the Winterbringer to come to him. Josh noticed that it moved more swiftly and fluidly than any of the others they had seen. It was as though each one was a better copy than the one before.

This one was careful to keep out of reach of the sword, circling the King like a grotesque mirror image. It was only when Luath threw himself at the creature, teeth bared, that
it paused, distracted, for long enough to let the King lunge forward and drive the sword into its body in a shower of crystals.

The sword fell from his hand and Josh bent to pick it up.

“Careful! The cold will burn you.”

“Even through gloves?” They were thick ski gloves.

“I do not know. Be careful.”

Josh picked the sword up gingerly. He felt the cold pour from it into his hand, and passed it quickly to the King.

“I am sorry. I must rest for a few moments,” he said and slipped to his knees.

“That’s all right. I could do with a rest too.” Josh sat down dizzily in the snow, his hands over his face, seeking relief from the endless unbroken whiteness around them.

Callie knelt down beside them. “Just for a moment,” she said, anxiety clear in her voice. “We mustn’t fall asleep. We could freeze.”

“How could anyone fall asleep in this?” asked Josh.

Around them the snow breathed, slow and menacing.

Callie felt something warm and wet against her face, between her scarf and hat. She recognized it as Luath’s tongue and pushed him away, wondering how he’d managed to get into her bedroom. She felt for the edge of the duvet, to pull it further up. There was no duvet. She realized slowly where she was and opened her eyes to see Luath licking at Josh’s face where he lay curled in the snow a few feet away from her.

She moved, stiff with cold, her brain working painfully slowly. She knew they had to get up and move or they would die here of the cold. She saw Josh push the dog away and crawled across to him. Luath transferred his efforts to the
Winter King, who knelt bare-headed in the snow, still as a statue, the sword fallen from his grip, eyes open but empty.

Josh pushed himself onto his hands and knees, shaking his head to try and clear it.

Callie got painfully to her feet and helped Josh to pull himself up.

“How long …” he started to say.

She pulled her glove down far enough to see her watch. “Five minutes, maybe ten.”

“We could have died.”

“I know.” She gave an involuntary shudder.

They pushed through the mounds of snow to the King and hauled him to his feet.

“I hope the river is close,” he said as Josh handed the sword to him again. “I cannot go much further.”

“It’s not far,” said Callie. “Just down …” She looked around, unsure of what way she was facing. “Wait a minute.” She looked around for their tracks, but the snow had already blotted them out.
Think
, she said to herself in her head.
Concentrate
. She looked up this time, hoping to see the glimmer of lights over the Smithy. At first there was nothing but snow. She turned slowly, watching carefully.

There.

She kept looking for a minute to make sure, then turned away from the Smithy lights.