Till the Dark of Winter

by Kate Trinity

child crying and adults yelling. I raced from window to window trying to locate the sounds and finally saw them as the snow lessened, from my bedroom window I could see three people huddled against the fountain in the middle of the houses.

  I knew no one should be out and that attempting to go to them could be suicide, but I began strapping on armour over my layers and ran down the stairs to take sword and axe from their resting place near the door. I pulled open the frozen door and waded through the snow collected there.

  The snow hampered my run across the ground between us, as no one had been out to clear it, as they would have done before Dark of Winter. The demon feet had trampled it somewhat though as I drew nearer and became icy under my feet. As I approached I let rip a roaring battle cry, the demons converging on the small group reacted and I began hacking away at whichever bit of them I could reach. My sword and axe covered in demon blood glowed eerily blue in the fading light, leaving glowing trails behind it as I swung back and forth. I let instinct rule and barely heard anything, my whole being was in the moment as I fought for my survival and theirs and somehow I managed to be in the right places at the right time. I knew I must be suffering injury from the stinging and burning I was feeling as if I had been plunged into ice.

  The woman was shouting for me to go back because it was too dangerous. The child was crying for help in a blind panic and the man had shoved them behind him in a brave attempt to fend the demons off with his fire lit torch, totally forgetting they emerged from the water.

  All this had little relevance to me, they were my targets but what they said was irrelevant, I had sworn to protect those who lived under Lord Bartholomew and I would with every breath in my body if I had to. I fought on and on, demon after demon all sizes and shapes. I was in a focused place in my head that meant I just kept fighting; I wasn’t out of breath or panicking. When one in particular demon flew at me, aiming to gauge me to death with his very large, sharp claws I sliced through his neck and cut his screams of rage suddenly short.

  The other demons fell back, melting away into the night, perhaps thinking this meal was proving more difficult to get than it was worth. I hoped it was a good sign and not an indicator that something worse was coming.

  I ran to the family, who recoiled from me as I neared and I realised I must appear very frightening covered in cuts and demon blood and probably quite a lot of my own. I grabbed the child from the ground and yelled for the parents to follow me, sort of guaranteeing their compliance in their confusion. As I looked around I now saw the carnage I had created, other knights stood armed and in defensive positions, also covered in demon blood having come out to help without me noticing. As we made it through the door of my house the other knights returned to the safety of their own dwellings.

  Fighting demons was becoming a habit. I closed and bolted the heavy door behind us before leading the family to the fire. Before seeing to myself I gave them food and drink and showed them where there were some extra blankets to help get them warmed up.

  My skin had this strange itchy and burning sensation like I was covered in cuts and I put water on the fire to heat for a bath so I could clean it off properly. A cloth at the washbasin and some clean clothes was the best I could do until it heated up. As I cleaned the dirt from my face I realised that there weren’t only cuts but burns as well and I knew that come the morning I would be covered in bruises, I was already beginning to feel the ache from the unexpected exercise. There was also this weird residual glow over the surface of my skin as if it had somehow absorbed some of the demon blood and as I watched in the mirror my skin began to heal itself.

  Whilst I waited for the water I returned to the family and they told me how their home had been damaged by a demon and they had got in, the family had no choice but to try to escape and had raced from trees to boulders to get from their farm house beyond the wall to get to the village. They had come in from a small side gate set back into the wall that the guards used for patrols through the rest of the year. They had seen no sentries and had to force the door and then bar it shut after them. If they had realised that the demons seemed to centre their attention on the village they might not have come this way at all. They were just glad that I had gone out to help and couldn’t understand why after all the damage they saw to my skin when I had finished fighting the demons was somehow now gone.

  The little girl’s main concern was that if they were here then Saint Nicholas wouldn’t be able to find them to bring them their gifts. Eventually with lots of reassurances and a story or two she fell asleep and her dad carried her to the make shift bed in the corner of my bedroom, the parents would have my bed and I would take the couch in front of the fire. We had done the usual polite arguing about it but there really was no other option.

  Before we all settled for the night we put out the traditional gifts for Saint Nicholas on the mantel, the gifts that showed what you were grateful for. I positioned a small carving horse I had made to look like Frost alongside an image of my Lord and an old piece of armour. The woman put two locks of hair, which she carried in a pouch around her neck, and the father placed a small carving of his family and a hastily drawn picture of me. It was a strange picture and I had never seen a picture anyone had drawn of me. He was talented that was for sure and it looked like the image I saw in the mirror, but he had somehow made it look as though I was glowing.

  They then added a small doll that was clearly the child’s contribution. I poured a glass of the wine that I kept but hardly ever drank and put some small biscuits on a plate before adding them to the strange collection of items. With a last glance we all went off to our respective beds and it wasn’t long before I was asleep and dreaming of demons.

  In the dark of the night I was awoken, someone was saying my name and laughing. I was a little groggy to say the least and had to shake myself awake and sit up to stay awake. I opened my eyes to see a man dressed in green and black built like the village black smith but with thick grey hair and beard. He was stood looking at me with hands on hips and a chuckle on his lips. There was an empty plate and glass beside the fire and a small red sack with green trimmings. He sat down, as I glanced around, not sure who or what was going on, although there was a little part of me thinking this strange man looked an awful lot like Saint Nicholas.

  “So there you are!” he boomed, “I thought you would never wake!”

  “Yeah here I am. Who are you? And how did you get in?” I rubbed my eyes and wondered if I was having some sort of weird dream as a result of the demon blood.

  “I am Nicholas of course! And I came in through the door, how does one normally enter buildings?”

  I looked at the door and it looked exactly as I had left it, with my boots in front of it, I raised an eyebrow and turned back to him. “Saint Nicholas?”

  “Yes” he sighed “Saint Nicholas, I do not however refer to myself as Saint. That is a human tradition to do with their Gods”

  “Right, yeah. So, how can I help you?” I asked still not sure I was awake

  “Are you aware that you are glowing?”

  “Yes I have been ever since I fought the demons, I’m sure it will wear off. Did you want more drink or biscuits?”

  “It will happen every time you fight demons; it is your reaction to contact with their blood and not the blood itself. Most humans cannot fight that number of demons and win the way you did tonight and indeed when you returned to the village.” He patted his leg before continuing “Although your neighbour’s wife’s baking is to die for I have rather a lot of houses to visit tonight and have to eat and drink in all of them. That wine you left is a little strange tasting, I’m not sure I want any more of that!” it was a strange sight to see his nose wrinkle at the thought of more of my wine.

  “Sorry, I don’t really drink and have no idea what a good wine tastes like.” I was very confused still at this conversation. “Why does our skin react that way?”

  “Not everyone’s just yours” he peered at me as if judgi
ng my ability to understand what he was saying “You have always been able to fight for longer and harder than other knights, you have a very strong relationship with Frost which far outstrips those of other riders, and you courage and ability to plot and plan at war makes you a very important member of this land.”

  “Well I work hard, and there are others that can do those things too”

  “Think about it, are there really. Do you not always win at the tiltyard, in the sword practice or horse trials? You are different for a reason. You never knew your parents because you couldn’t. My blood runs in your veins, I am your Father. Your Mother is a human of the ice world to the north where her Father, your Grandfather is King. She was not permitted to keep you due to their customs and she was the chosen one to be my bride. Lord Bartholomew agreed to accept you into his village if his son married their younger daughter.” Nicholas explained gazing at me for signs of panic or irrational behaviour I guessed.

  “What does that make me then? Royalty? A god? I am a knight.”

  “You are all of them, well half God, you have royal blood and yes you are a knight of the highest calibre” he smiled in a very fond fatherly way and I couldn’t help but feel warmed by this.

  “What does it mean then?”

  “It means you have a destiny, and your abilities will grow and you will become aware of a skill with fighting demons. When the Dark of Winter arrives next year you will have no need to fear it. You will be able to keep the demons out of the village. You are a protector of this land in more ways than one.” He gestured to the area beside the hearth “I have left the provisions and gifts for you here. Those for the family are beside their bed and they haven’t seen me so don’t let on that you have either”

  “Will I see you again before next Dark of Winter?”

  “We shall see. Now I have more homes to visit and demons to deal with.” He stood and took the bag with the gifts in we had left him “Live well! And get better wine!” and with that he walked through the door, literally. It hurt when I tried to copy; I guessed that wasn’t one of my gifts. I could hear his laughter through the door.

  The next day was filled with laughter and fun that my house had never seen, the mother, Sasha, cooked an amazing meal for us all, the father, Theodore, led us all in some songs and we all played games with the girl, Amy. They had opened their gifts in the bedroom before coming down and I had sat and opened mine by the fire, still a little concerned that I had hallucinated the previous night.

  My stack contained ingredients for cakes and biscuits, some meat from animals I hadn’t seen since the summer and fruit and vegetables that I had never seen before. I also had a book that had writings and paintings in that I would study later, the largest bow and arrows I had ever seen with a silver hair string and white feathered arrows. I could not believe the things coming from my pile of gifts. Normally it was some provisions and some clothes, perhaps something else you needed or some little pleasure. The biggest surprise though was when I went in the stable and a great big glossy black mare stood next to Frost nose to nose.

  I was brought back down to earth a bit later when the demon noises began again. But now I wasn’t alone, I had company and a destiny. This coming year looked to be very different from the last and I knew who my family was. I would begin by reading the book and learning to use the bow and arrows when the weather cleared again. But for now I would enjoy this unusual situation and enjoy the company of good people who would become great friends.

  Merry Christmas Everyone

  Hope your Dark of Winter makes it to the Light!

  A note form the author

  This story was originally intended to be a flash fiction but it was bigger than I thought it was going to be. I hope you enjoy it and try some of my other books.

  I am also working on a novel that I hope to have out in the spring, keep an eye out. You can follow me on twitter, facebook or read one of my blogs on blogger or word press to stay up dated with the latest news and releases.

  Have a great Christmas and enjoy every moment of the coming year.