Winter Spell

by Claire M Banschbach

  Diane took a steadying breath. She gripped her staff in a white-knuckled grip.

  “All right then, let’s get moving.” She rested a hand on August’s shoulder.

  He shook his head slightly. “No, I c-can’t…k-keep g-going. I-I can’t.”

  Freyr’s bulk loomed over them.

  “He’s right,” he said softly. “I remember. If I were in my human form I’d be able to help, but I cannot access my magic like this.”

  Diane latched on to that. “How? Dorian couldn’t draw the ice out and he’s a healer.”

  A bit of hope gleamed in Dorian’s eyes and they both looked desperately to Freyr.

  “You don’t know ice magic. And I know my brother’s spells. He’s strongest with animals, but I taught him some ice casting. I could undo it.”

  “How do we break your spell? Would touching the Lights undo it?”

  “There’s a way…” Freyr lowered his head, snuffling like he was searching for something. “Yes, it would, but…” His body stiffened and his head whipped towards the cave.

  Diane lurched after him as he charged the cave mouth. She stumbled into his bulk just instead the entrance.

  “Thalia…”

  She followed his stare and her mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Thalia!” Freyr lunged forward, rearing up on hind paws to drag his claws across the ice. The woman didn’t move. The ice barely scratched.

  “No!” Freyr shoved his entire weight against the ice wall, claws skidding across the ice.

  “Freyr!” Diane reached a hand out into his fur. It calmed him enough to start him pacing instead of shoving at the unmoving ice.

  Diane fought a shiver.

  “This is your wife?” she whispered. Tonya’s mother? Did she know?

  An agonized groan came from Freyr.

  “What has he done?” He bowed his head and pressed it against the ice.

  Diane rested her hand in his fur. “I’m sorry. We’ll find a way to free her.”

  “How?” His growl pitched deeper. “None of you have the magic to undo this ice. Her touch is the only thing that can return me to my faery form. You have enough to worry about right now. And Steinn’s still out there with my daughter…”

  His growl broke over the last word.

  Diane tried to think. She automatically reached for paper and charcoal. When none came readily to hand, she half-turned as if expecting to see Ralf there with charcoal already extended. She bit back a sigh.

  “Stay here,” she told Freyr, but he looked in no hurry to leave.

  She went back out where Dorian still sat beside August. They looked even paler in the fading light.

  “Let’s get him inside. Can you help?” she asked Dorian.

  The faery struggled to his feet, biting his lip as he nodded.

  “Come on, August. We’re just going a few feet and then you can rest.” Diane managed to control the tremble in her voice. August’s eyes cracked open a fraction and a shadow of his smile appeared.

  They took him under his arms and pulled him to his feet. Diane’s knees almost buckled under his weight, but she staggered forward step after step until they laid him down at the back of the cave. She went back out to retrieve the tent canvas and blankets from Arvo who still waited patiently.

  She wrapped the insulating canvas around August and covered it all with a blanket. The other blanket went back to Dorian. Several more trips outside the cave yielded enough firewood to last a few hours.

  “All right, here’s what we’re going to do.” Diane stacked the last of the wood. “Freyr and I are going after Tonya. We’ll try to get him into the Lights to break his spell. We’ll need his help to deal with Steinn. Then we come back here and he can draw the ice out of both of you. We can free Thalia, and then go home.”

  Determination that she didn’t quite feel filled her words. The faeries and Freyr looked back at her.

  “All right,” Dorian said quietly. He tipped a glance at August. “Just hurry.”

  Diane nodded, digging her nails into her palms to keep from crying.

  “D-Diane?” August managed to reach out a hand to her. She felt the icy cold of his fingers even through their gloves as she took his hand. “I-if I d-don’t make it, p-please tell my parents t-that I-I’ll find Eryk, and we’ll g-go together.”

  Dorian bowed his head, pressing the heel of his hand against his forehead. Diane squeezed August’s hand.

  “You’ll make it, August. We won’t be gone long.”

  His cheek twitched in something like a smile before a grimace overcame it. Several shudders wracked his body before he stilled and cracked his eyes open again.

  “P-please?”

  She leaned close to him, gently tucking his hand back under the blankets. “I will,” she said softly. “But hold on for me, all right?”

  He gave a small nod and let his eyes slide closed. Her heart galloped in panic as it took a second longer for him to jerk another breath. Diane pressed Dorian’s arm, bringing his pained gaze back up.

  “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  “What if the Lights don’t come tonight? What if you don’t make it in time? What if—?”

  “Dorian!” She shook his arm gently. “It’s going to work.”

  She had to believe it because there was nothing else to do.

  “Take Arvo,” Dorian said. “You might need him on the way back.”

  Diane swallowed. Because they won’t need him here.

  “All right.” She glanced up at the bear. “Ready, Freyr?”

  He lowered his head, nudging both August and Dorian before padding from the cave. Diane followed after one more last look behind.

  “Do you think the Lights will come tonight?” She undid Arvo’s tether.

  Freyr lifted his nose to the sky. “Yes. The air always feels different in the hours before, telling you when they’ll come.”

  Arvo chuffed as if he didn’t believe it.

  It does sound a little far-fetched. Diane swung into the saddle. She rubbed Arvo’s shoulder in apology for another run. He shook his antlers and snorted, looking at the cave and then north.

  “They’re not coming, boy,” she murmured. “It’s just the three of us now.”

  He gave a louder chuffing honk of protest, but responded to her tug of the reins. He didn’t even shy away when Freyr came close. Diane set her jaw and jabbed her heels into his side. She wasn’t going to stop until they found Tonya and the Lights.

  *

  This time Tonya fought back.

  Even through the lashes of magic from Steinn. Her struggles made the caribou stumble more than once, and Steinn’s face grow darker in anger. Darkness overtook the last vestiges of the tundra, covering the mountains in a protective shroud.

  The stars shone brighter and the moon reflected its brilliance off the snow. Ice sparkled back in more mesmerizing glimmers under the moon’s touch, small eddies kicking up in a breeze like the magic was trying to escape to the sky itself.

  Finally, the caribou slid to a halt in a broad open circle between two out-flung roots of a towering peak where the flat tundra ran straight into the mountainside cliff. Steinn shoved her off the caribou, ice leaping up to lock around her before she had a chance to move.

  He thumped to the ground, sending the caribou skittering back a few steps with a flick of his fingers. He paced a wide circle around her, ignoring her glares as he turned his gaze up to the sky. Waiting.

  After a long moment, she caught a shift in the air. Something static like lightning about to strike. Something sharp like the frigid bite of a storm in the dead of winter.

  Something magic.

  A green ribbon darted across the sky. She caught her breath. She’d almost hoped the Lights wouldn’t come, but they had.

  Her magic leapt up against her chest, straining towards the Lights. The warding locked it back down.

  Another streak of light shone, disappearing before she could blink. Brilliant violet darted past, tou
ching the mountainside and dancing among the trees in an eerie display before it leapt back into the sky. Green and yellow together brushed against the tundra.

  They kept coming, longer and brighter, dancing through the sky or skimming low into the mountains and hills. Tonya held her breath, her magic pressing hard against her skin, trying to escape to join the Lights in their dance.

  Then brilliant pinks and purples and greens surrounded her, swirling about her in a maelstrom of magic. Tingling ran the length of her arms. Her hair loosed from her braid to whip about her head, stretching toward the lights.

  A thin tendril of green snaked out to brush her right arm. She tried to touch it, but it melted away from her fingertips, returning as soon as her hand stilled. Another slender ribbon of purple wrapped around her left arm, leaving behind a trail of warmth.

  She flinched as the heat began to increase, burning at her arms and legs and waist where the lights now encircled her. With every new shimmer of light, she grew hotter and hotter, until it felt like her skin would melt away.

  Tonya stumbled away with a scream, ice no longer holding her captive on the ground. The Lights followed, though dimming in intensity. They pressed close around her, seeping under her skin, the colors leaking out of her fingertips. She felt a shift inside of her. Like something snapped, the edges of herself whipping away to let something through.

  Magic.

  The roar of an ocean storm, the gentle sigh of waves, the stillness of tide pools.

  The rage of a blizzard, the chill of ice, the quiet after a snowfall.

  It all rushed in her and through her at the same time.

  She fell to her hands and knees, gasping for breath.

  “Tonya!”

  The Lights fled, revealing Diane and the bear racing toward her. The crackle of magic disturbed the air. Steinn launched a beam of light at them. Diane threw herself from Arvo and lunged in front of the bear. The light refracted off her and into the sky.

  Tonya clenched her fingers in the ice. Cracks appeared in response. The individual particles begged to be returned to their liquid state, to dance in waves. The ice clamored to be formed under her careful hands.

  A shudder cut through her. It was like two loud voices shouting for her attention, neither willing to give way until she called forth blizzards and monsoons, currents and ice shards.

  Another cry came from Diane. She stood hunched over in front of the bear, one arm out-flung as if to hold off Steinn’s steady attack. Rage filled Tonya and this time her magic leapt unhindered to her touch. She didn’t know what she wanted, just to stop Steinn.

  She pushed to her feet, flinging her hands toward him with a scream. Ice and snow swept up in the wave of power that came from her, whirling and spinning at Steinn and knocking him back.

  Tonya ripped her hands apart, halting the storm. She stalked forward as Steinn scrambled to his feet. He pushed his hand to her, palm out. Her feet slipped on a new sheet of ice.

  She stomped her foot hard, and it shattered.

  Steinn backed away. He lunged a step forward, shoving his hands out again. The gust of wind and magic pummeled into her chest, knocking her down to the ground. She shook off another attempt to bind her with ice and stood.

  She spun in a circle, dragging the toe of her boot along the ice like she’d seen Dorian do. Her magic flooded up to her hands, forcing her fingers wide. She threw it at Steinn as she faced him again. A rumble cracked the ice beneath his feet, catching him off guard when her green and violet lights hit him in the chest.

  Steinn got to his feet slowly, backing away for each step she now took forward. The bear leapt closer, coming up on his left side. Its teeth were bared to their full extent, ears back, and a thundering growl reverberating across the mountains and tundra. Diane crept to his right with her staff raised, a look of determination on her face.

  Steinn looked between all three of them and backed away again. He whistled and his caribou ran to him. It didn’t stop as Steinn grabbed the harness and hauled himself up into the saddle to gallop away.

  Tonya’s knees buckled in relief. She tipped a glance up at the sky where the Lights still formed and danced. Thank you.

  “Freyr, quick!” Diane’s shout brought her back.

  The bear lunged at the nearest light that sent its magic into the ground. It retreated into the air before he could reach it. Then, as if that was the signal, the lights flickered one more time in the sky and then vanished.

  Diane cast a stricken look at the bear. Tonya collapsed again to her hands and knees, exhaustion mixing with elation and freedom of her magic, even as it still fought inside her.

  I don’t know that this is better.

  Arms encircled her and pulled her into a tight hug. Tonya squeezed Diane until the princess squirmed.

  “Can’t breathe!” But Diane’s voice teased. The sound near brought tears to Tonya’s eyes.

  “I’m so glad you’re all right,” she said.

  Diane pulled away.

  “Tonya!” She gave a little gasp as she tugged at the ends of Tonya’s hair. White streaks coated the ends of her dark hair. A few blond strips shot through the entire length.

  “You’re an ice caster,” a deep grumbling voice said.

  Tonya slowly turned to face the bear. It lowered itself a little to look her in the eyes where she still knelt on the ground. She couldn’t believe its name.

  “Tonya, this is…” Diane took a deep breath as if she couldn’t believe it either. “Your father. Freyr.”

  Deep grey eyes held her gaze. Words locked on her tongue, her heartbeat louder than each pulse of her magic.

  “You grew up,” the bear said.

  Tonya gasped a sob.

  “I’m so sorry we left you. I was supposed to come back and find both of you, and then—”

  Tonya lunged to wrap her arms around his neck. Freyr sank back onto his haunches with a surprised huff. He lowered his head to rest on her shoulder. He’d wanted her. Tried to come back for her.

  And he couldn’t because of…

  She pulled away. “Did Steinn do this to you?”

  “Yes. We’d thought to use the Lights to turn me back, but I was too late.”

  Tonya’s heart cracked. She might not truly get him back after all. “How do we undo it?”

  “Thalia’s touch can end it.”

  “She’s—at the cave…”

  “I know.” Her father gently nudged her arm with his nose. “But there was no way for us to undo the ice.”

  “But now we have our own ice caster.” Diane stood, brushing the snow from her knees. “She can get Thalia out, and then you can help August and Dorian.”

  Tonya’s lungs constricted. “Are—are they…?”

  Diane’s features pulled down into a grimace. “August is barely hanging on.”

  Tonya leapt to her feet. “Let’s go.”

  Diane ran to Arvo, tugging him back over as Freyr lumbered to his paws.

  “Diane, take the caribou,” Freyr said. “Tonya, with me.”

  Tonya hesitated, but he crouched. “Last time I carried you, you were a tiny babe. But I think I can handle it this time.” A bit of humor deepened in his growl.

  A smile flickered across Tonya’s face and she swung a leg over his back, settling into place. A rope already wound about his shoulders and she gripped it tight as he broke into a run. Diane and Arvo kept pace alongside.

  Her journey to the lights with Steinn had taken nearly an hour. It seemed to take three times that on the way back. Her magic began to settle a little, pressing out into each tiny corner to fill herself up with it. Every now and then, one would rush forward in an attempt to gain dominance. She’d double over, her nose nearly in Freyr’s fur.

  He stopped the first time, but her mumbled reassurance and panic to get back to Dorian and August prompted them to run on.

  Each time it happened again, he chuffed a reassurance that helped her untangle another thread inside and tuck it into place. The moon crept
across the sky to cast shadows across the snow by the time they arrived back at the cave.

  Tonya jumped from Freyr’s back, magic rushing into her fingertips at the sight of the figure waiting for them.

  Steinn stood in the mouth of the cave. Dorian knelt at his feet, a knife pressed against his throat.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Blood dribbled down Dorian’s chin from his nose and mouth. He swayed on his knees, a small cut appearing on his neck where the cold steel pressed against his skin. Fury called forth Tonya’s magic, whipping around her in a miniature storm.

  “Let him go!” She lunged forward a step, halted only by Steinn pressing the knife harder against Dorian’s neck.

  “That’s what I thought,” Steinn sneered. “The warding around that one is clever.” He jerked his chin at Diane, who scowled back. “Surrender to me, child, or I’ll let the forest faery inside die, which won’t take much longer, and then kill this one.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Freyr padded forward, a growl reverberating in his chest as Steinn threatened Dorian again.

  Steinn’s lip curled further in derision. “You should know, Freyr. I told you as much before I trapped you. You can’t do anything to help here and you know it. I’ll deal with you after I put your daughter away.”

  Tonya flexed her fingers, trying to pull only the threads of ice magic. Her ocean magic leapt forward along with it, straining to be released. She looked to Dorian. A small smile crinkled around his eyes.

  “You did it.” She barely caught his soft words.

  She managed a smile back. Her magic was free, but she had no idea how to control any of it.

  “Silence.” Steinn struck Dorian’s injured wing. His face twisted in pain and he wavered further on his knees.

  A muffled cry came from Diane. Tonya clenched her hands, sliding her foot slowly in another step. The ice trembled in response.

  Dorian opened his eyes and met her gaze again. His face hardened in determination. He slowly reached his right hand toward the ground, fingers spreading wide. A thrill ran through Tonya and she opened her hands, ready to let her magic run free.

  Dorian struck the knife from his throat with his left hand, bringing his right hand up in a fist at the same time. The earth rumbled under Steinn’s feet, knocking him off balance with a curse. Dorian pitched himself away as Tonya flung out her hands, throwing ice shards and beads of moisture at Steinn.