Snow Heart

by Knight, Arvalee

  Alric looked up, his eyes darkening, the whites spiraling and twisting with vines of black. “Find Nieves and keep her safe. Do whatever you have to but don’t let her see me like this.”

  Wilhelm hardened his expression. “I will.”

  He spun around to leave but Alric reached out through the bars and growled with agony. “Wilhelm,” he grumbled. “After I’m dead, will you take care of her for me?”

  Wilhelm looked down at Alric’s hand. The strange black scales were already beginning to form. Scales that would be able to slice a Mortals skin like it was melting butter. He slowly replied with all seriousness, “I promise upon my life I’ll watch over Nieves for you after you’re gone.”

  Alric withdrew his hand. “Go. Go find her for me.” His voice was shaky and fading. Slowly Alric fell to the floor with clenched teeth. The pain was snaking its way from his bones and into his organs.

  Wilhelm ran from the holding area.

  A loud ear shattering scream echoed behind him in the chambers.

  “Find Nieves,” Wilhelm commanded to himself. “I must find her.”

  “Wilhelm!” yelled Aunty who was running towards him across the large open field. The houses were just small rocks on the horizon behind her. “How is Alric doing? I’ve been looking around but I can’t seem to find Nieves.”

  “She’s in the forest,” Wilhelm informed. “Nieves went in search of the tree.”

  Aunty took a shaky step backwards. “She what? Doesn’t she know it’s dangerous?”

  Wilhelm smirked. “She’s blinded with love. Right now the only thing she cares about is saving Alric. But I promised him I’d find her and hide her away until all this is over with.”

  Alric gave another scream of agony that shattered both Wilhelm and Aunty’s strength.

  Aunty jerked her attention to the holding cell where Alric was being kept. “I…” She closed her eyes tightly, lowering her sunglasses down. “I’m going to help you find her.”

  Another ear shattering scream erupted from inside. It darkened into something hallow and morbid. It sent a cold chill down their backs like fingers stroking the strings of a harp.

  “Let’s hurry.”

  Wilhelm nodded. “He’s already beginning to change.”

  †

  Nieves stepped out of the tree and over dead leaves and moss. “Sneeuwbal?” she called out. Nieves followed the water’s of the brook back to the place Sneeuwbal had been waiting.

  He stood there, head hanging low and a paw curled up from the ground. “Did you get what you came for?” asked Sneeuwbal, barely alive.

  “Oh my god.” She held the heart to her chest while running to Sneeuwbal’s side. “Are you alright? You look like you’re about to faint.” Her eyes held a thin sheen of burning tears.

  He gave a raspy laugh. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll walk the rest of the way,” she told him. “Just lead me back to the main house, please.”

  Sneeuwbal turned to follow some invisible path.

  “She gave me the heart of the Macter ancestor that betrayed her.” Nieves stepped over a thick branch. “I have to return it to the Macter family by placing it in Alric’s chest while he is a Demon.”

  Sneeuwbal made no reply.

  “Then the curse will end,” Nieves added with a happy smile, tears streaming down her cheeks continuously. She didn’t know why she was crying but she also couldn’t stop. They kept coming, one large tear drop after the other. A part of her knew why she cried but the other part wanted to deny all knowledge of what would happen.

  “Would you die for him?” asked Sneeuwbal and the Fox Maiden.

  “Yes,” Nieves had replied.

  “We’ll be there by dusk,” Sneeuwbal interrupted her trailing thoughts. “By then it might be too late.”

  Nieves sniffled. “What are we going to do?”

  “You’re going to climb on my back,” he told her. “I can make it to the edge of the forest but I’m not sure how far I can go beyond that.” He limped to a stop. “Go on.”

  “Alright.” Nieves held the bloodied heart to her chest then used her freehand to pull herself onto the dog Demon’s back. He even lowered himself a bit as to help her advance.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Take hold of my mane,” he said and she did with one hand.

  Sneeuwbal pranced forward jaggedly, not as liquid like before. His speed was still remarkably skillful. Faster than cheetahs and a mustang combined. He had to be running at two hundred miles an hour through the forest. Dodging low branches and leaping over objects was nothing for him.

  The light of the forest’s edge sparkled as they grew closer.

  “Nieves!” Wilhelm screamed through the cold winter air then coughed heavily. Nieves could tell his voice was growing hoarse from calling out so much. “Nieves!”

  Sneeuwbal slowed to a stop then lay down in the grass outside the forest. “I am sorry, Nieves, but I am too weak to go on.” His chest heaved slowly and shallow.

  The girl slid off his back, pressing the heart against her. “Will you be alright?”

  His eyes drooped closed. “Yes. I will be fine. I’ll put in a good word for you when I get to the afterlife. Now go and finish the task we started.”

  “Afterlife?” screamed Nieves. “You can’t die?”

  Sneeuwbal barked, “Go Nieves!”

  She scrambled to her feet and began to run but something snagged hold of her arm. The heart nearly slipped from her fingers with how slick it was. She kept her hold, spinning around to find a hard chest.

  “Where have you been?” asked Wilhelm.

  Nieves looked up and pulled away. “I have to give this heart to Alric.”

  “I can’t let you do that.” Wilhelm’s grasp on her arm tightened. “I’ve been ordered to keep you away, hidden, from Alric.”

  “No!” Nieves pulled away. “I have to get to him. He’ll die if I don’t!”

  Wilhelm yelled, “You’ll die if you do!”

  “I don’t care,” stated Nieves.

  A row of sharp teeth leapt from the ground, ready to take hold of Wilhelm’s wrist. Sneeuwbal gave a low growl and Wilhelm let Nieves go and backed away. “Do what you must, child.” Sneeuwbal gave a raspy cough, blood streaming from his mouth. “Hurry as I hold this one back.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Nieves raced across the field, feeling the heart warm in her hands. Strangely it felt much warmer than it had ever been before. She tripped to her knees but quickly got up making sure the heart was still in hand.

  “Alric,” she thought. “Alric.”

  CHAPTER 41

  Thick heavy clouds began to cover the sky with darkness. Night had suddenly come ahead of schedule as Nieves pressed on towards the main house. A row of howls broke the silence, sending her in a fret. She glanced around, searching through the thick darkness for Alric.

  Nieves climbed the steps of the main house then followed the porch to his room. “Alric,” she said, sliding the door open with a blood soaked hand. “Alric?” She found the room empty. “Where is he?” Nieves asked the heart in her hand.

  It was warm, burning warm. She glowered at it for a moment, realizing that its blood flow continued. Slowly, she watched as it began to beat again. One slow lazy beat after the other. More blood began to drizzle from it in thick rivulets. It veins became plump with liquid.

  “I have to find Alric,” she told herself while looking away from the heart.

  Her heavy footsteps down the stairs drew attention from the field. Rows of glowing beasts stood restless for a fight. They all turned their heads, glancing at Nieves with one eye then the other. They sized her up then realized she was meaningless. It was Alric they were searching for.

  The last glowing fox spirit joined with them from the forest—most likely Wilhelm, Nieves considered. She snuck behind the house and followed it until she was on the other side.

  Nieves felt the heart beating in her hands. “Alric,” she thought
intensely. “Where are you, Alric?”

  A horrid screech clawed its way in her ears. Nieves groaned, dropping to her knees while holding the heart tighter. The screech died away but was followed by another. Something black yet glowing stepped into Nieves’s sight. Its shadowy body was like fire. An icy fire that shimmered along its raven-like body. Black scales and black feathers decorated the creature to prefect beauty.

  She felt in awe of this being, this blackened phoenix.

  The silver spirit foxes all lowered their heads, ready for the hunt. Their growls rolled and rumbled.

  Nieves darted her view from the Cursed-Ones to the phoenix. It was then at that moment she realized where Alric was. He was standing right in front of her. He was wingless for now. He was a two-legged dragon.

  It gave another ear-shattering screech, its body twisting.

  “He’s trying to grow wings,” Nieves thought.

  The heart beat thunderously this time. It knew where it was meant to be.

  She didn’t wait any longer. “Alric!” Nieves leapt from behind the house and ran to him. The blood had stained her clothes, her skin, and everything she touched. But her mind blocked it all out. Her thoughts were only focused on getting the heart into Alric’s Demon chest.

  The dark phoenix lowered its head and turned it to look at Nieves. It eyed her suspiciously then screamed. It took a step forward and aimed at her. Something silver rammed into Alric’s side. A fox spirit was already taking its part in the attack.

  “Wait!” Nieves screamed, lunging forward between the silver fox’s next attack.

  The fox skid to a stop and looked upon her. It wasn’t sure what to do. The fox examined Nieves up and down wondering who she was. A Macter, perhaps?

  Nieves turned to Alric but he was already to his feet. “Alric, I brought you this heart. Please let me—” Something hit her from behind, knocking Nieves to the ground. She nearly hit her head against the wooden post to a house.

  She moaned, pulling a hand to her head.

  The silver rays of the fox reached out to her like arms. One of its transparent tentacles wrapped around her arm and she screamed. It burned her skin like acid, like a thousand needles digging down into bones.

  The phoenix raised a leg then hopped onto the fox’s back. Its talon dug deep until pools of glittery white liquid poured from its body. The fox howled as one of its comrades jumped towards the phoenix. The black fiery bird hopped away landing inches from Nieves’s sprawled out form.

  Nieves got to her feet and touched the bird’s chest with a bloodied hand. “I just need to get this into your body,” she told Alric.

  His beak lowered and gave a quick snap; it startled Nieves until she was stumbling. Alric’s eyes were empty black with a round circle of fire burning at their core. It gave a screech, snapping its beak at her again.

  “Don’t you remember me?” yelled Nieves.

  It grunted just after a fox leapt for another attack. Two foxes followed. Only one succeeded in getting a bite into Alric. The phoenix roared a breath of icy blue flame that lit the air. The smell of burning grass filled every corner of the sky and stained Nieves’s skin.

  Two protrusions in Alric’s body pressed and ripped until blackened wings stretched out. Each wing had to be at least ten feet in diameter at to what Nieves thought. She’d never seen such wings before. They shimmered in the light of the icy blue flame that licked the fire of a house.

  Nieves raced to the door and looked inside. Abandoned she noted, quickly trying to escape its confines. The smell of smoke was too much for her to handle. By the time she made it outside the phoenix was being pinned down by a fox. Its teeth had taken hold of Alric’s wing.

  Nieves pressed the heart to her chest. “I have to do this now or never.”

  While Alric fought off one silver fox then another, Nieves approached him from the side. She took down a deep breath wrapped an arm around Alric’s long neck. It fought her at first but the next silver fox spirit distracted him. She sat neatly upon the phoenixes back, the heat of the blue fire nipping. Luckily she was only near the fire and not on it.

  She took the heart in hand and lowered it down to Alric’s chest. She pressed it there begging for it to go inside. Her bloodied hand could hardly hold on to it any longer. Quickly she wrapped her other arm around and pressed with both hands.

  Alric threw off the fox spirit then turned its attention to the girl. He readied to take a bite out of her hand when his chest began to ripple. The dark phoenix took steps back, screaming and examining its chest with uncertainty.

  His wings gave a hard thrust, throwing his body into the air.

  “Alric,” she screamed, holding his neck as he lifted them higher into the air.

  The fox spirits leapt into the night sky, following after them like gravity didn’t matter.

  Nieves turned her attention from over her shoulder to the dark phoenix. He was strong at first but the heart was making him weak. His flight became drunken.

  “Alric,” Nieves whispered into his ear. “Please do not die. I want you to live more than anything in the world. I finally realize that I care about you this much because… because I love you, Alric.”

  The phoenix moaned, his wings gave up and he was plummeting head first towards the earth. They were going to land in the large field that Nieves had laid in her first night on Macter land. The same field Alric had agreed to have a picnic.

  She remembered him crawling on top of her in the grass and the way he made her stomach fill with butterflies. She had remembered the racing of her heart and the thoughts of kissing him again. He had felt so tranquil to her as if the world could never touch her.

  Nieves blinked and her daydream was gone.

  Her arms still burned from the acidic touch of the fox and her lungs ached from the smoke of the Phoenix’s fire.

  Alric’s side skidded across the grass. Nieves gave a scream of pain as she felt her right side scrape and rip to shreds. Her eyes slid closed and neither of them moved for what felt like ages.

  The blackened phoenix screeched a breath of icy fire that lit the tall grasses ablaze. He widened his wings but was unable to move at all. The phoenix knew the foxes were coming but his energy had been drained by whatever that girl had placed inside of him.

  That girl, the phoenix considered. Who was she?

  CHAPTER 42

  Nieves sat up, blood drizzling from the cuts along her right arm. She’d hit the ground at full speed just like Alric. Alric, her mind suddenly recalled then glanced about for the large black feathered bird but she didn’t see one. “Alric!” she screamed, trying to pull herself up. “Alric…” her voice slowly died with dizziness. The world began to spin but she caught site of something lying in the grass.

  The phoenix, she thought but she could never be sure until the world was steady again.

  The fires filled the air with strange alien smoke of blue. It smelled of something sweet—the smell she remembered that laced Alric’s skin. She enjoyed the scent very much.

  Nieves crawled towards the spinning black object in a drunken dance. Her knees ached with every amount of movement but she could not stop now. “Alric,” Nieves muttered, grabbing hold of what was there. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m still here like I promised.”

  “Alric!” screamed someone from the other side of the growing flames. “Alric are you alive?”

  “Nieves must be in there,” shouted another.

  Nieves couldn’t make out the voices but she was sure she knew them. They were calling out to Alric and her but Nieves didn’t have enough voice to call back. She tried but a faint whisper entered the air.

  She gave a smile, crawling up to the slowly and steadying shadow. Her arm gave up. It let her drop on top of whatever it was she had seen. Her fingers moved over the fabric, surprised Alric was still dressed. She wondered how the magic worked but her thoughts became slurred in time.

  The object she lay on took in a deep breath, lifting its chest. The heart inside
shifted multiple times before beating normally. He lifelessly sat up.

  The world stopped its spinning long enough for her to make out the features of Alric’s face. His eyes were still empty—filled with a black fiery ring in the center. He slid an arm around her waist and got them both to their feet.

  Alric’s mind was sorting out the recent images and memories. He remembered screaming in his prison cell after telling Wilhelm to find Nieves. He remembered his burning body and the feeling of napalm.

  He also remembered hearing Nieves’s voice calling out to him in the darkness.

  “Nieves,” Alric muttered the name as if programmed.

  She looked up at him and leaned her body against his. “I’m here,” she said. “I tried my best… to get the heart inside you. Hopefully, now, the curse is over with.” Nieves gave a weak smile, closing her eyes to find that it eased her throbbing head.

  Alric shifted through his thoughts more. He tried to remember what had happened. He wanted to know where he was and who was in his arms. Nothing came to mind until she muttered, “Alric” and fell from his grasp.

  “Nieves?” Alric lurched forward and took hold of her. His eyes finally embraced her image. “Nieves? Open your eyes, Nieves!”

  She lay there with tranquility. He thought she resembled a deep sleep but as he tried to wake her he thought otherwise. “Nieves, open your eyes this moment! I demand it!”

  “Alric!” screamed Wilhelm through the blazes of the fire. “Alric are you and Nieves okay?”

  He clenched his teeth. “Please open your eyes!”

  Water dripped against the back of his neck. He realized someone had dumped water on the fire behind him. He looked over his shoulder only for a moment. His eyes returned to her, lying still and silently in the grass.