Heart of the Winterland

by Kristen Kooistra

  Kota smirked and brushed by the bright pink orb. Ha! So the princess isn’t as foolish as I thought.

  As they reached the bottom of the hill, a man stepped out from the crowd. He was tall was blue eyes. Not that that’s saying much. They all look that way. He was dressed in silver with a gold crown perched on his head.

  Kota squinted. The inner light faded from the people and with it went the unearthly beauty. Age had been kind to the man, but it hadn’t left him untouched. White hair, wrinkles around his eyes, and a limp.

  “Calisandra?” He gave a curt nod to Cali. His eyes darted wildly as he extended a hand to her.

  What is it with royals and always wanting their hands kissed? It’d serve them all right if they got a host of diseases.

  Cali stared at the proffered hand for several long seconds, then flicked her eyes to the wrinkled visage and nodded coldly. “Falan.”

  ❄❄❄

  Cali sipped at the glass of lemonade in her hands. Falan, no—her father, sat across from her. It was the first time they’d been alone. Even Kota and Voice were elsewhere.

  After their frosty meeting, the people had mulled around at first with half-dazed expressions on their faces. Cali had herded them into the castle. In the hours that followed her descent from the hill, the foggy haze lifted from the Traborian’s minds and more people began arriving. They had all been returned, split between the castle and two of the larger towns, though Cali wasn’t sure why it was so.

  Cali shuddered, clenching her glass. They were so aimless. That’s what I must have been like growing up. She took another sip, avoiding her father’s intense gaze.

  With the cobwebs gone from their minds, the Traborians had questions. Questions Cali promised to answer in a month’s time. She hoped that’d give her enough time to formulate responses.

  Once they were promised answers, they agreed to return to their homes. More like they begged to go home. After years of neglect and disuse, the houses, fields, roads, and other traces of civilization were in desperate need of rebuilding.

  The first order of business had been to form a party. Volunteers, palace horses, and the few useable carts they found were sent to Laire with a large sum of gold from the castle treasury. Most of the volunteers were men and women with families. Cali trusted they would return. And with them, supplies: food, tools, cloth. Things they didn’t have time to make, but needed to survive and rebuild.

  Once that was settled, the remaining people began to work on repairs. Cali remembered that energy which had followed the lifting of her own hazed mind. The feeling of suppression gone and the need to do something. Hopefully it was the same for her people and that their energy would go a good way to restoring the kingdom.

  Only then, after insistence from Voice that she couldn’t keep working without rest, did she find her way back to her bedroom for a hasty night’s sleep.

  The following morning had started off well enough with a breakfast feast conjured by Voice, but knowing she couldn’t put off talking to Falan forever, she had made plans to meet with him and now sat across from a man she didn’t know. A man who was her father.

  I spent years wanting a family. Now I got my wish and I wish I hadn’t.

  Perhaps it was Voice’s storytelling that had dimmed her view of Falan, or maybe it was the way he’d watched as she organized the people and never lifted a finger to help; not to mention his cold greeting of her.

  “You look so much like your mother.”

  Cali started, spilling lemonade. She set the glass down and wiped her hand on the side of her travel-worn pants.

  “Of course you look nothing like you did as a babe, but I suppose that was her doing.” Bitterness edged his tone as he ran a finger along the arm of his chair. “You were blonde then, like me.”

  “So you knew she changed my appearance?” Despite the lemonade, her throat was parched.

  He snorted. “Not at first, no. I didn’t even know she’d changed her own appearance. I never would’ve married a foreigner.” He spat out the last word.

  Cali leaned forward and wet her lips. “What happened after—after Amee told you she was going to destroy us?”

  The aged man jerked at the mention of Amee. “How do you know about that?” he barked.

  “Voice pieced together the history and told me everything. Well . . . almost everything. I don’t know what happened here in those few months between Amee’s visits.”

  “A Magical orb. Leave it to your mother to create such a foul thing to look after you.” Falan rose from his chair and walked to the window.

  Cali clamped down on her tongue. He has some nerve calling Voice foul.

  “As a child, I was intrigued by oddities. Amee’s physical qualities made her interesting. I enjoyed having something no one else had and she kept me occupied. But I grew up and met Raina. So beautiful, so perfect. Just what Trabor needed—what I needed.”

  He turned from the window and stared at Cali. “Our engagement wasn’t long, and with the passing of my parents, I was crowned king soon after. With your arrival, everything seemed to be going perfectly. I’d all but forgotten about Amee. Why should I bother to remember her?”

  His lips tightened and he returned to his chair. “There were rumors of a witch as the years passed. Nonsense, I thought. Then came the winter and the warnings. People riding in to say the witch was on her way. From the description, she could only be one person: Amee.

  Everyone except the guards fled; though they came crawling back afterwards.

  “After she delivered her threat and left, I sent men to Shayal to secure food and other supplies. That’s when we discovered the borders were closed. Trapped like boars in our own land.”

  Children’s laughter filtered in through the window. Cali smiled wistfully. A sound I never thought I’d hear. I wish I was out there. Not stuck in here with . . . him.

  “Your mother panicked. She locked herself in her room and allowed no one in but her maid. Weeks passed and she still wouldn’t leave her room or let me in. I had to get the guards to break down her door.”

  He clenched the arm of his chair, eyes glinting. “I found her full-length mirror lying on the floor with her draped across it. Shocked doesn’t begin to describe my feelings at her unsightly appearance. She was pale as the moon, waif-like, and her hair was the oddest mix of black and blonde.”

  Unable to help herself, Cali leaned forward. “Her glamour failed?”

  “You know about glamours then?” He snorted. “Of course you do. You are her child, after all.”

  Cali’s cheeks pinched as she bit her tongue. “Yes.”

  “Well, it came as a shock to me. I sent the guards away with orders to tell no one what they’d seen on pain of death. No one could know what a frightsome creature I’d married.

  “Anyway, I was furious. I could’ve killed her right there. But she claimed she knew someone who could create a protection spell to save you.”

  “She didn’t create it?” Shock settled into Cali’s bones. I always assumed it was my mother who made the spell.

  “No. Apparently her magic was weak, not good for much besides glamours, but she’d been pouring every drop of magic into that mirror. A portal, she called it. A one-way trip to this other magic wielder.”

  “One-way?”

  “Yes, yes, I asked the same thing. She declared the person on the other side would send her back.” Falan rose and began pacing behind his chair. “So in the end, I knew what she looked like. When I saw you on the hill . . .”

  “I looked like her,” Cali whispered.

  “It could only be you. Unless Amee had a child that I didn’t know about. I would be cursed to have two foreigners cross paths with me,” he said with a bitter laugh. “You have that foreign look they had, but you have my eyes.”

  Cali studied her bare feet. “So that’s how you got the spell. Did—did you know what it would do? To the people?”

  “Did I know that it would trap us all in . . . Mishtenvale—that is
the name I’ve heard the peasants calling it since we’ve returned, is it not?” He waved off her reply. “Of course I didn’t know. I’d never condemn myself to that kind of life. Not for anyone, not even y—” He clamped his jaw shut.

  His gaze grew distant and he shuddered. “Nothing but mist and fog. No wind, no sun. I’m not even sure there was grass. Time held no meaning. Nothing mattered. I couldn’t summon the energy to care. Then suddenly I was standing on the castle steps. Right where I’d been dying when the spell took me.”

  He pulled his cloak tightly around him and faced the empty fireplace. “I suppose it saved my life by healing and placing me in suspension, but I’m not sure it was a better option than death.”

  “Were all the people in that place?” Cali shuddered at the thought of such a miserable experience. Though I suppose the mental state was much like my own. Not caring, not noticing, just letting life slip by.

  “Yes . . . and no. From listening to some of the people, it seems we were there, just not together.” His gaze slipped from the fireplace and slid past her face to stare out the window. “Alone. Always alone.”

  Minutes dragged by and he said no more. Cali rose and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.

  She wandered the halls until she realized her feet had led her to her favorite place. Intricately carved wooden doors greeted her like old friends. She ran her fingers over the designs, and then entered the library.

  Eyes closed, she took a deep whiff of the room that had been home for almost two hundred years. Books, ink, and the sweet scent of cherries. Cherries? Her eyes flew open and there sat Voice. A fire blazed in the hearth beside her, pink flames dancing. Home. For the first time, she truly felt she had returned.

  “Are you going to join me, Princess?”

  Cali smiled and took a seat across from Voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sitting in a chair before.”

  Voice snorted. “I wasn’t capable of it before. I seem to have more range of movement with this larger form.”

  They sat in comfortable silence for awhile. Cali leaned back and let the worries of the past week drain from her.

  “You are doing well, you know,” Voice said quietly.

  “Am I truly?”

  “Yes, I am proud of you. But there is one thing . . .”

  Cali bolted upright and bit her lip. “What? Am I doing something wrong?”

  “Nothing like that. I just think that it is time.”

  “Time for what?” Cali said with a hint of suspicion.

  “For your coronation.”

  “My what!”

  “Your coronation. I think it is time for a princess to become a queen. That is your destiny, after all, and you have earned it.”

  Cali gazed deep into the pink flames. “You’ve forgotten about my father.” The word curdled her stomach. “He is king.”

  Voice snapped, “I forget nothing. He is no king. The people will not have him. Not now. Not after what happened to them. They want a change and you are that change. Besides, he’s too old and feeble to be the strong leader this country needs.”

  Tearing her eyes from the fire, Cali studied Voice. “Why is he old? The children are still children, and their parents are no older. Why is Falan old?”

  “I can only guess, but I think the protection spell saved him at a cost. He lived, but death is not thwarted without a price.”

  “Will the people really not accept him as king?” Cali knew she was jumping all over, but she couldn’t help it.

  “From what I have observed . . . no. He and Raina paid a price for your protection at the expense of the people. They won’t be subject to his whims any longer, but they do need a leader. A coronation would bring the kingdom together, rally spirits, and give people hope for a brighter future.”

  “Falan will not like it.”

  “Then do not give him a choice,” Voice said.

  Quiet descended and Cali sighed in contentment. It’s going to be difficult, and it’s not as perfect as I imagined, but this life is mine. I’m going to do my best to make it count.

  “Thank you, Voice. For everything. For following me on a crazy trip. Keeping me safe and sane.”

  “It was my job, Princess.”

  “I think you went above the call of duty.” Cali sent her friend a warm smile.

  “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It has been an honor to serve you. And you made the impossible happen.”

  Cali quirked an eyebrow. “And what was that?”

  “You showed me that I can love. That life is about more than just me and my bitterness.”

  “In that case, I’d say it’s a lesson we both learned.” Cali smirked. “Does that mean we are both the heart of Trabor?”

  Voice flushed pink. “I have a feeling you will never let me forget that.”

  Cali laughed. “I never will.”

  Epilogue

  Three Months Later

  Kota tried to peer through the crowd blocking her view. After a few minutes of staring at elaborate finery and towering hairstyles, she gave up. She faded back and slipped out the door and into the receiving room. The people quieted and she caught snatches of the coronation proceedings.

  I don’t really care anyway. She wandered down the hallway leading to her private chambers. All the planning, cooking, cleaning, outfitting, and decorating of the past few months had bored her more than being stuffed in a barrel of fish.

  What am I doing here? This place isn’t for me. I’m a fighter. Independent. This community stuff is not my thing.

  And then of course there was the shocking revelation. Servants whispered of the old queen who’d cast the spell: Queen Raina.

  Raina. Kota pounded a fist against the wall. Blood swelled on her knuckles and she rubbed it off on her new clothes. Cali with her mixed blood and Sjadian physical traits. A queen named Raina who could use magic. Not to mention the timing of the events. The coincidences were too many to mean anything else. Trabor’s Raina was her Raina. The one who’d come begging the empress for a spell to protect her daughter.

  Not that it mattered. The woman was dead. Killed by a witch. Serves her right. I wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t been in Sjadia that day.

  She strode past a door and pulled herself up short. She snuck back to the room she’d just passed. Pressed against the wall, she poked her head around the doorframe.

  What is that orb up to? Orb wasn’t the right term anymore. The changes in Voice hadn’t stopped with their arrival in Trabor, in fact they’d become more extreme. Voice had withdrawn from sight, keeping to her room and the library. Eventually, she started avoiding even Cali.

  Cali’s new duties kept her rushing about, and though Kota was sure she’d noticed Voice’s absence, she had let it pass for the time being. Probably thinks she’ll have time later to see what’s wrong.

  Kota could now see what was “wrong.” Still glowing with ever-changing colors, Voice was trapped between two worlds. She wasn’t an orb, nor was she human, but a combination of both. If Kota laid on the ground and someone drew an outline of her, and then filled it in with solid glowing yellow, or whatever color, it’d look like Voice. Only Voice wasn’t flat.

  Legs, arms, even a head. Voice had all the parts. They were just . . . well, not human. Why Voice saw this as a bad thing, Kota couldn’t reason. But obviously it was causing her to pull away.

  A tearing sound drew her attention back to the room. Voice had torn a sheet of paper and was writing on it. Writing? Good dragon, since when could Voice do that? When did Voice have hands for that matter? She really shouldn’t be surprised. Voice had arms after all.

  Kota hunkered in the shadows as Voice finished the note and left it on Cali’s desk. She turned to leave the room and Kota scuttled back, hiding behind a suit of armor.

  Voice exited the room and walked down the corridor, away from Kota. Keeping her distance, Kota followed. They slipped out of the castle and into the warm mid-day air.

  ❄❄❄
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  Voice slipped inside the stables and hid just inside the door. Whoever was shadowing her was good, but she’d been way too paranoid the last few months not to notice.

  Please, do not let it be Cali. I cannot bear to see her now. She would never understand.

  A short figure with chin-length hair crept into the stables. Voice stepped behind Kota and placed a hand on her shoulder. Kota dropped to the floor and kicked her leg out, knocking to the ground.

  “Ouch!” Voice lay on the dirty floor in shock. Pain shot through her back and elbows. I can feel pain. Well, of course you can, nitwit. You’ve been feeling everything else lately, why not pain?

  Kota rose and helped Voice to her feet. Voice glared at her.

  Not that she can tell. I don’t have a face. Not yet . . . But she knew she would, soon. The process had been slow to start, but since returning to Trabor, it had sped up rapidly. At first she didn’t know what to make of it. But when she’d started developing limbs, she knew. She was turning human.

  No one was supposed to see her. She’d expected the coronation to keep everyone busy. “What are you doing here? Why are you following me?”

  Kota ignored her and walked into a nearby stall. Shortly after, she returned with a charcoal-colored mount. Still ignoring Voice, she grabbed tack from the back room and began to saddle the horse.

  “What do you think you are doing?” She did not have time for this. She needed to leave, now.

  Kota looked at her over the back of her horse. She tapped herself and the horse, pointed to Voice, and then swept her arm towards the door.

  What does that mean? She really, really did not have time for this. She moved down the aisle and ducked into a stall. Inside was a grey mare with her tack along the wall. Everything just as Voice had left it the night before.

  With sure movements, she saddled the horse and led her out of the stall. Kota was already mounted and waiting for her.

  “I am leaving.” Better to be blunt.