Aspect Of Winter

by Tom Early

  Sam was surrounded by about ten unconscious redcaps, knocked out from being impacted by her spinning orbs, but she was bleeding from several deep cuts from her waistline. There were only about three left, and as I watched, Sam sidestepped a slice from one of them, conjured an orb that slammed into the one to her right, and raised her right foot and smashed her heel into the face of the one that just took a swing. Spinning around quickly, she dodged the attack from the one behind her, feinted with her left arm, and her right arm darted nimbly out to snatch the cap off the creature’s head, causing it to join in the screaming of the ones around me. None of the Sluagh Sidhé were going near her while her Light spell held.

  Tyler was running laps backward around the edge of the graveyard, and every time a redcap got too close, he would snap out a vicious kick at it, his foot still safely encased in ice. I watched as one of the kicks connected, sending the redcap flying. He kept having to duck as the Sluagh Sidhé swept down at him from above, however, and that allowed the redcaps to get a little closer.

  The two redcaps outside my circle watched as Tyler’s victim flew through the air and landed almost on the other side of the area, near the portal. I took advantage of their distraction and had the snow lunge out and wrap itself around their bodies, dragging them in. I deftly grabbed their caps as they struggled, immobilized, doing my best to drown out the screaming, which had risen to a fever pitch.

  I gave Sam a nod and we both turned our attention to the ones left chasing Tyler. I froze the ground beneath their feet and a couple of them promptly lost their balance and fell. Sam used more of her already drained reserves to pick off the three that continued to chase Tyler with her Minor Orbs, and used Light at the same time to force the Sluagh Sidhé to keep their distance.

  Soon, we had collected all of the bloodstained caps, and were left dealing with bawling creatures begging for them back. The Baí Zé had told us what to do here as well.

  “The night’s mischief is over now, redcaps. Your caps will await you on the other side of the portal.” With that, we tossed their caps through the jagged light, and the redcaps streamed through after them, desperate for them back. According to the Baí Zé, the portal was a one-time use only. They wouldn’t be coming back.

  Of the three of us, none of us had escaped without being wounded. I would definitely need stitches for my chest, and the cuts on Sam’s waist and Tyler’s thighs were pretty deep, too. Urgh. My chest felt like it was on fire from the pain. I quickly froze over their wounds as well, and winced from the massive headache I could feel coming on.

  The Sluagh Sidhé had begun to swirl maddeningly around us. Their smoky mouths were open in whispering hatred, and then, all at once, the cloud burst apart. The spirits went flying in every direction, leaving trails of smoke and ash behind them. Bluish-white light still pulsed intermittently as they neared the candles. We were putting on one hell of a light show for anyone watching outside the graveyard. The problem was that the smoke and ash the Sluagh Sidhé created were already thickening the air, making it harder and harder to see. The spirits were pressing in closer and closer to us as Sam’s Light began to flicker. We I stumbled near to each other so we wouldn’t get separated.

  “Sam, they’re getting closer! What do we do?” I forced out, coughing as some of the ash caught in my throat.

  “Fay, there’s one thing I can do, but you aren’t going to like it. Remember the other light I conjured once?”

  I paled. “Sam, NO! You almost died because of that thing the first time. Do you really want to do that again, using your own strength instead of a circle?”

  “I don’t think we have a choice! You can’t do it, and I still remember the incantation. Keep them away so I can focus!”

  I didn’t like this at all, but I dutifully summoned my own Light, in an attempt to at least hold them back a few feet, if not banish them. Sam’s voice soon rose over the din of the spirits, in the same haunting melody as when she summoned the ercinee a month ago. The spirits and the Fey seemed to pause as her voice floated through the air, the thrum of power along with it.

  The ercinee answered her call.

  Glowing yellow wings beat the air as the soft drone of firefly wings filled our ears, and the same luminous tails traced patterns in the night sky behind it. The ercinee’s head swiveled rapidly about, taking in the thousands of spirits in the graveyard. I saw the same awful hunger in its eyes, but it wasn’t directed at us this time. Remembering the sacrifice part of the ritual, I held my orb of Light out to the ercinee, and it absorbed it. Its head whipped toward Sam for a moment, whose face was frozen in furious concentration, a vein pulsing in her forehead.

  She nodded sharply, and the ercinee took flight, letting out a victorious cry. I saw the feasting Sidhé watch entranced as it soared through the graveyard, chasing down the Sluagh Sidhé as they flew around. Its beak was constantly open, and we watched as it seemed to devour any spirit it came across. The ercinee was a creature of energy, and whether that energy was light or souls, it didn’t matter.

  Within seconds, the Sluagh Sidhé could tell that the game had changed. Instead of rushing around wildly, they all swarmed towards the ercinee, attempting to smother it in smoky darkness. For a moment, its glow was hidden by the spirits, and then it pulsed, sending light cascading across the graveyard, far brighter than before. The ercinee had absorbed the souls of each and every one of the Sluagh Sidhé, and it returned to Sam’s side, resplendent in power. Sam smiled once, and then fainted, falling slowly to the ground as the ercinee vanished from the world once more. It was only able to stay as long as Sam held it here. Tyler and I dove to catch her, and we dragged her over to the bonfire to recuperate. The Sidhé crowded around us, cheering loudly, some of them groaning as whatever currency they used changed hands.

  A horrible voice, cold and dry, cut through the air like a whip. “Well, it would seem that the festivities are in full swing. Such a pity that I had to arrive late, but no one thought to send me an invitation. Rather rude of you, don’t you think?”

  We spun around, to be greeted by a terrifying vision. Tall and thin, wrapped in black cloth atop a black horse, the creature cradled its own head in its arm, the mouth stretched wide in a terrifying rictus grin. His other hand clutched a human spine, but longer and with a handle, like a whip. Hitched to the horse was a carriage, with the wheel spokes made of human bones, and the cover of stretched human skin. Flies swarmed madly around it.

  It was the Dullahan, the most dangerous of the Dark Fey the Bai Zé had warned us of. A harbinger of death itself, the horrifying origin of all the stories of the Headless Horseman.

  Tyler and I looked at each other, terrified, and at Sam, still unconscious. We were on our own for this one. Tyler stepped up first, fists balled at his side, but the Gille Dubh moved him gently aside and spoke.

  “Greetings, O Dullahan, on this Samhain night. Will you not put down your dark duty in favor of food and drink, and making merry? Our hosts made for us all a generous welcome.”

  The Dullahan chuckled humorlessly.

  “No, I think not. Step aside, tree spirit, for I would take my fill this night as well.”

  The Sidhé’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Fill o’ what, exactly?”

  “Of these humans’ souls, of course. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to ride through the night, and my carriage is empty. I’ll need to work fast if it’s to be full before the sun’s rise, and these three are first on my list. Now, treeling, stand out of my way or I’ll mark you for the taking as well.”

  The Gille Dubh growled low in his throat, the sound reverberating through the graveyard. The cat poked its head out of his beard and hissed along with him. Several of the Clurichaun folded their large, bat-like ears over their eyes, whimpering slightly.

  “No,” the Gille Dubh thundered, “I’ll not stand for that. These children have been tested enough on this night, and have been perfectly courteous besides. They deserve nothing but the finest of compliments for the
ir efforts, and you will not take their lives this Samhain eve.”

  He strode forward, and planted his staff firmly on the ground. The trees of the graveyard creaked ominously, and roots began to slither out from the ground, gathering around the Sidhé.

  For a moment, the Gille Dubh was the only one to do anything. Then, slowly, the two Leanan shook their heads as well. As a pair, they trilled,

  “These children have paid homage to us in such a way that has not been done for millennia, Dullahan. They remember the old customs, and they treat the Fair Folk well and firmly. We have enjoyed a night of revelry on Gaia thanks to their efforts, and we would see them thanked for this, not killed.”

  Inspired by the bigger Sidhé coming to our defense, perhaps, the Clurichaun also came to our defense. They formed a circle around us, and the once unarmed crowd of little people was suddenly bristling with tiny knives and small sparks of colorful magic.

  One of the less tipsy of the Clurichaun piped up as well.

  “We’ve had our fill of food and drink, Dullahan. They offered us both, and you bring us neither. We stand with our hosts on this one!”

  The Dullahan’s head had stopped grinning. It looked at the mass of Sidhé between us and it, and said nothing, its face a mask of cold anger at being stopped. It looked past the Sidhé, at each one of us.

  “Do not think I have forgotten about this, humans. I mark you now. You will be claimed by the Dullahan, I so swear it, even if I must ride out through the moonless night a thousand times. Your souls are mine, now and forevermore.”

  It cracked its whip, and three droplets of blood flew off of it, each landing unerringly on the center of our brows, fading away swiftly. Slowly, it turned its horse around, preparing to pass through the portal once more.

  “No.”

  My own voice rang out of its own accord. I was shaking with terror, but also with fury. If you need to threaten me, then so be it. I don’t care if you hate me. But not my friends. Not the people I care about. I walked through the crowd of Sidhé, ignoring Tyler’s desperate “Fay, no!”, and stopped in front of the Dullahan. It peered down at me contemptuously.

  “Are you so eager to lose your life, boy? You don’t stop a rider of Death on its way. I was granted my duty by the Final Season long before your race even existed.”

  I ignored him. “I was told not to kill any of the Sidhé that came through if I didn’t want to cause serious trouble for myself, but I’m pretty sure it’s worth it for you.”

  Energy filled my body, though I don’t know where from. My own reserves were dangerously low, but this power was flowing in from the night of Samhain itself. The festival to celebrate the coming of winter and the changing of seasons had imparted its blessing. And… I just had a feeling, at the back of my head. It was like something had put its hand on my shoulder, supporting me. Whatever that something was, it wanted the Dullahan gone.

  “By the way,” I said conversationally, “Your horse is dead.”

  I waved my hand lazily, and massive spikes of ice manifested from nowhere, slamming deep into the creature’s sides. There was no reaction at all to the sound of brittle bones breaking and rotted flesh parting like wet paper.

  The Dullahan raised a single, rotting eyebrow.

  “Boy, my horse has been dead for a long time, and its corpse is bound to my power. You have no sway over it.”

  I just stared at him, and clenched my other hand slowly. The ice spikes slowly began to spread over the body of the horse, encasing it in full. I made a quick snapping motion, and the ice shattered. The horse shattered along with it.

  The Dullahan’s decomposing face registered utter shock as he fell to the ground, as if he couldn’t comprehend what was happening to him at all. I heard several startled gasps from behind me as well. The Dullahan’s head rolled a few feet away from his body as he landed hard. I waved my hand again, and his carriage erupted from the inside out as I forced ice inside to send shards flying in all directions. Every shard headed my way was held quivering motionless in the air. I was filled with power, and Tyler told me later that my hair had shone pure white and my eyes were glowing blue.

  The Dullahan opened its mouth, probably to issue another threat or to stutter about how impossible what I had just done was. I didn’t care. I smiled slowly, and just pointed at his head. Every shard in the air rotated slowly to face it, and then shot forward. Within seconds, his head was a pincushion, and I encased it in ice and shattered it, just to be sure. I did the same with his body. I didn’t feel guilt about killing a monster. Not when it had promised death for my friends.

  Turning around slowly, I saw all of the Sidhé giving me looks that were equally horrified and reverent. The female Leanan put a hand to her mouth, and said softly, so softly that I could barely hear her,

  “I never thought…”

  I swayed suddenly, the boundless power leaving me as suddenly as it had arrived. The mother of all migraines hit me, and I fell to the ground clutching my head and moaning. The world around me was going white as the pain drowned out everything. Tyler rushed over to me and moved me carefully to lie down next to Sam, his eyes full of concern.

  The Gille Dubh watched us, his large eyes heavy with sadness.

  “Ach, ye’re still just a stripling, aren’t ye, lad? It’s a heavy onus ye’ll be bearing in your future, child. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, to be His successor…”

  The female Leanan shushed him.

  “Hush, Guardian of Killarney. I won’t have you tell this boy any more than he needs to know at the moment. It’ll only make matters worse for him.”

  She bent down to me, and kissed me softly on the brow. I groaned softly as the pain blessedly lessened a bit.

  The Leanan Sidhé looked at me seriously.

  “Child, you do not yet understand the significance of what you just did. If you are fortunate, it will be a long time before you do. You will be strong one day. Far stronger than you are now.”

  She stood in a fluid, graceful motion, and spoke in a carrying voice, turning the heads of all the Sidhé towards her.

  “Though I like it not, child, I am indebted to you threefold. For the passage to Gaia, for the festivities, and for protecting us from the wrath of the Dullahan, that we would surely have faced upon our return to the Courts. I shall repay two of these debts now, for myself and on behalf of all Sidhé here. First, none in this town save you three shall remember this night as anything but ordinary. Second, I return this graveyard and yourselves to your natural states.”

  She made an arcane gesture with her hands, and they glowed with a soft green light that washed over everything. When it cleared, the graveyard was as clean as if we had never been here. The smoke had cleared in full, the candles and the bonfire were gone, and we were left lying on the green grass in the central clearing.

  She turned her luminous silver eyes to me for the last time, her entire form glowing alabaster in the once again silver sliver of the normal moon.

  “The final debt, child, shall be repaid when you most need it. The Fair Folk gathered here shall watch over you, and when you need us most, we shall help you, and thus our duties fulfilled.”

  And with that, the host of Sidhé simply left. Following the Leanan, they filed slowly back through the portal. The Gille Dubh left last, his expression sorrowful. He glanced back at us once, and then stepped through. The portal closed at his passing. The festival of Samhain had ended. I glanced tiredly at Tyler. He smiled at me and patted me on the shoulder.

  “We made it, bud. I don’t know how, but we did.”

  “Hey,” I chuckled weakly. “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “I think they really liked your cookies.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I woke up slowly with an aching back from sleeping on the ground, opening my eyes blearily as I remembered where I was. In a graveyard. I was surprised I’d slept at all. Trying to move led to every muscle in my body complaining loudly. I did my best to stretch and
bring the world into focus. Sam was lying asleep next to me, and I saw Tyler approaching us with two takeout bags and a fond smile on his face.

  My worst fears had been realized; Tyler was a morning person.

  Naturally, my reaction of slowly circling the realm of consciousness until I reached it was nothing compared to Sam’s. As soon as the smell had reached us, I heard a “…Huh? Whazzat?” and a fist slammed into my jaw.

  “Owww,” I moaned, rolling away in pain from Sam, who was in full flail-awake mode, her arms and legs thrashing every which way as her body remembered that it was in a dangerous situation the last time it was awake. Tyler was doubled over laughing as I rubbed my poor jaw. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Figures that the only lasting damage from all this would come from Sam, and not one of the Sidhé.

  “Sam, I didn’t survive last night so you could kill me.”

  She ignored me in favor of taking one of two greasy takeout bags that Tyler was holding out to us, and made happy noises as she pulled out an egg sandwich from the local diner. I did the same a second later, and Tyler just watched amusedly as we stuffed our faces. Apparently using a ton of magic made one really hungry the day after. That or just stress.

  When we finished eating, I filled Sam in on what had happened.

  “So, you’re telling me the Dullahan came through the portal and threatened to kill us for not saving special cookies for it? And then you got mad because ‘hey that’s rude’ and you killed it? And then the sexy Fey lady gave you an IOU for later after cleaning up the mess?”

  “Uh. Yes? It was a bit more complicated than that, but yes?”

  Sam shrugged, wiping off a bit of yolk running down her chin.

  “Well, that sounds fine with me. We survived losing only fifty bucks worth of candles and getting a favor from the Fair Folk. I’d say we came out ahead.”