Toil And Trouble

by H. P. Mallory

  “He will slaughter her!” Rand screamed, struggling against Sinjin’s grip.

  I looked back at Ryder who was mesmerized by the situation, a smile still visible on his lips. While Ryder’s attention was captivated, I decided to make a move for the stake. I dove for it like a shortstop going for a baseball and joyfully grasped the wooden handle. Just as I expected, instantly I felt Ryder on my back, hurling his weight into me until I felt like I was going to break in two.

  I had to get him off me. Even though my magic was useless against Ryder, it could be used as a momentary diversion so I envisioned flames consuming the grass below us. The flames immediately surrounded us, a virtual fire that didn’t harm either one of us but diverted Ryder’s attention all the same. I took the opportunity to buck him off me. Fortunately, Ryder was caught off balance and I was able to roll away from underneath him. He was instantly on his feet but made no motion to attack me. He just glared at me.

  I didn’t have to glance at Rand and Sinjin to know they were still wrestling one another. I could hear their grunts and curses.

  “C’mon, you little bitch,” Ryder taunted me but I hesitated, I had to rely only on my defensive measures.

  “You come to me, you big, stupid piece of shit!” I screamed, venting my anger. I had never hated anyone more than Ryder. Images of the video he’d included in his letter came back to haunt me and I had to force them aside. I couldn’t let my anger get the better of me. I had to be cool and calm and focus on defeating him with my training.

  Then it happened. He materialized directly before me and aimed a punch at my head. I ducked and went on autopilot and let my body react rather than my brain. It felt like I was watching Ryder move in slow motion as he impelled himself forward, trying to pin me down again. I deftly sidestepped him and came up from behind. The stake was heavy in my hand and the thought of impaling Ryder suddenly consumed me. As I lifted the stake to plunge it into his back, I felt like I was watching a movie. The hard coldness of Ryder’s back met me as I drove the stake into his flesh with all the strength I could muster. For one moment he stood there, shock in his eyes. Then he suddenly exploded. I covered my face with my arms as his ashes rained over me.

  I fell backwards on the ground as I let go of the stake and I could only stare up at the stars as I realized I’d done it! I‘d killed Ryder.

  “Jolie!” Rand screamed.

  I shoved my elbows into the ground and sat up. Gwynn, the half vampire, half witch who belonged to Ryder, was suddenly before me. We were nose to nose. The hatred in her face didn’t surprise me considering I’d just decimated her lover and maker.

  I didn’t have the chance to defend myself before I felt the sharp end of a dagger against my stomach.

  #

  I screamed against what I imagined would be blinding pain as Gwynn sunk her blade into my gut but…nothing. I blinked and blinked again before my eyes convinced my brain that what they were seeing was real. Snow…for miles. And pine trees for more miles. And as if that weren’t enough for me to crap myself, no Rand, no Sinjin, no battle. I was on my own.

  Okay, well this was definitely better than being run through by a blade but it didn’t change the fact that I had no idea where I was or how to get back. I was suddenly struck with that feeling of déjà vu. I’d seen this before in a vision—the unending snow, the umbrage of tree branches above me. And Mathilda had seen it too. I clasped the amber pendant in my freezing hand and tried to move forward which was difficult because I was up to my knees in snow.

  So, what in the hell had happened? The last thing I remembered was the feel of Gwynn’s cold, steel blade and then, boom, I was suddenly in a winter wonderland, like a scene from Currier and Ives. Magic was involved, it had to be. Whose magic though, was the question. It couldn’t have been mine because I was off guard and unable to escape the bitch’s blade. Could Rand have transported me all these miles? Maybe so, but what about the snow? Maybe he’d mixed up his charms and accidentally added snow to my relocation efforts? Yeah, that sounded like a good explanation, so I’d go with it.

  I shivered, the cold wind piercing my tee-shirt and stretch pants. I mentally fabricated an energy barrier of heat to envelop me which allowed me to create a path by melting the snow. Thank God for being a witch. I plodded through the snow, watching it melt away as I moved forward. I had to re-envision my blanket of heat over and over because my magic needed constant renewal. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this up.

  I needed to get back to the battle and fast. Suddenly, I remembered Ryder was dead. A feeling hard to describe descended on me—one of infinite pride and relief, huge relief. All my training, every night of drinking Sinjin’s blood had been worth it. Ryder would never harm another woman…or man again. His rampage was over. And at my hands. Then a sad thought began to form as I considered the fact that I’d killed. I mean, even though he’d had it coming and I didn’t regret his death at all, death was now staining my hands.

  It made me feel a little nauseous and reinforced the fact that I never wanted to experience it again. It wouldn’t be an easy thing to live with and I almost felt tainted, different. Not wanting to dwell on such morose thoughts, I turned my attention to which direction I should take in order to find our legion. I’d been walking for maybe ten minutes with no change in scenery—just acres of snow and trees. And I couldn’t hear the battle sounds to which I’d become inured. No matter, I continued moving. I had my magic to keep me warm, things could be worse.

  Things got worse. About an hour or so later, I hadn’t located another living creature and my magic was starting to fade. It takes a lot of concentration to keep magic going and the cold was little by little creeping into my warm blanket until it was now lukewarm. And still nothing but trees. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was just walking in circles. But, I couldn’t have been. I was just stuck in the middle of a huge forest. Thanks a lot, Rand. Well, I guess it was better than imminent death but still…

  I nearly tripped over a tree root and felt a nasty pain radiating up my foot. Great, a twisted ankle. God freaking dammit. I leaned down to cradle the injured joint and focused healing white light onto the swollen area. Instantly, the pain subsided and I was as good as new. Except for the fact that my magic was dwindling. Keeping myself warm was about to become a tough order. Hopefully I’d find civilization soon.

  I magically refurbished my blanket of heat and continued forward. How freaking far had Rand relocated me? Jeez, it seemed like miles. Maybe he was as navigationally challenged as I was. Then a thought occurred to me. If I could access Mathilda’s fairy village from here, maybe she could transport me to the one in the Cairngorms? Then the Cairngorms fairies could help me get back to Clava Cairns? It wasn’t a bad idea. I just didn’t know if Mathilda’s village was accessible from Scotland. Well, it was worth a try.

  I approached a large pine tree and placed my hand on it, closing my eyes as I imagined the entryway to Mathilda’s village. I opened my eyes. Nothing. Hmm, I tried again. Still nothing. Well, third time’s a charm right?

  Wrong. Third time sucked as bad as one and two. Guess I couldn’t access Mathilda’s village this far North. Dammit! And as for the Cairngorms fairy village, I couldn’t access that at all because I’d never been invited and Sinjin still had the key. Double dammit!

  I plodded along, the snow not melting as quickly so it was becoming harder to trudge through. Despite Rand’s good intentions to protect me, it now it looked like I’d die in this snowy forest.

  An hour later, my magic was basically useless. And I was freezing which made it even more impossible to create magic. For magic to work, one must be healthy and well rested. At this point, I was neither. My fingers were getting frostbitten and I’d stopped feeling my toes a long time ago. The crunch of snow underfoot was the only sound to greet my ears, aside from the intermittent howl of the wind as it coursed through the skeletal pine trees. My nose stung, the rest of my face having already grown numb. I wanted to cry but was afraid t
he tears would freeze to my face.

  After what seemed like hours but was more likely thirty minutes, I could make out lights maybe a mile or so ahead. I had to rub my eyes again just to make sure the lights were real and not a mirage. After further consideration, I couldn’t deny the fact that there were definitely lights dotted intermittently between the endless miles of tree trunks and branches.

  With renewed energy, I forced myself onward, hoping to ward off the cold long enough to reach the house. My stride had long since slowed, my teeth chattering nonstop and I wondered if I could even make it to the door. I tried to close my eyes and summon up any remnants of magic but it was futile. I’d have to continue forward using human strength.

  About halfway to the house, my leg muscles completely froze and I could barely walk. I had to take baby steps which, given the knee-high snow, were reduced to fetus steps. My teeth were now chattering like a skeleton in a windstorm. I collapsed onto the icy ground and glanced up at the lights glowing through the trees. It was so close. If I could just go a little further…but my legs were useless.

  I couldn’t die out here! I grabbed hold of a low tree branch to drag myself forward or at least tried but my body was freezing and…dying. I pounded the earth with frustration as tears flooded my eyes only to freeze on my cheeks and litter the ground like diamonds.

  The irony of surviving a battle with Underworld creatures only to die from the elements was not lost on me. It wasn’t fair! I punched the ground again just to make sure I could and the urge to scream overwhelmed me.

  “Rand, Sinjin!” The wind took my voice and the sound echoed against the trees, as if mocking me. A few birds scattered from a tree overhead but other than that, no response. Panic overtook me. I dropped my head to the ground and sobbed over the fact that my life had come to this. What a way to go…I wasn’t in much pain—just the pain of intense cold which meant I wasn’t completely frozen…yet.

  “Goodness, you are nearly an icicle, Miss.”

  Startled, I glanced up into the lovely face of a woman, a smiling and friendly face. Her beautiful green eyes radiated warmth as she kneeled down next to me, her long dark hair framing her stunning eyes and heart shaped mouth. I tried to speak but she silenced me with a finger on her lips. She picked me up as if I didn’t weigh a thing, hoisting me over her shoulder and started singing something I didn’t recognize. Her body was warm against mine, so warm I wanted to sink into her, to close my eyes.

  “How did you know?” I started, wondering why she’d been out in the snow and more so, if I’d completely lost it.

  “I have been expecting you,” she answered. It took my iced mind a second or two to grasp the strangeness of her comment.

  “How have you been expecting me? Why?”

  I watched the snow dissolve before she took a step, as if carving a pathway for us. Funny, but I hadn’t noticed that her aura was in any way different than an ordinary human’s.

  “We can discuss it later. For now, we need to warm you up!” And that was the end of that. She continued trudging through the snow, humming a tune as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

  I didn’t know how long we walked because I blacked out a few times. Coming out of my cold stupor, I opened my eyes when the woman carefully laid me on the freezing ground in front of a great doorway. From my vantage point, I couldn’t make out much of the house—just that the entryway was grand and constructed of stone. The woman wiped her hands on her apron and reached for a rope attached to the overhang of the doorway. A deep bell sounded from within.

  The woman glanced back at me. “You will be fine,” she started. “We will take good care of you.”

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  The woman smiled suddenly, as if just realizing she’d never introduced herself. “I am Mercedes Berg.” She was probably in her early thirties, if I had to guess.

  “I’m…Jolie,” I started, suddenly realizing I was no longer cold. In fact, since the arrival of my friendly savior, I hadn’t been bothered by the cold, the snow or the biting wind. Hmm…And there was something…familiar about her. Perhaps it was the bizarre response of my dying body but I couldn’t help the feeling that we’d met before. That somehow I knew her. It was her voice…it was so familiar but I couldn’t put my thumb on how or where I knew her.

  When the door remained unanswered, Mercedes lost her smile and pounded on it. Moments later, the door opened and revealed a youngish girl, maybe in her early twenties. She was wearing a funny hat—like a doily on top of a mass of red curls. And her dress was just as odd, floor length and a drab brown. It seemed to be a heavy fabric—something like wool and the white apron wrapped around her waist gave her a scullery maid sort of look. That was when I noticed the garb of Mercedes—the same long and drab dress that dragged along the ground, soaked by the melted snow. Hmm, I’d been saved by the Amish.

  “What have ye got there, Miss Berg?” the girl asked in a thick English accent, her hands on her hips as she eyed me. Her expression was less than pleasant. To hear her, you might’ve thought Mercedes had just shown up with a flea-infested, dead rodent.

  “Elsie, the lady is ill.” Mercedes glanced at me with warmth in her stunning eyes. And that was when I realized Mercedes wasn’t English or Scottish. Her accent was one I couldn’t pinpoint, not European, maybe American? Actually, it was as if she possessed no accent at all, nothing that might hint to her beginnings.

  Elsie muttered something with a frown, then positioned herself at my side and with the help of Mercedes, hoisted me up and carried me inside. I tried to smile my thanks.

  “A lady?” Elsie asked in a facetious tone. “Don’t look like a lady ta me. She’s dressed like a man!”

  I disregarded the comment, thinking to myself that the Amish certainly were judgmental. Mercedes didn’t respond either and, instead, she and Elsie placed me in front of a roaring fire in what appeared to be a kitchen. Just above the fire was what looked like a bread oven with a semi-circular brick opening. Pots and pans hung from beams on the ceiling and in the middle of the room was a large wooden table full of vegetables and a few dead pheasants.

  “Go fetch one of your dresses, Elsie,” Mercedes said as she bent down on her knees until we were eye level.

  “My frocks? But, I’ve only three and…”

  “Go!” Mercedes wore an impatient expression, her eyebrows drawn in annoyance. When her attention returned to me, she smiled warmly. “We should remove this wet clothing from you.”

  I just nodded and tried to take off my tennies but my fingers were still too clumsy. Mercedes started humming her favorite tune again as she gently untied my shoelaces and pulled off my shoes. When she removed my socks, I gasped at how blue-purple my toes were and suddenly started freaking out when I attempted to wiggle them and nothing happened.

  “Oh my God, I think I have frostbite,” I whispered, imagining amputation at Amish hands…

  Mercedes just shook her head and covered my toes with her palms as she closed her eyes. An incredible heat infused my feet, burgeoning from my toes and growing stronger as it climbed up my foot. When she removed her hands, my feet had regained their natural pink color, as if they’d never been in the snow.

  “How did you?” I started. Hmm, there was more to this mystery woman than I’d supposed. But, I couldn’t get past the fact that even in the warmth of the fire, her aura was still human. Impossible…

  “The warmth of the fire, Miss,” she said and moved away as though she didn’t want to discuss it further. She didn’t have to because Elsie appeared in the doorway, holding a green dress—as shapeless as the dresses they both wore.

  Mercedes wasn’t shy as she pulled my damp tee-shirt over my head. I wrapped my arms around myself, glad I still had my sports bra on, and couldn’t help but feel self-conscious.

  “Stand up, Miss,” she said.

  I did as I was told and didn’t have the chance to react when Mercedes pulled my stretch pants down. I felt myself starting to blush but willin
gly stepped out of them as Elsie dropped the dress over my head and shoulders and Mercedes started doing up the buttons in the back.

  “We’ll have to alert the master, Miss Berg,” Elsie started.

  Mercedes didn’t glance up from the task of buttoning me. “Yes, Elsie, I am aware.”

  Elsie frowned and took her leave with a great show of annoyance, stomping out of the room.

  “We will have to alert the master to your presence, Miss,” Mercedes said.

  “The master?”

  “Aye, the master is a very kind master and will not turn you out, Miss.”

  “Turn me out?” I repeated. Jeez, turn me out in this weather and it would be my death sentence. It nearly had been.

  Mercedes offered a small smile. “You just stay here, Miss, while I go alert the master. I will return momentarily.”

  I nodded, not knowing what else to do and watched her leave. Then I warmed up next to the fire and tried to figure out how I was going to return to the battle. Since these people were humans (maybe with the exception of Mercedes), they’d have no clue about an Underworld war even brewing. Hmm, so how to get back? As soon as my magic was restored, I could just bewitch the master to drive me to the Clava Cairns... Not a bad idea.

  I didn’t have the chance to further plan because Mercedes suddenly reappeared in the doorway. “The master will see you now, Miss. He is waiting in the drawing room and you are in luck, he has his good friend with him. Both of them are very kind, Miss, so please do not be anxious.”

  “I’m not anxious.”

  Mercedes led me out of the kitchen and through a long, dark hallway that emptied into a foyer. The high ceilings, hardwood floors and crown molding reminded me of Pelham Manor. And with the pine boughs decorating a great chandelier and red and white bows entwining the balustrade amid sprigs of holly, it looked like Santa Claus was due any second. Mercedes started up the grand staircase, me on her heels. The walls on either side of the staircase were bedecked with oil portraits of women dressed in exquisite gowns, their male counterparts looking off into the distance in apparent indifference. When Mercedes arrived in front of a doorway, she paused, curtseyed to the room’s occupants and then started back down the stairs. I hadn’t approached the doorway yet, not really sure what I should do. I glanced at Mercedes and she cued me to enter the room with a wave of her hand.