Once Upon a Winter's Night fs-1

by Dennis L McKiernan

  Using the boulders as cover, Camille crept up the slope. She came to a place where she could see in, and by firelight reflected ’round a turn in the cave, she saw a gaggle of Spriggans gathered, some of whom pawed through her rucksack, casting clothing and food and such aside, while others examined her remaining goods. One at the rucksack crowed and lifted up a necklace; he had found the hidden pocket. Another poured out the coins from her money belt, and still another tested each ducat with his teeth.

  Just like my mother. The image flashed through Camille’s mind, and she was immediately ashamed for having thought it. She cast that image away, and watched as one unrolled her bedroll and shook out the blanket, while another poured out the water from her waterskin and jiggled it up and down to see if aught of value was within, while others fumbled along the lining of her cloak, searching for more wealth. Oh, sweet Mithras, what will I do without my goods?

  Once again, one of the Spriggans crowed; he had found the treasure sewn in the lining of the cloak. As he drew a knife to slit the cloth, another called out for attention, this one with a tattered black hat atop his head. “To the pile,” he said. Whatever he meant, Camille could not guess, but the result of his words was plain, for they rerolled her blanket and poured the coins back into the money belt and returned the goods to the rucksack, including refilling the secret pocket with its coinage and jewelry. And then they took up all and trooped deeper into the cave, disappearing ’round the turn.

  “What will I do?” she asked sleeping Scruff. “I have not even my staff as a weapon. Oh, would that I had a sword.” She remembered Borel’s words, and added, “A sword of iron would lay these by, though I know not how to use one. -Or would that I had an enchanted sword, one even better than iron.”

  A memory tugged at Camille’s mind. “Better than iron,” she repeated. “ ‘Better than iron for me and you,’ that’s what the old woman said… that, and ‘remember my words.’ Oh, Scruff, do you think it so? Durst I trust the mad babblings of a daft old crone. Yet did she not also say ‘Much like iron for a wicked few’? Ah, but are these Spriggans among those for whom it is true; are they ones for whom such will be a terrible shout? — Oh, but I do need my goods.”

  Taking a deep breath and deciding, swiftly Camille stripped off her clothes and turned them wrong-side-out. The she redonned all, and as she slipped on the turned vest she murmured to Scruff that it was necessary, the sleeping wee bird now on the inside; she pulled on her boots: left on right, right on left. Lastly she turned her gloves, and slipped them on as well. Then, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth, up and into the cave she went.

  The moment she entered she felt a slight tingle, and from somewhere beyond the bend the babble of voices stilled, and then a loud voice called out: “Who dares enter the cavern of the giants?”

  Camille nearly turned and bolted, but she heard a great sucking in of air, and many throats huffing and puffing, and remembering the sisters’ words and praying to Mithras they were true, on inward she went.

  “Fee, fum, fie!” came the booming voice…

  In that moment Camille stepped ’round the turn to see a large firelit chamber, overcrowded with tall, ugly beings jammed from wall to wall, fully twelve or thirteen feet high and quite broad; and as Camille stepped into the light, the one in the fore, the one with a tattered black hat atop his head, boomed out:

  … “I’ll grind your bones to make a-”

  “ Eeeeeee…! ” came a collective scream as the great tall beings saw Camille’s inside-out garments. And they bolted every which way, as if fleeing a peril beyond comprehension.

  Pthbthththth… came a great roar of flatulence, much as would a hundred buffoons’ air-filled, pig’s-bladder-cushions prolongedly break wind were they all simultaneously sat upon. And the chamber filled with a terrible stench-worse even than that of the nag-churned quag-and had Camille eaten a full supper, surely she would have lost it right then and there. Breathing through her mouth to keep from gagging in the ever-worsening air, she watched as the beings shrank and shrank and ran about in panic, and struggled to fit into crevices and cracks and holes. Quickly they returned to Spriggan size, and they squeezed through the fissures and clefts, and down the small tunnels beyond they did flee.

  And left in their foetid wake on a great pile of treasure and other goods lay Camille’s stolen gear.

  Yet gasping in the befouled air, swiftly Camille took up her cloak and put it on wrong-side-out. She grabbed her rucksack and money belt, pausing just long enough to make certain that her jewelry and coinage were yet within. She slung them over her shoulder by their sling straps, and snatched up her bedroll and waterskin and slung them as well; then she scooped up Lady Sorciere’s staff, and, leaving all else on the glittering mound behind, she turned and strode from the chamber and toward the bend and the entrance beyond, all the while thinking, Go slow, go slow. Don’t let them see you are as frightened as they are. Slow. Don’t run.

  But when she reached the mouth of the cave, she could no longer withhold her fright, and down the slope she ran in the moonlight, fleeing back the way she had come. And as she climbed up the far hill beyond, from the mouth of the cave behind a voice screeched out, “Thief! Thief! You terrible, wicked thief, you’ll not live to see the dawn!”

  Without replying, on upward pressed Camille and over the crest and beyond, as a chill wind sprang from nowhere to curl all ’round.

  Onward she fled, the wind becoming more brutal, and it lashed tree limbs and hurled grit as if to punish Camille. And the night darkened, with racing clouds filling the sky. They slid across the moon, and Camille had to slow, for in the resulting gloom she could but barely see.

  A deluge of frigid rain began falling, and it was then Camille remembered the words of Vivette: “Though cowards all, some say they are quite dangerous, able to call up great winds and storms.”

  The blow strengthened, the cold rain thickened- Is this a storm called up by the Spriggans? Camille did not know.

  Onward she pressed through lashing limbs and driven rain and the howling wind, the gale worsening with every stride.

  I must find shelter, she thought, but where?

  Camille was by then thoroughly turned about, and she knew not whether she went away from the Spriggans or toward them or even circled ’round.

  And she was chilled to the bone and stumbling about in the darkness.

  Around her feet frigid water began to rise, and she sought higher ground, but every way she turned, it seemed, she went to ground even lower. And fighting the blow and the icy rain she became exhausted, benumbed, barely able to stand, battered on all sides by the now-thundering wind and hammered by the frigid downpour.

  Still the water rose: up to her knees it now came. Freezing, dully Camille realized her peril, yet she had not the wit to conceive even a simple plan, so terribly cold was she.

  And then something blocked her way. Camille turned and stumbled but a step, only to be blocked again. Once more she turned, and once more she was blocked.

  Barely able to think, Camille shook the water from her eyes. Something but dimly seen, something perhaps white or grey, stood directly before her, barring the way. Above the scream of the wind, someone or something turned and nickered in her ear.

  Horse… blocking.

  Camille started to slump down, but again came the nicker, and from within the pocket of her inside-out vest she heard a frantic chirping.

  Scruff.

  Dimly, she realized he was telling her something, but what? She clutched at the large animal and pulled herself upright, and one thing penetrated her mind:

  Save Scruff.

  And then at last, pummeled by howling wind and hurled ice-the rain had turned to sleet-with her inside-out-gloved fingers, she clutched the mane of the creature and managed to crawl onto its back, all the while instinctively clasping Lady Sorciere’s staff.

  With Camille hanging on and leaning forward, the animal set off through the shrieking wind and the battering ice hu
rtling through the air, and Camille knew not where the creature was taking her nor did she have the will to care or the wit to do naught but cling.

  A time later-a candlemark, a day, a fortnight, a moon? Camille could not even form the thought-she felt gentle hands pulling her from the mount and bearing her into somewhere. Her ice-laden clothes were taken from her, and she was put in a brick-warmed bed.

  She roused long enough to hear Scruff chirping, and she saw in the candlelight the fair face of a red-haired maiden hovering above, who whispered, “Sleep, Camille; here you are safe, for I am the Lady of the Bower.”

  23

  Bower

  Camille fell into chills and fits of shivering, alternating with spells of torrid fever. She was drenched in cold sweat one instant, then hot and parched the next, and dry coughing racked her frame. Lucid moments she seemed to have, but then babbled quite madly, yet most of the time she was seized by unconsciousness, for surely it could not be called sleep. Days passed with her in this condition, but finally her illness broke, and then she truly slept. And at last she awoke to sunlight and Scruff off chirping elsewhere, and the sound of someone moving about and quietly humming.

  She was in a soft bed within a small room, and the day shone through a window; slender shadows wafted to and fro, made by long and hanging-down branches beyond, swaying gently in the air. Past the foot of the bed, an open doorway led to another room, and ’twas from that place the sound of humming came, the sound of chirping as well.

  Camille tried to sit up, yet-“Oh, my”-she fell back, quite dizzy.

  Footsteps neared, and in the doorway stood a lithe, redheaded woman. Her face was narrow, her eyes emerald-green and aslant, her skin alabaster, tinged with gold.

  “Ah, Camille, you are awake.” She smiled, her mouth generous, her teeth white and even.

  Again Camille tried to rise, and the woman stepped forward. “Let me help.” And she plumped pillows and aided Camille to sit, then propped her up in place.

  “How do you know my name?” asked Camille, her voice faint.

  The woman smiled. “ ’Tis a gift I have.”

  Camille started to ask another question, but the woman held out a staying hand. “One moment, Camille.” She stepped from the room, and Camille could hear water being poured and the stirring of a spoon in a cup.

  But then from beside the bed: “ Chp-chp-chp-pip…! ”

  “Scruff,” said Camille, glancing over the edge at the tiny sparrow, who had hopped into the room. “I’d take you up, but I’m afraid that I’d fall out on my head.”

  “ Chp-pip-pip-chp-chp…! ”

  “Take this, Camille,” said the lady, stepping once again into the room, cup in hand. “ ’Tis a tisane of mint to restore the heart and mind.”

  Camille received the cup and inhaled deeply, the keen aroma refreshing.

  Still, Scruff chirped insistently, and the lady took him up on one of her long, slender fingers and set him to the bed. The sparrow hopped across the cover to come before Camille, then he cocked his head and peered at her, as if examining a patient.

  “Oh, Scruff, I think I am well,” said Camille, “or at least on the mend.”

  Apparently satisfied, Scruff scratched up a small mound of cloth and settled down, as if nesting.

  The woman laughed, and Camille smiled and sipped the minty tea.

  “Camille, indeed you are on the mend, though ’twas touch-and-go for a while.”

  “How long have I been sick?”

  The lady frowned. “A sixday or seven, I deem. I am uncertain as to which. Time means so little to me.”

  “A sevenday?” Camille sighed and looked to see Lady Sorciere’s staff leaning in a corner. “More blossoms withered,” she glumly said.

  The lady arched an eyebrow, but Camille said nought.

  A momentary silence fell between them, but then Camille said, “I’m sorry, my lady, but I know not who you are.”

  The woman smiled, her tilted green eyes aglitter. “Many know me as the Lady of the Bower, yet my name is Lisane.”

  Hope flooded Camille. “Lady of the Bower, Lisane, it is you I came seeking.”

  “I know.”

  “You know?”

  Lisane sat on the edge of the bed. “Aye. You did come seeking answers, yet I speak not with just anyone.”

  Camille’s face fell. “But I sorely do need your help.”

  “Camille, fear not, for well did you pass the test.”

  “Test?”

  “Indeed, for I tried you sorely, yet you showed me an uncommon patience and goodness of heart.”

  “Tried me?”

  “Aye. A test to see if you were worthy of my aid.”

  “How so? — I mean, how did you test me?”

  “Oh, la, Camille, I was the crone with the horse.”

  Camille’s eyes widened in shock. “You were the crone?”

  “Indeed.” Lisane made a small negating gesture. “ ’Twas but a minor glamour I cast ’pon me and Thale, though he did not like playing the part of a broken-down, swayback mare.”

  “Thale?”

  “The one who rescued you nights past.” Lisane gestured.

  “Look without. You will see him.”

  Camille raised a bit and peered out through the cote window. Past hanging-down willow branches, there on a sward a splendid white creature cropped grass; horselike, it was, but smaller and with cloven hooves and a pearlescent horn jutting from its forehead, a thin spiral groove running up from its base to its very sharp tip.

  Camille gasped. “A Unicorn.”

  The Lady of the Bower nodded. “ ’Twas he who saved you.” Lisane gestured at nesting Scruff. “You and your tiny sparrow.”

  “Saved us? Saved me? But I thought Unicorns would have nought to do with those who are impure, sullied, those of us who are no longer maidens, who no longer have our virgin’s blood. To have a Unicorn rescue me is a wonder, then.” Camille shook her head in rueful memory. “I was spurned by one once; with a flick of its tail it turned and trotted away.”

  Lisane frowned. “How so?”

  “It was as I rode the Bear to visit my family-”

  “You were upon the back of a Bear when you were so-called spurned?”

  Camille nodded.

  Lisane laughed. “Ah, then, ’twas the presence of the Bear that caused such.”

  “But I was told that when one loses her virgin’s blood…”

  “Oh, la, Camille, ’tis not virgin’s blood which draws the Unicorn, but rather purity of heart.-Gods know, were it virgin’s blood, then long past Thale would have left me. ’Tis but an old wives’ tale you did hear.”

  “Oh,” murmured Camille, her heart suddenly lighter. Then she grinned and said, “In this case, ’twas an old fra’s tale, bolstered by a votary of Mithras.”

  Lisane shook her head and faintly smiled. “I oft wonder if fras and votaries and heirophants and other such have the faintest notion of Truth.”

  Again a quietness fell between them, but then Lisane frowned. “What is it you do seek?”

  “A place east of the sun and west of the moon. I was coming to you in the hopes you would know where it might be.”

  Slowly Lisane shook her head. “I know not where this place lies, but mayhap the cards will know.”

  “Cards?”

  “Aye. I use them for divination. That’s how I knew you were coming. Oh, not you specifically, but that someone sought me and was on the way, or so the cards did say. That’s why Thale and I were waiting along the road. We would have fetched you the following morn, yet the storm intervened, a thing the cards did not see.”

  Camille frowned, then cocked an eyebrow. “These cards, they are taroc?”

  “You know of them?”

  “Only as a game, as well as what some people say: that there are those who can read the future within an arcane spread.”

  Lisane turned a hand over in a small negative gesture. “They do not foretell the future, Camille. They speak not to what wi
ll be, but rather what might be, and then only if the reader has interpreted them wisely and true, and only if the acts they portray are not contravened by actions unshown.”

  “Hmm… Sounds much like the pronouncements of fras and votaries and heirophants,” said Camille, grinning.

  Lisane laughed gaily. “Touche, Camille. Touche.”

  Camille’s smile faded, and she looked into the now-empty cup. “How long ere I can go onward?”

  Lisane sighed. “A sevenday or so, mayhap.”

  “Seven more days?” Camille tried to struggle up in protest, but, nearly swooning, she fell back. Then she whispered, “Oh, but I must not tarry.”

  “Hush, hush, Camille. You cannot press on as you now are. Heed, you were most seriously ill-the ague, I believe-and it took much out of you.”

  “The ague?”

  “Aye. Mayhap caused by ill vapors of the mire, mayhap by the boghole you waded into, and for that I am most sorry. Mayhap ’twas brought on by a biting fly or mosquito, for ’tis said that some carry ill vapors in their sting, though the charm I cast should have protected you from their bites.”

  “Charm?”

  “Aye, the gift I bestowed upon you when I played the crone.”

  “Ah, then that’s the reason!” exclaimed Camille. “I wondered why the pesky pests left us alone, whereas upon our entry into the clutches of that mire they did anything but.” Camille sighed and shuddered, adding, “Would that you had cast a charm against leeches as well.”

  “Leeches?”

  “Aye. From the boghole.”

  Lisane shook her head in rue. “Mayhap ’twere leeches gave you the ague, for surely they carry the worst of ill offerings a mire can bestow.”

  Camille reached out and laid a hand upon Lisane’s. “Berate not yourself, Lisane, for perhaps it wasn’t the swamp at all made me ill, but instead was the icy storm.”

  “Mayhap,” replied Lisane, yet her arching of an eyebrow spoke otherwise.

  They sat wrapped in their thoughts for a moment, each looking beyond the window to where a Unicorn cropped grass. Finally, Lisane said, “You did babble of an encounter with Spriggans, and, if so, ’twas they who caused the blow.”