Bitter Wind (Death's Handmaiden Book 2)

by Niall Teasdale

  Up on stage, Rosamund was pining for Constant. Twyla was doing her best to make the character sympathetic, but Melissa was having trouble empathising with a woman who would send her lover to another woman’s bed for political gain. ‘I don’t think so… No. It was her tone that got me. Gave me shivers. I mean, she’s normally pretty monotone, but that was something else. She really didn’t sound human.’

  Mitsuko nodded slowly. ‘Mm. I wonder how many people noticed.’

  ~~~

  By the time things were getting romantic between Yuki and Constant, people had noticed. Things were heating up on stage. There was an obvious tension building between the two characters as Yuki’s icy demeanour thawed and Constant worried that he really was falling in love with the Ice Queen.

  Terence was ecstatic. Not only was Nava’s slow revelation of more and more human expressions and warmth working exactly as the director wanted, but it seemed to be pulling a better performance out of Yoshirō too.

  Nava had taken to not cancelling her Invisibility until she needed to. Nominally, the effect lasted thirty minutes before it needed to be renewed or allowed to drop, and Nava was almost certain to be making another magical entrance within thirty minutes of vanishing in a swirl of snow. So, instead of walking off stage and cancelling the spell, she would tap the stage manager on her shoulder and say she was clear of the stage, and then wait for her next cue out of the way where no one was going to bump into her. Thus, she heard an exchange between Yoshirō and Terence which she was probably not supposed to.

  ‘You’re on fire out there, Yoshi,’ Terence said. ‘I know it wasn’t easy rehearsing with her and getting no reaction to your lines, but now that you are… It’s like you’re feeling the part for the first time. There’s a rawness to your performance. Uh, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s like we’re really watching a man falling in love with a woman he knows he shouldn’t.’

  ‘Huh,’ Yoshirō responded. ‘To be honest, that’s almost what’s happening.’ He shook his head. ‘Even when she was playing the cold snow queen at the start, it wasn’t the same as when we were rehearsing. Now, it’s like it’s a different person out there. I’ll tell you what it’s like. It’s like she understands Yuki. No. It’s like she is Yuki.’

  ‘Method acting?’

  ‘I guess. I just don’t get the feeling she’s spent the last few months getting into character. You know she’s dating the student president, right? Maybe this was what it was like with her. Maybe when Nava Greyling is out of the public eye, she’s a different woman, and she lets Mitsuko Trenton see that.’

  Terence gave a slight shrug. ‘Not much use in speculating. The thing is, keep it up. This is going to go down as one of the best productions in years, if the audience reaction is anything to go by.’

  Yoshirō grinned. ‘The bedroom scene is coming up. “Keeping it up” isn’t going to be the problem.’

  ~~~

  As the stage went dark, Mitsuko swallowed, and blinked, and reminded herself that Nava was acting. The darkness had fallen as Yuki led Constant to her bed after his final seduction attempt. Or had it been her who had been doing the seducing. They were both up there acting, but Mitsuko was having a little trouble believing that Yoshirō was just acting.

  ‘Th-that was hot,’ Melissa whispered. ‘I kn-know this is a bit cheeky, but could you invite m-me back to your place tonight?’

  Mitsuko was about to answer when the lights came back up to reveal Constant sitting on an ottoman at the foot of the Ice Queen’s bed, pulling on his boots. Yuki lay in the bed, covered by a sheet. It looked a lot like she was only covered by a sheet; her visible shoulder and arm were bare and there had been just about enough time for Nava to strip out of her dress…

  No one on stage was saying anything and the theatre was utterly silent. Most of the audience knew the story well enough that they were aware of what was about to happen. Having seduced Yuki, Constant was about to betray her, letting his men into the castle to burn it down. The silence seemed to say more than words might have. Constant had his back to the woman he had just taken to bed, but he gave off the strong impression of being unable to look at her, even if he had been in a better position to do so.

  Dressed, the knight started for the door – aka, stage left – only to pause after a couple of metres. He began to turn, to look back, and then stopped, his shoulders hunching. His pace quickened as he hurried away to do what he had to do.

  And that should have been the scene, but in this version the audience were to get a little surprise. Nava opened her eyes. That might have gone unnoticed in the theatre without a camera to provide close-ups like in a movie, but she was using illusion magic to project a blue glow from her irises which drew everyone’s attention. Briefly, she lay silent in the bed under the sheet, then she let the glow subside – because the remaining effects for the scene were mostly down to the crew – and sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest. That revealed more naked skin to the audience, who began to wonder just how far the director was going to go with this.

  Then a thin layer of ice appeared on Nava’s shoulders and began to flow over her skin in a pattern suggesting the shape of her dress. The ice became something closer to snow as it formed her flowing sleeves. She swung her legs from under the sheet and her white sandals crystallised on her feet. When she began to stand, shedding the sheet, her dress was flowing down past her hips and continuing to form her skirts. Then, just as the illusory dress completed its appearance, Nava cancelled the Invisibility spell she had put on the real dress and the effects crew let the illusion die in a flurry of snowflakes.

  Out in the front row, Aubrey smiled. ‘Remarkable. They must have practised that for hours.’

  Mitsuko was wondering how many people had been watching the rehearsals for that one and determined to find out so that she could beat them up in private. However, her attention was largely focused on the stage where the Ice Queen’s eyes were fixed on the door Constant had left through. The Ice Queen stood like that for a long pause, and then her eyes dipped and she turned away. She looked like she knew exactly what Constant was going to do, but she did not look angry. If anything, as Nava and the effects team pulled another of Yuki’s vanishing acts, the expression the Ice Queen was wearing was one of bitter disappointment.

  ~~~

  ‘How is this happening?’ Rosamund asked, a hint of desperation in her voice. ‘The Ice Queen is dead. I wear her remains on my crown!’ She reached up to indicate the trio of crystals mounted on her crown which, if you looked very closely, had begun to glow. ‘For three years we had perfect weather and now… Now the glaciers are advancing in the north and people are dying of the cold in our villages. She’s gone, Constant. How can this be happening?’

  ‘I don’t–’ Constant began and then stopped, looking away. They were in the throne room of their castle – the wedding scene had been quite the joyous spectacular, so they were technically joint rulers – and they were alone. He had no reason to hide anything. ‘I sent men to her castle. None have returned. The scouts in the north say that the snows are thicker this year than last. We were fools, Rosamund. Yuki was… is a force of nature. You can’t just–’

  ‘No! She’s gone. This is nothing but a fluctuation in the weather. Next summer will be better. We go ahead with the midwinter celebrations as normal, and we forget that witch ever existed.’ Turning, Rosamund marched off stage, leaving her lover to stand there as the scene faded to black.

  It was not black for long, however, as the lights came up quickly to show a banquet hall scene with various people making merry while Constant and Rosamund occupied two high-backed chairs toward the back of the stage. Most of the revellers were actually illusions for the very good reason that they were about to suffer horrible deaths. This one scene had taken every illusionist the Drama Club had been able to get involved and required a considerable amount of coordination.

  ‘Another year turns,’ Rosamund said, rising to her feet with a goblet in her hand.
‘Once again, we gather here and all through our land to celebrate the year that was and welcome the one to come.’ If anyone was paying attention, the crystals on her crown now had a more obvious glow. Her illusory audience had, apparently, not noticed. ‘The fires remind us…’ She trailed off, shook her head, and then started again. ‘The fires remind us of the warmth of spring which will soon be… Which will soon be upon… The w-warmth of spring which… Why is it so cold in here?’

  ‘My queen?’ Constant said, looking around at her. His eyes widened as the crystals on Rosamund’s crown flared a brighter blue. ‘Rosamund! Your crown! Cast aside your–’

  Of course, it was too late. Blue light blazed from Rosamund’s crown and ice swirled in the air around her. She screamed. ‘No! She’s dead! She can’t be–’ The swirling ice enveloped her, quickly becoming a vaguely humanoid ice sculpture as her voice was cut off.

  And this was where the timing had to be perfect. Invisible, Nava walked up behind Twyla, put a hand on her shoulder, and cast Invisibility on her. ‘You’re clear,’ she whispered, though any sound they made was going to vanish under the sound effects of panicked revellers and howling winds.

  ‘I’m out,’ Twyla whispered back, though Nava could feel her move aside anyway.

  Nava stepped into the ice sculpture illusion and made an illusion of her own: a wave of blue light flickered over the sculpture from top to bottom. This was the cue for the special effects team, who could not see whether she was ready, hidden by Invisibility and a couple of layers of illusions. The sculpture illusion exploded as the light wave reached the ground, the swirling ice thinned, and Nava cancelled her Invisibility. Someone using Air Control caused her skirts to lift and dance. Someone else was providing the sounds of wind and explosion. The Ice Queen was back, and all it had taken was four effects artists and two actresses.

  ‘Yuki!’ Constant exclaimed. Yoshirō sounded genuinely shocked. They had done a couple of full rehearsals of Yuki’s return, but this was the first time Yoshirō had seen it with the added benefit of Nava’s expression. People said that she did not show emotion, that she was expressionless, maybe a little cold. Now they had something to compare it with, because the cold, indifferent calm on Yuki’s face was a step beyond anything they had ever seen on Nava before. The returned Ice Queen cared not the tiniest bit for her one-time lover, or the revellers, or anyone or anything else.

  Drawing his sword, Constant stepped in and swung the weapon at Yuki’s head. And she reached out and caught it without appearing to expend the smallest effort. Immediately, frost formed on the metal, rapidly sweeping down the blade and then over the man holding it. Ice began to form around his feet, but he already seemed to be frozen to the spot. Yuki stepped around him and swept out her other arm. Ice came forth in a cone which extended out over the front rows of the audience. There were gasps and shrieks from the real people watching the play and from the illusory ones at the banquet. The difference was that the fake people instantly froze solid before shattering into diamond dust which drifted down onto the stage.

  ‘Yuki,’ Constant said. ‘Don’t–’

  ‘For almost a decade,’ Yuki said, ‘your people have celebrated my death. They knew that they could not kill the winter, but they believed. All of you believed that I was dead, and you celebrated. Tonight, I will celebrate their deaths.’

  ‘All of them?’

  ‘Men, women, children. Rich and poor. Evil and good, if there are any in this land who remain good.’

  By now, the thick layer of ice around Constant had reached his chest. Yuki walked over to him and raised a hand, stroking a finger over his frosty cheek. ‘You could have stopped this, oh inconstant knight.’ The ice on the floor from the exploded revellers was thickening and spreading now, climbing the walls and swallowing the draperies. ‘You were given the choice. You could have spent eternity with me. This land would have been left in peace. No one would have died. You could have lived with me until the end of time, and I’ll see to it that you do.’

  The pace of the ice’s expansion quickened. Constant just had time to call out ‘No!’ before he was entirely encased.

  Yuki turned to the audience, spreading her arms. ‘See our kingdom, Constant,’ she proclaimed as the wave of illusory ice swept out from the stage and began to fill the theatre. ‘An eternity of ice and snow.’ Nava shifted her gaze from some point focused in the distance so that she was clearly looking directly at the audience. ‘An eternity of ice and snow for you and I alone!’

  There were shrieks from various parts of the audience as the huge illusion now filling the auditorium appeared to fill everything with ice. Up on stage, a wall of ice swept up to hide the players, who immediately began setting up for the final bow. The audience were swallowed in ice for just long enough that people were actually starting to get a little worried, and then the illusion exploded into snow flurries which curled back onto the stage where the actors and several members of the crew were waiting to take their bows.

  Mitsuko had the surreal experience of feeling like she had not stood up to start clapping because everyone else in the audience was doing the same at precisely the same time. Her position relative to Melissa and Aubrey seemed not to have changed. The play was a success. For one night, Nava had demonstrated that she could show more emotions than none, and she had done it in front of most of the school. And the entire experience had been entertaining. If the ball on Friday went this well, the last week of the year was going to be very enjoyable. Except for those who failed their exams, of course.

  235/12/11.

  ‘That was exhausting,’ Nava said as she walked across Mitsuko’s apartment from the door to the bathroom. ‘I’m going to take a shower and wash Yuki away.’ It was past midnight and Nava had spent much of the last couple of hours following the play being congratulated, thanking people for coming to see the play, and wanting more than anything to be somewhere else.

  ‘Aw,’ Melissa said, following behind her, ‘I was hoping we’d get to make love to the Ice Queen.’

  It was obviously a joke, but Nava paused and… changed. It was really subtle, but you could see it if you knew her. Her normally very straight back got a little straighter. Her shoulders squared. She seemed, to Melissa anyway, to get a couple of centimetres taller. When she turned to look at Melissa, her expression was colder than anything you normally saw on her face. Even her eyes seemed more icy.

  ‘Is that really what you want, human?’ Nava said.

  ‘Eep! No!’

  And Nava was back. ‘Didn’t think so.’ She turned and headed for the bathroom again. ‘And now I’m even more tired.’

  ‘It’s that tiring?’ Mitsuko asked. She was also following them toward the bathroom. She was also undoing her dress.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Nava replied. ‘I’m so used to not showing emotions that it’s second nature. I was forcing myself to show the right emotions for a couple of hours. Imagine what it’d be like for you to suppress your emotions entirely for that much time.’

  ‘Hm. You may be right.’

  ‘Can’t imagine it,’ Melissa said. ‘Couldn’t do it.’

  ‘Now that I can believe,’ Nava said. ‘Is there some reason you two are in here with me? I really am tired.’

  ‘Saving water,’ Melissa replied.

  ‘You’ll need someone to scrub your back,’ Mitsuko added. It was actually a fairly good point.

  ‘And then we’ll help you get to sleep,’ Melissa went on. ‘You can just lie back and let us do all the work.’

  Nava set the shower controls and then peeled herself out of her gown. That revealed sparkling skin and what Simone the wardrobe mistress had described as Nava’s modesty panel. It was basically a pair of flesh-tone panties – quite full coverage ones; very modest – stuck to her skin so that there were no straps to show. Apparently without a second thought, Nava pulled the back away, passed the garment between her legs, and peeled it away from her stomach.

  Melissa winced. ‘It’s clever, but it loo
ks uncomfortable.’

  Nava tossed the disposable underwear into the bathroom bin and shrugged. ‘They’re actually more comfortable to wear than I expected and taking them off is like… pulling a band-aid off.’

  ‘I always hate pulling those off. It feels like they took half my skin with them.’

  Stepping into the shower, Nava sighed. ‘This feels so good. I’ve been looking forward to this for hours.’

  ‘I bet.’ Melissa looked around at Mitsuko, who was already naked and about to join her girlfriend under the water. ‘Rock-paper-scissors for who gets to wash her front?’

  ‘I’m game,’ Mitsuko replied.

  ‘Don’t I get a say?’ Nava asked. Then she held up a hand. ‘You know, do what you want. I’m too tired to care.’

  Melissa giggled. ‘This should be good.’

  Mitsuko nodded. ‘Let’s see how long we can keep her awake before she blacks out.’

  Shaking her head, Nava almost grinned. ‘So, this is what stardom is all about. I think I’ll go back to obscurity.’

  253/12/12.

  ‘What did you do?!’ Terence was angry. You could tell this by his red face and the steam coming from his ears. Okay, there was no steam, but there should have been steam.

  Rexanne was behind him, also looking angry, but with an added hint of sheepishness. Nava knew exactly what the director was referring to, but she had no desire to go into it right now; she was at dinner and Terence and Rexanne had chosen to confront her in a refectory of all places. ‘You will need to be considerably more specific,’ Nava said. ‘I have done many things, including getting this food to eat with my friends at this point in time.’

  Terence was not going to take the hint, obviously. ‘The video! We’ve reviewed the video of the play and you’re not in any of it!’

  ‘Oh, that.’ Nava looked up at Terence, fixing his eyes with hers. ‘Do you really want to get into that in public?’

  ‘We needed that video! You signed an agreement!’

  ‘So, you do want to go into it here.’