Page 3 of Ice Magic

“Here,” Karehl said, dragging me down the stairs to the third floor. I caught my breath, terrified he was going to rape me, and decided that—if he tried to put his hands on me—I’d do whatever it took to stop him. But he just opened an armoire and tossed a dress at me. It was pretty, with a low-cut neckline. “Change now. You no longer need your traveling clothes.”

“Turn around,” I said.

He snorted. “Change, or I will order my men to strip you bare.”

Angry, but trying to temper my response, I turned away from him. My cloak would cover my backside, and I quickly slipped out of my trousers and tunic, managing to step into the dress rather than pull it over my head. I was able to change without him seeing me naked, and he didn’t try to interfere. I turned around, wearing the rose-colored frock. It was nice, but impractical.

Karehl whistled and one of his guards appeared from the bottom floor. “Leal, gather her clothes and take them. Her cloak, too.”

Leal, a young, lean-looking man, silently took my clothes and cloak. My weapons were nowhere to be seen, though I still had a dagger hiding in my boot sheath. But Karehl pointed toward my feet.

“The boots, too. Off with them. There are slippers in the armoire. Choose a pair.” He waited while I slowly unlaced my boots. I tried to think of a way to hide the knife, but he saw it before I could, and held out his hand. I thought about stabbing him in the palm, but there were too many guards around. Reluctantly, I handed over the knife and boots.

The slippers were thin-soled and all were a little too small, but I chose the most comfortable pair. After I was dressed I turned back around.

Karehl eyed me up and down. “When I come to visit you, you will dress your hair and bathe. I will send my guards in advance to give you warning. There is plenty of food for now, and the well has water in it. Don’t try to escape. The door to the stairwell will be locked from the first floor, and it’s heavy enough you can’t splinter it open, even with the hatchet we’re leaving you for kindling. The windows are all barred. I will have a special patrol swing by every few days to check on you.” With that, he started to leave, but then turned suddenly and grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms.

I struggled, but he fastened his lips on mine and kissed me. My first instinct was to slap him, but I forced myself to stay my hand. Again, I didn’t want him to decide I was too much trouble and kill me, nor did I want to excite him to do anything else. After a moment, he pulled away, frowning.

“I have to track my brother. I’ll be back in a few days. Don’t try to escape. The charimonts are dangerous, but there are far worse dangers in the forest, and none of them will take pity on you or have mercy.” He pushed me back, then clambered down the stairs. As I followed, he vanished to the bottom floor and slammed the door closed, leaving me trapped. I tried the door leading to the first floor, but it was firmly locked.

As soon as I heard their voices outside, I ran to one of the windows and watched as they disappeared toward the east. After a few minutes, my heart stopped racing and it hit me: I was alone. I was alone, locked in a stone tower, in the middle of nowhere. What the hell was I going to do now?

I shivered. It was cold, and even the fires in the hearths weren’t staving it off. I closed the shutters, running up the stairs to the third and fourth stories to close those as well. I decided to conserve firewood. I didn’t know how long they’d be gone, and even though there was a complete wall of split wood and kindling that covered part of the inner tower on the kitchen level, I didn’t want to waste it. So I lit a fire in the cookstove, then stoked the fire higher in the bedroom.

Steel mesh screens covered the hearths, keeping sparks and cinders from popping out of the flames. I found a candle—there was a large stash of them—and fit it into one of the glass-topped lanterns. I prepared two more and had them ready to carry up to the bedroom later.

Finally, I lowered the bucket and brought up enough water for a couple days, then capped the well with the wooden cover Ifound lying in one corner. That done, I decided I needed food, so I rummaged in the pantry.

There was wheat to grind into flour with a mortar and pestle, some bread that was still fresh, cheese, dried meats, dried fruits, a large container of butter, and some fresh birds waiting to be plucked as well as some rabbits that had already been skinned, along with a bin of apples, one of potatoes, and a barrel of hazelnuts. The pantry was icy, and the door was so thick that the heat of the fireplace and stone oven wouldn’t touch it. The food would stay fresh for a long time, given it was winter and the snows were raging outside.

Tired of bread and cheese, I sorted through another box and found dried vegetables and corn. I decided to make a stew, so I carried a rabbit, a couple of potatoes, some dried tomatoes and corn, back into the kitchen and set them to stewing in a cauldron over the fire. I sliced off a thick piece of bread and buttered it, then drizzled honey on it and settled into a rocking chair near the flames to breathe and think.

I was safe, for the moment. I had food, shelter, fire. But the fact was, I was a prisoner. And I was at the mercy of Karehl and his men. After I ate the bread, I decided to check how sturdy the bars on the windows were. I checked all three stories, but each window’s bars were firmly sealed into the stones. They were wide enough to fit my arm through, but there was no way my body could follow. I closed the shutters again, sighing.

Then I decided to try the door that led to the first floor, but it was barred shut—or at least that was the way it felt. And the floors were stone, so I couldn’t hack my way through them, even if I could find a suitable weapon. Finally, I returned to my seat and settled in to wait for the stew.

CHAPTER TWO

I was walkingthrough an icy field, staring at the frozen land around me. I was wearing a thin dress, but I couldn’t feel the cold. Instead, every flake of snow seemed to warm my heart. My breath was frozen, appearing in fog-shrouded puffs as I walked through the field, trying to figure out where I was. I walked in a stupor, unsure of how I got here.

The bushes were shrouded with white, icy crystals shimmering like diamonds under the faint rays of light that flickered through the clouds. It was like a giant ballroom, with every surface glistening. I glided through the field, brushing my fingers over frozen boughs. But the frost didn’t come off on my hand, and as I looked down, my skin was tinted blue—the blue of glaciers and ice floes.

I paused as a sound caught my attention. In the distance, a noise churned, like the shattering of ice flowing across a lake in a frothy wave. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I shivered, fear sweeping in to squeeze my heart.

She was coming—the Snow Witch. I could feel her in the distance, riding the storms, heading my way. Standing atop a sledge made of ice that was pulled by two massive reindeer, she traversed the land, with a trail of storms on her heels. Shewas beautiful and ghostly, wrapped in a cloak of mist, and the ground shook beneath her passing.

As I watched, she raised her whip—made of lightning—and the reindeer began to bolt, running faster under her will. She was heading my way, her gaze fixated on me, and my heart leaped. Terrified and yet welcoming her, I waited for her arrival.

A loud keeningfrom outside the tower woke me up. With the shutters closed, I had no idea whether it was still night, or whether morning had arrived. I sat up, still huddled beneath the thick blankets. The hearth helped stave away the cold, and with the shutters closed, it was almost warm, but as I swung my feet out onto the floor, I quickly remembered that I was in a stone tower. Even through my stockings, my feet registered the chill of the stone.

I had hunted around in the armoire and found a pair of ankle boots, and exchanged the uncomfortable slippers for them. I tied a shawl around my shoulders, then slowly approached the shutters. At least I was two flights up, and it wouldn’t be easy for most creatures to reach my window before I could slam the shutters closed. And then, of course, the bars would keep most of them at bay. Unfortunately, they also kept me inside.

Biting my lip, I slowly unlatched the shutters and opened them. The first light of dawn was breaking through the clouds, casting a pale yellow glow over the field of snow. I squinted, trying to pinpoint the keening sound, but couldn’t zero in on a direction. I thought about leaving the shutters open for the early light, but it was too cold unless I could find something warmerto wear. So I decided to go through everything in the tower and tally up my resources.

“I’m lonely,” I said out loud. Then everything hit and I began to cry.

What about Yaran? Had Karehl taken him or left him to wander on his own? Would he be treated right? Yaran was my closest companion, loyal and true, and I couldn’t stand thinking he might be sold off to some cruel owner. Suddenly, the fact that I was isolated away from everyone I knew, and that I was actually a prisoner, swept over me. I had been so overwhelmed worrying that Karehl might be planning to kill me that I had pushed everything else to the side. I began to pace, and opened the shutters again, braving the cold, just to let some light into the room.

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