Snow Bites

Chapter Six

The forest was not an unfamiliar place for Eirwen. She'd often gone on walks with Ryker, sometimes deep into the shadowed world she wouldn't know right from left. Heldie had stopped accompanying them after a while but Eirwen begged to go at every opportunity.

Now, the trees loomed above her in unfamiliar patterns. Clearings she'd picked wildflowers in looked like traps for the unsuspecting traveler. It felt like eyes were watching her from between every gnarled tree trunk. Eirwen hugged her rucksack closer to her chest like a shield from the dark. Somewhere above her she knew the sun was fighting to break through the thick overlapping canopy. None of its warmth reached her.

Not that she needed much warmth, she realized.

The words of her mother's diary wormed through her brain. Tales of hunting and being hunted had been intertwined with the stories of her childhood seen through her late mother's eyes. The truth about what she was, what they were, written in looping letters.

Eriwen stopped at the edge of a creek and bent to refill her small canteen. The terrible thirst had subsided, just barely. Water helped keep it in control. She feared coming across a stranger in the dark woods and waking up covered in their blood. Ezekial had unknowingly come so close to that same fate.

The air was still here. In the dead of summer it would be a sticky death trap. She'd always welcomed the warmth on her cooler skin. When she was younger she'd been worried about how different her body reacted from Grimhelde's and Ryker's. The only time she'd felt close to fully warm had been the few times she was sick with a fever. It all made so much more sense now.

A branch snapped in the distance and she stumbled to her feet. The old dress she wore snagged at bushes and low branches as she ran through the forest. Eirwen scolded herself for not taking her time to find something more suitable to wear, or a map. There had been no time. The last time Grimhelde had come in to speak to her, the pulse in her neck had been like a drum in a cavern as it bounced around Eirwen's ears. Somehow, knowing about the curse had made every instinct she'd ignored before jump to the front of her mind.

Up ahead the trees began to thin, but not in the natural way she'd come to expect. This wasn't due to herds of animals trampling young saplings before they had a chance to grow. A ring of stumps circled a small cabin set beside a steam. A small water wheel sat to the left side of the cabin and a stable to the right. There was not a soul in sight. Eirwen wondered if it had been abandoned.

Whatever the case, it would be a warm place to spend the night. After two days wandering the forest in search of the town, the stable was a welcome sight. She dropped her rucksack onto a pile of hay and began to slowly circle the that roofed dwelling. The front door was exactly as tall as she was with stained glass decorating the top in an arch. The colors ranged from a deep purple on one side, fading into light blue and bright white at the top before descending into fiery reds and finally coal black on the other side. A golden sun sat halfway through the darkest red before it became purple.

Eirwen reached out a curious hand to touch the dazzling glass. The door immediately swung open to a darkened interior. She jumped back with her hands up. Though there was still no one around, she felt horribly guilty for intruding. The grimy windows didn't offer much light to the dark room. She could just make out a long table cluttered with rolled parchment and dishes.

"Hello? Your door... opened on its own," Eirwen called out. The thick coating of dirt on the floor managed to muffle her small footsteps. "I don't mean to intrude but if you'd be so kind to allow me to spend the night in your stables I would be eternally grateful." Briefly she wondered just how long eternity could truly be for her if she allowed herself to fully turn.

Everything inside looked well used but not quite maintained. "I wonder what happened here," she whispered to herself. A small bird landed on the door handle behind her and sang out softly. The whistle bounced back from the far wall. Eirwen held out a hand to the small gray and black bird. Its feathers looked like pebbles brought to life. She recognized it as a nightjar when it settled onto her forefinger.

The setting sun cast dark shadows outside the door. "Well, if it's empty it won't hurt to stay in here. Don't you think so?" she asked the bird. It twisted its head soundlessly. Once she was outside again the bird left her for a perch on the roof. Eirwen had just retrieved her bag when it began to let out a shrill whistle.

Several sets of heavy footsteps seemed to circle her from just out of sight. They layered one over the other until she couldn't make out one from the other. Eirwen pushed herself into a corner of the stable with her knees close to her chest. As the light disappeared from the clearing she found she could actually see more clearly. She almost wished she couldn't.

There were shadows moving in and out of the trees and eyes like gemstones glittered in the last of the sun. One set, the color of yellow topaz, had stopped moving and stared fixedly at her. From one blink to the next they were only a foot away from her own. In front of her stood a man about a foot shorter than her with a long white beard that brushed his knees. A pickaxe was resting casually against his right shoulder, the wooden shaft in his hand. "What are you, young one?" he asked.

"My name is-"

He interrupted her with a twitch of the pickaxe. "No. What are you? Blutsauger or nachtengel?"

She shook her head quickly with her mouth hanging open slightly. "How did you know?"

He straightened up and pressed the end of the handle into the ground and rested his hands on the head of the axe. From inside his coat he pulled out a gently glowing topaz. "I was warned of your presence the moment you broke in," he told her, waving off her objections. "I can see you have not made the transition. What is it you are looking for here?"

Eirwen clasped her hands together. "I just need to stay the night. I can stay out here, I won't be a danger to you."

"A danger?" he began to laugh and the others picked up the sound. "My dear child, no unblutig has ever posed a threat to me even when they desired to." He held out a hand and pulled her to her feet in one strong yank. "Tell me, do you desire to make the transition?"

"No!" she shouted. "I just want to keep my family safe, from myself. I had read that if I made it to my sixteenth birthday without giving into the curse, I could be free of it. I left so that my mother would be safe and never know what I am."

The man nodded and motioned to the shadows in the tree. Though the sun had set, the lantern they carried still illuminated their gem-like eyes. "You will stay with us, until you are free. It will require discipline and hard work but you are not the first lost soul that has found their way here."

Another of the men walked forward and offered her his hand. "This way, young miss."

"Snow, please call me Snow," she told him. If anyone were to learn the princess had been hiding in the woods, she worried what questions they would begin to ask. Perhaps one day she would be able to tell her saviors everything, but for now it was best for all of them if they remained in the dark.

WC on app so far note to self: 7649

And now some translations. I've just been translating words to German for some fancy terms to throw in.

Blutsauger: Bloodsucker

nachtengel: Night angel

unblutig: Unblooded