The Heart of Winter

Six

"And what? What can you do against us, little lady? Daughter."

Hearing him speak with my father's voice turned my stomach. There was no end to my stupidity. The freezing fog was so thick it concealed all but a few paces in front of me, yet I hadn't questioned why it had suddenly dispersed enough to allow me to see the creature masquerading as my father.

"What do you want from me?" My voice was shaking.

"She asks what we want from her." His jeering prompted derisive laughter from the rest. "Shall we show her, then?"

They kept moving closer, even as I was backing away. There were too many of them. I couldn't outrun them.

No. I couldn't let it end like this. Not here, not now. I had to get back. I had to get the truth out of the Winter King. I had to find my parents.

Frantically trying to recall names of saints and deities I renewed my prayers. Whatever difficulty she faced, Mama called upon Lady Eir. She even invoked her name when preparing medicine. Sometimes, I suspected Mama did it out of habit rather than a genuine belief that Lady's Eir's blessing would increase the mixture's healing properties.

Healing. Healing with Runes. My hand flew to the pocket which held the miniature book Parny had given me. But there was no time to search it for the appropriate rune. I fell to my knees. The spectres kept advancing. If this didn't work then that would be it. But I couldn't give up without at least trying something.

ᛒ, berkanan, the rune signifying the birch tree, the one I was most familiar with. Mama and I prepared birch infusions for everything, from wounds to hair washing. At Parny's, I'd practised burning the rune into dried birch powder. My hands were trembling so much I could barely sketch the symbol into the snow, and when I finished, my heart sank at seeing such a poor representation of it. But it would have to do. ᛒ was supposed to guard against evil, but the creatures were still coming towards me. What now? Stupid! How could I have forgotten? In my haste, I'd neglected the most important step. The rune needed to be spoken aloud.

Surrounded by several others, the creature with my father's face was almost upon me. A clawed hand reached out and gripped my shoulder.

"Berkanan," I said through a throat raw with fear.

As one, they paused. The moment stretched. I was still sprawled on my hands and knees, frozen in place, when a loud crack rent the air.

The rune was on fire, a single bright flame in the gloom. The creatures had been thrown backwards. I scrambled to my feet, my shoulder numb where the clawed hand had rested. The ᛒ I'd engraved in the snow was fully on fire now, red sparks shooting skyward. The fire began to spread, a thin line that grew steadily until it became a wall of flames. If the heat hadn't been so intense, I could almost have convinced myself I was imagining it all. Above the crackle of the flames, the spectres were a groaning confusion of limbs.

The birch tree was strength in adversity. It could withstand forest fires and return even stronger than before. It was so hardy, Father said it wasn't suitable for carving. The thought gave me courage as I ran.

The exhilaration, the intensity coursing through me as my will had shaped the rune's destructive power began to fade the further I got from the spot where I had cast the rune. A strange, unsettling feeling swept over me. It was the first time I'd used a rune for something other than healing. My gaze flew over my shoulder to the spectres, now rising, but still held back by the sheet of flames. Perhaps Father had a point about runes after all.

Although still dark, the fire cleared enough of the mist to allow me to see where I was going. I had thought the land flat and unchanging, but it began to slope slightly. How long would the runefire hold? I didn't know if casting the rune would work against them a second time. The incline grew steeper. Although I was used to traversing the hilly country around home, this was completely different. It became impossible to keep my balance now, so I simply sat and let the momentum carry me downwards, gasping and inhaling mouthfuls of snow as I gained speed. I tumbled countless times until I eventually slowed and rolled to a stop at the bottom.