Winter's Tale

1

The man rides his horse over the snowy expanse and looks on with pride, although it doesn't show. No emotion ever shows on his face. The winter lord has no emotion, it is said. They are wrong, he has emotion or there wouldn't be the violent storms that hit.

His gaze spots something that makes him frown. A dark spot on the clean white expanse of the snow. And something else, red. Holding back his anger he urges his horse forward to see what is lying so still.

His breath hisses from between his teeth as he can tell that it's a human, a hurt one at that.  As he nears he can tell it's a child and that it is wounded. He holds tight to his emotions. He needs to backtrack the child to find out how one of his humans became wounded and what happened.

He turns the child over and hisses once more in anger. The girl, he can see that now, is badly wounded. He's not even sure how she made it this far. It must be the cold. The child mumbles something and he can barely understand her. "I must get to the master, I must tell the master." She repeats this over and over again. 

The lord is nearly overcome, this human child mortally wounded is doing her best to come to him and tell him of the attack. She's so cold, he gathers her up and carries her to his horse. He rides quickly back to the castle. She needs immediate help, he's not sure that she will live even with his help.

He jumps down from his horse without worrying about it running off. Servants come running to take it and the lord storms into his home. "Send for my scouts and trackers." The lord demands of the nearest servant.

"Right away my lord," the vampire servant nods and takes off.

The lord turns to one of his human servants, "Go to my room and run a bath. Find appropriate clothing for her. Send up food for her."

"Yes, master," the human responds and immediately takes off to the lord's chambers to start the bath. She doesn't think the child will live long enough though. With the warmth of the castle the blood has already started flowing once more and by the looks of the clothing she has already lost a great deal.

The lord follows the human servant up to his room. There is only one way he might save the girl. He bites his wrist and tells the girl to drink as he holds his wrist to her mouth. The blood runs in and the girl, only half conscious swallows convulsively.

The blood starts working and the girl wakes up. "I must get to the master, please?"

"Shh, I am the master. You have fulfilled your duty. Now," the lord looks at her and orders. "I want you to tell me your name."

"Rose, master," Rose answers automatically.

"Well, Rose, I want you to forget all that troubles you. You are to be an honored guest in my home. After we get you cleaned up you are to eat and sleep, do you understand?" The lord demands.

"Yes, master," Rose replies, but she's already fighting sleep. She does her best to keep awake as the master ordered but it's so very hard.

The lord removes the rags that she'd been wearing and hisses at the wound that is slowly healing. It had been a deep one. The child was strong to make it as far as she had with that wound. The nearest human settlement had been at least a mile from where he found her. It was little more than a small village, less than two hundred people if he remembers correctly.

If she is from that village, she likely just lost her entire family. The village was made of an extensive family with only a few outsiders brought in to keep from inbreeding.

The lord gently helps to clean the girl up. This isn't something he's accustomed to doing and so he's more than a little awkward at it. By the time he's done he's as wet as the girl is. He takes her out and wraps her in one of his fluffy towels. 

He quickly strips out of his own wet clothes and wraps himself in another towel. Then he carries her into his bedroom. The servant had left clothing for her on his bed. The lord helps the girl into the simple clothing and sets her on his bed while he gets dressed as well.

Try as she might the girl can't keep her eyes open and she falls asleep before the lord finishes getting dressed.

The lord looks down at the exhausted girl and gets her settled in his bed.

Then he calls for the housekeeper, the same one that brought the clothes. Once she appears he gives her specific instructions.

"When she wakes she is to be fed.  You are to make sure that all her needs are met. Do I make myself clear?" The lord demands.

"Yes, master, it shall be so," the human servant replies, but inside she's jealous that the lord is taking such good care of the nothing human.

A knock at the door keeps the Lord from speaking again. The human opens the door and one of the scouts he sent off is there. "The village the child came from is gone, my lord. There are signs that some of them were captured, but most lie dead." The scout pauses and holds something out to the Lord.

"We found this in the hand of one of the men," the scout hands the button to his lord.

What he sees makes it so the lord loses all control of his temper. "He dares to attack me?"

"Order up horses, we leave immediately," the lord orders as they leave the room.

The human servant gives one last look at the young girl lying on the bed lost in slumber before shutting the door.

"I ordered a fresh horse for me and one for you as I came up, lord. They should be ready now." The scout is quick to say to his lord. When the lord gets angry the storms become impossible. It's been a very long time since he's seen his lord that angry.

"He is heading towards his lands?" The lord demands as they mount and start on their way. This was a declaration of war. But the lord doesn't bother to bring any more of his men. He'll take care of this himself. The other lord has forgotten just what he can do.

It will be the last mistake he ever makes.