AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A forest grew here. How it grew beneath the ground I did not know, but trees stood tall, swaying in the breeze, and dark bushes filled in the undergrowth. All were covered in snow. The sky was a pale silver, but I knew it was actually a ceiling. From that ceiling, an intricate web of lacework, spun from frost and snow and spidersilk, spanned the ceiling. And hanging from the center, ice spiders. Huge, white with golden accents, they were intelligent and fierce. I shivered, staring at them as they waited.
I can’t show my fear. They may react, whether or not I’m to be the Queen. I have to show strength and control.
My heart was pounding, but I forced myself to walk up to the web of the nearest—and biggest—spider. She stared at me with glittering faceted eyes and let out a low hiss, moving one jointed leg ever so slightly.
I didn’t flinch, just stood, waiting. This was a game of poker, and as of yet, she was the strongest guardian—and strongest foe—I’d faced.
Lowering herself to the ground, she scuttled to stop directly in front of me. I didn’t step back, didn’t look away. After another false run, she seemed to deflate a little. “You wish me to guard your chamber?”
“I do. Guard it against all enemies who would seek to destroy me.”
A light flashed between us and she backed away, returning to her web. “Pass, Queen of the Realm. My sisters and I shall stand sentinel.”
I crossed through the snowy underground forest, pressing on until I came to another opening. The chamber into which I stepped was empty, but behind an alcove lay yet another chamber and I knew this was my goal. I glanced at the seat by the doorway. No one was there. I had to trust that all was as it should be, and I passed by the empty chair and into the next chamber.
At the center of the chamber was a tower rising into the air. The chamber soared so high I could barely see the ceiling, and a rock quarry was off to the far right. The tower was circled by stairs made of ice, and I knew exactly what to do. I’d seen the result once before. I hurried to the pillar and began to climb the stairs. Below, a dizzying panorama spread out; the chamber was at least the size of a football stadium.
I hurried up the round staircase that encircled the tower, and when I reached the top, I found a dais. An indentation waited—just the size of the box with my heartstone. Untying the knot in my hem, I cautiously pulled out the box and opened it, one last time. I didn’t touch the gem, merely watched the slow pulse of blue in the heart of the jewel. This was me. This was my essence. My life, and I held it all in my hands, in that one little box, encased in a gem that would—with luck—rest here until I was ready to walk into the mists.
Slowly, reverently, I placed the box on the dais. For a moment nothing happened, and then a dome of crystal covered the box, and the dais descended into the center of the tower. A rumbling caught my attention—the tower was shaking. Without thinking, I flung myself off the side and transformed into an owl, but instead of getting caught in my gown, as would normally happen if I forgot to undress, the gown shifted with me and I swung up and around the tower as it began to lower itself into the ground.
I flew down to the bottom and transformed back. As my clothing shifted back with me, I smiled faintly. Another perk of being the Queen.
The tower rumbled and grumbled its way into the floor, turning and twisting like some behemoth, and when it vanished, stones began to fly up from the quarry to the right. A structure built itself as I watched, each stone fitting in place until the top of the tower was hidden from view and the hole into which it had sunk could be seen no more. Lastly, a door sealed the front of the stone compartment. The door was silver, with a lock, and within that lock, a key. Lainule’s heartstone had been locked away behind two keys—one for Summer, one for Winter. But I had the feeling that had been altered to be that way when the Queen of Winter had been murdered.
I reached out and slowly removed the key, holding it in my hand.
Now what? My heartstone was sealed away, but I couldn’t keep the key with me. At that moment, a faint humming echoed from just outside the door and I followed it, the key firmly in hand. A woman sat on the chair that had been empty, and behind her a doorway was now visible.
She regarded me carefully, then handed me a velvet box. The box had a velvet cushion within, and an impression the size of the key. I set the key within the box and then closed it, looking up at the woman. She did not speak, but I knew what she was and I didn’t want that deafening voice echoing in my head.
“You are an Air Maiden, are you not?”
She inclined her head.
“You will guard this chamber.”
Again, she nodded. And then she curtseyed and I curtseyed to her—the Air Maidens were terribly powerful and their voices could rack the brain.
Satisfied, I turned back to the recess behind her and turned the doorknob. The door opened with a start, and I stumbled into yet another chamber. As I’d expected, there was a large pond, but the pond was iced over, and a dark shadowy woman knelt by the side of it. She watched me, saying nothing, as I walked to the edge.
There was no boat, no way to the center, but I knew where I had to go. I struck out on the ice, praying it would hold my weight. Once again, I found that I could glide across it with no problem. I crossed to the center of the pond and looked down. A hole, some twelve inches wide, marked the center, and I knelt down and breathed onto the water churning below.
“I have come. Reveal yourself to me.” It sounded good, and it was what my instinct told me to say.
At first nothing happened, but then I glanced up to see the dark woman crawling along the ice. She reached the other side and spoke in some guttural language that had its roots in a culture so primal I doubted anyone could understand her. A moment later, a dais rose up from the center of the ice, and on that dais rested a silver bowl with cover. I quietly placed the box with the key into it, then replaced the cover and stepped back. With a low rumble, the dais withdrew back into the water, and the ice covered over as if it had never been anything but one solid sheet.
The woman pointed to me, then to the other side of the lake, and I nodded, following her direction. As I came to the shore, I turned back. She was watching, waiting, and the entire chamber felt like it had gone on high alert. I stepped onto the shore, and there my Ice Elementals waited. I was about to say something when one of them blew on me with an icy breath, and I went tumbling into the darkness.
Chapter 8
When I opened my eyes, I was back in my room—the one I shared with Grieve—in bed. I sat up, wondering if this had all been just a weird dream, but one look at his face told me that it hadn’t. Grieve was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding my hand, watching me.>We walked in silence for what seemed like hours, but the cold did not chill me, and I did not tire. I was, however, getting a little bored. But then we came to the tree line, and here the trees ceased being silhouettes and became towering sentinels, dark in their boughs, covered with frozen ice and snow. I reached out to touch one of the limbs, and the tree shuddered gently as a dusting of powder fell to the ground, taking one of the icicles with it. A howl echoed in the distance, and I whirled.
“Animals? There are animals here?”
Of course. They live in the frozen land. Elk and reindeer, the bear and the wolf and the fox, the owl and winter rabbit.
They led me into the wood, deep into the heart of the forest, and more time passed under the silence of the woodland. But as we progressed, here and there I heard the echoing call of a bird, the rustle of a bush with animals hiding behind it. Life began to make itself known, and I felt a deep unwinding inside, as if a knot had loosened that I hadn’t even realized was there.
