Page 5 of Midwinter Wiles & Valerian Dreams
My face is so close to the glass that I flinch as a blast of fire hurtles past. “What—?” My heart pounds.
First bandits. Now fireballs? How did my situation just getworse? I try to look again, but in my fear, my magic blasted out ice that now covers the window. Another bright orange flamepasses, blurred and warped by the ice, but enough for me to make out shadowy figures charging from the trees.
The carriage jolts ahead a few paces as the reindeer spook, plastering me to the back wall and making Beron brace against my seat. My knuckles turn white on the armrest as we lurch farther left and tilt toward the road’s edge before grinding to a halt that sends me flying into Beron with a wholly un-princess-like shriek.
Chaos erupts. The driver’s panicked yells mingle with the crackling of flames and the snarls of bandits, closing in fast. The clash of blades rings out.
I’m barely in my seat, my wits scattered to the waning moonlight, when the carriage door rips open. Out of reflex or some misplaced hope that Beron might still be on my side, I reach for him, my hand scrambling to clutch anything solid, anything that promises safety.
But the man I’ve trusted all my life pries my fingers loose instead of pulling me to safety. I gape at him, half in shock, half horror, as he shoves me—no,throwsme—right out the door into the path of the bandits.
I tumble, landing on my back in the dirt-churned snow. Pain jolts through my hip, but the pain isn’t the worst of it. It’s the hollow space where my trust in him has been ripped clean out of my chest. How could he do this? I shouldered Taynia’s cruelty all these years, but I thought I had one person who would be on my side. Now? Now my body feels heavy enough to sink into the frozen ground, but I know I have to move.
All around me, fighting rages. Huge bandits engage with the huntsmen. The reindeer stamp and snort, shuffling back and forth in their harnesses. Fireballs streak across the scene, sparks trailing in their wakes, illuminating the battle at the front and the few bandits who have made it past, coming this way.
A huntsman charges at the enormous man closest to me. He must be the one who tore open the carriage door. Their blades meet with aclang, distracting the bandit and sending my heart slamming into my ribcage. I scramble backward, avoiding the wild swing of a sword. Beron steps out of the carriage brandishing his axe, his eyes reflecting the blaze of another fireball streaking over my head.
I can’t believe I thought he would protect me. Is he hoping the bandits will kill me so he doesn’t have to? The hole in my chest throbs. His betrayal cuts deeper than any blade.
What a fool I am.
When his eyes lock on me, the hardness of his gaze matches his tone. “Stop her.”
It was a command, and I know Beron has a voice like thunder, capable of leading armies. So why did his order come out quiet? Is it my hearing? Did I hit my head? His words barely reach me over the mayhem, and only the nearest two huntsmen react.
Unfortunately, two will be plenty. I have basic skills with a sword, but having been torn from my bed for this death’s journey…surprisingly, no one thought to hand me a blade. I summon an ice spear as a bandit yells out. In my distraction, the spear forms barely longer than my arm, and when I swing it, it shatters to snow. I try again, but this time it's more of a thin icicle that snaps off as a fireball sizzles past. My training never prepared me for this kind of chaos!
The bandits are gigantic men wielding clubs and swords, their faces obscured by masks and the shadowy dark. The one who came for the carriage falls back to the trees as another fireball streaks over me. I throw a shower of ice crystals over my head to protect myself from the heat.
Fire slams into the side of the carriage and bursts over it, sending the huntsmen reeling as they avert their eyes from the blaze of light. This is my chance! I scramble to my feet, lungstight, and bolt from the road into the cover of the forest. I dash past the bandit who retreated, and thank my stars when he doesn’t notice me.
I don’t look back. I just run, fast as I can, away from the only safety I’ve ever known. I don’t want to know whether Beron is coming after me. I don’t want to see the axe swinging toward my neck.
With any luck, he’ll be distracted fighting bandits long enough to give me a head start. Not that it will help once he’s free to hunt me down. He’s not the Head Huntsman for nothing. No one can track like Beron, and a Point Fae princess won’t exactly be the most elusive prey he’s ever stalked.
Still, I can stay here and die, or run and… probably die. But I have to take the chance.
I plunge on, catching a glimpse through the trees of the source of the fireballs. It’s a towering druid, easily the height of two men together. My brain can’t process his impossible power as he looms over the scene as if directing all the fighting before him. I don’t need to understand it to flee.
A small figure bursts up in front of me, but dashes away behind trees before I can focus on the fleeting shadow. I get a face full of snow from a swinging branch as I veer away, mind reeling. The bandits wouldn’t have a child with them, would they? No, that’s insane.
That’s when I remember that I’m in wild territory, and there are all sorts of wicked creatures and fae beasts in these woods. That could have been a goblin or gremlin, or worse. Now my pulse has a whole new reason to race, driving my legs forward.
Branches claw at my limbs as I plunge through the underbrush, stumbling over rocks, dirt, and ice. My fine slippers are no match for the forest floor, but the pain in my feet barely registers. I don’t stop. Even when the shouts fade and the woods are too dark to see what’s in front of me, I keep running—lungsburning, feet bleeding, hoping beyond hope that Beron’s loyalty might be divided enough to stop him hunting me down.
Cold doubt grips my thundering heart. Where do I go? Can I outrun him?
Sounds of the fighting have faded to eerie quiet. Finally forced to slow in the darkness of thick woods closing in, I try to get my bearings. Which way is the palace? Not that I can return there. But I need shelter. I can’t stay in these woods. I stumble again on feet going numb. Deeper and deeper, I push on into the forest, jumping at every snapping twig.
With a groan, I realize I’d kill for my nice, warm bed right now, but I have no idea who I can trust for help. Where can a Point Fae princess with gleaming white hair and a well-known face ever hope to hide?
Unless…
I need light. These woods are too dark, and I need to do something about my feet so I can keep going. “Lumi?”
I could feel my faithful companion following high above as we traveled. She can’t be far.
The shock of betrayal brings frantic doubts, but I shove them down. Lumi wouldn’t leave me. It’s me she bonded with, not the crown. I trust her.
