A cold gust made me wrap my arms tighter around myself, trying to hold a small bit of warmth in under the thin coat. My right arm was beginning to hurt at the joint, the cold metal giving me frostbite.
I looked back over the snow covered clearing, trying to gauge my progress. Behind me my footprints were the only marks upon the field of white snow. Black trees stood on either side of the path, each completely encased in ice. Razor sharp sickles hung from every branch, threatening to fall upon anyone foolish enough to take shelter underneath.
In the distance beyond the dark wood was a white and silver mansion, it's windows glowing with promised warmth. I turned away and kept walking.
"Machina?"
Conversion pod should be in sight now, seventy feet ahead.
"Well it's not. Anything on the scanners."
Lots, but nothing concrete. I suspect our host may have moved our ride.
"Are you lost little one?"
I nearly cursed as I spun around to spot the speaker.
"N-no, dear Lady. I am merely looking for something I left nearby."
The Lady smiled with her ice blue lips, but the smile did not reach her empty eyes. She was a mockery of the human form, her features too perfect, too symmetrical. Snow white skin and crystal hair complimented a dress that looked carved of ice and snow. It was hard to say whether she was an extension of her land or if her land was an extension of her.
In her right hand she loosely held two silver chains, each leading to a studded collar around the neck of her two favorite pets. They were covered in white fur, and had canine muzzles and long black claws, but even I could see that they had been human once.
"What kind of gracious host would I be to leave a guests carriage to rot in a field?" She asked, her voice just far enough off of human to set my teeth on edge. "I put it away."
"The Lady is most kind." I said, gritting my teeth against the cold. "Where might I find my carriage?"
"Back at the manor house. Are you sure you don't want to come in and warm yourself? Maybe have a cup of hot tea?"
"No dear Lady, thank you." I turned back towards the house.
"I could have your carriage brought back here."
It wasn't an offer, it was just a statement. Wherever I went, wherever my escape had been, she would kindly put it somewhere else. Somewhere I had been or would go, but never where I was.
"What would you like me to do to have you bring it back, dear Lady?"
"Address me as 'My Lady', like I have asked you to before."
"I must respectfully decline."
"Then perhaps a game?" That damned smile never left her face. Everything in this place was so dangerous, and I was slowly freezing to death already.
"What kind of game?"
No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no-
We do not have any other choice D. Either Sarah plays the game or we die.
"You shall seek out your chariot, and my pets shall hunt you." the Lady said. "If you find your vehicle, then you win. If my pets catch you, I win."
"If I win, I leave. What do you get if you win?"
"My poor pets are so lonely since their last companion passed on." Her voice held mock sympathy, and a gloved hand caressed the heads of one of her pets. It went rock still in fear. "If I win, you will serve as their new breeding bitch."
"You won't move my pod once the game starts. I get a sixty second head start, and I can defend myself from your pets."
"Thirty seconds, but otherwise, agreed." A light flashed in her empty eyes. "Let the games begin."
I turned, running out into the forest, dodging falling blades of ice. Behind me, the Lady's pets let out great long howls.
From the forest around me dozens of voices lifted into the freezing wind as the howls were answered.
I woke in the castle and immediately pulled the blanket tight around me. shivering, I got up and shuffled closer to the fire. Despite it being late summer, the room felt so very very cold.
What was that?
"Don't ask Nightmare. Please, just don't ask." I shivered.
No, really. I've never even heard of a creature like that...that thing.
I looked around and finally spotted the ancient and rusted fire poker. I reached out and clutched the long iron rod close to my body, ignoring it's cold touch, and said the name.
What? You mean like fairies?
"No, I do not mean like faeries. I mean like gods damned Fae!" I huddled closer to the fire, my eyes darting to the dancing shadows in the corners of the room.
You had a spirit bound to your arm. You have a living nightmare sealed in your back. Why fear elves and tricksters?
"Dragons can eat you, demons can steel your soul, spirits can posses you, but Fae are worse by far. You eat anything, you take anything, you say anything out of turn or give any insult, and they own you. Rule one when traveling to other dimensions is to research all the variations on monsters, ghosts and demons you can get your hands on. You can trick gods, beat demons, and destroy most monsters. But you never, EVER fuck with the Fae."
"Sarah?"
I looked up to see Lance looking in through the bedroom door. He had on all his armor, his spear, an extra sword, and a whistle.
"Oh, hi Lance."
"Are you alright? You were talking."
"Just a nightmare."
"NIGHTMARE?!" Lance jumped into the room, his spear pointed at me. He glared at me, then looked around the room. "Nightmare is loose? In the room?! In the Castle?!"
"No, Lance. I had a nightmare, like a bad dream."
"Oh." He lowered his defense a little bit. "Ugh, why is it so cold in here?"
My eyes widened as I saw his breath steaming in the air.
"I guess Nightmare made part of my dream real."
"You dreamed you were cold?"
"No, I um." I realized I already had a white knuckle hold on the iron poker, but still I huddled closer to the fire. "I had a dream about the time I met a Fae."
Lance froze. "You mean a fairy, like a little thing with wings, right?"
"No."
"Hang on a second." Lance said, running out of the room.
He is CRAZY!
"He's a little paranoid, that's all."
He has tin foil sticking out from under his helm.
A tapping sound reached my ears, echoing from down the hall. It slowly got louder and louder, until at last Lance came back into the room. Each of his hooves was now encased in rusted iron armor from one of the suits of armor scattered around the palace. He walked in and settled down next to the fire, with a pad of paper and a pencil.
"OK, tell me about this Fae."
"Sarah, don't stop now you're nearly there"
"What?" I stumbled slightly, then lifted the basket of bricks again.
"Come on!" Starlight said, hefting a sack of mortar mix "Don't slack off now, we are almost there."
"For this load! You said there are twelve more I need to get done today." I said, stifling a yawn. "Where is Lance? He should be able to move this without trouble."
"Lance pulled first shift." Starlight said. "So he's running patrols while we build."
"And Steel sleeps." I finished. "We really need a few more guards, I'm worried you three are going to run yourselves ragged." I yawned again.
"A little lost sleep for hazard pay is a good trade. Why are you so tired?"
"Nightmare."
"WHAT?!" Her eyes shot wide and she almost dropped the beam.
"I mean I had a nightmare. More a memory, of another world."
"Oh." Starlight settled down some. "Was it a bad memory?"
"I don't want to talk about it." I said, shivering. Even in the sunlight, I still felt cold.
"Alright." She said, dropping the sack next to two others. "There, that should be enough for the main firebox. We just need to get more bricks and start building."
"That would be a hell of a lot easier if you would help. Or at least let me use a wheelbarrow."
"No way!" Starlight said. "Steel told me that if I or Lance let you slack on the brick carrying, then we have to pull double shifts for guard duty."
"That doesn't sound so bad." I said.
"He also said he would douse us in something called 'steak sauce' first."
I cringed. "Oh. Yeah, OK. That would be like dressing up as a giant candy on Nightmare Night."
"Here, I'll go get the plans and buckets." Star said before flying off.
I sat down to rest, unloading my basket. "Ugh. This stupid kiln."
It's going to take you two weeks to move all those bricks.
"The plans say I can line the inside of the kiln with unfired brick. The kiln will fire those for me, so that will save me a bit of hauling."
You should bring the molds over next and start making bricks.
"Well, I'll want to make sure Steel knows which bricks are cast and which are carried. I don't want him stepping up my training."
I wonder what the kiln will look like when it's finished.
"We'll just have to wait and see."
Feh, if I had my full power I could build it in an instant.
"Yeah, that's what I want. You at full power."
I'm really not bad, things just get out of hand.
"One day soon you're going to have to tell me about it."
Sure, we can sit down, have tea and cookies, and I'll tell you all about the time I caused a royal princess to overthrow her sister and try to take over the world.
"Sarah, are you talking to yourself again?"
I looked up to see Lance staring at me through a gap in the outer wall. It was one of the larger gaps, one of the reasons the kiln was built here.
"No Lance, I'm having conversations with Nightmare." I told him sarcastically. "I can hear her in my head, probably because I don't have one of those nifty tin foil hats of yours."
"Oh, do you want one?" he asked in a reasonable tone.
"Yeah, I could use one pretty badly." I gave him an evil grin. "Why don't you just take yours off and-"
"YOU WILL NOT TRICK ME THAT WAY DEMON!" Lance yelled before running off.
You told him about me? I thought you wanted to keep it a secret.
I got up and picked up the basket, heading back toward the front courtyard.
"You know, for an evil spirit, you don't seem to know much about lying."
Then educate me oh great and wise teacher.
"Sarcasm will get you nowhere. There are four ways to lie."
That sounds oversimplified.
"Hush, listen to me, four ways. The first is an outright lie, like 'I am twenty feet tall and blue'."
That is a terrible lie, nopony would believe it.
"Like nopony believed I had 'alien mind control beams'? You are right though, it holds no elements of truth and falls apart the fastest. The second is a lie that contains points of truth, like 'I come from another world and can breathe fire'. Since it is able to be proved in part, it is more believable. The third way to lie is by omission."
Oh, I know that one. Tell the truth, but not the whole truth.
"Yeah, you leave out important details. This lie is harder to disprove than the others. The last way to lie is to tell the whole, complete and unvarnished truth."
That doesn't sound like lying at all.
"You have to say it in a way that no one will believe you."
Like how you told Lance you could hear me, but made it seem like a lie to get your "mind beams" into him.
"Yeah I-" I stopped, "Nightmare, where are we?"
You are the one driving.
"I wasn't paying attention, must have made a wrong turn." I turned around and saw something moving down one of the far hallways.
"Starlight? Is that you? I got turned around trying to get back to the courtyard."
Silence.
"Starlight? Lance?"
Maybe it was just the wind?
I wet my finger and held it up. Not even the slightest breeze could be felt.
"I think I'm going back to the courtyard. Now." I started looking for familiar landmarks within the castle, but I was deep in the servants passages. As I walked I heard the tile shifting underfoot, and an odd echo from behind me.
"This castle must be haunted." I joked half hardheartedly.
The castle isn't haunted. I mean, it was haunted, but I was the one haunting it.
Behind me something clacked on the tile, like a heavily armored hoof.
"OK, real funny Lance." I turned around. "You can knock it off... right...."
It was large.
It was dark.
It had bat like wings and glowing eyes.
I don't think that's Lance.
"Time to go!" I turned and ran down the hallway, making random turns and pulling doors closed after me.
Left! Go LEFT!
I swung left and stumbled through the door into blinding sunlight.
"Sarah?"
Starlight was there, grabbing the last of the mortar sacks. I ran past her to the training ground, grabbing up the spare short sword and using it to quickly trace three circles around me.
"There is something in the castle! Maybe D! Dark, big, glowing eyes, bat wings! Get Lance! Get Steel!" I held the sword up in a defensive stance, glaring at the doorway I'd run out of.
Starlight, with mounting worry, soared off into the sky calling for the others.
It took her almost twenty minutes to rouse Steel and find Lance. I don't think I blinked once.
"We can't find anything," Steel informed me as I assaulted a manticore dummy with my short sword, "but given the size of this castle it would be easy to hide."
"Well, what do you suggest?" I asked, trying a thrust. It was hard to get enough force behind it to do damage without overbalancing me if I missed.
"One of us will be with you constantly from now on, and guard your room while you sleep."
"That doesn't seem ideal." I said.
"No, ideal would be you bunking with us," Starlight said, "but I don't think Lance would ever sleep then." She was busy using her wing blades, a pair of special swords that fitted to the front of her wings, to slash at a humanoid target.
"Never the less, until this thing is caught or we can prove it's gone, you are stuck with us."
"There goes my personal time."
I guess I'm going to have to get better with subtle, huh?