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Jak Frost Written by Katt McConnell |
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It was freezing the night Alexis was thrown out on the street. She cursed the family name of the people she'd been boarding with with breath that came out in a cloud of steam. For ten years, she'd lived in that building, doing whatever her renters asked: Fixing things that had broken, running errands to the marketplace, tending illnesses, midwifing for Autry when she was pregnant with Jenna... The list went on. And how do they repay me? By using every excuse possible to evict me—by stealing my money so I couldn't pay the rent on time. And all so some young thing can take my place as their lackey. Well, good riddance. She slung her few belongings over her shoulder, eliciting an incongruous a jingle from the pack's metal findings. Off into the new winter winds she walked, just barely catching the scent of snow upon them. Soon it would be colder than this at night—far colder. Already her old joints were beginning to ache. Well, Alexis thought with a sigh, looking at the buildings around her as she stood on a street corner. Ice-cold winds swirled between, and in some places through the dilapidated buildings of Tehtra's poor quarter. Where to, now, I wonder? It's obvious this city doesn't want me, anymore. Someone coughed loudly in a nearby building while she thought. There's always northward... I wonder if Chastrin needs a midwife. With a shrug, Alexis pulled her cloak tighter around herself and once more set off into the night. Tehtra's many winding streets hindered her on her way to the gates. Though she had lived in the city for twelve years, Alexis had never seen much outside of her own quarter and the marketplace, so she had little idea how to navigate the streets. It was foolish, she knew, but at the time nothing beyond her own worries and cares had mattered. Back when the kingdom was first founded, Tehtra had been the well-defended capital, surrounded by walls as thick as three men were tall and a maze of streets and allies. Now, the king had moved his throne to Mekawn in the south and left his labyrinthine city to his constituents. Alexis used the moon to navigate after realizing she was going in circles. Finally, when her hips ached with cold, she saw the tall, imposing main gates down the street to her right. Lanterns burned beside the door of the guardhouse and pole torches to either side of the gates themselves. She stopped to think and will her hips to stop hurting. I made it this far, at least. I think Chastrin can wait, however. It's three days' walk for someone with strength and stamina, and I don't have that, or any supplies. Alexis turned her earth-brown eyes down the street in front of her, where lanterns burned on the post of ever door. I suppose I could afford one night at an inn. At least those bastards kicked me out after I ate, so I don't have to worry how I can afford food in addition to a bed. With a painful limp, Alexis walked up to the first inn she saw, called The Barrel and Nail. Its sign had an illustration for the benefit of the illiterate. Inside the slightly shabby building it was blessedly warm. For the price of twenty coppers, Alexis had a room with a bed, nightstand, and fireplace. For five coppers more, she had wood for the fireplace and help from one of the inn's boys to start a nice, cheery blaze for her. She tipped with a haypenny. Room acquired and heating source sufficiently fed for the night, Alexis undressed and got into bed. The mattress was thankfully parasite-free, and the sheets were as clean as she could wish them. Her joints were just beginning to feel better when she fell asleep around midnight. Morning saw the opening of shops as usual. The day before had been the last day of the outdoor market for the new year, the sudden cold snap sending the dregs of the stall owners into winter quarters. Alexis had slept soundly that night, rising just in time to clear out of her room after dawn. She bought a breakfast pastry and cup of hot cider at a corner stall. The vendor also provided her with directions to shops that sold what she needed for her trip. The day was considerably warmer than the night before had been, but the smell of snow on the air was heavier. Alexis knew that the first flakes were likely to fall by dusk. Let's hope those blankets are as warm as that man claimed they'd be, then. She walked down streets clogged with people and animals, which only got more congested as she neared the gates. People poured into the city off the road, while still more got onto it. Alexis joined the exodus, shuffling her feet along on the cobbles of the street. After what seemed like an eternity of crawling along in a line of folk that never seemed to move, Alexis reached the guard post. The smell of unwashed bodies and animal dung that had followed her down the line abated some as the space in front of her opened up to reveal a disinterested-looking guard. "Name?" he asked. "Alexis Achenhild," she replied. The guard wrote her name down on a piece of vellum; Alexis knew later it would be found on an old city roster and scratched off. The bureaucrats of Tehtra wanted to know at all times who was in their city. It wouldn't surprise me if they still have the list of names from two hundred and fifty-five years ago when this was still a five-family hamlet, she thought derisively. The guard motioned her through the gate with a wave of his pen after he was done writing. The road beyond the gate opened up before her, spaces between travelers doing likewise as people put more distance between one another. Alexis walked on the verge, watching the few people that passed her, until she turned north onto the woodland trail, and was suddenly alone. Few birds called in the trees, only a raven or two, and sometimes an owl in the distance. The air was cool and silent, filled with the scent of frost. When the wind blew, the bare branches of the trees knocked together. Alexis's footsteps thumped slightly on the frozen trail. Otherwise, the forest was silent, hushed by the approach of the first day of winter. Alexis passed between the cold, grey trees, remembering the stories about this nameless forest. People had said strange magics lurked in the trees when the moon was full, that on harvest moon, anyone who sacrificed a goat in the exact center of the forest would be granted the Gift of Foresight. Although sometimes it was a horse. Or a cat. Or maybe a hog. Alexis rolled her eyes. It was her experience that every forest had its own myths and folklore, most of which was so exaggerated it couldn't possibly be true. She was much more afraid of bandits than forestry folklore, though with the bite in the air she doubted even they would be out and about. She inhaled deeply, savoring the chill of the air against the back of her throat. Gods, it's nice to be out here after living in the city for so long. I never realized how much I missed living in the wilderness...though I do know I don't miss farming. She chuckled at memories of her father and mother, both now long dead. The wind blew, making Alexis suck in another large lungful of air. She smiled up at the bark-grey sky. Winter had always been her favorite season, even after she'd seen fifty of them and her joints began to ache in cold weather. She loved the snow and how alive the world seemed when it was asleep. The cold replaced the friction-heat of the city's daily drudge, sent it into hibernation, and awoke her heart. It had been years since she'd truly felt release in cold, however. I got too caught up in work... Had to sew when I wasn't midwifing, and get everything done quickly, so I was always too tired to enjoy much of anything. And when I was in lieu of orders to fill, people always needed a baby delivered or a fever treated. Her smile blossomed anew as she looked at the sky once more. I'm going to like this trip more than I thought. Maybe getting evicted wasn't so bad... Alexis looked around at the trees beside the trail and beyond them to the shadows behind. I should build a cottage out here when I get enough money for supplies. My own winter house. While musing on her future home in the woods, Alexis passed several small streams that were beginning to ice. They burbled around stones and swirled into eddies where does drank. Alexis passed them without noticing their alarm at her approach, so tightly was she wrapped in her dream and the peace she felt in the cold. She took lunch by one such small stream, chewing on some dried fruit and nuts with cool stream water in a tin cup to drink. Dusk was fast arriving when she realized she was hungry again. With a happy sigh and a smile, Alexis chose a clearing in which to camp for the night. She cut some sticks for tent poles and more for firewood from the tree litter already on the ground. The forest around her darkened while she went about setting up camp. By nightfall, there was a blaze going in the center of the clearing. Alexis settled on the cold ground and set some jerked pork on the rocks of the fire pit to warm. While she waited, she had some more dried fruit, chewing as she thought about her past. The fire flickered, casting strange shadows on the trees ringing the clearing. Alexis finished her dinner and watched the flames, slipping deeper into thought. When a snow-laden wind brought her back to the present, she groped around for what she'd just been pondering, but to no avail. Time for bed, she thought with a sigh. She added another load of wood to the fire to deter wolves from getting into her camp, then took her pack and snuggled below her blankets in the confines of her tent. Icy winds swirled around her in a vortex, carrying her as though in flight. Her mind was aware of every individual snowflake, and recognized the birthplace of the wind in which they were suspended as an old friend. Strange, she thought, for this was indeed strange to her, yet so familiar she missed it. The winds set her down in a stand of sleeping trees surrounded by their own dead leaves. Her feet were cooled on the ground; the chill passed through her body, awakening every cell and empowering her soul. She remembered what freedom truly felt like. That's when someone said her name. "Hello, Winterheart. I've been waiting for you." She turned to look. "No," she started to say, "I'm Alexis." Then she looked down at herself and saw she didn't recognize the body she was in. The hands were too young to be hers, the breasts too firm and high, the raiment all wrong. She was dressed in a bright skirt, the threads as light as cheesecloth, her legs hidden by a drawstring slip underneath, a loose, white cotton blouse and brown leather bodice with the laces all but removed adorned her torso. She was wearing Festival clothes. This is me, she remembered. A young me. I must be about fifteen or sixteen. Funny. I don't feel any younger. Already a woman by her parents' standards, they had allowed her to take part in the biggest fertility ritual of the year for the first time. But that can't be right now, it's winter. Alexis looked up to meet eyes of vivid lapis set in a face of cream and edged by midnight-black hair. She gasped at those eyes—so familiar, they were, yet so strange, still...like the memory of a distant age. "No," the man said, "you are Winterheart—you just don't remember, yet. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I would have done so sooner, had you come back to me." She stared into his eyes, so confused she couldn't think of anything to say. All that filled her mind was snowy tundra and the feel of snowflakes melting on her cheeks. Finally, after whistling winds had filled the silence too long, Alexis was able to string three words together. "Who are you?" The man's porcelain features fell, his eyes taking on a glimmer of the kind of pain only felt in the heart. "Don't you remember your old Jak?" Alexis blinked. The winds swirled around her again, but didn't lift or carry her clothes or her hair. Rather, they displayed a brown-haired girlchild wandering through sleeping woods in her quilted coat. She giggled as her dark-haired friend appeared, a man who could have been made of snow, with lapis stones for eyes. He ducked behind a tree, letting the child chase him, never leaving footprints in the snow. The girl followed him unerringly until she came to a boulder-filled clearing, in the center of which was a delicate ice-sculpture. She giggled again, holding the small ice rose, then scampered back to her family's farmhouse. Snowflakes obscured the scene for a few seconds, then scattered to reveal a bonfire. It was massive enough Alexis half expected its heat to melt the snow around her. Stars shone in the sky above, winking at the revelers that ringed the flames or went into the forest for more personal celebrations in pairs or small groups. The brown-haired girlchild, now a young woman, danced and let the village boys pull at her bodice strings to loosen them as she passed. She left the fire to chug a mug of cider, sweat glistening on her face and arms. Her bodice sat low on her stomach, and she was quite ready to remove it. One of the boys left the fire shortly after her, following her to the cider kegs. She recognized him as the boy who'd seemed to make a point of only pursuing her around the fire, and he reminded her of her childhood friend, only less pale. "Hello," he purred. His eyes sparkled with firelight. She offered him some cider, but he pushed it away and put his hands on her waist. "I only have two hours left in this form, my winter's heart. Then I have to leave you until first snowfall." She looked into his eyes and saw years of chases through gently falling snow, a heart that only belonged to the wintertime and her. A smile spread across her face and she put her arms around his neck and kissed his lips. He sucked in a startled breath when they parted. "You have no idea how long I've waited for you." "Years?" she asked. "Lifetimes." Her smile widened as he searched her eyes. "Come on, Jak," she said, and took his hand to lead him into the trees. The snow danced before her eyes again, clouding her vision. It wheeled away to reveal Jak intently searching her gaze for love, or recognition at least. Alexis blinked, startled. Her memories came back slowly, making her heart sink with each passing year. She wiped a lone tear from her cheek when every memory of Jak had been restored. "You—I—you're too late." Jak's eyebrows knitted. "How do you mean?" "I'm no longer this young. I've seen fifty winters, at least. The maiden you knew is gone." She was surprised at the levelness in her voice. She sounded much more accepting of it than she felt. Jak only smiled. "No, my winter's heart. Your mind is still there. Just more mature." He gathered her close for a hug, burying his face in her hair. "You've always had the winter's heart, you know." He pulled away, his eyes still twinkling as though they reflected firelight. "Time for you to go, I'm afraid." The snow-laden winds swept up once more, lifting Alexis up and away. Jak's voice drifted after her, as ethereal as mist. "I'll be waiting in the snow." Alexis's eyes snapped open. She blinked owlishly in the morning light, gradually becoming aware of a frozen nose and a very full bladder. It was freezing outside, the world covered in white. After relieving herself, Alexis hurried back to her tent and wrapped her blankets around herself. Only then did she remember her dream. Gods. Oh, gods. She stared at the wall of her tent. Was that—gods, I hope not. Her breath curled up in a cloud of steam. It had snowed so much while she slept that her firepit had a thin blanket, and everything else was covered in an ankle-deep layer. He said he'd be waiting in the snow. She pulled her blankets closer and crawled out through the tent-flap. A cold wind blew gently through the trees, causing the chill to seep through her covers and snow to fall from branches high above. Alexis inhaled deeply as her eyes took in the pure white of the snow. He said I always had the winter's heart. Her mind brought back stories she'd heard of Father Winter, otherwise known as Jak Frost, who arrived with the first snowfall and left when the Year Wheel turned again. Alexis smiled wryly as the wind's fingers combed her greying brown hair. I'd always wondered who he was. How he knew where the wind was born, and why I never saw him except in the winter—and how he could just seem to disappear in a swirl of snow. The wind whistled behind her, causing her to turn. Jak stood leaning against a tree, as pale as ever, dressed in white boots, trews, and a long-sleeved tunic. His hair lashed around his face, brushing across lips quirked in an affectionate smile. "I wondered when you'd figure it out." Alexis blinked, surprised to see him there. She smiled a second later as the humor in Jak's words wormed its way into her mind. "I might've gotten it sooner had I not forgotten you." She cocked an eyebrow suggestively. "That wasn't my fault," Jak muttered almost sadly. "You got so caught up in the daily drudge that you forgot about me. You couldn't remember what any kind of freedom felt like, much less that of a snowstorm." Her smile turned soft at memories of her youth. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm here, now." Their eyes met, Jak's filled with ice and wind, Alexis' with age and memories of days long since passed. "Yes," he said. "Yes, you are." Jak pushed off the tree and crossed the clearing to stand in front of Alexis. "So, now that I have you, what shall I do with you?" He hooked his thumbs through his belt and raised his eyebrows expectantly. Alexis couldn't help but smile slyly. "Well, if you do truly want this spinster, I have a few ideas." His grin turned coy as well. "Well, since I do, perhaps you might share them. But I'm afraid all we could do is talk." Jak's Face fell, followed by Alexis's. "Why? We did—more than that that one Midsummer." "That was special. It was a sabbat, and the Lady made an exception—" He stepped closer and put a cold hand to her cheek, looking deeply into her eyes. "Though there is another way." Alexis met his lapis gaze. "What?" The wind swirled around them, entwining them. "Embrace the wintertime. Embrace the cold, the snow, the wind!" He grinned hugely, flinging his arms wide and spinning away from her as if to encompass the whole forest. His eyes glowed with blue fire as the wind howled. "You were so close when you were a little girl, when you were innocent." The light in his face dimmed somewhat. "But you were too young for me to accept, then. You weren't ready." Jak caught her eyes and held them, searching, searching. "I've already accepted you into my heart, Jak," Alexis replied with a loving smile. He shook his head. "To truly do so, you have to forget about everything else, be willing to change. Be willing to leave the mortal world behind." His eyes pleaded with her. She only wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head against his chest. "I love you, Jak. I may have forgotten you for a time, but now I remember. I've missed you, even though I didn't realize it until now." The winds swirled around them again, playing with their hair and tossing Alexis's skirts about her ankles. She closed her eyes and pressed herself into Jak's chest, thinking with all her will how much she wanted to stay with him, how nothing else mattered in that world of friction and steam. Only Jak and the snow mattered to her, now. No sooner had she thought this than the air changed. Suddenly, she was aware of every snowflake, every icicle. The wind giggled as it tugged her hair. It changed direction in the next instant, spiraling up, then cascading down and buffeting Alexis with what felt like gale forces. Snowflakes hit her hard enough to sting, encompassing her form, chilling yet enlivening her heart and mind. The howling blizzard died out as quickly as it had come into existence. Alexis was surprised to find her cheek still on Jak's chest, the inner coldness gone. But the breeze still giggled and the snow still called her name. Jak chuckled, pushing her away gently. "It takes some getting used to." "What happened?" Alexis asked, confused. "You've changed," he replied, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. "Both inside and out." His smile grew into a grin. "Did any of those stories you heard about Father Winter ever mention Mother Winter?" Alexis shook her head with wonder, casting her eyes around the clearing. "No, but I have a feeling those stories are about to change." She looked at the snow as if she were seeing it for the first time. It glistened like a thousand diamonds in the sunlight shining through the trees. Jak's hands trailed from her shoulders and down her arms to hold her hands. "That's not all." Alexis looked down and saw her hands were smooth, her arthritic joints no longer swollen and painful. Her wide-eyed gaze met Jak's mirthful one. "I'm—" Jak nodded, smiling. "But how?" He slipped his arms about her waist and smiled down into her eyes. "The Lady works in mysterious ways. I suppose the only way to find out would be to ask Her, and She's busy getting ready for the labors of childbirth—now might now be a good time to disturb Her." Jak left it at that and leaned down to give Alexis a peck on the lips. When he pulled away, he was wearing a sultry smile. "Now, then, about those ideas of yours..." The wagon wheels creaked and rattled in a monotonous pattern that was boring Jenna to tears. "Mamma," the eight-year-old whined, "when are we gonna get to Chastrin?" Autry glared irritably at her daughter, keeping a pot from hitting the wagon floor just in time. "I've told you twice, Jenna, probably in three days." The oxen outside complained about their load, their breath steaming from their nostrils to disappear into the cold winter air. Laven, Jenna's father, pulled his blanket tighter about himself up on the driver's seat. Jenna looked out the back of the covered wagon at the snowy trees beyond. "But I don't wanna leave Tehtra, mamma. And how come we have to travel when it's so cold?" She huddled in her blankets, watching her breath steam up to the roof of the wagon and dissipate. "Jenna," Autry scolded, "you know your father and I need work. Gram and pappy offered to let us stay with them for a few weeks until we raise enough money to buy another house." Jenna sighed in face of her mother's ire and logic. Gods, I'm so bored! I wish we didn't have to go to stupid Chastrin! She had just reserved herself to staring out the back of the wagon for hours on end when something caught her eye and made her gasp. "Mamma!" "What?" Autry snapped. "Look, mamma!" Jenna said, unfazed. She pointed down their backtrail where a woman with long, brown hair dressed in white boots, trews and long-sleeved tunic stood watching them. "Look, mamma, it's Alexis!" Autry's brows furrowed as she stood and walked over to look out the end of the wagon. "What? Oh, don't be sil—" She stopped dead as she looked where her daughter was pointing. The woman did look remarkably like Alexis, only thirty years younger. "Well, kiss a toad—" A man appeared beside her out of nowhere, one that made Autry wish she were thirty years younger. He was also dressed in white, and his eyes were an unearthly blue, visible even as far away as he was. His raven black mane moved in the wind as though it had a mind of its own. Jenna looked up at her mother. "Mm," Autry said critically. "That can't be Alexis, sweetie. She's too young. And anyway, she disappeared five years ago." Jenna's mother moved up to the front of the wagon to talk to her father, leaving Jenna to sigh and watch the lady, anyway. She was pretty, whoever she was. The pair lifted their hands and waved. Jenna giggled and waved back. A sudden gust of wind swept down the trail. It blew Jenna's hair into her face, rattling the wagon and continuing along back down the road. When it hit the man and the lady in the road, they burst into a cloud of snowflakes. Jenna gasped, a smile spreading on her face. "Mamma, mamma!" she cried, crossing the wagon's length in three bounds. "The man and lady turned into snow!" Autry looked first to her daughter, then down the road where the couple had stood. She sighed in exasperation. "Not now, sweetie," she said, turning back to her husband, "momma has a headache." "But I saw them, momma, I did!" Autry didn't reply. Jenna sighed, bored again. A second later, she danced when the wind swept back up the road, carrying snowflakes that seemed to giggle at her and whisper her name. |