Mercedes Lackey - Snow Queen

Lemminkal sprinted for the gate, gathered Annukka in his arms and led her away to the rest. When the pair reached Ilmari, Aleksia and Urho, they could all see that she was sobbing silently. Once among friends, Lemminkal folded his arms around her and let her sob into his chest, silently stroking her hair.

There was silence for a long time, as Annukka cried herself out.

Lemminkal cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

“Well,” he said, carefully. “Tomorrow, we will have to work even harder.”

Lemminkal sat at the gates of the Witch's Palace, on the stump they had put there yesterday. He was not dressed in finery; instead, he was wearing his shabbiest and most ill-used clothing. They had the Witch's attention, after all, and now she knew how the game was to be played. So Lemminkal was playing the feeble, absentminded old man, and providing a contrast, given his dilapidated condition, to the kantele on his lap. The last thing they wanted the Witch to know was that he was a Warrior-Mage.

Ilmari and Aleksia had debated over the presentation for some time last night. The truth was, the men didn't have anything that was the equal of Aleksia's outfit, and they didn't have time nor the energy to spare to conjure one up — not even if they used one of his two existing sets of clothing to build from. Granted, they could put an illusion over Lemminkal, but the Witch could probably see through illusion, and she would laugh at them. So Ilmari's reasoning had gone, and eventually Aleksia had agreed with him.

Lemminkal carefully unwrapped the kantele from the hide it had been stored in, and put it into position on his knees. He plucked three of the strings, then took his hands away, and the kantele began to play by itself.

This time, there was no snow-servant to ask what it was that they wanted. The Witch drove down from the Palace with Veikko, and sat in her sleigh, staring with lust at the kantele.

“I have not heard music in a very long time,” she said, in hushed tones. “And even then — it was never music like this! Will it play for anyone, as the comb works for anyone?”

“Yes,” Lemminkal said, simply.

“And what do you want for it?” the Witch asked breathlessly, her eyes fixed on the strings. “I will give you all the gold you can carry away.”

“There is not another like it in the world,” Lemminkal replied. “And we want the same as yesterday. One hour, with him.”

The Witch barked a startled laugh. “I could make you as rich as a king!” she scoffed. “I could give you near-immortality! I could give you an army of snow creatures so that you could go out and seize power wherever you choose! What kind of fool are you?”

Lemminkal just smiled. “Give me an hour and find out.”

With a shrug, the Witch brought down the Barrier, and once again, Veikko crossed, to stand indifferently in the face of everything that Lemminkal could think of to bring to bear on him.

At the end of the hour, the result was the same. Veikko crossed back to the carriage. The Witch watched him, with an odd glance cast at Lemminkal, and again, they returned to her Palace.

When Lemminkal, Annukka, Aleksia and Ilmari returned to camp, they found Kaari in what could only be described as a state. She was not hysterical, not yet, but it was very clear that with a small push, she could be.

“I tried and tried!” she said frantically, her fists balled up in Urho's fur. The Bear winced, but said nothing and did not try to pull away. “There wasn't even a glimmer! There was nothing! And we have no more treasures to offer! What are we to do?”

“Stop.” Aleksia held up a hand. She had just felt a now-familiar chill on the back of her neck, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something pale…. She grasped Kaari by the shoulders and turned her to face in that direction. Slowly, the Icehart stepped forward, toward them. As the firelight touched its face, they could see it was weeping. It bowed its head to Aleksia — or was it to Kaari? — and uttered a low moan. Then it faded out and was gone. And Aleksia knew, in that moment, what Kaari was to offer the Witch.

“I do not think it is an accident that the Icehart followed us here,” Aleksia said, in a low voice. “I do not think that it is an accident that it left that crystal with us. It wants us to put that stone in her hands. And when that happens — I think the Icehart holds the key to defeating her. Now. This is what you will do tomorrow. You will go to the gate and you will sit, without any treasure in your hands. The Witch will not think that she has anything to fear from a pretty, helpless-looking girl like you.” Aleksia's chin firmed. “But she will be wrong.”

Kaari sat quietly at the gate to the Snow Witch's Palace, hands folded in her lap, doing nothing. Aleksia and the others stood by, as they had for the past two days. The tension in the air was so palpable that even some of the villagers had ventured out of their houses to stand beside their doors and watch. Poor Kaari was as pale as the snow around her, but her hands had not trembled and her voice had been firm as she had rehearsed what she was to say.

It took longer for the Witch to emerge this time, perhaps because Kaari had nothing obvious to attract her attention. But curiosity got the better even of her, and eventually, out she came.

Annukka wondered if Kaari would break when she got her first glimpse of Veikko. Fiercely, she willed the girl to hold — and aside from a single strangled sob when Veikko did not even look at her, hold she did.

“Well?” the Witch called, when Kaari said, and displayed, nothing. “What do you want?”

“I have something better than either of the first gifts,” Kaari replied, her voice sounding breathless, but not shaky. “But it is so precious that I think it should be put directly in your hands so that you can see it for yourself.” She gulped. “You must open the Barrier at the gate for me, and let me inside.”

“Your friends may not pass,” the Witch countered, with a faint sneer in their direction. “They had their chance and failed, and I don't trust them not to try to — renegotiate our bargain. But you don't look as if you have the courage to frighten a rabbit.” She looked down her nose at Kaari. “Very well. You may come inside.”

She gestured, and the Barrier dropped. Kaari got up and walked un-steadily across the place where it had been.

“Well?” the Witch said sharply.

Wordlessly, Kaari reached into the pocket of her coat and offered the Witch the strange blue crystal, shaped like half a heart, that Aleksia had given to her.

To her obvious surprise, and Aleksia's fierce joy, the Witch's face — changed. She lost the sneer and the superior attitude. In fact, had any of them put a name to that expression at that moment, it would probably have been “shock.” The Witch, face gone paper-white, reached out and carefully took the crystal. Cradling it in both hands, she stood there staring at it.

Kaari ran to Veikko.

But Veikko was paying no attention to her, or to anyone else. He was indifferent to the Witch's state, and he didn't recognize Kaari. As she flung her arms about him, he looked down at her with a puzzled expression, as if he was trying to think, not of who she was, but how to get rid of this unwanted encumbrance.

Behind Aleksia there was a sound of wind in lonely valleys, and the unsettling sensation that suddenly she was alone on an empty glacier — utterly alone. And always had been. And always would be. Forever, living — and dying — alone. She shuddered, and a little moan escaped her. And it was at that moment that she felt someone's hand fumble for hers.

Ilmari —

Warmth spread from his hand to hers, even through their fur gloves. And warmth from hers to his. Suddenly the loneliness receded, as snow does from a fire. It was still out there — but it could not touch her anymore.