Jim Hines - The Snow Queen's shadow

The plants seemed unaffected by the cold. Not a single leaf or petal marred the ground. The snow crunched beneath Talia’s feet as she followed Noita into the garden. Talia paused after a few steps, remembering what Gerta had said. How many bodies had fertilized these seeds?

“It’s too still.” Danielle was looking about. “There are no animals. No insects. It’s like a painting or a sculpture, an imitation of the real thing.”

“Imitation? Pah.” Noita limped to the center of the garden. “Flowers wither and die at the first touch of frost. Trees shed their leaves, sleeping through winter. This is better. My magic flows through this garden, giving it the strength to survive. This garden is as well-protected as the king’s palace.”

“They’re magical.” Gerta pressed thumb and forefinger to a sunflower’s stalk. “Each flower is enchanted, fed by the flesh and blood of the dead.”

“All plants feed on the dead, absorbing their strength. It’s the natural course of things.” Noita leaned against an apple tree and rubbed her leg. “You’ve seen the mirror, the vines worked into the platinum frame? That was my magic, strengthening the mirror’s hold. But the spells were Rose’s. Even then, I wasn’t strong enough to imprison this demon on my own.”

Talia’s eyes were still blurry, and her nose had begun to drip. The floral smell of magic was thick as smoke. It was as bad as being in Snow’s library when she was experimenting with new perfumes.

“You helped Rose,” Gerta protested, covering a yawn with one hand. “You have to know the spells she used. I could work with you to-”

“Your mother was always possessive of her secrets. You think she would share this kind of power, even with me?” Noita hobbled to a small stone bench, all but hidden by green, teacup-shaped flowers Talia didn’t recognize. “The fruits of this garden have shown me the future. I foresaw your visit weeks ago, all save your wolf-clad friend. And I’ve seen what happens if we try to fight this demon.”

Talia started forward, but something tugged her leg. Thorns tore her trousers as rose vines spiraled up her calf. She pulled harder, trying to wrench the vine from the earth.

Gerta had already collapsed, asleep. Danielle managed a single step, but the vines clung to her leg. She swung her glass blade through one of the vines, and then the sword slipped from her grasp and she fell.

Talia ripped her leg loose, even as more roses reached up to grab her other foot. A swing of her sword sent rose blossoms tumbling to the ground.

The hell with this. Talia stabbed the sword into the dirt, pulled a dagger, and flipped it in her hand to throw.

“Kill me, and they’ll never awaken,” Noita warned. “The spell that holds them in sleep can drag them down into death just as easily.”

White flowers tinged with pink covered the branches of the apple tree. Those flowers hadn’t been in bloom when they first entered the garden. That tree was the source of Noita’s spell.

A growl built in Talia’s chest. Those were apple blossoms. “Snow’s mother paralyzed her with a poisoned apple. She got that apple from you, didn’t she.”

Noita shrugged. “There are many poisons-”

“Poisons that work with the first bite? That could overcome Snow before she cast a single spell? I know poisons, witch. None work so quickly.” Another vine caught her wrist. Talia jerked free, barely feeling the thorns that bloodied her skin. Had Noita been close enough, Talia would have snapped her neck with her bare hands.

“Snow is gone.” Noita stood, jabbing her crutch at Talia. “You should be more concerned about the friends you have left. Surrender that cape, or they die.”

That cape was the only thing protecting her from Noita’s magic. Talia bared her teeth, but hesitated. The others’ breathing had grown shallower. Noita wasn’t bluffing.

Talia dropped the knife and reached up to unfasten the red cape. The vines now trapped her legs up to her thighs. She yanked the cape free of the thorns. In a single motion, she reversed the cape and pulled it tight around her body, so the wolf’s fur was on the outside.

Pain crushed her body, forcing her to her hands and knees. Thorns stabbed her skin as her limbs reshaped themselves into those of the wolf. She snarled, tugging and jerking as the vines tried to close around her. New strength pumped through her legs. She ripped one of her rear legs free, then twisted to bite the vines holding the other. With a snarl, she lunged forward, tearing the last few vines from the earth.

She crossed the garden in an eyeblink, knocking Noita backward over the bench. Before Noita could do more than open her mouth, Talia’s fangs were upon her neck.

The wolf was fully roused now, urging Talia to clamp down and rip out the witch’s throat, to kill her for her betrayal and for what she had done to Snow all those years ago. Instead, Talia simply snarled.

Noita’s eyes were huge. Withered fingers grabbed Talia’s muzzle, trying without success to force the jaws open. Rose vines punched through the earth, twining their way up Talia’s legs. Talia bit harder, tasting blood.

Noita made a squeaking sound and raised her hands in surrender. She gestured toward the apple tree, and Talia saw the blossoms begin to close.

The others woke as swiftly as they had fallen. Danielle grabbed her sword and walked over to place the tip at Noita’s throat. “We need her alive, Talia.”

Danielle’s words, spoken without sound, pierced the wolf’s rage. Grudgingly, Talia backed away, licking blood from her chops. She sat back on her haunches and used her teeth to dig at the seams of the wolfskin, peeling it from her body. The process was a painful one, but it was the sound that bothered her the most. Joints popped and bones ground together, until Talia was herself again, curled on her side and panting for breath. She used one hand to switch the cape back around, wrinkling her nose at the smell of wolf sweat.

“My visions have shown me what’s to come,” Noita said despondently. “What the demon will do to this land. What it will do to me if it discovers I’ve helped you.”

“So you’d do nothing?” Danielle asked. “You’d watch as this thing you helped bring into our world now seeks to conquer it? You saw Rose Curtana’s cruelty. Imagine Allesandria under the rule of a demon queen.”

Noita’s hands shook. “I told Rose what could happen if this thing were to escape. With Snow’s power added to its own…”

Talia retrieved her weapons. “What does the demon want?”

“Fear. Chaos. Death.” Noita started to rise, but Danielle’s sword remained at her neck, keeping her in place. “This is a creature of hell, a torment meant for the damned. I saw Rose after she bound the demon. It touched her only briefly, but that one touch haunted her. She was never a kind woman, but the demon sapped any remaining joy from her soul.”

Talia thought back to the last time she had seen Snow, at Whiteshore Palace. The demon had crushed the merriment from her eyes, carving away her happiness and leaving her hollow. How long would it take her to rebuild herself, once this demon was destroyed?

Anger surged through her, and this time she didn’t fight. She gave herself to the wolf, shoving past Danielle to seize Noita by the throat. She hauled the witch to her feet. “These visions of the future. Did they show what I’ll do to you if you don’t help us?”

Noita swallowed. “They didn’t show you at all. Only your friends. That cape of yours shields you from my visions.”

The terror in Noita’s eyes almost made Talia pity her. Then she looked to the apple tree and thought of Snow. “If I can change what happened here, I can change the rest of it.” Her fingers tightened. The wolfskin gave her strength, and Noita was an old woman. It wouldn’t take much effort to snap her bones.