Outside of Nair Keep, howling winds drove sheets of chill rain through skies dark with billowing clouds. Gusts from the south kept it from turning to snow, but only just barely. It was still wet and miserable.
Inside, the halls were silent. Nair Keep was fairly typical for the outer ring. It was normally a bustle of activity as its thirty-odd residents worked to eke out a living on the edge of the kingdom.
But the fireplace in the great hall held nothing but cold ash, while the long benches were bare. The forge was dark, and crafters' workshops silent. Beds were stripped and empty. Only a draft moved through corridors normally filled with the clatter of talons on stone.
The sole sign of life in the keep was a single ribbon of smoke that drifted from one of its chimneys before being shredded by the wind and rain. Down the flue, in the very heart of the keep, a fire crackled. By its light, a pair of dragonettes sat at a wooden table, surrounded by pots and pans and knives and plates and all manner of cooking implements. An iron cookpot sat over the flames, slowly simmering away.
Neither was really paying attention to the food. It was just a simple stew of jerky, dried vegetables, and a handful of grain. Nourishing, but not particularly tasty.
No, their focus was on the pair of dice that the shorter of the two had just thrown. As they came to a rest, her perked ears drooped in disappointment. "Oh, come on! Fours?! Again?!" She moved a small marker on her circular board, and it missed the blue patch by a single space.
"You might be right about being cursed," her fellow joked as she picked up the dice. Holding them up and shaking them against each tip of her forward curving horns, she tossed them onto the table. A six and a three.
After a bit of consideration, she moved her own marker three spaces, placing it directly between the blue and a black.
When her companion didn't move to pick up the dice, she frowned. "Oh, come on Sanara, I was joking."
"Yeah, well, I don't really think it is a joke," she grumbled. "Maybe I offended Lotek or something when I told that trader her wine was watered down."
"It was watered down," her companion - Cassionie - argued. "You just could have been a little more, uh, polite about the whole thing."
"She deserved it."
"You threw a cup of it at her while calling her a cheat!"
"And I might have been a little drunk at the time. But come on, wine that weak might as well be wash-water!" Sanara sighed and picked up the dice. Without any fanfare she tossed them. A two and a three, this time. That moved her to the other side of the blue finish line.
"That's when it all started, anyway," she went on as Cassi picked up the dice. "I bet it's why my name came up in the drawing."
"And I still say being awake isn't a bad thing!"
"Give it a few weeks. You'll change your mind."
But Cassi wasn't having any of it. "A whole extra share and all I have to do is feed the animals and watch the keep while everyone else is asleep? Not a chance!"
Sanara wrinkled her snout in an ironic smile. "Just wait for the cold to really set in. Then the snow will come and you'll get tired of stewed jerky-"
"I'll admit, I am already tired of stewed jerky," Cassi interrupted as she tossed the dice. "Damn, no twos." The three did put her just one space away from her goal, though.
"You only think you're tired of it. I did this two winters back. I know what it's like."
"Only a month and a half to midwinter. Then it's the next shift's turn. I can make it until then." She nudged the dice towards her unlucky friend with an outstretched talon.
Her comment got her a head shake in response. "Trust me, you'll be begging for a dose of heaven oak tea so you can join the rest of the keep before too long."
"I'll manage. Plenty of time to plan what I'm going to get with my gold. I'm thinking a new pair of earrings. But should they be in silver with some nice emeralds? Or maybe diamond studded gold hoops?" She waggled her ears, which currently lacked any adornments.
"You'll be lucky to afford copper."
Cassi flicked her tongue out. "And what are you going to get?"
"A nice barrel of strong ale to drink for when I get this duty next year," she muttered as she finally picked up the dice and tossed them. Two small dots stared up at her and she finally let a real smile show through as she moved her marker into the blue. "Or maybe not."
Her companion laughed and pointed one long finger at the dice. "See, told you you're not cursed!"
"Can't lose them all, I guess," Sanara muttered. "So, best three out of five?"
Cassionie sighed as she trudged towards the barn. Bundled as she was, with hot water bottles packed beneath a thick, waterproof coat, she was warm enough. But even wrapping her legs in strips of cloth couldn't keep them warm in the thick, freezing mud.
She longed to spread her wings and fly down the rise to the barn and small paddock. Except in this cold, even a short flight could be dangerous. There were countless stories of dragonettes flying during the winter only to crash as their wing muscles seized in the cold. Better to walk than risk a crash.
At least the rain had receded into a soft drizzle overnight. That was still a poor consolation as she trudged towards the soft cries of the animals.
Something must have tipped the animals off to her approach because a small flock of mixed goats and sheep emerged from the barn and charged towards the fence, bleating up a storm.
"I don't know how you all do it," Cassi muttered as she pushed through the gate. "An hour out here and I'd be stiff as a board. And you all spend every night out here." One of the ewes pushed up against her and she laughed and stroked a hand through the thick, rough wool.
The press of warm bodies and steaming breath helped a bit with the cold, and the dragonette moved a bit more briskly to the hay shed, pressed along by the eager flock. They set on the armfulls of dried grass and brush with happy bleats.
Once the flock was distracted by food, Cassi went about checking the paddock. Thankfully, nothing had fallen on the fence during the storm. Digging new posts in this weather would have been torturous.
She was also pleased that the barn's new shingle roof had held up. That job had taken her most of a month towards the end of summer, removing the old roofing and rotted rafters, splitting new shingles, and hauling them up. Most of the work had been on her own. The title of assistant carpenter didn't lend her much authority, and most would-be workers were already busy.
A quick check showed the trough was full of fresh rainwater, and the stalls wouldn't need mucking out for a few days at least. It almost seemed like a waste to get all dressed up just to throw out some feed, but she wasn't going to complain.
The hot water bottles ringing her chest were starting to cool when Cassi finally unbarred the gate and started to trudge back up the hill to the keep. Off to her right, fields lay fallow for the season. They were an ugly gash on the landscape, with only a few browned stalks still poking out of the muddy soil.
But something moved among the empty furrows. A small herd of deer had crept in from the forest, nosing at the remains of last season's crops.
Cassi froze, staring down the slope. Her stomach growled and her mouth watered at the sight as thoughts of fresh venison steaks played in her head. It was even cold enough that a carcass would keep fresh if they strung it up outside where animals couldn't get at it.
Ducking low, she scrambled up the muddy slope. The cold seemed a little more distant now. Memories of the taste of fresh meat did wonders at pushing it away.
The keep's side entrance creaked on rusty iron hinges, revealing a dark room beyond. "Sanara!" Cassi hissed, keeping her voice low as she hunted for a lamp in the dim light. There wasn't any flint, but she didn't need one. Concentrating and holding the wick between two fingers, there was a faint pop and then it burst into flame.
It wasn't the flashiest magic, but it had its uses. She smiled to herself, then pushed towards the heart of the keep.
"Sanara!" Her voice remained muted, as if the deer might hear it through the thick stone walls. There was no response.
'Probably by the kitchen fire,' Cassi thought to herself. She was about to turn in that direction when a thought occurred to her. With a sly smile, she turned the other way and pushed through the door to the room that held the keep's small armory.
No one was exempt from weapons training. Not so far out on the frontier, where brigands, darklings, and inter-keep fighting were facts of life. As a carpenter, Cassi was more familiar than most with the crossbow she picked up. She had made the stock, after all. There was a cocking claw nearby, which she used to lever the string into place before seating a bolt in its groove.
Every dragonette born on the frontier thought of becoming a huntress at one time or another. The girls, at least. Born in an inner keep, she had played at hunting with other hatchlings. And even though that fantasy had faded, it had still been a bit of a disappointment when Sanara had been recruited from the city of Bartelion and straight into the ranks of the huntresses a few years past.
Bagging a deer in the middle of an open field might not be much of a feat, but tweaking the huntress's tail over it might pass a few boring afternoons.
Crossbow in hand, she rushed back through the halls and out the door, not even taking the time to close it behind her. Mud squelched beneath her feet. She could only hope that the wind would be enough to muffle the sound.
In a few moments, the fields came into view. They were empty.
"Shit!" Cassi cursed. "Where in the gods' names did they go?!"
Throwing caution to the winds and racing down the hill, she quickly came to the spot where the herd had been. There were prints everywhere in the thick mud. Huntresses occasionally talked about following animal sign. It couldn't be that hard, could it?
Scouring the edges of the field proved little help. There were tracks, for certain. Even ones that were clearly from deer. Only they seemed to be going every which way.
Now caked in mud up to the top of her ankles, one arm dripping from a near fall, Cassi was about ready to cry in frustration. Worse, there was no way she'd be able to hide this from her Sanara. Not without a bath, and there wouldn't be any of those until spring.
"It was a fall. A deep puddle. Just need to hide the crossbow before she sees it."
As far as stories went, it was a poor one. But with luck, it would be enough to avoid ridicule.
She was just about to turn back to the keep empty handed when a rustle from behind one of the low trees that bordered the fields made her pause. Nothing, and then... there! The soft sound of evergreen needles shifting as something passed through.
Those same needles blocked the view of anything deeper into the woods. Cassi edged to one side, sighting down her crossbow and hunting for the returning deer.
The noises were getting louder, punctuated by the occasional snort. It sounded like an entire herd of them. One finger tightened on the trigger, waiting for just the right moment.
Something brown moved in the trees and Cassi jerked the trigger. Just as she cursed her impatience, there was the thwack of the bolt hitting flesh.
"Oh, thank Naulk!" It could only be the god of the hunt that had blessed her shot. Pushing through the trees, she was pleased to find the brown bulk of a good sized buck collapsed in a pile of pine needles.
And then all that excitement turned to horror. Because rather than felling the buck, Cassionie's bolt had buried itself in the dragonette carrying it.
"Sanara!" Terror gripped her heart as she rushed to the form of the weakly struggling dragonette, dropping her crossbow to the ground. "Oh, gods, oh gods, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
Blue blood was everywhere as she hauled the deer's body off of the collapsed huntress. Any hope of a minor graze died as the wound registered. Sanara had one hand gripping the bolt by its shaft, buried up to its torn fletchings in her long neck. She gurgled something as her eyes locked onto her shooter.
"Oh, shit. I- I- Don't worry, I'll get it out!" With a frantic burst of strength, she yanked the bolt from her fellow's neck.
It was a mistake. As soon as the shaft was free, an arterial spray of blood splattered across Cassi from arm to horns. She stumbled backwards just as another weaker spurt erupted from the wound.
"Noooooo! Nononono!" She looked back and forth between the bolt in her hands and the slowing flood coming out of Sanara's neck. Then her horrified gaze shifted. They caught the dying dragonette's green eyes. Saw the pain in them. The shock. The pleading. Pleading for someone to save her from the inevitable.
Cassionie turned and ran.
"They're not going to kill me. They can't kill me. They need me."
Cassi sat by a roaring fire. She felt cold to her very bones. To her heart. A deep and terrible ache that the flames couldn't hope to touch.
Sitting on a stool, staring into the flickering light, she rocked back and forth. The fire held neither answers, nor clarity. It just crackled with inappropriate cheer, oblivious to the situation that its master was in.
"It was an accident. Accidents happen."
The words rang hollow. Accidents might happen, but a carpenter trying her hand at being a huntress was no accident. There would be consequences.
Sanara had no family at the keep. No one to insist on a harsh punishment for her murderer. No one to demand blood for blood. Then again, Cassi didn't have anyone who would stand up for her. Friends, yes. But they were Sanara's friends, too.
Nothing like this had ever happened out here in Nair Keep. It was quiet. An occasional word from Lady Nair was more than enough to settle any disputes.
Back home, though, back in the inner keeps, they had their crimes. They were more small towns than the extended families of the outer frontier communities. Thievery wasn't unheard of. If they were caught, those criminals got sent to the mines in chains.
That was all well and good in a place with more dragonettes than jobs. Where a mining guild representative was less than a day's flight away, and always ready to take charge of another prisoner. Out here, on the frontier, they didn't have that luxury.
And murder was a damn sight worse than stealing a few gold.
"They still need me. They won't break my wings and throw me into the ocean." That sort of punishment was reserved for traitors. She wasn't a traitor. And the keep was already down a huntress. They couldn't afford to lose a skilled carpenter.
But did a carpenter really need her wings? Her horns? Two working legs?
Lady Nair held final judgment over everyone in the keep. As long as it didn't go against the wishes of the crown, her word was law.
She might get by with an indenture. But how long? Five years? Ten? A life for a life in service to the keep?
Maybe the worst of it was that now she was alone. Or as good as, anyway. The rest of the keep were all in magical comas, most with enough heaven oak bark in them to last until spring. A pair would be waking in another month and a half to replace her. There was no way to awaken them sooner, and her judgment would hang above her until that day.
"But... what if they don't know?"
The sudden thought made a great deal of sense. She was the only one awake. The only one who knew what had actually happened. Who else was to say that Sanara hadn't gone out one day and never come back? Eaten by dire wolves or frozen to death or crashed after an ill advised flight.
For the first time in hours, Cassi felt a spark of hope in her frozen chest. It drove her to her feet and out the kitchen door. There was no need to get dressed. She still wore her winter gear. It was enough for what she had planned.
"First, the body. No one can find the body."
Finding the corpse with a bolt and crossbow nearby would tear the wings out from under any story she told. Cassi cursed herself for leaving the weapon out there. She'd have to retrieve it along with the body.
It would be better to have her just disappear. Strip the body, drag it out a ways, and leave it for the wild animals. Then burn her belongings so no one would ever find them.
Then she would just say that Sanara just went out one day and never came back. Some people might be suspicious, sure. They wouldn't be able to prove anything. And in the meantime, Cassi would keep up their duties.
For the third time that day, she trudged down the path from the keep, veering off towards the forest. The spot would forever be seared into her memory. She knew that she would be able to find it until the day she died. The exact spot she stood when the string released. The tree looming over the spot the body fell. The patch of ground compressed by the weight of the dying dragonette.
Only, when she arrived, the body was gone.
There was no question that it was the right place. The deer carcass lay right where she had left it. Blood tinged the mud a light blue where it pooled. There was even a depression in the soggy needles where Sanara had bled out.
But nothing remained of the dragonette. Not so much as a scrap of cloth or sliver of flesh. Just the blood soaking into the ground.
For a brief moment, Cassi thought that the other dragonette had survived. Maybe she had some latent healing magic or a potion stashed away somewhere.
That was impossible, though. She knew for sure that Sanara's gift was something to do with the winds. She could bend and twist them around her, which made the huntress almost untouchable on the wing. There was no room in her personality for a split power.
And all that blood... No, she was dead. Had to be dead.
"A wolf got her," Cassi decided. "Dragged her off and ate her. That's good. That will work."
Except that the wolf had left the deer behind.
Maybe it was just the one beast. Maybe the dragonette just smelled better. It didn't matter. The body was gone.
So was the bolt. Cassi looked high and low for it as the shadows lengthened. Probably buried somewhere when she tossed it away, or maybe snagged on the body. Again, not a problem. If anyone found it, well, crossbow bolts got lost all the time.
The thought of fresh venison was no longer as tempting as it had been. Looking at the carcass only brought a sense of nausea and revulsion. She left it there. No doubt that wolf would come back for it, or else some coyote or other forest dwellers would eat well tonight.
With the sun setting and a north wind beginning to blow, Cassi made her way back up to the keep.
A frozen hellscape surrounded Nair Keep. Winds roared like tormented dragons, driving great drifts of snow against the stone walls.
The entire experience was new to Cassi, having slept every previous winter away under the influence of heaven oak bark. Stories of blizzards were one thing, but living through one...
She shivered despite the warm fire and thick quilt. One trip outside to feed the animals had been enough. Just reaching the chicken run set up against the keep's wall had left the tips of her fingers stiff and her feet practically frozen. Without fresh hot water bottles and another layer of clothes, the trip to the paddock might have killed her.
At least keeping things up alone hadn't been difficult before the storm. Really, there wasn't enough work for one person, let alone two. Feed the animals, throw some jerky and dried roots into the stewpot, drag in firewood, occasionally check the hatchery and the rows of comatose dragonettes sharing space with clutches of eggs.
All there was left to do was to work on the keep's pile of tools. Blades needed sharpening, cracked handles replacing, and rust polishing away. It was slow, boring work, but passed the time.
First, though, she had tended to the crossbow. A day lying in the mud hadn't done it any favors. Cassi had taken every piece apart, cleaned and oiled them, and put them back together again before she was satisfied.
It should have gone back into the armory after that. There wasn't any reason to keep it in arm's reach.
And, yet, there was this feeling. A prickling sensation along her back and down her tail. Like something was watching her.
"It's just the guilt," she told herself for at least the hundredth time, and fought to keep her breathing under control.
This time, she managed to keep it together. That wasn't always the case. More than a few nights in the last week had seen Cassi waking in the dark with tears in her eyes and a wail on her lips. Sometimes the panic attacks would come on during the day, too. One moment she would be fine. The next, she would be leaning against a wall, crying her eyes out.
Thankfully, those had gotten less frequent as the days went on and she accepted the fact that Sanara's death had just been a terrible accident. Not her fault. Not something that she would need to pay for.
"It was only an accident."
Repeating the phrase like a mantra, she scooted her chair closer to the fire and snuggled further under the quilt. It wasn't like day and night had much meaning in this weather. The animals had more than enough feed to last them until dawn and there weren't any chores that couldn't wait. There was no reason that she couldn't just hunker down and wait for the storm to blow over.
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A dull bang jerked Cassi from her stupor.
"What the fuck?"
She jerked off the blanket and instinctively grabbed for the crossbow. It was already loaded and cocked, and she swung it towards the hallway.
Nothing.
A nervous chuckle escaped Cassi's lips. She was almost ready to chalk the noise up to her imagination when she noticed the pitch of the wind had shifted. It was louder, with a whistling quality. And the strange sound was coming from above her. Definitely something that needed investigating.
With a grumble, the dragonette pulled on her jacket and a pair of gloves. The keep might protect against the elements, but heating it all for one person would be a waste. Outside of the kitchen, the hearths were dark and empty.
The hallway beyond was dark, lit only by the light of the lamp Cassi carried in her left hand. Her right held the crossbow.
A cocked ear revealed the whistling was coming from the stairs. It was louder on the next level, and louder still above that. The air was also getting colder, and the chill was starting to bite through the leather jacket when she reached the bedchambers.
Something clunked from up the hall and Cassi froze, trying to peer into the gloom. A line of pale light waxed and waned as another gentle thump sounded.
Stepping forward, crossbow aimed into the darkness, she approached. Ready for anything, the lone dragonette lept around the corner and shouted, "Who's there?!"
Her question was left unanswered. And when the source of the noises revealed itself, it drew a nervous chuckle as the tension broke.
One of the keep's shutters had torn away in the wind. Gusts heavy with white snow pushed through the window and had set the door wobbling on its hinges.
It wouldn't be hard to fix. Once the storm abated and the weather warmed, at least. For now, Cassi grabbed a folded blanket from the bed and went to hang it across the narrow window. That would block the worst of it.
Quite a bit of snow had already filled the room. It was just warm enough in the keep for those flakes to begin to melt, soaking the blanket. Already, the cold meltwater was seeping through the seams in her thick, leather gloves.
Only, something seemed wrong. A pungent aroma wafted off of the bedding. Sharp. Metallic.
She stepped back and the light from her lamp illuminated the scene. Lines of blue covered the blanket, and leaked out onto her gloves. Hesitatingly, she raised one and sniffed.
Cassi's nostrils flared at the unmistakable scent of dragonette blood.
Shock hit her like an out of control dragon. And then it registered exactly where she was.
This was Sanara's room.
A terrible scream howled through the night. Whether it was the storm or something hiding in it didn't matter. Cassi snatched the crossbow from a table and aimed it out the window. But there was nothing to see in the perpetual twilight of the swirling snow.
Something dripped onto the dragonette's bare feet. Then again. A glance showed spots of blue speckling the white hide. Looking up to her crossbow, Cassi screamed and yanked the trigger. The bolt zipped into the storm, tumbling as it quickly disappeared from sight.
She didn't stay to watch. The lone dragonette was already running for the hallway beyond. Slamming the door, lamp forgotten, she sprinted for the stairs, navigating by touch and memory. Down one flight, then two, and all the way to the kitchens.
The cookfire still burned brightly. Sparks erupted as Cassi threw the bloody crossbow into the flames. Her gloves followed. Fire licked at them hungrily, devouring the offering.
Cassi watched, panting.
What she had seen was impossible. It had to be. The blanket was one thing. It could be explained away as bad dye, running in the snowmelt.
But there had been no mistaking what else she saw. The bloody bolt loaded in the crossbow. The torn fletching. The scrapes and nicks on the shaft. That wasn't the one she had loaded.
No, that had been the lost bolt that had taken Sanara's life.
The weeks had not been kind to Cassionie. It was clear from her hooded eyes, stained blue by lack of sleep. From the droop of her tail as she walked down the hill. From her shuffling steps that kicked rocks and clods of wet dirt from the path.
It wasn't even all that cold. Uncomfortable rather than deadly. Patches of snow sat in the shadows of trees and rocks, but otherwise the ground was clear.
Cassi just kept her eyes forward, focused on the barn at the bottom of the hill. The animals were already out, sheep bleating to the heavens while the goats wove between them. That was her fault. She had forgotten to feed them the day before. Not for the first time, either.
Sleep rarely came at night. She could only stare into the fire and try not to think. Whenever she started to drift off, something would jerk her back awake. Sometimes it was the whistle of wind or the distant howl of a wolf. Things she could explain. Then there were the other noises. Footsteps. Half-heard voices. Thumps and bangs.
She investigated them at first. Armed with a kitchen knife, she had snuck through the halls of her own keep like a thief. There had never been so much as a door ajar. Not after that first night. Not after Sanara's room.
When she finally gathered the courage to return to that cursed place, the blanket had been sitting in a puddle of slowly melting snow. There wasn't so much as a drop of blood on it. It might as well have been some twisted prophetic dream, except for the broken remains of the crossbow in the ashes of the cookfire.
Eventually, Cassi had given up on chasing the noises. First, she tried ignoring them. That lasted only days before the sound of a child's sobs had broken her.
She had started yelling after that. Curses, mostly, mixed with the occasional plea. There was never any response.
Livestock pressed into her as she entered the paddock. One goat reared up, pushing its forelegs against her side. She whirled, snarling at the animal. It flinched back, but not before catching a smack to the side of its head. The goat went sprawling, half of its scraggly coat covered in mud.
Cassi ignored it, moving mechanically towards the hay shed. Likewise, she ignored the growing stench coming from the barn's open door. It needed mucking out, but she just couldn't muster the energy.
There was a wooden-tined pitchfork in the shed. She grabbed it in ill-fitting gloves, and used it to hurl a pile of hay out onto the muddy ground. The flock immediately descended on it, devouring the food.
Raising the tool up to get another load, she heard a noise from the barn and instinctively glanced in that direction. And froze.
It was dark beyond the threshold, but Cassi could still see the stooped silhouette of a dragonette. One with a crossbow bolt sticking out of its neck.
"You're dead!" she screamed at the ghost. The pitchfork shook in her hands as she held it more like a talisman than a weapon. "Dead! Go away! Get the fuck out of here!"
The shadow shifted, then moved, bolting out of the barn.
"The fuck?" Cassi jerked away from the dirty-white streak. It left behind a piece of hay floating in the wind, dislodged from where it had rested on the sheep's back.
But the sight of the animal just enraged the dragonette.
"No!" she screamed, terror flashing to raw fury. "No! That was not some dumb animal! I gods damn know what I fucking saw!"
Cassi whirled and the sheep scattered, bleating in fear. "I know it's you, Sanara! Just leave me alone! Leave me!"
Not even a distant echo answered her. She hurled the pitchfork away so hard that it snapped in half as she roared, "Why?! Why?!"
The screams left her panting. A pant caught, and it came out as a choked sob. Then the tears came.
"I'm sorry! You know that, right? It was an accident and I'm sorry! But it wasn't my fault! I didn't... I didn't... ARRRGGGGGHHHH!"
Her only answer was the soft whisper of a cold breeze. Even the animals were silent, huddled against the far fence.
"Damn it all!"
Still breathing hard, Cassi grabbed a great armload of hay and threw it out of the shed. Two more followed before she slammed the door shut. The pieces of the pitchfork remained where they had fallen, untouched.
"I'm not going to give up," the dragonette muttered as she hiked back up the hill. "I know what you're doing. It won't work. You're dead. You died in an accident."
As before, there was no reply.
"You know why this won't work? You know how I know? Because if you could have done anything, really done anything, you would have already. But you didn't! So you can't! You're trying to break me, but it. Won't. Work! You hear me? IT WON'T WORK!"
The last was shouted so loud that a few birds exploded from their roosts in the distant treeline.
Cassi snorted, and continued her trudge with a little more energy to her step. The woodshed caught her eye, and she changed course. All the screaming had warmed her up, and she was beginning to run low on firewood.
Retrieving an ax and a few logs, she set one up and took a swing. The well seasoned wood split on the first hit. So did the next, and the one after that. Pretty soon, there was a good size pile of firewood sitting nearby.
"It's not even all that different than when you were here," Cassi said to herself as she set up another log. "All you did was bitch and complain while I did the chores. Maybe if you had been helping instead of off hunting then you wouldn't be dead!"
Another swing, and this time the ax head twisted at the last moment and skittered off the top of the log. It only barely missed taking a chunk out of its wielder's leg on the way.
A single dark laugh echoed off of the keep's wall.
The haft fell from suddenly numb fingers. Frantically, Cassi spun, searching for the source of the noise. She found nothing.
"Who's out there?! Where are you?!" she demanded.
No response. Nothing, save for movement in a patch of snow, kept shadowed by the keep's walls. In the center of that patch jutted the unmistakable shaft and torn fletchings of a crossbow bolt.
Without another word, Cassi sprinted inside and barred the door behind her.
The noises were back. Taloned footsteps thumped from the great hall, above the kitchen where Cassi sheltered.
Even the thick quilt over her head did nothing to muffle the noises. It never did. They made it through woolen plugs and desperate fingers. Like they were in her head, not the keep around her.
"You can't do anything..."
Even as she muttered the words that had become a mantra, she knew it was a lie. If nothing else, the weeks of torment had left the dragonette a wreck. Exhausted, grimy, wearing filthy clothes, and only venturing out for firewood. She barely ate, choking down a few strips of jerky and sips of water on the occasions she remembered.
She stared longingly at the small keg of ale nearby. It had been meant for the spring awakening, but she had needed it more. It had given her three nights, three blessed nights of sleep. Then the miraculous liquid had run dry.
At least the sheep and goats had finally ceased their incessant bleating. Those had been annoying. More than the chickens, which had given up right around the time she had broached the keg of ale.
Without warning, Cassi tossed her blanket to the side and stood. Her eyes were lidded and her tail dragged across the floor, but she nonetheless grabbed the lamp.
It didn't want to light. Her magic was sluggish. A few sparks flew from her fingers with no heat behind them.
"Light, damn you!" The sudden bolt of anger did the trick. A tongue of flame flared, hot enough to nearly burn her fingers.
The thumping from above had ceased. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway. There was never anything there. Occasionally there would be an open door that had been closed before. Or furniture that had been moved. Tapestries fallen and rugs dragged away.
Maybe.
It was hard to tell. Exhaustion turned memories hazy. And whatever was moving it was long gone by the time she could investigate.
So Cassi didn't go to the great hall. She walked almost aimlessly, peaking into pantries and closets as she passed. In the back of her mind was the vague hope of finding some forgotten keg of ale or dusty bottle of wine.
There weren't any. She had already checked, only stopping when she reached Lady Nair's personal quarters. Her search had come up empty. Still, there was nothing else to do, and who knew? She might have missed something.
Eyes that didn't really see glanced over the shelves and peered into darkened rooms. Nothing new had magically appeared.
Eventually, Cassi's wandering brought her to the hatchery. The slight warmth washed over her as she stepped inside, although she hardly noticed.
One wall of the room held the autumn's clutches, arranged in their wool nests. Only four in total, clustered next to the brazier.
A wood fired stove might have been cheaper, but the Lady had acquired this replacement a few years before. It used a number of enchantments and a reservoir full of flash gel to keep a small room heated for months. That was enough to keep the eggs safe.
The other occupants of the room didn't necessarily need the heat, but this was the most secure room in the keep. Dragonettes covered the floor, laid out on thin blankets. They packed the room, save for a single narrow path through their ranks.
Cassi followed that path, slowly crossing through the mass of comatose keep dwellers. A small container sat next to the eggs. Innocuous enough on the outside, the clay jar held a supply of powdered heaven oak bark.
She removed the lid and stared at contents like an addict would stare at her next fix.
"It wouldn't take much..." Just a pinch, and the nightmare would be over. She would sleep for weeks. Months. Wake up in the spring. Come up with a story then. After she was free of this curse.
"Are you suuuure?"
It might have been a voice. It might have been her own thoughts betraying her. At this point, it was impossible to tell.
She replaced the lid and turned to leave.
MURDERER.
The word was scrawled across the heavy wooden door, blue blood so fresh that lines of it still oozed along the grains.
Cassi shrieked fit to wake the dead. No one so much as twitched as she ran for the door, even after stepping on outstretched arms and wings.
She tried to wipe the letters away. Scrape them off with her bare hands. The blood had already stained the wood. It smudged, but the core remained clear for all to see.
"GO DIVE INTO THE OCEAN YOU BITCH!"
Silence was the only response as Cassi scrambled out of the room and up the hall to the kitchen. She grabbed her drinking bucket and a rag before sprinting back to the hatchery. Half of the water spilled as she ran, but enough remained to soak the rag into before using it to scrub at the door.
The rag came away blue with blood, and she dunked it in the water once more. Again and again she attacked the word. But it was like the door itself was bleeding. The letters never seemed to fade, and the water in the bucket only turned a darker shade of blue.
"Why won't you come off?!"
The scream wasn't directed at anyone. It was a scream at the world. At the heavens and the gods above. She didn't expect an answer.
"How can you hope to wash away this blood when your hands are still stained with it?"
Cassi froze her desperate scrubbing, eyes wide and horrified. She couldn't help but stare at her hands. The white hide was coated in a vivid blue, easily visible even by the dim lamp light.
"They'll find out. One way or another, they'll know it was you."
Something snapped inside of the terrified dragonette. "Shut up!" she screamed. "You're dead! Dead!"
A dark chuckle answered her. "So I am. What of it?"
The voice came from all around. It oozed through her ears and lodged inside Cassi's very mind. But unlike before, this time she had no doubt it was real.
Frantically, she tried scrubbing her hands. Wiping them with a rag, then the dirty hem of her jacket. It only spread the stain further.
"You left me out there to rot. Couldn't even look me in the eye as I died. And now you're trying to escape your due?"
"It was an accident!" The scream was shrill and panicked, like the cries of a trapped animal.
"Oh, an accident. Yes, I can see that now. The way you tried to hide it. The stories you concocted. The stench of guilt that hangs on your soul. Nothing but an accident."
Contempt dripped from every whispered word. It hit Cassi like a physical blow, and she whimpered in response.
"I've watched you try to escape your fate. But you won't. I made a deal and I won't let you."
"If you could hurt me, you would have already!" The words rang hollow in front of the clear manifestation of the ghost's power. But she pressed on. "You can't touch me!"
"Oh, I've already hurt you far more than a simple blade could hope to. But why would I need to so much as scratch one of your scales when they can do it for me?"
Cassi was suddenly aware of the sleeping dragonettes around her. Who had been friends and comrades. That would change as soon as they awoke and discovered what had happened.
"I won't let you! I'll stop you!" Her blue flecked eyes were wide as they darted across the room, hunting for any sign of her tormentor.
More words oozed into her mind. They sounded faintly amused as they asked, "And how will you do that?"
She would... She would...
She didn't know.
Except...
'They can't punish you if they're dead.'
The thought flitted through Cassi's exhausted mind. The door had a heavy wooden bar on it. More than enough for a club.
She couldn't tell if it was her own idea or a horrible suggestion from the dark spirit haunting her. It didn't matter. She couldn't. She wouldn't.
'Even if it does make sense... NO!' A hard shake of the head banished the thought. She would figure something else out. She had to figure something else out.
"How long until they wake?" the voice whispered. "Days? Weeks? Do you even know? I do. And until then, I'll be watching."
There was a flash, not of light, but of darkness. The room suddenly felt different. Emptier.
Cassi turned around, slowly. Everything was as it should be. The rest of the keep still slumbered at her feet. The door was clean, save for a few rivulets of water. She looked down at her hands and they were the purest white.
Her breath came in great, hiccuping pants. The world around her narrowed and her stomach suddenly constricted. The bucket was right there, and she grabbed it just before emptying the meager contents of her belly into it.
Then she stared down, terror written in her pinned back ears and stiffened tail. Because the dirty water she held was unmistakably stained a dark, dark blue.
A deep, bass drum beat inside of Cassi's head.
It had been there... she didn't know how long it had been there. There had been a sunrise. Maybe more. Maybe it had been her imagination.
Battles raged. Dragons roaring and the clash of swords and lances. Screaming. She could even smell the blood.
The beat of the drum continued, and her vision pulsed blue in time with the thrum.
Her mother had visited. Held her. Sung to her. Then she had played out in the sun with her friends. They had gotten all muddy, but it didn't matter. And when she fell and scraped her knees, her mother had been there to wipe away the blood and kiss it better.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Wolves howled among the embers as Cassi stared into the dying fire. Someone had stolen her firewood. Now the pile was empty. That was fine, though. She wasn't cold. She just wanted to lay back and sleep.
Her eyes drifted shut. Her breathing slowed. Consciousness retreated.
Just before she passed beyond the veil, a ragged scream tore from her throat. She jerked up, panting, instinctively hunting for the source of her terror.
Nothing.
The same as every time before. Every time she closed her eyes. Every time she sought to escape this personal hell, something yanked her back.
"Please..."
Half whimper, half sob, it was the sound of a feral animal.
A weight settled on her shoulder. A face entered her vision. Blurry and indistinct. She squinted and the features seemed to shift, like the play of shadow and light at the bottom of a rushing stream.
"Well, look at you," the apparition mocked. "Half frozen. Half starved. You might as well be me. Except for, well..." It moved slightly, bringing the hole in its neck into view.
Cassi didn't have the energy to struggle. She just sat there, numb. But no matter how hard she tried to look past it and out into the distance, the vision was there.
"The days are short. Nearly gone. Won't be long, now. Midwinter, when the others will wake and learn of your crimes."
Something was tossed into the fire. It flared, the seasoned wood of the crossbow stock catching easily among the embers.
"I found it, drifting among the clouds," Sanara's ghost answered the unasked question. "You need to keep your strength up. For when they wake."
The shadowy face expanded to fill Cassi's view. "Tell me, how will you defend yourself?"
The dragonette struggled, weakly. Nothing held her but her own exhaustion. It still proved to be too much. After a moment, she slumped back.
"Go away... you're not real."
"Oh? Does that matter?"
The question reverberated in Cassi's sleep-deprived mind. After a brief hesitation, she said, "Can't tell them. You can't tell them if you're not real."
"Hmmm..." Back and forth the spectral head rocked, considering the words even as the hum sent Cassi's ears twitching. "You may be right. Are you sure, though?"
Another question that should have an easy answer, but didn't. "I... yessss... But... I don't... I... I..."
Her thoughts could barely move. They were packed inside an endless fog that floated with the consistency of thick cobwebs. Pushing any one way only led to getting lost and tangled.
Eyes closed. Thoughts fell away. And then...
This time she saw it. The source of her terror. An ocean of blood inside of her mind. She was drowning in it. Blue and endless and cold as ice.
Her eyes snapped open and she choked on a gasp before it could become more.
It couldn't go on. She couldn't go on.
"If..." Cassi began, voice tiny and cracking. "If I tell them... Will you leave?"
Teeth appeared in the apparition's mouth, white and glistening in a malevolent grin.
"Oh, Cassionie. I'm going to be with you until the day you die."
The ember of hope was smashed flat. But a tiny spark caught on one final shred of resistance. It burst into a defiant inferno.
Cassi lashed out with taloned fingers, trying to strike the figure in front of her. It was gone in an eyeblink. Laughter echoed from the hall beyond.
A flood of strength she hadn't known she possessed welled up in the tortured dragonette. There was an iron poker next to the fire. She grabbed it as she levered herself out of the chair and stumbled towards the door.
The ghost stood there, sharp-toothed grin and bloody wound the only distinct features in the roiling shadow. Cassi lunged for it, but the figure dodged around the corner. The iron poker made a dull clang as it collided with the stone wall. It was drowned out by more of that mocking laughter.
Another swing. Another miss, the ghost retreating just beyond the arc of the makeshift weapon, then further up the hallway.
It continued deeper into the keep. Through empty rooms and darkened halls. Sometimes Cassi would blink and the ghost would disappear. But she just needed to follow that horrible laugh. Past doors and into the dark beyond.
She didn't need to see. She could hear. She would hear when the hard iron met soft flesh. She would smell the blood. Feel the shock up the handle. Taste the sweetness of victory.
And there was the ghost. It seemed to suck in the darkness. A void within the void, just standing there.
Bones crunched beneath Cassi's feet as she advanced. A field of the dead. The tip of her makeshift sword scraped through the remains as she advanced.
She was close. So close. A battle cry that was little more than a withered hiss tore from her lips as she charged.
Nothing.
No resistance as she struck. The iron whistled through empty air. She overbalanced, falling to her knees. The scattered bones tore at her, burned her.
She tried to rise, tried to use the poker for support, but once more a hand settled on her shoulder.
"I'm a part of you now," that horrible voice whispered. "You can't get rid of me. Not like that. We're... together."
It couldn't be true. It wouldn't be true. She wouldn't let it be true!
With an explosive effort, Cassi drove the point of her weapon backwards. There was a shock of pain as it slammed through her own wing membrane. Then a grunt as it punched into something behind.
A weight settled on her back. Heavy. Too heavy. She tumbled forward, and landed flat on the carpet of bones.
There was a body on top of her. Unmoving. Dead weight.
Light slowly returned. Blinding sunlight. Harsh and painful.
Cassi forced her eyes open. Forced her head to turn and look at the thing on top of her.
Sanara's dead, cloudy eyes stared back at her.
"I did it..." Her voice was barely a whisper, her laugh a wheezing cough. "I did it..."
Slowly, the bones she lay on faded. They were replaced by white drifts of snow.
"You're gone... I did it... You didn't break me..."
She was still staring at the corpse's face when the edges of its lips pulled back in a dark smile.
Cold suddenly rushed in like an unstoppable army. Bone chilling, eye watering, muscle seizing cold. She wore no jacket. Brought no warmth. Her limbs were bare and her wings spread wide and bleeding slowly into the snow.
"Nooooo..."
She tried to struggle. Her limbs didn't listen. They twitched, uselessly. Utterly spent, getting colder by the second, there was nothing she could do.
The darkness was returning. It was stronger this time. Deeper. Utterly implacable. It wrapped around her in an icy embrace, holding her still.
And as the world faded away, that voice whispered in her ear one last time.
"Together until the day you die."