It was a sorry state of any army that their healing tent, set quite a ways back from the front lines, was busy before the battle had even begun. Soldiers who were still recovering from injuries sat on the edge of stretchers and were either desperate to get to the front line…or anxious that the physicians and healers would say that they weren’t well enough to fight.

One such soldier jiggled so much the woman wrapping his ankle had a hard time fixing the bandage.

“Please keep still.” She urged.

“Sorry ma’am. I just don’t want to miss the first charge.”

“If I can just pin this…” She pulled even tighter and heard him give a light yelp. “Done.”

The soldier stood up off the stretcher and gingerly put his foot down, testing the weight. “I thought I was through when I rolled my ankle in the last offensive. But look at this! You are marvellous!”

“It is temporary.” The woman warned him. “If we win this battle you must keep off your feet so that the tendons have a chance to heal.”

“Yes ma’am.” He saluted and walked out of the tent with barely a limp.

The woman brushed her hands off and looked around at her bustling crew. “Snow, we need to spread out the bandages for ease of access.” Snow White looked up, her arms filled with rolled bandages. “Here, each station must have equal number of supplies.”

“Thank you Freya.” Snow White sighed. “I am a little distracted.”

“We all are,” Freya smiled warmly, “but you have been under so much pressure of the unknown, with Marjellan in the Snow Queen’s camp.”

“When we received word of Borrick’s death I feared the worst,” Snow White confessed, a tremor of true emotion breaking free of her contained mask, “and then to have him in my arms…and now to possibly lose him again…” A renegade tear broke free of its lash prison and trickled down her face. Before Freya could dab it away Snow White wiped her cheek clear and swallowed, forcing herself to smile.

The young woman once labelled as the sleeping beauty studied Snow White as she laid out the supplies. Her hair had once been as black as ink but there were premature lines of silvery grey breaking up the black silk. And her face was not as perfectly porcelain as it had been when she had bitten into destiny.

But then…they had all changed.

“Freya!” Xanthe rushed into the tent with Maria beside her and a woman in a cloak and hood behind. In their arms they carried baskets filled with jars.

“Lay them out alphabetically so we know where everything is.” Freya ordered.

“We hope you do not mind, we have another volunteer.” Maria said in her rich accent and the woman with the hood pulled it back and dark ringlets burst free around her dark skinned face.

“Giselle!” Snow White exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I am doing something.” Giselle responded calmly.

“You are close to laying in, you should not be here.” Freya said firmly.

“I will not be confined while my ‘usband, all our ‘usbands and so many men and women fight for me.” Giselle said with equal firmness…then faltered. “Besides…Dominique ‘as never ridden into battle before. If something were to ‘appen to ‘im…I want to be ‘ere.”

Everyone looked at Freya who had been unanimously voted the head healer for the army. Freya sighed. “Very well but only on the condition that if the Snow Queen’s forces breach the fallback position, you are to get on a very fast horse and ride back to your children and your home. Understood?”

It was strange seeing the usually timid, fair haired woman take charge in such a way. But then Freya had always had a tender heart which had naturally led her towards medical applications and herbal remedies. In this world that was contained within a tent, she was confident and strong.

Giselle nodded. Freya smiled. “Very good. Maria and Giselle, you need to be briefed on basic wound cleansing and dressing. Xanthe, please put your aching feet up and instruct them how to do so.”

“Of course.” The once covered in opalescent scales mermaid had her hair braided back from her face and her big green eyes were sharp and bright. Her shell necklace was hidden beneath her practical tunic and vest and she attempted not to limp from the permanent pain in her feet. “Over here ladies.”

“Freya!” Maja strode into the tent, saw Giselle who turned her face away and hurried past her. “I have brought my daughters Abigail und Krista.” The two young women with her were almost copies of their mother and held the same hardened expression on their youthful faces. “Dey have fought with me in the east und have proven demselves to be excellent warriors. Dey are to be your guards.”

“I thank you for your consideration but I do not want weapons around here.”

“What you want und what will occur are two different things.” Maja said coldly. “An army marches on us dat is ten times our number. Should de fallback become overwhelmed, you will be at risk.” Freya flinched as Maja leaned close. “And…should dat happen…my daughters have orders to accompany you as guards as you flee.”

There was a faint trace of fear in Maja’s eyes and suddenly Freya understood what this mother was asking of her. “They will be excellent guards if the worst should happen.” Freya replied and Maja nodded and stood upright.

“Mother.” Abigail protested. “I am second in command! I will fight beside you!”

“I want to kill werewolves.” Krista added.

“My daughters…” Maja held out her arms and her daughters entered her embrace that was not one of comfort but of strength. “I would rather have you beside me dan almost anywhere…but dose who attend dese tents have no weapon skills yet dey put themselves in danger out of mercy. Dey must be protected.” She kissed their foreheads. “Should I fall in battle, remember me with kindness.”

Freya felt a lump rise in her throat. She didn’t know what it was like to be a mother. Though she had assisted in many deliveries of babies, she had never had her own. It seemed that she and Philip were not meant to have children. It had been a constant source of sorrow for her which she had swallowed down with difficulty, making every birth she witnessed bittersweet.

Seeing Maja walk away from her daughters Freya suddenly felt, for the first time ever, the relief of not being a mother. In such dire times…so many families had been torn apart. Perhaps…perhaps she was…better off…

“We will stand watch at de fallback line und should de enemy break through, we will be here to defend you.” Abigail announced and she and Krista left.

“Very well.” Freya cleared her throat and clapped her hands. “I need these healing tents in order in ten minutes!” All her helpers and healers hurried into the tent and she covered the pain in her heart by doing what she did best. “Snow, I need more bandages per station. Xanthe, as much fresh water as you can find. Maria, please check the levels in pastes and if any are low, check with stores and have the aides grind up new stock. Giselle…tea.”

“Tea?”

“You would be surprised how well a cup of tea makes someone feel…especially the healers.”

Maria looked up from the jar of herbs she was studying. “If only I had thought to bring a bottle of wine that Niccolo sent to the chateau in the event of toasting success.”

“You mean one of these bottles?” Xanthe pulled a bottle out of a satchel by the door.

“Bravo!” Maria exclaimed.

“There were over two hundred delivered to the chateau. I thought…”

“Wine is an excellent antiseptic.” Freya took it and studied the red liquid that rolled around inside. She could almost feel the disappointment and looked up. “We may need this for medical purposes.”

“Then it is a good thing I brought two.” Xanthe said, pulling the second bottle out.

“I will drink to that.” Maria gave a tense smile and Snow nodded.

“As will I.”

“I will…‘ave tea.” Giselle said in resignation.

As Freya watched the precious liquid being poured out she felt Snow White’s hand on her shoulder. “A little liquid courage,” she whispered, “it cannot hurt. These women have not been at the front lines as you have.”

“I fear they will need the liquor afterwards to numb their memories.” Freya sighed then picked up the roll containing her blades. “Keep their spirits buoyed. I am going to sharpen my tools.”

Snow White nodded and Freya left the healing hut. She could feel the hard edge of the merciless tools wrapped in leather in her hands and prayed, as she always did, that she would be able to save as many lives as possible. If the offensive against the Snow Queen failed…

She shook her head and went about sharpening her blades. She had to concentrate. She could not think about ‘what ifs’. She could only concern herself with the here and the now. As she pressed the edge of a saw against the wheel, she was suddenly aware that the ground was shaking…

In the hastily erected tent at the front lines, the mood was far from cordial.

“Without the tar traps, sending the infantry in first condemns them all to an easy death.” Sir Philip pointed at the map. “The cavalry has to be our first move.”

“The enemy will send their wolves and wild beasts in first. No horse ever stood fast against a natural enemy.” Frederik retorted, his arm still in a sling. “If you do not take out the beasts first, the cavalry will be of no use.”

“Infantry against those numbers…they will be slaughtered.”

“That is only if the Queen sends the beasts in first.” Marjellan interjected. “She has always taken a back seat to the fighting, striking from afar. She makes no pretence about her presence today. We cannot assume that she will do as she has always done.”

“She is human. She will follow a certain pattern…”

“What about archers?” De St Croix said with his fingers pressed to his nose.

“We need the archers to concentrate on the fliers,” Niccolo pointed out, “because even a war novice like myself can see that if anyone is going to be a threat to the fallback position, it will be them.”

“Not unless she has more giants on her side.” Maja added, entering the tent.

The Count looked at Marjellan who shrugged.

“The giants are led by a peaceful man who convinced most of his kin that this war was unworthy of them. The giants you have come up against in battle are renegades. I would always assume she has at least one up her icy sleeve…just in case.”

“A giant would take out everyone but archers.” Niccolo sighed. “I am starting to regret the decision not to contact the giants and petition them to fight alongside us.”

De St Croix looked up through his fingers while Frederik shook his head. “That is all we need. Fe, fi, fo, fum and the next thing you know blood lust will ignite in their veins and they turn on us.”

“I wonder what we taste like?”

“Chicken more than likely.”

“Janus could kill a giant.”

“We have to assume Janus is dead.”

“Just because a mountain exploded on top of him…”

“Enough!” The Count’s fist hit the table hard, cracking two legs and sending the map flying. His outburst caught them all off guard and they looked at him in astonishment. De St Croix unclenched his hand with difficulty and breathed out. “Enough.” He said in a calmer but ultimately tense tone. “We are not going to make a proper offensive if we are not in unity.” He swallowed. “We cannot second guess the enemy’s tactics. If the Queen ‘as sent beasts in first, then we must be prepared for that.”

“My sisters und I will deal with dem.” Maja said. “We are skilled at killing wolves und other such creatures.”

De St Croix and all the members of the battle council looked at her. “You should know the chance that you will succeed…”

“I said we will deal with dem.” Maja replied sharply. “Have de archers send out two volleys of cover fire und den turn deir attention on de skies. If dey can thin de lines, my sisters und I will do de rest.”

“I would recommend cavalry follow without delay.” Philip responded. “I will lead this charge.”

“And I will lead the infantry.” Frederik announced and held up his left hand before anyone had a chance to protest. “I can do quite a lot of damage with one arm.”

“But not enough against their numbers.” De St Croix sank onto the only chair. “I know ‘ow to take calculated risks. If I were a betting man…I would bet on the other side.”

“I’ll take that bet.” Niccolo said lightly but his joke fell flat. The truth was they all knew the likely outcome of the war. At ten to one they would be overrun within minutes and all the innocents behind them would be laid waste shortly after.

Maja twitched and looked up. A second later Marjellan’s head came up and they both looked towards the opening in the tent.

“You hear that?” Marjellan asked.

Maja nodded. “I smell it too.”

Everyone in the room flared their nostrils. The Count paused. “I can ‘ear feet.”

“And armour.” Sir Philip paled. “Are they advancing?”

The shock of the question froze them all for a second before they emptied out of the tent to come face to face with an army dressed in burnt orange, gold and teal blue. A legion of soldiers in colourful glory were marching upon their position from the back and as the war council members watched, they filled out the weak lines in the infantry and easily tripled their numbers.

“What the…” Niccolo was silenced as a single soldier approached them.

“General Shankara.” He announced, his head covered with a turban and his beard black, contrasting with the colour of his uniform. “I and my legion come from the illustrious and benevolent Samrajni Scheherazade. I was told to report to the leader of the human offensive against the Snow Queen.”

The Count cleared his throat. “That would be me…” He jumped as Shankara bowed deep and fast.

“My men and I are at your command.”

“Who is this Sam…ra…zade…?” Marjellan blundered through the name.

“Samrajni Scheherazade.” Shankara said with fluidic ease. “The leader of our nation. She sends us with her blessing so that the Snow Queen will not be victorious.”

“Not to belittle your excellent presence…” Niccolo remarked. “But…how would the Samrajni know of the Snow Queen? Your people live very far to the South of here.”

“The most excellent and wise Samrajni has known of the Snow Queen for many years. Her father, who was the Samraat’s advisor, was a traitor for the Snow Queen and tried to deliver a prisoner to her in order to grant our people clemency.”

“That might not have been a bad idea…” Marjellan muttered.

“What was the name of the prisoner?” De St Croix asked.

“I know of no name. Only that, when I saw her soar over the palace of the Samrajni, she had wings wider than any bird I know.”

The council of war members all looked at each other and nodded, knowing exactly who the General was speaking of.

“Well then, on be’alf of those who stand ‘ere today,” the Count bowed to Shankara, “you are extremely welcome.”

As General Shankara moved away to arrange his troops, Niccolo came up beside De St Croix.

“Did you send for them?”

“I am not responsible for all the remarkable things ‘appening at the eleventh ‘our of this war.” De St Croix replied. “I am for a few but not all.”

“When do we charge?”

“Pick a time.”

“Never.”

De St Croix sighed. “Then tomorrow morning it is…unless they storm us first.” He looked over at the army that had swelled in size considerably with the addition of the Samrajni’s troops. He made a mental note to send her his finest champagne when they were victorious.

He felt a stab of doubt and looked to where the black ominous cloud still swirled over the angry volcano. It was barely visible in the haze around it, glints of red seen piercing the dark.

“We could ‘ave all the troops in the world…and not defeat ‘er.” He whispered. “Janus… Jé Kinah…where are you?”

Evander winced as his conscious mind rose to the surface, beating back the heavy fog which surrounded it. He could taste bitterness in his mouth and his throat was dry. He nearly had to pry his eyes open with his fingers and when they did open, his vision was so blurred he closed them immediately. However he was not defeated and reopened his eyes, forcing them to focus on what was above.

It was a strange ceiling of textured black and green with ridges along it. There was light coming from a candle nearby and its light danced off the cave, almost making it look like it was moving. Evander swallowed, a nearly violent act with a throat as dry as his, and twisted his head a little. He was lying on his back, his head cradled in a lap. Jé Kinah’s face was serene, her eyes closed and her breathing shallow as she sat in an almost meditative state.

“Jé Kinah?”

Her eyes opened and for a moment Evander swore her eyes were fully black. But she blinked away the devilish look and turned her face towards him.

“Thank goodness.” She said softly. “I was becoming concerned that you would never wake.”

His senses felt a little fuzzy around the edges and he blinked at her. “Where are we? In a cave?”

“Of sorts.”

Feeling awkward about his vulnerable position Evander rolled onto his side and sat up, clearing his throat and putting his hand out against the wall. It was leathery to the touch. “Have we been swallowed by a monster?”

Jé Kinah didn’t allow a lot of emotion pass across her face but Evander wondered if there was a tinge of shame on her features as she closed her eyes, concentrated and shifted slightly. The walls began to pull away, drawing close to her body and collapsing in on themselves until her wings had settled on her back. Evander was embarrassed by his remark and busied himself by looking around. The roof directly above was stone in an oval shape. Had it been the entirely of the ceiling of their cave, Evander would not have been able to lie down in its length without bringing his knees up. But the ceiling of the cave had been extended and it was white with a smooth finish with little hollows and dints where the bones and points of the wings had been pressed into it.

He reached up and touched it. “Ice?” He said as the cold bit his fingers.

“Snow. Compacted snow.”

Evander looked around. They were completely sealed in, the snow ceiling rounding down to a point ten feet from them. Underfoot was hard earth that had been kept free of falling debris by the overhanging rock above and the wind that had swept it clear.

“How is this possible?”

“We were never going to out run the avalanche so I managed to manoeuvre us beneath this rock and used my wings to create a cocoon around us.” She said it without a hint of pride.

Evander rubbed his fingers together. “I should be freezing.”

Jé Kinah put her hand on the ground. “The earth’s veins run hot. We are in a pocket of warm earth and cool sky.” She watched as he ran his hand along the wall, searching for a crack or a change in its density. Apart from waking up and seeing her…he had not made eye contact.

“Well…we have to get out of here.” He picked up his sword and tried to jam the point into the ice. He slipped and banged into the wall, feeling his face flush and his collar grow hot. Determined not to fail in her eyes he raised his sword against and tried once more.

“It is no use Evander.” Jé Kinah insisted. “We could be under a hands width of snow, a hands breadth…or there could be a mountain on top of us.”

“I care not. There is a war going on out there and I refuse to stay trapped in here while others die for my freedom.” Giving up on his sword and beat his hands against the snow and kicked it several times for good measure. It didn’t budge.

Jé Kinah didn’t tell him not to. He would learn soon enough that they could not escape before time.

Evander was stubborn. Refusing to sit and admit defeat he turned and leaned against the wall…and spotted the lit candle. “Wait…fire…can you melt the snow?”

“With this one candle?”

“No…with…” He gestured helplessly towards her and wished he hadn’t for the look of shame on her face as she turned away.

“No.”

“But…the candle?”

“You had a tinder box in your bag.” Jé Kinah swallowed. “Patience Evander…snow cannot last forever. Eventually it must melt.”

“I do not have time for eventually. Don’t you understand? People are dying and I’m trapped in here!”

Evander turned back to the snow and wished he could keep his mouth shut. He glared at their icy cold prison walls and pressed his hands against them. Rage built up inside of him, grown from frustration and embarrassment and he suddenly lashed out against the wall, punching and kicking it, yelling as if his voice could pierce the frozen expanse. Eventually he turned and slumped, this time sinking to the floor of their unnatural cave. He put his head back and tried not to grind his teeth.

Jé Kinah watched him, her heart twisting inside her body.

“I am sorry.”

“What on earth for?”

“I put us in this place. I made this prison we are in. I just wanted to save you…”

Evander couldn’t help but laugh and the sound surprised Jé Kinah. “I am a prince and a knight. I am the one meant to be saving damsels in distress.” His depreciating tone caused her to bite her bottom lip. “Am I not the one meant to be rescuing you?”

“You did rescue me Evander.” She insisted though she could see he did not believe her. “I was trapped in that prison of ice and would have been for all eternity if not for you.”

“Which, as you so graciously pointed out, was part of the Snow Queen’s plan all along.” Was that really his voice? Was his tone truly that hard and sarcastic? Where was the softness, the love he had for this woman? Years of bitterness and resentment had created bad habits in him and he cursed the fact that he was now using his sharpened defences against the woman he loved. He balled up his fist and hit the wall. “I knew the information we received was too good to be true. I should have trusted my instincts and not believed a word they said.”

The corners of Jé Kinah mouth drooped and she studied the man before her. Gone was the naïve, ruddy youth who had blundered into a high way robber infested forest on a quest to find his princess and his happily ever after. His shoulder length fair hair had been trimmed up and had lost the lustre it once had. His face had lines on it. Lines of age or of war, she couldn’t tell. Possibly both. He looked scruffy and his fingernails were dirty, he was unshaven and…he could have been a completely different person.

“You have changed Evander.” She said softly…sadly…

He sniffed. “Ten years will do that to a man.”

Jé Kinah closed her eyes. Ten years? It felt like only yesterday she had stepped into that icy prison as a vain attempt to shackle Meredith’s power and save lives.

“I am not talking about your age.” She said gently. “I am talking about you as a person.” Her face creased into a sad smile. “I remember a young man that, at the ‘honourable’ challenge of a highway robber, got down off his horse to combat five…that immediately turned into twelve.”

Evander rubbed his nose. “I was such a fool.”

“I never thought so.” The moment she said the words she knew she had erred for Evander’s face came up, hurt streaking across his handsome features.

“Really? That’s not what you thought ten years ago.”

Jé Kinah closed her eyes and winced. “I said it…I did not believe it.”

“Well…you fooled the fool.”

The distance between them was greater than any chasm on earth. A yawning expanse of hurt and sorrow that could not be breached by physical means, filled with the hateful things said and done kept them apart. It had been there, nurtured, for years. Perhaps done with the best of intentions but ultimately had done more harm than good. When would she stop hurting people? When would she do what she promised Luka in her heart that she would? To do no harm? Why is it that the one happily ever after she could not help make happen was her own?

On the opposite side of the cave, Evander’s heart sank like a ball of lead in his stomach. He knew her story. He knew why she had done what she’d done. If the creature that possessed her came back, it would target him in order to cause her pain.

“I am sorry…”

“I’m sorry…”

They stopped and looked up at each other. Jé Kinah blinked. “I have endless evils to be sorry about but what could you possibly apologise for?”

“For taking you at your word.” Evander said simply. “I should have gone after you, no matter what you said. I should have stayed with you.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know…didn’t know what it was you were truly afraid of.”

“Evander, I did not want you or anyone else, to know.”

“Why on earth not?”

“Look at me!” Her wing stretched out a little and the flame on the candle flickered at the motion, casting long, terrible shapes across Jé Kinah’s once perfect form. Evander gazed at her sadly and she knew she was weeping as she spoke the awful truth she had hidden for so long. “I am grotesque. I am deformed. I made a deal with a devil and this is my punishment!” She swallowed, trying to reign in her emotions. “Every time I transform, a little more of me is lost. Part of me does not return. And very soon one of these changes will be permanent. I will not come back…and it will destroy everything I love.” She lowered her wings, tears flowing down her face, trickling over the bumps the scales across her skin created. “It did once before and it has vowed to do so again.”

“Is that not my risk to take?” Evander asked gently.

Jé Kinah’s eyes flashed with a little anger. “And when you are gone, how will you comfort me? I will be alone…again…or worse…I will not remember you at all…”

She pulled up her knees and put her head down, wrapping her arms around herself, the flood of sorrow that had been dammed up within her breaking its banks and surging out of her. All her fears were laid bare and she was too afraid to look up to see his face.

His warm body pressed in close to her side and his arm went around her until the sorrow within her was emptied. He drew her arms away from her face and lifted her chin so that she had to look him in the eyes. And his blue eyes were shinning with a fact that she had somehow missed.

“Did you just say you love me?”

Jé Kinah pressed her lips together. “I…”

“You said it will destroy everything you love…and then you talked about me.” Evander gently stroked tears away. “Do you love me?”

Jé Kinah’s voice jammed up. She felt fear grip her throat and squeezed the words into silence.

“I…”

“Because true love’s kiss can break all kinds of curses.” Evander smiled and a glimmer of the hope that he had once shone with many years ago reappeared in his eyes. “I kiss you, you kiss me…and maybe, just maybe…we can drive this beast out of you once and for all…and live happily ever after.”

Jé Kinah’s heart was hammering as Evander leaned across, his breath warm and his scent earthy.

“Wait! Stop!” She pulled back and away, standing up to get out of his reach. Evander was left sitting stunned on the ground. “You cannot kiss me.”

“Jé Kinah! I am not made of stone!” Evander exclaimed, also standing. “You either love me or you don’t! Which is it?”

“Say you kiss me and we reverse the curse,” she gasped, “and I am no longer bound to this dragon…”

“That would be wonderful. We would have a life together, one where we aren’t hiding from anything and we can have a home and children and…”

“A world without war?”

Evander froze and Jé Kinah watched as truth began to dawn.

“A world without the Snow Queen…” He whispered.

“If true love’s kiss breaks this curse…I cannot defeat her.”

Evander looked up at Jé Kinah, wrestling between what he wanted and what was right. His hands itched to take hold of her and kiss her with all the pent up passion he’d been storing for so many years. He turned around and punched the wall again and yelled. Jé Kinah waited until he’d released some of the pressure that had built up.

“That is a yes, by the way.” Evander looked up, tearing up from the splintered skin on his knuckles. Jé Kinah smiled at him from the safety of across the cave. “Yes, I love you.”

The Snow Queen rested in a half moon ice throne, cushioned by powder soft snow, her eyes half shut, one hand pressed to her breast as if making sure her heart was still beating while the other was stretched to the surging, dark, unsettled sky, tendrils of light issuing forth from her fingertips. She waved her fingers and felt power, more power than she had felt in ten years, pulse through her body. Her tiniest movement on the ground sent the snow heavy clouds above her into a whirlpool of chaos and she stirred them up, whipping them back and forth until they were within a jolt of tearing open and releasing their chaos.

“My Queen, the troops are ready. They await your command.”

She smiled, her rose coloured lips touched with a kiss of frost. Her hair was wound through with shots of curling snow and dusted with snowflakes. Though beasts, with their thick hides, and foul creatures, with their thicker skulls, shivered all around her, she was languid in the chill. It spoke to her, fed her embittered soul. The colder it was, the less she felt until all that was left was cold, calculating, merciless rage.

“Have the heads of the creatures assemble.” She said. “We march before dawn.”

“Before dawn?”

“Yes.” She opened her eyes wide and blue fire flared inside. “After all…they cannot see in the dark.”

The moonlight was cold and blue on the snow drenched landscape of the quiet volcano. Though it was littered with broken trees and debris of every kind, there was a tranquil beauty in the emptiness of it all.

Empty…but not lifeless.

The thin wisp of a shadow rippled over the white ground and round indentations appeared to follow something that shimmered and shifted, never quite solid but not entirely invisible either.

The creature stopped, listened then snorted, pawing the ground.

With a whinny it tossed its head and took off at a gallop, heading down the mountainside.

In the cover of darkness that the Snow Queen had created the werewolves and other beasts scampered across the valley floor. Their claws raked across the ground that was hard with frost. Their breath was white from their jagged, drooling jaws and their eyes glowed yellow in the dark. The leader, an enormous werewolf with matted black fur and an upturned lip from a scar, drew his pack in close to the human front lines.

He looked around at those that gathered around him. “Voscht.” He snarled. “Where is Voscht?” A shadow slunk out of the darkness and he snarled quietly. “Keep up you fool.” He looked around. “Heads down, teeth sharp…rip their throats out as they sleep. Quickly…the goblins and trolls are already fast on our heels.”

The werewolves made guttural sounds and the other beasts, wild boar and bears grunted their agreement. The leader drew himself up on his hind quarters, his tail whipping out behind him.

“Time to feast.” He snarled then gurgled and convulsed as an enormous silver dagger ripped through his chest, tearing his heart in two. The one called Voscht appeared from behind him and grinned in his face…with her very human mouth.

“Not on my watch, wolf.” Maja said and threw him down before taking a horn to her lips and blowing hard. Explosions of light burst all around the beasts and they howled and bolted from the light, running into each other and causing chaos. Suddenly, up from the ground appeared many of Maja’s sisters and they leapt into the fray, armed to the teeth with silver blades.

Roused from their sleep like an arrow from its bow, the human soldiers were on their feet in an instant, already dressed in their battle armour, their sword shining in the dying light of the exploded lanterns. Several men on horseback rode up so that they were silhouettes against the ending moon.

“Archers!” De St Croix roared and they could hear the whistles of arrows flying overhead. Their aim was blind and full of hope, raining down onto what had moments before been the far side of the empty valley floor.

Curses and screams of goblins and trolls reached their ears before another volley was released.

“Cavalry! With me!” Philip declared and, with a waning moon’s light to guide them and snow beginning to fall, he led the charge into the valley with two hundred horsemen following him. The horses thundered in unison, their hooves clattering on the rock and their nostrils flaring as the thrill of battle put fire in their veins, their riders thrashing right and left, clubbing and striking the remaining beasts until they reached the goblins and trolls. These were larger and harder to take down from the ground so the riders targeted them, half blind in the dark but not letting that stop them.

De St Croix watched them leave, feeling his horse tug on its reins to join the rest of the charge. He, too, felt the itch to enter the fray but had to stay and direct the fighting. He couldn’t see much and didn’t know how they were faring, only that without Maja’s insistence of her and her sisters mining the valley floor, rubbed over with wolf urine in order to mask their scent, they would have been slaughtered where they slept.

He looked to the east and saw the sky was lightning. Dawn wasn’t far away.

“Keep up!” Jerome barked, climbing up a snow drift, using a toppled tree to pull himself free. His companion was almost drowned in the snow and clambered up with all the grace of a newborn foal.

“You have at least another head of height advantage.” Jack grumbled and sank onto the slight ledge they had made it to. “See anything?”

Jerome shook his head. “Nothing.” He swore. “I know I saw something come flying down the mountain after it erupted.”

“A rock. A tree. A rock…” Jack said helplessly. “Even if it was them, how are we to find them beneath all this?”

Jerome looked around. There was no denying Jack’s doubt. The landscape was transformed, the mountain almost unrecognisable to what it once was. The top half had been a smoking, hot volcanic mess with streams of lava pouring down, turning snow into water and slush and deadly landslides. The bottom half of the mountain had been stripped of all its trees and foliage by the volcano’s explosion and then the landslide had dumped a mountain worth of snow over everything.

Even if Janus and Jé Kinah had made it down from the ice fortress…they were probably dead and buried.

“No.” Jerome swore. “I cannot…will not…believe it.”

Suddenly the earth began to shake and Jack gave a squawk of fear, cowering on the ground as three giants appeared from behind one of the mountain’s peaks. Even though they were far away, there was no denying they were a fearsome sight. Their giant feet left enormous prints in the snow and they shouldered weapons longer and thicker than a man over their shoulders.

Jerome swore, this time with venom, again. “I thought the Snow Queen wasn’t able to convince any more to join her! They will devastate anyone or anything in their path!”

“What do we do?” Jack whimpered. Jerome grabbed his collar and hauled him to his feet.

“We find that she-elf and get her to end this! Come on!”

Frederik had led the infantry charge the moment day spilled onto the valley floor. Spilled was perhaps too strong a word for the weak light that managed to squeeze down through the clouds. It was only indirect light, because a total absence would mean darker than night itself, and as such goblins, trolls…anything that feared the sun could move about with ease. But at least the humans could now see what they were doing…and who they were up against.

Frederik wondered if ignorance was truly bliss as he hurled axes at the back of an ogre. It turned and roared at him, looking like a pin cushion for the dozen weapons sticking out of its hide and yet it had not fallen. It was slower but it had not fallen.

“Concentrate on that one!” Frederik cried and a dozen of the soldiers clad in orange and gold immediately swarmed the ogre, overpowering its weakened state and hurling it to the ground to be pounded to death. For what they lacked in experience in fighting these foul creatures, the soldiers from the Samrajni made up for it with sheer numbers. Without them Frederik doubted he, or almost anyone else in the original company, would still be alive.

He could see Philip up ahead, astonishingly still on his horse as he sliced through the lines of trolls, almost entirely cut off from any help. Despite his years he was a skilled, fast warrior.

Marjellan was entirely lost in the throes of dwarves he’d been fighting. When he was inquired as to whether it was unkind to have him face off against his brethren, Marjellan has simply replied that humans fought humans all the time. There had been a terrible grim determination in his face when he said it and Frederik did not doubt the dwarf’s ability to cut down his own. He hoped he would survive the nightmares afterwards.

Something screeched overhead and the cry went out,

“Harpy!”

Everyone flattened to the ground as the vampire-like woman soared over their heads, the last of the three that had been left on the earth at the start of the war. Surrounding her like a demonic flock were dozens of crows and stitched winged beasts. Frederik turned and watched them dive for his side of the war, the archers managing to hit the less agile and clever fliers while the harpy avoided all arrows.

“My God,” he gasped, “she’s gone for the fallback position.” He found a pile of bodies and climbed to the top, waving his good arm. “Hey!” He yelled. “Dominique!” The rider at the former front lines of the army turned in his direction. “The healing tents!”

There was no way he could have heard him yet the Count turned the head of his horse and galloped out of sight. The moment he disappeared another shout could be heard.

“Giants!”

Giselle stood by Freya as she attempted to cauterize a wound made by an ugly, thick black arrow in the shoulder of a soldier. He was screaming in pain and Freya suspected the tips of the arrows were dipped with an acid that made the wound so agonising that the wounded couldn’t hold still for treatment.

“Hold him down!” Freya barked and as Giselle moved forward the soldier flailed his arms and she was pushed back. “Giselle!”

Giselle clutched her belly, pale with shock. “I am well.”

“Call in our guards. Abigail! Krista!” They had remarkable hearing because they were at the tent almost before she stopped speaking. “Hold him!”

Their strong arms pinned his thrashing body and as Freya went to work, Giselle looked around at the chaos. So many dead and so many wounded that they might not be able to treat everyone that could live and they would die of their wounds. She felt utterly, completely, hopelessly helpless.

“Giselle. Water!”

Giselle hurried to comply but as she reached the flap in the tent something hit the ground directly outside. She screamed as a harpy advanced towards her, grasping her throat and then clutching her belly.

“Oh…a girl.” She hissed, her twisted, grey hued face with tangled hair hanging down beside it only inches from Giselle’s terrified one. “I don’t make a point of killing women…but I’ll eat your unborn daughter before she has the chance to suffer a broken heart…”

A dagger whistled through the air, striking the harpy in the shoulder and she screeched, letting go of Giselle.

“Giselle!” Abigail and Krista advanced as Freya cried. “Run!”

Giselle did. She fled the tent as the harpy launched herself up in the air, throwing the daughters of Maja back with a powerful pump of her wings. Giselle looked around, terrified at being in the open. She saw the stock tent and ran for it, throwing herself inside and clambering to the far back, sure the harpy was right behind her. When she turned she saw that she was alone in the tent, in the dark…her baby safe in her belly.

Suddenly the tent was dragged from its pegs into the air, thrown aside as though it weighed no more than a feather and the harpy’s vile face leered down at Giselle who was sprawled on the sacks she’d fallen upon. Her brown face was filled with fear as the harpy alighted in front of her, her eyes gleaming hungrily and her pointed teeth coming apart so that a forked tongue could hiss.

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“Pitiful human cannot even defend herself.” She flexed her sharpened talons and reached out for Giselle. “What do you have that could possibly defeat me?”

And then, with an awful squelch, a broad sword pierced through her leathery, rag covered body, black blood splattering Giselle’s face. The harpy screamed and turned to face her attacker, ripping the sword from his hand with the motion, leaving it still embedded in her body. De St Croix stood behind her with a grim look in his eyes.

“She ‘as me.” He said darkly then stepped back as the harpy advanced on him.

“I’ll maim you and tear out the womb in her belly and make you watch!” The harpy howled.

Abruptly the sword sticking out of her body was pulled free and the harpy turned in shock as Giselle, with a wife and mother’s fierce love in her eyes, swung it with strength she had only ever known in child birth and severed the harpy’s head from her body.

“I think not.” She said grimly. Now it was De St Croix’s turn to be splattered with blood and husband and wife looked at each other in astonishment.

“What the ‘ell are you doing ‘ere?!” Dominique yelled, shaking in fright at the possible future they had just averted. Giselle gasped and dropped the sword, shock overpowering her slight frame in a split second. De St Croix leapt forward and caught her as she fainted. Blood immediately stained her dress and his hands. “No, no…” He cried and in his strong arms he carried her to the healing tent at a sprint. “Freya!” He roared, laying her down on a table.

Freya dashed over and inspected Giselle. “The baby is coming.”

“No, it cannot be. It is a month too early.” De St Croix was quite firm on that.

“My darling…” Giselle said faintly and he grasped her outstretched hand. “You cannot…send your…daughter…back.”

“My daughter?” He kissed her forehead. “Belle.”

“Belle…” Giselle smiled then her whole body convulsed into labour.

“Out! Out!” Freya barked. “Snow! Water and the cleanest cloths you can find! Xanthe bring me the salt. Maria, I need something she can bite down on and Count…get out.”

“No, I will not leave ‘er.”

“I said out!” Freya shoved him hard. “The war needs you. She needs me and when we are victorious, you will have Belle to hold.”

The Count swallowed, conflicted to his inner core. “Promise me.” He croaked.

“I promise.” Freya turned and ran back to Giselle who was groaning, the onset of labour short and crushingly painful.

De St Croix stumbled out of the tent, a mix of harpy and his wife’s blood on his face and hands. He was about to turn and go back in no matter what Freya said when the ground began to shake. He looked up and saw an enormous form passing overhead.

“Giants…”

Jerome looked around, his skin prickling. Even though his eyes were telling him, he and Jack were the only ones alive on the mountain...

“What…is…it?” Jack panted, having dragged himself behind Jerome by will power alone.

“Something is here.” Jerome put his hand on his sword and glared at the bright white mountain.

“Is it a nice something…or a…we have to kill it…something…”

“In my experience if you cannot see it…it is not pleasant.” Jerome muttered and closed his eyes.

Jack looked around and wondered if Jerome had gone mad with his futile search for Janus and Jé Kinah. He hadn’t slept or eaten in days as they had fought their way free of the ravine where they’d lost Janus and now searched for him.

Perhaps it was all this snow. It was hard to keep looking at all the white. After a while it started to play tricks on your mind. Jack knew that horses couldn’t make it through the dense, deep snow drifts. Their weight would drag them down. He knew that the animal that was approaching them had to be an hallucination brought on by cold, hunger, exhaustion and all this damn white snow.

It was only when the nuzzle of the horse that couldn’t possibly exist nudged him and fair near knocked him off his feet, landing backside first into the snow, that Jack wondered if he was wrong all along.

“Jack!” Jerome opened his eyes and brandished his sword.

The enormous stallion reared up and whinnied so loud Jerome thought it might start another landslide. It looked at him with blue eyes as bright as a new sky, its coat shaggy and as white as the snow around it, making it almost impossible to see. It glared at him, daring him to take his best shot.

“What is it?” Jack asked in awe. “I mean…I know it’s a horse…” At this the creature snorted at him as if the term ‘horse’ was mildly offensive.

“Eroin.” Jerome whispered. “Is it true?”

The Eroin pranced away from him and turned around on the snow as if to offer itself up for inspection to prove it was not a hallucination. Light shifted across its silky coat and it rippled in and out of their sight, blending perfectly with the snow.

“What is an Eroin?” Jack asked, getting up and brushing the powder snow away.

“A horse born of ice and snow.” Jerome gaze in childlike wonder at the magnificent animal that danced before him, barely leaving a trace in the snow. “Mythical and, had they ever really existed it was believed they had become extinct.”

Jack swallowed. “He looks real enough.”

Jerome shook his head. “Ten years ago if I had heard of an Eroin being sighted I would have hunted it down, killed it and mounted its head on my trophy wall.”

The Eroin flared its nostrils and challenged Jerome. Jack twitched nervously. “I do not think he approves. What will you do now?”

Jerome sheathed his sword and opened his arms to the Eroin, palms facing up. “Admire it.” The Eroin snorted and stepped closer. Jerome held out his hand and shivered as the Eroin sniffed his palm, blowing warm air over his body. “After all…it cannot be a coincidence that an Eroin, a creature that can sense life in this icy desert like the princess could with the pea through a pile of mattresses, has come to us while we search for our comrades.” He looked the Eroin in the eye. “Do you know where they are?”

The Eroin huffed and bobbed its head. Jerome felt his voice catch in his throat. Jack piped up.

“Can you take us there?” Eroin whinnied, turned and bolted. Jack started running and looked back at the stunned figure of Jerome. “Come on then!”

Niccolo could hear the fear filled cry of all the soldiers and the earth shook with such force that his teeth rattled in his head.

“Giants! Giants! We will be eaten alive!”

The soldiers were retreating as fast as they could as three giants thundered onto the battlefield, swinging their axes and clubs before them with reckless abandon, not caring if they struck friend and foe together. Even the brave soldiers of General Shankara, that had faced off much in this short battle, turned and fled at the sight of men the size of mountains stomping towards them, their feet squashing everything and anything in their path.

“Hold the line!” Niccolo bellowed as the soldiers ran past him, terror written across their faces. “Hold the line!”

It was all for naught. The men had lost their heads and they could not hear reason, let alone force their bodies to turn and fight. They were overwhelmed and in a moment, so too would all of humanity be. This was the last line of defence.

“Giants!” De St Croix roared, galloping up on his horse. “Giants!”

“We know!” Niccolo snapped. “What do you think they’re all running from?”

“No! Giants!” The Count pointed behind him and Niccolo twisted in his saddle and saw two giants coming up from behind. One was an older male with grizzled grey hair and a face like a crumpled brown paper bag, brandishing a blacksmith iron. The other was a woman, much younger than the first but with the same grim determination on her face even as her straw blond plaits streaked out behind her and she held a club in her hands.

“They’ve outflanked us!” Niccolo lamented.

“Duck!” De St Croix bent low onto his horse’s neck. This was entirely unnecessary as the giants leapt over the top of them, landing heavily onto the snarling beast army and went on to crash hard into the three giants that had stopped in their tracks at the sight of their kin charging them.

“What the?” Niccolo looked at the Count.

“So, I went to the clan leader of the giants and begged an audience.” De St Croix shrugged.

“Do you ever do as you are told?”

“No.” De St Croix raised his sword above his head. “For freedom!” He bellowed and charged into the fray. As he and his horse galloped down the slope into the battlefield the humans stopped and saw his charge. As giant took on giant, they realised that not all hope was lost.

Niccolo could sense the turning of the tide but it needed a push.

“Charge!” He cried and did the same as the Count.

And as he surged into battle he spear headed the wave of human soldiers whose hope had been restored. Retreating was over. Battle recommenced and the sound of yelling and clashing of metal could be heard leagues and leagues away.

“And this one?”

“I was set upon by up to a dozen of stitched eyed, nasty beasts. I think one bit me.”

“And this?”

“A werewolf. I had no idea they could leap so far and so fast. It was an almost fatal lesson. Put a knife in my shoulder blade. Damn near missed my heart.”

“What about this one?”

“A minotaur tried to skewer me with a javelin. Got out of the way with this nasty scrape to my ribs and he impaled a poor defenceless tree which I avenged a few minutes later.”

Jé Kinah and Evander were lying on their sides facing each other, the candle flickering between them in their ice cave. The ground was still warm so their enclosure was inconvenient but temperate. Jé Kinah was pointing out scars on Evander’s body. He had changed his shirt and in doing so, Jé Kinah had seen a great many scars on his muscular body. She had started pointing them out and as Evander told her the origin of each one, the last ten years began to fill in with stories of battles, deadly assaults and near misses.

“So many…” She ran her fingers up his arm, over his shoulder, up his neck to his face. Evander shivered and reminded himself mentally to keep his distance. Her fingers stopped at his chin and she stroked a tiny white scar beneath the stubble. “I know how you came to have this one.”

“The day after we met.” He said with a thick tongue.

“I pulled you into that mess too.” Jé Kinah murmured.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Evander said gallantly and she smiled which made his heart beat all that much faster. “You are so beautiful.”

Jé Kinah’s smile dimmed a little. “How can you say that? I know what I look like.”

“Not through my eyes.” Evander insisted. “No curse can truly disguise how beautiful you are.”

Jé Kinah wished she could keep her emotions reined in as she once had but Evander had a way of simply slipping behind her barriers. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, betraying his touch on her heart. He reached out and gently wiped it away, his fingers trailing down her chin, her throat and stopped when they reached the glass vial still tied around her neck with cord. He studied it for a moment, the powdery grey contents inside having new meaning for him now.

“Luka.” He said gently.

Jé Kinah swallowed and looked at Evander. “Luka.” She confirmed.

“His ashes?”

“All that is left. All I could hold on to,” she put her hand over his and they cupped the vial tightly together, “before what remained was blown away. My mother’s remains disappeared before my eyes. I have nothing of hers to cherish. I could not bear to lose Luka the same way.”

“He has been beside you all these years.” Evander said the slight flinch in her eyes. “I am sorry. I know elves can die of broken hearts. I should not speak of him.”

“It is not as painful as it once was.” She admitted. “Saying his name before…all the pain seemed to be attached to it and I would be overwhelmed by the sorrow that nearly killed me when he died. Now…all that is left are memories.” She sighed peacefully. “Perhaps because I shared his story with you it no longer haunts me.”

“You remember taking me through your memories?”

“Like a dream.” Jé Kinah breathed out. “Another manipulation by Merry.”

“Merry?”

“Meredith. You would know her as the Snow Queen.”

Evander sat up a little. “She has a name?”

“Yes.”

“You know her?”

“I am undoubtedly the one who knows her the best in the world yet understands her the least.” Jé Kinah saw his intrigued gaze, sighed and sat up, Evander doing the same. “I suppose there is no point hiding the truth now. You might as well know the extent of my sins.”

Evander took her hands. “It would not stop me loving you.”

Jé Kinah smiled sadly. “What if I was responsible for this war?”

“Impossible.”

“All together possible.” She swallowed and pursed her lips. “There once was a man and a woman and they loved each other very much. They vowed to always love each other and were married. Before long the woman became pregnant and gave birth.” She paused and Evander said nothing, waiting patiently. “The child was the first of her kind on the earth…both human…and elf.”

Evander jolted. “Wait…what?”

Jé Kinah nodded. “I had a human father and an elf mother.”

“I have never heard of such a union.” Evander gasped. “I thought we were the first…” He stopped and studied her. “You do not look human.”

“I am not. I am pure elf.”

“But…how…”

“I grew up very lonely. I was shunned by elf children, because my humanity slowed me down, made me clumsy and less advanced. I was also avoided by human children because, to them, I was faster, stronger, cleverer…” Jé Kinah gave a small shrug. “I wrestled with the conflict within me. My parents were so loving and they seemed to naturally fit together…or so I thought. But I always felt like two halves warring against each other. Then one day…I discovered my father’s infidelity. He loved another woman and had children with her. When I forced him to tell my mother…she died of a broken heart.”

Evander’s face rippled with pain. “Jé Kinah…I am so sorry…”

“I ran into the woods, filled with more rage and hurt than I thought possible.” Jé Kinah shook her head. “My humanity kept me from dying from the pain inside. I reached a tree, the oldest tree in the forest. It was there my mother met my father and I cursed it. I struck it and released my anger onto it…until I thought I would burst into flames.” She closed her eyes. “It was then that the demonic dragon spirit approached me. It told me I could have revenge. It told me I could rid the world of men who proclaimed fickle, tainted love. I agreed.”

“I do not understand. What does this have to do with the Snow Queen?”

Jé Kinah bit her lip, steeling herself for the awful truth. “The dragon spirit said that, if I were pure elf I would be tenfold more powerful than I would be blended with a human. And so it sucked the humanity from me…everything that came from my father it drew from my veins like poison…and threw it aside into the snow.”

Evander sat up as straight as a spear. “No…surely not…”

Jé Kinah’s face was pale but she continued to talk, unable to seal up the truth any longer. “I do not remember much…a power like lava poured into me until I choked on it and it burned me from the inside out. I felt like I was on fire and yet the pain…I enjoyed it.” She shivered. “Everything was bathed in red when my consciousness finally emerged and I turned to leave. It was then that ‘she’ called out to me.” She swallowed, feeling her body shake. “Where my humanity had been thrown…was a girl my age. Dark curling hair like my father, the same lips, the same eyes…everything.” Jé Kinah’s lip trembled as the horror was revisited. “She called out to me…and I left her there. I was so consumed by my need for revenge…I left her in the snow.”

Two streams erupted from her eyes and poured down her cheeks, dribbling from her chin as she bit her teeth together. She couldn’t even look at Evander, terrified to see disgust in his eyes.

“The Snow Queen…is…”

“Was…me.” Jé Kinah couldn’t swallow anymore. Her throat was being squeezed tight like a giant had hold of her. “We were one and the same. And the war that is being unleashed upon this earth is the same war Merry and I fought inside the same body all through our childhood. Wanting to do more but being unable to. Wanting to be cautious yet leaping in and getting hurt. Constant yearning for what we were terrified to take hold of…”

“And now she can.” Evander understood. “How could she have become so powerful?”

“I do not know.” Jé Kinah rubbed her hand across her face. “I thought she was dead…or perhaps I did not think about her at all. And now…I will be her executioner.”

Evander could feel the twist in his gut, knowing that the moment of truth had come. He knew the depth of betrayal that the woman in front of him had been capable of. She had held nothing back and made no plea for clemency. And yet there was no mistaking her regret…her conviction. He closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her face against his chest and nuzzling her neck despite the touch of scales.

“Hush my love. We will fix this.” He breathed warmly. “We will make it right.”

Jé Kinah listened to the thud of his heartbeat and felt the heat from his body. She could have been in the most secure fortress on the earth and not feel as safe as she did in his embrace. Had she really run from him for so long? From her own feelings? Why hadn’t she taken his hand in the forest back when they had first met and run off together? Why had she prolonged the heartache?

“We will find another way.” He said, his voice reverberating through his body so that she felt his words rather than heard them. “You do not have to destroy her. We will find another way.”

Jé Kinah sniffed and raised her head. “There is no other way. Merry imprisoned me because of that very fact. She had hoped I would join her cause. When I did not she said that my imprisonment would shackle her power. It took a lot out of her to subdue a volcano, build that fortress and create the maze. It kept her from wiping you all out in one devastating offensive.”

“Why didn’t she kill you?” Evander heard his words and cleared his throat. “Not that I am complaining at all…”

“The demon cannot nor ever could, create life.” Jé Kinah touched her chest. “The life of both of us is within me. She cannot live without me.”

Evander put his hand over hers and looked deep into her eyes. “Neither can I.”

They were drawn inevitably closer, the heat in their veins and the love in their eyes dragging them so that their arms, legs and bodies would come together and finally have what they desired all along. Evander leaned down ever so slightly and saw her lips part, pale and longing.

“Argh!” He roared and threw himself back, kicking away until he was pressed against an ice wall. Jé Kinah did much the same thing and they looked at each other from opposite sides of the cave. Their breathing was ragged and Evander’s chest was far too bare and glistening with sweat. Jé Kinah’s tunic had slipped a little and her gasp of emotion only made her all the more desirable. “We…have…to…get…out…of…this…cave.”

Jé Kinah nodded, not trusting her voice.

A dull thud echoed through their icy cave and they looked at each other.

“Did you hear that?”

Jé Kinah nodded. “And felt it.”

They waited until another thud echoed.

“In here!” Evander yelled and grabbed his sword, banging it on the ceiling. “In here!”

More thuds followed and then harder sounds, chopping sounds. Jé Kinah grabbed Evander and pulled him away.

“Axes!” She cried and suddenly a silver edge split the compact snow ceiling.

“We’re in here!” Evander yelled again and the axes blows kept coming. Over and over again until a hole big enough for a face opened up.

“Janus!”

“Yes, in here!” Evander saw Jé Kinah’s look. “Call it an identity crisis. Two faced god…” He sighed and looked up again as a shower of snow was kicking into the hole.

“Watch it!” The voice barked. “We need to widen the hole. Keep well clear.”

It felt like forever to make the hole big enough for them to climb through but when it was a body leaned down and a face, bathed in shadow, eyed them both critically.

“Too soon or too late?” He chuckled.

Jé Kinah and Evander looked at each other. The ties on her tunic were loose and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Evander swore and grabbed his clothes while Jé Kinah blushed.

“Just get us out of here.” Evander snapped, yanking his tunic over his head.

“I need rope.”

Evander looked at Jé Kinah. “I’ll give you a leg up.”

She shook her head, grabbed him by the shoulders and, with an animalistic snarl, simply threw him into the air. His body shot through the hole and he grabbed the edges, scrabbling through the snow until he found a hold. Jerome and Jack took a hand each and hoisted him all the way out.

“What did you do? Jump?” Jerome half laughed.

“You wouldn’t believe me.” Evander turned around, stuck his long arm down and, after a leap from Jé Kinah, grasped her hand and drew her out. She stumbled into the snow bank and turned around.

“Jerome!” She exclaimed.

Jerome looked at her in surprise, taking in the transformations that had never receded.

“How on earth did you find us?” Evander slung his satchel on.

“We had help.” Jerome jerked his head towards the Eroin that pawed the ground at a safe distance. Jé Kinah’s face softened into a beautiful smile and she approached reverently. “It led us here then kept pounding the ground. If it hadn’t been for the Eroin, we would have had no chance.”

Evander looked around and knew Jerome spoke the truth. Though the snow that had covered them had, thankfully, not been as deep as it could have been, it was certainly deep enough to disguise their makeshift cave. He could see debris and dirty clumps of rock mixed in with the whiteness of the snow.

“When the volcano erupted we feared the worst.”

“Feared it. But didn’t believe it.” Jack said stoutly. Evander ruffled his red hair affectionately.

“Glad to see you haven’t been eaten by a giant.”

“That is still a possibility.” Jerome’s face became grim. “If we do not hurry, all will be lost.”

All three looked over at Jé Kinah who had pressed her forehead to the Eroin’s and they seemed to be in silent commune. They both sensed they were being watched and looked up, the Eroin flaring its nostrils at all the attention.

“The battle has begun.” Jerome explained as she came closer. “We saw three giants running to join it not long before we found you.” The Eroin snorted. “We, I said we!” He looked back at Jé Kinah. “It is good to see you again she-elf.”

“Are you sure?” She asked and he tilted his head. She looked at the young man with freckled cheeks and ruddy red hair. “Do I know you?”

He was fixed like a statue, staring at her. In his dumbfounded state all he could squeak out was, “Beanstalk. Giants…”

“Jack?” Jé Kinah gasped. “Jack!”

“Jack the giant slayer.” Evander chuckled and Jack flushed red.

“We do not have time for pleasantries. We must hurry.” Jerome pointed down the mountain. “Even at our best pace we may not get there in time.”

Evander grasped Jé Kinah’s hand. “You must fly.”

“What?”

“Fly to the battle. We will hurry to reach you but you can go much faster without us.”

Jé Kinah hesitated. “I…cannot…do this without you.”

Evander looked at Jerome and then back at Jé Kinah. Jerome went to say something then clamped his mouth shut as the Eroin stomped into their midst. It nuzzled Jé Kinah’s shoulder and huffed into her neck. She turned and touched its velvet hide.

“You swore you would never carry a human,” she whispered, “and you have already saved my life once.”

I have long since let go of my anger and hate. It said, its eyes clear and blue. Even with all three as my burden, I can run as fast as you can fly.

Jé Kinah felt a wry smile curl up on her face. “I will take that challenge.” She turned to the three men that stared at them. “He will carry you.”

Jack gulped. “I’m not sure I…” Jerome grabbed him and hoisted him up. He sat on the Eroin’s back like a statue. Jerome pulled himself up.

Evander looked at Jé Kinah. “We will not abandon you. You will not have to do this alone.” He mounted the Eroin with barely any room to spare even on its broad back. The majestic horse bobbed its head at Jé Kinah and then took off at an astonishing speed. Jé Kinah opened her wings, feeling the leather unfold and stretch. She could sense her bone structure aching already at the unnatural pressure pulling at her shoulder blades but closed her mind off to the pain. With several pumps of her massive wings she lifted up off the ground and soared after the diminishing sight of the Eroin and its three passengers.

De St Croix’s face was smeared with blood from a gash across his cheek and he wielded his sword with all the skill of a novice. But he refused to back down and with Niccolo, Philip and Frederick joining his party, they pushed further into the enemy’s ranks, setting their sights on the minotaur…all the while trying to keep from being crushed by the warring giants.

The two friendly giants had killed one and maimed the second. Only the third remained on his feet and while the second was not going anywhere fast, it was hardly defenceless. What with the giants joining their cause, the humans began to have a surge of hope and a renewed strength.

Perhaps they could win this!

And yet defeat was ultimately inevitable without the she-elf/dragon because the enemy had yet to unleash its greatest weapon.

“My Queen!” The minotaur general bellowed from beneath her perch upon her icy pedestal. “We are being beaten back! Are you enjoying watching them slaughter us?”

The Snow Queen looked down at him. “Yes.” She said darkly and the Minotaur flinched. “Oh…very well,” her white face cracked into a grin, “if I must…”

She stood up and shot power from her hands into the ground around her. Ice began to form, surging upwards and then rolling out like enormous frozen waves. The Queen was carried on these waves as they grew in formation, stretching across the length of the battlefield, over fifty feet in height. The power was so strong that everyone could hear the noise that water made as it froze, a crackling, straining sound that pierced the air and filled their senses.

The jagged, frozen waves were clear and blue, smooth and beautiful and the crests of the waves were dipped in snow. The Queen stood on the centre wave, higher than the rest and looked over at her glorious war. Her eyes rolled back into her skull and she lifted her hands high to the heavens. The clouds began to swirl and flex, twisting into a whirlpool in the sky. Lightning rippled across its surface and everything started to get very dark. Those on the battlefield began to squint in the dim light as she flicked the clouds around and around…then threw her arms towards the ground.

Lightning splintered the ground, sending shafts of rock into the air, the force throwing soldiers to the left and the right. Over a dozen strikes littered the battlefield and both sides dove for cover as the Snow Queen raised her arms again and clapped.

The clouds ripped open and snow fell heavily, drenching the bloodied, body filled landscape in seconds. The snow trapped their legs and buried the dead as they scrambled to get out of her way. Her voice could be heard laughing over their shrieks, the power that she wielded almost tangible and visible in a halo around her body.

“‘alley!” De St Croix pointed. “We must do something!”

Halley looked down at the tiny count from her giant height and nodded. Before she moved, her father stepped in her way.

“She is mine.” He bellowed and charged.

“Da!” Halley cried.

The ground trembled as the old warrior giant thundered towards the tiny Snow Queen upon her icy perch. She saw him coming, his face in an ancient battle cry and his blacksmith iron lifted high above his head. She turned to him, blue light blazing in her eyes, threw her arms towards him and released a blast of liquid cold.

Halley cried out as her father began to slow, his body freezing so fast that as he dropped his arm to strike the Snow Queen…it froze just above her head.

And the battlefield was silent.

The Snow Queen looked around in amusement.

“Now do I have your attention?” She asked and then, with her thumb and middle finger, she flicked his frozen outstretched hand.

His frozen form rang out with a note that became louder and louder as his giant form went from trembling to shaking, cracks ripping across his body until it burst into millions of tiny shards, dancing with a light that was entirely inappropriate for such a devastating fate.

“No!” Halley screamed and charged without a second thought.

The Snow Queen flicked her hands and into her fingers appeared snowflakes that she hurled at the oncoming giant. Halley was struck several times, slices appearing in her clothing and skin until one clipped her leg and she went down, unable to rise. Enjoying the panic that ensued the Snow Queen sent the razor-sharp snowflakes hailing down onto the soldiers and laughed delightedly as they ran for cover. But nowhere was safe as her power surged forward, sending tendrils of ice across the ground, tearing down tents and reaching the fallback position.

“Dominique!” Philip cried, limping towards the Count. “What do we do?”

Dominique looked at the Snow Queen, his face drained of all colour. “Retreat.” He whispered and then yelled. “Retreat! Fallback!” Philip gazed at him in shock. “Now! Run!”

Far from behind the Snow Queen a horse raced impossibly fast across the snow, its hooves never faltering and its riders hunkered down to escape the wind that whistled past them. The Eroin took its three passengers to an ice cliff that looked towards the devastated battlefield. All three dismounted, well…Jack slid and fell, and stared at the carnage. Minotaur slashed left and right while goblins banged heads together and trolls jumped and sat on soldiers that tried to flee. The wolves that remained, though they were few, hunted down anyone who made it to the fallback line and leapt upon them with blood lust in their yellow eyes.

“Dear God…” Jerome whispered.

“Are we too late?” Jack asked.

Jé Kinah landed hard beside them, her wings almost crushing her slight frame. Evander turned, took her hand and drew her up, her green eyes surveying the destruction. “She is out of her mind.” She murmured. “Merry…what have you done?”

“You must go. Go now!” Jerome ordered.

Jé Kinah pulled Evander’s satchel down and dug around in it, drawing out the object wrapped in leather she had rescued before the volcano could consume it. She peeled back the layers with extreme care.

“Is that a weapon?” Jack said with child like hope then frowned. “An arrow?”

It lay across the leather, a metal arrow, silver in colour and strangely beautiful.

“Will you kill her with it?” Evander asked.

Jé Kinah’s eyes flickered and she turned from Evander and went to hand it to Jerome. Evander put his hand on her shoulder. “I am a proficient archer. I can do this. Let me help you.”

“It is not for the Snow Queen.” Jé Kinah’s voice was soft as she put it in Jerome’s hands. “Use this if it becomes necessary to do so.” He studied it for a moment then looked up at her, comprehension flooding into his face.

“It is a silver arrow.” He said in a hollow tone.

“Silver…” Evander looked at Jerome and then Jé Kinah. “But…silver is used to…kill things that…transform…” Jé Kinah couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t bear the shock in his eyes as she walked up to the edge of the cliff. Evander grabbed her hand. “Wait!” He tried to pull her back. “Jé Kinah, why would he need to use it? Jé Kinah!” He pushed in front of her and cupped her face. She kept her eyes closed. “This cannot be…”

“If…if the dragon takes me,” she whispered, “if I am not strong enough to return…”

“You are. You are strong enough.” Evander shook her shoulders. “Listen to me! You can beat this. I know it.”

Jé Kinah’s face lacked conviction and her eyes, when they opened, were shining. “Do not let my mistake release this creature. It will bring death to everything that lives on this earth for all eternity for while I am its bearer, it will live as long as an elf lives. It has no conscience, no heart…no way of being stopped except with that arrow.”

Evander faltered. “Maybe there is another way…”

Jé Kinah smiled weakly, leaned forward and whispered with her lips almost touching his ear. “I love you.” She pressed something into his hand and dove off the cliff face. Evander looked down at his hand and saw the vial filled with flecks of Luka’s ashes resting against his palm. He turned and saw her soar through the air, heading for the Snow Queen.

“We must hurry.” Jerome put the silver arrow into his quiver.

Evander turned and stormed up to him. “You are not to use that. Do you hear me!”

Jerome’s face was hard. “That is why she gave the arrow to me. She knew you could but not that you would. I, on the other hand…am a beast hunter, monster killer.” He started jogging along the cliff face to where it sloped and rejoined the land that had become the battlefield. “I can.”

The air was bitterly cold and the snow was like a series of veils that Jé Kinah had to push her way through as she flew towards the Snow Queen. But she did not feel the cold. She only felt the racing of her own heart and as she put her hand up to clutch the vial which gave her comfort, her hand was left empty. And yet, somehow, that gave her comfort. She flapped her wings, the pull on her shoulder blades sending stabbing pain through her torso and landed behind the Snow Queen.

“Hello Merry.” She said quietly.

Meredith turned, curls as glossy as they had ever been, streaked with white and a crown of ice on her head that looked like one of her hands, clawed and full of rage. Her eyes were rimmed with red and her mouth curled into a smile.

“So…you survived the avalanche.”

“Just as you planned.”

“Not bad for a lowly, pathetic, flawed human. Look at all I have accomplished!” She flung her arms wide to encompass the bloody battlefield. “Look at them all, fighting at my command! That is power!”

“You enjoy their deaths?”

“They die for me.”

“A legacy of bones and blood.” Jé Kinah pressed her lips together. “Merry…how could you?”

Meredith raised her chin. “I had begun to doubt that your little spies were competent enough to wheedle out my hints. Or perhaps what I doubted was that there was a single person in this entire world that could unlock your prison with true love.”

Jé Kinah felt the barbs of her words and yet she felt no anger, only sorrow.

“I have come to stop you.” She said.

“You have come to kill me, you mean.” Meredith’s gaze darkened, her mask slipping to show the raging hurt underneath. “Because a friend would stand beside me. Not behind so she can stab me in the back.”

Jé Kinah held out her hand. “Stop this Merry. Stop this now and let the world be at peace.”

“No.”

Jé Kinah swallowed. “I do not want to kill you.”

“You can try,” Meredith’s hand began to crackle with lightning as she called upon power to surge into her body, “but you must change first…so go on then…Change!”

She hurled two bolts at Jé Kinah who leapt into the air and spun, narrowly missing being hit. She pumped her wings, attempting to gain height. Instead she landed sharply on the ice and slid towards the edge.

“Change!” Meredith screamed and threw bolts at the ice so that it cracked and broke away. Jé Kinah jumped, pushing back from sharp shards and fell through the air, her wings only just managing to soften her landing in the snow below. Meredith ran to the edge of the ice wave and looked down. “You cannot do it, can you? You cannot defeat me!”

Jé Kinah’s heart lurched up into her throat. As Meredith began her onslaught she dodged and wove, beating her chest and begging for something she had tried to avoid ever since Luka had died.

“Change. Come on!” Snowflakes whizzed past her ear and she threw herself backwards, rolled and started running again. “What is wrong with me? Change!”

De St Croix, Niccolo, Philip, Frederik and Marjellan were among the few that had not fled, gathered at what remained of their front lines. Back to back they pressed, beating off the Minotaur who were not so easily distracted as others in their ranks. Fortunately for them, the battle between the flying creature and the Snow Queen had taken most of the attention of trolls, goblins and other dim witted creatures away from them. There was no denying the distraction of this new, personal battle. Both sides were curious as to who this newcomer was.

“It’s Jé Kinah. I swear it.” Marjellan declared, blood running down his forehead and his black hair matted with sweat.

“Almost undoubtedly.” De St Croix said savagely, barely able to hold his own against the anvil heavy blows of his opponent.

“Undoubtedly.” Niccolo jerked his head. “Look.”

Leaping over fallen bodies, brandishing their weapons with exhaustion defying vigour, came Janus, Jerome and Jack. Janus sank an axe he’d picked up from the ground into the back of the Minotaur that was about to take the Count’s head off with a powerful stroke. He struck the Minotaur aside and pressed in to join the tightly knit group.

“You almost missed our party.” De St Croix looked at Janus. “I take it you were successful.”

“Does that look like a she-elf cum dragon to you?” Jerome barked before Janus could say anything.

“Oui…but will she kill the Snow Queen?”

Janus looked out at Jé Kinah dodging ice bombs and razor tipped snowflakes. “She can…but only if she transforms.”

“She looks pretty fearsome to me as is!” Frederik went down on one knee, both of his arms practically useless by this stage. The group circled him, protecting him within their ranks.

“Too much elf! Not enough dragon!” Philip beat in a Minotaur’s head and looked up. “Change! I know you can!”

As they battled the thickening ranks of the Minotaur that converged on their fortified position, they all kept an eye out on the duel between elf and human. None more so than Evander who had a terrible feeling in his gut that something was going to go dreadfully wrong.

Jé Kinah dodged a lethal rain of fist sized hailstones, throwing herself beneath the arch of the wave Meredith stood on. She could hear the power drunk self proclaimed Queen cackling loudly and swallowed.

“Change.” She whispered. “Why will you not come forth? Why now?”

Was she scared?

Yes, but that had never stopped it before.

Did she fear not being able to change back?

Of course!

But these reasons had always been with her. Yet, somehow, she had managed to transform.

“You have a chance to break free!” She yelled into the abyss of her heart. “What are you waiting for?”

“What is she waiting for?” Niccolo wiped blood across his face, trying to get it out of his eyes. “She is going to be killed if she doesn’t do something fast!”

“Maybe she is too much dragon and not enough elf.” Jerome slashed and lunged as a swarm of stitched eye beasties crashed onto his position. Though they were easy enough to dispatch, their sheer numbers made them difficult to defeat…and they simply reattached body parts and kept on fighting. “Maybe the evil in her is in control and she won’t change!”

Evander looked out at Jé Kinah and saw her running for her life, sprinting lightly over the snow as lighting strikes followed her, barely missing her as she leapt into the air and began to fly. The Snow Queen whipped wind into a flurry and struck her, collapsing her wings and throwing her to the ground near one of the fallen giants.

“No. That is not it.” He scrunched his face up. “What is it? Why won’t she change?”

He thought about what everyone had said about her, about their experiences with her. Why had she done what she had done? And most importantly, what had happened before she transformed?

His eyes opened wide as the revelation hit him like a sledge hammer.

“Do you remember the woman who convinced me to come to the palace after the ball and helped me escape the guards…”

“She took the place of a village girl and rescued my sisters and I from a werewolf.”

“She climbed the outside wall of the keep and rescued myself and Freya.”

“The thing is…we fell from above the clouds but she caught me and then she flew.”

“We were rescued by someone called Jé Kinah. Without her…I would have been burned alive.”

“It is not that she won’t.” He gasped. “It is that she can’t!” Without leaving a moment to doubt his realisation Evander threw the Minotaur in front of him aside and started to run into the snow covered battlefield, tripping over many things he couldn’t see, drawing his bow from his back and setting an arrow into place.

“What is ‘e doing?” De St Croix cried.

“Sir Janus! Stop!” Jack yelled but their words of warning were lost in the howling wind. Had Evander heard them he would have ignored their pleas, knowing what he had to do. He found a place where he could see the Snow Queen clearly, looked down the shaft and released the arrow.

The Snow Queen turned and blasted the arrow out of the sky, her blue eyes filled with venom.

“Hey!” Evander cried. “Are you forgetting something?”

Jé Kinah looked up. “Evander!”

“Don’t you want to know who freed her from your ice fortress?” He sent another arrow flying and the Queen swatted it away with no more effort than as if she was swatting a fly. She fixed her eyes on the man who sent arrow after arrow at her until his quiver was empty.

“You?” She said and Jé Kinah’s heart twisted with fear. “You are her true love?”

“Meredith! No!” Jé Kinah stood up. She was too far away! There was no way she could reach Evander in time.

“I am!” Evander said, standing tall, hands reaching for a shield that stuck out of the snow. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

Meredith turned and looked at Jé Kinah who trembled where she stood, frightened a single motion from her would unleash the Snow Queen’s wrath.

“Well…that simply will not do.” She smiled and her beautiful face became ugly with hate. “Time to watch the one you love…DIE!”

Evander yanked the shield free of the snow and cowered behind it as his position was blasted with all the wind, ice and snow the Snow Queen possessed. She could be heard cackling above the sound of the hurricane of power at her command and Evander was pounded back, dug deep into the snow as the shield became too cold to hold. He ducked his head and yelled,

“Jé Kinah!”

Deep in her heart, something snapped. In the recesses of her mind, the evil that she feared uncurled itself, its nature hot and malevolent and it reached out, surging with power, rippling through the she-elf’s body, roaring with hunger after being caged and hibernating for so long!

Whatever remained of her fair hair blackened. Her skin was riddled with veins that pumped dark blood and her eyes lost any trace of colour. Her bones could be heard snapping as far away as the fallback line as her body flexed and morphed into a grotesque. A trickle of smoke emptied out of her mouth, sliding between her jagged, sharpened teeth. Her wings grew even larger until they dwarfed her tiny form and a tail with a tip like a scorpion shot out from behind her and curled up and over. Her clothes were torn and discarded, her body almost entirely covered in scales.

With one great thrust she shot into the air, twisted and then dove towards the embattled Evander who was within an inch of being consumed by the Snow Queen’s power. She grabbed his arm with her talons and dragged him free of the hole he had nearly drowned in, dropping him close to where the others stood, the Minotaur standing with them, staring at this strange beast that landed only a stone’s throw away.

No one dared to breathe.

“Jé Kinah…” Evander shook violently on the ground, cold as could be.

Jé Kinah, or something with her face, turned and snarled at him then launched herself into the air.

“She does not look like a dragon to me.” Marjellan remarked, stabbing one absent minded Minotaur in the back.

“It is not a full transformation.” Jerome explained.

“She…she…” Evander couldn’t speak he was shaking so hard.

“She is holding back the transformation by sheer will.” Jerome put his hand on Evander’s shoulder. “She is attempting to keep the mind of the beast at bay.”

“But is it enough? Can she defeat her?”

“We will soon find out.”

Jé Kinah flew through the air and stopped before the Snow Queen who looked at her in astonishment.

“You did change!” She clapped her hands and giggled. “It’s not complete but it is beautiful!” She held out her hand to the dark figure that hovered with slight beats of her wings before her. “You are more one of us than one of them now. Your instinct is to kill the humans. Do not fight it. Join me Jé Kinah and together we can create a new earth!”

Jé Kinah’s body trembled and her head twitched, her black eyes rolling back into her skull.

“Jé Kinah!” Evander cried. “Jé!”

Her body shuddered and she closed her eyes…then reopened them, her irises pale green and clear.

“No…” She said, barely retaining her voice.

The Snow Queen hesitated, a murmur of doubt in her mind. “You know you want to.” She said, pressing on. “You know your form lusts for blood and death.”

“Only yours.” Jé Kinah shivered.

The Snow Queen’s face convulsed and she dropped her hand. “You should have killed me when you had the chance…nearly two hundred years ago!”

She thrust explosive power at the place where Jé Kinah had been hovering but the she-elf had launched herself straight up into the air, the pulse of power she left behind knocking everyone to the ground. She tore through the clouds above, shattering their opaque formation and releasing warm sunlight onto the snow covered valley floor. As the Snow Queen tried to reform the clouds Jé Kinah turned and plummeted towards the earth, turning up at the last second and moving so fast and so powerfully that her shock wave carved a furrow in the snow, throwing snow and corpses left and right.

The Snow Queen hurled snowflakes after her but could not even begin to match her speed and Jé Kinah lifted herself up into the air, opened her wings wide, soaking up the sunshine and looked down at her prey. The Snow Queen faltered.

“No!” She cried. “I will not be defeated by you!”

She fired a rage infused burst of ice, snow and light at Jé Kinah but as it came near, it simply burst into steam, undone by the fire that had begun to build in Jé Kinah’s body. Her nostrils flared and smoke curled out of her mouth, crackles of red appeared in her hands and her eyes took on an unnatural light as she opened her mouth, displaying all her jagged teeth and the fiery glow that appeared at the back of her throat.

“No! No!” The Snow Queen screeched and unleashed the full extent of her frigid power at Jé Kinah. The white and blue blast met the flames that erupted from Jé Kinah’s throat, fuelled by the fire that burned bright within her body. And where they met a column of steam billowed up towards with a loud hiss. The Snow Queen threw everything she could at Jé Kinah, reaching deep down inside herself, emptying her body of the snow, ice and devastating cold until she collapsed, thin chest heaving, all ice and snow adornments having melted away.

“It isn’t fair.” She looked up, her hair wild and her face contorted with anger and fear in a potent blend. “I’m not supposed to lose!”

Jé Kinah rumbled and alighted on the crest of the wave, the ice immediately melting under her heat and weight. The Snow Queen staggered backwards, slipping on the slick surface, shooting the dregs of her power out to create a soft snow bank for her to fall onto. But she never reached it. Jé Kinah grabbed her body and threw her into the air, shooting up after her as fast as blinking.

From the ground all the spectators could see was a speck like a snowflake being struck and consumed by a fireball. Screaming tried to deafen them and they cowered away from the ball of fire that whistled through the air, hitting the earth in a giant spray of snow, steam and smoke.

In the grim haze Evander staggered towards the crater. “Jé Kinah!” He cried out. “Jé Kinah!”

He clambered up to the rim and looked down. The fallen, still body of the Snow Queen lay in a pool of slush, the terrifying form of Jé Kinah standing over her as still as a statue.

“Jé Kinah!” Evander called.

Her head tilted and then her eyes alone looked up. Evander shivered. There was no colour in them. They were wholly black and they gazed at him with a dark recognition. He heard the others reach his position and he went to climb down.

“Jé Kinah…it is me. Evander.” A hand grabbed his cuff and held him back. “Let go!”

“I do not think that is Jé Kinah anymore.” Jerome said grimly.

Evander looked back at the she-elf and saw a terrible, merciless look in her eyes, a terrible smile searing across her face. “No…no… Jé Kinah…fight! You must fight it! Do not let it take control!”

“De St Croix! Get everyone out of here!” Jerome roared and threw himself back, taking Evander with him. He didn’t have time to look and see if everyone was able to get clear for the earth shook and exploded, rocks flying and snow scattering. He got to his feet and ran for the cover of the dead giant’s leg and looked over, Evander pulling against his grasp.

“Let me go! She needs me!”

“She doesn’t exist anymore!” Jerome felt him tear away and punched him solidly in the jaw. Evander fell back and glared at him angrily. “It woke up and now it’s going to tear us all apart!”

Evander saw him pull out the silver arrow. “No!” He launched himself at Jerome and they fought over the arrow. “I will not let you kill her!”

“Don’t be a fool!” Janus kicked him away. Evander scrambled back up and turned on him but they, and everyone around them, was frozen into fear as a voice bypassed their ears and spoke directly into their souls rumbled…

I SMELL YOU…EVANDER…

Evander felt instinctive fear grip him like nothing he had ever felt before and he forgot about fighting Janus. He drew himself up and looked over at the crater. Smoke was pouring out of it and the scale encrusted tail with the scorpion tip whipped out of the haze, striking the ground.

I KNOW YOUR SCENT…

“No…” Evander whispered as claws as large as his body reached out of the pit and dug deep into the earth.

I KNOW SHE WILL WEEP FOR YOU…

Red eyes flashed in the dark and wings of an impossible size unfolded and pierced the smoke. It flapped them and the wind it created pushed everything back and down as it rose into the sky, the last dragon that ever lived, fully and completely formed.

...AS I BATHE IN HER SORROW AND FEAST ON HER BROKEN HEART!

The sun that had appeared for a brief time disappeared behind the enormous body of the beast and as it screamed, storm clouds surged into being, nature itself at the mercy of the dragon’s whim. It flung itself through the air, the edges of its wings felling trees and topping people in its wake. It smashed through the tents of the human army, its tail splintering through weapons racks and collecting horses and throwing them to the ground with sickening cracks.

The creatures of the Snow Queen’s army let out a shout of joy. Minotaur raised their shaggy arms high and trolls and goblins garbled their praise to the beast. The flawed and ultimately weak human that had led them was no match for pure evil! The remains of the beastly army rallied themselves as the dragon drew itself up over them, its belly glowing.

“The time of the dragon begins!” The Minotaur general bellowed then vanished into a haze of flames. No one could stand the heat and the light of the inferno and when they looked up, nothing remained of the Minotaur. The beasts that had been crowing victory stood in horror induced stupor.

If a dragon could grin, that is what its sinister expression would have been called.

“Dragons serve no one,” Jerome said darkly, bringing his bow up, the silver arrow in his hand, “and their only allegiance is to themselves.”

The humans had already run for cover. There was nowhere for the beasts to go and the dragon ripped through them, snapping and snarling, killing dozens within minutes and setting anything that would burn on fire.

Evander stood and watched as the dragon flew overhead. Because its belly was hot and red, he could see a darkened shape within. It was the form of a woman. “Jé Kinah…” He gasped.

Somehow, in the midst of anarchy, the dragon heard him. Its scaly head snapped around and its eyes without light or colour drilled into him. Evander felt his body freeze on the spot.

WHAT WILL YOU DO LITTLE PRINCE? It taunted. WILL YOU HOPE OR WILL YOU DIE?

It flew upwards towards the clouds, twisted and dove towards the prince who stood on a pile of corpses. Its mouth opened wide and it howled, an inferno building at the back of its throat.

“Janus, get down!” Jerome threw himself at the prince, knocking him aside just as a fireball struck where he had been standing. Jerome was flung through the air and landed in a crumpled heap.

“Jerome!” Evander cried and scrambled to his feet. As he ran the excruciatingly long distance between himself and the fallen beast hunter, he kept one eye on the sky. The dragon, it seemed, had disappeared into the clouds. Jerome was shaking, his clothes charred and his skin blistering. Evander looked down at him, helpless to know what to do. “I will get help. Do not die Jerome!” Evander went to leave. Jerome’s hand snapped out and grabbed his sleeve.

“Arrow…” He choked out, pressing the silver arrow that he had not let go of, against Evander’s chest.

Evander looked down at the silver weapons in Jerome’s bloodied grasped. “No. I can’t.” He shook his head. “I love her.”

“Exac…tly…” Jerome’s body gave an almighty shake and he collapsed onto the ground, his fist opening, releasing the arrow. Instinctively Evander caught it, the straight shaft of silver lying against his palm, reflecting his conflicted expression where it wasn’t marred by blood.

Evander closed his eyes. “I cannot do this.” He whispered.

HER ETERNAL LIFE WILL NOURISH ME UNTIL I HAVE RID THE WORLD OF EVERY LIVING THING!

Then, above the sound of flames and the dragon roaring above the clouds, Evander could hear the screams of people. There was no attempt to make a stand against the dragon. They knew that it was foolish to even try. All that was left to do was to flee and hide, forever wondering and waiting for the dragon to seek them out and destroy their loved ones as they watched.

“Sir…” Evander looked up and saw Jack standing only a few feet away. The young squire’s normally ruddy complexion was pale and sickly and his hands shook by his sides. He looked at Jerome’s lifeless body and swallowed. “What do we do?”

Evander’s jaw tightened and he stood up. “We change coats.” He walked towards Jack and put his hand on his shoulder. “Can you be brave squire?” Jack’s nod was partially due to him shaking in fear. “Then what we do is end this.”

The dragon spun through the clouds, churning them to its will, enjoying the entire release of its presence from the she-elf’s containment. She had kept it a prisoner for so long by sheer will that its indignation had become an all consuming rage. It would punish her by undoing all the good she had done. It would seek out the happily ever afters that she had so selflessly aided and destroy them one by one.

But first…it would destroy hers.

It could smell the scent of love, the scent of her beloved. Even from this height it was like a noxious fume in its nostrils and it snorted, a cruel snarl unleashed from its jaws. It burst out of the clouds and went into a dive, instinctively heading towards the smell, knowing that it was fast approaching a rapidly beating heart, pumping blood and soft, tender flesh.

Even through the haze of smoke and steam, it could see him. He was running across the battlefield at a pitiful speed, slipping over bodies, dodging bonfires and trying to get away.

It was all too easy.

It closed the gap in seconds, a roar of unearthly proportions tearing apart the air until it felt that the world would be ripped in half and its wings opened wide in a terrifying soar only twelve feet from the ground. It unleashed its jagged teeth from its jaw, snapping and ready for the kill until it could almost taste it.

“Janus!!!!” Jack screamed.

“Down!” Evander roared and the small body the dragon had followed flattened into the earth. The dragon’s jaws missed him by inches, its eyes refocussed on the body that had risen from the corpses in front of it. In his hand was a bow and leaving it at the speed of light, was a silver arrow.

The dragon screeched and did exactly what its instincts told it and tried to pull up…putting whatever passed as its heart directly in the path of the arrow.

It tore through the scales and sank deep into its breast.

Evander dropped his arms, tears streaming down his face, breath refusing to enter his lungs.

“Please…” He gasped as he watched the dragon streak into the air. “Please…”

It flapped, trying in vain to somehow outrun the fatal blow. Its claws scrabbled at the arrow but it had disappeared into its body and the red light the dragon was filled with began to turn white. Its scales showed cracks of bright light and it rippled all the way across its body so that before it could reach the clouds, an explosion of pure light burst from every pore, blinding those that had not already looked away in fear.

Then it plummeted to the earth. And as it fell, scales and smoke poured away from it, almost as though they were being drawn up to the heavens, sucking the poison out of it. In the tar covered, dark mass, a small figure began to emerge. But before it appeared fully, it struck the earth and the ground quaked with the force of it.

Evander sprinted to the second crater that had been made that day. He reached the rim and looked down. He could see nothing except black tar and as he watched, it was soaked into the earth, sucked down into the depths.

“Jé Kinah!” He cried, looking desperately for her. “Jé Kinah!”

And then…there was nothing.

Just a crater…and a place where he had hoped against hope that his beloved Jé Kinah would be.

Evander felt something snap inside as he felt the last remnants of hope being whisked away, knowing that what he had done could not be undone. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t stand…all he could do was throw his head back and unleash his horror and his sorrow with a wordless, long howl.

Perhaps he had been there a week…a day…a year… Evander no longer knew. What went on around him was not his concern. All he could do was stare at the ground that had long since ceased showing any sign of the remains of the dragon or of Jé Kinah. He was not cold or hot and his unblinking, motionless gaze took no notice of day or night, friend or foe. His skin was so dry it felt as though it would crack and his eyes had emptied themselves. He was numb to the core. At some point someone, most likely Jack, had put his coat back around his shoulders. The coat that he’d used to fool the dragon’s sensitive sense of smell with, Jé Kinah’s sensitive sense of smell with.

They had been one and the same and he had killed it…and her.

“Evander.” A hand landed on his shoulder and it felt like his body belonged to someone else. “Come.”

Evander shook his head. “No.”

“This is no place to mount a memorial.”

“It is where she died.”

“So let us remember her life and leave this place.” There was a moment of pause. “She would not have wanted you to be sad.”

“And when you are gone, how will you comfort me?”

Evander pressed his fist to his forehead. “Forgive me. Forgive me Jé Kinah.”

He was hauled to his feet and marched to the fallback line where the healing tents were. He didn’t look to the right or the left, not even when a smattering of applause rippled out and someone even cried, “Hail, Sir Janus, the dragon slayer!”

He felt no anger, no sorrow, no pain…nothing. He was taken to a tent and sat down on a stretcher. His wounds were tended and a mug of wine was put into his hands.

Someone sat down opposite him. “You are a hero.” The voice did not express any joy in the statement. It was a fact, not a crowning victory.

“I am a murderer.” Evander looked up and there was such despair in his body that he suddenly knew how elves could die of a broken heart…because he was close to doing the same.

“You saved us all. And you saved ‘er.” De St Croix said gently. “‘er troubles are over. You, ‘owever, ‘ave a journey ahead of you. Not in distance…but in ‘ere.” He touched Evander’s chest.

Evander’s throat closed over and the tears he thought he had emptied himself of began to fall again. “How do I go on?” He rasped.

De St Croix face crumpled into sorrow and he put his hand on his shoulder. “One bloody awful day at a time.”

Others came to visit him after the Count had left. They all had their ways to console with him, to comfort and even justify what he’d done…but their words rolled off Evander like water off a duck’s back. At some point Marjellan was with him.

“We won the war…but lost the battle.” He said quietly. “If only we could go back and change the past.” He sighed and stood up to his full, albeit short, height. “I am on guard duty in a few hours. I need to sleep before then.”

It was possibly another hour later that Evander frowned. “Guard duty?” He looked up. He was alone in his tent. His legs were stiff and his body rebuked him and tried to force him to lie down but he staggered outside and looked around. It was cold and dark yet growing lighter. Dawn. Almost no one was up and about so Evander simply followed the only people who were awake. He found a covered cart that had been barred on the outside and was surrounded by guards. In front of it Sir Philip and Frederik were speaking. They looked up as Evander approached.

“What are you doing up?” Frederik demanded. “Go back and sleep.”

“Who is in there?” Evander asked, weak but determined.

“Janus, nothing good will come of this.” Philip grabbed his arm but Evander pulled away. “You must rest.”

“Who!” Evander snapped.

Philip and Frederik looked at each other and Philip sighed in resignation. “We took a prisoner, the only prisoner, from the battlefield.”

Evander moved closer. He saw the guards tense up. “Let him pass.” Frederik ordered and he slipped between their ranks. There were bars on the cart windows and there was a terrible chill emanating from its wooden interior. His heart was hammering in his chest as he looked in through the window. Someone was sitting, huddled, in a corner. They must have sensed the light that he blocked with his head and looked up with blue, sharp, angry eyes, her dark curls stringy and tangled around her twisted, hateful face.

“The Snow Queen.” He whispered.

“Not queen of anything anymore.” Sir Philip grasped his arm tightly and drew him away. “We discovered she had survived but next to none of her power remains.”

“However we are not taking any chances.” Frederik flanked Evander on the other side and together they escorted him back to his tent. “You need to rest.”

Evander couldn’t fight the exhaustion any more. He lay down on the stretcher and someone covered him in furs. How strange it was that he was consumed with sorrow yet his eyes insisted on closing, his body succumbing to sleep. And in that moment that exists between awake and asleep, where all that has been attempted to remember rushes upon the empty mind, Evander had a startling revelation. It was so violent it threw his body up out of the stretcher and he stood as though struck by lightning.

“The demon cannot nor ever could, create life.”

“It could not create life.” He whispered, his skin tingling as if it were on fire. His body surged with energy and his hands started shake as his eyes opened wide. “Can it be?”

“The life of both of us is within me. She cannot live without me.”

Evander suddenly knew what it was like to be a dragon, to have something so powerful and astonishing flare up on the inside so that all it was possible to do was to fling back his head and let it out.

“She’s alive!” He yelled and birds took off in fright as his voice echoed across the land. “She’s alive!”