Out of the fifty-five soldiers sent to our lovely town, only fourteen survived.

  The three soldiers sent to capture me and Alys were the first ones I made sure to preserve. After that, I saw to the officer Penelope had mauled. He’d lost his eyes and most of his nose, and no one would call him beautiful ever again, but he made it.

  Martha had killed all of her group. Of the soldiers who died in Penelope’s group, the lynx had killed only four herself. The others had succumbed to poison before I got around to stabilizing them, which was not a pretty way to go. A fitting end for mortals planning to invade Swiftband, but not pretty.

  We didn’t bother doing anything special with the corpses. Some were stripped of their armor and clothing, but only because the leader and his two officers had lost their equipment and would need some kind of replacement if they were to make it back to Hergeiros in one piece.

  Now, I have said this repeatedly, but it merits one more mention: I am not a healer. I also wasn’t inclined to waste valuable alchemical products on the lowlifes, other than the officers, who each got a healing potion. With the rest, I just force-fed them antidotes and distributed some weak healing items to prevent them from dying outright. Their condition from then on was no concern of mine.

  There was some chatter about letting Vance in on everything and having him treat them, but I put my foot down there. I was of the opinion that we had already told too many people about the attempted attack.

  Besides, mortals survived this kind of damage all the time, as long as they could get past the worst of it. And these mortals were certainly stable now, thanks to me. They would suffer horrific scarring and be unable to function well for a while, but those were simply the consequences of their actions.

  Along with our three frontline fighters, Kiri and I made a brief stop to dunk the idiots into the river several times, hoping to get most of the poison off of them. That was when the question occurred to us, the one thing that had slipped our minds before the attack: now that we had the invaders, where were we going to put them?

  The solution, according to the fae herself, was Kiri’s home.

  Much like me and Alys, Kiri lived far away from the main settlement. Her house was located further north of the point where I’d first laid eyes on Swiftband, past the line of trees in a clearly artificial clearing. The house was large in the sprawling sense. It took up at least twice as much space as Alys’, yet it didn’t have a second story.

  Only when we entered and were ushered towards stairs leading downwards did I realize the reason for this. While Alys had fashioned our basement with the care and precision afforded to her by her skills and special obsidian-like material, the square hole in the foundation of Kiri’s home led to something that resembled a bear den.

  Probably because it was.

  The basement was home to animals of all sorts. The largest direbear I’d ever seen or dared imagine was staking claim to the space as ruler over the wildlife. Badgers, skunks, foxes, wolves and direwolves, squirrels and squirrel-like species… The list went on, and Kiri had at least a few of each.

  The space also contained far too many tunnels. Some kind of magic had to be involved. The sprawling mess appeared to stretch far beyond Kiri’s house, which should have collapsed due to the excavation.

  If anyone ever made the mistake of attacking Kiri in or around her home, they would swiftly regret it as countless animals swarmed them.

  It was here, underground and under the watchful eyes of Kiri’s familiars, that we dumped most of the soldiers. The four officers got to share a somewhat empty room upstairs that had only shelves lining the walls. I was surprised by all the preserved food those shelves contained. Frankly, Kiri could feed the entire village for a solid month or so.

  When I shot her a confused look, she turned away from me and mumbled something about needing to reward her familiars somehow. Apparently, they had developed a taste for properly prepared food.

  Kiri didn’t offer a tour of the rest of her house, and none of us asked for one. All we got to see was a hallway, a glimpse of a well-appointed living room, the basement, and the storage room. Yet that was more than enough to gain some insight into Kiri’s life.

  She wasn’t exactly living in a cave, but her house was austere. Either Kiri had never seen a reason to acquire more furniture and decorations, or she was avoiding the interactions with everyone who could provide those things. Though she seemed resigned, I wondered how she truly felt about her home’s slightly desolate atmosphere.

  Yet this was something to revisit in the future. For the moment, I set the happiness and mental state of my fellow fae aside.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Alys was waiting for me.

  I quickly thanked everyone for their assistance, reminding them to wash off thoroughly and either burn or scrub their clothes because of the poison. Then I wished them a pleasant rest of the day, forced two healing potions into Martha’s hands, just in case, and left.

  A small part of me, the part that wanted to start working towards the next stage of the plan right away, was annoyed to leave the invaders behind. Thankfully, this annoyance faded quickly as I thought of Alys’ promise. By the time I was home, it had disappeared entirely, leaving behind only eagerness to see my dragoness again.

  The rest of the day turned out to be very, very pleasant.

  —

  The next dawn found us up and moving already, a situation neither Alys nor I was particularly happy with. It took an extraordinary amount of effort to drag ourselves out of her — our — warm and comfortable nest, stumble downstairs, and make breakfast.

  My excitement to get everything done and behind us was slow to rouse in the face of the weather. Howling gales of wind had stirred the first snowflakes of the year into a flurry, replacing the rain. A light layer of white was already starting to settle over the ground, which had frozen over during the night.

  I hated it.

  A small fount of energy that usually lived deep inside my bones was suddenly missing. It wasn’t something I’d even been aware existed. It had simply worked away in the background, buoying me and making everything a little easier.

  Now, with the undeniable shift of Seasons from Autumn to Winter, that fount of energy had disappeared.

  I hadn’t anticipated this, having never once left the Autumn Court’s influence in the past. Even inside our warm and lovely home, Winter’s bite was sharper now. I had a feeling that if I tried to dip myself in the river again, I wouldn’t like the results.

  Naturally, that only made me ever more grateful for my lovely mate and her work on our basement!

  “I love you,” I murmured suddenly and without prompting. Drawing Alys close, I pressed a kiss to her snout.

  Her hands briefly fidgeted before latching onto me to return the embrace.

  “I-I love you too, but what brought that on?” she demanded.

  “For being your lovely self,” was my answer, accompanied by a cheeky smile.

  It was a good thing we had finished eating already. That comment made Alys’ eyes blaze. We were completely sidetracked for the next hour.

  It was also a good thing that the invaders weren’t going anywhere. By the time I stumbled outside to the tune of Alys’ laughter, my determination to get to them as quickly as possible had clearly failed me.

  The snowstorm managed to wipe my smile away, leaving me shivering and annoyed that I hadn’t thought to wear something warmer. I spent the walk to Kiri’s house planning an expansion to my wardrobe. I knew for a fact there were people in town who could help me, and it wasn’t like fur was in short supply. I could always barter with Kiri for some pelts. She would likely know the best choice of fur, too.

  I found the Winter fae right in front of her house, sitting on one of her direwolves and sipping sedately on some kind of drink. A cold one, judging from the lack of condensation. I wasn’t sure which was more incredible: the lack of warmth in her cup, or the fact that she’d chosen to have a drink outside in the snowstorm.

  “Kiri? Is everything alright?” I called, making her turn towards me.

  My steps faltered.

  She wasn’t quite smiling. Her Court’s Story prevented her from doing that. But her lips were quirked ever so slightly into something resembling happiness, even if it contained a cruelty I doubted Kiri intended.

  “Everything is fine!” she proclaimed happily. Her voice came out as the howl of cold winds and the crack of frost when a lake’s frozen surface is breached. The snowstorm kicked up around her just a touch, the very Winter air seemingly glad to dance more wildly for its mistress.

  The radiant look on her face suddenly made sense, if she’d gained what I’d lost with the turning of the Season. I felt oddly envious of the Winter fae.

  “Right. Well, I’m happy you are having a nice morning.” I forced a smile. “Do you mind if I go inside? I’d like to start with the regular soldiers first, and then work my way up to the officers. I haven’t exactly done this before…”

  My hesitation seemed to have no effect on her. Her ‘smile’ held as she nodded and hopped off her familiar.

  “I’ll stay out of the way, but I’ll be nearby, just in case. I wouldn’t want to spook them.”

  She laughed. It sounded like icicles falling and stabbing into flesh.

  I couldn’t help staring at her back as we entered her house, wondering at the effect Winter’s resurgence was having on her. Would I react similarly once Autumn rolled around again?

  The question was pushed to the back of my mind as Kiri motioned me down into her basement. Settling on the top steps herself, she started sipping on her drink again. I got a brief glimpse into her mug. It was some kind of dark liquid, with visible chunks of ice swimming in it. Now that I was close enough to her, I heard the crunch of ice under her teeth.

  Down into the basement I went, under the keen eyes of the Winter fae. The four officers were still locked in their storeroom upstairs. Of the other ten survivors, only seven were awake. They were watching the animals all around them and seemed too frightened to move. Or, possibly, they were in too much pain.

  I didn’t particularly care which it was.

  “Ah, ladies and gentlemen of the Hergeiros family. It is lovely to see you are awake!”

  I affected a chipper tone as I approached. They made a visible effort to wince away from me. Unfortunately for them, there was nowhere to run, even if they were in any condition to do so.

  “What do you want, you monster?” one of the only two women of the surviving group, an elf, hissed. The look in her eyes clearly demonstrated that she believed that appellation was true.

  “I thought we should discuss where we stand, you see. My name is Thorn. You know, the alchemist you were sent to abduct.” I couldn’t keep my voice from going colder, but I rallied past the rage flaring in my chest easily enough. “May I have your names? It is only fair.”

  Perhaps they wanted to avoid annoying me. Perhaps the pain prevented them from thinking clearly. Perhaps it was good old stupidity. Regardless, each member of the group answered readily, giving me their names.

  As my magic struck out and snared around their very essence, a grin split my face into an expression that made the mortals queasy.