Chapter Twelve

  Seeing the Voice

  Despite the warmth they felt on the great morning of their reunion, winter was growing colder. The days shortened, and the nights grew longer. The frozen hand of winter filled the caves of the Severed Mountains with a gust of icy wind that blew through Gwen’s hair and made the dim torches lighting their way through the caverns flicker and drop a few of their scant, precious embers to the cold stone ground. Gwen held Cailean’s hand as he led her through the cavern and to the meditation chamber.

  “These caverns are so intricate, the druids carved them?” she asked.

  “The Severed mountains are the tallest peaks on the continent, after the end of the first winter the Druids staked their claim here, so they could be close to the Goddesses,” Cailean said, “All Men who could, Winter Hunter or not, helped their Druid guides carve and work the stone into a great fortress should a threat to the spring ever come again,” he turned to Gwen and squeezed her hand, “That threat has come, so it’s only fitting the last hope stay here,” he reached his other hand up and gently brushed some auburn hair behind her ear. He turned and pushed open the door to the meditation room.

  Gwen inspected the simple room, “Is this it, just a rug and some candles, and this is where you have your visions?” she asked.

  “I think by now you should have realized Winter Hunters aren’t much for showing off,” Cailean said, “Here, I asked Gerbil if he had any more incense, burning these causes a calming atmosphere, lets your mind focus more on the task at hand,” Cailean reached into his pocket and pulled out some fresh incense, lighting the sticks on a torch by the wall and setting them in their holders as their thin wafts of smoke filled the room, he turned to Gwen, “Meditation is no casual thing, you need to be absolutely sure you’re ready to see what you’re going to see, I wish there was more I could tell you but you can’t really be prepared for it, no one but you is going to know what they could possibly see,” he said.

  Gwen took a deep breath, and let the cold air fill and shock her lungs, she took another deep breath through her nose and took in the scent of the burning incense. It wasn’t a pleasant smell, but it wasn’t that offensive, like a fresh still healthy green leaf of spring burning in the last fire made before the coming of winter.

  “I’m ready,” she said, turning to Cailean, “Whatever I see, I know when I wake up I’ll have you,” she smiled, leaned up, and kissed him, “And Gerbil, I’m sure he’ll be more than interested to see what the Sun Maiden dreams about,” she smiled.

  “You don’t learn anything new from visions, you just find out what you already know,” Cailean reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of Icee Leaf, “This stuff is powerful, I don’t want you to take too much, I did four leaves when we first got here and I slept for two days, I doubt you’ll need that much,” he pulled out one leaf, handing it to Gwen.

  “Is this enough?” she asked, “To see something?”

  “It’s enough, you’re smaller, and one leaf is far more than I gave you that night to get to sleep,” Cailean said, “I’ll leave you to it. If things get too intense, try hitting yourself, or pulling your hair. No matter where you go, when you wake up you’ll be here,” he said, leaning in and putting a kiss on her forehead.

  “I’ll be fine,” Gwen took the leaf, “This can help, at least I think it can,” she said, “So I just chew it?” she asked, then pouted, “This stuff tastes awful, I don’t know how you stomach it,” she said.

  “Just chew it, and since this is your first time don’t swallow, full leaf might be too strong of a dose for you, if you just chew and take a little, you should be knocked out all night,” he said.

  “What should I tell her, if I see her?” Gwen asked, talking about the Red Lady.

  “I don’t know, hell I don’t even know what I should say to her half the time, let's just pray you two don’t meet,” Cailean said.

  “Oh, don’t want me meeting the other woman in your life? Why is that?” Gwen smiled, teasing Cailean in an attempt to ease the tension, she walked her fingers up his chest, “What do you two get up to when you’re in the world of dreams, all alone together,” she said, “Do you lay with the Red Lady? Do you call her your woman?”

  “No, never,” Gwen was teasing but Cailean was dead serious, “Half the time all I can tell her is how much I’m in love with you,” he smiled, took a deep breath, “Remember, don’t take to much, and don’t forget that you’ll come back to here, to me, I’ll be here for you,” he said.

  “Okay,” she nodded her head.

  “I’ll give you some privacy, I got to take the boys out for a hunt, they still need some more experience, and a Hunt will be good for them, whether or not we find something,” he said, “Training their senses will be good enough for now,” he said.

  “Are the boys coming along? Hulorn and Dewmen seem capable, but that Luris doesn’t seem to be up to task,” she said.

  “They’re doing fine enough, for now, they’re still training, and I’ve taken a liking to Luris, he’s the small one, reminds me of myself,” Cailean smiled, “And look at me, I’m a Hunt Master now, maybe the greatest Winter Hunter in the land if the Dark Stalkers are as much a threat as my visions tell me they are,” Cailean sighed, feeling the weight of his role, “They’re not much but they're a start, they’re all we could ask for, and they’re going to need to be enough for now,” he said, “Blessings to you, maiden of the sun,” Cailean took her hand and gave it a kiss, “Good luck,” he said, backing away as Gwen nodded and turned to the rug in the center of the room.

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  Gwen sat on the carpet, and slipped off her wolfskin jacket, folding it and laying it to the side. She brought the Icee leaf up to her nose and gave it a sniff, it had a strong odor, musky but not quite pungent. She brought it to her mouth and after taking a deep breath, she shoved it between her teeth and began to chew on it, gagging a bit at the taste as it dissolved in her mouth and she swallowed small bits of it. She crossed her legs and tried to get in a comfortable position. As the Icee leaf bits went down her throat and entered her system, she quickly began to feel a calm come over her. She felt her lungs slow and take in longer, colder breaths of air as her body warmed and her skin began to tingle. She closed her eyes and tried to chew more of the Icee Leaf and swallow it just to get the taste out of her mouth. The winds of winter soothed and soon the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own breath, slowly wafting in and out of her nose. She shut her eyes and tried not to close them too tight. She tried to stay relaxed and wanted the Icee Leaf to do its job and send her on a kind of slumbering voyage to the world of meditation and dreams.

  Soon even the sound of her breath began to fade, as she just sat there in the darkness, the smoke from the incense surrounding her, and the only thing in the room with her was the sound of her slowly beating heart. For three beats she sat there alone in the darkness, and then slowly opened her eyes.

  It was still dark around her, not the near pitch black the room would be without the scant torches lighting it, but dark. She was back in her wolf skin jacket. She was wearing her heavy walking boots, again something she could have sworn she took off. She looked up and saw not the roof of the cavern, but a wide starless sky filled with dark ominous clouds that would clang together yet bring no sounds of thunder. A cold breeze came over her and she held her arms to her chest trying to keep herself warm.

  “Cailean said it would be a field,” she stood up, looking around as another gasp of cold winter wind wafted its way through her hair. She looked around, the field went on forever, not a single landmark she could make out. She took a step forward and the grass crunched and broke under her boot, she looked down and it was as if a great freeze came over a morning of dew and froze the grass solid underneath her feet.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  “This comes,” a voice said in her ear. She thought of trying to call out, to ask if that was the Red Lady that just whispered to her but it was a man’s voice. Well, not quite a man’s voice, but it did carry a kind of masculinity to it.

  “This will be your world,” the voice said again, it seemed to crawl behind her and whisper in her ear, and when she turned whatever said it was gone.

  “Who are you?” she asked, “I’m not afraid of you,” she lied. She had her fists clenched, and her breath started to pick up, the quick bursts of the cold air, air colder than she had ever felt in this horrible winter, darting in and out of her lungs at such a pace made her feel like her very insides could be frozen solid if she didn’t keep her composure.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” Gwen tried to stand tall, “I am the maiden of the sun, I will stop this world from happening, I will bring the spring back,” she said.

  “Spring is a lie,” the voice echoed in her ear.

  “Who are you to say? Are you winter itself?” she asked. From her readings, Gwen had heard about what kind of spirit would find its home in this kind of decimated world she had seen laid out before her. It was called the Voice, the Voice of Winter. The Goddess's greatest mistake.

  “I am the world as it should be,” the voice said, snapping between her ears, its echo carrying a kind of rage and anger with it.

  “The Hunters will stop you, you thought you could kill them all, but good men will always be there to rise up and end your wants, you haven’t won, you’re not even close, kill as many as you can and it will never be enough,” Gwen said, darting her head around, turning, trying to find the source of the Voice that taunted her, “Wherever you are, whatever you are, whoever seeks to help you, you lose in the end, and I think,” She gathered her strength, held her head high, “And I think you already know that,” she said, trying to stand tall, control her panic and stay defiant.

  “If not this winter, then the next,” it slithered into her ear, down her spine, making her knees shake.

  “Not if I have anything to say!” She screamed, forcing the voice out of her ear.

  It was quiet for a moment, had she done it, had she shown that horrible voice the strength of the sun, the strength of the spring? She looked around, turning in every direction, trying to find it, to see this monster face to face, so she could speak directly to it, and tell it of the victory her mighty Winter Hunter would have over it.

  “You are a vestige, needed no longer,” the voice said. Instead of worming its way into her ear, she just heard the voice behind her. She turned and saw it. A great demon, ten feet tall, a great body with skin of midnight purple, wearing a great suit of armor, a face contorted and sickening to see, two great horns that added another two feet to its height, fangs in a great wide mouth that resembled a monster’s jaw more than a mans.

  Gwen dug her heels into the frozen ground, “You don’t scare me, I know who fights you, and I know he’ll win,” she said.

  “Foolish little sun-kissed girl,” it lunged forward and put a giant hand to her throat, “This is the last war, and your Hunters will fail,” he said.

  Gwen was gasping trying to get air, “Remember you’ll wake up here,” Cailean’s voice reminded her. Not knowing why, she reached to the back of her belt, and for some reason found a knife, a knife she didn’t remember owning but knew she had there at that moment. She lifted it up and rammed the small dagger, seemingly made of bronze, into the creature's heart. It called out and dropped her. Its screams of pain damn near shattered her eardrums. She brought her hands to her ears to cover them and dull the pain of the Voice’s yells. She closed her eyes, thought of the cavern, thought of Cailean just there beyond the door, thought of her Winter Hunter, and thought of her need to bring the Spring back.

  She opened her eyes, gasping out as she fell forward, “Cailean!” she called out, wondering if he could hear her. The stone floor was under her again, the frozen grass of that world of winter gone as she was back, back in the cavern, laying on a thin carpet in the meditation chamber. She gasped, taking in long deep breaths, the cold of reality was nothing compared to the cold she just felt.

  “No wonder he doesn’t like to talk about visions,” she said to herself.