Season's Dragons: Winter

Chapter 1: Those Silver Eyes

“One room, please! With two beds…”

The voice in front of me was chirpy as I looked up.

“…if you have them!” Standing in front of me was an excited girl. She was dressed in the usual brown and dark green traveler’s garb, yet there was something more to her. Maybe it was the way she carried herself, hands behind her traveling skirt with her body leaning curiously towards me. Maybe it was her smile, soft and genuine. Maybe it was her white hair, flowing strands of silver that effortlessly brushed past her shoulders.

Even though her face was partially obscured behind the hood, I could tell she had a sheltered birth. Tailored leather gloves that looked brand new and no backpack—that was for the person behind her to carry.

I wanted to let out my usual dismissive sigh and milk her very full coin pouch, but her smile had a way of drawing you in. It didn’t help that she looked a few years too young to be traveling. It made me want to pinch her cheeks instead of taking her coin.

Maybe she was one of those nice nobles that I keep hearing about but never meet. I returned the smile before leaning over to see who was keeping her alive and fed. I tilted my head slightly to see a gruff man standing behind her, just far enough to feign ignorance. He carried himself like a predator, scanning the area for threats. He wore a red hunting cap to block the sun, and a drab winter jacket that looked like it had seen better days. He was also armed to the teeth. I spotted at least two axes, a sword, and several guns at first glance. Didn’t help the intimidation factor that he casually carried two backpacks of gear. He looked old enough to be my dad too, if my dad had spent the next year buying guns and wrestling bears for a living. Had the same nice tan too.

“Of course we have rooms with two beds. How many nights?” I asked, but it was a formality.

She probably could afford any number of nights. As she looked up at me, I gasped. I could see her eyes now, and they were beyond words. Her eyes were a dazzling silver, otherworldly and ethereal.

I almost felt my jaw drop, taken aback by how beautiful they were. They were jeweled diamonds compared to regular eyes and surrounded by tiny motes of light. Each eye was a container for a single shimmering star, and they were looking right up at me.

Her soothing voice returned me to reality. “Hello? Are you all right?”

I quickly tore myself from her gaze. Oh, that would be the absolute worst conversation starter. Hi, I think your eyes are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Please let me stare into your eyeballs because I have no reference point for pretty things.

I felt my voice stuttering as I tried to get a grip. “Y-Yeah. It’ll be six gold a night unless you need something else.” She didn’t even seem to notice the accidental stutter, nor my flushed cheeks. It was better that way.

“Would we be able to get night service?”

“Nine gold a night.”

She reached into her coin pouch and placed nine gold coins in my hand. I could see the man behind her shaking his head in disappointment. I only gave a knowing smile, trying to placate him before returning to business. Three gold was murder for room service.

I reached behind me and grabbed key number seven and a copper bell, and placed them on the counter. We did overcharge for room service, but the only people who wanted room service were the fancy nobles. Just one of my mother’s many schemes.

“Rooms are up the stairs; yours is further down the hall to the left. Have a nice stay!” My smile came easy, but for her it was effortless.

She returned it with the tactical precision of a trained strategist, if one existed for happiness.

“Thank you!” Her joyous announcement brought my heart to a flutter as I did my best to ignore it. I’d have to try really hard to forget them. With that the two of them were off to their rooms.

I sighed as I slammed my head against the counter. She was going to be the most interesting thing to happen this entire month. Fun story too, though in three months they wouldn’t believe me. Some noble with silver eyes came over. Stayed at our place and made me blush by staring at me. They were just so pretty!

It was a bittersweet reminder that while being an innkeeper was exciting at times, most of it was dull and boring. My family owned the local inn; a mainstay of our little village. We had a restaurant downstairs for the fall season and rooms for the summer. Nobody went nor stayed in winter. Even we locked the place up and left.

Everything was worn down; we always had at least one cursed chair that never stopped creaking, and one floorboard that was booby-trapped. Luckily Dad was good at knowing what needed repairs and Mom was an impressive cook. That way it didn’t matter what was about to fall apart. Things always got fixed before they broke, and good food was always on the house.

At the moment, Mom and Dad were out grabbing groceries for later. Locals liked the restaurant, so we kept it open throughout the fall (even if it didn’t profit us much). Winter was coming fast, and soon the travelers would dry up. Hell, the travelers were already drying up. Rumor was that an early winter was coming, which would mean another year where we scraped by.

I stared into a small hand mirror and wondered. How should I introduce myself? With a simple ‘Hi, my name is Charlotte’ or with something more elegant? Does my fluffy dark-yellow ball of hair compare to hers? Should I wear a dress or my usual heavy fall wear? More importantly, why did I care so much?

I leaned against the table to glance deeper into the mirror, admiring my own bronzed physique. Definitely not a dress body, but maybe she’s got a thing for amber eyes?

Then I frowned. Nope, still looked like a monster. Stupid mirror was being stupid, but it wasn’t like there was anything else to do! I had at least three hours of bored waiting left.

There was a soft ringing of a bell from upstairs as I shot up in excitement. Yes! Stuff to do! I quickly placed a “Will be back” sign on the front counter and raced upstairs. To my surprise, I found the door to room number seven open. Guess they were still settling down?

I carefully tiptoed around the squeaky floorboards, hoping to not disturb anyone. The furniture consisted of a large wooden table we got for free from one of the carpenter’s kids, a smaller wooden table that we bought, a wardrobe that got stuck whenever it felt like it, and two beds. Apart from the furniture, there was still plenty of room. Oh, and a pair of decent chairs. “Decent” is the best kind of chair in this inn.

The girl was sitting on one of our decent chairs, overlooking a map while the man stood beside her, his arms crossed. He had his eyes closed; soft breaths as he waited for her to finish. Then the girl raised her head—gosh, her eyes looked even prettier without the hood—and a smile crept over her face. It made me feel like money, seeing her beam at my arrival.

“Question.” Her chirpy voice made everything she said sound like they were coming out of an excitable child.

“Do you know where we could find a local guide?”

I thought about what the rest of the day would look like. Waiting for my parents to get back. Being bored out of my mind. Staring all day into a mirror while polishing the wine glasses for the fifth time. Another half-assed conversation about how the winter chill was creeping in early this year. Being bored out of my mind.

“I can guide you two if you want. Inn’s pretty quiet right now,” I offered as the burly man opened his eyes.

The two of them exchanged looks for several tense seconds. When he finally agreed, she answered back with a delighted nod.

“Sure!”

* * * *

I locked up the inn and proceeded to give the two of them a tour of the town. The young noble introduced herself as Aria, and her bodyguard as Caen. Luckily, giving a guided tour meant that there were lots of opportunities to not stare longingly into Aria’s eyes and weird her out.

We held a number of festivals throughout the year, and we happened to stumble into one. Even though the Harvest Festival was the day before, most of the banners and colored hay were still lying there. While the scene was normal for me, I could see Aria’s white eyes shining with delight as she soaked in the sights. Her childlike wonder cheered me right up.

I took care to introduce each location and give it a little bit of context; everything from our haunted, abandoned apothecary to our grand town hall. Aria soaked up every little detail while Caen looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

“Sorry to interrupt, but what festival occurred yesterday?” she wondered out loud as I paused in my introduction of our local church. I don’t think she noticed, but she had attracted a small following of village boys.

They clamored to see this exotic stranger with her white hair and sparkling eyes. Also, she was short and pretty. Any short and pretty girl got doted on here, especially if they were from out of town.

“Well, we had the Harvest Festival yesterday, though this year we had to have it a bit earlier. Normally it would be a week or two later.”

For the first time that day, I saw Aria frown. Her eyes were focused on the church, almost analyzing it’s architecture and design. It didn’t last long, though, as her expression brightened again when she noticed the church was empty. I’ve never seen someone smiling at our abandoned church before.

“It’s a shame that we missed the festival. Next time I’ll be sure to stop by earlier!” She seemed excited at the prospect, right before she spotted the growing crowd of admirers.

She whispered something before turning away with a slight blush. Her guard was fast on the job, moving between her and the small crowd of boys. Each of them took a cautious step back, then another as Caen stared them down. The old man with four guns really did a number on their confidence.

“That over there looks like the blacksmith’s place. I’ve got to head there for a bit. You watch over Aria. Stay here.” Caen pointed at her as I nodded.

I was in no position to argue with a man who had more guns than the entire town. Aria made a playful pouting expression as he walked off to the blacksmiths. The crowd moved aside for the beast of a man as he gave Aria a shrug. She shot back a sly grin.

“Do we just wait here?” I asked.

Aria perked up and her small following advanced to get a good listen. “Caen wants the two of us to remain here. Else he gets all spooked and goes looking for me, and you don’t want that.”

She was right. I did not want any kind of trouble with her bodyguard. I also heard the boys whispering among themselves, with lots of nodding. They liked her voice. Of course they liked her voice.

“So you get to keep me company! I get so bored with only Caen around.” She gave an excited clap of her hands while I forced a smile. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic. I was just worried that I wouldn’t make for good company, or accidentally blurt out that I had fallen for her eyes.

The two of us made our way to the church steps, waiting for the grouchy old man to finish his shopping trip. Aria was softly humming something, her hands behind her back and without a worry in the world. I was right by her side, occasionally glaring at the village brats. I counted three, no, four hiding by the building beside us.

“So, where are the two of you going?” I pondered out loud, trying to get a conversation started as she stopped humming. Shame. I was really liking it. She casually twirled a white strand of hair, thinking on the question far longer than one ought to.

“Hmm. We’re heading to the capital. I’ve got relatives to visit there,” she finally replied.

I raised my eyebrows. Going there at this time of year would mean being stuck there over the winter. We were taking the same trip in a few weeks, weather permitting, but I’ve never heard of nobility locking themselves out of their lands for a whole winter.

“But you’ll be stuck over there for the entire winter. Isn’t that a problem?” I pointed out before my eyes lit up. “Wait, you’re not one of those weird religious church people, are you?” I pointed out remembering one couple making trips this late. The grand cathedral was in Mithil, and apparently it was most beautiful in winter.

Aria gave me another shy glance from her beautiful silver eyes. Now that I was a bit closer, there were indeed little twinkling stars dancing about. Little motes of light that shimmered as she spoke.

“I don’t think so?” She looked confused. Great. I lost her.

She thought for a moment, her fingers on her chin. “You were talking about the pilgrims to the Alabaster Church, right?”

“Yeah, had a couple of folks every season take the trip. Something special happening there during the winter solstice. Or that’s what they tell me, at least.” Even as I was talking, her joyous energy seemed to die down.

It didn’t do anything to quiet my suspicions, but I couldn’t think of another reason a noble would attempt to traverse the Central Tangle. Our group of villages and towns weren’t exactly the easiest to travel, often requiring guides and bodyguards.

“You’re going to be in the capital for quite the while,” I added, hoping to deter her from making a dangerous and risky journey only to be stranded in Mithil. Instead she seemed genuinely excited, having recovered all her joy from before.

“Yep! That’s my hope!”

I wondered what was going through her mind. Before I had a chance to ask, her guard returned. It didn’t look like he bought anything, though his guns looked a little cleaner than before. His eyes darted in my direction as I moved away from Aria. I’d seen poleaxes stab softer than that man’s stare.

“We’re heading back,” he announced and Aria gave an angry pout. Uh oh.

“Already! I’ve been waiting for all of my life and what do you want me to do? Wait more? It’s not even sunset!” Aria crossed her arms and huffed in his direction. Caen paused, unsure of what to say. I was equally taken aback. It shook the image of a sweet little cupcake I had of her, for the bitterness of her voice had crackled like a whip.

“What do you want to do?” he began as I raised a tentative finger. Caen was still scary, but I figured it was better to offer a resolution than to see the two of them scrapping.

“Well, we have an archery range here, if you want to learn?” I pointed out, obtaining a delighted grin from Aria and a death glare from her guardian.

“Yes! Charlotte, you’ve got to show me. You can come along too, Caen.” Her smile returned like a snap, even as Caen looked like he was regretting me already.

“I have things to prepare. Go have your fun.” The old man walked off with a dismissive hand wave.

Aria’s smile wasn’t dampened by him at all, instead widening with an adventurous zeal that even I envied.

“Yay!” She gave a happy little clap. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to handle her, but the two of us headed off, the gang of admirers not far behind.

Our little range was devoid of people, though spare arrows were littered about from the festival. The town was large enough that we had our own fund for communal bows, arrows, and repairs. Firearms were far too expensive and clunky for us, so bows were the next best thing. I stood Aria by the closest target so that she didn’t feel discouraged.

“Here, take these.” I untied and handed her my leather arm guards. She gave them a glance, before giving me a look of genuine confusion.

“Why…do I need these?”

I was shocked. Has she never fired a bow before?

I glanced at her puzzled expression, then at my longbow in her hands while I was trying to find the words. She’d never used a bow! Never!

“Okay, so when you fire a bow, sometimes your form isn’t perfect,” I began to explain as her gaze fixed on me, “then the string snaps back you get terrible bow whiplash. You’re a beginner, so it’s a good idea for that not to happen to you.” She gave a vigorous nod as I finished, her keen eyes soaking every detail.

“Right, okay!”

Her changes in expression were always so sudden. One moment she was standing perfectly still, listening to me talk. Then the next moment she was all ready to do things with youthful energy. I was too used to people being one way or the other, but not both.

Instead of putting them on, she rolled up both her sleeves and held out her arms. At first, I was confused about why she wasn’t taking my vambraces out of my hands. She waved her little fingers forward, signaling to me something I had clearly missed. Then it snapped into place. She wanted me to fasten them for her. So much for not being like the other nobles.

I sighed as I fit my arm guards over her delicate skin. As beautiful as she looked, I was constantly reminded that I was beneath her, even if she meant well.

“All right, princess,” I joked as I touched her skin. It was cold, smooth, and soft. Cold. I stepped back in surprise, but she placed an ungloved hand on mine to stop me. Even her hand was cold.

“Your skin…” I began as she let out a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah. It’s a family thing.” She lifted her hand as I got back to work. It was a little big for her, but it would have to do. It would probably feel like a hand-me-down.

“My family has the Pact, at least on my mother’s side. That’s why I have the cold skin, silver hair, and the eyes.” She was whispering now as I slowly took in the information. Pact Mages were users of magic, their families having been blessed by the three god dragons long ago. I had suspected it, but having it confirmed was a whole different feeling. Now I could ask her questions!

I blurted out the first thing on my mind. “The Pact? Like you can use magic?” I asked the obvious as she gave a gleeful nod, all too happy to answer.

“Yeah!”

I looked down at my longbow then at her, disappointed. I guess that makes sense. If you could wave your hands and magic happens, archery would seem like a peasant sport. Throwaway entertainment. I must’ve looked absolutely crushed.

Aria frantically waved her hands apologetically once she realized what she had done. “No no! Don’t take it the wrong way! I still really want to learn archery.”

“But why? You can use magic,” I said, waving my hands back. “You don’t need to learn archery. You can just learn more magic.” It felt like I had been duped.

“That’s not how magic works.” Her words were blank, devoid of emotion. I had to pause, taking a step back. I went from frantic and angry to being concerned in less than a second. Her voice had none of her usual enthusiasm.

“But…can’t you do anything you want with magic?” I recalled what little I knew of magic. The church only told us of magnificent feats from the age of the Trinity. Books just made things up.

Aria shook her head, disappointed. It was as if she had to explain this a hundred times to numbskulls like me.

“That’s not how magic works,” she repeated a second time in the same inhuman, dead tone.

I rubbed my head apologetically. Maybe magic wasn’t the crazy world-changing power that everyone thought it was.

“Sorry. I didn’t know…” I began, but she raised a silencing hand. She didn’t want to hear any more of it.

“It’s all right. Let’s talk about something else.”

I could see that the whole magic thing rubbed her the wrong way. I would not probe into it. With that behind us and a few corrections to her posture, she was ready to start shooting. She was silent, focused as I made slight adjustments to her aim.

“All right, you want to pull back the string just a little bit to start off.” I guided her through the process as she pulled back.

Snap.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!” Aria almost burst into tears on the spot and I stared at her completely dumbfounded. She’d snapped my bowstring. She had noodles for arms. There was no way she should have snapped my bowstring.

“Shh. It’s okay. You don’t need to put all your strength into it.” I rushed to her side, trying to reassuringly hold her hand. However, she wasn’t crying. Instead, she just looked up at me with a knowing smile, her eyes shimmering in the evening light.

Her hands clasped mine as I was about to let it drop, only to hear her whisper “Your cheeks are red a lot, you know that?”

I let go of her, completely embarrassed. She stepped back with a foxy grin.

“I can pay you back for the broken bowstring, but I don’t think I’m going to be trying archery again.” She took off the vambraces effortlessly. She didn’t need me to put them on. She just wanted me to spoil her.

“I had lots of fun!” Her bright smile cut through my confused thoughts as she handed my cuffs back. I was not convinced that she wasn’t an all-powerful mage toying with me.

As I picked up my bow, trying to figure out if I had bought a crap string or if Aria had super strength in disguise, I could hear voices complimenting someone. When I turned around, Aria was surrounded by a few of the village boys, all of them giving her compliments and sweet nothings. She was waving them off, cheeks flushed as she gave me a glare that said ‘Get me out of here.’

Oh, so now you need my help?

I rushed over to where Aria was and towered over the crowd.

“Hey. You four. Scram. She’s out of your league and you know it.” I was also out of their league, or at least in a punch-off. Besides, I would’ve had fun seeing what Aria could pull off as a mage.

If I had been with anyone else they would’ve gone down with a play fight. This time though, they ran off without a second word. Either they didn’t want to discover how a mage beat up people, or they figured Aria was out of their league anyways. Or both.

“Let’s get back to the inn. I think you’ve had enough fun at my expense.” Aria nodded as the two of us set off.

The evening sun bathed the town in shades of yellow and orange. I felt a soft, but cold touch on my arm. At first, it surprised me. That is, until I turned to Aria. My heart skipped a few beats and she gave me a knowing smile. Her arms wrapped around mine.

Bless you Aria, but my heart’s not going to survive when you’re gone.