Chill

Chapter 12

Tam woke to the sound of shouting voices. It was late and he quickly dressed, warming himself by the heater as he did so, and then descending to the hall where men were gathered. To his surprise he found Fallow was among them. The northerner was sat in one of the great chairs provided for distinguished guests at the Inn with a blanket around his knees, a bandage across his forehead and a medical glove on one hand supporting broken finger bones no doubt. At his side, leaning upon an arm of the chair and dressed in padded silks that made her seem like an animated puffball was his bride of several days standing, Sumira. She gently stroked his dark wet hair affectionately and no doubt was pondering on the extraordinary events of married life so far. Fallow seemed unaware she was there as in a remarkably strong voice for someone who so recently had survived a brush with death he challenged anyone to disbelieve what he was saying.

"I tell you it was a demon in human form, a young woman dressed for summer walking bare-legged in the snow without a care," he insisted.

"Snow madness," Dorstal dared to dispute, no doubt for the dozenth time.

"An Ice Maiden," Fallow pursued and his dark eyes lit up with the magical memory of it, recalling tales of strange beings that haunted the cold regions of Troy which he had often heard as a youngster. Among those tales loomed large the ice wraiths in tempting female forms who could lure a man to his death. "Everything about her suggested seduction, the scrambling of a man's brain with her enticing beauty so that he would happily walk of a cliff ledge for her. Only this fair creature seemed more intent on frightening people away, by means of a great beast that at first terrified the elk I sought and then ripped it apart before my very eyes. A man thing it was camouflaged in white fur and with a fierce visage, sharp teeth that no one could miss. It was as if she wanted to warn me off, not lure me to my doom. I thought the beast she controlled with her sweet voice was going to kill me yet you found me safe and well. My rifle was destroyed and that was it." This story contained lyrical references as well as bald statements, a curious mixture that was not lost on the audience enthralled by what they heard. Tam focused upon the more poetic imagery of a fair maiden with a melodious voice, perfect limbs and warm heart roaming the lonely valleys of the High Peaks, an ice wraith in search of love. He shook his head. He really needed to find a replacement for the luscious Sara Manderby. Someone preferably warm not cold.

"The men said they found you on a ledge in Lammer Field," Lick elaborated as the northerner took rejuvenating swigs from a big mug of Vivid whose metallic surface flickered with firelight. "Tracks around you were mixed with blood and tumbled ice as if a chaos of activity had surrounded you. It was the blood of the elk for sure as its head and horns were near by but not the meat of the creature. That could not be found." He chose to ignore the dreamlike aspects of the story and concentrate on practicalities. There must be a rational explanation for what Fallow had gone through he felt. Tam was more accepting of the colourful imagery of Fallow's story, having derived his imaginative spirit from the travelling singer side of the family, his creative and poetic mother, not from the stoic innkeep genes of several generations standing.

"We tracked as much as we dared at the time," Malten said, "but the sight was terrifying, I'm not ashamed to admit. Like a war had happened, a bloody violent war. Boulders had been moved and a massive avalanche covered half of the field. Perhaps that had brought you back to us, rather than some Ice Maiden with a soft heart and great demons at her beck and call."

"She was beautiful," Fallow said softly and then glanced at the steely glare of Sumira. Her concern for her husband flared into jealousy.

"Am I not cold enough for you?" she said sarcastically, hand balled on hip and lower lip thrust out in an angry pout. Everyone laughed. "This Frost Witch has addled your brain with her icy magic, and cursed our village with her freezing blasts."

"A Frost Witch true enough," Dorstal spat out. "A weather witch who has brought evil upon our community in revenge for what the Crystal Lumos has done to this world. A demon straight from the Spark has descended upon us and turned the frigid cold of outer space upon our homes."

There were murmurs of agreement at this speech. In the eyes of sheep farmers who had lost everything in the chill there was nothing alluring about a creature in human guise, consorting with devil beasts and cursing Maeven with a killing frost from above.

"You're all mad!" Karanie Fornoe stated. "Sumira's husband was lured by an elk, not a demon. Even his thick skull can be cracked by granite if he butts up against it hard enough. You all saw the avalanche that killed the elk and nearly killed Fallow. I won't call it a snow blur. Frozen Peak folk are not subject to such an ailment, being bred to snowy wastes. No it was a knock on the head that clouded his reason, and perhaps revealed the true romantic beneath his rough exterior." She smiled on the great man and made as if to move towards him to comfort him in his apparent confusion but Sumira stepped in, eyes blazing.

"Keep your romantic feelings to yourself," she said in an undertone and Karanie shrugged and withdrew.

Lick Sorrell stepped forward, unwilling to see this discussion descend into a hair-pulling brawl between two young ladies, so he resolved to change the subject. Let the Ice Maiden or Frost Witch, whichever she might be, look out for herself.

"Malten discovered something else in the chaos around where Fallow was found," he said and Tam knew he referred to the hair clip. On cue his father produced the glittering item from an inner pocket and let the firelight catch every facet and metallic surface of the curiously wrought thing as everyone gazed at it expectantly.

"Nothing like this has ever been seen on Troy," he said, holding it up for all to see. "I am a travelled man and know the bazaars and shops of Ithak well." He glanced at Damsin, remembering trips to stores to seek out precious things for his beloved wife. She smiled in understanding of the glance. "This is a grandiose piece of girl frippery no simple damsel of Troy ever placed in her hair." Karanie sidled closer with bright eyes at this description. She was no simple damsel but piqued herself very much on her experienced taste, being an instanet screen shopper of many years standing. "The workmanship, gold layered with meta-minerals in intricate patterns, is beyond the most sophisticated workshop anywhere within the Three Systems. The very stones are off world. Not mined here or any other world I know of within a hundred leagues of the Mineral Stars."

"Trade can bring all sorts here," a voice said from among the crowd. "Long chains of exchange across the galaxy."

"Who would trade what for this? There is no farm in the Wilds of Maeven worth the smallest blue spark on this hair clip. Meta gold has qualities and properties far beyond the value of the purest precious metal."

"Such as what?"

"It can activate Gates," a croaking voice interjected and everyone turned to see Paterion the hermit shuffle forward, his great stick held in a bony grasp as he leant close to peer at the sparkling jewelled clasp. He held out a trembling hand. "May I?" he coughed.

"Keep an eye on it," someone warned, "lest he try to steal it." Sniggers greeted this warning but the hermit ignored them. Lick Sorrell respectfully placed the heavy item in the old man's hand.

Yellow fingers explored the intricacies of the design and watery eyes flitted from jewel to jewel, tracing the patterns and significance therein.

"Pioneer Guild," he muttered and with disgust tossed the clasp back at Lick who caught it in surprise. The latter gazed at him for an explanation. "The design," the old man said. "See the three blood rubies in a line, and the blue spark beyond, as if hovering a distance apart? The rubies are living hearts, the Guild pioneers alive and together as one. Beyond is the future, the goal, whatever you would have it be. That which the pioneers seek to attain, a cold, lifeless future it seems to me. The rays of meta-minerals seeping under the layer of old gold is the intention, the motivation towards the blue spark of the future state. Childish metaphysics for warped minds driven by semi-religious teachings within the Guild."

"You speak like someone who has had personal dealings with that organisation," Lick responded, fascinated. The man shuffled forward again and made an abrupt snort. He seemed to consider additional comments but changed his mind, shook his head and shuffled back into the general anonymity of the crowded hall of the Inn.

"Some Crystal Lumos agent probably traded his entire family inheritance so he could buy himself a wife with it," another said in light of this revelation. "There are no pioneers here."

"Tam." At the sound of his name the boy jumped up from where he had been sitting, staring with wide eyed awe at all that was going on and day dreaming of beautiful maidens cold as ice. He almost tripped over a stool as he came forward. It was his father who called him.

"Take this to the professor," Lick said and casually dropped the hair clasp into his hand. The weight of it surprised the youngster but it was the cold of it that made him almost drop the precious treasure. It seemed to be of a piece with the Ice Maiden's frozen reputation. "See what he makes of it," the man added. Tam silently nodded and went out to get geared up for the short trip to the Madrullian mansion.

A thrill of excitement coursed through him as he gazed on the otherworldly item while he dressed. It was as if a piece of a magical world had fallen to his lot, a fragment from the land of faery, chipped off a heavenly dimension and now belonging to him as a token of a future life of adventure. He was as eager as could be to hear what the professor made of it and resolved to skim down the snowy slope on his board at all speed. As he stepped out among the whirling flakes and blustery gales he was accosted by the hermit, now wrapped up himself against the freezing conditions that were the norm in Upper Maeven. Tam took a step back, not sure of the man's intentions.

"What, you think I'd try to steal the accursed triple-hearted trinket?" Paterion said as he raised his great staff in disgust, seeming to ward off the flurries that gathered around them in the weather shadow of the building.

"Mayhap," Tam responded boldly and shifted to one side in preparation for skimming down the hill. Seeing the boy was about to depart the old man leaned closer and squinted in the cold wind.

"An Ice Maiden indeed," he said cryptically. "A creature of flesh and blood, and yet perhaps not," raising his voice archly and these words made Tam pause.

"You believe Fallow then? About the strange girl on the mountainside."

"Every word. He saw what he saw, though he wishes he had not for it will plague his dreams in spite of the sweet thing he has now warming his bed every night."

"Even the part about the beasts?"

"Even so. There are such creatures in existence," the hermit insisted. "Only, not usually here," and he laughed softly as snow flakes gathered on his bushy eyebrows. A twinkle of madness could be seen in the deep set eyes and Tam did not know what to make of it all.

"The professor will figure it all out. He's a man of science and experience," Tam declared.

"Some experiences are beyond figuring," the old man responded without hesitation and then wrapped his cape around himself, pressed a button on his stick so that it glowed a warm red and then to Tam's surprise he made his way up the hill to the lifeless frozen wastes above as if he preferred the company of frost demons to that of living breathing humans.

Giving no more thought to the strange old man, Tam launched himself down the hill with the wind behind him and whooped for joy at the ride as he swayed this way and that past the various cottages on his way to the great mansion house half way down the hill. He briefly glanced at the Manderby cottage, all boarded up and empty now, but as he prepared to stall his ride in preparation for a halt he was struck by a missile from some unseen direction. It caught his shoulder and unbalanced him a moment. He managed to regain his poise only to receive a direct hit on his forehead that sent him tumbling into a snow drift next the mansion's perimeter wall.

"What a great warrior you'll make," a girl's voice cut through the icy air as Tam extricated himself from the powdery blanket that had engulfed him. "If you can't anticipate and defend yourself against ambush you have no chance."

A tall slim figure dressed in white fur appeared on the scene, juggling a large snowball in one hand while consulting a glowing bracelet as she approached where Tam stood, brushing icy residue from his padded suit. He retrieved his board and then checked his pockets.

"I've lost it!" he cried in dismay. "You i***t Maena, you've made me lose the clasp!" Without farther delay he began digging into the snow drift with his skimmer in search of the priceless treasure as the girl stood perplexed by his actions and dismayed at his unfriendly demeanour.

Tam felt something clunk against his board as he scooped snow to one side and he immediately halted his frantic motions. Carefully he fumbled with gloved hands among the flakes until he touched something sharp and heavy. With glee he pulled out the jewelled item and brushed off the snow before pocketing it again.

"Ooh!" Maena said. "What's that? Can I see?"

"I'm showing it to your grandfather to see if he knows where it came from," Tam said in sullen tones, unforgiving of Maena's snowball attack. "It's to do with what happened to Fallow."

"Looked like a piece of jewellery to me," Maena pouted. "Grandfather is so not an expert on such things, obviously. I, however, am mistress of countless treasures and heirlooms from the stars," and she batted her eyelids comically. Tam could not help relenting a little at this grandiloquent confession, which was not without a degree of verity.

"Know what this is?" he said and held the object out to the girl whose silver eyes positively flashed on catching sight of it.

"You found it! Oh you darling," and without preface she threw her arms around the startled boy and kissed him warmly on the cheek. As if unaware of what she had done, Maena unclasped herself from around him and held the hair clip in both hands before her, gazing happily at it a moment.

"You recognise it?" the boy frowned.

"I lost it in the Proper Swamps last winter," Maena explained. "Come inside, grandfather will be pleased too. I've been in his bad books about it for ages. It's a family heirloom, millennia old, older than Troy. Bits of it older than the Mineral Stars some say!" and with that she grabbed the boy's gloved hand and pulled him through the mansion gate and into the warm confines of the building she had called home for the past year or so.

Stripped of their outer protective garments the two youngsters invaded the sheltered precinct of the professor, loudly exclaiming for attention. Falma met them at the study door and frowned for silence. They paused and Tam peered beyond the round shoulder of the housekeeper where he saw the bearded elder apparently in consultation with dark robed figures. One glanced at him and luminous eyes, like the spark on the hair clasp, fixed him with an angry stare. He recognised the man immediately. It was Draevenk, the agent master of the Lumos and prime instigator of the wedding battle.

Tam backed up and this time it was he who dragged Maena with him. They settled on the red sofa as before in the lounging room with its great screen, now blank to save energy, and its clutter of papers and books and crystals.

"Did you see?" he whispered to the girl. "Crystal Lumos agents with your grandfather." Maena nodded silently, unsure what it meant. "Is he being arrested again?" Tam voiced her concern.

Falma, playing the role of mistress of the house, reassured them as they waited in perplexity.

"The gentlemen in black will be leaving very soon and then Professor Madrullian will be at leisure to see you," she said in lugubrious tones.

"Thank you," Tam called upon barely remembered good manners and Maena smirked in relief. She gazed at the heavy cold hair clip. Tam noticed her thoughtful preoccupation with it.

"Some people said that jewel thing was so expensive even the Madrullian family would not be able to afford it," Tam observed as the girl turned it over and over in her hand.

"It looks different from what I remember," she replied absently. "Gosh, we have dozens of them upstairs," she then added brightly, "though not all as grand as this triple ruby clip." Her mention of the design reminded Tam of the hermit's words.

"Paterion reckons it's a Pioneer Guild badge of sorts."

"How do you have it?"

Tam explained where it was found.

"But I lost it in the marsh below, not among the peaks. I rarely went up there by myself when we first arrived here last summer as the thin air and bright sun give me headaches. Can water travel up hill?"

"Perhaps someone else found it, claimed it as their own and then lost it themselves in an upper valley."

"A thing twice lost is twice as precious when twice found," came a deep forceful voice and both teenagers stood respectfully as the professor, having finished his meeting, entered the room. "I thought I heard mention of the Pioneer Guild?"

"That's right sir. The old hermit Paterion thought this hair clasp was a Guild pledge." He took the item from Maena's outstretched hand and as he was standing closest to the old man he offered it for his inspection.

"The devil!" Motar Madrullian exclaimed on catching sight of the clasp with its colourful sparkles. He made to depart with it in a trembling hand and then remembered the youngsters. "Follow me," he said.

Tam went ahead of Maena without thinking, fascinated by what was going on, and soon found himself in the library of the Madrullian mansion, a place he had never been before. It was a tall, shadowy space with hints of hidden alcoves high above and stacked to the ceiling with real books as well as files of discs. A large screen before a computer outlet was the centrepiece of the layout with a well worn chair before it. Yet the professor did not go to the console, rather he approached a shelf and reached down what was obviously a magnifying lens. He peered intently at the sparkling clasp through the lens with great interest, lost in thought, forgetting everything else for the moment.

"I think it's the one I lost grandfather," Maena interrupted his reverie as she sat next to a shelf of colourful books and toyed nervously with a lock of hair. Tam chose a chair nearby, a silent witness to this curious scene. "You know, in the swampy Wilds that day our boat tipped and Falma was sick." Her words brought forth images of a family day out last summer.

"I remember," the man replied distractedly, still gazing at the jewellery. "Was that not a single ruby? Half of a matching pair," and he smiled pleasantly. "No matter. Am I to thank young Tam for rescuing it from oblivion and returning it to its rightful home? A marriage portion this would be," and he chuckled in his beard. Tam flushed hotly and caught out of the corner of his eye Maena shuffle in embarrassment.

"Aw, grandfather," she whined.

"It was found when they brought Parthan Fallow back last night," Tam quickly pursued, changing the subject. He explained the events of the last twenty four hours and the professor listened intently to this narrative with increasing puzzlement. The Ice Maiden imagery made him stare a moment, then he nodded as if understanding the matter fully.

"Sirens," he said, addressing the air around him rather than the youngsters sat uncomfortably on the library chairs before him. He moved swiftly across the carpet and made for some tall bookcases adorned with crystal. "I have something here on them. Hmm... legendary creatures, always shaped in beauty that appealed to the imagination of men long away from wives and sweethearts." He paused in fumbling through a book to look at Tam. "Few female travellers back in those days, the First Age, so sirens were always beautiful young women." He resumed his search and continued talking as he did so. "They lured men to their dooms by looking deep into their hearts, seeking their human frailties and drawing them on."

"What frailty do you think this Ice Maiden found in Fallow?" Tam intelligently asked as the professor abandoned his fruitless search after a moment. Such topics were far from his mind so papers on them were not readily to hand. The instanet would help but it was of course down. "He just got married," Tam added, "so was not long away from his sweetheart like you said."

Professor Madrullian pondered Tam's question a moment.

"A powerful man, a fearless hunter, lured by the prospect of a tremendous kill. Perhaps the last thing he wished to happen was of him becoming the hunted, that a frail beauty had the power of overcoming him?"

"They're a superstitious lot," Maena scoffed. "I mean the Frozen Peaks folk, so I heard."

"So you don't think this Ice Maiden is real professor?" Tam sadly asked. "The great beasts were figments only."

"A mind deranged by stress, distorted by intense emotions and overwhelmed by physical trauma is likely to see anything his subconscious wishes to conjure up," the professor said emphatically. "Fallow has personified the reason for the chill in that of an ice wraith of sorts, but such a delicate creature that powerful beasts are needed to act as her guardians."

"Dorstal called her a Frost Witch," Tam spat out in distaste.

"With good reason if he feels she is directly responsible for the terrible storms that have seized upon the mountain peaks these past few weeks. People have died. Livelihoods destroyed. Discord sown among communities and families. Evil cannot exist on its own accord. There has to be a prime mover in the eyes of many. I understand even I myself have been targeted with rumours. I should be grateful for Fallow's imagination. Better an Ice Maiden with a frozen heart than an elderly offworlder with mysterious technology the local farmers do not understand." His observation was humourless but he smiled nonetheless.

"Stupid locals," Maena said unkindly.

"Hey, one sitting right here," Tam glared at the girl and she put her hand to her mouth apologetically.

"Sorry," she said faintly and gazed at the carpeted floor between her feet.

"It is of a piece with the Pioneer Guild," the professor then said and looked again at the sparkling hair clip with its symbolic aspirations. "Long ago they ceased to be a mere exploration guild as world after world was opened up through Gates. Eventually anyone could be a pioneer by simply stepping through a Gate already activated for living tissue. What was on the other side was merely hard work as colonies were founded and built and people devoted their lives to the simple task of surviving and thriving. Some other inspiration was required to retrieve dwindling interest and renew dedication. A leap of faith into the unknown was the battle cry of a reformed Pioneer Guild. Gates to unexplored or uncharted worlds like Cimmeron." Here he paused as if remembering a painful past, a past marred by the Madrullian Mission and its consequences.

"Grandfather, you don't have to go there again," Maena said a little impatiently, rolling her eyes. "He gets like this sometimes," she explained, turning to Tam confidingly. "All mopey for the past. It's the hair clasp bringing back memories. What he's trying to say is the Guild got all serious and self-important about the business of space exploration, recruiting people on desperate missions no one in their right mind would go on. My mother..." and this time it was Maena's turn to pause.

"Was not in her right mind at the time," the professor jumped in forcefully. "The Pioneer Guild had wound up her thoughts and feelings to the point she was ready to do anything for them, anything. Make any sacrifice..." He sighed. Almost absently he slipped the jewelled hair clasp into a large pocket of his gown as if finally dismissing the matter as resolved.

Once again Tam felt uncomfortable witnessing the personal tragedy of this strange family who had, like the mysterious chill, descended on this world and seemed to change everyone's perceptions about what was really going on in the universe.

"That hermit, Paterion I mean, seemed to know something about the Guild," Tam said quickly, trying to deflect the weight of sorrow slowly descending on the silent room.

"He would of course," the professor replied unhesitatingly. "For he was like me a member of the Guild as a young man. We were rivals in fact, trying to out do each other in everything, be it daring missions or winning hearts. Those were exciting times."

"You were both in the Pioneer Guild?" Tam gasped in admiration. He knew from all he had read of the Guild it took a very special type of person to be accepted into the elite company. Suddenly he had respect for the hermit, but also he looked upon this withered old man before him, with the distracted gaze and shuffling gait, in a wholly different light. Without knowing it he had been walking with giants.

"We were," the professor replied grimly. Then his voice rose in tone. "In fact we were among the first group to ever set foot on this world, before a single house was built or animal let loose on the virgin slopes of the Peaks. It was Afdal Paterion's DNA that was used to open the Gate from Atherbridge Nine. Believe it or not but that old hermit who shuffles around looking for handouts is the Founding Father of Troy."

To be continued...