Eulogy in Snow

3

The hunter's eyes flash. Suddenly, he bursts forward.

Winter does not flinch. She is too well weathered for that. She opens her arms and rises to embrace him. He rushes into her arms, the way they all do, and she pulls him to her under the water.

She knows that the shock is icy-cold to him. Bubbles stream from his surprised mouth. He struggles against her grip but she holds firm.

Remember what you have done, she thinks to him. Remember and answer for it.

He stills. And then—

What do I have to answer for?

The sound of his voice in her own head startles her so much that she loosens her grip on him. It is all he needs to kick himself free to the surface of the water. She allows him. She watches as he sputters on the lakeshore, his shoulders heaving.

He is a pitiful sight. His clothes are soaked straight through and his dripping hair is plastered to his forehead. His lips are tinged with blue as he looks at her with dazed and wondrous eyes. He should have died the way the rest of them have. Yet she heard his voice in her mind.

"Who are you?" she demands.

Impossibly, he smiles. "A writer of fairy tales."

She moves around him in a slow circle. He watches her far more calmly than he should.

"I am no fairy," she sneers.

"You are so much more," he agrees. "A nymph? Or a goddess...no. A Queen."

She does not correct him, primarily because she does not know. She by her very nature cannot be defined. She is. She always will be. Is that not enough?

"Tell me, then. How will you appease my wrath?"

The hunter looks surprised. "What did I do?"

A blizzard swirls around her form. How dare he ask so guiltlessly, with such wide eyes? He knows his crime.

She strides forward and wrenches his hand from his pocket. His gloves are still stained with the damning scarlet of the elk he killed.

"This," she hisses. "You invaded my lands. You and all the others who have come before."

"You kill every hunter who passes through these woods?"

"Only the first each season. You are no exception."

"Wait!" he calls. With every step he takes he sinks a little deeper into the snow. He does not know how to fade into the landscape like it is a second home.

You are one of the otherworldly beings I have been searching for my entire life. His thoughts reverberate inside her head. She wants to fling them like stones to the ground.

Her first mistake was not instantly killing him once he defied her. Her second, she makes now, as she listens to him.

"I have always believed that humans do not perceive all of our world," he continues. "You are the proof I have sought for so long. For years I have followed superstitions and legends that I have hitherto only been able to echo in words."

He does have an uncanny connection with the unnatural—is his ability to implicitly communicate with her not proof of that?

Winter has a terrible premonition that perhaps he is not the only one who should tread carefully here.

"What do you want?" the hunter continues. "I could pen ballads about your fairness. I could praise your wisdom in poetry. I will make your name known to all of Denmark—nay, to the world. I could write of you for an eternity."

She does not respond for a long time. She cannot pretend the prospect doesn't tempt her. Yet she has little hope and even less time.

Finally, she turns back to him.

"I do not require that," she says. "But I do have one request."

"I would do anything for you, my Queen."

"Tell them to stay away from my lands. Tell them they are greedy and unwelcome. They cannot have me. Demand that they leave me alone...for eternity."

"What do I receive in exchange? This should be a fair bargain."

Winter growls. The land trembles. "I am not a human. I do not deal in trades."

The hunter holds up his hands cautiously. "I am aware. But if you are merciful, then my people will know to trust my word. They may fear you but they will not hate you. They will leave you alone."

She does not like to admit it but she sees the truth in his words.

She makes a rash decision.

"Very well. You shall be the last intended sacrifice," Winter declares. "I will not harm any more humans. This I swear upon my soul. Now, we will both uphold our end of the bargain."

"We shall," the hunter echoes.