Jack Frost: King of Thieves

CHAPTER II: A Hard Life Had Just Gotten Harder

Elsa of Dorfeld should have been asleep, dreaming of her husband's return from Manny's Crusade. The time she and Jackson of Dorfeld had shared as husband and wife had been all too brief, though the memory of their wedding night was still enough, after all these years, to bring a smile to her lips and heat to her cheeks. To relive that bliss, even if in a mere dream, would have been a balm for her uneasy heart.

Instead, she tossed and turned, listening to the sound of the night: the sweet tones of a nightjar, the resonant hoot of a nearby owl, a howl of a wolf, a soft rustle of countless leaves as a gentle wind stirred the boughs of Graywood Forest beyond the walls Burlington Manor, the Overland home.

She lived with her husband's father, Sir Sandy Overland, a great man in his day, now reduced by age and blindness to awaiting the return of his son from war. She wondered if he was awake as well, it was some whisper of fate, some purposeful foreboding that kept her from sleep. She considered going to check on the old man. Deciding against it, she rose and crossed to the narrow window that looked out from her bedchamber toward the Overland fields and the wood beyond.

Doing so, she beheld something puzzling. It began as a flicker of shadow at the edge of Bixunn Forest, and then a second. Soon there were nearly a dozen of them: animals, moving with purpose and stealth across the fields toward the town of Dorfeld. She spied a badger, a boar, and a fox, a wolf, a sheep, and a bear; as unnatural a company of creatures as she could imagine. Comprehension came to her just as the alarm bell in the town watchtower began to toll.

"They're coming!" The Sentinel called, his voice echoed from the village.

Elsa rushed to her door and out into the corridor. She could hear some in Dorfeld raising the alarm, while others shouted angrily at the raiders in their fields. Just as she reached Sir Sandy's chamber she met up with Vlad, who had worked here at the Overland household well before Elsa's marriage to Jackson. Pausing at Sandy's door, she heard the old man within. He was mumbling to himself and moving about. Elsa pushed the door open.

Sir Sandy Overland might have been blind, but as soon as she and Vlad entered, Sandy turned toward them unerringly his sword in hand. He was still tall and vigorous, despite his years, and the fearsome look on his face would have given pause to any intruder.

"Don't be foolish, Sandy!" Elsa told him. "You can do nothing for them." It broke her heart to speak to him so. He deserved better, as did all of Dorfeld.

Sandy appeared to sag a bit at her words.

"Keep him in here," Elsa told Vlad quietly. "Bar the door."

She hurried away. Sandy could do nothing, but she had some skill with a bow, and she was angry enough to kill.

"I'm still Master of this house!" Sandy called after her.

Elsa continued on to the armoury, where she retrieved a bow and hastily wrapped a creosote cloth around the head of an arrow.

Reaching the gates of Burlington Manor, she could see enough of what was happening below in the town to confirm her worst fears. The 'animals' we're running rampant through the lanes of Dorfeld, some carrying chickens, others with pigs slung across their backs, and still other laden with the hard-earned foodstuffs of the townspeople. She raised her bow, the arrow already mocked, and drew it back smoothly, just as her father had taught her long ago. With great care, she touched the cloth to a candle, igniting it, and then she loosed the flaming dart into the night.

It arced over the walls of Burlington Manor and descended like a flare, illuminating the hoar-covered field and the edge of Bixunn. The raiders were in retreat, carrying away Dorfeld's food stores.

"I see you, you bastards!" Elsa called to them, "I see you!"

The 'animals' we're running now, disappearing back into the shadows of the forest. She wanted desperately to chase them down, but she had responsibilities here. With a sigh, she left the gate and made her way to Burlington Manor's barn. Vlad was there, ruddy-cheeked and solid, holding a lantern and looking lorn. The grain bin was empty.

"They've taken the seed grain," he said.

She stared at the empty bin, her chest aching. "I can see that, Vlad. I can see."

She turned away, knowing she needed to tell Sandy that they had nothing left to plant and that a hard life had just gotten harder.