War of Winter (Iron Fey Fanfiction)

Chapter 34 - Rest & Ruin

           The early dawn was more like a mockery to Crystal than a source of rare peace. She ignored her growling stomach and aching heart as she trudged through the now snow covered forest back towards the Winter campground. 

      She didn't know quite how her diabolical plan would span out in the long run, but she had both a ravenous and panicked instinct about it. One side of her told her to run, to go back to the Winter camp and tell all that Thistle was planning, that he was a traitor to Mab's court. The other side of her wanted to play the game of cat and mouse. 

     She wanted to hurt Thistle, she wanted to bring him to his knees and make him beg for his life. He would never beg for death - he was too proud. She wanted to spice things up in this glorious war. 

    Thistle's campground was actually a few minutes walk from his army's camp, which was hidden deeper within the forest. Crystal had come to the conclusion that Thistle's army was either too cowardly to enter the battle, or they were biding their time and waiting for the opportune moment. 

    As she neared the camp, her heartbeat quickened. Technically, she'd told a very bended truth to Thistle; there was really no way in hell that she would join him and pose as his queen. However, she would lead him to believe so until she completed the step in her plan which would more or less get her to number one on his personal shit list. 

    Stepping as quiet as she could, she crept through the trees, her ears picking up the loud an frankly ghastly snores of the soldiers still asleep. She held her breath, praying their numbers were small as the camp came into view....

    She let out her breath in one long, quiet exhalation of both panic and acceptance. Thousands. There were thousands of fey, both sidhe, animal, and more, still and sleeping on the snow covered ground. They were all dressed in some form of black or gray. Winter court colors. 

   Some were dressed head to toe in red. Had even dyed their hair red. Crystal swallowed and slowly began to creep away when she heard someone cough nearest her. Her glamour immediately formed an ice dagger and her senses went on high alert, ready for any danger. 

   "Water...do you have any water?" a weak, raspy voice uttered. She looked toward the voice and came face to face with a winter sidhe, one side of his face a map of intricate scars. She felt as if she recognized him from somewhere, long ago. 

   She thought about running but his voice and face seemed to draw her in. She looked around to make sure the other soldiers were still sleeping before she quickly approached him, kneeling down and taking a handful of snow. With her glamour she fashioned a small cup of ice, melting the snow inside it.

   "Who are you?" she asked him in a low murmur. She handed him the cup and he slowly sat up, wincing. He was obviously injured. 

   "My name is Andal," he rasped, taking a sip. "My vocal chords were severely damaged a couple days ago - one of the ogres grew angry with me -" he coughed rather violently and made Crystal wince at the loud noise. Only a couple soldiers stirred, rolling over and groaning in annoyance. 

   Andal took another sip of water and it was then that Crystal recognized him. He was one of her mother's guards who'd gone missing during a hunt a few months ago. "Andal, how did you -" she started to say but he shook his head. 

   "Our company was ambushed in the woods, all the other men brutally slain within the space of five minutes but I managed to escape..." he restrained another cough and took another drink of his water. Crystal raised an eyebrow at his confession. Her mother had not trained many deserters but she supposed given the situation he'd had no choice. 

   "The fey who killed the others, they wore all red, like them -" he said, pointing to the red-clothed soldiers slumbering across the clearing - "I could only get about a mile or two before they caught up to me, decided to spare me for the sake of torment and questioning."

   "How are you here?" Crystal whispered to him. "How are you a part of Thistle's army?"

   Andal shook his head. "We were forced to come here. I am still as loyal to Winter as you..." he hesitated, probably realizing he was treading on dangerous ground in assuming anything of Crystal. "The real army...are the Blood Roses," he told her, nodding over to the red clad warriors only now beginning to stir.

    "You fool!" she hissed. "You could have overpowered them, all of you who didn't want to be here, you could have run - you can run now..." Crystal felt anger rise in her as she took his glass of water and splashed it in his face, startling him. "Wake up, Andal! You're better than this. My mother favored you, remember?" Possibly a little too much. 

   "No, you don't understand, my lady. The Blood Roses are different. They're darker, wrong. You have to go, have to run before they turn you too! Lord knows who's next..." He looked around, his hands beginning to tremble and fear wiring his eyes like cords. 

   "Andal, explain to me, what are you talking about?" she hissed frantically. "I need to know so I can tell my mother and Queen Mab!" But he was shaking his head, flopping back down on the ground and covering his head as if to protect himself from falling debris as the Blood Rose soldiers stood, beginning to make their way through the camp, stepping around and over sleeping bodies. 

   Andal began to slowly rock back and forth and it took a moment before Crystal realized he was crying softly. Crystal now saw that the Blood Roses uniforms had hoods that shadowed their faces underneath, the blackness beyond seeming infinite. 

   Uncertain fear wrought her bones and made the hairs on the back of her neck. As the red soldiers came closer, terror unlike any other she'd ever felt wrenched her body to the point of tears. She stood and ran, leaving Andal and the other soldiers. No, prisoners, she thought. She ran, instinct taking over logic as she sprinted through the forest, kicking snow up behind her. 

   She rounded a tree and screeched to a halt. A red clad soldier stood in her path, standing at least seven feet tall, still as a statue. He didn't even seem to breathe. Crystal gasped with panic, feeling the icy chill rip down her throat painfully. Wait...

   Cold. She felt cold. Yet, she was a winter fey, she wasn't supposed to feel the climate of her habitat and what she was made of. She turned to run again, confused, only to be stopped by yet another red soldier. An unruly and very uncharacteristic sob wracked her throat before she began to shiver violently.

   "Who...who are you?" she could barely get out, not seeming able to catch her breath as she stared at the black abyss beyond the soldier's hood. She saw out of the corner of her eye a third red soldier had appeared, standing as still as death. 

   Then, all three took one step closer to her, and then another, and another. They all appeared to be male, based on their physique. Crystal let out a sound of panic and conjured two ice daggers, the cold biting into her skin. She swallowed and tried to get her bearings but her heart was just beating too fast.  She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, trying to take deep breaths and take control. 

    "I am your Queen," she whispered. "You will obey me." When she felt slightly more confident, she tried again, a bit louder. "I am your Queen, and you will obey me!" 

   She opened her eyes and gave her best glare-in-the-face-of-terror glare. The soldiers had stepped ever closer as she'd had her eyes closed and now she could smell the sweet peppermint and frost scent wafting off of them. For a moment, it was all too ironic, that these creatures of terror could smell so lovely. 

   She uttered the phrase again, louder this time, staring at the soldier's chest in front of her instead of his face. Confidence finally roared through her and her heart rate slowed to a calmer pace. Until the soldier in front of her said one word.

   "No."

  She made the mistake of looking up at him in surprise, shocked that he would defy her. Then, her head spinning, in the next moment she remembered the snow rushing up to meet her. Afterwards, all she knew was darkness.