Winter's Dead Bride

Chapter Eight

Tuesday 20 November, late-afternoon, Land of Seven Winters.

No... no... This can't be happening to me. This isn't fair.

A dead Dhor lay down on top of the freezing snow, a look of pain still on his face and a bruise on his lips under the ice that guarded him. Why? Why to me? He was all I had left.

His mouth had been cruelly sealed by blue ice that continued torturing his soul and prevented him from giving his testimony. I was shaking as I traced my fingers along his once-warm cheek which was now coated by a load of snow, giving me nasty frostbite. It was as if he had predicted the future.

He had been begging so passionately for this.

What kind of virus chooses to listen to the desperate cry of a person who has lost so much?

The virus was cold-blooded, it left nothing for us...not even ourselves. I was kneeling down in the crispy, cold snow which was finely coated with death. I shakily cupped Dhor's face in my hands, wincing as his dead expression stared blankly back at me as the ice began to harden on him. Where had all the energy gone? Where was all that fun that had once made him who he was? Why did he forget so easily about me? Why hadn't the stupid virus taken me first? What was so good about staying alive when there was no one left to share your pain with? I shut my eyes, unable to keep looking at him as I cowered over him, sobbing harder.

He was dead now...and I was all alone.

"Let me die before the damn'd black leaves of the cursed Winter fall," I mumbled, feeling a big lump in my throat as I cursed myself, I knew I was never going to stop crying.

He had wished for his death so therefore I could easily wish for mine! Equally, I would lie flat on my back like this and disappear from the face of this freezing Hell! It wouldn't matter. I would also breathe in his bitter the sorrowful fragrance of death in hope to quickly die. I hated being alone, so vulnerable to the attack of loneliness rather than my own grave.

Then as usual, as if they had the power to sense dead bodies, the Supreme Coroners marched to where I was hugging Dhor, no expression to be identified. They were all masked, of course, dressed in white attires and had completely covered themselves in Cedar powder for the purification of Dhor's corpse. They had been trekking around all over the place ever since the virus broke out, ten years. They took the deceased and threw them into those filthy mud ditches. Dhor wasn't going to end up there on my watch... I'd never get to properly see him again! I was being ordered to let go of Dhor and step away from him but I wouldn't bring myself to listen as I clung onto my friend.

"No! He's everything I have left!" I screamed as one of them started to tear me away from Dhor.

I was angered by this and cursed him, digging my elbow into his stomach like it was a weapon.

"Haven't you been warned? And yet you bring punishment upon yourselves?" I demanded, elbowing him again.

In an instant, he had dropped hard onto the snow, crouching over in intense pain. Huh? That wasn't right... He was clearly meant to be a lot stronger than me. He was meant to effortlessly pull me away from Dhor and I would have watched them take him further and further away while I cried, clutching onto the hardened snow... Why wasn't any of that happening? Why was such a firm-built man, created by the Government, on the ground in total pain from a small girl's push? I swallowed, looking down at my trembling hands...

Where did I get such extreme strength?

The other members gasped, turning to me from their fallen colleague. Their eyes were wide behind their goggles and although their faces were covered, I could tell they were shocked. Probably half as shocked as I was...but this was my chance. I glowered into their eyes, dead serious as they looked more fearful.

"You shall all leave him alone and he will be kept by me, understood? For thousands surely are lesser fools than you to know what is good for thee," I muttered in the native tongue, covering Dhor from the cruel world he had unfairly died in.

They didn't seem to take the message very well.

"Men, if thee shall be called men! Surround this broken-hearted wretch who has betrayed the mighty Government and take her to be locked in the Guardhouse until sanity returns to her pitied soul!" commanded the leader.

I growled, eyes flickering with a sudden rush of anger. At once, all the men held me down but I hardly felt captured. I just wanted to quickly die and be ridden from this cruel place I'm forced to accept as reality. But I couldn't help but smirk as they attempted to seize me after I easily slipped from their gloved talons.

"Have you not cursed yourselves?" I grinned, holding my hands out myself so they could tie me up.

I saw something in their eyes...

Something I desperately lusted for deep within me but firmly despised...

It was fear.

______________________________

Utterly bored, I leaned against the hard stone wall, thinking of my best friend being thrown into those ditches without mercy. Dhor would be with reunited with the rotting bodies of my family and his parents too. While I would be up on land, looking down on them but determinedly envying their freedom from this terror of a world.

"Yes, that's her. She has remarkable strength, Sire," bowed a Coroner, addressing an elegantly dressed man.

He was pointing over at me as I impatiently kicked the wall over and over again. I gave the nobleman a dirty look, annoyed that they were staring at me like some crappy art piece.

"What are you, some emperor or something?" I bitterly questioned, glaring at the masked figure who walked with such elegant supreme that it frightened me.

He seemed to halt, his warm, chestnut eyes finding mine. Then a smile was drawn on his face as he tugged off his mask.

"Yes, of course. I am the Emperor of the Land of Never-Ending Autumn. Chervil Chrysós. Your Seventh Minister, Teí Chrysós', father," he grinned, showing off his dazzling teeth that were whiter than snow.

My wide eyes met his. 

"To think a day would come when I wouldn't be recognized," he chuckled.

My eyes then grew massive. I had only meant it as a joke!! I immediately fell to my knees, cursing myself repeatedly.

"Apologies, Oh Great Emperor. My mouth has fouled your humble name, your glory and I have failed to recognize your great Supreme," I apologised, setting my head to the concreted floor.

What do I get myself into sometimes? This is Teí's father and I had messed up our first meeting!!! What kind of daughter-in-law would I make now? I stayed in the position, not daring to stand up unless he told me to. I heard him sigh, giving off the sense of being amused.

"Set her free and send her to me immediately. She may be of good help to Autumn's Final Government," announced the Emperor.

I gasped, lifting my head from the ground.

"Such a high position?! No, I must deny as I'm not worthy of such honour," I protested, going to my knees.

He only grinned.

"You are special...I've already heard a lot about you," he replied, nodding for me to stand.

I was now confused, trying to figure out where he got the information.

"Who has told you of me?" I dared to ask, watching as he returned the mask to his face.

He gave me a gentle smile which only added to the mystery.

"Who do you think cured you at birth? For you were the child born with ice wrapped around its heart... born at the tip of death... Azalea Chióni," he narrated gently, his eyes giving away a sense of great knowledge.

I was left speechless and then he walked away, the guards following sharply at his silent footsteps.