Cold Days – My Version
Chapter 1
I thought I had seen a lot in my brief life.
I was wrong.
The only feeling I recognized was the ice-cold grip of Mab's hand on my arm as she guided me to wherever we were going. Apart from that though, it felt like my whole body had turned into an icicle and my mind was about to split open from the assault on my wizardly senses.
That's right, I said wizardly.
You see, I am a wizard. Check the yellow pages of Chicago if you don't believe me.
About six months ago I was shot and nearly died. At which point the Faerie Queen of Winter and Darkness, Mab herself, personally saw to sustaining my life with help from the genius loci of Demonreach, the nature spirit of an island in the middle of nowhere. Her powers taxed to the limit from her exposure to Summers influence, I also discovered how much Mab hated someone escaping her grasp, especially me it appears.
When I could finally open my eyes, I shuddered and took an involuntary step back before the grip on my arm tightened. We were at Arctis Tor, the fortress of the Winter Court. The same fortress I had assaulted with some of my friends to rescue a young Molly Carpenter before she was my apprentice.
Now though, it looked different. Battlements manned by lords of the Sidhe were everywhere, the Winter Court were at the fortress in numbers. Not just that though, I could also feel the power of Winter surrounding the fortress like an aura. An icy tingle ran through my body as the mantle of the Winter Knight within me recognized the source of its power, giving my body a boost of energy and erasing the aches and pains of my prolonged sleep on Demonreach.
I instantly felt better than I had in ages. I had forgotten what it felt like not to have aches and pains cover half my body and feel beyond tired in the recent struggles.
It was then that I noticed what I was wearing. A robe much like a wizards robe covered my body, except that it was icy blue with sliver thread cinched across the waist and the neckline. My arms were bare and yet did not feel the cold, my shield bracelet around my left wrist and silver rings around each finger. A comfortable weight around my neck told me that my mother's pentacle was still there. None of these details I had noticed back in the cave, and yet here they were.
I turned to Mab in shock, and she smiled in reply to reveal the wizards staff that my grandfather loaned me in her other hand.
"Welcome to my domain, my dear Knight" she crowed in pleasure as her sunken features began to fill out to reveal her usual, recognizable face. "While you slept, I went to the place where you fell and retrieved your wizardly possessions from the boat. Unfortunately someone had already beaten me to the Swords that you also stored on-board; one of your friends I imagine took them and found another place to hide them."
"What a pity," I drawled, my voice dripping with sarcasm as I extended my hand towards the staff as Mab allowed me to take it from her hands. "What are we doing here?"
"Why, we are celebrating your succession as the new Winter Knight of course. And afterwards, maybe you can par-take a few of the pleasures you missed out on the last time you turned up to one of our little gatherings." Mab said, as her voice dropped to a sultry whisper that caused my pants to tighten in reply and Mab to smirk slightly.
Turning back to the looming structure ahead, it took a moment for me to realize that not one mark adorned the surface of the tower from our attack on it, or the smell of hellfire used by one of the Fallen as part of the Black Council.
With a slightly satisfied sigh, Mab released my arm and gave me a slight shove in front of her before setting off for the fortress at a leisurely pace. It seemed as though she wanted to parade me in front of the other members of the Court as if to say, this wizard is now mine.
Mab's stronghold was a fortress of black ice, an enormous, shadowy cube sitting high up the slope of the highest mountain in sight. A single, elegant spire rose above the rest of the structure. Flickers of green and amethyst energy played within the ice of the walls. I couldn't make a good guess at how big the thing was. The walls and battlements were lined with inverted icicles.
Just like the last time I was here, I noticed that we were headed for the open gate built into the structure that reminded me of the teeth of a predator. Though this time, the bones that lay on the ground were now gone and replaced with what looked like fresh snow fall, the damage done to the portcullis and the smell of hellfire were also long gone. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from asking Mab about the circumstances that caused such an attack on the centre of her power, now is not the time to ask I thought.
Passing the Sidhe lords, who bowed slightly in our direction as Mab passed and with a look of surprise at seeing me shadow her footsteps, we entered the open gate and into the tunnel beyond. Reminding me yet again of a train tunnel back in Chicago, we walked in silence until we reached the courtyard on the other side. As before, there were no signs of doorways to secret corridors and rooms visible to me, the spire rising ahead of me and the stairway to the battlements were all in line with my recollections of the place.
Like a woman leading a show-dog through his paces, Mab gracefully swept across the courtyard and straight up the stairwell in the spire with me in pursuit. When we emerged out onto the garden I had trashed last time I was here, my jaw dropped.