Amberglas frowned up at the sun. It was past midwinter… the days should have been getting longer as the land prepared for spring. But the days didn't seem to be getting longer.

I'm imagining things. She shook her head for a moment, pushing aside the horrible thought of a winter that never ended. The Northlands had always been as chill as the Southlands were warm, but that would be taking it way too far.

"Now bring those back in good condition." The snow-shoe renter warned her. She suppressed a sigh. He always said the same thing, every day.

"Yes sir." She replied dutifully, because if she only nodded, he would repeat his question louder until she finally did reply. I'm twenty. I'm an adult. Why aren't I ever treated like one?

Grunting, she levered herself to her feet and began the trek into the Forest of Sorrow. She winced as the wind bit at her skin, and wrapped her scarf more firmly over her face. The crystal ball forecasts had said the day would be cold but clear and perfectly safe for travel. She wouldn't have trusted the weather-wizards for a long term forecast, but for same day they were usually pretty accurate.

The Forest of Sorrow, she knew, had once been called something else before the disaster. The Royal Castle lay in the centre of the forest and she had been told there had once been a road that led to it. If so, it had long since become overgrown. And no one would bother going there in any case. The Castle had been completely sealed long ago and was defended by the King's Lancers and Footmen. Empty armor that had been animated by some long forgotten spell or, some said, by knights who had sworn to defend the kingdom past death. They also patrolled the woods heavily which made her trip relatively safe.

Only relatively. Not even the King's Lancers could be everywhere, and misfortune stalked the land. Amberglas sighed to herself, missing Celune already even though she had just barely begun. By now they would have been talking about the fish they could catch, the precious goldfish and prized ironfish and how much money they could make-

"Amberglas! Wait!" She paused, shocked at the rough edged female voice and craned her body around to look. Turning around in snow-shoes was generally more trouble than it was worth. The pudgy figure behind her was panting as she struggled to run on snow-shoes.

"Mathira! Take it slowly!" She called back, alarmed as she saw the shoes overlap. The other woman slowed her pace a bit and avoided the fall. "What are you doing here? I thought you were busy with your sisters' baby and the store." Mathira stopped in front of her, and there was a moment of silence. Amberglas could see little of her friend under the heavy furs, scarf and winter glasses, but she could see a tuft of strawberry blond hair poking out defiantly.

They had once been close friends too, but events had intervened. It hadn't bothered Amberglas much… a younger sibling was always expected to help with a baby and a store, and those were heavy burdens indeed. She had gone over sometimes to help with the store herself, but Mathira had never had time to reciprocate. They hadn't gone snow-shoeing together for at least half a year.

"Sabira lost the baby to the winter flux and mother got fired from the store." Mathira's reply was short and to the point. Amberglas gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

"Oh, Mathira, I… I'm sorry. I hadn't heard." That felt terribly inadequate, but what else could she say? "How… why was your mother fired?" Fall babies often died to the winter flux, so no explanation was needed for that. That was why the apothecary sold so many cordials, but they only worked perhaps half the time. Mathira grimaced, although it was hard to make out the movement under the scarf.

"Oh… Royask married Dalglas. You know, that blond seamstress. She convinced him she could do the general manager work and they could save mother's pay." Her tone turned withering. "She'll fail miserably, of course. But they can't take mother back without admitting their wrong." Amberglas winced sympathetically. She knew Royask and knew there was no chance of that. "Anyway. Between that and the baby, I need to get out. I know it's the Kingdom of Lost Hope but I'm trying to keep what I've got. And besides." She lifted her chin. "We can use the money. Do you mind if I come?"

"Not at all." Amberglas said warmly. It would have been rank churlishness to turn her friend away. "I have extra bait, and I see you have a pole." It was slung over Mathira's back. "We should catch twice the fish I usually do." That was an exaggeration. Since they would be using ice holes right beside each other, they might catch a bit more, but not that much. Still, she didn't need the extra money as much as Mathira did.

"Thanks Amberglas." Mathira replied as they started walking. "I'm sorry I haven't been by to see you more."

"It's no worry," Amberglas replied, adjusting the box and pole she had slung over her back. The box had a very thick strap to distribute weight… it was light at the moment but wouldn't be later, if they caught enough fish. "You were busy." And busyness, she reflected, was much easier to bear than simply not wanting to talk about any shared interests anymore.

"Still… anyway. Have you seen that new boy working at the smithy? He's a bit of a hot bun." Amberglas laughed, and they chatted amiably as they slowly made their way to the lake. They could have traveled faster if they had concentrated on just walking, but where would have been the fun in that?

"Gads, I'm out of shape," Mathira remarked as the trees parted, and the lake finally came into sight. "Felt like that took forever. I'm really feeling it in my legs."

"Me too," Amberglas said, mostly for her friends benefit. She'd been coming out every week for months and didn't really feel much of anything. "But we're almost there. There's the ice fishing shack up ahead." Her shack had a yellow stripe painted on it. Every year in the fall, when the ice was thick enough, the city hired several strapping young men to pull all the shacks onto the lake. When they weather witches finally said spring was coming and the ice would be becoming unsafe, they brought them back in again. Every shack owner paid a couple coppers for the service and Amberglas considered it money well spent.

She was relieved to see that the ice hole she had augured and chipped out last time was still partly open. The top had frozen over, of course, but the ice there was nowhere as thick as it had been when she had first opened it. Opening the box, she pulled out the ice auger and chisel and began the tedious work of fully reopening it again. She used the auger, turning and turning it so the blades bit into the ice and Mathira used the chisel. She glanced over at her friend and was pleased to see that she had the strap firmly fastened around her wrist. If you forgot that, as soon as the chisel broke the ice it would likely slip from your hand and head for the bottom of the lake. That would be a disaster. Ice chisels were expensive.

Soon enough they had the hole reopened and paused, filling their canteens and taking small drinks. They were thirsty but the water was too cold for anything more. Pulling up their stools… those went with the shack… they baited their lines and began to fish.

Patience is the one great virtue of any fisherman, but ice fishermen need it even more than most. The girls filled the waiting with talk, and Amberglas was gladder than ever that Mathira was there. Left by herself she would have had nothing to do but brood and plan her stories, and you could only plan a story for so many hours of a day.

"I was wondering. Would you like to go to the tavern with me and Kista and Greaglas?" Mathira asked casually. Amberglas suppressed a wince. She couldn't stand alcohol and her last experience in a tavern had been anything but positive.

"I think I'll pass. I have a lot of work to do." She said lightly, but Mathira snorted and nudged her foot with her own heavy boot.

"You need to get out of yourself more. No one knows what you're thinking, and you work at home so you don't even have work friends. Everyone goes to the tavern after work. Come on, meet people and make new friends." It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse, but the words died as she looked into the water.

Was I asking too much of Celune? She suddenly wondered. It was just the two of us, we went places at least twice a week. But she had priestess friends too. I only had her. That thought had a bitter taste of truth to it.

"I'll come. Tomorrow?" Her line suddenly pulled. "Oh!" Conversation temporarily forgotten, she reeled in the line. The fish that was raised out of the lake glittered like molten gold even in the dim light of the shed.

"A goldfish! It's a good omen." Mathira said approvingly. "Yes, tomorrow would be great… here's the jaw prier." She passed over a small tool, and Amberglas smiled as she wedged open the fishes' jaw to retrieve her hook.

It was a good omen.

Hours later, they were trudging back to town. The wind was picking up again, and Amberglas groaned faintly as the straps of the box bit into her shoulders. Their fishing had been more successful than she had imagined… fully twenty fish, and half of them goldfish and ironfish. Their efforts would be worth a nice penny at market but for now carrying them was a pure pain.

"Here, let me handle that for a bit." Mathira took the box, to her relief. They had been trading it off frequently to help ease the other.

"Thank you. It was-" Amberglas froze as she noticed something. "Mathira. Don't move."

"What? Why? What's…" She fell silent as a wolf slowly paced out from between the trees.

It wasn't a healthy wolf. The coat that should have been thick and heavy with winter growth was full of mange and balding. The eyes that glared at them were yellow as urine, and the frothing at the mouth was highly disturbing. So was the uncoordinated way it was moving towards them.

Rabid. It's rabid. Fear clogging her throat, Amberglas bent down slowly and started untying her snow shoes. She wouldn't run well without them but she certainly wasn't going to make it with them. Mathira followed suit, dropping the box and untying her feet.

"Move back slowly. It's confused, maybe it won't attack." Amberglas said as calmly as she could manage, and her friend nodded, the motion tight with fear. She watched the wolf as they both backed away… and saw a sudden shift from confusion to rage. "RUN!" They both turned and ran for their lives as the wolf howled.

Then Mathira screamed, and Amberglas had to stop and look back. Her friend was on the ground, her hands over her head as the wolf worried at her clothing. Fortunately, in its confusion, it was more pulling her around than anything… but that couldn't last.

"Mathira!" She couldn't just leave her behind, and Amberglas started back although she had no idea what she could do to help. There was a sudden crack of tree limbs breaking and she looked sharply to the right and gasped as a knight rode out of the trees. His horse should have been mired in the snow, but instead it seemed to float on top… and it wasn't a horse. It was the horse armor that belonged on a horse, but empty of any actual animal. Blue lights glowed out from under the blackness of the helm, the eyes of a being that was not at all human.

A King's Lancer! Amberglas stood, stunned, as the Lancer lowered his lance and charged. The wolf didn't even notice until the lance impaled him from the side, and the animal's shriek was spine-curdling. The Lancer lifted the beast into the air as if it weighed nothing, writhing on the tip of his lance and then tossed it to the side. Blood sprayed across the snow, and Amberglas blinked, recalling herself. She ran over to Mathira, who was beginning to sit up.

"Mathira! Are you alright?" She started searching her friend frantically. If the wolf had drawn any blood, she would be dead in a month or two at the most.

"I'm fine." She sounded terribly relieved. "He just tore up my coat." Her coat was shredded on the back. That would be expensive to repair, but nothing compared to her life. "Uh… Amberglas." Amberglas blinked, and then turned to look behind her. The Lancer was still there and had been joined by two more lancers. One had red eyes, one had green, and they all hand different colored plumes in their helms. Also… she squinted. The armor was subtly different and the shields had different enamel work. It made them quite individual, really.

"Thank you ever so much. You saved our lives." She said to the green eyed Lancer, feeling a touch unnerved as all three stared at her. "Uh… is there anything we can do to help you?" She offered. It felt inadequate… what could she offer disembodied armor…? But it was all she could do.

"Yes." Before she could react to that hollow voiced answer, a cold, hard, yet oddly gentle hand seized her arm and hoisted her onto the horse. "Come." Terrified, she gripped the horse armor tightly as the Lancer began to ride. She heard Mathira yelp behind her as one of the other Lancers hoisted her up, and noted with disbelief that the third was gathering their snow shoes and the fish box.

Then all she could do was hold on as the speed increased. The trees seemed to part for them as they flew by on invisible hooves…

We're going further into the forest? Why? She thought in confusion, then stared in awe as the forest suddenly parted completely. In the middle of a clearing larger than her town was that thing she had only heard of as a child… the King's Palace. It's so beautiful. Unimaginably large, the pale grey stone reached to the sky. Towers so light and elegant it seemed they would fall at the slightest wind, winding staircases… even pathways between towers made of stone! She couldn't imagine how it could exist. It had be magic. And the windows… there were windows everywhere of stained glass. But they were all covered in ice, and she couldn't see inside.

Another Lancer paced towards them, and she swallowed hard as he seemed to look at her intently. His eyes glowed a brilliant white, and his armor was decorated more than any other Lancer she had seen. It was silver and gold, and so was the shield he bore. The plume in helmet was a white as pure as the snow, and it bobbed as he tilted his head to one side, seeming to eye her quizzically.

"Hello, writer." He finally said, and she blinked. His voice was that of a very masculine, vigorous ghost. "Welcome to the Castle of Lost Dreams." She mentally noted the name. She hadn't heard that the castle actually had a name before.

"Erm, hello." Amberglas replied weakly, a little overwhelmed. She had never heard a Lancer speak before. "I… Is there something I can do for you?" He suddenly laughed, and Mathira shivered at the sound. It was warm, humorous and… hollow. The ghostly edge to his voice only made the other qualities stranger.

"Yes, little writer. Write us into your story." He edged his horse closer to her and leaned forward. Amberglas was almost mesmerized by the white light of his eyes. "It's very depressing sometimes, doing what we must, and we need a story too. Do it for me?"

"Of course," She found herself replying. "I'll write you into the story I'm working on right now." And now that he had asked, she knew exactly how she could do it. It would work out very well, a wonderful plot to the story…

"Thank you. That is all we ask." He waved at the others. "They will take you back to the snow shoer. No need for you to walk all the way back." The Lancers carrying them saluted and began to back away.

"Wait!" She called, and the Lancers paused. "Who are you? What's your name?" It had never occurred to her that Lancers would have names before, but now that she had heard one speak she knew they must. He laughed again and then called back.

"I'm the Captain of the Lancers. Good luck, little writer." And then the Lancers were moving again…


The Captain of the Lancers watched until the two girls were safely gone, a Footman standing by his side. His Squire, back when such titles had mattered.

"She has no idea, does she?" The Footman commented, and the Captain nodded slowly.

"None. But it's better this way. She has a kind heart, and if she knew she wouldn't be able to do what is needed." He started walking away, and the Footman followed.

"What is needed?" He inquired, and the Captain paused a moment. When he spoke, his voice was sad.

"To write about all the joys and pains in the world."