Previously on "A Court of Fear and Ice"

Surrounded by a magical barrier, Lexi gets stuck in the wood-meadow. Though all of the Night Court fairies try to help her, they can't destroy the spell that created the invisible wall. In a result, she starts panicking and bangs her fists against the barrier, accidently triggering… some sort of an alarm.

Chapter 35

About ten feet tall and weighing a couple hundred pounds, a humanoid creature was slowly plodding through the wood-meadow. It had the appearance of a hunched and extremely wrinkled old man whose arms and legs seemed unnaturally long in comparison to the rest of its body. On its lumpy head, there were remnants of darkish hair that had to be super curly many, many years ago, but the remaining strands were now tangled and thinning here and there.

The giant was wearing a kind of a beige furry coat that was tied up with a wide leather-like band at the waist. But the best years of its overclothes had been left behind a long time ago as it was now very dirty and run-down.

Most of the creature's frightening face was covered in several irregular brownish scars, yet it wasn't the scars that made my skin crawl. To my utter dismay, I realised that it had just one eye, since the other one had been gauged out, leaving a rather terrifying hole in its upper face.

With my own eyes fixed on the scruffy giant plodding in my direction, I leant against the barrier and clenched my fists. My first instinct was to get to the other side of the invisible wall and run for the hills, but I quickly realised that it was impossible. I was stuck here alone. With nobody to protect me. With nothing to defend myself.

Come to think of it, one of the people able to save me was standing right behind my back. The only problem was that he couldn't breach that damn barrier between us and get to me.

Not taking my eyes off the giant, I took a sharp breath and whispered, "What is that?"

But Rian's answer wasn't what I was hoping for. "I don't know."

"Seriously?"

"I don't know every creature living in Prythian," Rian said quietly. There was a hint of guilt and anger in his voice. "There are still beings unknown to us. Beings that no one has ever seen before." He sighed. "And I'm afraid this is one of them."

I swallowed hard. Shit.

"So what now?" I asked, still observing the creature. "Should I hide somewhere?"

"No, not yet." He got quiet for a while. "Remember not to make any sudden movements, Lexi," he added. "Let's hope it won't notice you."

I nodded.

Sniffing and clumsily looking around, the giant was still slowly getting near me. It looked as if it somehow caught my scent, but couldn't figure out my exact location. And that meant, I realised, holding my breath and watching closely its every step, that the giant didn't see me. That even though it knew that something – that I – was inside the wood-meadow, it just couldn't find that something.

"It's blind," I whispered.

"What?"

"It's fucking blind," I repeated with a smile.

Feeling a sudden surge of joy, I turned over to face Rian and said louder, "It can't see me. Look!" I pointed my finger at the giant and went on, "All it's doing is sniffing and looking around, and–"

"But it doesn't mean it can't–"

Unexpectedly, the creature lifted its head and sniffed one more time before roaring so loudly that I had to cover my ears. Then, it lunged in my direction, stomping across the wood-meadow and crushing everything in its way.

I froze.

With hands still covering my ears, I kept looking at the giant in front of me, my mouth slightly open. Though I felt its every step in my whole body… Though I felt every vibration it sent to the ground, I still wasn't moving.

I wasn't able to.

Staring at the creature was the only activity that seemed appropriate right now, and the only one my whole body accepted without hesitation since it didn't require any action. Yet, as time was slowly passing by and the giant was quickly getting closer to me, my mind started having doubts and tried persistently to bring me down to earth.

Firstly, it made me took a deep breath. Then, it convinced me to blink several times and I realised that I could see the creature once again, closer than before. And finally, when I came round, it occurred to me that Rian kept repeating something over and over again, and each time was louder than the previous one.

"Lexi."

I heard his voice at last.

"Lexi," Rian repeated angrily, evidently pissed off by my behaviour. "Lexi! For fuck's sake, can you hear me? Lexi!"

I turned my head towards him and gasped, "What?"

He groaned, but then said loudly, "Run."

It was all the encouragement I needed before I sprinted towards the rocks on my right.

With almost lightning speed, I let my feet lead me forward, between dry grass, single tree branches, smaller rocks and bones. Honestly, I hadn't suspected there would be so many bones around me as I didn't see them from where I was standing.

But now, running through the wood-meadow, I could see all of them. I could see countless piles of bones scattered all over the ground. Big, small, long, and short. Yellowish and whitish bones that were supposed to be a warning, but I wasn't able to notice them before. Yellowish and whitish bones that belonged to lots of unfortunate people, or fairies, whom I linked my faith with when I entered the wood-meadow. Yellowish and whitish bones that would soon include my own ones if the giant caught me.

At the mere thought of it, I picked up the pace.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that the creature had probably heard me and it was also heading towards the same direction as I was. Feeling super panicked, I sped up even more and almost jumped behind the rocks. There, I leant back against them.

Gasping for breath, I closed my eyes for a moment or two in an attempt to calm myself down. The first thing that came to my mind was the mantra I kept using at the mountain residence. Back then, it helped me a lot, so I decided to give it a try now. "Be strong. Be patient. Be hopeful," I whispered hopelessly to myself. "Be strong. Be patient. Be hopeful."

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Be strong. Be patient. Be hopeful," I repeated a bit louder, since it wasn't working. "Be strong. Be patient. Be hopeful–"

"Lexi, keep moving!" Rian shouted, bringing me down to earth and forcing to open my eyes. "Don't stand just in one place. Keep moving!"

I readied myself to answer him back and explain what I was doing here, but the sound of loud footsteps coming up to the rocks made me realise that the giant was right behind my back. Terrified, I immediately closed my mouth.

At first, I wanted to get up and leap forward, but, unexpectedly, everything went silent. I didn't hear the footsteps anymore. I didn't hear Rian's voice as well. Holding my breath and not moving seemed the only way to prevent giving away my location, provided that the creature was still in the dark. And I truly hoped it was.

Carefully, I turned my head right to check what was going on, but before I was able to say another f-word, I saw two huge humanlike hands reaching in my direction and trying to grab me.

Screaming, I lunged forward, almost falling flat on my face, but I picked myself up clumsily and took off running. For a split second, it hit me that there was something wet on my left hand, but I was too preoccupied to draw attention to it, and it soon slipped my mind.

Having realised that its prey was gone, the giant roared in anger. The sound resonated through the wood-meadow and was soon accompanied by loud footsteps. And that meant that it was going after me.

Again.

Sweated and tired as hell, I didn't know what I was supposed to do now. I could have hidden somewhere, but all the rocks and dead tree trunks were too exposed and wouldn't shelter me from the creature. I could have also gone to the other side of the wood-meadow, but it was a blind alley and an ideal chance to get me. And this way I was left with option number three – as long as I was moving around the wood-meadow, I was kind of safe. But I was getting tired and I knew that it would be used against me.

As I was about to go round a stack of tree branches, the giant roared once again and I heard a cracking sound. Too afraid to look over my shoulder, I kept moving forward, feeling really worn out.

Suddenly, something big flew through the air at great speed and landed behind me. When it hit the ground, it fell apart into hundreds of smaller pieces that peppered my head and back. The impact made me stumble and I fell to the ground. Kneeling on the dry grass, I turned around and saw a fractured tree trunk lying next to me. There were pieces of wood everywhere, even in my hair.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a movement, so I looked at the creature. It was holding a rock, which was quite sizeable, and readied itself to throw it in my direction.

"Oh, shit," I whispered, getting up clumsily and glancing at the giant.

Apparently, it had just decided to change its tactic as chasing me around the wood-meadow didn't work. And that's why I had to get out of the way as soon as possible or the rock might really hit me.

Seconds after I left the stack of tree branches, another missile landed exactly where I had been standing, and drove into the ground, scattering dirt and grass around. I didn't have to wait long for the creature to throw another rock. This time I had to leap aside to avoid getting hit.

Roaring angrily, the giant grabbed quickly a tree trunk and then took off running, straight in my direction.

At first, I froze. I was so frightened of the imminent death of getting smashed by its makeshift mace that I kept staring at the nearing creature and didn't want to move. But then, I set my eyes on Rian.

Covered in his shadows, the heir to the Night Court was banging on the barrier, making angry faces and saying something I couldn't hear. He was clearly trying to breach the invisible wall again and get to me, but all his efforts were in vain.

I looked at my own hands which were now dirty and bloodied.

With tears in my eyes, I realised that my chances to defeat the creature single-handedly were obviously slim to none. I wasn't a skilled warrior like the fairies, and I didn't have any weapons or magical powers I could have used to survive this madness. But I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, could I?

I glanced at the giant.

A skilled fairy warrior or not, I was still able to tire it out for a bit, before Rian breached the barrier, or I was killed anyway. That's why I did the first thing that came to my mind. I leapt forward and started running towards the barrier.

Drops of sweat were sliding down my forehead and my heart was pounding in my ears as I was getting closer. Rian was still extending his hands and touching the invisible wall, but I didn't see the rest of the fairies. However, I knew there was no time to wonder about their whereabouts since I had a more pressing matter to deal with.

Suddenly, I saw a pile of mossy rocks in front of me. Without a second thought, I decided to jump over them to shorten the way, but I tripped and fell flat on my face. Immediately, pain shot through my body and made it impossible for me to get off the ground quickly and continue running.

Gasping, I positioned myself on all fours and then tried to stand up, but before I was able to do that, I felt a strong gust of wind and I was hit by something hard.

I screamed.

The impact of the strike was so powerful that I flew in the air and smashed into the barrier, landing far away from the rocks. When I bounced back the invisible wall, I did a forward roll and ended up on my back.

With my eyes closed, I groaned with pain, suddenly unable to move.

Everything hurt like hell – my head, my back, my arms and legs. Everything. There was also that annoying buzz in my ears that blocked all the other sounds around me.

I took a shallow breath, trying to shake out.

"Lexi."

I blinked several times, but I wasn't able to keep my eyes open.

"Lexi."

I tried to flex my fingers, but my arms were too sore to move them.

"Lexi!" Rian said for the third time and he sounded as if he stood right next to me. But that was impossible, I reminded myself. He was still on the other side of the barrier. "Lexi, are you all right?" he asked. "Lexi, answer me."

I groaned.

"Lexi, please, get up," he added. "You can't lie here. Please, get up."

I groaned once again. "I can't."

"Please, honey, get up."

Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw the blue sky above me.

"Lexi, get up," Rian repeated. "I'm begging you. Get up, honey."

"I can't," I whispered again, knowing that my eyes were filling with tears.

I'm screwed, I thought. Fuck, I'm so screwed.

"I know it hurts like hell," he said quietly, "but you have to get up. Please, get up. Do it for me, Lexi. Please, do it for me."

I groaned.

"For me, honey," he whispered. "Please."

Swallowing tears and listening to the giant's nearing footsteps, I rolled slowly over and positioned myself on all fours. Then, I tried to stand up, but my legs were too wobbly, so I sat down on the dry grass and took a deep breath.

"I can't stand up," I whispered, looking at Rian who was kneeling in front of the barrier and staring at me. I noticed that he was dressed in dark armour, but I didn't remember whether he wore it before or not. "I'm sorry."

He flashed me a sad smile. "That's fine. Come closer, Lexi."

Slowly, I dragged myself towards the barrier – and him – and then leant against it. Tears were running down my cheeks and there was no way I could stop it. "I know it's over," I said.

"Don't do that," Rian broke in. "You can't give up. Not yet."

I closed my eyes and repeated, "It's over."

The heir to the Night Court let out a quiet exasperated sigh.

Listening to the creature's footsteps, I was slowly readying myself for the worst scenario, though I didn't want to die. Not here and surely not this way. But my body was too exhausted and sore to even try to escape.

Since the giant knew that it hit me with the tree trunk, it was taking its time to get to me. It stopped roaring and rushing towards me, and was again plodding through the wood-meadow, certain to find me unable to run away.

Rian cursed under his breath.

"Please," he whispered.

"I'm sorry."

"There is still a chance," he added and I looked at him. In the distance, I saw Cerys and Ciaran who were approaching his brother. "You can hide behind the rocks, just like before–"

"It will find me anyway," I broke in. "I'm covered in blood, so it will immediately get the smell of me," I added.

The twins stopped next to Rian.

"You're covered in blood?" Cerys sounded surprised.

At first, I frowned and didn't answer her. But then, I showed the fairies my hands, dirty and covered in blood, that suddenly started stinging. "See?" I asked. "There's blood everywhere."

"The barrier must also affect scents," Ciaran said, squatting and sniffing. "We can hear you and the thing over there, but we can't smell your blood."

Rian raised his eyebrows.

"I might have an idea," he said.

"Now?" Cerys asked.

"Yes, now."

"It's too late for that," I replied, closing my eyes. "Way too late."

I knew he meant well – they all did – but I had run out of time. It was clear now that I was just seconds away from being killed and then eaten by the creature, so it was impossible for him to find a way to save me.

"Let's make a bargain, my lovely Alexandra," Rian said unexpectedly.