The Ice Storm
Chapter Five
Wendell tried not to show his nervousness as he waited for the carriage to draw up to the great front doors of his Castle. A rider had come early this morning to announce that Queen Cinderella of the First Kingdom would be arriving within the hour. Startled a moment from the news, Wendell had had an awful moment of panic. Cinderella? What was she doing here? Then he remembered himself. Of course, silly! I invited her! Yes, that was it. Virginia, dear Virginia had asked him to send out messengers the very day after they had returned from the Second Kingdom. He had managed to shut his gaping mouth before Cinderella's escort had taken insult, at least.
Now, at the head of a honour guard that streamed down to meet the arriving coach (it was carved in the shape of a giant pumpkin, of course) he was pleased that his manservant Rupert had at least tricked him out in the finest of Fourth Kingdom regalia. Wendell had little memory to go by when imagining the Great Cinderella. In his dog form he had watched the Prince imposter lead the ageing Queen on to the dance floor. So close, so strange the imposter had been. How could Cinderella not have seen it? Perhaps she really was failing, in health and in mind, as the court gossips so loved to whisper. Wendell trembled a little at the thought. Impossible, but with her eventual death, be it sooner rather than later, the last of the Great Women would be lost to the Kingdoms. In his mind she spun awkwardly across the floor in the dog Prince's arms. And there, in the background, rather impatiently waiting it seemed, a flash of red cloak. Wendell watched as his memory replayed Scarlett. In hindsight, it was so obvious that even then she looked on him with approval. The stupid dog Prince hadn't even guessed. And Scarlett, poor deceived Queen, what a shock it must have been, to wake from the stupor of the drugged wine, to find herself overlooked by the man she wanted, so ecstatic had he been to regain his true form!
And how stupid had he been then, to have let her go forth without even properly meeting. She and her advisors had swept from the Castle within days of his official crowning and his wolf pardoning. Wendell had barely given it a second thought at the time. His doggy memories had been hazy then. Only later, in the darkness of his cold suite, had he started to remember her. On the very edges of his thoughts she floated. But how she must hate and despise him now, for his brave proclamation. He had made her family's ancient enemy into heroes. She would get over him, surely. But it was only on the edge of Coven Lake, more than a year later, that he had known otherwise. And how his own heart had leapt at the thought, despite the profound guilt that plagued it. Such a humbling and exilarating feeling all at once, to be loved. But, careful now, Wendell. Go slowly, go quietly. That advice, from Tony of all people! Who'd have thought it? But he'd been right. She had been as skittish and shy as a new fawn, but still so much a Queen, headstrong and proud. Wendell remembered the first time she had looked at him as her true love, all her barriers coming down, and she wondering at herself as much as at him. What a vision she had been; swathed in red silk cape and hood, delicate features peering through the morning mist as her horse snorted and pranced to be away...
"Ahem...". Wendell snapped his gaping mouth shut so hard he winced at the sharp pain in his tongue. Queen Cinderella stood there, right in front of him. She looked stern, but her eyes twinkled. Someone pinched his elbow. Rupert, ever fussy and a stickler for protocol, that man, but Wendell loved him like a brother. The pinch brought him back to the present. "hmm...yes, as I was saying, Wendell, did you know that for the very first time in living memory, snow has covered the gables on my Glass Palace? Imagine that!" Cinderella continued, apparently deciding to ignore Wendell's gaffe. Wendell nodded his head politety, indeed trying to imagine snow covering something he had only ever seen in paintings. Of course it was not truly a palace of glass as was often the rumour amongst the peasantry, but it did have a great many tall windows in many colours. But it had never really snowed in the First Kingdom, that he knew for certain. For it to do so now worried Wendell immensely. The Ice Queen had not been bluffing, apparently.
"Queen Cinderella" he managed finally, flourishing a great bow towards her. Her feet, wrinkled and misshapen from the years of wearing those infamous slippers, were encased in dainty soft boots to match her sea green dress. A long fur wrap covered her shoulders. Belatedly, he realised that she was shivering from cold, and in fact, so was he himself. A guard mumured and stamped his feet, his breath blowing away in a great cloud of steam.
"Your Majesties..." began Rupert, teeth chattering.
"Yes, yes, forgive me...please, Queen Cinderella, do come inside, and all of you, don't spend any longer out here than you have to" Wendell broke in, turning to offer Cinderella his arm. Once up the stairs, the doors gave way and thudded closed behind them. Wendell led Cinderella to the nearest fireplace and together they stood huddled. But it burned only fitfully, and whatever warmth the logs generated seemed to be stolen back into the chilled air. Wendell held his hands as close to the flames as he dared. "By the stars! Has she somehow managed to creep so far into our lives now that even the very air seems frozen?" he muttered. At his side, Cinderella put one of her aged hands on his arm. Her eyes held no sparkle now.
"It seems that she has, Wendell, she has done that very thing".
That night, and into the following days, the first of the refugees arrived at the Castle White.
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Tony scratched at his balding head once more. In the cluttered workroom he had recently taken over, several of his 'workers', the one's assigned to him by Wendell, unconsciously imitated his stance. Overhead, the floorboards creaked as someone stomped across. Everyone was tense these days. Cross and angry, cooped up in freezing pile of stone, badgering for positon at the fireplaces. Not that burning wood seemed to help much. Woollen and fur garments were worth more than gold at the moment. Even Wolf had muttered that very morning that he'd caught someone looking with more interest than was prudent at his long tail of rich fur. Wolf himself didn't seem to feel the cold anyway, Tony had noticed, and neither did the little cubs. Tony had seen them this morning, gambolling about the frozen garden whilst everyone else stuffed their hands deep into pockets and drew scarves close.
In the week since the arrival of the Ice Queen's message and Virginia's incident in the rose garden, Tony had been working diligently on his 'project'. When Virginia had told him her idea, he'd at first thought it impossible. But as the week had progressed and the worktable in his room had become cluttered with diagrams and models, Tony began to think that it just might work. A week ago, though, both he and Virginia had assumed that there would be much more time to prepare. Surely the worst of the freezing cold would not descend on the Kingdoms for at least another month, or more. It was still only autumn here, after all. But autumn had finished this week, it appeared. It had hardly stopped snowing since, and every night the snow froze over, forming a layer of ice. Black clouds covered the sky in all directions. Tony couldn't work out why the Ice Queen would go to such lengths to cripple the Kingdoms, since it seemed more than likely she would inherit a barren lifeless waste. Maybe that was what she wanted. Perhaps her own people, of whom little was known, could survive here when all else failed.
Tony sighed and looked over his plans once more. His main problem was the Castle itself. No one seemed to have an accurate plan of the place. According to Wendell, it had been built some two hundred years ago, with a great deal of magic involved to boot. From his own experiences of living in the palace, Tony knew that the rooms themselves sometimes changed, or moved, or disappeared altogether. But for all it's mystery, no one had thought to put in a decent heating system, other than the huge and hopelessly inefficient fireplaces. Of course, they had no electricity, no power source other than wood and coal. And those would not last long if an extended cold season was about to become reality. Tony rolled up his designs and turned to his 'men', who were actually an odd assortment of dwarves, elves and old servants.
"Well, we can't do anymore from this end until I get what we need from my end" he said. The workers waited without a trace of enthusiasm in their expressions. Leaving the room, Tony clomped up the stairs to the fourth floor. It took a bit longer than usual to reach the wing he wanted, given the increasing amounts of people lingering in the corridors and state rooms. Tony knew that many refugees had been arriving at the castle for days now and Wendell had been doing his best to accomodate them. So far, all seemed to be fitting in, but it was obvious that the castle would reach capacity within weeks, and Tony had no idea just how many folk would eventually come here seeking shelter. That was providing they could get here through the weather in the first place.
At the door, he tapped quietly. It opened almost immediately, but Tony stared into open space for a second before he looked down to see the diminutive girl-cub Alice holding the door handle as it swung back. Tony smiled at her.
"Hello Alice. I've come to see your Auntie Virginia" he said, stooping down to her eye level. The cub looked at him levelly. A solemn child, thought Tony, though he couldn't really blame her. Orphaned from her mother, and now her father had left the castle on some secret mission of his own. He went to pat her on the head, but she scuttled away deftly, avoiding his touch. Something tugged on the leg of his trousers.
"Papa"
"Hey there, little man!" he said to Caelum, picking him up to ride on his shoulder. The little boy cooed and wriggled in excitement from his high vantage point. Virginia laughed from her position at the small table. She had what looked like old scrolls and bits of parchment spread out over it.
"Dad, you know you shouldn't carry Caelum like that. Wolf says cubs should always stay below the eyeline of their elders. It teaches them their place in the pack. And Wolf says..."
"Ah, 'Wolf says this and Wolf says that', really, he says too many things!" Tony countered, but he kept his tone light, knowing how much Virginia disliked it when they sniped about each other. "Besides, my grandson is only one quarter wolf, and I've never known any kid not to like riding on their papa's shoulders! Right Caelum?" he added, tickling the boy's toes. Caelum giggled in delight and Virginia smiled at him again.
"Hmm, well, I suppose you're right. But don't blame me if your grandson grows up to be dominating, overbearing lout"
"With Wolf as his father? Really, I don't know how that might happen!" Tony retorted good naturedly. He dodged the thrown cushion just in time. "I wanted to let you know that I've got just about everything organised".
"Ah, good. Lets hope it works. This castle, and many others, are filling up quickly, and there's not nearly enough heating to go around. We'll be seeing a mass extermination unless we can come up with something soon!" Virginia replied. Tony saw that her own cheeks were flushed with the cold, despite the roaring fire and thick woollen blanket over her knees. It made him angry suddenly, in that fatherly way where all daughters were expected to be cared for. At least her health was improved and the new pregnancy safe. Tony truly hadn't known what to think when Virginia had told him about the new cub. Although she didn't blame Wolf openly, Tony felt sure that maybe in private she must certainly be angry with him about it, given that that aspect of their relationship was supposedly in his hands. Tony blushed at the uncomfortable images his mind conjured. To distract himself, he walked to the frosted up window. No one walked the garden pathways today.
"Well, I suppose I should get going. There's a lot to do. Will you come and see me off?" he asked Virginia. At her assent, they left the cub's in the room and walked the length of the corridor together. At the Travelling Mirror, Tony stared at his reflection for a moment. He'd had the tailor fashion something that at least resembled his everyday 10th Kingdom clothes, albeit one size slightly larger. Virginia turned the disc on the frame and the New York skyline sprang into view. Tony turned to give her a hug before stepping through. Instantly, the endless line of mirrors rose up to smash as he passed through them. A totally uncanny experience. He felt ground beneath his feet. A vast cacophany of city sounds flooded his ears. His vision blurred and cleared. Back in New York.
Even though he had been away for more than a year, Tony instinctively expected a swarm of police officers still combing the shrubbery for him. There was nothing, of course. Just an empty, normal looking spot in the vastness of Central Park. Except for that odd wobbling rectangle behind him, that is. Knowing that Virginia would take the risk and leave the portal open until he returned, Tony moved swiftly away. A few minutes hard walking brought him to the old crumbling edifice where he and Virginia had once eked out a living. Cars whizzed by as he awkwardly crossed the street. There was a large glaring sign erected outside the apartment building, but Tony paid it no mind. His attention was caught immediately by the little dumpy man who stood underneath it, looking up with an air of perpetual discontent. Tony cleared his throat, and straight away regretted doing it in such a public place. Passers-by snickered in amusement as Murray threw himself prostate on the ground at Tony's feet.
"Oh, wonders of heaven. The Master! Look everyone, he has returned. THE MASTER has returned to us!"