Frost Arch (11 page)

I seemed to be the shy one. I was usually quiet around everyone except on occasions where Jack would provoke me into talking about myself. I usually avoided the reason I had come to Frost Arch. I wasn’t sure if Jack noticed this, but I guessed behind his joking eyes he was still quite perceptive for he always changed the subject when I looked uncomfortable.

I wondered how Jack might react if I told him about Hawthorne. I knew he wouldn’t hand me over to lions, but would he tell me to give him up? Probably. He would think it was best to set Hawthorne free, and deep down I would probably agree.

I rolled over in my bed restlessly, huffing and rearranging my pillow so it was more comfortable. Hawthorne’s head popped up at my movement, and he watched me through his young but intelligent eyes.

“Sorry.” I mumbled as my movement had woken him.

He seemed to disagree with the five inches of space I had put between us for he shuffled closer again and rested his head on my arm. I thought I knew why. To anyone else the room would be cold, but my body temperature was higher than other Mages. I’m sure the warmth was rather nice for Hawthorne. As he nestled himself next to me I wrapped an arm around him comfortingly. I soon drifted off to sleep.

I woke abruptly the following morning to a dark room. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet. As usual everything was covered in a permanent layer of snow, and a thick layer of cloud hung in the sky, though it was not snowing. The cause of my sudden wake, as usual, was due to a hard rapping on my door. Jack was always awake ridiculously early, and took to being my own personal wake-up call every morning. I rather liked it, seeing as it meant I would never sleep in and miss my chores. Jack never entered the room, thankfully, just knocked and sometimes called through the door to make sure I was up. I knew he wouldn’t come in unannounced in case I wasn’t decent. Today he called through my door.

“C’mon Redding.” He chimed, his usual chipper self, “I have a surprise for you!”

I sat up in bed, my hair as messy as a haystack. Next to me Hawthorne yawned, his little teeth bearing as he did so.

“Surprise?” I called groggily.

“You bet!” Came Jack’s voice, “Are you decent? Hey, the doors unlocked-”

My eyes widened in horror, “Hold on!” I jumped from the bed, Hawthorne watching me with alarm. He knew at once what should be done. In an instant he replicated the colour of the sheets and scurried under the blankets. I ensured the bed was careful disarray as to not draw attention to the suspicious lump that was Hawthorne. I changed into my uniform at top speed. It was a light blue ankle-length dress that buttoned up to the neck at the top half, and had a tie at the back that could be tightened accordingly. I quickly slipped my shoes on and ran a hand through my hair, trying to get it to stay flat.

Clearing my throat nervously I called, “Okay. I’m decent.”

Jack popped his head in through the door and smiled at me, “Charles has a special request of us today.”

“Come in Jack.” I offered.

Once Jack was inside my room he put his hands in his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet happily, “Seeing as you don’t get out often, I offered to take you with me on an errand today.”

“Oh. Wonderful.” I smiled nervously, “But I have work to do here, don’t I?”

“All you need to do is light the fires this morning. Someone else is taking care of Master Forsythe’s bath for you at Charles’ request.”

“Oh, that was nice.”

“So I’m off to attend to one of our chefs now. Gave herself a nasty burn last night and it needs to be healed, then I need to head on over to the stables so Cam can show me a rash one of the Pegasi seems to be developing. While I’m doing that you go and hurry with the fires. Once you’re done come to the stables, and I’ll take you into the city.”

I nodded, “Sure.” I said in a small voice.

“Don’t keep me waiting.” Jack waved and exited.

I wrung my hands nervously and saw that Hawthorne had emerged. His coat was a depressing grey, and I knew he was restless again.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I groaned.

A plan formed in my head. I would go and light the fires like I was told, and while I went to meet Jack in the stables I would release Hawthorne outside. I didn’t even need to tell Jack about him. But would Hawthorne object? I wasn’t sure. I hoped it would make him happy to have a day of freedom.

The morning passed in a blur, but the time came when I reentered my room, hoisted Hawthorn into my arms and carried him under my coat through the kitchen and to the back door. The sun was just rising now, casting an orange glow across the clouds.

I put him down onto the ground where he bounced away instantly, almost invisible against the snow, to do his business. After a few minutes of bouncing around happily he came back to me, his startling blue eyes expectant.

“I’m going into the city today.” I told him; though I had a feeling he already knew perfectly what was going on. “I want you to stay hidden and out of sight. Don’t let anyone see you.”

Hawthorne’s head cocked to the side, his ears pricked up. I smiled, “Don’t look at me like that, just do it.” I now kneeled next to him, my brow furrowed as I decided what was best. “I don’t think I’ll be able to look after you much longer. You’re supposed to be free, not couped up.”

Hawthorne’s tiny wings seemed to droop as I spoke. I felt awful.

“I’m glad I rescued you from Jefferson, Hawthorne.” I petted him, “But you can’t stay with me forever. I’ll lose my job, or worse, they’ll find you and do something horrible.”

Hawthorne whimpered and tried to clamber back into my arms. He stood on his hind legs and placed his front paws on my knees, trying to reach my face to lick me. I gave him a hug and stood up straight. “Until the day comes when we have to say goodbye, I’ll make the most of the time we have together.”

Hawthorn whined and although I felt guilty it needed to be done. I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t keep him. I just wondered when the say would came that I would need to say goodbye.

“For now I want you to enjoy a whole day outside.” I smiled at him, “I’ll come and get you tonight, okay? Just stay safe and hidden. Go and play in the forest.”

Hawthorne did as he was instructed and bounded out of sight. He blended in with the snow around him now. Quite convenient. I made my way to the stables and saw Jack just emerging from them.

I smiled and waved when he noticed me approaching.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Sure.”

We took the trail that led away from the Forsythe manor, beyond the low wall that surrounded the property. Once we had rounded a corner and the mansion was no longer in sight Jack let out a sigh. It seemed he had a bit on his mind, but I kept quiet the whole way into town. We emerged onto the street where I had had my first horrible encounter with the infamous Seth Swaggart, and where I had first met Jack. Though now of course there was no deathly thin boy dressed in black anywhere. The thought of seeing him again made me shiver as I remembered the feeling that had coursed through my body when I had looked into his eyes. Like ice freezing me in place.

I drove this memory from my mind and tried to keep pace with Jack’s long strides. The snow crunched under our shoes as we walked down the road. Not many people were about as it was so early in the morning. I wondered where we were going, and what errands Jack had to run.

Before I got a chance to ask, Jack pointed to a small shop to our left. I remembered seeing this place when I first walked through here. It appeared to be a mail service. We walked through the door, a bell clanging loudly. Jack led me over the threshold and waited by a low counter. It was quite warm here, but cramped. The room was empty of any other people, and quite small. Beyond the counter I saw an adjoining room with several rolled up pieces of parchment slotted into different holes in a wall. Every now and then a hand would reach through from the other side of the wall to take a scroll of parchment. I watched rather interested.

A second later a large, older woman with long, grey fly away hair bustled into view.

“Hello, hello!” She addressed us in a rather booming voice, “Ah, Jack!” She crowed at the sight of him, “To what do I owe this pleasure today? Official business?”

Jack smiled, “Ah, Gretchen, can’t a man stop by to say hello to a lovely lady without an ulterior motive?”

I thought this Gretchen was far from lovely. She reminded me of a pug-dog. She even seemed to have a moustache. I immediately felt guilty about my snide thought. Perhaps she was a lovely person.

Gretchen turned red and waved her hand, “Oh, you do know how to flatter, Jack.”

Jack grinned showing all his pearly whites, “I’m here on an errand, but you know how I love to visit. I’ll take the job to see you any day.”

Gretchen positively beamed and I wondered what Jack was up to. This woman was old enough to be his mother.

“So what can I do for you, m’boy?”

Jack fumbled for a scroll of parchment in his pocket and put it on the counter in front of him, “My Master needs this delivered to Mistress Frost.”

“Regular or Express?” Gretchen picked up the parchment.

“Well that’s the thing. It needs to be delivered rather soon … but I was only given enough gold for the Regular …” Jack trailed off.

Gretchen looked at him before patting his hand, “Not to worry m’boy, I’ll give you the Express. Don’t worry about the extra gold.” She gave him a sly smile. I suddenly understood the reason behind Jack’s shameless flirting. He was trying to get faster, cheaper delivery!

“Thank you so much.” Jack’s words dripped with sincerity.

Gretchen’s face was still pink with blush when she bellowed over her shoulder, “RÆVEN!”

The yell caused me to jump and Jack grinned at me when Gretchen wasn’t looking. A moment later this “Ræven” she had called came into view from the adjacent room. I felt my jaw drop.

A beautiful black bird swept into the room with long elegant tail feathers, fluttered above our heads for a moment before lowering next to Gretchen and morphing into the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my entire life. She was slender yet curved graciously with glowing pale skin. Her eyes were cat-like, and a shocking blue that seemed to pierce my very being. She had a heart shaped face with a bob of shiny blue-black hair. Her full lips were currently puckered in a patient yet annoyed fashion. She was shorter than me by perhaps four inches. I guessed she was around the age of sixteen. I burned with jealousy at her perfection, yet I couldn’t stop myself from staring and admiring her.

Gretchen handed Ræven the scroll of parchment, “This is for Mistress Frost. As quick as you can.”

Ræven nodded and grasped the parchment, sweeping from the room without saying a word. I noticed that she was slightly bowlegged, her knees knocking as she walked, and her feet pointed inwards slightly. I thought this reminded me of how a child or infant might walk or stand with their toes pointing towards each other. It seemed as though Ræven wasn’t quite as lithe in her human form. I was sure that I would prefer flying to walking too.

After many thanks to Jack’s dearest Gretchen we emerged from the little mail delivery shop and onto the snow-covered street. Jack shivered and pulled his coat tightly around himself; I smiled, perfectly content.

“You are very mean.” I noted as we continued down the road, I assumed to Jack’s next errand.

Jack grinned, “It’s a tough life.”

“She’s probably in there hyperventilating now.” I smirked.

Jack shrugged, “Well, these things need to be done, kiddo. Not to mention I gained a shiny gold coin as a result of my flirting.”

My mouth opened with a little pop, “You were given enough for an express delivery!”

Jack simply smirked, flipped a gold coin in his hand then pocketed it, quite smug. “Why shouldn’t I keep the difference?” He waved it aside as though he did it all the time, which, I reminded myself, he probably did.

I scowled, and Jack laughed. He knew I wouldn’t tell anyone of course, and he didn’t bother asking me not to mention it.

Jack led me towards the marketplace in the heart of Frost Arch.

“So what was that letter?” I asked.

“Who knows?” Jack mumbled, “The Forsythe Manor keeps in contact with Elvira Frost regularly. It’s best to stay in her good books though.”

“Humph. Does she live far?”

Jack pointed to a mountain in the distance, though it was still within Frost Arch’s vast walls.

A large intimidating mountain rose above everything else in this city, its top disappearing into the heavy clouds. I could only assume that Elvira Frost resided at the top of the mountain, probably in a Manor ten times larger than the Forsythe’s. It was oddly familiar.

“How do people get up there?” I wondered aloud, “Or down?”

Jack frowned, “The Creeley twins. Xander and Benjamin. They have the Power of teleportation. One stands guard at the bottom of the mountain while the other stands at the top. They can also communicate with each other using their minds. It’s complicated. It’s like they can teleport their thoughts to one another. Efficient for old Frosty up there.”

“So they teleport visitors to the top, communicate and pass messages for her?”

“Pretty much.” Jack looked uncomfortable, and I wondered if he held some kind of grudge against the Creeley twins, “So you can only get up there if they let you, or if you can fly, like Ræven back there.”