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In the wood, near but not too near the Lantern, drives a sledge, drawn by a reindeer under the whip of a Dwarf, and carrying a woman, of sorts. She is taller, and paler, and somehow - grander, more terrible, colder even than the deep winter through which she rides. The furs are decorative; she wears nothing over her ears, which, were she human, would spell frostbite given how long she has been on this ride.
The harness-bells jingle tinnily.
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charning
Winter is impressed by the dungeons! They're very dungeony.
"Son of Adam?" inquires the Badger weakly. "A Son of Adam - here?"
"Huh?" says Winter.
"A boy, a human boy," says the Unicorn, "and in the Witch's Dungeon."
The Dryad seems too overcome with despair to speak.
"Don't listen to the prisoners," advises the specter loftily.
The Dryad seems too overcome with despair to speak.
"Don't listen to the prisoners," advises the specter loftily.
Winter shrugs. "I'm hungry, are there more jellybeans?"
"I have never seen a confection like what you were eating before today," says the Specter.
The Badger sobs quietly.
The Badger sobs quietly.
"Guess I'll have to ask the queen, then," he says serenely.
The Specter nods, relaxing.
"Son of Adam," says the Unicorn. "As you value your life - you must fly from this place -"
The specter reaches in the unicorn's direction, and does no visible thing, but the Unicorn screams softly and falls silent, backing away as far as her chains allow.
"Son of Adam," says the Unicorn. "As you value your life - you must fly from this place -"
The specter reaches in the unicorn's direction, and does no visible thing, but the Unicorn screams softly and falls silent, backing away as far as her chains allow.
"Ooh, what was that?" says Winter.
"I am not most often a giver of tours," says the specter mysteriously, and he leads Winter out of the dungeon.
The Badger sobs some more.
The Badger sobs some more.
"No, really, what'd you do?" says Winter, tagging along with a grin like sun on snow.
"Only a little nightmare," the specter says modestly.
"Nice," says Winter. "So is that your job? Nightmare people until they do what Jadis wants?"
He seems very impressed by this!
He seems very impressed by this!
"Occasionally. I have also seen use as a spy," the specter adds. "Being insubstantial helps. Her Majesty finds me useful."
"I bet!" says Winter, gazing at him admiringly.
The Specter smiles. "I am called Wisp," he adds.
"Nice to meetcha, Wisp," says Winter. "I'm Winter, but I guess you heard."
"Yes. Her Majesty must favor you to call you that."
"Guess she does!" he agrees. "Think that means she'll give me more jellybeans?"
"Possibly. Or she may dispense them only as a reward when you have done things she particularly approves."
Winter giggles.
charning
It turns out that jellybeans are dispensed partly according to random whim, but mostly as rewards - never as a whole jar all at once, but handsful and occasionally only one or two at a time, if his teachers (ogres, wolves, dwarves, all manner of vicious beasts teaching him to kill, occasionally on live captives) praise his quickness with a knife, or if he says something that amuses her over dinner, or if she finds his smile particularly charming.
Jadis treats him much like a useful, working pet - her sheepdog, or perhaps her hunting falcon. When she is present with him at her side he does not have such a thing as personal space; she arranges him for her comfort as readily as she arranges her own limbs, and sometimes hand-feeds him the jellybeans.
Jadis treats him much like a useful, working pet - her sheepdog, or perhaps her hunting falcon. When she is present with him at her side he does not have such a thing as personal space; she arranges him for her comfort as readily as she arranges her own limbs, and sometimes hand-feeds him the jellybeans.
He eats up the jellybeans and drinks in the lessons and kills on command and laughs at strange moments and purrs like a kitten when she touches him.
And he develops a habit of wandering into the treasure room and touching the magical barrier.
And he develops a habit of wandering into the treasure room and touching the magical barrier.
charning
That is quite all right. He will never get through it; his recreation is his business. The other minions will tease him about it - and will also tease him if he solicits nightmares from the specter or anything of that nature - but they are conscious of his favored status and mostly note it quietly for later rather than making a scene about it.
He has been in her service for a year, and managed to kill a number of creatures for her who have been informed on by the Secret Police but proved too inconvenient to haul to the castle for stoning, when she says:
"Winter, I should like to retain you for a good bit longer, and Sons of Adam are so ephemeral, so I should like it if you would go to a place which I will describe for you, and go into it, and take an apple and eat it, and then I can keep you as long as I please."
And she calls for a map, and indicates the path to a certain garden.
He has been in her service for a year, and managed to kill a number of creatures for her who have been informed on by the Secret Police but proved too inconvenient to haul to the castle for stoning, when she says:
"Winter, I should like to retain you for a good bit longer, and Sons of Adam are so ephemeral, so I should like it if you would go to a place which I will describe for you, and go into it, and take an apple and eat it, and then I can keep you as long as I please."
And she calls for a map, and indicates the path to a certain garden.
"Okay," he says cheerfully. "Wow, that's a long way off. When do I start?"