Chapter 32 Ban #2
Although it doesn’t matter much, it’s not fatal, and my ice helps to close the wound quickly, so it’ll heal in its own time. I can tell it’s going to be an inconvenience, though.
He offers me a hand. “I’m Jacob. Let’s get you up, lad. Are you out here on your own?” He stares at me, questions in his green eyes.
“You shouldn’t answer that,” the boy with orange eyes calls across the space. “It's not safe to tell someone you don't know that you’re alone.”
Jacob blows out a breath, shaking his head. “Not now, Zarev.”
“But–”
“I don’t think anyone’s hunting him,” the green-eyed boy says. These kids are full of opinions, it seems. “You being hunted?”
I hesitate, darting my eyes between the four of them. Only the one with wings stays quiet, and his expression is as stony as his skin. Jacob’s hand remains suspended in the air, and if I take it, I’m afraid it’ll invite these people into my little world. I’m better off alone. “No.”
“Being lost isn’t a crime, boys,” Jacob says, nudging his hand a little closer. “Come on, son, let’s get you up.”
He doesn’t ask for my name, which I like, and after another moment, I let him help me up. I sway on my feet a little, slamming my staff down for balance, and a patch of ice blossoms beneath the base.
Three gasps follow, but not from Jacob. If anything, he looks intrigued.
“You have magic?” Zarev asks, stepping closer. Now he’s interested, but there’s still a guarded look in his gaze.
“Ice,” I say, keeping my answer vague. Even after all this time, I’m not entirely sure tof he extent of the magic. I don’t have a mentor; the Snow Queen would rather see me dead than help a moon-cursed boy.
“You’re not the only one with powers now, Lucius,” Ray comments, turning to the boy with wings. He stays silent, tilting his head to one side as Ray snickers. “Maybe he can freeze your spell?”
“That’s not funny,” Lucius hisses, shooting me a look. Those strange eyes flash, and he rocks back on his heels. The wings, folded at his back, twitch. “You know that’s not how it works.”
“Boys,” Jacob chastizes, cutting into their banter. He nods to me, and I wish he didn’t. “We have a guest. Let’s be civil.”
“With a magic wielder?" Zarev says again, and although he seems interested, he doesn’t sound happy. “Magic can’t be trusted.”
“Not all magic is bad,” Jacob argues, and I’m suddenly intrigued. This is the first time I’ve spoken to civilians outside of the Frostlands, and already it’s a completely different experience. These people have a kindness to them that the north lacks. “Just different.”
Zarev drops his voice. “Well, if he’s got magic, he could come from Wonderland–”
“I’m from the Frostlands,” I cut in, feeling the need to defend myself. “I was born and raised there.”
Jacob offers me a smile, nodding to the other three. “A magic wielder, aye? I haven’t met a mage in a long time. One of my little girls, we think she might be gifted. But she’s too young for us to know for sure.”
“I’ve only ever heard of magic manifesting in the Snow Queen or Icebound spirits of the north,” Lucius adds, pressing his fingers to his chin. “Interesting.”
With guarded eyes, I look over the four of them again. I’m not going to answer that.
The scenery shifts, twisting the memory, and I can almost feel the phantom echo of the ground shaking from the giant who followed me here. The giant I was escaping from in the Frostlands, the one who bested me.
Briefly, images of Ray’s younger brother, Thomas, flicker through my mind. I’ve known Thomas since he was a boy, and now he's a man. A dying man. If I could see the Shadow Man at this moment…
Things are out of order in my memories now, like my past and present are mixing together.
“He’s a prince,” Ray snickers, his young, unbothered face grinning at me as the trio of friends share their stories. He’s pointing to Lucius, who tries to hide behind the wings.
“Barely,” Lucius hisses. “A Lord, maybe.”
“You live in a castle,” Zarev argues, his eyebrows lifting. When he’s not busy being so serious, he’s just an average kid. “With servants.”
“Staff,” Lucius corrects.
“Villagers depend on you,” Ray continues. We’re in the old tavern, the place that Dahlia built with Jacob before he died. The images of Thomas slip away, returning to my friends at the age I met them.
“You two exaggerate,” Lucius says, turning his attention to me. “My parents have… money. But they aren’t royalty. I’m not a prince. We help the people who live near us. The thorny vines that grow around the perimeter of Notre Dame keep our enemies out. Separates us from enemies like Camelot.”
That means nothing to me. “I don’t know Notre Dame.”
Lucius narrows his eyes, still stirring his food. “It’s Thornton Palace now. The bell tower is too damaged to use.”
“So, Ban, you said you were from the Frostlands?” Ray nudges Lucius’s arm, but it doesn’t get him to back down.
Pursing my lips, I almost don’t respond. But it’ll just come up again, and for the most part, these people seem nice. “I am.”
“People don’t come from the Frostlands often to Sherwood,” Zarev argues, crossing his arms. “Icicle Pass is brutal.”
“You’ve been?” It comes out like a challenge.
He scowls, shaking his head. “I don’t want to go up north. It’s really cold, and there are beasts up there.”
“Icebound spirits and bears,” Lucius supplies. He seems to drop in little facts as he sees fit.
I nod. “Yeah, that’s right. And giants.”
“Giants are in Sherwood, too,” Ray says with a shrug. “And Ravens Wood. I heard they even have some in Tressa.”
“And how would you know what’s in Tressa?” Jacob calls from the kitchen. “You’ve never been past the wall.”
“Neither have you,” Zarev calls back, and I feel like I’m missing something. I have no idea what wall they are referring to.
“You’re from the Frostlands?” a little girl asks, coming over to me. I know they introduced her, but for the life of me, I can’t remember her name apart from the rest of the younger children.
I nod. “Yes.”
“I wish I could go to the Frostlands,” she says dreamily, leaning against the table. “I bet it's beautiful.”
“It’s cold,” I say.
“Genny,” Ray says through gritted teeth, “don’t bother him.”
She sticks her tongue out before going back to the food. “Don’t hog him.”
It’s kind of endearing, listening to the family have such mundane interactions. Where I’m from, no one’s this cheery. I think the cold of the Frostlands sucks the joy out of everyone.
I want to stay in this memory, when all of us were innocent, to some degree.
The room shifts, tearing the memory away, and I almost scream in frustration until Tom appears in front of me.
The darkness around me falls away, and I can see the Shadow Man again.
Instead of feeling relieved, dread settles over me, and I stop holding my head.
This doesn’t feel like a memory. Thomas seems to be his current age, but everything else is wrong.
The skin on the right side of his face is burned, and his bare chest is bandaged; the skin beneath seems red, too.
My eyes widen as I straighten out. Ray and Zarev have given me an idea of the injuries Thomas sustained at Ysanna’s hands, but I have yet to see it with my own eyes. The injuries on his person match their descriptions down to a tee.
Thomas gives me a tight smile, and even with the burn marks, he looks peaceful. His hair on the side of his face that’s burned has gone, and there’s patchy red on the other. “You have to tell Ray it’s not his fault.”
Panic seizes me, and I shoot the Shadow Man a look before stepping forward. “Tom–”
My hand passes through him, like a spirit, and I jerk backward. I expected him to be out of reach, not to react like the souls I’ve helped move on over the past decade.
He tilts his head back, facing his palms upward. “It’s almost over.”
“Tom,” I say earnestly, holding out my hands, too. He doesn’t look back at me, eyes closed, and his face tilted up. “Don’t say that. You have Rapunzel with you… she’s supposed to be able to heal.”
“There’s no healing the dead,” he explains, looking toward me again. There’s no malice in his viridescent eyes. “I have a little longer. She doesn’t know what I desire since I can’t speak. But you fell asleep, and the dreams let me in.”
I glare at the Sandman, or Hans, who stares right back. “You. You did this, Dreammaker.”
“Ban,” Thomas pleads, and I meet his gaze again. “Tell Rapunzel I know she tried her best. I appreciate her efforts, but I’m tired. So tired. If I’m still here when you arrive, you have to tell them to let me go.”
“Thomas,” I urge, reaching for him again. There’s a shake against my shoulder that makes the entire scene wobble, and I try to rush toward him. “You don’t have to go.”
“You sound like Ray,” he says fondly, folding his hands in front of him. “It’s okay, Ban. Tell Ray for me.”
The shake draws my attention again, and I realize someone is trying to wake me. “Ban, please.”
“Neve,” I call, looking around. The space is still dark, and when I pivot around, Thomas and Hans are gone.
Is it a nightmare or an illusion? I have very little time to figure it out before the shaking happens again, and I feel my eyes flutter open.
“Oh, thank Gods!” Neve says, her face directly over mine. There’s a sun-kissed sky above her, and her hair hangs down as she stares at me. Her cheeks look wet, but that can’t be right. “You’re awake. Finally.”
Groaning, I try to sit up. Neve’s at my side, trying to push me down again, and I shrug her off. “What happened?”
“You used too much magic getting over here,” Odette says, and I turn to find her sitting a little further off in the glass. “Using your ice to speed things up and using the shadows to move, as well as carrying me, you exhausted yourself.”
That all sounds about right, but it’s hard to center myself after that strange dream. I sleep so rarely, waking up is always disorienting. This time, after seeing both Hans and Thomas, it feels worse.
The memories the Shadow Man showed me prick at my heart, making me think of what Zarev told me. There’s a giant in the sky.
My past is coming back to haunt me. The shame from years ago is rearing its ugly head at the worst possible time.
Neve helps soothe my worries, locking her arms around my neck and pressing close. I use one hand to wrap around her back, holding her tightly to me. I tuck my face against her neck, breathing her in.
She smells like frost, or fresh snow. Beneath that, I can feel the gentle hum of my magic in her back, and it grounds me to the here and now.
When she pulls back, I glance around. “Where is Zarev?”
He grunts from my opposite side, and I glance over to see him lounging in the grass a few feet away.
He’s got his eyes closed, lying on his back.
“It was a lot of fucking work getting over here. No one’s bothered us so far.
Even the Wonderland creatures know better than to get so close to the cliffs. ”
Looking around, all I see are trees. Compared to the Frostlands, it’s pretty warm. Odette has shed the winterwear, back in the dress she started this whole mess in, and is no longer trembling. There’s a flush to Neve’s cheeks, and I remember she’s never been somewhere this warm.
“Zarev said maybe we should move someplace else,” Neve said, rubbing my arm. “He said the Red Woods aren’t friendly.”
“I suggested that when I thought that Ban would wake up within an hour, not nap all day,” Zarev grumbles.
Peering around, I take a guess that we’re on the outskirts of the Red Woods. Our target should be the Butterfly Garden, where Legs is, and I don’t know how far off the mark we are.
Standing takes a great deal of effort, and Neve does her best to support me as I move. I can’t remember the last time I was this tired, and when I try to use my magic, both the ice and shadows are weak. That’s not a good sign in parts like these.
“We have to be careful,” Zarev advises, rolling onto his stomach. He has yet to get up. “A safer spot would be better to camp for the evening. We’re out of rations too, so food is going to be necessary soon.”
I hesitate, wishing we had brought more with us. “This area of the Red Woods shouldn’t be that deep. We might be able to get to Legs’s Garden by morning if we move through the night.”
“You really want to deal with the beasts in Wonderland in the dark?” Zarev asks dryly. “We’d have better luck asking Legs to come find us, but when I tried earlier, she didn’t answer.”
Pursing my lips, I give Zarev a wary look. I don’t think he comes to Wonderland or the Butterfly Garden very often. I circle through every couple of months. Even after getting stuck beneath Swan Lake, I managed to come up here and talk to her.
The only problem with seeing Legs will be Margo. She’s not a fan of mine.
“It could be Davina,” I say, keeping my voice low. “She had all those Flowerborne in the Frostlands for the first time. She might be rallying the butterflies to go and spy for her.”
Zarev grimaces. “Let’s hope not. She’d be killing them by sending them up there.”
Unfortunately, things like that rarely matter to the Mad Queen.
“So the Red Woods are just as dangerous as the Frostlands.” Odette sighs, picking up her coat. “I should have known.”
“Leave that,” I say, and when Neve tucks herself beneath my arm when I begin to tremble, I don’t push her off.
Zarev takes the coat and tosses it into the shadows for her, leaving nothing behind to mark our path.
I’m too weary to push away Neve’s help right now, and the Shadow Man’s tricks still bang around in my head.
I need to speak to Zarev. Neve’s had dreams about the Shadow Man—the Sandman, Hans—I don’t know who he truly is. But Zarev understands spirits, and we aren’t in the north to deal with the Frostlands anymore.
We need to find a place to camp, and then I need to process whetherf I really saw Tom’s spirit, or if it was another trick from Hans.