Chapter 2
Iwasn’t ashamed to admit that I’d watched Frozen a time or twenty and this place reminded me of it.
Each hallway on the walk down to the bowels of the palace and the dungeon itself looked like Elsa had just lost her shit on her way up the mountain.
Every surface was covered in a layer of frost or crusty snow that didn’t melt when I touched it or burn my skin like it was super cold.
It wasn’t like things had been replaced by frozen versions, but like they’d been wrapped in ice or snow.
As if a storm had come through, or the prince had thrown a fit.
“Never had a human in my dungeon before.”
That was Lars. He was everything scraggly and ancient and seemed to be the one in charge of the dungeon.
He smelled like stinky cheese and had pointy ears like the prince.
I probably could’ve broken Lars in half instead of submitting to being chained to a wall, but the guards had supervised that.
Plus, I still didn’t know what the hell I was supposed to do if I could get myself free.
Run out into the snow? So I stood against a wall, shivering in the cold, and watched Lars go through my backpack.
He shook my water bottle, opened it, sniffed it, and took a drink. He immediately spat it out. “What is that?” he asked in disgust.
“Water.”
“That isn’t water.” He went over to an open barrel, used a ladle to scoop up some water, and brought it to me. “This is water.”
I took a sip, not entirely sure why we were doing this, but then blinked in surprise. “Wow. That’s, like, mountain spring fresh or something.”
“Uh-huh. Your water tastes like shit.” He tossed the ladle into a sink of dirty dishes and poured my water bottle out over a drain in the floor. “You should do something about that when you go back.”
That perked me up a bit. “So you think I’ll be going home?”
“Well, they said I can’t torture you, so I figure you’re not staying here.”
I took a deep breath and tried to see the good in that. No torture. Not staying in the dungeon. Okay. I focused on watching him go through my things because that didn’t matter nearly as much as whatever my fate was.
“What’s this?” He held up my phone.
“Mobile phone. A small computer, really.”
Lars shook it side to side, and I could see that the screen stayed black.
Dead battery? Or had falling through a fairy ring somehow shorted it out?
I winced when he tossed it to the other end of the table he was working on, but really, it was basically a paperweight without the charger that I’d left in my hotel room.
And now that I was looking at the table, I realized it was actually a rack. The kind of medieval torture device they’d strap someone to and then pull them apart on.
“So, uh, how often do you torture folks down here? Got anyone lined up for today?” Because me and the sight of blood did not get along well, so I would not participate as a witness for long before passing out.
“Nah.” He sniffed at my trail mix before opening it and eating some. “Hmm, that’s tasty. Haven’t had anyone to torture since the curse took all the Summer and Autumn folks away.”
My stomach growled, and Lars came over the with food to pour some in my mouth. “Thanks,” I said while chewing, “but what do you mean that the curse took people away?”
I’d already surmised that if there was a Winter Court, the rest of the seasons were probably somewhere nearby.
He snapped his fingers and threw his arm out to the side.
“Something invisible snatched them right out of everywhere they were. Busted through the very walls, which then put themselves right back together like nothing had happened. Even took the Spring Court folks away.” He shook his head like that was disappointing.
It was interesting that even he was mystified by magic. Did that mean it was reserved for only some people, like those throwing curses around? Hopefully, no one would turn me into a frog just for the fun of it.
I refocused on our conversation and asked, “It sounds like Summer and Autumn were your enemies, and Spring was an ally?”
“That’s right. Well, not ally per se, but we weren’t at war with them.” He found my towel and swim trunks, shaking them both out and eyeing the bright colors. “Not a one of the princes truly gets along with any of the others, you see.”
Four brothers at war with each other. Then a curse comes along and traps their father while separating them, ending the conflicts. Aside from the bit with the king, it didn’t sound like a bad thing exactly.
“What’s the worst thing about the separation of the courts?” I nodded at the trunks. “Can I put those on? It’s getting really cold under here.”
Lars looked at me and then at the swim trunks before sighing and bringing them over. “It’s all about layers here, boy. Don’t forget that.”
I nodded and lifted one foot and then the other to step into the trunks. He hiked them up and wiggled them around to get my junk situated, thankfully not reaching in himself. Then he went over to get the towel and draped it over my shoulders. I opened my mouth to thank him, but he started talking.
“Worst thing about being cut off from the other courts is that some families got separated. We weren’t all pale and frosty back then.
” He paused to brush at the coating of white on his shoulder.
It floated away like dust only to sort of regrow on his shoulder again.
“You couldn’t tell if someone was from another court or just from up in the mountains or some such.
But the curse whisked them all away to their original courts, and we all knew. ”
I ignored the possible prejudice. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”
Lars grunted and ate some more trail mix. I wasn’t sure if I should ask whether he’d lost anyone, so kept quiet about it.
“Second worst thing,” he said, “is losing all our trade with Spring while being stuck in this infernal winter. Nothing grows in the cold, eh? Should’ve seen us scrambling to build greenhouses and figure that out before we starved to death.”
“But you all did it, right? You’re doing okay growing your own food?”
He shrugged. “Lost some folks early on, before the first harvest. Rationing everything, of course. Lost five stone myself.”
Five stone? Oh, that was a weight. I couldn’t remember how much it was, but five of them seemed like a lot. Especially since it sounded like he’d lost it due to a lack of available food. And they’d lost some folks early on? Trauma on top of trauma.
“I’m sorry, Lars. I wish there was some way I could help.”
He found my company lanyard and put it on. “Maybe you can.”
“Oh? How?”
“Came through the barrier, didn’t you? Maybe you can get through the others.” He chuckled a bit darkly. “Bet that’s got his highness’s brain whirring.”
Okay, sure, that might be a possibility. “What good would it do, though, to have one person going through the barrier?”
He gave me a look like he thought I was slow. “Food would be nice. Could herd the damn elk back, too. Can’t tell you the last time I had a nice steak. Sick up to my eyeballs of chicken and pork.”
“So animals can pass through?” I was going to ignore the possibility that me doing the same made me more animalistic than the fae.
“They can. And not a one of them wants to be stuck in the winter.” Seemingly finished ransacking my stuff, he came around the table and leaned a hip against it as he faced me.
“I haven’t seen it myself, but I heard tell some folks sent a horse back and forth through the barrier to Spring for a bit with a wagon they kept filling and emptying.
But then the Spring side suddenly filled with water like a dam broke somewhere and the poor horse drowned.
Had folks on that side swimming for shore well back from the barrier. ”
“Shit, that’s terrible. So the curse can evolve to keep you miserable?”
Lars shrugged, crossing his arms. “Maybe.”
“Who cast the curse? Like, who cursed the courts?”
“No one knows.”
“Really? There’s no common enemy?”
He stepped away from the table and looked down toward the door out of the dungeon.
When he saw or didn’t see whatever he was looking for, he said quietly, “Some think the princes brought it on themselves on account of the way they couldn’t get along.
Others say the king did it for the same reason and that’s why he’s trapped in amber.
Being that curses require sacrifices and all, I side with the latter. ”
Rumor had it that the king cursed his sons because they kept going to war with each other? That he sacrificed himself to stop them? If he’d thought killing people through starvation would be worth it to close the courts, how bad had things been?
“Any idea,” I asked Lars, “how to break the curse?”
He shrugged again and picked up the trail mix. “Curses are usually broken by doing something difficult. Sometimes it’s sacrifice. Sometimes it’s change. Could be this one wants us all to get along.”
“Do you think you can?”
He chewed thoughtfully. “After three years, I don’t much care where a body was born. Don’t put a knife to my throat, and I won’t put one to yours.” He pulled his coat closer around him. “I’d like to be warm and fat again, is all.”
“And have more work?”
“Nah. They could close this place down permanently, and I’d be fine smoking my pipe on my own front stoop for the rest of my days.”
Maybe the citizens of the Winter Court had learned their lessons and done the hard work of changing for the better. Sounded like it to me if the head torturer in the dungeon was okay with losing his job.
Was the prince so changed, though?
When night fell, Lars moved me from chained against the wall in the torture area to chained by my ankle to a wall in the corner with the fireplace and a cot.
He explained how to keep the fire going if I woke to embers, and laughed at me when I asked why it wasn’t spelled to stay burning—magic isn’t free, boy. Then he left to go home.
Alone with my thoughts, the worries I’d managed to avoid all day started seeping in. I could get a drink of water any time I wanted, but there wasn’t any food aside from the three ounces of trail mix I’d had hours ago. Was I going to drop five stone, too?
And then it occurred to me that I’d read or heard somewhere that you weren’t supposed to accept food or drink from fairies. I just couldn’t remember why. Because I’d be trapped here? Because they’d own my soul? I supposed it was too late to save me now.
I wrapped the blankets Lars had left me closer around myself and scooted the cot nearer the fire.
What were Wally, Bridge, and Zalman doing right now?
I didn’t know if they’d come through the ring, too, or if they were trying to explain to park rangers how I’d disappeared.
If they’d come through the ring, following me, why hadn’t they landed on top of me on the prince’s table?
If they were still in Michigan, how would they ever get anyone to believe what had happened to me?
I knew they wouldn’t leave me. I trusted that they’d do their best to find me.
But what could that even look like when I was in a whole other plane of existence?
If I was going to be trapped here for the rest of my life, I was for damn sure going to make little Prince Icicle learn his lessons and break the curse. Maybe then he’d help send me home just to get rid of me.