Winter

“There’s no hope,” said Haru, who was having even more difficulty keeping up with his wife due to his mounting injuries. “We can’t escape and there’s nothing we can do to stop her. Just leave me here to die. Save yourself.”

“I won’t give up,” said Miyuki.

“There’s no more time,” said Haru. “She’s going to show up any minute.”

Miyuki hadn’t heard her husband as her attention was focused squarely on something else. It was hard to see from that distance, but Miyuki was sure she saw something up ahead. Without urging Haru to follow, Miyuki continued on her way.

“Wait for me,” said Haru.

Miyuki began tearing at a bush up against the side of a mountain.

“What are you doing?” asked Haru.

After a while Miyuki had cleared away enough of the bush to show that there was an entrance to a cave hiding behind it.

Miyuki and Haru entered the cave and took out their cell phones, using them to light the way as they ventured further inside.

“I don’t think she’ll find us in here,” said Haru.

The deeper the two explored, the colder the cave became. To make matters worse, as the two continued, they found strange symbols drawn in blood on the walls.

“What are these?” asked Haru. “Miyuki-chan, we shouldn’t be in here.”

Miyuki paid her husband no attention and continued leading the way.

When the two came to a dead end they found a makeshift home away from home. A pile of hay served as a bed with a tattered blanket and pillow that had been worn badly by time laid neatly on top of it.

“Natsuko,” said Miyuki.

There was a small table and chair off to the side and on the table was a book. Miyuki wasted no time in retrieving it and reading. As she had been expecting, the handwriting matched what she had seen in the journal she had found in Natsuko’s home.

I found a book in a cave during one of my walks. It looked to be thousands of years old. The language, it was nothing I had ever seen before. But, for some reason, I could read every word that was in it. It’s like the book had been left there just for me.

I’ve written my name in blood in the book just as it told me to. Now I am bound to the book and it is bound to me.

The book speaks of a master who has promised his followers power if they give him what he wants. I want this power and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it. I want to teach that village a lesson for mistreating me. They treat me like an outsider. Why? Because I don’t take part in their stupid activities or engage them in conversation? Just because I like to keep to myself, why should that make them treat me like I’m different?

“What kind of book is that?” asked Haru.

“It’s Natsuko’s journal,” replied Miyuki.

“But you already found her journal.”

“I did,” said Miyuki. “She must have kept another one.”

I waited for the night of the full moon. When it was at its highest point in the sky, I spoke the incantation of the ancients. It wasn’t long before I started seeing the results. Only three days later the crops started to wilt and die. There won’t be near enough food for these fools to eat during the coming winter. It serves them right that they’ll all starve to death.

People are starting to talk. I made a mistake. Some of the farmers saw the look on my face as they fretted over their precious crops. I was just so happy with what I had done that I had to get a better look. Now they know that I take pleasure in their misfortune. I’ll have to be more careful as I continue to do my Lord’s bidding.

“This can’t be,” said Miyuki. There was genuine sorrow on her face as she read further the horrible acts committed by Natsuko.

My master desires blood and blood is what I have given my master. Under the cover of night I led some of the animals into the forest. I cut them to pieces with an axe. Their screams made my body quiver with pleasure. The villagers are so stupid. They’ll think that a wild animal did this to them. After all, what human being could do this?

I don’t feel any different. The master has yet to reward me for my devotion. I must give him more than the lives of mere plants and animals. I must take human life for him. I know he will show his favor to me if I give him that.

Stupid old man Yuta, staggering around the village drunk. He bumped into me and then started yelling at me like it was my fault. Everyone just watched. They didn’t try to help. I felt like a fool standing there letting that drunk yell at me like that. I promise I won’t let him get away with what he’s done.

I snuck into that drunk fool’s house. I could hear him snoring from outside so I knew he wouldn’t object to me being there. I set some old rags on fire then ran back home to watch his house burn to the ground. I was heartbroken when he came stumbling out of his front door shouting that his house was on fire.

The master will not be happy about this.

Most of the villagers won’t talk to me or even look at me. Not that I want them looking at me or talking to me. I hate them all so much. Some of the children have been calling me ‘witch’ and some even throw rocks at me.

Those children won’t live long enough to regret the way they treat me.

Miyuki slammed the journal shut.

“I can’t read any more,” said Miyuki. “It was all lies. Everything she told me. She wasn’t a victim at all. She deserved what happened to her. She’s a monster now because she was a monster then.”

“Miyuki-chan,” said Haru, who had discovered something under Natsuko’s pillow. Haru displayed it in the light from his cell phone to reveal it was the book Natsuko had used to learn of the dark master and of the spells with which she would use to terrorize her village.

“This is the book that turned her into what she is,” said Miyuki. She opened the book to the first page and was presented with Natsuko’s name written in blood.

“This is all too much to handle,” said Haru. “Do you still have my cigarettes? I need to calm myself down.”

“This isn’t the time for that.”

“Please, it might be the last time I get to smoke one.”

A crackling sound began filling the cave. When Miyuki and Haru turned their lights to the sound, they found ice had begun forming on the walls.

“We need to leave,” said Miyuki.

When the two exited the cave they found Natsuko waiting for them.

“I see you found my hiding spot,” said Natsuko. “Did you find anything interesting to read while you were in there?”

“You lied to me,” said Miyuki.

“I suppose I did,” replied Natsuko.

“The journal I found in your home, why did you write it?”

“In hopes that one of those fools would sneak into my house and find it. Then maybe they would have cast their suspicions on someone else. But no one ever did. They thought that by entering the house of a witch they would be cursed. That’s why they boarded it up after they murdered me. The only one naïve enough to believe the stories in that book was you.”

“So, Kaito?”

“He was just some man from the village that wouldn’t give me a second look,” said Natsuko. “It’s too bad. I would have let him lay with me.”

“So you were executed before getting the chance to punish your village for the way they treated you,” said Miyuki. “Is this your way of making up for that failure?”

“Oh, I didn’t fail,” replied Natsuko.

500 years ago . . .

It had taken only hours for Natsuko to succumb to the elements. She had stopped struggling to free herself from the tree, knowing that death was inevitable.

A gentle snow began to fall upon the peaceful scene. But the serene environment would take a dramatic turn for the worst very quickly.

The sky grew dark and a powerful wind turned a gentle snowfall into a hellish blizzard.

A lifeless Natsuko opened her eyes. What once were brown, Natsuko’s eyes were now a dark shade of blue. Her skin faded to a light blue and her hair lost its color, becoming a white as pristine as snow.

The ropes ensnaring Natsuko became covered in ice, weakening them to the point that they snapped and set free their prisoner.

Natsuko removed herself from the tree and immediately looked in the direction of her village. A swirling snow gave her elegant white garments.

Natsuko’s village was in a panic from the sudden blizzard. People who had been out and about were running back to their houses.

“Get inside,” shouted Matsumoto. “It isn’t safe.”

So much snow had fallen in such a short time that the roof of a nearby home collapsed from the weight.

“It isn’t safe here,” shouted another man. Before he could utter another word, a razor-sharp chunk of ice pierced through the back of his head and out his mouth.

People began running out of their homes as more roofs began collapsing from the weight of the snow that had quickly built up on them.

At the far end of the village, Natsuko was hovering several feet above the ground. She extended her arm toward the villagers, sending more razor-sharp chunks of ice at them. The ice found their targets with deadly precision.

Natsuko floated through the village toward the man who had overseen her execution.

“Did you really think death could stop me?” asked Natsuko.

“It’s you,” gasped Matsumoto.

After lowering to the ground, cold air began circulating around Natsuko’s hand. And from that cold air emerged a sword made of crystal-clear ice.

“I’m going to spare you the speeches and ask you a very simple question,” said Natsuko. “Have you any last words?”

“Burn in hell,” said Matsumoto.

“Oh, I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” replied a grinning Natsuko. “For you see, hell is a very cold place.” Natsuko then wasted no time in taking the man’s head.

With that piece of business taken care of, Natsuko rose high into the air. An unstoppable rush of snow came flooding into the village and buried everything.

* * *

“Were you really going to let one of us live?” asked Miyuki.

“I think you already know the answer to that,” replied Natsuko.

Haru pulled out his knife.

“This is where we end this,” said Natsuko. “The games are over. Once I’m finished here I’m going to spread this bitter cold over the rest of your vile species.”

Natsuko summoned a powerful blizzard.

“And just to make sure you don’t get any foolish ideas about escaping,” said Natsuko before large razor-sharp chunks of ice thrust out of the ground and formed a semi-circle around the three, leaving only the dead-end cave as escape.

“So much innocent blood is going to stain my snow,” said Natsuko. “Once the snow is wiped clean, nothing will remain of your kind but bitter memories.”

When Natsuko raised her hands, razor-sharp chunks of ice appeared in mid-air all around her, in a most threatening display.

Miyuki caught everyone by surprise by running back into the cave.

“Leaving her beloved husband to fend for himself,” said Natsuko. “It doesn’t surprise me. But don’t worry. She’ll be getting hers soon enough. But first you get yours.”

Haru thrust his knife toward Natsuko in a vain attempt to intimidate her. “What’s with all the theatrics?” he asked. “Afraid to fight me with your bare hands?”

“Why should I get my hands dirty when I can let the cold take you?”

“Hmph, just like a woman.”

“What did you say?” asked an enraged Natsuko.

Miyuki returned to Natsuko’s bed and retrieved the spell book. As quickly as she could, she pulled out Haru’s lighter and set the hay on fire. With the fire now raging, she placed both the spell book and Natsuko’s journal in the flames.

Outside, Haru was continuing with his antagonizing speech.

“It’s a good thing you’re not a man or you would have finished the two of us off long ago,” he said. “I guess we’re lucky that you’re just a woman.”

“Enough!” exclaimed Natsuko, who extended her arm toward Haru.

The chunks of ice hovering in mid-air failed to attack their target. Instead, large cracks began appearing in them. Before long, they shattered. The larger chunks of ice that surrounded the area began cracking as well before breaking into pieces. The powerful blizzard quickly died down to nothing more than a passing breeze.

“Why is this happening?” whispered Natsuko.

Miyuki emerged from the cave.

“You,” exclaimed Natsuko. “What did you do?”

“You said that after we’re gone there won’t be anything left of us but bitter memories,” said Miyuki. “I made sure that when you’re gone not even your memories are left behind.”

With the way water was streaming down Natsuko’s face, it was evident that she had begun melting.

“How could you do this to me?” asked a sorrowful Natsuko.

There was no sympathy to be had, as Miyuki and Haru watched their nemesis melt away until nothing remained.

Haru immediately fell to his knees. “Thank God,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer I could have kept putting on that act.”

Miyuki could see that her husband’s stomach wound was bleeding badly. “I didn’t know it was that bad,” she said.

“I did a good job of hiding it,” replied Haru.

Miyuki reached into her pocket and produced the bottle of pills. “Here, take these,” she said, pouring a few pills into her husband’s hand.

“Thank you,” said Haru before popping them into his mouth. He then attempted to get back to his feet.

“No, you have to stay still,” said Miyuki, gently nudging him back down. “It’s a long cut, but it isn’t very deep. I think you’ll be okay if you take it easy.”

“I feel better already thanks to you,” Haru said with a smile.

“I’m glad,” replied Miyuki, a smile upon her face.

“Where do we go from here?” asked Haru.

“We’ve been given a second chance,” replied Miyuki. “This is our opportunity to start our lives over. Where we go from here is wherever we choose to go.”

It was a struggle but Haru was able to get back to his feet. “An opportunity to start our lives over,” he said.

It happened so quickly that Miyuki had no chance to react. After straightening himself up, Haru plunged his knife deep into his wife’s stomach.

Not only did it produce an extreme pain, it felt as if the air had been sucked out of Miyuki’s lungs. “Why?” she gasped.

“We never could have gone back to what we once were,” explained Haru. “Not after what happened today. If I want to start a new life, I have to do it without you. I hope you can understand. I hope you can forgive me.”

Miyuki fell to the ground, her blood staining the snow a deep shade of red.

“I had to get along with you,” said Haru. “It was the only way I was going to survive all this. But now I have no more use for you.”

Miyuki began laughing.

“What’s so funny?” asked Haru.

“I should have seen this coming,” said Miyuki. “I suppose now neither of us is going to get the chance to start our new lives.”

“What do you mean?” Haru suddenly lurched over in pain and blood immediately began pouring out of his mouth.

“I was going to start my new life with Mr. Tanaka,” said Miyuki. “But I guess that won’t be happening now.”

“The pill,” gasped Haru before falling to the ground.

Miyuki again began laughing.

“How long?” asked Haru.

“How long have me and Mr. Tanaka been lovers?” asked Miyuki. “I’m not sure. But it’s been a long time. Much longer than you’ve been seeing that woman. Don’t think I didn’t know about her. I’ve known about her from the start. I just didn’t care.”

It wasn’t long before Haru succumbed to the poison.

“Where do we go from here?” asked Miyuki, gazing at the blue sky above. “We can go wherever we choose to go.” Her eyes then closed for the final time.

A gentle snow began to fall.

The blood that had been spilled upon the pristine snow was more than enough to wake Natsuko from her temporary slumber.

*Within Temptation - Ice Queen