Z-Seasonal Garden Chapter 32

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
======================================================================= I sat on the stone steps outside the tower door in disappointment. The key had been too small, just as the first had been. I shivered as the threat of winter approached. I was far from properly dressed, and only had a small travel cloak folded and shoved into the depths of my pockets. I pulled it out and wrapped it around me before descending the ancient steps.
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I began to lose track of the days. As the seasons changed it made days seem like years. And before I knew it fall was gone, each dead leaf blown out to sea and the snow came in mounds. The waves crashed below me and they started to look very welcoming. I wasn’t sure how far I was from another
island but being trapped in the garden for so long had me thinking of swimming somewhere. Escape became a very real thought.
Realistically I knew I could do nothing but sit, and wait, and hope that Plankrun was following his path. If he didn’t banish the Acolytes from this realm they would become too powerful to defeat. I wasn’t even sure Plankrun even knew that there were other realms, or that he was supposed to send the acolytes away. It wasn’t like you could just hunt them. No, they had surpassed capture by any known traps.
I sighed. Defeat looked inevitable, and the king had no way of knowing. We hadn’t sent scouts or runners to him in days, maybe weeks. I was still at a loss for the day or the year. I was becoming so disoriented.
I sat by the frozen lake as I pondered my thoughts. Moving around was nearly impossible as the third blizzard picked up. I set my trap and just waited. Luckily I found that hydro traps were a much better use for the winter mice than my first move. I had one stashed away.
It was a simple trap where I came from but it had a good amount of power. I had used magic to harness electric orbs to a metal net which dropped from its harness, then into the water on the base once it was activated. Electrocution worked wonders in defeating unwanted pests. They Hydro Shock trap had been a favorite in my village for a time, until people started using things like spear guns and net cannons. I kept my faithful trap in spite of the others. I armed the thing and left it several feet away with fresh bait on the watery base.
There was nothing more to do but wait. After a few hours of silence, apart from the blasting winds, a mouse approached. I squinted through the snow and found a Bruticle approaching my trap. I had come across them a few times when winter had started again, but my trap had failed to catch them each time. I hoped my hydro trap would have a better chance at snagging him.
The mouse sniffed the air around my base with caution before turning its eyes directly on me. I heard a growl erupt from his throat. I stood frozen. He took a step towards me and ice formed around his feet. Each time he took a new step a shattering sound split the cold air as the ice around his paws broke free. His back was full of spikes, but not just spikes, ice spikes. They sparked threateningly. He growled again when he was only feet away.
This was becoming a reoccurring pattern. I braced myself for impact. The mouse shattered through more ice and lunged in my direction. I was stunned by how much speed he acquired in such a small amount of space. We tumbled for a bit throwing piles of snow into the air around us. I got on my knees in time to see him blast ice in my direction. I felt my feet freeze to the ground. I looked behind me and saw my feet wrapped in a jagged coat of ice. When I glanced around for the mouse I found myself face to face with one of the ice spikes off his back. He held it in hand pointing it at me.
We stared at each other for a time. I waited for the jab from the spike that I was sure would come, or a blow to my body. But the mouse stayed frozen in place, I began to think perhaps he was frozen. That was, until his ears twitched at the approach of something.
Wind blew around us, huge gusts of it. Snow swirled in clouds around my eyes, bitterly cold; I felt some slide down my neck and melt on my skin. I sorely missed my scarf. Out of the blinding snow storm stepped a mouse I had only glimpsed before.
“Hello hunter. I...” he gestured to himself with his icy staff, “am the Winter Mage.” A blue orb was frozen in place at the very tip of the jagged ice staff. He controlled the winter. He stabbed the sharp end into a snow drift, and then began to circle around me.
“I must say you are not what I expected.” He said as he came back around to face me. “They said a wizard would come but I see no wizard here, you can’t even tame the seasons.”
“No one has control of the seasons.” I spat.
“On the contrary, we do.” An evil grin spread across his face. “You see, young hunter, the acolytes came here first; placing us and our master in charge of this sad little island. They couldn’t have you chasing after them all the time. It was just getting you to perform the proper magic that would be the tricky part. You did a splendid job I must say. So, enjoy your imprisonment here. Spring should come in about a day or so.”
With another blast of snow and wind both mice vanished from sight. My feet were still trapped in ice where I crouched. I couldn’t pull them free. Defeat washed over me in waves; miserable, icy, waves.