A Winter Story: Ember by Elizabeth Trout

In celebration of Christmas, I invited readers to write a story about the painting below. Enjoy the short stories submitted and have a Merry Christmas!

Ember 

Elizabeth Trout    
             

                                                                                  

My name is Ember Isabella Wynteth, and I am running. My governess would probably gasp and sputter and reprove me for being unladylike, but some things you have no choice but to run away from. The icy branches catch at the ends of my burned hair, and I cry out as they jerk me to my knees. The frosty bite of the snow quickly seeps through the fabric of my long dress, and even the warmth of my gold and crimson cloak doesn’t stop my shivering. I am absolutely and completely lost and admittedly, a little scared, and all in all, just about as miserable as a young princess can be.

 What was I afraid of, you ask? Why was a princess a mere fifteen seasons old running through the woods alone, you ask? Why was she tripping and stumbling instead of gliding gracefully, you ask, with head erect and shoulders back? If this was an entirely finished story, I might be able to tell you. But this is my story, and it’s happening even now, at this very minute, and it isn’t over. So be still and patient like a good reader, and all your many questions will be answered as soon as I can get to them.

                                                            *****

You already know my name, Ember. I am the second eldest of four children, all girls except for my brother, Dimitri. He is the oldest, at eighteen seasons, and undeniably my favorite sibling. Sometimes my sisters tease me about how attached I am to him, but I can’t quite help it. His heart has held mine ever since our dear Papa died, and we comfort each other. Dimitri was next in line for the throne, and when Papa died, Dimitri would have been king, but for the counselor.

   Grand Counselor Altair’s father was good and kind, but when he died, Papa was sorry for Altair and decided, apparently on a whim, to elect him to one of the most important jobs in the kingdom. Everyone knew that Altair was corrupt, only wanting money and power. But I was one of the only ones who knew that he wanted the throne. I had been unable to sleep one night, and looking for a book to read, had come into the throne room to see Altair sitting on Papa’s throne. He had my Papa’s crown on his head, and was talking to himself. His voice sent a chill up my spine. “Can’t order me around…old fool… just you wait… soon I’ll be sitting up here, and then you’ll pay… pay dearly.” His teeth glinted like fangs in the moonlight, and it was then that I knew what a dragon looked like. I ran back to my room and locked the door. It’s been five or six years since that day, but I’ve haven’t slept through the night since.

When Papa died, our kingdom was shaken. He had been a noble and kind leader, and his loss was felt deeply by all. Our family, shocked and despairing at the sudden, unexpected loss, was heartbroken. I would have collapsed under the grief had it not been for dear Dimitri. He was my only comfort, and became one with my heart through the sorrow. But the rest of the family was not so fortunate. Soon after Papa died, Altair made his move. He began to sweet-talk and flatter the important nobles, the ones with the most influence. Sadly, he did have the highly developed gift of making nearly anyone believe just about anything he said. When nearly all the nobles were either corrupted or leaning toward his side, Altair set into motion the darker side of his scheme for the throne. Many of our castle guards were found dead in the night, and one had been posted outside my Mama’s very door! The protectors of our home were disappearing fast, and my Mama knew that it was no longer the safe haven for us that it used to be.

One day, Mama decided that the risk of keeping us at the castle was too high, and she decided to send us away across the sea to her father’s house, where she knew we would be safe. She sent my two sisters first, and when she received word of their safe arrival, she made ready to come with Dimitri and me. That was the day it all changed.

                                                            *****

“Dimitri, I know you’re working, but we simply must go!” Mama stood at the open door of Dimitri’s room with a little crease of worry forming between her brows. She was thinner than she used to be, and dark circles glared beneath her eyes, showing the nights of wide-awake fear that she’d been going through. She was still the most beautiful queen I’d ever seen, though, with her glossy brown hair and dark, shining eyes.
             “I’m sorry, Mother,” Dimitri called, happily brandishing a small glass bottle in one hand and a large pomegranate in the other. “I promise, I’m very nearly done, and I can’t possibly do this on the ship!” He plunked the pomegranate down on a table, withdrew a large and dangerous looking knife from the leather belt of his green tunic, and energetically sliced the fruit in half with a wet splunch.

  “What exactly are you doing, Dimitri?” I asked, tilting my head and warily approaching my knife-wielding brother.
            “Ember, don’t encourage him,” Mama sighed, but she stepped a little closer, too. “I just invented this,” Dimitri grinned, pouring a clear liquid out of the glass bottle onto the pomegranate, which immediately began to smoke. He coughed, fanned the smoke away with his hand and announced proudly, “It’s a traveling serum!”
            “You mean you can drink this…stuff, and it will take you anywhere?” I peered into Dimitri’s little bottle in surprise.

“Well, not exactly.” Dimitri put the bottle inside a secret compartment in the side of his tunic. “You don’t drink it directly. Who knows what that would do! Also, it can’t take you anywhere, just one place.”
            “And where is that?” Mother eyed the serum-laced pomegranate distrustfully.
            “I’m not exactly sure,” Dimitri shrugged. “Out in the woods somewhere, I think. I haven’t tried it out yet.”
            Mama gave Dimitri her best you-are-most-assuredly-going-to-get-yourself-killed-someday look, and picked up his packed satchel meaningfully. He grinned good-naturedly and stepped forward to take it.
            The calm air was suddenly split in two with the sound of a scream.

We rushed to the window and looked down into a courtyard stained with blood. The courtyard was usually so beautiful in winter, with its blanket of snow. That day it looked like a battleground. It was littered with the bodies of castle guards. The metallic shing of two flashing swords drew our eye to the center of the courtyard, where Altair was watching his bodyguards finish off the last of our soldiers. Papa’s crown glitters on his head.

“What have you done?” Mama cried, and Altair turned to where we sat in shocked silence at the window. He bowed, and when he straightened his tall frame, he was smiling. I shuddered at the sight. “I’m only bringing my plan to completion, dear queen. But one last thing remains.” He looked to his guards and barked a command in a language that was strange to us. “Don’t worry, my darlings,” he said comfortingly. “It will all be over soon. And if I can help it, your deaths will be quick and painless. But then again, maybe I won’t be able to help myself.” He and his guards began to climb the steps that led to the tower where I and my family were. Just before he came through the gates, he looked up at me and winked maliciously. His eyes were darker than those of a wolf.

Mama jerked back from the window, and her face was white. “We have to go,” she whispered.
           “We can’t go anywhere!” Dimitri cried, as Altair’s soldiers began to splinter the door. His eyes fell on me, and he knelt beside Mama and I on the floor. “Mother – Ember.” His voice was rough, and his eyes were bright with tears. “There is a trapdoor under this carpet, which will take you to the forest. I know, I’ve been there.”
            “But Dimitri,” Mama cried, looking in fear at the rapidly disintegrating door. “We don’t have time!”
            “Yes, we do. But they’ll have to be distracted.” Dimitri straightened, and buckled his scabbard onto his belt. “I love you, Mother.” He stepped toward the door, but turned back and kissed me on my forehead. “I love you, Ember. Be strong. Be true. I’ll meet you where Papa is.” Tears stood in all of our eyes, and they ran hot down my cheeks as Dimitri helped Mama down into the passage.
          “Goodbye, dear heart,” she said, and hugged Dimitri like she’d never let go. “Your father would be proud.” He smiled sadly, and Mama disappeared down the passage. Then he turned to me, and a tear rolled down his tanned cheek. I’d never seen Dimitri cry before. I stored his every feature in my memory.
            “It’ll be all right soon,” I whispered. Then the door shattered with a splintering crash.

Altair strode into the room, a triumphant smile on his ghastly face. “Your time is up, my–” He looked around, noticing Mama’s absence. “Search the room!” His soldiers began rifling through Dimitri’s chamber. Dimitri passed something large and round into my hand, behind our backs. I peeked at it. A pomegranate shone dully in my palm. I realized what I was meant to do and nodded slightly at Dimitri. His fist was also closed around a handful of the red seeds.
        “You’ll never find our mother,” Dimitri announced confidently. “She’s miles away by now.”
         “Oh, so you know where she is, do you?” Altair whipped around and raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m assuming you won’t tell?”
          “Not in a thousand seasons,” my brother growled.
          “Maybe you can be convinced,” The Grand Counselor smiled, and quick as lightning, he was behind my back with a glinting dagger at my throat. “Now – we will see who you value more, your mother – or your sister.”

“Ember.” Dimitri’s voice was cool, and a half smile curved on his face. “Are you at all hungry, dear sister?” Altair glared at him, obviously irritated. “What are you talking about, fool?” The blade of the dagger grazed my throat.
           “Because, Ember,” Dimitri smiled, “If you are hungry, no one should keep you from eating whenever you want, right? Like NOW!” He swiftly kicked the dagger out of Altair’s hand and swept his legs out from under him. Time seemed to slow down as I raised the pomegranate to my mouth. The crimson seeds shimmered like jewels, and as I bit into it, the sweet tang of the fruit blended with the signature bite of a traveling serum. I was whisked out of the castle in an explosion of blue flame.

                                                *****

“Aieeee!” Not the most ladylike of screams, I know, but it’s all I can manage as I was kicked out of a rip in time and space, landing ungracefully on my rear in the snow. “Dimitri?” I called. “Mama?” A twig cracked in the woods behind me. I spun around to see the bushes moving. Suddenly, I was filled with a nameless fear, and I began to run. The icy branches catch at the ends of my burned hair, and I cry out as they drag me to my knees. Déjà vu, anyone?

So here I was, running for my life through a forest with no name, with no idea what was happening back at my home. I keep wondering about the sudden torrent of flame that accompanied Dimitri’s traveling serum. I hope it didn’t harm Dimitri. I must admit, I cry a bit as I run from my home. I miss Dimitri. I miss my Mama. I’m getting colder and colder, and Mama’s warning about staying out in the snow too long runs through my mind. “You must be careful, Ember. Many have strayed too long in the forest. Some never come back.”  I’m growing more and more exhausted, and soon I collapse next to a nearly frozen river. “Oh, Dimitri,” I cry in despair. “Where are you?”
            Suddenly, I hear the almost silent crunch of snow in front of me, and a tiny mewl pierces the snowbound silence of the dark forest. I tuck my burnt hair behind my ear apprehensively and look up.
            Before me sits a tiny kitten.

Streaked russet and white, the kitten is hardly bigger than both of my hands. Instinctively, I reach out to the creature, and in doing so, I look into its eyes. They are deeper than the sea.

I had not become acquainted with many kittens at the castle, but somehow I feel that this one is special. I can’t stop staring into its eyes. They scarcely blink, and glow brighter than the finest gold at the palace. They grow brighter and brighter, filling my vision with gold. Lights seem to shine in the wood around me, and the very air seems laden with magic. I feel a strange but comforting peace, as if the little creature is telling me that everything will be all right. At that moment, I and the kitten could have been the only living things in the world.

I don’t know how long I sat there, staring into this kitten’s eyes, but he (or she) breaks the gaze first. It cocks its tiny head, meows again, and begins to walk away. But, as if struck by a sudden thought, it turns around and says in a cheery voice, “Goodbye, Ember, old girl. I think you’ll be fine now.” The kitten leaps away (faster than a kitten should be able to leap, I thought) and as it disappears, I almost think I hear the faint sound of singing. The sound is quickly drowned out, though, by the crunch of steps behind me. I whirl around, not quite knowing what to expect this time, and gasp in happy surprise.
            Dimitri stands smiling by the bridge, snowflakes falling on the hood of his cloak. I smile, overjoyed at his presence, and collapse to the snowy ground.
                                                            *****

I open my eyes to see my dear brother’s worried face. He sighs with relief and shakes his head. “I search for an hour and a half in killing suspense and freezing temperatures, thinking you could be dead, and when I find you, you just collapse?” Dimitri grins and shakes his head as he pulls me to my feet. “You could have killed me!”

            “Sorry,” I smile. “Hope I didn’t worry you.” I’m so happy to see him; I can hardly even consider being annoyed. Dimitri stands back, and his face changes from playful scolding to sudden joy. He sweeps me up in a hug so tight I can scarcely breathe.
            “I was a bit worried,” he says, and his voice cracks a bit. When he pulls back, I suddenly notice that his hair is burned at the ends, and his clothes are streaked with soot.
            “What happened to you?” I ask, and Dimitri sighs and takes my hand.
            “I’ll tell you on the way. It’s a bit of a long story.”

            My mind slowly clears of the panic I was filled with before, and instead fills with questions as we begin to walk. “Where are we going?”
            “The tunnel that Mother escaped through leads to the house of a friend of mine,” Dimitri explains, pointing to a faraway gleam up in the mountains. “It’s safe there, and that’s where Mother is now. My friend won’t let anything happen to her.” I am relieved that Mama is safe, but questions still flood my mind.
            “So what really happened at the castle? How did you get away?” And the real question, the one I don’t really want to know the answer to, but ask it anyway, “What happened to Altair?”
            Dimitri gives me an odd look. “You don’t know, do you?” I shake my head, confused at his incredulous expression. “Ember,” he says. “I think you killed him.”

“What?” I step back, stunned, and look down at my hands. Were they the hands of a killer? “I – I killed Altair? But how?”
            “Remember the fire that came up as you used the serum?” Dimitri says. I nod, remembering the heat of the cobalt flames raining down around me. “Well, a bit of flame is normal for a traveling serum,” he explains sheepishly, “but maybe the formula was a bit off. It was all I could do to use the serum before your firestorm burned me up, but the last thing I saw in the castle was Altair and his soldiers burning.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head, pushing away the memory.

I step to his side and take his hand again, trying to take his mind off the remembered horror. “So it’s all over?” I whisper, a tiny flicker of hope rising up inside me.
            “I guess so,” Dimitri says in relief, and his sorrow is lost in a smile. “Mother’s still at the cabin, so shall we go?” His familiar grin spreading over his face, he offers me his arm, and we begin to climb the mountain.
          “By the way, Dimitri,” I ask as we set off toward the little house, “what’s your friend’s name?”
          “Hannah,” he says.

                                                            *****

            Hannah is tall and graceful, with long, curling chestnut hair and dark eyes that glow with kindness. Her house, although I’ve never seen it before, makes me feel instantly at home. But what makes me feel even happier is the welcome sight of Mama, sitting by the crackling fire. When she sees me and Dimitri at the door, she utters a cry without words and rushes over to embrace us. “Hello, Mother,” Dimitri gasps, smiling weakly as he tries to loosen Mama’s arms, tight around his waist.
            “Oh, Dimitri! Ember!”  Joyful tears spill down Mama’s cheeks as she laughs out loud. “I’m so happy you’re all right!” We laugh and sing and dance in reckless delight, and finally sit, exhausted in a circle on the floor.
            “Oh, Mama,” I sigh, “we have so much to tell you!”
            “It’s all right, dear heart.” Mother nods to my brother. “Dimitri’s told me everything.”
            “So Altair really is dead?”
            “We’re almost completely sure,” says Dimitri, rising from the floor and fingering his scabbard. “But if he comes back, we’ll be ready for him.”
            “And you will be victorious,” comes a warm voice from behind us. Hannah stands in the doorway with snowflakes in her hair and a smile on her face. In her arms she holds a striped kitten with golden eyes as deep as the sea.

                                                            *****

            Deep in an expanse of never-ending trees, a man, burned and blackened as if by fire, flashes out of nowhere to fall on the icy snow. The remains of a pomegranate fall from his hand, a large bite taken out of the middle. The man groans and opens his eyes. They are as dark as those of a wolf.
            “Revenge,” Altair whispers.                                 

                                                The End…or is it?