House of Winter

Chapter 1, Part 1

ARI

The suns had set hours ago, but the snow glowed silver in the light of the moon. Ari wiggled her toes in her boots, trying to warm them up. She was wearing thick wool layers, stolen from the winter princess's wardrobe, and a coat made of animal pelts, but after sitting in the cold for hours, she could barely feel her toes.

The Royal Mary Kinnling Health Institute was a magnificent sandstone building, decorated with intricate carvings of flying tigers, wolves, lions and dragons, who seemed to be in an endless battle, circling the columns of the front face of the building.

The grand entrance door was huge, lit day and night by solar lamps, and far too exposed; visible from the sloping hill that led down to the front entrance of the hospital. But there were other entrances, and Ari had been staking them out every night, waiting for her chance to slip inside.

Now, in the early hours of a freezing cold Frostsday - the coldest day of the week, when one sun was eclipsed by the other - Ari finally had her moment. Of course, it meant hiding under an abandoned canal boat for most of the night, on one of the coldest days of the year.

There were a few canal boats tied to the side of the canal here. They were designed to be steered by water starrlings, to ferry sick or injured kinnlings up and down the canal to where it met the river, and finally into New Hamilton.

There was a door at the side of the building that was used for access from the canal, and was often used late at night for the doctors to leave, because the grand entrance door was locked earlier in the evening, when visiting times were over.

Ari had packed the lock of the door with ice, so when the last doctor had left for the evening, the lock hadn't clicked into place. And now Ari slipped through the door of the hospital and into the dark corridor beyond.

There were doctors' offices and surgery rooms with closed doors, but as Ari rounded the corner, she was met with a row of doors with windows at eye-level. Through each window, Ari saw a giant beast, most of them dozing, but some of them pacing or scratching at the walls. There was a room with a magnificent lion with a thick mane, but the hair on the lion's belly was shaved and Ari saw a thick scar tracing up the lion's belly.

Through the next window she saw a mother bear with two bear cubs sleeping next to her. There were wolves, dragons, and even a pure black stallion with wings so dark they seemed to absorb all light and create a hole in Ari's vision. But the creature she was looking for was a tiger.

Ari knew the layout. She'd been watching for nights now, and she knew that each of the kinnlings were taken out daily, into the huge open air courtyard of the building, where those that weren't too sick were given room for exercise. Ari had watched every day for the three-legged tiger who stumbled on his feet as a caval led him around in the snow.

First she found the stock room, where she filled her bag with thick bandages and the antiseptic she'd seen the nurses applying every to Jinni's injuries. If Ari was going to rescue Jinni the tiger, she knew she needed to be able to care for him, too. And it seemed like she was the only one who was willing to do that.

Yesterday, when Ari had been staked out next to the hospital, memorising the routines of the doctors, she'd overheard two young medical students. One of the boys had had tears in his eyes as he explained to the other that he was tasked with providing the lethal dose of estellaine to kill the tiger.

"He would have been such a magnificent beast, in his prime," the student had lamented. "And now his starrling has abandoned him, disappeared, so the school has decided he's not worth the cost of saving him."

"He's only got three legs," the other medical student had reasoned. "He would never be a fighter. He's nothing but a princess's pet, abandoned when he was no longer perfect enough for her. It's kinder to relieve him of his misery."

Ari had felt horrified at the words. She'd been hoping to bide her time. She was a ghost on the grounds of the school, hiding in the underground catacombs during the day and stealing food from the kitchens at night, waiting and watching while Jinni healed. But now, she knew she would have to act. If she didn't steal Jinni away tonight, then it would be too late.

It was her fault that Jinni had lost his leg, and her fault that Princess Lumiko of Kakaio had disappeared without taking her kinnling with her. Ari knew that she needed to save Jinni from his fate, and return him to the princess.

After filling her bag with the medical supplies she needed, Ari glanced through the glass of the room she knew held Jinni the tiger.

He wasn't there.

The room was dark, the floor cleared of the hay that the tiger had been sleeping on. Ari cursed. The doctors must have moved him during the day. Maybe she was too late, and they'd already killed him.

But then she heard a horrible growl, and she turned to see dark yellow eyes staring at her through the glass of the doorway opposite.

Ari felt a simultaneous wave of panic and relief to see the tiger glaring at her.

They'd moved him, perhaps to clean the room, but he was still alive. But he was glaring at her, completely alert and apparently completely aware of who she was.

She was the girl who had hurt him.

With nothing but a metal door between them, Ari crept forward. The tiger showed his teeth.

"Jinni," Ari said, doing her best to mimic Lumi's exact pronunciation of the tiger's name. "I guess you remember me."

In response, the tiger let out a deep growl, and a huff of a flame erupted from between his teeth.

"I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," Ari said. "I never meant to hurt you."

Ari swallowed, and then stepped forward to the door.

"Jinni, I know you miss Lumi," Ari said. "You miss her, right? I can take you to her."

The tiger's yellow eyes bore into her.

Ari swallowed. He was truly a terrifying beast, even with the weight he had lost since recovering from his amputated limb. And Ari couldn't blame him for glaring at her. It was she who had caused this pain.

"I'm so sorry," Ari murmured. "I never meant to hurt you."

The tiger let out a ferocious roar. Ari gasped, and jumped backwards, almost falling over, as the tiger stalked towards her. The door between them suddenly seemed very thin.

thanks for reading, you star xx