Chapter 5
Winter Child
The snow had begun to gather then, pale flakes swirling in the air uselessly. Only the window showed signs of holding it, frost shining on its surface. Inside the large house a scream pierced the air, followed by labored breathing a soothing murmurs of women.
Upon a bed in the upstairs bedroom a woman lay, drenched in sweat. Her stomach bulged under the blankets and her back arched, lifting her almost off the bed. Surrounding her were eight other, six women and two men. Each stood at one of the points of the rose cross carved into the floor, North, North-East, East, South-East, South, South-West, West, and North-West. Hands were linked and in each pair a candle glowed with multicolored light. Black, White, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Purple, the flames licking towards the ceiling.
Chanted words in a language long forgotten filled the air, dancing though the space and beating against the walls as the woman screamed again, face red and twisted.
The woman at the North's voice changed, growing lower and stronger as her words slid from tongue to tongue. Once blue eyes had now become brown and the power that filled the room cracked ceiling supports and shattered glass. The flames glowed brighter, the warm colors dying in place of the cool.
Gone was the Red, the Yellow, the Orange. Out went the Black and the White and with a crack the Purple too vanished, leaving only two candles, on opposite ends of the circle glowing in the dark.
The windows exploded, cold air rushed in, swirling around the group and tearing at hair and sleeves, skirts and pants, trying to rip the very flesh from the bones of its caller.
Shots of white struck the walls, snow snapping into visible pricks against the wood and the steady voice of the North grew louder, sharper, more demanding. The woman on the bed cried, gasping desperately for breath as the last two candles finally went out.
In the cold bedroom, smoke drifting in the air, an infant wailed.
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Between Heaven and Earth
FantasySuncrest was a city that lay on the line of the normal and the fantastic, balancing both in an act of acrobatics so complex it was bound to fall apart someday. No one expected that day to be so soon. When ancient forces converge on the town 60,000...
