Snowfall: A Short Story

Chapter Two

Alia's breath puffed out in cold fogs as she tromped through the snowdrifts. She yanked her red cloak tighter around herself and stared up at the trees passing over her head.

The red cloak, especially its bright hood, was the cloak that the child chosen for flower-picking wore each year. It was thick, durable, and (most importantly of all) warm. Some children whispered that it was imbued with magical powers to protect its wearer against the creatures who resided in the forest, but Alia and Kila thought that was foolish. Nothing that lived in the woods was any more dangerous than the most rascally of the children.

It was peaceful in the woods. Alia felt like she was in a snow bauble the traders brought to town, ones where you shook them hard to make the snow fall. Here, though, the bauble was at rest. It was not snowing, leaving Alia to focus on her thoughts, the sound of her breath, and the crunch of the snow and the dead grass underneath it as she plowed onward.

She was to enter the woods - that was done. Then she only had to walk straight and follow the marked trees to come upon a clearing with the correct flowers. They couldn't be just any flowers; these flowers grew only in the clearing where she was traveling to, and only during the colder months.

Alia thought she heard the rustle of a cloak behind her and turned, thinking perhaps one of the children from the village or even Benji was following her as a prank or to get part of the honor of picking the flowers. But there was no one there, no sign of movement. Shrugging, Alia turned back around and laid her eyes on her target - a tree with a large X carved into the bark. She had to travel the path these X'ed trees created to get to the clearing.

Just as Alia started walking once more, she could have sworn that she heard the crunch of snow beneath a foot much larger than her own, and to her left. She whirled and saw nothing. Glancing fearfully around, she called out, "Whoever you are, this isn't funny! It's rude and mean!"

Immediately, she regretted her words. Obviously whoever it was was trying to scare her, and now knew they were succeeding.

She tread as quietly as possible in the direction from which the sound had come, scanning the snow. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes widening.

Sure enough, there, by a bush was a huge bootprint.

Alia felt fear rising in her throat. The footprint didn't just belong to a large man. It was so enormous that her torso and head could easily fit inside it.

"Hello, little girl," said a dark voice behind her, and Alia shrieked, turning to find a giant man with a matted beard, too much tangled hair, and eyes so black they looked like they belonged to a monster just out of Benji's storybooks.

"Tell me, little girl, why are you going to pick flowers?" the man murmured, moving closer. Alia found herself so paralyzed by fear that she couldn't think, move, do anything.

"Speak," the man commanded, all pretenses of kindness in his voice gone.

Alia started talking, the words rushing and running into one another in their haste to escape her mouth. She could control them no more than she could her terror-ridden body. "For the Snowfall festival. We throw a parade and the faeries of the land visit and ride on the last cart and they protect us for another year."

The man's brows creased together as if confused, although his hate-filled gaze told Alia he was merely acting. "Why would you have to give the faeries flowers to pacify them? Surely, if you had their powers, you would protect people out of the kindness of your heart, little one." His voice was sickly sweet, trying to cover up the broiling anger underneath.

"It's more symbolic now. A tradition," Alia explained in a small voice, feeling tiny in the presence of the huge man. How had he snuck behind her so far? Magic, whispered a little voice in her head, but she shooed it away impatiently. Faeries were the only ones who had magic and this man was nothing like the beautiful, delicate, winged folk.

"Change of plans," the man said briskly, talking much faster and straightening up to his full height, still keeping his gaze focused on Alia. "I have set up a test for you, little one. If you pass the test, you may pick the flowers and the celebration will continue as usual. If you fail...well then, you won't fail, will you?"

Alia couldn't shake her head or even shake with fear. She was still, so still, replaying the terrifying words over and over. You won't fail, will you?

The man grinned, saluted her, and vanished with nothing more than a slight rustling sound, like the flapping of a cloak.