The Codex

Chapter 1

It's not easy being the winter knight. I've come up against a lot of things during my stint as mab's new plaything. But nothing could have prepared me for what I would be up against this time.

"Forzare!" I screamed as I hurled a blast of invisible force at a swamp demon as he came around a corner.

It hit him right between the eyes and he flew back into an old chicken roost, spewing feathers everywhere.

"Nice shot Harry," I heard from in front of me as my old apprentice Molly reached out her hand to help me up. I say old apprentice because now little Molly was the winter lady. In effect, she had become one of my many bosses in the Sidhe court.

We had been sent out by Mab to investigate a series of disappearances of

Sidhe nobles from the winter court over the past few months. Mab had not said much but It was clear that she believed summer was involved in some way.

She obviously thought this to be of high importance because she sent us both to investigate. It had been quite sometime since Molly and I had been on a mission together. She being the winter lady, I was usually dispatched by her or Mab to this way or the next. To set an example for upstarts in the court or assassinate high profile Sidhe nobles that had begun to revolt.

Molly had changed so much since becoming the winter lady. At times when I looked at her, I could swear that I was looking at Mav, if not for the smile and facial features.

It was true that Molly had changed and her clothes had changed but to me she would always be Molly. The daughter of a former knight of the cross and a gifted wizard in illusionary magic and defense.

Her hair was the color of blue with streaks of purple. She wore a waist length shirt with a brown jacket that barely covered anything useful. She was in tight black jeans that were more covert than the usual winter lady wear but they did little to hide her physique and body.

Since becoming the winter lady, Molly had definitely changed.

"Come on Harry, what are you waiting for?"

I grabbed her hand as we ran down the field. All around us were sounds of various animals making scared noises. We were running through piles of hay and grass and other things that I rather not think about.

Usually the Sidhe court would not run from something such as this but for whatever reason, Sidhe magic did not work against the creature that was pursuing us.

I was also unable to pull power from the winter knight's mantle to use against the creature. My own magic without the buff had seemed to work fine but only when I had been severed from connection to the mantle.

To do this without jamming a nail into my body which while excruciatingly painful was also impractical, Molly had taken possession of the mantle temporarily which had made her more powerful but either way, she could not use her powers anyway against the creature.

As we continued to run for a safe haven I felt the change in the air as Molly veiled us with her magic. Having both the mantle of the winter lady and the winter knight made this much easier than it would have been but also very hard on her body to keep the spell going. However, while she was using the mantle, the magic was not trying to rip her in two.

We rounded a haystack near the end of the field and stopped for a moment to catch our breath. Molly was blurry to me and myself to her, but I knew that she was there.

I looked over the haystack to see if the Swamp demon was still pursuing us, but saw that It had not left the chicken barn and was pacing around, apparently trying to discover where we had gone.