“What?” I looked at them blankly, not sure what they were saying. My parent’s faces were changed, brow’s furrowed and corner of their mouths turned down.

“You were cursed,” my mother repeated. “When you were born. An evil sorceress appeared and cast a spell on you.”

“She said,” my father picked up. “That it was time for the line of Oaken to pay for its past crimes. She cursed you and said if you did not thaw her magic by your twenty-first birthday, you would die.”

I nodded, thinking. A curse, magic, and a time limit. That was hardly cause for alarm. I had a year. I could find a way to break it. I thought. “What is the curse?” I asked. “And why did you not tell me sooner?”

“We thought you could undo it beforehand,” mother said. Those droplets of water called tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

My father sighed heavily. “The curse became apparent to us in later years, through you and through the witch’s choice of words. You can’t feel emotions, Eleri. She froze your heart.”

My mother’s face was wet, my father’s the colour of ash. I hardly knew what to say.

----

Two weeks later and there was a bag packed for me with provisions. I was ever practical. If I was to die in a year, then I must start my quest now. How I was to accomplish it was a mystery – I didn’t understand this whole idea of feeling. It wasn’t logical. Still, I figured I didn’t particularly want to die; although when I thought about it I had no real wish to live either.

At dawn I rose, picked up the pack, and bade good-bye to my parents as was customary. Their faces were wet again. I didn’t understand it – what good would any of that do? As they still let water stain their faces, I turned and walked down the road that lead from somewhere to somewhere.

This would be simple, I thought. If humans were meant to be one way, surely it would not be difficult to thaw something and revert it to its natural state. Most things wanted to be in their natural state, I’d observed.

There wasn’t much around the farm of my parents. The land was almost empty of human habitation, covered in trees and flowers and low-lying scrub. A few smaller roads branched off and criss-crossed the one I followed, but it was logical that the larger path would lead to a more likely location.

I wasn't really sure what to do, because the exact details made little sense. What did it mean to feel? I had some idea that if I could locate the sorceress, I could find some clue as to why and how. Locating a sorceress from twenty years ago, however, appeared to be the largest obstacle.

I walked for a few days, not really seeing any one and sleeping on the ground. I didn’t mind either scenario. My body grew a little tired, but not much. I was used to long days.

----

About four days into my journey I came to a town. It was small; I counted about two dozen households, three places of business, and a grand total of a hundred and ten people, a handful of which were clearly travelers like myself. The place had an air very much like my parent’s home. It gave one the feeling that nothing much happened here.

I needed more provisions, so I took out the money I had and headed over to a vendor, trying to decide what was cheap, light, and lasted a long time. It wasn’t easy.

"Traveling, are you, miss?” he asked me cordially enough.

I glanced up at him as I was picking out my order. “Yes.”

“Alone, too?”

“Yes.”

“Ooh, nasty business that is,” he told me. “The open road is no place for a young woman on her own.”

“I’ll manage,” I said. This conversation seemed entirely unimportant.

“Still, not the smartest idea. You’re out here for a reason, I’ll wager. So what is it? Got a fellow who moved away and going to visit him?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m searching for something and someone.” He looked at me, a question on his face. “A cure, and a sorceress.” The problem was I didn’t get the curse; wasn’t this feeling, being able to tell between hard and soft, or rough and smooth?

He gave a low whistle. “Nasty business, that is. How’d a lass like you get mixed up in all that?”

“By existing,” I said. His face was something I didn’t quite understand – pale, pinched, and eyes wide. “I need to find a sorceress – a specific one. She would’ve been in the vicinity about twenty years ago. Do you know anything?”

He shook his head vigorously. “No, no, don’t know a thing about that, but my advice would be search for your cure another way. You can’t trust those witches.”

I said nothing and we concluded our business swiftly. With few other words said I turned around and nearly walked into someone. I stopped, murmured, “excuse me,” and stepped around the young man. He looked at me for a second, and I looked at him. Tall, broad shouldered, dark hair, and pale eyes. Then we parted ways.

I left the town swiftly and continued on my way. 

----

I woke up to bright sun beams touching my face. I sat up and looked around as the cold blue light of dawn was dispelled. There seemed to be something waiting hidden. Perhaps a sound had woken me.

I got to my feet and chose to proceed as normal. Whatever it was that had woken me would either reveal itself or not.

As nothing happened for the next several minutes, I picked up my pack, intending to continue in my aimless wandering. As that moment the woods on one side of the road shivered. I turned towards it, expecting an animal to appear and trying to think of possibilities.

What walked out was an ogre.

I stared. Was it going to eat me? I’d heard they did that. This one was about eight feet tall, skin coloured rock grey, with a brutish face and clothing made of skins that looked decidedly human. He was carrying a club with iron spikes over his shoulder. It could probably crush my head like a watermelon.

He regarded me curiously with his flinty eyes. “Why don’t you scream?”

“What good would screaming do?” I asked.

His eyes narrowed. “I like it when they scream.”

“Why?” I asked, partly sincere in my question. “How do you get pleasure from someone screaming? It’s entirely illogical.”

He grunted. “Logic smogic.” The ogre hefted his club. “You come with me. And you scream.”

I folded my arms. “No.” I didn’t think my chances for winning in a fight would be good – I didn’t even know how to fight – but my chances for outwitting the ogre seemed highly more dominant.

He tilted his head, a classic sign of not understanding. “Why not? You be meal to Fesh. Good death!”

“We have different definitions of the term ‘good death’,” I said. “I will not go with you because I’ve no wish for my death to be because I was an ogre’s meal. It’s unnecessary. You could kill an animal for sustenance instead of me.”

“Not as tasty!” he shouted, voice loud enough that my ear drums rang and buzzed.

I resisted the urge to rub my ears and said, “Well, the purpose of food is to keep one alive, not taste good.”

He stared at me, eyes even further detached. “You talk too much. Food should scream, not talk. Now come.” The ogre lifted the club from its resting place and pointed the spiked end in my direction. I regarded it calmly, wondering when it would move.

“I already said I would not,” I told the ogre. “Now how about you return to the woods and find some nice wild animal to satisfy your hunger and I keep on my route and we part to never see each other again? I think that arrangement would work for both of us.”

The ogre shook his head, curling his lips and snarling like a dog. “No!” I watched as he swung the club and waited for the last moment to step back out of the way. I’d have to be very observant to not get hit.

“Now what is the point of getting all riled up?” I asked. “It’s not bettering either of us.”

“It’ll better me – when I eat you!”

I took a few quick steps further back on to the road; the club whistled through the air and hit the ground multiple times with several earth-shaking thuds. Clearly being smarter had angered the ogre. Interesting.

I dodged a few more swings, one grazing my arm and causing it to sting and smart. The ogre let out a wild bellow at the sight of my blood.

“I suggest you get out of the way!” The human voice and sound of hooves seemed so unlikely, I automatically turned towards it for an explanation, and was confronted with the sight of a horse charging up towards me. I threw myself on to the ground out of the way, and the horse and rider thundered past.

I rolled on to my back and tried to make out what was happening amid the cloud of dust that had risen. I saw the flash of a sword and the sounds were a calamity of thuds, bangs, and yells. There was the scent of metallic blood. Something metal flew by uncomfortably close to my face.

A roar assaulted my ears, and I instinctively clapped my hands over them. The dust was settling. I saw a silvery flash and a blade stained with red, and when I looked again the ogre was on the ground, unmoving, a gash in his side and a stab wound trickling thick blood. Death, I decided, was not a very pleasant sight.

The rider was no longer mounted, instead crouched on the ground and now wiping blood off his sword. His horse, I noticed, had a limp.

He stood up swiftly, sheathing his sword, and turned to me. “Are you all right, miss?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I said.

He took a few steps closer. “You’re injured.”

I looked down at my arm. The flesh was pink and swollen, a rivulet of blood trailing down my arm. The fact that I could see beneath the skin was obviously not good, and it stung something fierce.

“I’ll need to fix that,” I muttered, mostly to myself. I tried to think of a feasible way to do so; I knew very little about healing and the location of the injury meant I was restricted to one hand.

The stranger was regarding me with a look I associated with not understanding. “You’re not acting like it particularly hurts – no screams, no tears. You looked just as calm when the ogre was attacking you. Weren’t you scared?”

I shook my head. “No.” If anything, he seemed to understand that even less. I was, so far, not doing well in this area of meeting people. Clearly, a normal person had irrational tendencies.

He raked a hand through his hair. “You know what, I’ll help you treat that wound.” He glanced at my pack. “I think I’m a little more prepared than you.”

Before I could formulate an argument, he whistled and turned to fetch his mount. I watched silently as he searched through the saddlebags to pull out a roll of linen bandages. “Here we go,” he said, turning around. “I’m Adriel, by the way.”

“Eleri,” I told him. I knew it was customary to shake hands, but he didn’t offer, so neither did I. My journey had just got a lot more complicated.

2: Chapter Two

The sun was turning the sky various warm shades and the leaves transparent. It was the day after Adriel and I had met, and he seemed to have appointed himself as some sort of protector. Seeing as we were still in ogre territory, I didn’t mind having someone nearby who had a weapon and the knowledge to use it.

“So, tell me again where you’re heading,” he said, as he looked about for a likely spot to stop for the night. Personally, I was fine anywhere.

“I told you already,” I repeated. “I don’t actually know. I’m looking for someone.”

“Right.” His expression said he thought my lack of information doubtful. “You’ve been very closed-mouth about this mysterious person.”

“I don’t actually know them,” I clarified. “Just that they’re a sorceress.”

Adriel’s gaze sharpened. “Why are you looking for a sorceress?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, “and I don’t even know half of it.” That was also something to ask, when I found her; who was ‘Oaken’ and why did she want revenge on his line?

He didn’t say anything, instead leading his horse over to a spot off the road that he had obviously deemed suitable. “I understand. I’m looking for one myself.”

That seemed like an unlikely coincidence, but I didn’t say so. It could very well be merely circumstantial, and it would probably be deemed rude to contradict if that was the case. I decided more information would be needed before coming to a conclusion.

“Why?” I asked.

He hardly looked at me as he tied up his horse and set about lighting a fire. I sat down, thinking he wasn’t going to answer.

I hadn’t been expecting it, so it caught me a little off guard when he said, “I want an answer.”

I looked over at him. “An answer to what?”

“To why she did it.” He rocked back on his heels, “See, when I was young, the sorceress sent me a message. She said . . . well, in simpler terms, she said things were doomed because she cursed my ‘true love’. Of course, I’ve no idea who she’s talking about, or why she would bother with such a thing. Now that I’m older, I want the answer. Quite frankly, I think she’s mad, because what she talks about practically never exists in reality.”

“Fair point. The workings of a sorceress’s mind, however, is mostly far more complex than that of an ordinary mortal’s. Perhaps her message has some long reaching goal that will be evident in future generations.” I wondered if that was the reason my sorceress has cursed me.

Adriel shrugged, probably not wishing to speculate the reason of why.

“I think I recognize you,” I said after a few minutes. “A small village, a few days back down this road, in the marketplace.”

He nodded slowly. “I thought you looked familiar, but I couldn’t be sure.” He looked up at me. “Huh. Lot of coincidences.” I nodded, though I was wondering if it all really was a coincidence.

----

After a few days, I noticed a small, beaten path leading off the main road. There was very little debate about going down it, because Adriel heard a voice and made the decision himself. I followed down out of niceties.

The path wound its way through the trees and opened up onto a small cottage made of mud bricks with a thatched roof. A wrinkled old women, bent over and sporting a rat’s nest of grey hair, was talking to a rose bush. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

I turned around, intending to head back and continue on because there was nothing of interest here, but Adriel had other ideas. He tied his horse to the picket fence and let himself into the garden just as the old woman was laughing very loudly at something. She laughed so hard that she would’ve fallen over had Adriel not been close enough to catch her in time.

“You all right, ma’am?” He asked, helping her regain her balance.

“Oh, fine, fine,” she said dismissively, looking up at him. “Well, aren’t you a handsome young man. What brings you to my garden?”

Adriel glanced back at me. “We heard you from the road, ma’am.”

She seemed to notice me for the first time. “Oh, and you have a companion. Well isn’t that nice.” I folded my arms and waited; what was the point of all this idle talk?

Adriel helped the woman to a stone bench. “Is there anything we can do for you?” I wanted to know why he offered that. The only thing that held me back was the knowledge that most would view such a thing as rude.

She thought for a moment. “If you’re offering, I suppose there are one or two small tasks that are a challenge for an old woman like me. If you don’t mind . . .”

“Not at all.” Yes was what I wanted to say. This had no bearing on my mission what so ever.

The woman smiled and got up to lead Adriel and I inside. “What is the point of this?” I asked Adriel quietly in the doorway.

He looked at me. “Don’t you have any compassion?”

I said nothing in reply. I hadn’t told him my heart was frozen.  

----

It wasn’t one or two small tasks. It was doing all her chores until after sunset. And I knew what I was talking about, growing up on a farm. Adriel clearly didn’t. Finally she said she had no more tasks, and we made the leave even though it was dark.

I tried the door, but it was stuck. I inspected it; the lock was open, and it wasn’t too tight in the frame. I tried again, same result. Adriel wanted to know what was wrong, and when I told him he didn’t believe me and insisted on trying as well. No difference.

There was a laugh behind us. “It won’t work.” The voice was stronger, richer, and when I looked back a much younger woman was standing in the place the previous one had been. Adriel gaped.

“You’re a witch,” I decided. “And you placed an enchantment so that if anyone ever passed inside willingly and stayed after sunset, they’d be trapped.”

She looked at me, gaze sharpening. “How’d you guess that so fast?”

“It’s quite obvious,” I replied. “As long as one first alienates themselves from the events, most facts become quite clear.”

“You’re more bizarre than I thought,” Adriel said pointing at me, and then he pointed at the witch. “And why do you want to trap people here?”

“What’s the matter?” the witch purred. “I need people to serve me.” Fire lit in her hands. “And by entering my service, I offer you immortality.” I remember the details of my own curse, and a plan formulated itself in my mind.

I stepped forward. “Perhaps not. This all seems to hinge on being willing, which makes it a simple transaction. To not have proper terms of what is going on set out seems to make this a whole lot more complex than it need be. If we could speak in private . . . ?”

I wasn’t really expecting to be taken seriously, but I was. The witch snapped her fingers and suddenly a curtain of shimmering light appeared behind me.

“There,” she said. “Now he can’t hear. Shall we sit down if we’re discussing business?” I thought she was mocking me, only I’d never grasped that concept.

I sat down in a chair at the table. “Very well. I’m afraid what you have in mind simply won’t work. You want servants you can keep forever, and I don’t fit that description. I’m cursed, you see, and I will die in less than a year. You can check yourself. It was placed on me by a very powerful sorceress when I was born.”

The witch stared at me for a moment, then nodded abruptly. “I see.” Her tone was hard to match with anything I’d learnt. “Yes. I can’t keep you. There’s no arguing with her.” She snapped her fingers and the curtain vanished. “I suppose you’re both free to go. It’s no fun keeping only one.”

I got up and swiftly walked out the door, which opened smoothly this time. Adriel had on a suspicious expression, but didn’t say a word. Just as we crossed the fence line, the witch called out, “but if the two of you ever cross my property again, you won’t be leaving.” Then she laughed and went inside.

I walked down the path. She probably only said that because she was certain I’d be dead. Adriel followed me. “Are you going to tell me what you talked to her about?”

“No.”

In the corner of my eye I saw him blink hard. “At least you’re forward about it.” I made no response, not wishing to linger in this area just in case. I didn’t want to mention the spell. Funny, this was the first time I’d particularly wanted or not wanted something that I could remember. 

3: Chapter Three

Several more days passed, and I got to know Adriel better because there was little to fill the days aside from talk. I thought he was keeping something back, but he was remarkably good at hiding things. I could almost always tell when a person lied.

It was a fortnight after the witch, and we weren’t any closer to discovering the whereabouts of a sorceress. To me it mattered little, there was still time. Adriel seemed to find it worrying.

His concern was very quickly surmounted that day, by the jets of fire spraying into the sky and the screams. Adriel looked at me, and then I was up on the horse’s back, sitting behind him as the horse galloped in that direction.

We weren’t even there when I figured out it was a dragon. The continuous jets of flame and flashes of something dark and large made it clear. We whipped around a corner and there was an uncomfortable halt at the sight before us. A rust coloured dragon with hints of deep blue was tangled in a cunningly built trap. Multiple country folk were nearby, armed with spears and pikes. The problem was when one went close they got roasted. Crispy corpses littered the ground.

Adriel slid off the horse and helped me down. Together we walked over to the line of people. The dragon was speaking in a low, masculine voice. “What’s wrong, little people? Afraid of getting burnt? I thought you wanted to kill a dragon!” Ropes were looped over its wings and limbs, keeping it earthbound.

I’d heard of dragon traps; they were used to catch the creatures when they ravaged farmland. Normally they made dragons easy to kill. This one had malfunctioned and left its massive head loose.

I watched impassively as another ventured forth to try his luck. The result was inevitable. He was incinerated.

“They’re going about this all wrong,” I said the Adriel. “Dragons are cunning. Trickery is required to kill them.”

“I don’t even want to know how you learned that.” He looked at me. “Still, I’m guessing you have some sort of plan in mind?”

“Vaguely. More observation is required to formulate one properly,” I replied. Adriel nodded and said nothing, shifting into a more comfortable stance.

The dragon was yelling again. “Is that all? You think those sticks threaten me? Come on, let’s see a knight! I could do with a decent meal.” It continued on in vain for some time, and very few others tried the challenge of killing the dragon. The day began to pass.

A very unusual idea occurred to me, and I waited silently for night to fall and the country folk to fall asleep.

It took a long time coming. Eventually the sun started to set and people began nodding off. Even Adriel almost fell asleep, except I pinched him, several times. Then it was dark and without speaking my plan I started down the hill to where the dragon was trapped.

About halfway down, a column of flame erupted off to my left. I halted. “I can see in the dark, you humans. Did you think this would work?”

“We’re unarmed!” I called out. I’d made Adriel leave his sword behind. “We wish to speak.”

The dragon snorted, sending out a few sparks. “Humanity lies.”

“I don’t,” I said. “It’s pointless.”

There was a pause. “Well spoken, little one. Approach. Though I make no promises.” I looked at Adriel and walked on, coming down to where the dragon was snarled. I stood by his head. His eyes burned like molten rocks.

“Hello,” I said, my voice sounding quiet.

The dragon inclined his head. “Hello, little one. I am Dalbinth.”

“I’m Eleri, and this is Adriel,” I introduced. “Why are you trapped? You seem too smart to have been tricked.”

The dragon’s eyes smouldered. “Pride. Food is scarce these days, and I am so hungry. I thought I would not set off the trap. I was wrong. At least my head is free. I will not die by human hands like so many of my kin.” He regarded me curiously. “You are odd, little one.”

“I am unnatural,” I agreed.

Dalbinth’s head came closer. Adriel pushed me back and stood in front of me protectively. The dragon laughed, spewing embers and forcing both of us to back away. “I am a dragon,” he said, “I see so much more when I look. I smell so much more when I breathe. You tell me so much, yet you are doomed.” He looked at me, and I knew he knew my curse.

“We didn’t come here for you to tell us the future,” I said.

“No. You don’t care about the future. Nor the past. You live in only the present.” Dalbinth set his head down. “What do you want, little one?”

“I wanted to see if you should live or die.”

“And?”

“You shouldn’t be condemned because you’re hungry.” If I thought it possible, Dalbinth would’ve looked surprised.

Adriel looked at me. “What do you think we should do? Offer ourselves as meals?” I believe he was joking. The idea had crossed my mind. I came up with another one and promptly turned around and walked off. Adriel hurried after me. “Now what are you planning?”

“To do something that I think is good,” I replied.

“You and the dragon were talking over my head, like you both knew something. What are you hiding?”

Strangely, my throat tightened. “It’s a long story. I said that already.” By that point we’d reached the encampment. I stepped lightly over to where the meal had been cooked, and gathered up whatever leftover meaty remains there were. “Get your sword, too,” I told Adriel. He grumbled something I didn’t catch, but complied.

When the two of us were carrying as much meat as we could, I led us back to Dalbinth. He was quite pleased to be presented with a meal. As he ate, I told Adriel to start cutting the bonds that held Dalbinth down.

It was a long process, and I wasn’t much help. Dawn was only a few hours off, and I was half asleep where I stood, and then it was finally down. Dalbinth stretched, moaning about how good it felt. “Thank you, little one,” he said. “If you ever need a favour, just call and I will come. Unless you need one now.” He looked at me.

I glanced at Adriel. “We’re both looking for a sorceress. I don’t suppose you know the location of one.”

Dalbinth laughed. “I am a dragon. I can smell one a mile away, and I know the one you need.” He lowered his head. “Climb aboard my back, and I will take you there.” 

----

The flight took the better part of the day, and wasn’t the most comfortable thing with the uneven motion and icy wind whistling constantly. At least Dalbinth radiated heat, and Adriel was warm behind me.

Dalbinth flew into the mountains and spiraled down a valley, at the bottom of which stood a tall, sharp castle of gleaming white. He stopped not too far away and let us down. “Thank you,” I said.

“Good luck,” he told us, “you’ll need it.” Then he flew off, and Adriel and I made our way towards the castle.

It was beautiful, in a chilling sort of way. The great front doors were opened, leading into an impressive entrance hall with a throne on a dais far above. Sitting there was a woman with pale yellow hair, and a graceful dress of silver. “So you’ve come,” she said. “I’ve been waiting a very long time for this day. Now I can see my greatest triumph firsthand.”

Adriel stepped forward. “We’ve come to ask you for answers – or I have. I remember you.”

She smiled, but it looked false. “You really don’t need answers, if you knew everything.” She stood up and started pacing across the dais. “I chose my words very carefully when I spoke to you all those years ago. ‘True love’. Honestly I don’t know if that’s the case or not. But I know those words plant a fire in men, and it would set you on this path. And now you are here, ruined.”

He shook his head. “No. Those words you spoke – they’re a lie. I know they are.”

“Really?” She stopped and looked down at us. “You’re emotions are written all over you. But your love is doomed. She can never love you back, for she is cursed.”

Adriel went pale. “No  . . . no that can’t be right. Eleri tell her!”

“I can’t,” I said, my voice hurting. “I am cursed. I never told you.” He was staring at me, horrified.

She laughed. “I told you. I froze her heart when she was a babe. She can’t feel a thing – not fear, not hate, not happiness, not love. Nothing. She said not a word, and now this is your downfall. The lines of Oaken and Rustreston will die with you, and I will have had my vengeance. The kingdom will be mine.”

I frowned. “Kingdom? But –” I looked at Adriel and saw the truth written on his face. “You’re the prince.” He nodded.

The sorceress sat back down. “My time is at hand. In a few months the girl will die, and both lines will end, leaving the way clear for me. There’s nothing you can do.” She flicked her hand dismissively. “Leave me, but remember you cannot escape this place. I will ensure you both die.”

When I looked back, the door was gone. I looked to the throne, but it was empty too. I felt stupid. How had I missed such obvious signs? What had I been thinking? Adriel looked like he’d been frozen in place. Then the ground tilted, jerking us both back to reality.

He grabbed my hand. “Run.” I didn’t complain as the room started to cave in. We raced into a hall, only to find a wall of spikes suddenly in front of us. We took a different way, but no matter where we went, deadly traps appeared to make us take another path. We were hopelessly lost.

We went around a corner and ducked into an alcove, narrowly missing the ground opening up beneath us. At this rate we were going to die, and I didn’t want to die. My heart was pounding oddly, not at all like I’d run too far. Adriel was looking out into the destroyed hall.

“Something’s wrong.” My voice seemed to be trembling.

He looked back at me. “That’s an understatement.”

“No. I mean with me. My . . . my heart’s beating too quick and I – I don’t feel well. It’s – it’s like –”

“You’re going to be sick?” I nodded. “Eleri, that’s fear. It’s perfectly normal in this situation.”

“But – but I don’t get scared!” I felt something trickling down my face, and when I reached up my fingers came away wet. I was crying. “What – what’s happening to me?”

Adriel leaned over and wrapped his arms around me. I instinctively returned the gestured and set my head on his shoulder. “I think,” he said gently, “your heart is thawing.”