Payment

Is that the price I have to pay for trespassing into Blaewen's heart?

Do I have to pay with my life?

No. Not a chance.

I turn around and bolt as fast as I can away from that creature, but everywhere I turn to looks the same, all snow-white covered in blue. I can't figure out where to go to escape.

I struggle as I run through the snow, stumbling and tripping over my own feet in my panic to get away. My foot gets stuck in the snow and I lose my balance, falling face-first but I manage to get a hold of a tree just in time. I grip the trunk to steady myself and then I feel something damp and sticky dripping through my fingers.

I glance up and see dark red liquid oozing from the tree. It looks as if the trunk is spitting out clogged blood. The snow close to the roots tints with the dripping red liquid which spreads out like spilled blood over a white blanket.

I stumble back, trying to move away from the tree, with my head twirling in confusion by what I'm seeing when a cloaked figure detaches from the same tree I'd been holding a second ago. Its mantle is ragged, gnarly, and gray, mimicking perfectly the trunk of the tree that it had detached from.

'The forest is angry. It wants to be left alone, but you keep disrupting its peaceful rest.' I hear the crackling whisper again as the sinister cloaked figure stands unmoving beside the bleeding tree. 'You have stepped over its heart and stomped carelessly all over the place. It wants compensation for all this disruption. You are in debt now. Payment is due.' It tells me, resting a gnarly hand on the tree as if listening to its thoughts.

"C-compensation? B-but w-what can I give? I don't have anything!" I tell the hooded figure, my voice cracking with fear like thin ice under heavy stress.

The hood tilts down, to watch the ground where blood had been oozing out of the trunk and spilling down onto the snow. It stares in silence at the red-tinted snow.

"I-I don't understand! What payment does it want from me?" I ask, trying to figure out the cryptic things the creature is saying. It points to the blood in the snow and I take one small scared step back.

The branches of the trees around us creak ominously and the sea of blue flowers move in synch like a wave, even though there is no wind to brush them that way. The creaking carries whispers with it and I can hear them clearly inside my head, in a language that is not my own.

'A toll has been marked. Payment is due.'

"I-I'm sorry!" I plead desperately. "I have nothing to give!"

'You were not supposed to be here, weakling.' The creature replies, sounding almost mournful. 'It is far from summer when the land is welcoming and warm to your kind. Now is not the time to wander. Now is the time for the cold. And the cold forgives nothing, and breaks to no one'.'

I slowly back away from the creature, fumbling frantically beneath my cloak, searching for the handle of my knife. The blade is made of iron. I think iron can hurt these creatures, I have heard of old tales back in my village saying it is so.

When I find the handle and pull the knife off its sheath, I bump my back into something solid. I whipped around and the creature is there, right next to me as if transported by magic.

'Time to pay.' It whispers into my head and I lunge forward, knife raised and ready to strike. I swing the knife down but the creature is no longer there and I sink my knife into the dry bark of a tree instead. The knife gets stuck, even though I'm tugging at it as hard as I can with both hands, but it won't budge an inch out, so I give one last hard push and the blade suddenly dislodges from the tree, slashing at my hand on its way out.

I fall back over the flowers and the snow with a loud thump, but I know there is no time to catch my breath. I am in danger and I must react fast if I plan to survive this. As quickly as I had fallen, I scrambled to sit on the snow, ready to defend myself as I clutch at the knife's handle and swing it around in panic, trying to hit any invisible threat that might be in the way, but hitting nothing but cold air.

'Payment… is done.' I hear the whisper again, a little further away.

"W-what?" I mumble with a shaky voice, looking around alarmed and confused while my heart thumps loudly inside my chest. "What have I paid?"

'You have paid what was due.' The creature responds, this time right next to me.

I feel a gentle touch brushing against the hand that I had planted in the snow for support and I glance down startled. The snow beneath the palm of my hand is tinted with red. Blood had been oozing from the gash I had given to myself in my panic to get the knife unstuck, but I hadn't realized I was even hurt because the snow had numbed all the pain away.

I yank my hand away from what was touching me and swing my knife in that direction, but I continue to hit nothing but air.

A playful eerie chuckle tickled close to my ears. 'Your petulance wouldn't be as well received if you had met someone else of my keen, human girl. Do you even realize how lucky you are that it was me that has found you?' The voice does not sound offended, merely amused by my feeble attempts to attack it. It knows I am not a real threat. Apparently, I can't hurt it, even with iron in my hands.

I feel something grab my wrist and I scream, scared out of my mind. Ice flows from its grip into my wrist and then up my arm until it reaches my chest. I can feel it again, pure winter cold washing down my whole body, slowly freezing all the blood in my veins. Ripples of shiver and goosebumps spread all over my skin and my heartbeat turns erratic, struggling for not knowing if it should beat faster due to my panic or slower due to the cold.

I can finally see the creature standing next to me, cloak pulled over its face, covering it from sight. Long pale talons elongate from its gnarly hands, tightening and constricting around my bloodied wrist. Its touch burns so much, like holding ice for too long, but the blood dripping from the gash on my hand slows down until it stops dripping altogether.

I cry out with the burning pain and jerk back, breaking free from its hold. I swing my knife again, trying to stab it right in the chest but instead of flesh, the blade sinks into another tree with a loud thud.

The creature is not in front of me anymore, but I still can hear its infuriating chuckle close by. This thing is made of tricks and illusions. It is the trees in the forest and the air around me. It's ice and cold and winter. It's everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

I cannot hurt it. I cannot win this fight.

I try to yank the knife off the trunk again but the blade is stuck too deep and it won't come out now. I tug at it a few times, desperately trying to set it free, but it snaps and breaks by the handle, leaving me without any weapon to defend myself.

'No more iron to protect you now, little girl.'

I twirl around, head filled with panic, but there is no one there. I am fighting a ghost.

I can't think straight. I don't know what to do. I am so scared.

"Please…" I let out an anguished sob.

I don't even know what I'm begging for.

Leave me alone. Let me go. Don't hurt me.

Please.

The eerie voice cackles and then reminds me.

'You know you still have a price to pay me for trespassing.'

I shake my head, terrified. It still wants my life. I cannot die in this creature's cruel hands. I came here to save a life, not to lose my own.

Then do something, silly girl. Run! Run for your life!