Winter's Moon

                                                                      Winter’s Moon
                                                                          By J.R.







  A violent blizzard raging across half the continent, freezing large lakes and icing over the rivers of the East suddenly appeared one cold winter. The New Year had barely begun and a snow storm was the first on the horizon. In a small village far up in the north of the country, isolated from the rest of the world, where the townspeople all knew one another and lived peacefully away from the rest of the world until a stranger stumbled into their small village. Wind blown and ragged the stranger stumbled through the empty village, barely able to see five feet in front of him when a small light caught his eye off to his right. A door creaked open and as he looked upon the old man, who was limping towards him covered from head to toe in snow just from stepping outside, the old man helped the stranger into the small house. Once inside the old man helped the stranger to a chair in front of the fire.
  The stranger settled down in the chair and held his hands out in front of him, warming his frozen fingers. A few moments later, out of the cold and beginning to warm, the stranger reached up and removed his hood from his face. The stranger, a younger man, who now stood, removed his dripping cloak and hung it on the back of the chair, looked over at the older man once he was finished.
  “I want to thank you, for taking me in from that horrible storm,” the young man said.
  “It is no problem. Sit down and eat, you must be hungry from traveling so far, and on foot too.” The stranger walked over and sat down at the table across from the old man, who continued, “If I might ask, but why have you come so far north and without a horse?”
  “On my way here I was attacked by bandits and the horse I had, had been taken from me, and from then on I have traveled on foot. As for why I have come this far north, I have my reasons.”
The old man and the stranger sat in silence as they continued their meal; the only sounds were of the crackling fire.
  The young man finished eating and leaned back in his chair staring into the fire in thought. He wore a burgundy colored tunic over ragged black pants. On his feet he wore knee high, black, road worn, leather boots and a black belt sat around his waist, a scabbard hung from the man’s belt. The hilt of a silver sword was protruding from the scabbard, glittering with its green gems set into the pommel. His attire wasn’t uncommon in the south but up north the townspeople covered themselves head to toe in furs, which he had none. His hair was short, dark brown and spiked in all directions. He had soft dark brown eyes and ivory colored skin. He looked over at the old man who sat across from him, slowly clearing the table of the dishes.
  As he watched the older man he remembered a time when he would sit at a long elegant table with ladies dressed in black and white roaming around the room picking up or placing down white plates and silver utensils; a room filled with loud voices and at the head of the table a larger man wearing a dark red robe with a white fur cape and a gold crown on his brow. 
  The old man returned to the table and sat down. With his elbows sitting on the table and his hands placed together, he sat looking at the young man across from him, wondering what had brought the lad so far up north. There was nothing up here except this small village and the cold arctic. The old man watched him with his gentle light blue eyes. He was darker in skin than the stranger and his hair was fairer in color but was short and wavy. He wore a white fur coat and thick black pants with black boots. He stood up, nearly half a foot taller than the young man, who seemed no older than late teens, and walked over to a closet and drew open the door. A second later he turned around holding a few thick blankets and held them out to the young man, who stood making no movement to take the offered blankets.
  “Well, it doesn’t look as if the snow is going to be stopping any time soon, so you can stay here for the night if you have no where else to go,” the old man said. The stranger looked at him and smiled.
  “Thank you, sir,” he replied.
  “There’s no needing to call me sir, Cedric’s my name; and your name? I don’t believe you’ve mentioned your name.”
  “Kane.”

  The sun began its slow decent in the sky, a pale yellow orb in the bright white sky of the north. The wind blew repeatedly, blowing a light snow dusting over the town, the air dry and colder with the ever blowing wind. All through the village the townspeople were waking and beginning the daily routine. Kane lay on the cold wooden floor of the little house in which he had been welcomed into the night before. Lying under the warm blankets the old man named Cedric, had given him last night, had them pulled up to his chin; warm under the thick fur blankets and beside the dying embers of the fire. He suddenly noticed it was quiet in the house but there were sounds of people shattering coming from outside. He sat up and rubbed a hand over his eyes and then pulled himself to his feet. He belted on his sword which he had left draped over the back of his chair the night before with his cloak and then flipped the hood over his head to hide part of his face and walked over to the window. He pushed aside part of the curtain to look outside and saw the whole town up and down the street. It looked as if he were on the main street during market day back in the kingdom he had come from, but this was an everyday thing up in this village; everyday was market day. He walked over to the door and slipped out. He stood on the threshold of Cedric’s house staring out into a world he had never seen before. Cedric was standing across the street speaking with a blacksmith, both were looking at a horseshoe in Cedric’s hand. Cedric looked up as he heard the sound of his door shut. He smiled and waved him over. Kane looked down both streets and seeing no carts of any kind walked confidently across the street. As he crossed the street and stepped up next to Cedric a horn sounded far down the street in the direction of which he had come from last night.
  An entourage was coming down the street. Three tall fair skinned men were walking up the street wearing dark green shirts looking as if they were made out of leaves and darker green pants, almost black. They had long waist length blond hair that glowed in the sunlight. Their appearances wouldn’t have affected him, with their angular faces and pointed ears, had it not been for the things behind them. Large transparent butterfly wings sat fluttering on their backs, showering glitter around their feet as they walked, the sparkles fading before they hit the ground. Their wings shimmered different colors as the rays from the sun hit them at different angles. Kane watched in astonishment as they made their way up the road towards him and Cedric. He looked to Cedric for an answer, who returned his look and smiled knowingly at what Kane was wondering.
  “It’s the Faerie Princess, she’s come to town. She usually comes every so often; it’s a usual thing up here. The Faerie Princess is also the princess of the elves who live in the forest beside this town. She and her people watch over us and help us out in need, and sometimes she comes to town to heal the sick and injured.” Kane looked at Cedric wonderingly. It didn’t surprise him that a faerie now walked before him, but it still left questions as to if she was the one or not.
  “An Elven Faerie Princess who helps the sick, huh? This sounds like some kind of fairy tale,” Kane muttered to himself. A second later a girl looking around the same age as him appeared. He stopped breathing as he watched her glide rather than walk along the snow barren path. Her feet barely making a foot print in the soft snow. Although the snow had been harsh the night before, the snow was thick at their knees, but easy enough to walk through.

    With fairest of skin color,
    Dark brown eyes that glow,
    Long auburn hair with highlights that capture the rays of the Northern sun,
    She’ll appear when you least expect it,
    The one you’re fated to be with,
    Your Faerie Princess.

  The prophecy, for which he had left home for, ran through his mind as he watched her walk towards him. His journey had been to find his fated princess. As he watched her he began to think more of the prophecy that had been bestowed upon him by the castle’s seer. He took a step forward as he watched her come towards him. A smile played on her elegant face. The townspeople called out to her as she passed. Large translucent butterfly wings shimmered with a multitude of colors. As she came closer to him, she noticed him standing there staring at her, and she walked up to him and smiled.
  “Hello.” Cedric looked at Kane as if he were going to laugh, but he brought a hand to his mouth and stifled it; Kane didn’t even notice.
  “Uh, hi,” was all Kane could muster.
  “And who might you be? I haven’t seen you before,” she asked sweetly, her voice sounding like soft bells. Glittering gold sparkles danced around her feet and faded away as they touched the cold snow. Her wings fluttered in the breeze. As he saw her up close he noticed she wasn’t wearing much even though they were standing in the frozen tundra. She wore a short gold dress which was layered in glittery material and shined every time she moved. She wore low open toed gold shoes, but she walked on the snow rather than through it as if she were levitating on air. Her hair hung down with part of it in a ponytail with gold ribbons glittering in the folds of her auburn hair.
  “I’m Kane,” he answered, “I just arrived late last night.”
  “Through that horrid blizzard? If I may ask, what have you come this far north for?” she asked. “And your attire, are you a knight by any chance?” His eyes widened in surprise. He had thought for sure no one would have been able to guess that he was a knight, but somehow it didn’t faze her at all to know that he was a knight. From all the things knights are ordered to do, it’s a surprise that she wasn’t startled or enraged that a knight had entered her domain freely. She just stood there watching him.
  “Yeah, a knight of the English cavalry; I have come here because a prophecy was told to me some time ago and I have been on a journey for many months in search of the one who I am fated to be with.”
  “The one you are fated to be with?” she repeated quietly to herself. She wondered if a story she’d heard when she had been younger, was not just a story. She looked over at her attendants who stood a little way away. “Lucian, come here for a second.”
  One of the elves trotted over to her, hopping on his feet and lifted himself up with his wings as he came to her side.
  “Yes, milady?” he asked.
  “What was that child’s story about the lost knight?” she asked as she peered up at Kane, through enchanted eyes.
  “The lost knight? Ah, let’s see I think it goes as this…

  In a forest far into the north lived a gentle group of elves. Their princess was the fairest amongst them and the kindest. She was the Princess of Faeries and so they called her the Faerie Princess. Dressed in gold and with radiantly colored wings she walked among her Elven people and would visit a nearby town, but one day a sudden visitor showed up unexpectedly. It was a soldier from far down in the south, he had traveled far to the north in search of someone special, but he didn’t know who they were. The two met for only moments the first time, and met again soon after. The third time their meeting-”

  “Princess!” a voice called from further on down the street interrupting Lucian. A large man came running towards them. He stopped in front of them trying to regain his breath. “Pri-nc-ess! The-re’s a wo-man who nee-ds your he-lp!”

  "Oh! Well I’m sorry Sir Kane, but I must take my leave, I am needed elsewhere. Good day, Sir Knight.” She excused herself and followed the large down the street with her entourage hot on her heels.
  “Who was that?” Kane breathed as she swept around a corner further down the road. He looked at Cedric who stood there looking perplexedly at Kane. He was silent for a moment more. He walked away down the street with Kane quick in tow.
  A few days went by; Kane decided to stick around a while longer to gather provisions and to see whether he would have another meeting with the Faerie Princess, whose name he found out was Shie’lah Es’aeras Aroheil. 

  The bright, full moon was high in the sky when Kane found himself walking deep in the woods. He had left Cedric’s house the day before and had set out heading north, continuing the path in which he had first set out on. He passed a large oak tree with dark green leaves and suddenly found himself in a world he, nor many others, had ever seen. Tall large trees surrounded him all around, pulsating with energy; their trunks glowing with a multitude of shimmering colors. Sparkles rained down slowly from the foliage and large crystallized mushrooms and other fungi littered the ground gleaming with color, the light reflecting off them as if they were made of glass. The trees off to his right faded from a glittering aqua to a glittering dark indigo color, which then gave a giant rustling. Two gold eyes peered out from between the coloring leaves, and then they moved out of sight and suddenly there stood a slender, glittering elf, no taller than himself. She cautiously walked out from behind the leaves and came to stand in front of him a few feet away. For a moment the only sound was the wind blowing through the forest, but Kane broke that silence.
  “Hello, are you one of the Faerie Princess’s people?” he asked. The girl stood silent, watching him. At the sudden sound of his voice, she turned and skipped away, back into the underbrush of the sparkling forest which glittered and sparkles flew everywhere as she sprang away. “Hey, wait!”
He dashed after her into the underbrush and suddenly was swept away by the breathtaking view of the Elven city in which he now stood staring up at. A city in the trees was what he looked upon; tall trees were made into tall towers, the trunks as wide as a castle’s spire. Short long houses sat upon the enormous boughs of the trees, pastel colored with multicolored roofs shimmering with light from the shining leaves of the surrounding trees. He stared up at the many bridges that hung from bough to bough; many elves walked along the bridges and along the many thick boughs, which acted as roads through the city in the trees.
  As the elf he had seen in the forest a second ago, dashed towards the closest tree, she disappeared around the side and as Kane stumbled around the tree, he skidded to a halt. She had disappeared. He had no time to figure out where she had disappeared to because he had been spotted by an elf high above him, who was pointing down at him and shouting loudly. Elven warriors emerged from surrounding trees, ran up to enclose him in a circle in which he had no escape.
  Bows knocked with arrows were aimed at him as they all silently watched him, waiting for something or someone. A second later a slight commotion broke to his left. Someone was coming forward through the ranks of the Elven warriors, standing around. It was the Elven Princess. She walked towards him, three majestically dressed elves following close behind her. She wore a different outfit than the one he had seen her wearing the day before. Her dress was light green in color, strapless and had intricate silver decorations over the bodice and skirt of the dress. On her arms she wore long sleeves that were not attached to the dress and on her right hand she had a silver ring with a green gem, which gleamed in the sun, and with the reflecting light from the trees.
  “Sir Kane, what brings you so far north to our forest domain?” she asked.
  “My journey continues, the small town in which you found me in a day ago, was only a small stop for the night,” he answered.
  “Does your journey take you so far north?” she asked.
  “I believe so, and as it is, I must be on my way, but I had one question for you. I had a question about that story in which one of your…retainers recited. Who came up with that story?”
  A few of the Elven warriors in the circle glanced nervously at her. She stood there calmly.
  “My mother,” she responded.
  “Your mother?”
  “Yes, when I was twelve she had a vision of an Elven princess meeting a knight and falling in love with him,” she said. “Now, you said you must be on your way. I must also excuse myself, and attend to other matters, good day Sir Kane, you may find your way out of our city that way.” She pointed a slender finger in the direction he had burst through.
  “Uh, yes. I’ll be on my way now,” he said and then after pausing to watch as she turned and walked away, he turned and walked in the opposite direction of which she was going.

  Two days later he emerged at the very edge of the forest. He now stood on the very edge of the world. Overlooking a sea of ice, white water and thick fog, Kane stood on a tall cliff, covered in snow. He reached up and dropped his hood. He shook his head full of snow and then rubbed his hand threw it, scattering snowflakes over the snow covered ground. He stood upright, to his full height, the cold wind blowing his cloak around his feet. He looked around; the sun was low on the horizon, close to setting in the cold north for the end of another day. He dropped the pack he had been carrying on one shoulder and then sat down in the snow to watch the sun set; with the wind blowing harshly, he pulled his cloak closer around him. He drew his knees up to his chin and closed his eyes, breathing in the cold air, smelling the frosty scent of winter’s snow. Thoughts of the princess kept rising up in Kane’s mind. He thought about the prophecy and if it was going to come true and if she was the one or would he have to travel farther north? He couldn’t stop thinking about her and a small part of him hoped she was the one.

  The sudden sound of the crunching of hard snow awoke him abruptly. He jumped to his feet and drew his sword. In a fluid motion he had drawn his sword full out of its scabbard and spun around to face whoever or whatever emerged from the woods. As he stood waiting, the crunching continued, but hesitatingly; emerging from the woods stepped someone dressed in a dark brown cloak, the hood drawn up covering the strangers’ face. The stranger stopped and looked at Kane, who stood watching, sword drawn and trying to decide whether this newcomer was a friend or foe. The stranger reached up their hands. Kane shifted and crouched, ready to spring forward if this person were to draw a sword or weapon of some type. The figure drew up their hands and let their hood fall. A second later, Kane lowered the tip of his sword toward the ground. Standing in front of him was Shie’lah, the Elven princess. 
  “Princess! Forgive me, I didn’t know it was you,” Kane stammered. He put back his sword and stood waiting for her to respond.
  “Sir Kane, I didn’t expect you to be here still. I would have thought you would have returned south by now,” she said.
  “I’m on a journey to find my faerie princess. It’s brought me this far north, and I still don’t know if I’ve found her yet.”
  “Maybe you just didn’t look hard enough,” she said, and took a step towards him.
  “Maybe she was right there in front of me, and I was just too oblivious to notice I’d found her,” he responded and took a step towards her. They now stood a foot apart from each other, each staring into the other’s eyes. She gently put a hand on his shoulder and smiled up at him. “By the way, how did the story end?” She looked at him confused and then she realized he was talking about the story Lucian had started to recite.
  “The third time their meeting was deep in the forest. On the edge of the world the two stood and shared a kiss; the two fell in eternal love, knowing the two were meant for each other and lived happily in the forest of the Elves.”

  The sky turned from orange to a dark blue, with a range of colors in between; the bright moon appeared after the final rays of sun disappeared over the horizon, a pale lavender orb, shinning bright on the tundra far below. Light reflected off the snow in lights of purple hues. The aura borealis glittered high above, the many colors showering down on the snow barren land of the north.

  Two people sat on the very edge of the world, alone together in their own wonderland, unafraid of anything, now that the two had finally found each other; the Knight and his Faerie Princess, under the winter’s moon.


                                                                               The End