Spring Unleashed

"Eager to leave, my lovely flower blossom?  No, you shall never escape me!"

Rizandon was the Bringer of Snow.  It was he who covered the world in cold and frost, and how he longed to keep it so!  Rizandon appeared as a grizzled, old man, dressed in snowy white robes, but his hair and beard were darkest blue.  He lived in a mountain cave, where his only willing visitor was Snow Shadow, an owl nearly as old as Rizandon.  Rizandon had an unwilling visitor, though.

"Here you shall remain, and so my reign shall continue!"

Despite the frigid conditions, no steam came from his mouth as he spoke those cold words to his captive, Sarling.  Just as Rizandon was Winter, so was Sarling Spring.  Just as Rizandon appeared old, so she seemed young:  a maiden blossoming into womanhood.  Her hair was earthy brown, her garments, leafy green.  She stood helplessly near the entrance of Rizandon's lonely cave, its uninviting opening adorned with jagged icicles like the teeth of a snarling beast.  She hoped for a ray of sunshine to melt the circles of ice that surrounded her body.  They laced her legs together and pinned her arms against her side.  She could not move other than to turn her head.  She could not fly across the country to melt the snow, thaw the rivers, and bring new life from the earth.  She could not speak, plead for her release, for ice sealed her lips closed as well.

The sun was rising higher in the sky every day now; its rays should be warm enough for free her.  However, it seemed as if an invisible hand had been placed between her and the sun; the scant light that entered the cave provided little warmth.

"My pet, has your hunting gone well?" Rizandon crooned as Snow Shadow landed on his outstretched arm.  The talons dug deeply past his tattered sleeve into his skin, but the god of winter felt nothing.  He cooed fondly, scratching the owl's white head.  "What news have you of the outside world?"

Snow Shadow hooted in reply.  "Ah, the peasants grow alarmed over the continued winter!  They wonder when the ground will thaw and they can plant their crops!"  He gave a bitter laugh.  "They have forgotten the old ways, to their sorrow.  They will never plant crops again!"

A tear trickled down Sarling's face.  More than a generation had passed since the people had ceased performing the rituals that gave her strength.  Despite that, she still cared deeply for their plight.  However, as long as she remained within Rizandon's cave, she could never bring them an end to winter.

………………..
"There's something peculiar about this wine you served me, Nisha," Dintry said playfully.  He raised his cup, lightly chipped and scarred, old battle wounds from raucous tavern nights, and displayed it with a mischievous smile to the vivacious barmaid.  "Look, it's turned all blue!"

"Why, Dintry, is that more of your 'magic'?" she answered with a coy wink and a laugh.  Her thick, round tray was as sturdy as a wooden shield; it served not only to carry heaping loads of food and drink but also to administer the occasional sobering buffet to overly exuberant patrons.  She placed it upon the table and seated herself next to the young alchemist.  Guffer behind the bar frowned, but she ignored him.  The other girls could tend to customers for a few minutes and if Guffer didn't like it, she could go back to the farm, and good luck to him finding someone as hardworking and as good with the customers as she was!  "You're always doing something tricky with those powders you concoct in your lab, hiding them in your pockets so you can surprise us!  I remember that time you made it look like you were shooting stars out of your hand!"

"I like to entertain people with my tricks," Dintry smiled, "especially you, Nisha, but it's all science, not magic."

"Oh, I know that!" she answered.  "But there is real magic, you know.  Oh!  Are you going to drink that now that it's all funny?"

"Sure, it's a harmless coloring," he shrugged, taking a lingering swallow.  "Terrible winter we're having.  Is it ever going to end?

"It is a problem," Nisha answered seriously.  "My family back home is very worried.  What's happening isn't natural.  We need to do something!"

"We can't do anything," said Dintry.  "The weather is governed by scientific principles that we can't control."

"Well, I don't know."  Nisha frowned.  Dintry had a fun side, as he just showed with the trick with his drink, but he could be so serious, too.  He was also very shy, which most of the locals in the farming village of Norbury took for haughtiness, so he tended to have the table to himself when he came for a drink.  "I think the problem is that Spring needs our help!"

"That's not the way the seasons work," Dintry said with a sigh.

Nisha hardly heard his objection.  "I remember my grandmother teaching me some of the old ways, of rituals offered to Sarling, the goddess of spring, which used to be faithfully performed every year.  We haven't done them for years, and that's why I think winter isn't ending!"

"What, you think this Sarling is sulking somewhere and refusing to bring us spring just because we aren't going through some empty rites?"

"They aren't empty rites," Nisha snapped back.  "And I'm sure it's not a case of her sulking, either!  Really, Dintry, you're smart, but there's more to the world than just your science!"

"I'm sorry, Nisha," Dintry said quickly.  "But we haven't done anything like what you mentioned for years, not since before I was born, and I've heard other villages stopped those practices even longer ago than we did; we were one of the last places to keep them alive!  And yet spring kept coming, until this year, at least."

Nisha digested his argument.  "I think Sarling wants to bring us spring, but something's stopping her.  I don't know who or what, but she can't overcome it on her own.  She needs our help!  She needs our energy!"

"How can we give her energy?" asked Dintry, not believing any of it.

"We need to hold a festival to chase away the snow!" Nisha announced eagerly.  "My grandmother told me all about it.  The highlight is a sacred dance, very lively and a lot of fun, too!  It should be held it at noon, when the sun is at its most powerful.  If we do, that'll somehow give Sarling the power she needs to bring us spring!"

"How can our energy transfer from us to her?  That violates every scientific principle I ever heard of!"

"I don't know how, Dintry, but I know it does!  My grandmother knew all kinds of things; you should have seen her heal people by performing mystic rituals that your science doesn't know anything about!"

Dintry wanted to suggest that probably the healing had science behind it of which Nisha's grandmother never knew, but he also wanted the pretty server to keep liking him, so he wisely kept that thought to himself.  "How does dancing in the snow give her power?"

"It shows her that we believe in her, and people believing in her gives her strength!" Nisha announced.  "I'm going to organize it all!"

"In that case," replied Dintry, "could I be your dance partner?"  Not that he believed the dance would have the slightest thing to do with ending the prolonged winter, but he was eager to dance with her, and if he didn't, someone else would!

"Of course I'll dance with you, Dintry," she said with a smile.  She stood abruptly, realizing Guffer's patience with her idling was quickly evaporating.  "Well, back to work.  Oh, I've got so much to do, because it's got to be done properly; any dance just won't do, but I think I remember enough of what my grandmother told me that we can do it right, and then this horrible winter will finally be over.  Hi, you looking for a refill?" she asked the next table, and soon she was a blur of motion in the crowded tavern.

………………..
Snow Shadow hooted in consternation from his perch atop the tavern roof.  Most creatures in his position would have merely heard a confused cacophony of indistinguishable voices coming from within, but the ancient owl was not a natural being.  He had caught Sarling's name mentioned, and had perceived every word of the conversation that had followed.  He spread his wings and lifted into inky night.  The people were planning to hold the rituals!  His master's captive might yet escape her bonds!  Rizandon needed to be warned!  Snow Shadow flew through the lightly falling snow back to the cave.

"The old ways are not quite as forgotten as I had hoped," the snow god said softly when Snow Shadow brought him the news.  "An impertinent young girl imagines she can assist your release," he told Sarling.  "No!  Do not dare to hope at this news!  I will not be thwarted quite so easily as all that…."

………………..
"Hey, ma, what does old Frostbite want with the human woman?"

"Don't know; don't care," mumbled the ogress, taking a spoonful of thin stew.  She picked a rabbit bone from her crooked, yellow teeth and tossed it onto the cave floor to join many others.  "He told us he'd give us plenty gold and magic tools if we'd bring him the one he wanted; he described her well enough, and that's her we've got!"

Nisha mewed indistinctly into her cloth gag as the three ogres looked at her.  She sat on a small rock nearby, making her face look more hopeless than she felt.  A sharp rock was behind her; it was slow work, but she felt the cords binding her hands separating as she persisted in her work.  She didn't know what she would do once she got loose though; her legs were tightly bound and there were three gargantuan creatures to get by, but she refused to feel defeated!

"I don't want to be here, carrying some ugly human around," whined one of the smaller ogres.  "I want to do something fun for a change, like play with friends."

"What foolishness are you talking about, Glaskra?" her mother demanded.  "You don't have friends, and I don't want you to have none, neither!  You got me and your brother, and family's enough for any self-respecting ogre!  Now finish your stew quickly so we can be on our way!"

"It's miserable stew," complained the third ogre.  "It ain't got enough meat in it to suit me!"

"Ah, my sweet Brurk," sighed the mother, stroking her son's head.  "Conies have been shy of late, but we'll eat better shortly.  We'll get our reward from Frostbite but we won't leave the girl with him, no, we'll outfox that old rascal and take her away with us!  Then we'll have her in the pot!"

"Mpfff!"  The cry of alarm involuntarily escaped Nisha's lips.  She didn't believe Rizandon would let the ogres away with his quarry.  The winter god would keep her, she was certain of that, to do… what, exactly?  She didn't know, but it couldn't be anything good.  She needed to escape quickly!  Luckily, she had just about severed the cords….

"Brurk, my pet, check the captive," his mother ordered.

"Aw, ma, she's fine," he answered.  Despite his earlier remarks, he was greedily emptying his clay bowl.

"Brurk!"

When his mother used that tone, Brurk obeyed.  He trudged unwillingly over to Nisha.  "Hey, she's almost got herself free!" he announced.

"I knew that minx was up to something!" the mother declared.  "Tie her again and sit her somewhere else where she can't do nothing!"

Nisha gave a sad groan as her hands were tied, tighter than before, and she was moved to another rock.  She stretched her arms behind her, but could not find another sharp edge.

"That'll hold her!" the mother grunted.

There was a brief silence, interrupted by the noisy sounds of ogres slurping stew.  Brurk finally spoke, but cautiously.  "Ma, I just remembered something that's got me mighty scared."

"Brurk, lovely, you're an ogre; you ain't scared of nothing!"

"But, ma, I heard them humans can summon awful demons, all red and fiery that breathe smoke and shoot flames from their wicked, long fingernails!  What if this girl's folks miss her and send demons after us, cuz they're mad we stole her?"

"Brurk, that's just an old tale told to scare young 'uns.  Humans can't summon no demons."

Brurk did not look convinced, and neither did his sister, who spoke tremulously.  "I heard about them demons; they're why we ogres can't never defeat humans.  I was told they shoot lightning from their cloudy eyes, making dreadfullest thunder!"

"Well, I say there ain't no such demons," the mother replied angrily.  "Leastways, there are plenty of 'em, sure, everybody knows that, and they can spit fire and thunder and even worse than that, magic so terrible there ain't no name for it!  But a demon wouldn't obey nothing a scrawny little stick of a person told him to do.  If a human tried giving orders, the demon'd fry him on the spot, just for bothering him.  Now, stop with that kind of talk, Glaskra; you'll get your brother all riled up over nothing."

Nisha sighed inwardly.  The people back at the village must be missing her; she was supposed to be organizing the dance!  If only they really could summon demons and take care of these ogres!

"Ma!" Brurk said loudly.  "I heard a noise outside!  I think there's a human out there!"

"Well, my sweet, why don't you go whomp him proper?" suggested his mother, looking markedly at their wooden clubs lying nearby.  The handles were short, but stout, just the right size to fight into an ogre's hand, while the oblong heads were encrusted with sharp metal teeth.

"I'll smash him!" Brurk announced boldly.  He hefted his weapon and lumbered to the cave mouth.

"Watch out for demons!" his sister shouted, causing Brurk to stumble to a halt and look for reassurance from his mother.  "Your smasher ain't no use against them!"

"Shut your mouth, Glaskra!" the mother said angrily.  "Go on, my brave Brurk; if anyone's out there, he can't summon no demon; I promise you that!"

Nisha's eyes opened wide with alarm.  She had heard a noise, too.  Someone was outside!  Perhaps someone had followed the ogres to their cave, to rescue her!  But… despite Brurk being small for an ogre, he was much larger than any person, and despite his childish temperament, he seemed quite skilled in the use of his weapon….

………………..
Following the ogre's trail through the snow had been very easy; they had not attempted to hide the deep tracks their outsized feet made.  Dintry was crouched outside the cave, listening to their words.  He reached into his coat pocket and vigorously rubbed his hands with powder he had developed in his lab to warm them.  He considered what he had heard.  Nisha was their prisoner inside, he was sure of it!  Yet, what could he do against three powerful monsters?  He darted behind a snowdrift as he saw one of them emerge.

Brurk roared indistinctly, swinging his club in a show of strength.  "Brurk, precious, you see anyone out there?" his mother called.

"No, ma, there ain't nobody," Brurk hollered back.  "Maybe some human was skulking around out here before, but if so, he's been terrified off."

The mother ogre smiled evilly at Nisha.  "That's right, no one's coming to your rescue!  We'll be off in a couple of minutes, and after we conclude our business with Frostbite, it's into the pot for you!"

Dintry, meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief.  What a stroke of luck that behemoth didn't spot me!

"Hey, hold on!" roared Brurk.  "There's something funny.  Someone is here!"

"Smash him, Brurk!" his mother shouted.

The alchemist jumped up from behind the snowdrift.  The time for hiding was over; he needed to act!  Recalling how frightened the ogres had been of demons, he reached into his pockets, sorting the contents by feel.  He tossed black powder onto the snow, creating steam and smoke.  "Arise, creature of fire!" he roared loudly.  "I adjure you to obey my summons!"

Despite her bonds, Nisha struggled to stand.  She recognized Dintry's voice; he had come to her rescue!  She awkwardly sat almost immediately, though, for her cold legs had been bound so long, she found she had little control over them.

"Ma, the human's calling up a demon!" Brurk shrieked as Dintry tossed more powder, this time creating several loud bangs.  To the ogre's fertile imagination, it seemed the smoke was taking shape, developing into a horrendous fiend from his worst nightmares!

The other two ogres ran out of the cave, brandishing their clubs.  "I knew them humans could summon up demons!"  Glaskra shouted.  "We should've left them alone!"

"Smash him!" ordered the mother, pointing her club at Dintry.  "The demon ain't formed yet; smash the human before he completes his magic, cuz we can't fight no demon!"

Dintry tossed more powder onto the snow, hoping the effect was dramatic enough.  He had very little left!  "Come forth!" he said loudly.  "Smite mine enemies with your fearsome powers!"

The increased noise and smoke was too much for the ogres.  With frightened yells, they ran past him.  "Nisha!" shouted Dintry.  "Are you in here?"

"Mpfff!" she called back.

"Oh, Nisha, I was so worried when I didn't see you at the dance!" exclaimed Dintry.  "Here, I'll get those ropes off you!"

"Not so fast, stick man!"  Dintry turned around; the mother had returned to her cave!  "I notice your demon's left you!  You won't be so brave without him to fight for you!"

Dintry desperately tossed the last bit of powder onto the cave floor.  If the smoke and noise wasn't enough to impress the ogress…!

She took a bold step forward, but then her courage wavered.  She fled, this time for good.  Dintry untied Nisha.  "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Oh, Dintry, I'm so glad you came!" she exclaimed, holding him tightly.  "How clever of you to trick the ogres into thinking you had magic!"

"It was all science," he answered simply.

"It always is, with you," she agreed, but she smiled as she spoke, adding a kiss, since that seemed the most effective way to prevent him from speaking more about it.  "Oh!  We need to hurry back to the village!" she exclaimed suddenly.

"Yes, those ogres might not stay frightened for long," he agreed.

"I'm feeling better!" she announced, taking a few steps and feeling life returning to her legs.  "Yes, we need to hurry; not only because of the ogres, but because it's almost noon!  I need to show everybody what to do, so they can dance properly!  Sarling needs our help!"

………………..
Sarling strained against her icy bonds, longing to break free.  The sun had very nearly reached the height of its journey for the day.  Would it warm her enough so she could escape?

The sun passed its zenith without warming her, but then she felt power flowing into her.  The invisible barrier between her and the sun seemed to dissipate; she gathered the strength she needed to spring forth from captivity.

Snow Shadow hooted angrily, echoing the anguished howl of defeat from Rizandon as Sarling flew forth from his cave.  She leapt lightly into the air, sweeping over the land, bringing new life wherever she passed.