"Ferrian´s Winter: Prologue" by Megan Proverbs

        The sunlight blazing in through the gaps in the planks that cris-crossed over her head seemed, all of a sudden, much more malevolent and sinister.

        She stared up at the light. It was deeply red, the most vivid sunset she could remember. And now that she opened her senses properly, there were other oddities as well: strange coloured patterns mingling with the dust, and whispers…

        Osawin stopped breathing, and strained her ears to listen. It sounded like human voices, but she could not discern from which direction it was coming.

        "Is anyone there?" she cried. "Please, help me! I need help! Please!"

        No one replied, but the whispering continued. No, it's not someone talking, she decided, it was someone chanting or singing, very quietly. But it sounded strange, warped, as though she was hearing it from underwater.

        The sound grew louder, flitting all around her like an invisible, musical butterfly, then faded away. Osawin looked around, unsettled, wondering if her mind was failing. Then she noticed something else.

        There was frost in the shadows.

        She had assumed her shivering was due to shock, but now she realised that in fact the air itself was very cold. Far colder than it should have been on a midsummer's evening. And it was getting colder as the minutes passed and the sun sank lower. Even as she watched, the frost gathered and spread, creeping outwards with feathery fingers over the debris.

        It seemed to be concentrated around her body, as though somehow emanating from her. Osawin reached out and touched a plank, and was startled when her fingers left icy white prints on the wood.

        She almost dissolved into complete panic, then. But she remembered her husband's face, and took hold of herself. Jace would want her to be strong, and brave, and practical-- not get carried away with wild imaginings, or lay pining for him. Their little baby was about to enter the world: her first and only concern was to keep it safe. Nothing else mattered.

        Osawin made a decision. Jace wasn't here. No one was coming to help her. She wasn't sure if anyone even knew she was here. She had no idea where the midwife was. The old woman had gone down to the market for onions, but had not returned. Perhaps she had been injured in the tremor…

        But she couldn't think about that now.

        Pushing herself into as much of a sitting position as her situation would allow, Osawin began shoving at the sideboard that held her legs trapped.

        It might as well have been made of stone, for all it moved. She tried shifting the bits of rubble propping it up, but instantly abandoned that idea when the heavy cabinet suddenly slipped a quarter of an inch lower onto her legs, causing her heart to leap into her throat. Searching around herself in desperation, she found a flat board behind her head and tried to lever it into the crack beside her legs, but it snapped. She pulled the pieces out and threw them angrily away, and sat for a minute with her teeth chattering despite the sweat running down her face, and considered her options.

        She tried moving her legs again, but however which way she turned them, the sharp-edged wood splinters dug into her skin, like the teeth of some hungry beast, holding her fast.

        But there was no help for it.

        Bracing herself as best she could, Osawin took several deep breaths and then ripped her leg free. She cried out with the pain, gritted her teeth and forced herself to pull it out all the way. Blood leaked down her leg from deep lacerations, but she ignored it. The other limb was slightly easier to dislodge.

        Having finally freed herself, the young woman climbed unsteadily to her feet, throwing planks out of the way as she did so, and began to limp and stumble over the rubble.

        Fallen rafters blocked the front door and the passage to the kitchen was equally impassable, so she made her way towards the window in the west wall, through which the last trickle of sunlight was pouring. By the time she got there, the sun had sunk below the distant dry hills, leaving cold blue shadows in its wake. Exhausted, Osawin slumped against the buckled wall, panting. Another contraction gripped her, leaving her feeling dizzy and ill. A trail of blood had followed her across the room. Belatedly, she realised she should have tended to her wounds before exerting herself, but she was so desperate to get out of there…

        Wearily, she picked up a lump of wood and hammered the broken glass shards out of the window, and climbed through. She fell in a heap on the ground below, and started dragging herself through the churned up dirt and weeds towards the open road, where someone might see her.

        The town was still eerily quiet. No one ran out to help. There was no one to be seen, anywhere. Through her blurred, spinning vision, Osawin thought she could make out lumps that looked like bodies slumped across the road ahead, but she couldn't be sure.

        She sobbed her terror into the dust. What if everyone was dead?

        She used up the last of her strength giving birth. When it was over, she lay on her back gazing up at the sky. It had turned purple, like a great bruise, and it was going black and fuzzy at the edges…

        She became aware suddenly that her baby was not making any noise. She struggled to turn her head, to look at it, to see if it was all right. She could see it laying there in the dirt-- a tiny little helpless thing. A beautiful thing...

        A little boy.

        A son, I have a son. Please, don't let him be dead… Tears spilling from her eyes, she reached for him, her fingers scraping the dust…

        A black shadow fell across her. It took her a few moments to realise that she had not lost consciousness, that the shadow was cast by something standing over her.

        She lifted her head, and froze in horror.

        It was a hideous creature, like something out of a terrible ghost story. It walked upright in parody of a Human, but its head was sleek and reptilian, like a Dragon. Great black, tattered wings curved over its head, with dagger-like claws poised at the tips. Its eyes were narrow, yellow and pitiless, with slitted pupils. It blinked its double-lidded eyes and cocked its head, as though contemplating how best to savage her.

        Then its eyes shifted to the infant.

        Weak as Osawin was, nothing could have prevented the scream that burst out of her. She lunged for her son, but the creature plucked him out of the dirt like a biscuit crumb. Either the sound of his mother's anguished wail or the sudden movement shook life into the child, and he began bawling as well.

        The creature held him between long black talons, dangling by one tiny arm. Its nostrils flared at the scent of blood and its jaws parted, drool leaking from them.

        Osawin knew she had no hope of fighting the creature in her pitiful state. She could do nothing but collapse on the ground, trying to look away. Let me die, let me die, she prayed. Don't make me watch!

        Osawin lifted her grimy, tear-streaked face out of her hands just enough to catch sight of two small figures on the other side of the road; just children, by the looks of them, with bare feet and dusty, baggy clothing. One of them was clutching a hunting bow and firing arrows at the creature. "Leave them alone!" he shouted bravely, though his voice was shaky and his aim faltered under the creature's piercing glare. His bow was wobbling all over the place.

        One of the arrows added another hole to the creature's wing, but it didn't seem to notice. Instead, it bared its formidable coal-black incisors and advanced on the children, taking Osawin's screaming child with it. The boy lost his nerve and stumbled backwards.

        Just then, the second figure, who was even slighter than the first, darted out of the shadows. Osawin was astonished to see what appeared to be a very small girl wielding a very large blade, so heavy that she could barely lift it out of the dirt. Osawin tried to scream out a warning, but the boy took the words from her throat.

        "Ana, NO!"

        But it was already too late. With heartbreaking courage but tragic clumsiness, the little girl swung the sword at the looming black creature. Without flinching it lashed at her face, sending blood arcing from its talons, felling her instantly.

        Crying with grief, the boy dropped his bow and fled.

        Presented with more entertaining prey, the creature discarded the infant and started to give chase, when a brilliant white light flared up out of nowhere.

        It happened so suddenly that Osawin gasped, and was forced to squint against the glare. The creature appeared to be stuck in the glow of light like a moth in a flame. It let out the most terrible shriek she had ever heard, and would ever hear-- like metal tearing through her, and then it began to disintegrate. Its wings fell apart and the flesh was stripped from its body, leaving only a black skeleton and then that, too, was consumed until nothing at all remained in the glare that filled the world.

        Osawin felt as though the light was consuming her, too. She wanted to close her eyes but could not, even though the pain was blinding her.

        The light was too beautiful, too intense, too terrible…

        In the darkness, hands passed over the young mother's staring, awestruck eyes. Then they went to a small bundle of cloth, carefully pulling back the folds to reveal a tiny face. Reflected by the light of distant torches, its eyes glittered like miniature stars.