Once Upon a Winter's Night

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Book: Read Once Upon a Winter's Night for Free Online
Authors: Dennis L. McKiernan
slender rider Camille, and everywhere he bore her were marvels to delight the senses—birds singing, iridescent insects winging, the scent of loam and flowers and other growing things drifting on the air, the mild wafts caressing the skin. And Camille reveled in all.
    “O Bear,” she said, laughing gaily, “to think how I did dread coming into this place, for many are the tales of monsters and of peril dire, and yet I deem herein are no monsters, no peril; I think ’tis but a rumor fostered by the Fey Folk to hold us Humans at bay, else we would o’errun the—”
    But the Bear roared at these words, as if protesting their untruth. And crying in fright, birds fled into the sky, and only the soft hum of an insect or two and a trickle of water broke the stillness left behind.
    “Oh, my,” whispered Camille, her heart racing at the thunderous outburst. “Mayhap I am wrong after all.”
    She rode in silence for a while. But then—“Is it that there is peril herein after all?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    “Monsters?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    At these answers, Camille’s eyes widened in apprehension, and she looked about the splendid forest, seeking . . . seeking . . . she knew not what.
    Onward they went, Camille somewhat on edge, for a nagging disquiet clutched at her heart. And now and again movement flickered in the corners of her eyes, yet when she jerked about to look, it seemed nothing was there. Birds perhaps, or small, running things. Oh, Bear, why did you have to bring me such ill news?
    The sun continued to slip down the sky, and but for the fact that she rode through Faery on the back of a great black Bear within an enchanted forest, the day seemed normal to Camille, though far in the distance all ’round, twilight graced the land.
    The sun set and dusk came, and, in the nearness to the fore, Camille could see a small flicker of fire. Toward this glow the Bear trod. As they moved among the trees, Camille thought she detected the patter of small feet running lightly alongside. A bit of an animal hieing nigh, I suppose. Wait, it seems there’s more than one. And—What was that? A giggle? Was that a giggle? Camille listened intently and peered into the evening shadows. Yet she saw only darkness, and the sound was not repeated, and the footsteps pattered away.
    They came to a wee glade in which a small campfire burned within a ring of stones. Spitted above the flames, a brace of rabbits cooked, fat dripping down asizzle. No one was there to greet them; no one seemed about. Nearby, a spring gurgled from the earth and ran down a slope to a lucid mere, cattail reeds ringing ’round.
    In the tiny campsite, the Bear stopped and looked over his shoulder at Camille and whuff ed. Camille dismounted. Now the Bear nuzzled the harness; she unbuckled the straps, and at another sign from the Bear, undid one of the bundles: it was a bedroll.
    “We are to spend the night here?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    “But there must be someone who kindled the fire and spitted the rabbits to cook; are we to camp with him . . . or with them, if there’s more than one?”
    The Bear made no reply.
    Camille stamped her foot. “Oh, would you had more than a simple whuff to say, or more than that deafening roar.”
    Again the Bear made no comment, but instead looked back and forth between Camille and the rabbits over the fire.
    “Oh, no, Bear, that’s someone else’s meal.” Yet Camille’s mouth watered at the aroma and sight of the well-cooked meat.
    Camille looked out into the forest ’round, and she called aloud, “Allo, the woods! Is the owner of the camp nigh?”
    No one answered.
    Frowning, she turned to the Bear. “Do you know whose camp this is?”
    “ Whuff. ” And the Bear looked at Camille and the bedroll on the sward, and then sat down.
    Camille cocked a skeptical eye. “My camp, O Bear? Our camp?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    Camille shook her head in disbelief. “And just who set it up? Fairies? Sprites?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    Camille was taken

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