The factory door slapped open again, and Apple flew down the stairs carrying an armful of boxes bound with ribbons. She handed me the assortment. “Now, they’re all labelled, of course. And don’t eat them all at once—that’ll muddle your stomach. And—”

“I’m sorry but I promised the train guy this wouldn’t take long,” Emily butted her way in, taking half the boxes.

Apple sighed and cast me a glossy-eyed, dark chocolate smile. “Safe travels.”

Cane and Scarlet watched from the stairs with Fred and Lucas. Lucas cast me a wink.

It was hard to believe that these few were all who stood between Nightflesh and his rulership over Winter. I’d never forget this moment. I’d never forget these faces.

“Come on,” I said to Emily before I changed my mind.

With my arms full of truffles, I boarded Cornelius Britley’s train, ignoring the cries and objections of my heart as I left Winter’s greatest fight in the hands of those at my back.

AN INTERRUPTION

AN INTERRUPTION

‘Twas a vision, no shinier than a silver spoon, no larger than a mustard seed, that had filled the mind of Kaley Bell the moment her hand had received that ancient stone of glory: a spherical orb of revelations and Truth.

The resting spark within her chest took off, ready to embark on the mission of a saint. With fire in its gallop, and a screech to ruffle the veils of darkness in its path, it thundered across Winter’s winds into the Dungeon of Souls with the speed of an arrow, slicing through the laugh of a witch oozing up from the floors.

In the vision, Kaley watched the spark light the dark tunnel. She tasted a sweet flavour which urged her to breathe a message in a different tongue.

“Fear not. I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Her intercession soared into the hearts of the believers where gold and colours had become weak. And she added, “Elowin watches.”

Boys in blackbird coats climbed to their knees to behold the spark, and other believers down the hall rose on wobbling legs. The spark whispered, “Greater is he who sits upon the True throne of Winter, than he who lives in the gutters and shadows.”

One folk cheered, and then another, until the volume of the believers sent the feastbeggars slinking back into the crevices of abandoned tunnels.

“Glory to Elowin!” one such believer chanted.

“Elowin is with us!” another one said.

“We are not alone!”

“We are not alone!”

“We are not alone!” they cried.

Kaley could not shake the chants from her ears even a measure of days later.

‘Twas youthful Lucas Leutenski who found her standing atop a hill, peering into the whisking snow. The air was white for a great distance.