She could feel the wood at the center of the ice, feel its cold, and very faintly the waiting life, the warmth waiting for spring to come and give it life again. She grabbed that warmth to herself. It spread through her body like a rush of heat. The vision rode that warmth.
A man lay in the snow. He was like no man Elaine had ever seen. High, thin bones shaped his face. It could have been just a high-cheekboned face, handsome, but nothing more, but there was a delicacy to the face that was more than bone. The skin was silver, nearly the color of the sun-warmed snow. His skin was truly silver, metallic in color, spread over the snow like silk. It wasn't a man at all. She didn't know what it was, but it was no man. Was it a monster? A beautiful monster?
A woman knelt by him. Long brown hair fell around a thin face. There was something of the other's alienness in the woman's face, but her skin didn't have that awful paleness. But her eyes gleamed like fire-shot brass, making mock of the ordinary hair and skin.
She tipped a small glass vial to his lips, rubbing his throat to make him swallow. Why was Elaine watching this? The woman was caring for the wounded creature? Was that it? Were they meant to destroy it? Was it dangerous?
The woman looked up at something Elaine could not see. Her strange eyes widened. She scrambled backward, floundering in the snow. She drew a knife from her belt, on her knees in the snow beside the fallen creature.
Elaine wanted to see what was frightening her. For the first time, Elaine moved her sight through the vision, moved away from the girl to what she was looking at. Elaine thought it was a wolf at first. Then it rose upward, towering on two bent legs, clawed hands flexing. Breath snorted out of its gaping, jagged jaws in a cloud of white smoke.
Blood decorated the snow like crimson lace. A man lay torn and twitching at the beast's feet. Wolves the size of small ponies stood at the beast's back, waiting their turn, waiting for their master to let them feed.
"No," Elaine said. The beast turned to look up into the sky as if it had heard her. Had it? "Leave them alone."
The beast searched for the source of the voice, seeing nothing, but it did not attack the woman.
"Blaine, find them. Go to her. Help her."
"Where is she?" came his distant voice.
Elaine felt her arm move, slowly pointing.
She heard horses surging out through the snow. The jingle of harnesses, the snick of blades drawn. "Hurry," she said.
The beast stalked toward the woman, and the dire-wolves surged forward. The creature whirled with a roar. The wolves cringed, tails tucked tight, belly-crawling on the snow. The great canines groveled; they should have been terrifying, but the man-beast made them seem small and ordinary. An ordinary horror, compared to it.
Elaine turned back to the woman. She felt her head move, but it was not her eyes that saw. The woman still knelt by the fallen man. She stood now, knife ready, but her hand trembled. One knife was no match against such evil.
The beast bounded forward, impossibly fast on its twisted legs. It slashed at her, and she screamed, backing up a step.
Where was Elaine? Why didn't he help her?
The alien man moved on the snow, a soft movement as if he were waking. The great beast knelt, claws reaching for the closer victim. The woman rushed it, slashing with her small knife. Blood flew, and the creature reared back, bellowing. Red flowed from a deep wound in its arm. The girl seemed surprised that she had hurt it.
Lips drew back from its teeth. A low, terrible snarl rumbled up from its chest. It had been playing with her before now, thinking her no danger. That had changed.
It circled her, trying to force her away from the wounded man, to force her out into the open. Once her back was to the dire wolves, she would be dead; she could not stand against them all.
The woman wouldn't leave her wounded companion. She stayed, standing over him as he struggled to wake from something deeper than sleep.
The beast waved its arm, and the wolves advanced. Where was Blaine? They were going to be too late.
The wolves plunged forward in a snarling rush. The beast urged them on, muzzle pointed skyward, howling.
Elaine screamed wordlessly, hand outstretched, as if she could touch them, protect them somehow.
The wolves, a near-solid mass of fur and fangs, surged in on muscled legs, running like a dark wind that rushed toward the woman, but fell back in a shower of violet sparks. The wolves lay in a stunned heap, inches from the wounded man. There was a faint violet-blue glow in the air in front of the woman and the man.
The beast stalked nearer, kicking at the fallen dire wolves to clear its path. It waved a cautious claw at the air. Violet sparks followed the tips of its claws, falling in bluish rainbows to the snow. Sparks sizzled there.
The beast turned slowly, searching the trees. It pivoted all the way around, giving the girl its back. She had cast a powerful spell to save herself, but the beast considered her no longer. It sniffed the air, breath foaming in the cold. Suddenly, it stared straight at Elaine. She wasn't sure what had changed, or how she knew, but it saw her, knew she was there.
She was jerked roughly. Her face stung. She blinked, and someone slapped her, hard and stinging. Gersalius was half holding her. Jonathan drew his hand back to slap her again.
Elaine put her hand up to protect herself.
"I think she's all right, now," Gersalius said. He lightly touched Jonathan's shoulder. "I don't think you need strike her again."
"You told me to hit her," Jonathan said. His voice sounded defensive.
"I know," the wizard said. "Elaine, are you all right?"
"I was having a vision. Why did you break my concentration?" She was suddenly angry with them. "Now I don't know if the woman is safe. Why did you wake me?"
"Some great darkness had found you, Elaine. I could feel it searching for you. I yelled, tried to break your hold before it found you."
"What are you talking about?"
"The man-wolf, it is not just a monster. It is a great evil, more than it seems."
Elaine blinked at him. "How did you know about the man-beast?"
Jonathan answered. "Your. vision was visible on every reflecting surface. We watched it all in the twisted mirrors of the ice."
There was something in his voice that made Elaine stare. Disapproval. He disapproved of her. There was a wariness in his eyes, something close to. fear. That one look pierced Elaine's heart like a dagger. She turned away, burying her face in Gersal-ius's shoulder. She hid the tears against the wizard's cloak, wanting Jonathan not to see.
"If she can ride," Tereza said, "we must go and help the others."
Elaine felt Jonathan rise and walk away. She raised her head slowly.
Gersalius touched cold, bare fingers to her face, gathering the tears. "He does not mean to hurt you."
"I know." She sniffed, wiping at her face with her gloved hands. Gersalius helped her to her feet. She couldn't remember getting off her horse, let alone falling to the snow.
"I've never had a vision that lasted so long," she said.
"It was not just a vision."
"We must help the others," Tereza said. "Mount up."
"Do you feel well enough to ride?" the wizard asked.
"Yes, I feel fine. I don't feel tired or cold, or bad at all. Why?"
"You are learning to control your magic."
Tereza led Elaine's horse over to them. "I'll hold its head while you mount."
The horse's eyes rolled to white. It did not look happy.
"There is no time to be squeamish, Elaine. The others have ridden ahead. They may be hurt, needing our help."
Elaine nodded. She grabbed the saddle horn. The horse danced away, only its head stationary by Tereza. Gersalius lifted her from behind, and the momentum carried her onto the horse. She settled into the saddle with the horse fidgeting under her.