The winter silence crept under her skin burrowing deep like a mole into the dark depths. In the silence she felt her voice, her name and her soul would all disappear and all that would remain would be a pale shadow going through the motions of life. She moved to the window and looked out over the vast whiteness the spread as far as she could see. A whiteness that made up her prison she had lived all her life in this cold castle at the end of the world.
She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been here staring out at the cold white land. She never left the empty castle; food appeared and disappeared when she had her fill. Clothes and shoes were in the wardrobe when she opened the door. The lights turned on and off, her bed always pristinely made after she left it. Nothing disturbed the silence; she knew her letters and filled her time reading in the library about other worlds filled with sunlight and colour. She tried to imagine yellow sunlight filling her world but all she could see was white, cold shades of blue and black the only colours of the clothes that appeared in her wardrobe.
Silence she knew had its own weight; it was a weight she carried every day. Standing still as a statue she went into a trance as white filled her vision it was how she passed the hours. Holding up the weight of silence staring out at the white landscape waiting for something to change, but it never did.
Puffing out a cloudy breath she started to turn away from the window, at the edge of her eye a flicker caught her attention. Turning back she saw a movement in the whiteness, holding her breath she leaned closer to the window. There was someone out there. It appeared that they were coming towards the castle. The figure was still a long way away stumbling through the thick layer of white. She was unsure about what she should do. Should she find a door to the outside, she had never been out and wasn’t even sure if there was a door. She continued to look at the figure weaving and stumbling and decided she would find the door and go out and help.
When she reached the hallway at the bottom of the stairs she was surprised to see a large, solid wooden door with metal inserts. That had not been there before and beside the door was a chair with a black fur coat thrown across it. She pulled on the coat and went to the door, grasping the handle she twisted and pulled. The door opened. Tentatively she stepped outside the castle for the first time. Eyes wide she stared around her at the open space, the crisp chill of air lightly touched her face, remembering why she had come outside she ran towards the castle gate.
She found she could run lightly over the whiteness, she didn’t stumble like the figure she could see in the distance. With the ability she found she was quickly able to reach the figure that had fallen down and didn’t appear able to get up. Leaning over the prone figure she lightly placed her hand on the animal skin hood and pushed it back slightly, looking down she saw a man with dark hair, blue veined eyelids closed with dark lashes laying on white skin, a thin nose and finely drawn lips. As she leaned closer his eyes opened.
“Who, what” he muttered.
She put her hands under his shoulder and pulled him up. She knew she needed to say something. Pushing the words out of her mouth was harder than running over the whiteness.
“It all right, I will help you” she got out. The very first words she could remember speaking.
Putting her shoulder under his she got him to his feet and started back. After what seemed to be an endless time struggling with him through the whiteness she got them both back to the castle. He seemed senseless and she felt a strange heat coming from him. Once in the castle she took him to a room on the ground floor with a bed, thankful to be rid of his weight she lowered him to the bed, tugged off his wet boots and the animal skin coat. She pulled the blankets up and decided to see if there was any food; as for the first time she felt very hungry.
In the dining room a plate was at her normal place at the table and further along was a bowl with a lid she lifted the lid and smelt a rich, meaty broth. Going along to her usual seat she sat and ate the food on her plate, wondering at how good it tasted. After finishing her food she took the broth back into the stranger’s room.
As she entered she saw his eyes were open. Seeing her he struggled to sit up, putting the broth down she went to help him. Once he was sitting up she held the broth bowl out to him. He took the bowl, raised it to his lips and drank most of the broth. When he had satisfied his initial need he lowered the bowl and spoke.
“I really thought you were just a fireside tale” he said “I thought my journey to find The Lady of The Winter Silence would be a waste of my life, but here you are”.
As he said these words a sense of understanding entered me.
“What is your name” I asked as words were beginning to come easier.
“Merlin” he responded.
This man who had found his way out of the world into my domain was my consort.
‘Merlin, I am Angerona and I give you welcome”.
