Arc II — Echoes in the Snow

  Chapter 10— tension building

  After hearing the voice of Phil, Niki got her sword out from the hollow side of the seat.

  Karel stopped the carriage as fast as he could. Niki placed her sword at her hip.

  She placed her hand on the handle gently and kept her breath steady. She looked around, all five of her senses as sharp as possible.

  She waited for the attack.

  "Karel, come inside," Phil said in a low voice.

  Karel looked around and quietly came inside the carriage without asking anything.

  Phil made gestures using his eyes and then left the carriage to the front where Niki was sitting.

  Karel came to me and sat by my side. "It's okay, nothing will happen," Karel said, his voice shaking and his hands trembling.

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  Both of us looked at each other, knowing the words didn't hold any weight in them, but in that moment the words were the only thing to hold on to.

  So we held them and sat there silent.

  Outside the carriage, the footsteps were slowing down, and there was almost no noise for a second.

  Both Niki and Phil surrounded the carriage from both sides. Phil was on the right, and Niki with her sword was on the left.

  Phil took out his wand. It was a little stick that looked totally normal at first glance. He placed it on the ground, and the wand got covered in ice.

  It was a clear ice crystal in a natural drip shape with the wand at the center.

  The air seemed to stop for a second, and Phil's hands were turning blue from the cold. His breath became visible as he exhaled.

  He held the ice crystal and broke it with a swift swing of his leg in an instant.

  The sound of footsteps stopped, and nothing could be heard at the moment.

  It was like there had never been any sound at all. The silence was piercing everyone there like an ice knife slowly pushing into their skin.

  The silence was the only thing that remained, it seemed, at that moment.

  Then suddenly, the sound of snow crushing started to come from the front of the carriage.

  All four of us looked that way instinctively.

  Then nothing. There was nothing at all there, only the road as it was.

  Then suddenly, the sound of a foot hitting a branch came, and the snow started to fall.

  There was something in the tree.