The Snow Keep

They led her into the cottage, the Elder Brother helping her to the soft pallet covered with furs and blankets. A fire burned, and cheese, bread and a flagon of cider sat on a low table. “Thank you” she said, remembering her courtesies but her voice so low she did not know if they heard her. “Lady…Alayne,” the Elder Brother paused “you have traveled far on dangerous roads. Whatever you run from will not find you here. Rest and we will speak tomorrow.” They filed out, and she lay back, staring into the flames. She prayed, for sleep, for courage, and for something she knew could not be true. A noise outside made her leap up. She couldn’t be sure how long she slept, but the fire was dull and darkness crowded in. She pulled the furs to her chest, scrambling into the shadows as the sound came again. Someone, or something was outside. Her breath caught in her throat as a huge darkness entered the cottage, bending to fit through the low door and slowly moving into the...

1.  He nods to her. He often sees her in the lobby beside the mail slots. She looks up quickly, nods back, then rushes away. Her loose sleeves flap behind her like wings. 2. He hears her. Sometimes begging, sometimes crying. But he turns up the TV and drinks his coffee. 3. She waits in the hallway, right in the middle, on the border of his front door and hers. The hall light makes the red in her hair shine, but the bruise on her face is purple. 4. “He’s left me. He. Left. Me.” She laughs, and as she does her lip splits. She doesn’t laugh again for a while. 5. One day he comes home and she is drunk. She begins to cry so he reaches out to touch her hair. She flinches, so he drops his hand. “What happened to your face?” she asks. “My brother.”       “We’ll fix each other” she says, and starts to sing. 6. She kisses his cheek in the morning, and when he gets home. Always on the scarred side. “Must be love” the guys at work say. “We’ll fix each other” she’...