Once Upon a Winter's Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

said, “Now we have gold,” and then her father, who whispered, “I’m sorry.”
    Last of all she hugged Giles, who burst into tears without saying a word, but Camille said, “Fear not, Little Frère, for I believe all will be well,” even though her heart was hammering in dread.
    At another whuff from the Bear, Henri opened the door, and out into winter they all trod, where sunlight aglance across the snow cast diamondlike glints to the eye.
    Sighing and forcing a smile and raising her hand in au revoir, Camille started trudging toward Faery, but the Bear growled and did not move.
    Frowning, Camille looked back and said, “O Bear, do we not go this way? It is your own tracks in the white I follow.”
    Yet the Bear still did not move.
    “Oh, my,” hissed Aigrette to Henri. “Something has gone wrong. The prince will take back his gold.”
    Camille returned to the Bear’s side. “What is it you want, O Bear?”
    Giles frowned down at the glittering snow and then looked up at Camille. “The letter, Camille. Remember the letter?”
    Camille looked at her little brother. “Y-yes. I do. But what does it—?”
    “ ‘I await your answer,’ ” quoted Giles. “ ‘If it is yes, my ambassador will bear her to me.’ Oh, Camille, don’t you see, the Bear wants you to ride.”
    With uncertainty, Camille looked at the Bear. “Is that it, O Bear? You wish me to ride?”
    “ Whuff. ” The Bear lowered his head.
    Taking a deep breath and catching hold of the harness, Camille mounted up, Gai and Joie gasping in borrowed fright, Lisette frowning in disdain, while Felise and Colette and Père and Mère looked on in wonder at Camille, the golden-haired girl perched as would a lady riding sidesaddle upon a horse. Only Giles laughed in glee; but then the Bear began to move away, heading toward the twilight realm, and Giles’ laughter died in his throat and tears sprang to his eyes, for his beloved sister was leaving.
    Without turning, Camille waved adieu to her family, for she did not want them to see she was weeping; after all, she was all of sixteen and now on her own, and surely beyond such displays. Nevertheless, tears flowed down her cheeks to drop away in the cold. And she cast the hood of the cloak over her head to hide her teary-eyed face and to fend against the chill, while the Bear padded forward toward twilight.
    Before the Bear had gone halfway, Aigrette turned and rushed back into the hovel to count once more the measure of precious gold, Lisette trailing after. But the rest of the family remained where they stood, watching, as Camille rode away to an unknown fate on the back of a Bear from Faery.

4
    Springwood
    A cross a winter-fallow ’scape laden with crystalline snow went the Bear, with bundles strapped to his harness and a young girl mounted above. And Camille’s heart hammered ever more frantically the closer to Faery they came. Even so, even though her mouth was dust-dry with fear, just ere crossing out of the mortal world and into the mystic realm, she managed to turn and wave to the cluster of kindred standing beside the little stone cottage where all of her life she had lived; yet even as they raised their hands to return her distant au revoir, the Bear crossed over the marge, and within ten strides or mayhap ten hundred, the hovel and family were gone. And though it was midmorn in the world behind, it was twilight in the numinous domain. Camille gasped in surprise, for though she had not known what she had expected, it certainly was not this, for they had entered a burgeoning forest, a realm where the gentle air of mid-spring wafted among newly leafed-out trees, a place where winter held no grip.
    Camille cast back the hood of her cloak and shook loose her flowing tresses to cascade golden down her back. And she breathed in the scent of the woodland, fresh and full of new promise, where, somehow, in spite of the twilight, the shades of the forest seemed darker, and yet at the same time the hues