Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George [68]
She was in the ruins of a great palace. The rich stone carvings were crumbling, and vines had wormed their way between the cracks in the paving stones and up the sides of the square pillars. Animal faces and strange, squat human figures leered at her from between leaves the size of dinner plates.
A swirl of black earth, green pollen, and warm dew skirled through the ruins and languidly took the shape of an enormous bird of prey.
“What is that?” Its tone was ripe with disgust. “What is it doing here, Brother West?”
“This foolish human is looking for the palace east of the sun and west of the moon,” the west wind replied. His collection of grit and heat wafted across the broken floor tiles, exhausted.
The green-and-black bird shot in and around the pillars of the ruins in agitation, making a singing, whistling noise. “Never have I dared to blow there!”
Once again, the lass’s patience snapped. “I know, I know! Because you are afraid of the trolls! But I am not, and maybe that makes me a fool, but I don’t care. If you can’t blow me to the palace, at least blow me to the home of the north wind, and perhaps he will be able to help me.”
“It’s a temperamental little thing, isn’t it?” The south wind soared over and stroked the lass’s face with a moist, feathery breeze. “Humans are so odd.”
The lass flapped her hands in front of her face, trying to slap away the south wind in irritation. “Will you help me, or not?”
“I don’t see why I should.”
“Because somebody, somewhere, has to fight the trolls,” the lass said with vehemence.
“I don’t think there’s any need to be so hysterical about it,” the south wind said. “In fact, I think that you’re overreacting. It’s common among humans. The last human I carried was prone to breaking out in sobs and praying aloud for the safety of her lover.”
“Tova?” The lass had forgotten to ask the west wind if he had carried Tova.
“I didn’t ask,” the south wind sniffed. “I picked her up on my way to visit my brother north. She was sitting on a grassy plain, sobbing and tearing her hair.”
“I left the last human I carried sitting on a grassy plain, sobbing,” the west wind panted. “Did she taste of strawberries and snow?”
“Indeed she did!”
“You abandoned Tova in the middle of nowhere?” The lass kicked out at the west wind but failed to do any damage to it.
“She couldn’t go any farther,” it snapped. “She was not as hardy as you. She feared that she would perish.”
“I took her to our brother North,” the south wind sighed. “Though I do not know what happened to her after that.”
“If you didn’t mind taking her, then you won’t mind taking me,” the lass reasoned.
“Our brother may not approve of me dropping so many humans in his home,” the south wind said.
“I really don’t care,” the lass replied. “I think it’s despicable that the four winds—the great and powerful four winds—are all such cowards! The trolls are causing great evil, and you will do nothing to stop it!”
“But how can the evil of mortal creatures affect the wind?” The south wind’s tone was arch.
“If the trolls can’t harm you, why are you afraid of them?” the lass countered. Then something about the south wind’s words snagged her attention. “Mortal? I thought that the trolls were immortal?”
“The years tramp more slowly for them than for humans, and I have yet to hear of age killing a troll, but there are other things that can destroy them,” the west wind said. The south wind was swirling through the broken pillars again, apparently mulling over the lass’s words.
“Like what?”
“Powerful magic. Weapons of enchanted steel. Dragons.”
“Oh.” The lass had none of those things.
“Rest and eat,” the south wind said, winding through the ruins to make the lass’s skirts flap. “Tomorrow I shall carry you to my brother.”
“Thank you.”
Though stronger than the west, the south wind was far more pleasant. Warm, moist air scented with exotic flowers bore her up as dawn gilded the ruins of the ancient temple. Feeling as though she rode on a bed of soft moss, the lass closed