Hunted in Holly

Chapter 5

My winter green coat, pine colored boots, and flattering base layers were returned to me, fully laundered, three days before Christmas morning. I was given some simple survival supplies, namely a rope, some nonperishable sweets, and a pocket knife, and my captor was kind enough to offer me a map of the dense pine forests and mountains that surrounded the back half of his North Pole fortress. He was as arrogant as always, so confident he would win that he was giving me any edge he could offer.

Not that this could ever be a fair game. No matter how much food, weaponry, and topographical maps he provided me with, he’d lived in this forest for thousands of years. My powers were still undeveloped, but at least I had my knowledge of the plants and snow to my advantage.

I pulled on my boots and brushed out my hair before the castle guards escorted me from my room. I followed them obediently through the halls until we arrived at a massive set of double doors colored with intricate red and gold patterns.

Nicholas stood against the doorway, but he made no qualms about looking me up and down as I approached.

“You look good enough to eat, Sweet Noel.” Nicholas said. “I wonder how long you’ll be able to hide from me.”

I narrowed my gaze. Three days was plenty of time to escape. I’d evade him, and I’d run. Even if my kingdom was destroyed, I could always hide in the countless forests, jungles, deserts, and plains throughout the world. Now that he’d told me how to kill him, I just had to bide my time until I was strong enough to execute.

I would win this.

I dragged my teeth over my lip, then cocked my head back, symbolically looking down on him. That was the best I could do considering he exceeded my height by more than a foot.

I didn’t give him the dignity of further eye contact as I stormed past him and pushed through the door. Though I could see his smile, so crooked and cruel, in my periphery.

“I’ll give you a two hour head start. Make it fun for me, won’t you?” He called after me, and I tried not to show any of the fear that still reverberated through my bones. I didn’t have time for that kind of weakness.

I stepped outside, the brisk and abrupt temperature change almost feeling refreshing after days in the stifling warmth of his fortress. I put the Saint behind me, and I surveyed the area.

It was a bluebird day. The sky was clear, though the temperatures were frigid, and the sun reflected harshly off the snow blanketed floor. I squinted to limit the light bombarding my pupils, and I drew a heavy inhale through my nose, letting the pine scented frost sting my nostrils on the way in.

Of the tens of thousands of pine trees before me, most were blanketed in fresh and heavy piles of snow, weighing down every branch.

Not the easiest environment to hide in. I’d need to move with precision, as knocking snow off branches would make it easier to track me, but the snow on the ground also meant my footsteps would be impossible to miss without using my ice magic to fill in the holes. I couldn’t begin to use that much energy though. I’d be spent within the first hour. I would need to get out of the trees as quickly as possible.

I knew there was a lake maybe five or six miles into the forest, which could be a good option, and the hills and cliff sides were jagged and treacherous enough that it would be difficult to follow me if I decided to climb.

I was a good climber. Was Nicholas?

I couldn’t discount his capabilities. He was an immortal in his own playground, and he had no intention of letting me escape. The Saints existed to read and regulate the actions of man, and I could only imagine how that lent to his tracking ability. I, a mere deity, was tasked with regulating the environment, which gave me some innate ability to navigate survival. We both lived endless lives, but where deities were killable by the elements we created, apparently a Saint could only be ended by severing their body from their mind. It seemed obvious in hindsight, but that didn’t make the power imbalance any easier. It was an unfair game in an unfair world, just like it always was.

But nature had been a close friend of my bloodline since the dawn of time. I knew Mother Earth would pick me before she’d pick him.

At least I hoped she would.

I braced myself to start my charge, then I launched off the balls of my feet and sprinted for the forest. My boots compressed the snow beneath every step. There was no hiding it. I shot into the depths of frosted pine needles, and I ran, stretching my muscles on every propelling step. My lungs burned, but I didn’t slow.

I must have covered two miles or more before I stopped short between two massive, towering pines. Hoof tracks and bunny paws had been speckled throughout the forest, and I took note of which direction they led.

I frowned at every tiny impression in the powder. It’s too simple to track ANYTHING in these circumstances.

I stomped down all of the snow in this small crossroads, until the impression was smooth and slick, then I ran forward, making every step heavy and deeply imprinted. Once I’d woven a complicated enough path, ending at a cliff side that I could easily climb, I started retracing my steps, walking backwards, and very carefully threading my boots into the old imprints. I knocked snow from the trees indiscriminately, like someone attempting to cover their tracks, but too silly, hasty, and na?ve to realize the trees would give off their own trail, then I made it all the way back to my crossroads.

I angled my next step very carefully, so it was facing the opposite direction to my path. I continued to move backwards, circling the trees, and weaving in and out of stones, ledges, and branches, trying to create the illusion that I’d been heading west while I moved east. Once my true trail was confusing enough, I’d cover enough of my tracks to hide far from the imprints in the snow.

It was an imperfect plan, but with enough branching and scattering of steps, it would make it marginally less obvious where I’d gone. If nothing else, it would buy me some time. That was what I needed more than anything. Even if I only misled him for a couple hours, it would be enough time to formulate my next plan to mislead him for a few more.

An hour and a half had passed, and I knew he’d be coming for me soon. Though I was deep in the forest, I was sure he’d move faster than I could. I concentrated my ice magic into my hands, then I used all of my strength and focus to start hiding my tracks with magic frost. There was always the risk that he could scent me by my power signature, so I couldn’t use too much of my energy too close to my dummy trail.

Not to mention the fact that I couldn’t afford to deplete all my strength, when I had three full days to survive on little more than gingerbread protein bars, peppermint sticks, and chocolate. I wasn’t a hunter—it went against everything in my soul to harm any living thing born of nature’s womb—so sugar and adrenaline would have to be enough. I would budget my calories accordingly.

I ran until I found a particularly large tree, whose lowest branches extended a solid eight feet from its trunk.

I used frost manipulation to draw back a sheet of snow under the canopy of the branches, then I crawled inside my freezing den and enclosed the space. It wouldn’t be as obvious that the snow had been disturbed under the shadows and fallen pine needles of the tree.

If I could just evade him for this first day, I could move deeper into the forest and find a new hiding place. But for now, this would be a good test to gauge how well he could read the forest…

And me.