Flurries of snow descended on the castle, remnants of previous night’s storm which had left the city covered in a deep blanket of powder. Snow this deep was rare in Lucern, and even Wolf found himself drawn outside, unable to focus on his studies. It was only a bonus that he would have a chance to test against his research.
“I’d think you’ve never seen snow before with how excited you look right now.” A young man, a bit taller than Wolf and dressed in refined winter clothes, had entered the courtyard to find Wolf hard at work on his snowman, just lifting the large second tier upon the base.
“Hey Blue,” Wolf greeted his cousin without turning, focused on his work. “It’s true we don’t get as much snow as you do in Nordall. However, it’s not the snow, but the experiment that has me riled up.”
Blue raised his brow at the younger Wolf. “Oh?”
Wolf secured the ball of snow in its place and stepped back to examine it. Satisfied, he skipped over to a nearby bench and grabbed the tome which rested atop it. He brought it over to the prince, shoving it into Blue’s hands without a word and returned to his work, adding limbs to the body.
Blue examined the book, flipping through a few pages without understanding any of its symbols. “Planning on teaching your snowman to read, then?”
Wolf laughed. “Snowmen aren’t smart enough for that.” He returned to the bench and produced a pumpkin from his supplies, already carved in the traditional style, though lacking the craftsmanship one would find around the castle during festival time. Wolf had carved this one himself.
He placed the pumpkin on top of the snow body and stepped back to admire his work.
“He looks,” Blue paused, searching for the right word, “special.”
“I wasn’t trying to make a masterpiece,” Wolf responded in his snowman’s defense. “He just needed some basic features. Now hand me the tome.”
“What are you going to do?” Blue asked as he handed the book to Wolf.
Wolf ignored the question and opened the book to a familiar page he had marked the night before. He began to incant the words on the page, fumbling with the odd language but getting the general gist. Azure light began to emanate from the previously dormant tome, and wisps of energy flowed from Wolf into the snowman.
The branched arms began to twitch, then bend in ways unnatural for the stiff wood. The light shot forth, absorbing into the snowman, and for a moment it was quiet.
The pumpkin turned to the left, then to the right, and the arms came to a rest at the snowman’s sides.
“Your snowman is moving,” Blue said, his mouth ajar.
Wolf began to hop in joy, letting the tome fall to the ground without a thought. “It worked, it worked!”
The Golem lurched forward as though to walk, but lost its balance and fell, planting it’s face into the snow below. Blue immediately erupted into laughter, garnering a disappointed look from Wolf who ceased his hopping.
“I think you may need to spend more time on carving the face next time,” Blue said within his laughs.
“His face is fine! It’s a toddler that’s all.” But Wolf knew that magic didn’t work that way. The Golem was born to the same state it would always be, save for any additional magic applied to enhance it. “I probably messed up a few of the words, which reduced the potency of the spell. This is pretty awesome for a first attempt.”
The sticks of the Golem’s arms flexed unnaturally as the Golem lifted itself off the ground to stand itself back up. An imprint of its face remained in the snow, inciting another laugh from Blue.
The golem seemed unfazed by the fall and began roaming the courtyard, staying within a short radius of the two as it wandered mindlessly.
“So,” Blue said. “Is it alive?”
Wolf pondered on the severity of the question for a moment. “I haven’t been able to translate much if the text yet. As far as I can tell the description uses the word ‘animate’, which would imply that the Golem is not truly alive, but that could be poor translation.”
“It’s probably better that way.” Blue said with a sly smile.
“What do you mean by that?”
“With a face like that, it would wish it weren’t alive.” He snickered.
“You carve a better face!”
“I would carve it in your likeness so I could always have you wandering aimlessly with me back at the palace. Or we could leave it here and no one would know the difference if you snuck home with me.” Blue grinned at Wolf who pretended to pout but couldn’t hide his smile.
“My sister would kill me if I snuck out again.” Wolf mused still terrified of the look on her face when she came to save him.
“I’d heard about that. My father told me not to get any bright ideas. You two are ruining my fun before I can have it.”
Wolf looked up to the keep to see Lady on her balcony in her robes, not at all dressed for the weather. Wolf hadn’t seen her out of her room since her injury, and yet the healers that had accompanied Blue and his father had predicted another week before she’d be able to walk. Now she stood out in the harsh weather by her own force. How long had Lady been standing there, watching him play in the snow?
Wolf jumped up and down, waving both of his arms and drawing Blue’s attention, who turned and smiled.
Lady waved a hand softly, and though Wolf could scarcely make out details from this distance, he swore she smiled. Then she returned into the heat of the keep.
“Your sister is resilient,” Blue said. He held the smile well, but with Lady’s recovery it meant that his father would be returning to the kingdom. He didn’t want to leave, he enjoyed his time with his cousins.
Wolf said nothing in response. Strong as she was, he worried that she pushed too hard.
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