Gold in the Blizzard

I was going to die. Freeze to death out here in this forest that I couldn't for the life of me recall ever being here. Sure, I was wearing a winter coat, but that was the extent of my protection against the dying blizzard, along with my too-thin gloves and hoodie jacket. My shoes and socks were completely soaked, neither made for breaking through three-foot drifts of snow, as were my legs; I was only wearing my usual cargo pants and boxer-briefs, no thermal underwear or snowpants. The warmest part of me was my core, but that hardly mattered when I was going to stop moving soon. My ears were icy even under two hoods, and my face hurt from the frost. I could tell, even under my gloves, that my fingers were at least frostnipped - frostbite wasn't far behind, if it hadn't already set it. I was going to lose appendages if I lived through this, a result that was becoming less likely by the second.

I worked my jaw in a weak attempt to swallow, to clear the chill in my mouth. My short beard crinkled in its coating of frost, dressed by the moisture of my exhalations. I was going to die, cold and alone, and nobody would find my body until the snow melted in three or four months, and even then, I didn't know how long it would take for someone to stumble across my body.

I again tried to figure out where the hell I was, if only to keep my mind from the looming spectre of death. I had been driving on some back roads, on my way home from the barn where my folks stabled their horses, when my car got stuck in a drift and promptly died. Being the fool that I was, I had no winter survival gear in the car, and for whatever damn reason, my phone couldn't get even a single bar of service. I knew there was a tiny little town only a mile or so down the road, so I had gotten out and started walking. About twenty minutes later, the blizzard showed up, and then minutes after that, I ran into the first tree of a forest that had sprung up from seemingly nowhere. I had visited the barn dozens of times, and aside from the occasional corpse of trees cultivated by farmers as a windbreak, there were no wooded areas anywhere nearby. And I had been wandering straight through this damn forest for two hours since, so I knew this was no corpse of farmer-cultivated trees. Hell, I was no herbologist, but I didn't recognize those trees at all - they were too damn tall and thick!

A patch of firmer snow under the loose drifts caught my foot and I stumbled, collapsing heavily against one of those mysterious trees. My breath came is ragged gasps through my mouth - I knew it was smarter, safer to inhale through my nose, but my body was crying out for more air than I could seem to bring in through my nostrils. I wanted to collapse in a heap at the base of that tree, let myself rest for just a few minutes. But I knew that doing that would kill me for sure. I had to keep moving. I had to... but I couldn't.

My eyelids started to close of their own accord, dragged down by fatigue. They were almost closed when a glimmer of golden light caused me to look up sharply. What I saw made me gape is shock.

There, standing serenely in little more than a flimsy, sheer gown of gossamer, was a stunningly gorgeous woman. Her golden hair fell around her in waves, reaching her waist and giving her some small token of modesty as the thick tresses covered her plump breasts. Her face was the picture of feminine beauty, somehow a perfect mix of motherly, sultry, and cute. She was maybe two or three inches shorter than my own five-foot eleven-inches (six feet flat if I stood

really

straight), and had perfectly round hips - and if I had to guess, a bountiful bottom.

Then I took a closer look and nearly fell over. Her ears were pointed! And her eyes were gold; not light brown, but actually gold! And what I had mistaken at first for the effect of the warm, golden light that seemed to surrounded her was in fact her golden skin.

That's when I noticed that the blizzard had stopped. No more snow fell, and the air was completely still. And somehow, where the light surrounding her touched me, I felt warm.

Was she an angel, come to deliver me to the afterlife? I was not and never had been a religious person, but in that moment, I seriously wondered what manner of creature that golden woman was.

With a graceful movement, she held a hand out to me, a kind smile on her face. I blinked, worked my throat in another frozen swallow, then took a step towards her. And another. A third. And with each step, she took an equal one away from me, her hand still outstretched. She moved with such ease that I shouldn't have been surprised that not only was she standing - barefoot, I might add - on the surface of the fluffy, waist-deep snow, she didn't even leave a single footprint.

To be honest, I wasn't all that surprised - I was too cold and fatigued to really process anything. The shock and awe, the confusion and consternation would all come later.

Slowly, step by exhausted step, the golden woman guided me through the forest, her bright eyes never leaving mine, her hand always outstretched to me. Once, I worked up the energy and tired courage to try and charge through the snow, to try and grasp that delicate, soft hand. I nearly succeeded too, but the woman was too quick, too graceful, and my fingers passed within millimeters of hers. She gave me a sad, pitying look after that, but it quickly became warm and kind again, and she continued to lead me on.

Eventually, the fatigue began to catch up to me. My steps became shorter, and the distance between us grew larger, even as she matched me step for step.

"Wa-wait," I gasped, my voice little more that a breath. "Please." Suddenly the woman stood before me, her face only inches from mine, her expression serious, worried. I didn't have the strength to even try and touch her. But then, she held out her hand again. Weakly, I raised mine, expecting her to simply distance herself from me. But she didn't, and this time, after long moments of aching muscles, my hand touched hers.

And blinding golden light exploded in my eyes. I couldn't see anything, and the warmth from the woman now suffused every fiber of my being, and it

burned

, oh how it burned.

Then, suddenly, it stopped. I no longer burned, I was no longer blind. And the woman stood where she had when I had stopped, hand outstretched.

I took a step towards her. I stumbled. I got my feet back under me, then stumbled again. The snow hugged me like the softest blanket as darkness began to claim my vision.

I rallied my wits for one final effort. Raising my head, I looked around. The golden glow, and the golden woman who inhabited it, was gone, if either had ever existed in the first place.

I was alone when exhaustion pulled me into the depths of a slumber that I knew I would never wake from.

*****

Rhaliyah huddled by the fireplace of her tiny quarters, the stone and wood of the ancient monastery bitterly cold. Tugging the blanket around her shoulders even closer, she cursed her luck. She had planned on making it to Valstren that day, but the sudden blizzard had forced her to seek shelter hours before darkness, lest the frigid cold killed her and her horse. The keepers of the monastery - Disciples of Au'rea - had of course granted shelter to the weary traveler, though the accommodations were - expectably - spartan. Nevertheless, the fire was warm and the blanket wasn't too thin. And while the food was simple, it was also warm, and quite welcome.

Rhaliyah was beginning to nod off, her eyes heavy after the day's travel, when a golden glow, unlike the flames of the fire, illuminated the inside of her eyelids. Opening her eyes, Rhaliyah gasped at what she saw: a golden woman, warm light suffusing her entire body.

The golden woman smiled kindly at Rhaliyah, then extended a hand to her. After a moment, Rhaliyah stood, her mind numb with shock. The golden woman took a step back, towards the door, then paused, looking towards the foot of the bed. Following her gaze, Rhaliyah saw her traveling clothes, laid out to dry. Looking back at the glowing woman, Rhaliyah saw that her gaze hadn't shifted, and quickly dressed in the warm, snowproof clothing. Then she followed the golden woman out of her quarters, through the deserted halls of the monastery, and out into the still, cold evening.

Rhaliyah's pace slowed considerably once she passed outside the ungated arch of the monastery wall, as the snow rose high up on her slender five-foot three-inch body. Still she plowed on, following the graceful, apparently weightless golden woman into the forest by which the monastery was built.

She walked for what could have been minutes or hours - Rhaliyah's mind was serene, as though in a trance. She was aware of it, aware that she normally would be acting very differently in this situation. But she didn't seem to care. She knew that the glowing, golden woman would not harm her, not lead her astray, though that certainty seemed to come from some inner instinct Rhaliyah had never felt before.

After uncounted minutes or hours, the golden woman stopped, her hand dropping to her side. To her left, only a foot away, Rhaliyah looked to see...

She gasped, feeling emotion for the first time since the woman had appeared to her, feeling fright. It was a Man, and he was unmoving, lying in the snow.

Rhaliyah looked back to the glowing woman for guidance, but she was inexplicably gone, vanished without a trace. And Rhaliyah's mind and body were her own again. Quickly, she shoved aside thoughts of the glowing golden woman - the Man would die if she didn't get him back to the monastery soon. Even now, it might be too late.

With a strength that belied her slight size, Rhaliyah crouched, pulled the Man out of the snow, and slung him across her shoulders. With a grunt she stood, glancing around to make sure there was nothing she was leaving behind. Satisfied, she set off back to the monastery, her pace quicker for the broken drifts she had left behind on her way there, and for her urgency.

It turned out that the golden woman hadn't led her far - in only a handful of minutes, Rhaliyah crossed back under the arch of the wall, then into the monastery itself.

"Sister Galdra!" she shouted, not caring if it was the head priestess who investigated her cry or another. "Sister Galdra, come quick! I need help!" Rhaliyah carried the Man to the main hall of the monastery, where she recalled seeing long tables and a large fireplace. She hollered all the while until a bleary-eyed young woman appeared from an adjacent corridor. The young acolyte's sleepy expression disappeared in an instant, and Rhaliyah sent a thanks up to Au'rea that she didn't need to explain the emergency as the acolyte instantly turned around and ran towards the monastery quarters, shrilly screaming for Galdra along with several other names.

Finally reaching the hall, Rhaliyah deposited the Man on the table closest to the fireplace, then set about prepping to start the fire. She had just finished placing the wood when Galdra and a small group of other disciples entered the hall. Galdra took one look at the Man, then motioned Rhaliyah away from the fireplace and lit it with an arcane gesture. "Build the fire, Rhaliyah, quickly. Di'ia, Vlere, strip him and wrap him in dry blankets. Othri, go make some warm soup - mix in a warming poultice, and make enough for two.

As everyone set about their tasks - Vlere and Othri disappearing down shadowed corridors to get blankets and food, respectively, Gladra approached the man, keeping clear of Di'ia as the young priestess stripped off his cold, wet, and strange clothing. Gladra stretched her hands out above his body, her eyes closed in concentration. A grim loon passed her features and she turned to Rhaliyah after a few moments, who had just finished building the fire up from its modest star into a toasty, roaring hearth.

"How, by Au'rea's golden name, did you find him, Rhaliyah?" the motherly priestess asked.

Rhaliyah shuffled uncomfortably. "You... you wouldn't believe me if I told you, Sister Gladra."

The priestess cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Try me. For you to have found him out in the snow at this hour, a miracle must have occurred."

Rhaliyah finally met Gladra's gaze. "You're right - a miracle did occur. I... I saw her, Sister Gladra. She led me right to him, out from my room and into the forest."

Gladra frowned. "Who did you see, Rhaliyah? Who led you to this Man?"

Rhaliyah swallowed heavily. "It was Au'rea."

*****

When I woke up I felt... warm. Uncomfortably so. There was a soft roar nearby, but I couldn't quite place what in the world it was. I rolled over, appreciative of the soft, warm blankets that weighed on my body. I always did like the weight of a mountain of blankets.

"Sister Gladra," a soft, feminine, and urgent voice said over me, though the meaning of what she said and the strangeness of a woman speaking over me were lost in the murk of my sleepiness. "The Man, he stirs."

I groaned softly, rolling further onto my side. Why the hell was someone talking so closely to me? I was so tired after... after...

I gasped, my eyes flying open as I bolted upright, memories of the blizzard, and the golden, glowing woman suddenly returning to me. I dug my hands out from under the blankets, which had fallen to my waist, and examined the fingers that, last I knew, had been frostbitten. I recalled my certainty that I would lose them if I survived, which clearly I had - if this was heaven, it was too warm, and it certainly didn't fit the descriptions of hell, despite the heat. Examining my fingers, I was shocked to find they were in perfect condition. I also then noticed that not only was I naked under the blankets, but I wasn't alone.

When I looked around and saw the five people around me, one thought flashed through my mind, even though I was from Minnesota, hadn't been in a tornado, wasn't a girl, and I didnt have a dog with me.

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

At first glance, four of the women - and all five were beautiful women, let me tell you - looked pretty normal. There was a pale ginger with emeraldine eyes, a fair blonde with brown eyes, a dark raven-haired girl with blue eyes, and a dusky brunette with brown eyes. But then I looked closer.

The dusky-skinned brunette was short, maybe around four-foot four-inches, but she wasn't small; that's not to say that she was fat or anything, only that she was broad-shouldered, and she was muscular, though in a more toned way than body-builder. Her dark brown hair fell straight and was around chin-length, though the back half was pulled into a sloppy ponytail. She was dressed in a simple, golden-brown robe. I would almost have said she was a dwarf, but her body seemed perfectly proportioned to her height, unlike every person with dwarfism I had ever seen - all on TV, mind. I pushed away the quiet voice that screamed that my first impression was right, but for a different reason.

The dark-skinned, raven-haired girl was opposite the short brunette in terms of height. She stood taller than me by a few inches, probably pushing six-foot three or four. She was also somewhat largely-built, but to a lesser degree than her short companion, though her muscles were more sharply defined. Her black hair was done up in tight dreadlocks which fell to her belly, and had some beads and other simple decorations bound up in the thick mane. Like the first girl, she wore a golden-brown robe. However, what stood out about her was the pair of inch-long tusks growing from her lower jaw. Her features were also somewhat rough at first glance, though she wasn't by any means unattractive - as I said, all the women here were beautiful.

The blonde was by far the most normal out of the lot, with her golden hair in loose curls falling to her chest and standing around five-foot four. In fact, she would have looked almost completely normal, if it hadn't been for the sheer, gold-trimmed gown and golden bangles that draped her arms and legs. And when I say sheer, I mean that I could very clearly see her dark pink nipples atop her generous bosom and the soft, puffy lips of her womanhood nestled below the golden curls of her pubes.

Quickly looking away, my eyes fell on the fourth girl, the pale ginger with green eyes. She was around five-foot three, and was slender, petite actually. Her hair was, like the blond, curly, though her hair only fell a little past her shoulders. She was dressed in simple clothes, though the cut was more like something I would have expected from a fantasy game than real life. Oh, and her ears were pointed, and about six inches from lobe to tip. She also had a steaming bowl in her hands.

The final girl is what finally broke me of my wishful thinking, either of me being mistaken about the strange parts of the other four, or of a group of cosplayers having rescued me. She was also a ginger, and while her hair fell to her waist, it wasn't restricted to her head. A large, fluffy fox tail waved behind her with far too graceful of movements to be a mechanical prop, and from the sides of her head sprouted a pair of fox ears, also moving naturally, rather than jerkily. Her eyes were also slitted, she were a strange golden-green. She was maybe around five-foot two, and I could see that her fingers and bare toes had sharp claws rather than simple fingernails.

It was then that I noticed that all five of them were looking at me, and I felt a hint of self-consciousness for my nakedness. I'm not body-shy, but there is a certain amount of vulnerability to being naked, especially when everyone else is clothed. Though I'm not sure if the blonde's gown really counted.

After a moment of silence and stillness, the short girl made a small, "Oh!" sound, then turned around and picked up a steaming bowl. She handed it up to me with a spoon - it was only then that I realized I was sitting on a table and swung my legs over the side weakly - and said, "Here, it has a warming poultice mixed in, so if you're still chilled it should help!" Her voice was bright and chipper.

I glanced at the bowl - soup, apparently - and gave it a tentative sniff. Some kind of meat and herb. Glancing around at the women with a hint of wariness, I spooned up some and took a bite... then quickly inhaled the rest. It was good - really good. I couldn't place any of the tastes, but everything was savory.

As I swallowed the last bit I realized that whatever the warming poultice was, it seemed to be working - I felt warm on the inside now, instead of just on the outside. I finally placed the soft roaring sound as a large fireplace not ten feet away from where I was sitting.

I also saw that all the women were looking at me with slightly amused expressions, and I realized that I must have wolfed down that soup with the worst table manners ever. Smiling guiltily, and looked at the short woman. "Thank you, it was really good." She beamed with pride.

Looking around again, I managed to piece my thoughts together enough to say, "I assume I have you all to thank for saving me from freezing to death."

The blonde smiled at me. "You can thank Rhaliyah here for pulling you from the snow," she said, gesturing to the ginger with the pointy ears, "and Othri for the soup and Di'ia and Vlere for the dry blankets. And while I did my best to heal your frozen body, I don't think it was my magic that restored you to health - not so quickly, at least."

I blinked at the blonde in dumb shock. Did she just say 'magic?' I laughed nervously. "Um, you healed me with... magic?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Why yes, though, as I said, I don't think it was I who really restored you to health - your limbs were all taken by the frost and your heart was slow and weak when you came here. With my magic, I may have been able to save your life, but your limbs were dead, and your recovery would have taken weeks, perhaps months. I think we can thank Au'rea for your swift recovery, given what Rhaliyah has told me of how she found you."