The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Winter’s Princess
by Kim Richards

Why do they only come to me in the worst of winter? They drag their frail bodies through the frigid mountains, wading through thigh high snow with numbed and frost-bitten feet. They wrap themselves in the skins of animals they killed but it does little to keep them safe or warm. The blizzard snow blinds them, yet they stumble on, leaning into the wind.

“Please, Princess. Have mercy on us,” they plead with pitiful voices and hands clasped tightly together, wanting winter to stop.

I will never make it stop. Why should I? I straighten my spine and order them away. I tell them, “Go back to your caves and your hobbled structures. Leave me in blessed peace.” I turn away from their watery eyes and running noses.

Do they not realize they would have no spring thaw to bring them precious water if I never allowed the snow? How they forget the dormancy of winter is something I require for plant life to thrive…the very plants they nourish themselves with. They bleat like the sheep they’ve become.

They call me a cruel bitch when they starve, huddled in the cold darkness. It is they who failed to prepare, not me. It is they who squandered the sparks for their hearths. I am being as I was born to be; doing as is necessary for all of the world. Should they die? Well, then, even the winter creatures must feed.