The Real Folktale Blues (Beyond Ever After #1)

by Random Jordan

  There, lived the greatest trackers in all the world. If anyone would be able to find Goldie, it would be them. They were some of the few people I truly trust too.

  “Not very convincing are you?” Kit asked, the fox’s head poking out of the pocket along with two front paws, one of which was bandaged up completely with a piece of silk cloth from the undergarment I had planned to be wearing.

  Hey, only the best for my little fox.

  “Who’s the one that’s been traveling all over the world? And who’s been in a mirror tower for however many years?” I eyed down at the fox, even though I knew I was having a conversation with the spirit residing inside of it.

  “Still you could sound more convincing. Not see these friends very often?” Once more, the mirror spirit is non-stop with the questions.

  “Actually out of everyone I’ve encountered Ettie and Han are probably the ones I see the most. So a couple of months at least?”

  “Ah. Not much for people contact, are you?” Kit asked while the fox’s face pointed up toward me from the pocket.

  “I like it that way.”

  “Yet, you have no problem picking up a stray kitsune?”

  “A what?” I asked, stopping in my tracks.

  “A Kitsune. That is who I am rooming with. They are rather rare, especially newborns. It is amazing that you actually hatched it.”

  I blinked a few times. “How do you know that?”

  “He told me. I am living inside him, see his memories, and see through him. Talk through him, you know. Plus, I know a lot of legends from over the years. It was my only pastime.” Kit continued to explain.

  “How did that happen anyway? Last I knew the fox was frozen and you were a dragon.”

  The fox turned his head into the pocket again like he was trying to hide. Kit’s voice still arose. “It was the only way I could get him free. By possessing him, he became immune like me. Although the fall to the ground from that distance still hurt.”

  “Ah… well I did say do anything.” I shook my head and started walking again.

  “That reminds me! He wanted to ask if you could call him by his name again.”

  Faerie Fudge! I completely forgot about giving the fox a name. Yet apparently he had one already. “Well what is his name?”

  “He says he liked Reynard.” Kit replied immediately.

  “Reynard? That sounds familiar somehow.” I chewed at my lip for a moment before looking back down at them. “I don’t know. If the little guy likes it, then I’m good to go with Reynard. But is a Kitsune anything I should be worried about?”

  “Maybe. A Kitsune is technically a spirit. Only they are rare spirits, since they can take on their own bodies. He’ll start to develop powers; tails specifically. His first one that he has now is simply being able to possess this physical body. Just wait for the others. A Kitsune is always Legendary.” Kit elaborated for me, as I gnawed at my lower lip to the point of tasting blood.

  “So you really mean I am carrying around some legendary fox spirit, like the kind of legendary that lives forever?” I relieved my lip from incessant chewing before I created a hole in it.

  “In a way, yes. They are one of the most powerful spirits known. And having a newborn like this, they get loyal to those they meet from birth most of the time. They always eventually become a legendary.” Kit continued to explain to me. Mostly I managed to understand it meant I would be having Reynard for a very long time, and that he eventually might become a danger.

  “Well I guess it’s just you and me forever, Reynard?” I shrugged, kicking a dirt clod or rock down the mountain path with my bare foot. Unfortunately shoes were not among the items I grabbed from the clothes as I ran for my life.

  Reynard squeaked at me, sounding excited, which I took for a ‘definitely’.

  Another dirt clod was kicked, this time by mistake, before my eyes grew big with realization.

  “Oh, you dirty little twins.” I laughed while reaching yet another dirt clod. I picked it up to examine it. It wasn’t a dirt clod at all. Actually it was a hard chunk of month-old bread.

  “What?” Kit asked.

  “I found the trail.” I mused while heading off the mountain road, toward a forest of blackened trees.

  “That is not a trail, Dori! That is the opposite of a trail, it’s a forest.” The spirit-in-the-fox sounded frightened. I simply smirked, pocketing the bread crumb I had and kicking the next one just inside the forest.

  “Oh it’s a trail alright.” I skipped over a fallen log and found the next chunk of rock-like bread. “A trail of bread crumbs.”

  Seven

  Tracking the Past

  “Gnidori?” Ettie’s dark eyes grew wide when she saw me standing outside the front door of her cottage, which was connected to a shack with a forge in it. Then they quickly narrowed and she pointed out the door to her left. “If you’re looking for the princess to save, she’s two doors down, in the tower.”

  “Meh,” I shrugged lazily and didn’t even bother looking in the direction she pointed. “I was the girl in the tower until a couple of hours ago. I’d much rather pick up a witc-“

  Her coarse palm was against my lips with one step out of the doorway, before I could even finish. Ettie’s rigid face wasn’t more than inches away from her hand. I watched her lips barely move.

  “Don’t say that. Do you want to make us move again?” She asked rhetorically, still keeping her palm on my mouth. At least until I licked it; gets people to move their hand every time. Not that I frequently ran into people covering my mouth with their hand. Mostly just Ettie.

  “Gro-o-o-o-ss.” She exclaimed elongating the vowel as she ripped her hand away from my mouth and stepped back, shaking her hand to the side before wiping it on her dark jeans.

  “Hey, you put your hand that close to my mouth. Your own fault there.” I mused thrusting my knuckles against my hips before continuing with a more serious note. “Look, are you going to let me in or not? I’ve been walk…ing…” I paused when I noticed Ettie squinting at me before squeezing her nose with two of her fingers. “What is it?”

  “What the fey happened to your hood? And why do you smell like troll piss?” She asked, while I just groaned. Her hand slipped from her nose as she took a few steps back to be bathed in the gentle light coming from beyond the door.

  “It’s a long story. Walking all day; followed your bread crumb trail. Did some fighting; rescued a mirror creature and a fox. Can I come in now?” I explained with clear tiredness in my voice, even my hands fell to my side and my shoulders slumped a bit. I was beyond tired. And Midnight Magic did I stink.

  “No.” Ettie said plainly while leaning against the door frame. Which I might add, is a lot of woman. Her six something to my measly five feet, and with curves that absolutely made me jealous. I could see the outline of a smile on her lips though. “What’s the magic words?”

  My eyes narrowed and my head bowed slightly. “Oh Faerie Fudge, Ettie. It’s been months, you really expect me to remember that?”

  “Yes.” She answered again, in her husky low note of a voice. She loved torturing me like this.

  I ground my teeth while recalling the stupid phrase we used to use as kids all the time for things like secret passwords or to know it was us. I knew what it was, I just hated saying it. My voice came out very bland and absolutely sarcastic. “My, what big heart you have.”

  She winked at me and stepped aside from the opened door to let me in. “The better to love you with.”

  “I am going to get you back one of these days for making me say that.” I mumbled while stepping inside, my face burning up despite the rest of my body shivering cold. I attempted to remove my hood and cloak before realizing I didn’t have one on.

  I hardly got to sigh at my stupidity and move beyond the entrance before a massive brown hound with slobbering jowls and waves of extra fur and fat bouncing up and down, came darting around the corner. I heard the door shut behind me just as the slobbery beast jump
ed with huge padded paws straight into my chest.

  My entire body hit the floor with a thump, and pain shot down my spine. Two of the dog’s paws pressed against my tunic just over my breasts while he started licking me all over my face. I sputtered and tossed my head about, spitting up dog drool before shoving the hound from my body.

  “Faerie Fudge, Han! How many times did I tell you to stop trying to kiss me? Especially as a dog. You are nasty!” I cried while wiping gobs of slobber from my face and clothing, and slopping it down to the floor. I swear Han saves all his spit for when I stop by.

  I was about to check my pocket where the little fox and Kit rested but Han beat me to it. His sniffing loud enough to wake babies three houses away. I pushed his nose away, feeling the fox squirm in my pocket and fishing him out into my palm.

  After checking on the fox, I stood up and glanced around to find Ettie had moved to lay a pot over the already crackling fire; likely to make some tea, she loved her tea, especially when boiled by wood fires. When she turned back I could catch all her features from the firelight.

  She hadn’t really changed since the last few months I saw her, other than her white blonde hair being cropped short and in such a disarray that it looked like she just got out of bed. Previously it had been exceptionally long, and she loved her hair so it was surprising to see it all gone.

  Her dark eyebrows hardened when she noticed the fox in my hands. Her low voice sounded brilliant with wonder when she spoke over the popping of the fire. “You actually got yourself a pet, Riri?”

  I pushed away Han’s nose once more with my free hand and glared at him while answering her. “In a way, I guess. But it’s not the fox.”

  “Oh?” She asked without really questioning me. She does that a lot. Her figure got darker but more defined as she came closer to me and the fox. She stroked the back of her hand over the fluff ball of cream and custard.

  “Hey, Reynard says to be a little gentler or you’ll pull his fur off.” Kit jumped in before I could get around to mentioning the spirit. Ettie’s eyes went wide but she didn’t move away. Most people that grew up in smaller villages were used to animals talking, especially if they were plagued by witches.

  “He didn’t say to stop. Just be nicer.” Kit added, while I shook my head and sighed.

  “Like I said, got a pet. It’s not the fox, though. A mirror spirit decided to use the little furball.” I explained, while stretching my fingers to gently stroke the tiny thing in my hand. I heard the fox yawn again, while looking up at Ettie; her expression more amused now than anything.

  “Oh? A mirror spirit huh?” Her eyebrows looked like they were about to fly off her face with how high they rose.

  I ground my teeth before responding. “Yeah I know, getting involved with another mirror spirit. Like I haven’t had enough of that already. But at least this time, it’s not in my body and this one doesn’t rhyme thankfully.”

  It wasn’t until then that I noticed Han had disappeared somewhere from the main living room while I had been distracted by Ettie and Kit. My attention fell back to the fox though, as it squirmed in my hand, looked up at me with silvery eyed slits and yawned again.

  “Once upon my time! He is adorable. So his name is Reynard?” Ettie asked, while I let her scoop the fox up from my hand so she could hold it against her body and pet it softly.

  “Uh… well… He chose Reynard.” I half laughed and looked away. I could tell from the heat on my face that Ettie was staring at me. I looked back just in time to catch her shaking her head and her features softening.

  “Just like you to let him choose his own name. I’m guessing Reynard has something to do with why you look like you decided to fist fight a giant?”

  “Fist fight? Maybe if the giant was using a very small shank, then yes.” I rolled my eyes before directing my attention mostly to the fox in the witch’s hands. At least until she removed one hand and held it out like she was trying to stop me.

  “Whoa, Whoa. You don’t actually know what happened, do you? What did you do, get knocked unconscious again?” Ettie asked, with a bubble of a giggle, like she was joking, as she looked down and stroked the little furball. At least until she noticed I wasn’t looking at her and chewing at my lip.

  “Gnidori! Are you serious? You got knocked unconscious again?” Her voice was raised to the levels like she was scolding a child, which reminded me far too much of my grandmamma, but after that she was just going back to laughing again. I mostly stared blankly and chewed a hole through my lip.

  “This is just priceless, Riri. So what, you were looking at the fox? And Bam, some giant shanked you a few hundred times?” Ettie twirled around, still holding the fox and certainly amusing herself as she spoke. I tried to figure out how best to bring this up.

  “Actually, I’m not sure, but I was looking at someone else. That is the reason I came to see you. I need you to help me find her.” I explained while looking toward Ettie, to see her pulling the pot from the fire with her free hand, while cuddling the fox to her chest with the other.

  “That seems to be the only reason you ever visit us anymore, Gnidori. You do know that we aren’t a date finding service right?” A mellow voice explained to me with that same kind of condescending tone given to a child. My eyes shot from the fox and blonde to a burly dark-haired man pounding through the hallway that lead toward the rest of the house, with a cane in one hand and a wrapped cloth bundle in the other.

  “Really? I was so sure that sign outside had said Hansel and Gretel’s Dating Service. Maybe if it wasn’t written in chicken scratch I would have been able to read it better. But since you aren’t, I guess I should be on my way then.” I said hitching my thumb behind me and thrusting my hips to one side with raised eyebrows directed at the return entrant.

  “Well before you go, I’ve got something you might want to take with you. After all, you had been waiting for it, for a while.” The heavy man lumbered over to me, a laugh lingering on his plump pink lips, his unusually long fingers for his build stippled over the bundle he held, as he handed it out toward me.

  I glanced over at Ettie, and she just shrugged and smiled softly before turning her attention back to stroking the fox, which of course just mewed at actually getting petted.

  I snatched up the package instantly from his grubby fingers, and he smirked at me. My careful digits unraveled the twine around the cloth, letting it all fall to the floor, while I ignored the groan and mumble about needing to clean it up later from Han. What the cloth left behind though was a beauty.

  A golden-scarlet, long-handled axe; maybe three feet in total length, with a curved, silver handle and a pristine red double ax head, which caught on the firelight to accentuate the fiery design it already possessed.

  My hand laid over the insignia scrawled in the middle of the blood-red head of the axe, a blacksmith’s hammer with a witch’s hat slightly tilted over it. The signature of who created this weapon, Ettie and Han, together.

  All down the silver metal of the handle were further engravings of scarlet color, symbols I couldn’t really read, since it was actually written in the same dialect that their sign right out front of their house was written, German or something.

  “Amazing.” I breathed.

  “I would hope so. Some of my best work.” Han concluded.

  “Mine too.” Ettie seconded.

  Ettie and Han were the only two souls in the world I would trust with designing my weapons. Each one of the hatchets that I normally possessed had been crafted by them. Han devised the actual weapon with his superb blacksmithing skills developed over the years, and his father’s woodworking skills. Ettie would craft the enchantments and spells that imbued each of my weapons for things like long-lasting sharpness, or a particular magical imbuing like setting someone on fire when cut by the weapon.

  Of course this kind of thing wouldn’t normally come free. In fact, the craftsmanship they produce was so professional that something like what I held in my hands would be wo
rth a bandersnatch in gold and jewels. But they did it free for me.

  That’s what friends do. Good friends, anyway.

  Well, that, and I kind of figured out how to change Han back from being a hound dog when he had been cursed by a Wicked Witch. The effect left it so he could shift between the two forms, like he had done moments ago.

  “What’s written on it?” I asked, running my hand along the rough edges of the etchings in the metal.

  “Sharp is an ax that can cut phantoms.” She explained, glancing up briefly while she poured water from the pot into a ceramic mug with one hand.

  “You mean you finally are giving me a hatchet that can cut through illusions and ghosts and such?” I mused with utter excitement. It felt like my birthday. Illusions were one of the most common types of spells, especially from witches. Being able to rid myself of them without using magic myself would be an incredible asset.

  I flipped the axe a few times over in my hands. The handle smooth and cold, as my hands ran along it, before I held it out in front of me to balance it on two fingers.

  “Hey, hey, hey. Dishonoring me by checking the balance right in front of me? Toads! Why don’t you check the magic on it as well?” Han sounded falsely hurt before I gripped the axe with both hands and held it out toward him, satisfied by it completely. He snatched it back up from me with a renewed smile, which I returned in kind.

  “I trust Ettie. You though, I can never be too sure with.” I raised my eyebrows at him, and he just huffed and pawed his hand at the air in front of me before turning around and disappearing into the rest of the house once more.

  My eyes wandered back to Ettie, as I heard her tea-cup set down and her voice rise. “So who’s the new girl to catch your eye? And why do you need our tracking skills? You usually do fine enough without us.”

  “Because I am somewhere over a day behind whoever has her, if they even do anymore. And I need to track down more than just her. Oh, and she’s not a new girl. Someone you know even.” I said while sliding over to the couches and taking a seat across from Ettie.