Chapter Five
And So It Begins
Frantic to help the character who filled her scrap book, Jane found a side door that wasn't locked, and the door creaked open as she entered a kitchen area. What was left of a fire burned in a fireplace where a pot of soup hung, cooking. Bowls, utensils, and half rolled out dough laid on top of a table. She heard angry voices in the distance, moved toward them, bumped the table, and knocked a spoon to the floor. Jane froze, wondering if anyone else heard the clang, but the angry voices never skipped their tempo, so she followed them until she came upon an open door.
"Did you tie him up tight?" a female voice questioned.
"Yes, Mistress Ceress. He won't break those bonds," a male voice replied.
Jane crept forward till she could peek around the door and there she saw the female and the goblin. They had the Beast tied up in a chair at the head of a long table. Jane glanced around the dining room, but didn't see anyone else there. The table was fully set as if more than a dozen guests were expected for a party.
"Tell us!" Ceress shrieked. "Tell us where you've hidden it."
The Beast growled back at her, "I will not tell you!"
The goblin removed a short sword and then he yelled, "Tell us or I'll gut you!"
The Beast snarled, "I will not tell you where the rose is!"
"Cut off a claw," Ceress commanded her minion. "Maybe a little pain will change his mind."
Jane knew she had to do something. This was her dream, so she stepped back from the door, unslung her backpack, removed the club, and stood there wondering exactly what she would do with the weapon. She guessed she would figure that out as she went, so she tiptoed to the door. Jane mustered her courage and then rushed in with the club held high and yelled with all her might. The screaming female startled the enchantress and the goblin, and they shuffled back from the Beast, then they glanced at each other bewildered by the strange female, and they readied for combat. Jane swung, hitting the goblin on the head, and he hissed at her and swiped his sword. Jane jumped back, evading the blade.
The goblin complained to the enchantress, "I thought you said your magic would take care of all the servants."
"I did," Ceress replied. "I also told you all the servants are invisible. This female is no servant. No matter who she is, I'll get rid of her."
The enchantress lifted her hands as she chanted an incantation. The goblin removed a bow he had strung around his chest, then he pulled a special arrow from the quiver on his back which looked like to Jane had a small pencil on its end as an arrowhead, and he knocked the arrow.
The Beast peered at the female who had her back to him and that same sensation that drew him to the mirror and later the Gallery came over him again. He tried to see her face, but it eluded him and then for some reason, he felt that he should save her, so he pressed against his bonds. A franticness overcame him with dread as a sensation that she could be the one leapt into his mind. He roared his frustrations as his arm muscles bulged and the bonds tensed at his attempt at freedom. He yelled, "Get out of here! This is none of your affair!"
For the first time, Jane turned and stared into the Beast's gaze. His eyes... They were exactly like the ones in her drawings. They were a feral blue-green and full of anger. His anger... She wondered if it was concern over her or was it something else that brought out his rage. Jane nearly dove head over heels into his gaze if the goblin hadn't of screamed at her. She turned her attention back to the intruders.
The Beast's heart skipped a beat as the female turned to him. He focused on her lips, and they enthralled him as his thoughts grasped at a memory he'd long forgotten. A sense that he should know her struck him, and he knew without a doubt she was the one. His Belle was standing right in front of him. The Beast lifted his eyes to gaze into her face, but she turned from him. He continued his struggle to free himself from his bonds and once he was free, he would save his Beauty from the two intruders.
Jane lifted the club to attack again just as the goblin pulled back his string and Ceress cast her spell. The emerald magic hit her club and turned the weapon into a viper. The angry reptile snapped at Jane's face, and she threw the poisonous snake at the goblin, and the viper bit his warty nose.
The goblin let up on the string and didn't shoot the arrow as he squealed in pain. He dropped the bow and arrow, lifted his arms, and ran about the room with the snake still attached as he yelled, "I'm melting! I'm melting!"
"You aren't melting!" Ceress shouted at him as she readied another spell.
The goblin stopped and said in relief, "I'm not?"
"No," Ceress answered him. "The burning sensation you're feeling is the poison surging through your body. The viper is known as the Eight Step." She grinned before she added, "I believe you have taken seven."
The goblin's eyes bugged out like pitted olives, his face paled, and he fell dead.
Ceress stared at him a few seconds and then she said, "Maybe it was called the Seven Step." She shrugged, turned to Jane, and said, "I planned on double-crossing him anyway after we got the rose. You saved me the hassle." Ceress looked her over and then questioned her, "You seem like a worthy adversary. What is your name?"
"I'm Jane."
"I am the Enchantress Ceress," she replied then glanced out the window at the setting sun. "It looks like I did not get the information I needed before the change."
"Before what changes? Are you a werewolf?" Jane questioned her.
"You do not need to worry about that," Ceress told her as she glanced at the emerald cube she held.
"I do if you're going to turn into something that's going to bite my head off."
"I am no werewolf, but do not let your mind be placed at ease. I still intend harm to you." Ceress gave the female a once over and then she said, "I do have a feeling you are more than you appear if my magic has no effect on you." She bent, picked up the goblin's bow and arrow, knocked it, drew back the string, and aimed for her as she said, "If I am right, this should kill you. I would have liked to have chatted with you some more, but I have a rose I need to pluck."
Jane grabbed a plate from the table to hurl at the lady, but Ceress released the arrow before she threw it. The arrow struck Jane, piercing flesh and bursting her grasp of the believed reality surrounding her. The wound caused her to drop the plate, and the white china shattered into pieces when it hit the floor as Jane's perception of her dream fragmented into distorted pieces like a funhouse mirror. She looked down at the arrow embedded deep into her flesh. Pain rushed through her body. More pain than she thought possible from a mere pencil. Blood flowed and as the crimson liquid dripped to the floor, Jane came to a horrible conclusion. She wasn't dreaming. The world she stumbled into was as true and real as the one she came from. Jane collapsed to her knees as she looked to the enchantress who laughed at her, gloating over her victory. Jane turned and glanced at the Beast. She saw pity in his eyes, the kind of pity one would give to a dog who had been killed by a car, and his pity frightened her. She was going to die. She was going to die, and no one would care.
Moments earlier...
The sun set, and the Beast beheld the most beautiful thing he'd ever could imagine. The think he beheld made him completely sure that the female who was trying to save him from the enchantress was the one who could save him from his curse. He witnessed the arrow hit his Belle, and the freedom that was within his grasp faded with each labored breath his would-be savior took. He had to do something. He had to free himself. He had to save this female named Jane.
The End
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AaBack's Grimm: Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale
Beauty And The Beast: The Classic Fantasy Fairy Tale With A Twist Page 37
