Winter Cursed

by NIcki Chapelway

  “My way is probably worse,” Cedric argued as the temperature dropped another few degrees.

  “Maybe if we go back down the passage we can make it ta another branch before the wights cut us off,” Lucius suggested.

  Cedric shook his head. “I doubt we have that much time.” An emblem on the catacomb wall caught his eye. “Fret not, boys, all may not be lost just yet.”

  Cedric stepped back to further study the wall. It was covered in engravings. It took him a second to find the Tree of Life, but when he twisted it to the side, the stone wall rolled away. The passage opened up to a stone hallway. They'd made it into the castle. He smiled over his shoulder at the dwarfs as he stepped through. “Don't dally.”

  After the dwarfs had filed through, the wall rolled back into place.

  “That wall won't hold the wights for long,” Gabriel muttered, slapping it.

  “Then we had better get moving. Do your best to tread carefully, boys. None of your usual clomping around. We don’t know if Ismena has any guards stationed here.”

  They started down the winding hallways. Cedric regretted not having Elisabeth draw him a map. It would get lost, she said. Had she ever considered the possibility that she would get lost?

  He paused at an intersection of the hall, debating whether he should turn left or right.

  As he considered it, the sound of footsteps and voices came from the passage to the left.

  “Someone is comin’” Lucius hissed.

  “How kind of them to help me make up my mind,” he replied with a smile before darting down the hall to the right.

  At the end of the hall they found a door.

  “Should we go through?” Fergus asked, coming to a stop.

  “No, we should wait here for Ismena’s guards to find us, or perhaps our friends the wights to tear us to shreds first,” Cedric said, shooting an irritated scowl the dwarf's way. He pushed against the door and with a groan it swung open. He stepped through to find himself in a small courtyard. A giant rosebush in full bloom despite the snow gracing the buds grew in the center. Lying next to the bush, putting the roses to shame with her beauty, was Elisabeth.

  Cedric stumbled, an action that he blamed on lack of blood. Was she… nay, she could not be... dead… not after everything he went through to keep her alive. But she was lying so still, how could she be anything but dead?

  The dwarfs erupted in cries of horror and indignation.

  Cedric stepped forward, his legs moving as if of their own until he had reached her side. He stared down at her. Elisabeth did not stir nor appear to breathe. His knees gave out on him, obviously another weakness due to loss of blood.

  How could this be?

  She was breathtaking still, even in death. It was cruel, really. Cedric reached out and gently moved a black curl from her face. Her breath tickled faintly against his hand and he pulled back sharply.

  She wasn’t dead.

  A sickly sweet scent wafted to his nostrils. Cedric scanned the ground nearby for the source of the scent and found an apple lying near his knee. He picked up the apple and the scent grew stronger.

  Poison.

  Had she been poisoned? Was that why she lay so still? If that were the case, it did not matter whether she was breathing or not, she was probably as good as dead.

  Cedric held up the apple with disgust. A single bite was missing from its perfect red exterior.

  Why would she eat an apple anyway? Could she not tell that it was poisoned? It was not as if now was the proper time to be snacking on apples anyway!

  The dwarfs silently gathered around the princess, their heads bowed.

  “What now?” Aldrus asked, looking lost.

  Fergus was crying. Gabriel patted his shoulder, looking slightly saddened himself- or perhaps it was only a trick of the light.

  “We return to the forest,” Lucius said bitterly. “Without the princess our freedom is naught.”

  “She just had to die,” Gabriel muttered.

  Fergus cried harder.

  “I'm going to miss her,” Aldrus whispered.

  The dwarfs, except for Gabriel and Florian, nodded in agreement. Cedric threw the apple across the courtyard.

  He'd barely known her. He shouldn't care that she was gone except for the fact that she'd not returned him Mooraven. And yet he felt like he'd been punched in the heart. Cedric hadn't felt like this- hadn't allowed himself to feel like this- since the day his father died.

  A rustling sounded from the rosebush. The dwarfs drew their weapons. Cedric drew his as well, but he didn't stand. He was afraid that he would be too weak.

  Kenrick and Alban dragged themselves out of the rosebush. Alban pulled a thorn out of his neck. “Blasted bush, tryin’ to eat us alive.”

  “Cedric! Yer alive!” Kenrick cried, stumbling to his feet.

  “Don't be so surprised. It's insulting, really,” Cedric grumbled.

  “Ye owe me money,” Alban said to Kenrick.

  “Boys, what happened to the princess?” Lucius asked, stepping forward.

  “Somethin’ awful,” Kenrick said before he launched into a tale of how the queen disguised herself and tricked the princess into eating a poisoned apple, but Cedric barely paid attention to it. What was the use of knowing what had happened? The results were still the same.

  His eyes fastened on the object gripped in Alban's hand.

  “Wait a second, boys. Is… that a… mirror?”

  “Aye, we pilfered it from the queen in the middle of her triumphant celebration. 'Course then we had to hide in the uncomfortable rose bushes so I'm not entirely sure if the victory was ours.”

  “May I see it?”

  Alban handed him the mirror and Cedric held it up. He had not seen the Nytheran mirror for many years. Not since he had been a young lad, and his father had one. But this looked very much like it.

  The Nytheran Mirror could only be activated if the person who asked the question spoke in rhyme. Cedric held the mirror up. “Mirror, mirror in my hand, give me the answer I demand. Is there a way to save the princess of snow, from this fate filled with woe?”

  He did not hold out much hope that it would work. Surely it could not be a Nytheran mirror, when only one existed. How could Ismena have gotten it?

  Unless she had taken it from his father.

  The mirror glowed blue before answering in a strangely familiar voice.

  Rejoice for the princess is not dead

  She is in a cursed sleep instead

  There is but one way to break the curse

  True love's kiss shall the spell reverse

  “True love's kiss?” Cedric asked as the mirror went dark. “Where in Illesya are we supposed to get one of those?”

  “Ye should kiss her.” Kenrick gestured to the sleeping princess.

  Cedric blinked. “Me? Why me?”

  “Because ye obviously love her.”

  Cedric snorted derisively. “You're out of your mind. In the short time we've known each other we've done nothing but argue.”

  “But ye look at her when ye argue. Actually look at her. Ye don't do that when you speak to other people. Ye look through 'em or not at 'em at all.”

  Cedric forced himself to keep his eyes focused on Kenrick. “That isn't true.”

  “And ye were willing to sacrifice yer life for hers in the catacombs,” Aldrus piped in. “That proves that ye care deeply for her.”

  “No, it doesn't. And you forget that Kenrick and Alban were there as well. Why does no one think that I was trying to save them?”

  “Other than the fact that a fortnight ago, while we were patrolling the forest, ye abandoned me when I ended up tangled in that Giant Spider's web?” Kenrick asked.

  “Or when ye stole Alban's weapons and hid them in the most dangerous places of the forest so he would have to brave death to find them?” Aldrus asked. Alban grunted unhappily at the memory. “Still haven’t found all of them.”

  Cedric shrugged his good shoulder. “Near death sit
uations build character. Besides none of that changes the fact that I barely know the princess, nor she me.”

  “Well, mayhap the potential for true love would wake her then?” Aldrus suggested.

  “It's worth a shot. Won't hurt nothin' by kissing her,” Fergus said in a sad voice.

  Cedric was quite certain that it could hurt a lot of things.

  What if he kissed her and she didn't wake? Would that mean that he wasn't good enough? That she did not love him, or that he did he not love her enough?

  “Love be a choice,” Lucius said. “So ye can make the choice to love the lass.”

  That was far easier said than done. He wasn't sure he wanted to choose to love her. What if he chose to love her then she didn't wake? Or she woke and wanted nothing to do with him? Besides, how was he expected to choose to love her in the first place?

  “Her beauty certainly helps,” Kenrick said as if he'd read his mind.

  If Elisabeth were awake, Cedric was sure that she would slap him. The thought made him smile sadly.

  Maybe this would work. He was already becoming a lovesick swain.

  Cedric released a bitter breath. By all that was dark and tainted, it would be a whole lot easier to walk away if she wasn't so beautiful, or engaging.

  Perhaps the correct term was enchanting, because he certainly felt enchanted. How did she get him to do things that he would never do for anyone else? He'd been willing to sacrifice his life for hers! How in this forsaken icy world, was that supposed to fit into his self-centered existence?

  And now it seemed that his sacrifice had the opposite effect. He was alive, and she was lying cold and still in the snow.

  And worse of all, if there was a way to reverse that, he was pretty sure he would.

  But to kiss her? Put everything on the line- his pride, his hope, and that strange fluttering that took over his heart when he thought of kissing her- with the possibility of them being crushed?

  Cedric groaned and buried his face in his hands.

  “Hurry or I'll kiss her myself,” Kenrick said.

  “Don't rush him,” Aldrus whispered, elbowing Kenrick. “I've heard that these things take time.”

  Gabriel crossed his arms. “Any time today would be nice.”

  Fine! He'd do it. He only hoped he wouldn't regret this.

  “This had better work,” Cedric muttered, scowling at the dwarfs. He might be inclined to execute them if it didn't.

  Cedric took a deep breath and lowered his head till it was only a hairsbreadth from Elisabeth's. He took a moment to fortify himself, ask himself if he really wanted to do this, and wonder if he'd completely lost his mind before he pressed his lips to hers.

  Chapter

  Thirteen

  Elisabeth gasped as air flooded her starved lungs. Her lashes fluttered open and she blinked, trying to bring the blurry world into focus.

  “What-?” she choked.

  Someone released a breath nearby. “Garmr’s teeth, I can’t believe that worked!”

  Elisabeth sat up quickly, but nearly collapsed as a sudden wave of dizziness overcame her. A hand steadied her. “Cedric!” she gasped. “You're alive! …Or am I dead?”

  “The former, I'm afraid.”

  Elisabeth’s lips broke into a wide smile. “How are you still alive?”

  The corner of Cedric's mouth turned up. “What can I say? Fortune is very fond of me.”

  “And me too, it seems. I thought I was dying. How did you wake me?”

  Cedric shrugged his good shoulder. “You know how things come about when you find a sleeping beauty in your midst.”

  Elisabeth narrowed her eyes. “Are you implying that you kissed me?”

  “Mayhap… It worked, did it not?”

  Elisabeth pulled back appalled. “Why in Illesya would you kiss me?”

  “Oh, it was just a lucky guess,” Cedric said, but his response was drowned out by that of the dwarfs cheering and crying, “Because he loves ye!”

  Elisabeth arched her eyebrow.

  “I do not love you,” Cedric protested.

  “But only true love's kiss could wake her,” Aldrus argued.

  “And then he kissed ye and ye woke,” Kenrick said, looking a little disappointed that it wasn't him who kissed her awake.

  Cedric shot the dwarfs a withering glare. “Yes, well, the curse was obviously easily confused. It sees a charming prince like myself and a beautiful princess such as yourself and naturally it assumes that we are in love.”

  Elisabeth smiled. “Of course, I'm certain that's all it was.”

  “Precisely. I knew you would agree with me.” Cedric smiled slyly before leaning forward, resting his hand on her cheek and pressing another kiss to her lips.

  “What-what was that for?” she spluttered when he pulled away and she had recovered both her breath and from her shock.

  Cedric shrugged and ran a hand through his hair as he sat back. “Just making certain that the curse was properly fooled. Wouldn't want it realizing its error and forcing you back asleep- now would we?”

  “Huh?” Fergus grunted, confused.

  Elisabeth didn’t say anything because she was just as confused.

  Florian grunted, frantically signing. She turned her gaze to him. Cedric stiffened and grabbed her hand. “We have company.”

  “Why, what a touching reunion!”

  Elisabeth's heart turned to ice at the sound of her stepmother's voice. She looked up to see Ismena sweep into the courtyard. “I have no idea why I was not invited,” Ismena said, a smile masking her fury. “Elisabeth is my stepdaughter, after all.”

  “We were just about to go find you.” Cedric stood, pulling Elisabeth up next to him. “Actually there was something we wanted to tell you. You are relieved from your position as queen. You were terrible at it anyway.”

  The dwarfs drew their weapons.

  “Disgusting,” Ismena spat. “How many dwarfs do you have here?”

  “Enough to take you on, Queenie,” Kenrick said with a confident smile.

  Ismena threw back her head and laughed. She stepped to the side making room for ten wights to burst through the entrance. “I'm afraid that none of you- seeing as you were all inconsiderate enough to try to foil my revenge- shall live to see the morrow.” As Ismena spoke the wind picked up and blew out the torches.

  “That's my cue,” Cedric whispered before slipping away. Startled by the sudden absence of his warmth at her side, Elisabeth scanned the courtyard for him, but it had filled with several dark forms milling around. Cedric's shadow courtiers.

  “It's like the battle of Little Peak, boys!” Lucius cried and the dwarfs charged toward the wights.

  The courtyard erupted into chaos. Small shadows attacked the larger ones, as other shadows flitted aimlessly through the courtyard. Elisabeth turned in a circle until she found Cedric. He was beside her stepmother, slipping out of the shadows. She thought he was perhaps going to sneak up on her, but then Ismena summoned a gale that sent him flying across the courtyard and into the wall.

  Cedric crashed into the wall with enough force that she could hear the impact over the howling wind of the storm.

  Ismena stepped after him, her hand raised. “Oh, Elisabeth!” she called, he cold wind bringing her voice to Elisabeth’s ears. “How would you like it if I were to take your love from you? Then perhaps you’ll finally understand the pain I felt.” She turned to Cedric and narrowed her eyes. “You should be more careful who you give your heart away to. You might just lose it.”

  Cedric scrambled to rise, but his wound must have weakened him because he collapsed back to the ground.

  Even across the distance Elisabeth saw Ismena smile coldly.

  “Stop! No!” Elisabeth screamed. She could not- would not- lose Cedric again. Something snapped within her and in that moment she sensed every snowflake in the courtyard, every gust of icy wind. She brought her hands together and an icy wind washed across the courtyard toward Ismena.

  Ismena sensed
it and turned just in time to deflect the gale. She narrowed her eyes at Elisabeth.

  Elisabeth held out her hand as she willed the ice crystals in the air to form into a blade of ice. “Come claim your title as fairest in the land.” Anything to distract her attention from Cedric.

  Ismena strode across the courtyard, an ice sword forming in her hand. “I should have killed you when you were a baby,” she snarls.

  Elisabeth held her sword in front of her. “You will never have your black heart’s desire.”

  “You know nothing of the desire of my heart,” Ismena cried, reaching her. She swung her sword in a wide arch.

  Elisabeth clumsily blocked the blow, but fortunately Ismena had no great skill with the blade either. “I know that it is nothing more than selfish ambition.”

  Ismena’s eyes flashed. “All I ever wanted was love! Is that so selfish a desire?”

  Elisabeth blinked, her arm shaking from the strain of deflecting Ismena’s blows. “If all you wanted was love then why did you never give it to me? You were the only mother I ever knew!”

  “Because you were not the one I wanted love from,” Ismena spat.

  Elisabeth stumbled back, wondering how after all these years her stepmother could still wound her so deeply with only a few words.

  The temperature dropped as Ismena shot an icy gust at her. Elisabeth was too stunned to redirect it. She flew backwards and into the rosebush. She struggled to her feet, bleeding where the thorns had stabbed her. Ismena was already there, slashing at Elisabeth. Elisabeth jumped back, but the edge of the blade caught her in the side. She cried out.

  Ismena dropped her sword and grasped Elisabeth's neck. “Don’t worry my dear, this is what it should be. Your whole life has led up to this. From the moment I cursed you, your fate was sealed,” she hissed tightening her fingers. “Now die already.”

  Elisabeth struggled to breathe. She clawed at Ismena's hand, but to no avail. Her edges of vision faded so that she wondered if she was simply seeing things when Cedric suddenly appeared behind Ismena.

  “You both broke rule number one, I’m afraid,” he said with a shake of his head as he thrust the sword through Ismena's heart. He lowered his mouth to her ear. “That was for my father. And for Mooraven.”