Tangled Magick

by Jennifer Carson

  “Don’t worry overmuch,” Folkvarus whispered into their ears as he steered the girls forward. “They’ve been given orders not to eat the queen’s new servants.”

  “In my experience, trolls don’t follow orders all that well,” Mae mumbled. She wrapped her arms around herself. It was so cold in the chamber that she felt her nose hair stiffen.

  Her gaze traveled nervously over the army of trolls as they crossed the room. Drooling fangs seemed to point in her direction, tongues licked lips, claws reached out and pinched her flesh. She heard the phrase “sweet meats” entirely too many times. The girls climbed the stairs onto the dais, where the queen hunched over her dinner plate. There were no forks, no knives, no embroidered linens. It was the most uncivilized group of diners Mae and Poppy had ever had the misfortune to join.

  “It’s about time you two showed up,” the queen mumbled. “Serve my dinner.”

  Mae and Poppy exchanged a glance. There were no utensils to serve the queen with.

  “What are you waiting for? You’ve got hands, don’t you?” Huldfrejya snarled.

  Mae could just see over the table. She grabbed the handle of a badly cracked tureen and slid it toward the queen. A gold liquid oozed from the fracture. The handle broke away from the lid as Mae lifted it. She quickly set it on the table and rose on her tiptoes to pour the soup into the queen’s bowl. It sloshed and splashed Mae’s face. She gasped. “The soup is cold as a stone.”

  “That’s how I like it,” Huldfrejya said. She gave Mae a shove and then picked up her bowl, slurping from the edge.

  “But it would taste so much better if it was warm,” Poppy chirped as she reached for the flagon of wine.

  “I like it cold!” Huldfrejya screeched.

  The cacophony faded as the trolls in the chamber turned to look at what was happening on the dais. Black eyes glittered in the candlelight. Fangs gleamed.

  Huldfrejya waved a dismissive hand at the trolls. “Go on, then! Eat!”

  With shaking hands, Poppy poured wine from the flagon into a tarnished silver goblet. The trolls resumed their bickering over who was going to eat what and bets on when they were going to get to eat the new servants. Mae replaced the lid on the tureen, though it really didn’t matter since the soup was so cold anyway. She peered under the table, since it was much easier to look under than it was to hold herself up on her tiptoes to look over. Tattered banners hung from the beams that crisscrossed above to form the roof of the chamber. There were at least two hundred trolls at some twenty-odd tables. A wide path between the tables led to the doors at the end of the room. The doors looked old and heavy, with hammered iron hinges and black handles. Many of the panes in the long round-top windows were broken. Ivy climbed through the spaces left behind by the missing panes and forced itself through cracks in the walls and floors. Debris filled every nook and cranny. Mae wondered if the queen even noticed the castle crumbling around her.

  A crash and the sound of glass shattering made Mae jump and bump her head. The queen stood up abruptly, sending her chair flying out from beneath her. She slammed her fist on the table, breaking her soup bowl in the process. The golden liquid oozed off the tabletop and dripped onto the floor. “Break another of my windows and I’ll break your bones!”

  Poppy righted the chair and pushed it forward. The queen flopped back into it with a grumble, shoving the broken bowl away. Mae tried to scoop up the biggest pieces of pottery. Once they were in her hand, she didn’t know what to do with them, though.

  “I don’t know why I put up with these no-good trolls. What have they ever done for me?” Huldfrejya turned her icy glare on Mae. “What’s wrong with you?”

  Mae looked at the shards in her hands.

  “Just throw it on the floor.”

  Nodding, Mae walked to the back of the dais and dropped the broken bowl in a pile of other broken dishes. Didn’t anyone ever clean this room?

  Poppy reached for the tray of meat. “Would you like a breast or a leg?”

  “I don’t care, just put it on my plate,” Huldfrejya spat.

  Poppy set a chicken leg before the queen. Mae heard Poppy’s stomach growl, and hers followed suit. The smell of the feast was almost too much for her to handle. After all, she’d not eaten anything since the bowl of oat and berry mush yesterday afternoon. Forget about skipping breakfast and midnight nibble—living in the castle was like living with Gelbane all over again. She set the platter back on the table, but she couldn’t take her eyes off it. She wondered if Huldfrejya would notice if she took just a small bite of meat. Her hand inched toward the platter. Poppy was shaking her head furiously. “No, Mae!” she whispered.

  Mae diverted her fingers and grabbed a plate of vegetable stuffing. Sliding her fingers into the sticky substance, she asked, “Stuffing, miss?”

  Three loud booms echoed in the Great Room. The candle flames flickered and swayed as the two large doors at the end of the hall whooshed open. A tall, thin man entered. He wore a pointed hat and long, flowing robes. His beard was short and oiled into a point, and the staff he carried clanged against the stone floor as he sauntered into the room. A few of the feasting trolls slunk away. Those who remained watched him with wary eyes. So did Mae.

  The stuffing dropped out of her hand and plopped onto the plate Poppy had exchanged for the broken bowl.

  “Huldfrejya, my queen.” The young wizard swept his hat off and bowed. His hair was the color of pepper and oiled like his beard. It shone in the candlelight like the skin of an eel shines in the sun.

  “What do you want, Geindride?” Huldfrejya picked at the food on her plate, her head cradled in one hand while a piece of chicken dangled from the fingers of her other.

  “I heard you had a successful raid,” Geindride said.

  “If you count a bunch of hapennies a successful raid, then yes, it was successful,” the queen said through a mouthful.

  “So the magickal skin I disguised you with lasted long enough to fool them?”

  Huldfrejya’s eyes flickered with brightness and then slowly faded as she glanced at the wizard before returning her gaze to her plate. “It was adequate.”

  The wizard made a satisfied sound in the back of his throat. “I heard the wizard Callum was amongst them. Quite a catch, if I do say so myself.”

  Geindride’s voice was so slick it oozed over Mae like a snail trail.

  “I’d like to…speak with him.” Geindride bowed again, his free hand held palm up above his head in supplication. He raised his eyes to Huldfrejya. “With your permission, of course.”

  Huldfrejya jerked her thumb to the stairway that rose out of the chamber to her left. “He’s in the tower. You ain’t gonna get much out of him, though. I used the elixir you gave me.”

  “You used the forty winks elixir?” Geindride asked. He straightened up, and a slow smile spread on his lips.

  “Almost the whole flagon!” Huldfrejya cackled.

  Geindride frowned. “He won’t be much use to us in a suspended state. I don’t know if I can brew a strong enough antidote to wake him.”

  “I don’t care nothin’ about waking him!” the queen yelled. She stood up and pushed her chair away. “He can rot in that tower as far as I’m concerned, just like I’ve rotted in this castle.”

  Poppy chewed on her lower lip. Tears stung Mae’s eyes.

  “Yes, my queen.” Geindride approached the dais, taking a packet out of his robe. “Tonight is the first night of the full moon. Remember to take a dose of your medicine for the next three nights. I’ve brought you a fresh batch.”

  Medicine? Poppy and Mae exchanged a look. Mae did not like the sickly sweet tone of Geindride’s voice.

  He placed the packet on the table and patted it with a long finger. His nails were yellowed and dirt rimmed the cuticles. Geindride gave the girls an inquiring gaze and then turned on his heel and strode toward the staircase. Mae watched him as he disappeared into the tower.

  “I’m tired,” Huldfrejya announced. “And you all
have ruined my appetite.” She turned to the girls. “You have three minutes to eat and be back in my chamber. Don’t be late.” The queen grabbed the packet and walked down the dais stairs, pushing her way through the trolls. Mae went into action, pocketing what could be eaten later, like muffins, apples, and carrots, and filling her mouth full of chicken and stuffing. Poppy quickly followed her lead.

  “If we can find a way to get into the tower, perhaps I can find Callum and wake him up,” Mae whispered between bites.

  “I hope you can,” Poppy said, but Mae could hear the doubt in her voice.

  “I’m going to get us out of here,” Mae said. “Those doors.” She pointed to the doors at the end of the Great Room. “I don’t see any trolls guarding them—do you?”

  Poppy shook her head. “But maybe that’s because they’re eating. I doubt Huldfrejya would make it that easy. If it was, don’t you think the other servants would have left a long time ago?”

  Mae thought about that as she grabbed another chicken leg and ducked under the table. She felt like a rat hiding with a piece of cheese.

  “C’mon, Mae. We don’t want to be even a second past those three minutes, or who knows what she’ll come up with.”

  Mae stood and wiped her hands on her jacket, which was already quite dirty from cleaning, and her mouth on her sleeve. Poppy watched her, her mouth slightly agape. Mae shrugged. What else was she to do? She tossed the bone on the table and grabbed Poppy’s greasy hand. They ran through the trolls and into the hallway.

  “Do you think Geindride is a wizard?” Poppy asked.

  “Yes,” Mae answered. “A bad one.”

  The nymph’s face appeared in the center of the carved rose. “What are you two ninnering on about?”

  “Nothing,” Poppy answered. “Let us in.”

  “What’s the magick word?”

  “Please,” Mae said. “Before the queen gets angry that we aren’t there to help her prepare for bed.”

  “Why should I care if she is?”

  “Don’t you ever want to return to the forest?” Mae asked.

  The nymph rolled her eyes. “Of course I do! What an inane question.”

  “What if I told you that I could get you back into the forest?”

  “I wouldn’t believe you,” harrumphed the nymph.

  “You would be silly not to,” Poppy said. “Maewyn is a wizard.”

  “Oh, yes, a little kitchen witchery. That’s all I’ve seen. Are you going to save us all by enchanting the castle’s brooms and mops?”

  “Please let us in,” Poppy begged.

  The nymph stuck out her tongue and swirled back into the wood grain. Poppy pounded on the door.

  Mae shook her head. “That’s not going to work.”

  Poppy crossed her arms and pouted. “That nymph is a pain in the rear.”

  Mae rapped her knuckles lightly on the door three times as she’d seen Folkvarus do.

  The door swung open.

  Mae grinned. “Maybe pain in the rear was the magick word?”

  They walked into the queen’s chamber. Since the fire had died out, the temperature had dropped considerably. Frost clung to the corners of the windowpanes. The queen was standing by the broken window, staring out at the dying rays of the setting sun. Her voice was soft when she spoke. “The full moon rises.”

  Poppy looked at Mae, her eyebrows arched high over her wide eyes. Where was the snappy, demanding troll queen?

  Mae shrugged and made a face that indicated she had no idea, either. “Would you like us to help you prepare for bed?”

  The queen turned from the window and trudged to the bed. She sat on the edge of it, studying her hands in her lap. “I wasn’t always like this, you know.”

  Mae scrambled up beside her and began untying the laces on her bodice. Poppy came forward with a nightgown in hand.

  The corset fell away, and Mae noticed tears dripping onto the queen’s hands. She was crying, and where the tears fell, pink skin appeared and then faded away. Poppy noticed it too. She looked at Mae with a bewildered expression. Mae made a gesture for Poppy to keep the queen talking.

  “Wh-what were you like before…all this?” Poppy ventured to ask.

  The queen sighed. “I once dressed in lovely gowns and was considered the most beautiful princess in the realm. Then the Trillium War broke out and Geindride said he was taking me to a safe place…that I would return to my father when the war was over. But the castle has become my prison… Does the war still rage on?”

  “What’s the Tri—” Poppy started to ask. Mae cut her off with a furious shake of her head.

  Mae untied the bow at the front of the queen’s shift and slid it down her arms.

  Poppy drew the nightgown over her head. “You could be beautiful again.”

  “We could help you,” Mae added.

  The queen snorted. “I’ve always heard about hapennies and how selfless they are. No wonder the trolls said you make good servants.” She turned away from the girls and lay in bed. “I need my medicine—it keeps me from feeling melancholy. Two shakes of the powder into a goblet of water.” She pointed to the brown packet, which sat next to a water pitcher and a goblet on the low table by the overstuffed chairs.

  Poppy and Mae exchanged a look.

  The queen shivered. Her lips took on a blue sheen.

  “Would you like us to start a fire?”

  “No,” Huldfrejya said. “Just cover me up. I am so weary.”

  Mae and Poppy pulled the covers up as the queen closed her eyes. They closed the bed curtains as quietly as they could. The mood in the chamber was somber. The enchantment on the castle felt exceptionally heavy tonight. Walking around the bed, Mae joined Poppy in front of the hearth.

  “Do you think she’d notice if we started a small fire? Just for a bit of warmth?” Poppy whispered.

  Mae shook her head. “I don’t know what to think anymore.” Mae picked up the parchment packet. The chamber was silent as the two girls stared at each other. Mae pried the wax seal off the packet and smelled the contents. They burned her nostrils and smelled like burnt marshmallows and the stinky cheeses old Mr. Longburrow made. There was also a hint of a metallic odor. Mae wondered what kind of medicine Geindride had made for the queen. She dumped some of the contents of the packet into the goblet and held it out to Poppy, who had grabbed the water pitcher.

  “Look, Mae,” Poppy said. She gestured to the path of moonlight creeping toward the queen’s bed as she poured the water.

  “I see it.” Mae mixed the medicine by making the water swirl in the goblet, and Poppy pulled back the bed curtains. In sleep, the queen’s face had softened. No traces of the permanent snarl remained. The creases on her forehead had smoothed, and her breathing was deep and even. As the full moon rose, the pale light inched up toward her face. At first Mae thought it was a trick of the moon when the green tinge drained out of the queen’s skin, but no, Huldfrejya’s skin glowed rosy in the moonlight. Next to the bed, the shiny surface of a mirror winked. Mae set the goblet on the table and picked the mirror up.

  Her face was smudged with dirt. The corners of her mouth were still greasy from mowing down the chicken legs. What was left of her hair was a tangled mess. The moonlight caught the corner of the mirror and traveled across the room to light up the gargoyle over the hearth. He blinked from the beam of light, and his pointed teeth twinkled.

  Twinkled.

  Like a leyna charm! What would a leyna charm be concealing on a gargoyle? Mae set the mirror back on the table and shook the queen’s shoulder. Huldfrejya blinked her eyes open. Mae held the goblet to the queen’s lips. As soon as the liquid was gone, the queen closed her eyes again and the moon path receded from the room.

  Mae jumped from the bed as the wrinkles on the queen’s face returned, deeper and more pronounced than before. Her back curled, and her fingernails lengthened into sharp points. A hair-raising snarl roared from her throat. She pulled at her hair and arched her back. She kicked at the covers a
s her toes scrunched up and her legs bent unnaturally.

  “What did you do?” Poppy gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Did you give her too much?”

  “Th-that’s not medicine,” Mae stammered. She threw the goblet across the room and grabbed the packet of potion prepared by Geindride. She dumped the contents into the hearth. The hearth flashed into flame, throwing a monstrous shadow against the castle wall. As the flame died, the shadow slunk to the floor and the queen fell into a restless sleep, snorting and blowing like a boar.

  Poppy yanked the curtain closed and stomped over to Maewyn. “What is happening?”

  Maewyn whacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. “The potion Geindride gives the queen is what makes her look and behave like a troll. As the moon struck her, her skin was almost pale—there was hardly a green tinge to it. And then I went and gave her that stupid potion.”

  “There was no way you could’ve known, Mae.”

  “But I knew he was not a nice man. I should’ve known better than to give her something from him.”

  “I don’t know much about magick, but Geindride said she needs to take it for three days,” Poppy said. “So maybe the change isn’t permanent until she does?”

  Mae chewed on her fingernail. “You might be right. I guess we won’t know until tomorrow, though.” Mae sighed and changed the subject. “Did you see the corley thistles in the field?”

  “Yes. I hope we can gather some before the first hard frost,” Poppy said, crossing to the windows. She blew her breath on a pane and drew a flower into the fog.

  “We need to go out the window, like you said,” Mae said. “Callum wouldn’t like that I’m giving up, but healing the villagers is more important to me than breaking the spell on the castle.”

  “No,” Poppy said. “I take back what I said. We have to break the spell before we can leave.”

  “But how can you say that?”

  “Because if we can save the queen from being a troll, we should. No one, hapenny or human, should suffer such a fate. And I have faith in you,” Poppy said. She smiled at Mae. “You saved our whole village from an army of trolls. You can figure out a way to beat the dark magick and get the twelve of us out of this castle.”