She nodded and turned to the princesses. “What say you, ladies?”
The princesses looked at each other, about as excited as a cheerleader at a book fair.
“I’m sorry, your highness,” Snow White said in a gentle tone. She leaned forward. “The princesses are hardly concerned with the size of your purse or the number of servants who toil for you. Things in this region operate a bit differently. We have women who run businesses. We have laws to protect everyone equally.”
The prince scoffed. “A difficult law to enforce, no doubt.”
“Not so!” Snow White smiled. “For I lived long enough to see it on earth, before the Corruption took me. And so I’ve attempted to take the best of what I’d seen and discard the worst. You would understand better, perhaps, if you chose to live with us for a while and experience our way of life. And then who knows? Perhaps one of these young ladies might take a fancy to you once they get to know you.”
“These are dark times. A man for protection would surely be of use—”
“A man must be an equal,” Snow White stated. “A marriage is a joining between two equals. You speak of it as if you’re acquiring something. As if you think its primary purpose should be political. You have much to learn, your highness.”
“A woman’s place—”
“Women have no place, your highness.” Snow White’s measured features offered the epitome of calmness, but her tone was clipped and tense. “Women are not pieces of furniture to be set about in a room. They are equals.”
Mental high-five, girl.
He was silent as he glanced in shock at the row of princesses. “So I don’t get any of them?” he asked, his exasperated voice echoing in the clouds above.
I could have sworn Sam stifled a chuckle.
Snow White smiled diplomatically and waved him away. “My assistant will provide you with a room for tonight, your highness. Please consider my offer. Many princes have come here in search of a princess, and those who choose to live in our city are richly rewarded with experience.”
He turned, red-faced, and stormed past us, slamming the door.
Snow White sighed, glancing at the princesses. “Well. No loss there.” She turned to Sam and Flick and, finally recognizing them, nearly hopped out of her chair. She lifted the skirt of her dress, hurrying over to us and kneeling down, embracing both of them. She turned back to the princesses. “Ladies! Will you please assist the townsfolk?”
She waited for them to leave before screaming with glee at the top of her lungs. We all fell back a step. Her assistant opened the door behind us, popping his head in and nearly knocking his spectacles from his bulbous nose.
“Oh, I’m fine I’m fine,” she said, waving him away. “Please, Hans, go help the townsfolk.” Once he’d shut the door again, she turned to Sam, grinning. The excitement in her face made her look ten years younger. “Look at you! Still with the drab gray suits. It wouldn’t kill you to wear some blue now and then. And where’s your tie? You always loved ties.”
Flick snickered.
“It’s nice to see you, too,” Sam said. He took a deep breath. “You look well.”
“Oh, don’t be so nice.” She stood up, tugging a bit consciously at her dress. “I look old. Last time you saw me, I didn’t have lines on my face or gray hairs on my head.”
“You may have aged a bit,” Sam conceded.
“I’ve chosen to age,” Snow White said, raising a finger. “And some day, if you’re sick of your youthful good looks, you may choose to grow old as well.” She looked to the window, a shadow of tension cast over her flushed features. “And then, one day when you’re old and gray, you may want to be young again. You’ll have to find a fairy for that, and you’ll be expected to offer something in return for such a spell.”
“Why would you want to get old?” Seth asked. He blushed. “Uh, your grace.”
She turned to him. “I wanted to know what it was like to feel my bones ache. To see my perfect skin crack. I wanted to know what it felt like to be vulnerable. But now I fear we are all vulnerable.”
“Agnim,” Sam said. “But if you know about him, then why are you putting on this show with potential suitors for your delicate princesses?”
“Delicate!” She scoffed. “There’s more to those princesses than meets the eye.”
“They’re Transformers?” Seth asked.
She gave him a curious look. “They are fearsome protectors of our people. They remember nothing of their time on earth, and would shed their identity as princesses if only the people around here weren’t so obsessed with royalty. Regardless, I’ll not grind everyone’s lives to a standstill. That would only provide citizens with more time to let their fears gnaw at them.”
“Keep them busy,” Sam said. “Wise, I suppose. Although you’ve most likely lost an ally—better to simply give the prince a princess.”
“Give!” I repeated, glaring down at him.
Snow White sighed, still staring out the window. “Look at them. Look at all the citizens who have put their trust in me.”
We went over to the tall windows. A line of people were outside the castle walls, walking underneath the open gate. There were already a hundred in the courtyard and another two hundred filing in. “Is that everyone in town?”
“Most,” she answered with a touch of annoyance. “Some will stubbornly hide away in their homes, no doubt.”
“And then what?” Seth asked.
She was quiet for a moment. A cool breeze blew in through the window, moving through the blue drapes. I grabbed them and pulled them away so I could watch the sun dip behind the forest on the western horizon, leaving orange streaks in the sky that caught fire on the thin clouds.
“I wish I could say we came for a visit,” Sam said, “but …”
“Remember when you showed me how to pan for gold?” She turned to the dwarfs, smiling so broadly that her cheeks wrinkled. Laugh lines. A reminder that this place—before Agnim—had brought her happiness. “Flick found a chunk of gold and whooped and hollered and fell right on his rump. And then Gilbert threw mud at Sam and pretty soon we were all a mess.”
“A good memory,” Flick said. “Although it makes me a wee bit mad to remember just how conniving my brothers are. I remember being hit with multiple mud pies at the same time!”
Snow White laughed, tugging on his beard. “Everything makes you angry, Flick. I can only hope that we somehow …”
She let the sentence trail off. I didn’t need to hear the rest of it to know: Agnim meant business. And he scared a lot of people. I cleared my throat. “Your highness. I mean, your grace—”
I was cut off by screams. The last of the townsfolk below were now shoving their way through the gate of the curtain wall, knocking each other over in a psycho attempt to get to the keep. The ones in the courtyard squeezed through the entrance five-wide like high school students anxious to get into the cafeteria.
I searched the town for whatever it was that might have scared them. But the town was quiet. The gas lamps along the cobblestone street were unlit, letting shadows dominate the space between the buildings. What’s out there? What do they see that’s scaring the bejeezus out of them?
Then I looked up. Black shadows flew across the dark blue sky, their bat-like wings flapping madly as they made their way over the city.
“What the heck are those!” Seth half-shouted. “They look like werewolves with bat wings for crying out loud holy crap!”
“I know not what they are,” Snow White said, watching with a pained expression as the creatures made their way to the ranches at the edge of town. She was completely unsurprised by their presence. “All I know is what they want.”
“Food,” I whispered. The creatures dove down, landing next to a nervous cow standing in a small fenced-in area just east of the town. They circled the poor thing like a pack of hyenas, standing on their hind legs, their long bat-like wings folded back. Seth was right: werewolf mixed with bat. Even at a distance, they sen
t a chill down my spine.
A light appeared, casting an orange glow on the nearest bat-creature. A rancher stepped out of his house, clutching a lantern in one hand and a sword in the other. The nearest bat-creature’s long, wide ears turned in the direction of the rancher as he shouted harmless obscenities. Finally, the creature’s head turned. The others stepped around the cow, not giving her a second glance.
“No,” Sam said coolly. “Not food.”
One of them took to the sky, and with three flaps of its wings, it was over the rancher’s head. It landed in front of the door to his home, cutting off his only hope of escape. The others moved quickly, unfurling their wings. One swatted the sword away while another grabbed the lantern and threw it at the house. The glass shattered and the oil splashed over the bricks, catching fire immediately. The flames crept up to the thatch roof. Two of the bats grabbed the rancher and took to the sky.
The remaining three waited patiently for his wife to flee the burning house. They grabbed her too, taking flight.
“Where are they taking them?” I asked.
“West,” Snow White answered. She closed her eyes a moment, then found some hidden reserve of resolve and opened them again, forcing herself to watch them fly away. “To the Blighted Land.”
“What is the Blighted Land?”
“A place where the grass is dead and the trees have no leaves and the earth is sick. When I arrived here, it was not like that. The land was good and fertile. Then people began fleeing east, to my kingdom. There were rumors of a Corrupted witch. I sent soldiers to investigate and they never came back.”
“Then we go west,” I said, turning to Sam. “That must be where Agnim is.”
“Perhaps.” The queen blinked slowly and deliberately, breathing a shaky breath. “But he is not the only threat. There are rumors that the northern city of Castelear has been taken over by a lion with a great scar on its face. His pride is collecting more citizens for Agnim.”
“Scar,” I whispered.
“Yeah, we totally know about that dude,” Seth said. “Only we were northeast.”
“Who are you two?” Snow White asked. “What is your story?”
Sam’s face twitched. “They are … that is …”
“Brace yourself, sister,” Flick warned.
“I’m a hero.” I took a step back, hoping she’d take it to mean I wasn’t a threat. For a moment, her face did seem to harden. Then she recovered, taking a deep shaky breath. Her eyelids fluttered, squeezing out thin tears.
“Well,” she said. “I suppose we are what are, and this fairy tale had to end sometime …”
“Oh relax,” Sam said. “She’s not here to kill you or anyone else. It’s impossible anyway, from what we’ve gathered.”
“Still a bit of a drama queen are ya?” Flick asked with a narrowed eye.
She smiled, obviously relieved. “Old habits die hard, I suppose.” She turned back to me, cocking her head. “Then why are you here?”
“She came here to rescue—”
I cut Sam off. “Seth and I are here to stop Agnim.”
Sam, Flick and Snow White all looked surprised. Seth? Less so. He crossed his arms, grinning. “Yup. That’s right.”
“Praytell, how will you do this?” the queen asked.
I glanced at Sam. He was tight-lipped so I ventured a guess: “With a sword?”
Snow White laughed. “I hope, for the sake of our kingdom, that you have a better plan than that. Agnim’s dark magic spreads like floodwater. There’s no telling how many people he’s turned evil with his powers. And the creatures at his command only strengthen his numbers.”
“How many kingdoms are there?” Sam asked. “How many under Agnim’s control?”
“We know little to nothing,” Snow White answered. “This world is vast. The last explorer to try and chart it has been gone for years and not returned. We hear only whispers from the north and west about the Corruption and lose anyone who investigates. It’s only in the last month that the rumors have picked up and these terrible beasts arrived.”
“He’ll send an army,” Sam said. He looked out the window. The moon hung heavy in the sky, surrounded by stars. It was still gigantic to the point it was disorienting. “Once he’s confident he has the superior numbers, he won’t hesitate. Is there any resistance, Snow?”
A quiet, thoughtful hum escaped from the queen’s throat. “If Castelear has fallen, only the southern and eastern kingdoms remain. We have a few fighters, and a few hundred second and third-generation citizens.”
“What do you mean?” Flick asked.
Snow White smiled devilishly. “Are you so surprised that couples have children here?”
The burly dwarf blushed. “No. Course not. Just strange is all. Didn’t happen on earth.”
“Because we did not belong on earth. We belong here.” She looked at me and her smile faded. “But you … and your friend … you do not belong in this place. You must be careful. Discretion would be advised, for now. At least until you devise a plan to save us from the scourge of Agnim.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Sam said with just a hint of angst in his voice. “Alice always comes up with a plan.”
Right. No pressure.
We ate in the dining room, which was about as modest as you could expect for a queen who didn’t seem all that interested in flaunting her wealth—unlike her more earthly counterparts. The room was lined with silver trim and massive paintings of famous fairy tale characters, not to mention ridiculously handsome carved wooden chairs with plush red cushions. Cushions perfect for weary butts.
A chandelier hung from the ceiling. Between the dangling crystal shards were light bulbs—actual electric light bulbs. We sat under the soft light and ate roast lamb with carrots and fluffy wheat bread. Sam and Flick and Snow exchanged stories of the “good old days,” before the Corruption took them. I don’t think anyone wanted to talk about the Corruption. Every once in a while, we’d all get quiet, glancing over toward the hallway that led to the front of the castle. The hallway was dark, perfect for some monster to hide inside.
The bat creatures were still flying above the town. Searching.
“What about you?” Seth asked me after we’d finished and both the dwarfs were nearly asleep at the table, drowsing off with half-finished tankards of ale. “Have you done anything else exciting since … you know?”
My heart skipped a beat. “No. Not really. There was a statue monster and some weirdness. Oh, I found a door in the ground and it led to a basement and there were some singing animals.”
“So … pretty par for the course, eh?” He raised his eyebrows. I laughed, pushing him. That just caused him to raise his eyebrows even higher, comically higher. Even Snow White was laughing.
“You’re a funny boy,” the queen said. “I don’t suppose you’d like to stay here for a spell? You’d have no trouble charming one of the princesses.”
Seth shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, but my heart belongs to someone on earth. Besides, I don’t belong here.”
Snow White leaned forward. Her ruby-red lips formed an “O” shape; then she thought the better of it. But I knew what she was about to ask: “Where do you belong?” And I knew just as equally that Seth wouldn’t have had an answer.
The chandelier wasn’t the only modern convenience. In my room, I found a private bathroom with its own functional toilet and a massive porcelain bathtub with plenty of hot water that flowed out of a vertical pipe that disappeared into the ceiling. And soap. Wonderful, amazing pink bars of soap that smelled like lavender and made my skin feel softer than I could ever have imagined.
And a bed. A soft, fluffy bed with lots of covers and pillows and little blue curtains hanging from the ceiling.
And guess what? I slept like a baby. I dreamed of Chase and we went couch shopping and we ate ice cream and Briar showed up to do a weird little dance he’d learned while travelling through Mongolia.
In other words: a real, honest-to-god, c
onfusing, wonderful dream.
I woke up on my own. No starting awake. No cold sweat. I just got up, squinted at the sunlight slipping in between the blue window curtains, put my clothes on, rubbed my eyes, and went into the bathroom to run some warm water over my face. I looked in the circular mirror over the little sink, staring at the girl in the mirror. Her black hair was tangled a bit. Her face, free of makeup, looked slightly pale and had sported a few stress pimples on the cheeks.
I blinked.
The girl in the mirror reached out. I held my hands up in defense, but my reflection had already grabbed the collar of my t-shirt, pulling me close to the glass. My reflection’s skin turned gray. The eyes sank back, retreating into the skull. She pressed her forehead against the glass with a clunk, staring up at me with devilish eyes.
“What’s going on,” I whispered.
The girl stared at me, narrowing her dark eyes. “Mirror, mirror …”
The voice seemed far away. This has to be a dream. I’m still dreaming …
The girl smiled and let go of my shirt. “Have you come for me, hero?”
My dry lips peeled apart. I tried to answer, but the words caught in my throat. I took a step back. Her hands were clutching the round edges of the mirror, her fingers clinging to the silver trim as if my own reflection could step right though it at any moment.
“Agnim,” I whispered.
She laughed. “No matter. My minions shall come for you.”
The image disappeared, replaced with my reflection. But a ghostly black presence remained behind me, like a shadow that was too close. I turned and hurried out of the room, into the cavernous hallway and to the dining room on the far end of the keep. Seth and Flick were sitting on one end of the table, looking over a map and chewing on sausages. Snow White sat on the other end, sipping from a steaming cup that smelled like my parents’ coffee. She wasn’t wearing anything you’d call royal—only a simple plaid dress with short sleeves and a v-shaped collar.
The Grimm Chronicles, Vol. 4 Page 22
