The Enchanted Kingdoms (Haunting Fairytales Book 1)

by R. L. Weeks

  ‘Stilt,’ Edward called out but wasn’t answered. Edward gulped as he imagined the sharp edge of an axe hitting his neck. ‘Stilt, please. There must be some way. We were friends. I always regarded you as a friend. Don’t let them do this to me. How are you giving up so easily? You have a daughter!’

  Stilt coughed, his voice was cracked and barely audible. ‘I can’t help either of us.’

  ‘You have to try,’ Edward pleased. ‘They will be coming to get me any minute now, please. Belle is watching. I cannot have her watch me. I don’t even know why she is here,’ Edward pleaded. He wanted to walk to his death with dignity, with his head held high, but he was breaking. Tears forced themselves out of his eyes. ‘I don’t want to die. I’m scared,’ the childish words escaped his lips as the guards threw open the door. They looked at him and waited for him to do something. ‘Has there been any changes?’ he asked, but already knew the answer.

  ‘I’m afraid not. You must come with us,’ they said and placed handcuffs on him. There were ten guards. Even if he could take down one, he’d never be able to get away from all ten.

  ‘See you on the other side,’ Stilt said as Edward was dragged past his cell. Stilt looked through the bars sorrowfully. ‘Looks like we have both been taken for fools.’

  ‘Goodbye, old friend,’ Edward managed as he was taken down the winding steps. The cuffs cut into his wrists. The closer he got to the courtyard, the more his heart pounded, the more beads of sweat trickled down his nose. He tried to steady his breathing, but as the door opened, sunlight blinded him. He looked around for anyone he knew, anyone who could help him, but unfamiliar faces took up his view, all cheering for his death. He looked up at the block and panicked. Lori was sat up on a balcony, looking down at the scene. She was not smiling, which was unexpected. She looked indifferent if anything.

  ‘Edward,’ Belle screamed through the crowd. Edward desperately looked around the crowd for her, but couldn’t see her face. He just wanted to kiss her lips and look into her beautiful brown eyes one last time. But, that wouldn’t happen, and he didn’t want her to watch what was about to happen.

  ‘Please,’ Edward spluttered. ‘Please get Belle away from here, I cannot have her watch!’

  The guards ignored his request. The heat from the sun fell on his back, and he remembered back to when he was a child; running through meadows, going horse-riding for the first time, playing hide and seek with the other children from the palace. Now, he was to meet his fate, and he didn’t even get to say goodbye. Every regret, the poor princess he killed, the girl who he cursed to be a frog. Lori, Belle, every single one of the people he had hurt; it crippled him.

  Remorse will not save you,

  The truth will not help,

  Sorcerer’s; the two of you

  Will surely lose your heads

  Snow sang under her breath as Edward was pulled over to the block. She wore black, not to mourn, but to show who she truly was. She had helped send two men to their deaths. Both of whom deserved it, but, the cries from Belle and silence from James almost killed her inside. In doing this, she was hurting the people she loved.

  James tried to comfort his mother, but she was frantic, screaming, trying to break free from the guards. Snow had asked for Belle not to see the execution, but Lori insisted.

  Lori.

  Snow vowed that one day Lori’s head would to be on that block. Chopped by the same executioner, her head separating from her shoulders. Until that day, Snow had to play it safe.

  Lori looked back onto the crowd and looked as Edward was dragged onto the board. Her heart sank slightly as she looked down at the man who she had once loved; once cherished. He looked up at her too, catching her gaze for only a second before turning back to the crowd. She could hear Belle’s screaming, well, who couldn’t? The screams were filled with so much anguish and pain that Lori wanted it just to be over and done with. The finale to the years of planning her revenge was not as satisfying as she had anticipated. She ran her finger along the wands edge that she had taken from the dwarves. She could use it to channel her power, to make it stronger.

  The crowd fell silent as Edward was asked if he had any final words. He gulped and tried to hold back tears. ‘I-’ He started but stopped on meeting Belle’s gaze. Tears patterned her cheeks. She looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks. Her hair was limp, and nothing but sadness showed on her face. He shook his head and pressed his lips together. ‘Get out of here, Belle.’

  ‘Edward,’ she cried. ‘Please, someone, help him. He didn’t do it.’

  ‘I did,’ Edward admitted. Belle gasped and fell to her knees. Edward felt the disappointment and hurt pierce through him. He looked down at Snow, who looked back him with no compassion.

  ‘You have been charged with the Murder of Princess Mary. You have been sentenced to death by decapitation,’ Snow said loudly.

  ‘I’m sorry about your mother,’ he whispered as his head was forced onto the block. Belle’s screaming was drowned out by the chanting and jeering from the crowd. The sunlight highlighted the boards below him.

  ‘I guess not all fairytales have a happy ending’ thought Snow as she watched James walk away from the scene, turning his back on her, and saw Belle looking at her with a vengeance in her eyes.

  Read on for an excerpt from Journey to Neverland

  Book two in the Haunting Fairytales Series

  He will manipulate and charm you.

  He will watch everything that you do.

  Your hearts desires he will look into.

  Until you give yourself up, too.

  You’ll wish that you never believed him,

  As you watch your brightest light dim.

  When you realise your chances of escaping,

  are unfortunately slim.

  So, as you cross through the woodland,

  You may find it’s too late.

  Don't venture too far into Neverland,

  or he will seal your fate.

  AS COLD AS SNOW

  She looked down from where she stood on the mountain. Crisp white snow outlined the rocks that dangerously scattered the surface. She took a deep breath, breathing in the cold air. Her head was spinning from vertigo. She knelt and placed her hands on the little ledge. Looking over the edge, she had to stop herself from vomiting.

  One minute she was sat by the crackling fire, the warmth sending her to sleep. The next she was lying on a ledge at the side of a mountain.

  She cried when she thought about the warmth, the heat that she had always taken for granted. She was sure she’d die on the mountain. Her frozen corpse would be found by mountaineers. She thought that someone would surely come looking for her? But the sinking feeling in her stomach returned. No, they wouldn’t. She had no one left in the world who cared about her. She had seen to that.

  Her fingers shook as she tried to tie up the laces up on her boots. They had come undone as she climbed onto the ledge. Her dress had already snagged on a rock, leaving a chilly tear.

  Regret consumed her. She had done right by her dead mother, but it had cost everyone else greatly. Avenging her had always been her goal since she found out that Edward, the Frog Prince, had tricked her mother, turned her into a frog in place of him, and then killed her.

  ‘J-James,’ she tried to shout, but her teeth were chattering so much.

  A childish part of her hoped that if she said James’ name enough times he would somehow hear her; even if he was a thousand miles away. But, if he did her pleas, would he come? He no longer cared about her. He had made that apparent.

  Hadn’t she run after him after Edward’s execution? As Belle, his mother, was dragged away by guards, flailing and screaming.

  Flailing and screaming because of her. She had betrayed them, hadn’t she? How was she to know that Lori would take Belle as a prisoner. She knew, of course, that Lori would kill him, but not that her envy would make her imprison her only friend in the world. Belle and Lori were friends, after all. Snow couldn’t de
ny that. In fact, she had spent many months hating that.

  Wind swept over her, causing her to shake. Panicked, she pushed herself against the rock, as far away from the edge as she could. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked back and forth. Her lips, she feared, would fall off. She couldn’t feel anything anymore. Looking out onto the Skeletal horizon, she waited for deaths merciful release from the painful nightmare.

  MIRROR ON THE WALL

  Lori paced in front of the gold and silver mirror. The mirror warped into a cold, skeletal face with hollow eyes. ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?’ Lori asked.

  ‘My Queen, Snow is still the fairest of them all.’

  The face morphed back into the mirror, leaving Lori staring at her own, tired complexion.

  Lori threw a vase, smashing it against her wall. How is that little brat still alive? She should have frozen by now, Lori thought.

  She heard footsteps behind her. Someone had gotten into her chamber, uninvited. ‘Lori,’ Henry said, his voice breaking. ‘May I talk to-.’

  ‘No,’ she barked, ‘you may not! Now leave. You should not be in here!’

  Tears brimmed in his eyes. ‘Please, my Queen, it’s Snow, she’s still missing. I fear for her life.’

  ‘Since when did you care again?’ Lori asked. ‘The last thing I remember, after the execution, was you walking away from Snow as she was attacked by Belle before Belle was dragged away.’

  The truth is, Belle lunging at Snow was the perfect excuse that Lori needed to lock her away. Sure, she would have found a way regardless, but it was much quicker than she had anticipated. She didn’t need Belle seeking revenge after Edward’s death, nor did she want her around anyway.

  Unfortunately, Kathryn, Edward’s mother, the Queen of Dolorom, and James broke Belle out of the dungeons.

  She had prepared for the anticipated attack from Dolorom, but nothing happened.

  She called off her own attack on Dolorom after Milborn sent a huge army there.

  Henry grabbed a picture of him and Snow with Lori from the side. ‘I walked away because Snow made it apparent that she didn’t want me in her life anymore after she found out that I made a deal with you! I knew she’d be okay. the guards protected her.’

  Lori rolled her eyes. ‘You’re so gallant.’

  Henry sniffed back a sob. ‘I brought her up. I love and care for her more than anything.’

  Lori turned and looked down at the little dwarf whose face had become annoyingly familiar over the years. ‘I do not know where she is,’ she lied and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. He walked out, slamming the door behind him.

  She waited for the footsteps to fade and paced in front of the mirror again. ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, where is Snow White? And how is she still alive?’

  The mirror warped back into a grey, solemn face and replied, ‘Snow is on the mountain which you placed her. She has befriended the Snow Queen and has found shelter there.’

  Lori knocked the picture of she, Snow, and Henry over. ‘She can’t just die, can she?’

  The face disappeared. Lori examined her wrinkled face and traced her fingers through her straight black hair. If her plan would work, then she would stay eternally young. The apples were running out, and she couldn’t make anymore. She knew that day would come, but had hoped that she’d find some other way by then.

  ‘Guard,’ Lori screeched.

  A guard entered her chamber, ‘Majesty,’ he said with a low bow.

  ‘Find me a wolf,’ she ordered. ‘A particular one called Red. She lives in the Dead Woods. Bring her to me!’

  THE SNOW QUEEN

  Gallisa heard pained cries as she walked down the walkway from her palace. The palace sat in a large dip in the mountains top. The circular peak shielded the palace

  from the ferocious winds, and due to the location, from any avalanches too.

  The small village on the left side of the mountain was home to Gallisa’s snow fairies. Each of them lived in small houses made of solid ice, spelled never to melt. They lived harmoniously.

  Gallisa lived in her magnificent ice palace with only her guards to keep her company. She loved her subjects and would often visit them, but she was bigger than them, the size of a human, as a Queen should be.

  A lonely Queen.

  A snowstorm swept the mountain. Gallisa pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder and raised her arms, calming the storm as much as she could. The cries were quiet. She listened carefully and followed the sound.

  She climbed down the rocky surface and jumped onto a small ledge.

  A woman with jet black hair was lying in the foetal position, covered with a thin blanket of snow. Gallisa brushed off the snow off and tried to wake her. The woman’s lips and skin had turned to a dark blue, and her rattling breaths were shallow. Gallisa pulled the woman up, lifting her over her shoulder.

  She wondered if the woman was a fairy. She had such pale skin. It would explain why she was this far up the mountain. Gallisa wondered if she was looking for her?

  Gallisa smiled at the hope that she had found another fairy who was the same size as her, who she could have as a friend.

  Once back at the palace, she closed the doors and walked into the living room, placing the woman down on the silver sofa.

  ***

  Belle looked at her son. James looked empty and depressed. She tried to cheer him up, but nothing had worked so far.

  Since Snow had gone, the happiness in him went away with her.

  Belle warmed her hands by the fire. She was angry with Snow for what she did to Edward, but, she did understand why she did what she did. Edward had killed her mother. She found herself in a constant turmoil of grieving the man she loved and hated him on learning of all the terrible things he had done.

  ‘Maybe we can find her,’ Belle suggested.

  James looked up at her and forced a small smile which quickly disappeared.

  ‘I appreciate it, Mum, but I was horrible to her after Edward was killed. She won’t want to see me,’ he lowered his head. ‘Anyway, she’s disappeared. No-one knows where she went.’

  Belle grinned. ‘Since when were you one to give up? Come on, where’s my adventurous boy?’

  ‘I grew up,’ James said bitterly. ‘I’m going to kill Lori, though. That, I do promise.’

  ‘No more killing,’ Belle said, shaking her head. James wasn’t listening.

  He walked out and went to practice sword fighting at the castle.

  Since Edward’s death, his mother, Queen Kathryn, had offered James to move there. They broke Belle out of the prison where Lori had kept her after Edward’s execution.

  Belle told Kathryn what happened to Edward.

  Kathryn wanted to attack Northmanni, but her husband, the King, would not allow it. He didn’t seem to care about Edward’s death at all.

  On the walk to the castle, James stopped at a bench, gathering his thoughts.

  James thought about the last words Snow had said to him. That was all he had ever wanted to hear from her. Those three words, I love you.

  He missed her teasing, her soft side, and her slightly psychotic side. He secretly adored the crazy.

  ‘Mum’s right. I can’t give up!’ he said aloud and ran back to the cottage to pack a bag. He ran over the hills toward the quaint little cottage. The sun was setting, leaving the meadows and hills soaked in an orange glow.

  He barged through the door. Belle was putting away the dishes and dropped one on hearing the loud bang. She raced into their small living room. ‘What’s wrong?’

  He smiled. ‘Nothing’s wrong, except for my actions so far. I’m going to find Snow!’

  ‘Not alone,’ Belle said. ‘We will go together. I’m part of the reason why she would have left.’

  He nodded and grabbed some food from the larder, placing it into a bag. ‘We need to leave now. We will ride to Northmanni.’

  SWORD OF SOULS

  Gallisa absent-mindedly made
snowflakes dance around her perfectly polished fingernails. Her hair, an ash blonde, had a slightly blue hue to it. Pushed to one side, her hair hung past her small chest and down to her belly button, which was on show in the small gap where her royal blue crop top stopped, and her high-waisted trousers started. From her belly button hung a pretty silver charm.

  ‘What is that?’ asked Snow, who was sat across from Gallisa. Snow was pointing at the charm.

  Gallisa looked down at her belly button and smiled fondly at the glistening triangle. ‘It’s a good luck charm, given to me by a wonderful man. I haven’t seen him for many years, although he wouldn’t have aged a day.’

  ‘Oh,’ Snow said. ‘Were you in love?’

  Gallisa shook her head. ‘He didn’t love me. He was simply fond of me. I don’t think he was, or will ever be, capable of love.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Snow replied, feeling awkward for asking.

  Gallisa laughed. ‘You asked a perfectly reasonable question. Don’t apologise.’

  Snow nodded and sipped her cocoa. The castle was beautifully decorated. It looked like a winter wonderland. Glistening baby blue voiles covered the ceiling high windows and blew slightly in the breeze.

  On the silver ceiling thousands of long, glistening icicles hung.

  Snow looked at the icicles wearily. ‘Will they fall?’

  Gallisa smiled. ‘Of course not. Everything in this palace is spelled. Nothing will ever melt, or fall.’

  Snow finished her cocoa and set her mug down on the glass table. ‘So, you said you’re a snow fairy.’

  Gallisa nodded.