Once Upon the End (Half Upon a Time)

by James Riley

  Some of those thoughts were easier to block out than others.

  With a final deep breath and a salute to Captain Thomas, Jack walked in.

  Enormous golden vases exploding with fire lit the throne room every ten feet or so, sitting between marble columns long since marked with some kind of obscure alphabet. Jack walked slowly, not able to make out who or what was waiting for him at the end of the room, the fires were so bright.

  Fortunately, not everyone had that same problem.

  “I was beginning to think the Mirror must have been wrong,” said a voice warm with ice. “But of course, it never was, so this must be exactly when you were meant to arrive.”

  “I bow before your wisdom,” Jack said, wondering if he should actually bow but choosing to instead keep walking toward the voice. If he squinted, he could just barely make out a human shape sitting on what looked to be a throne sculpted from dragon bone.

  The voice laughed, and Jack suddenly remembered helping this same woman up stairs made of snow in the Palace of the Snow Queen barely six months ago. He stepped closer and found himself staring up at a woman as beautiful as a barren field of stone, her hair black as night except for a streak of white here or there. Those imperfections just served to make her more striking, as did the deep purple gown she wore, covered by a robe that almost sparkled in the pure blackness. A blackened bone crown rose from her hair, pronouncing this woman every inch a queen.

  “Your Majesty,” Jack said, and this time he did bow.

  As he looked back up, his eyes locked on a coffin carved from ice to the left of the throne. Snow White, at the right hand of the Queen, almost like a trophy.

  “My newest Eye,” the Wicked Queen said with a smile. “Do you come to betray me, then?”

  Jack paused. “No.”

  She looked at him carefully. “You speak the truth. But why should I believe your words? Isn’t it far more likely that you’re here to attack me when I’m defenseless and vulnerable?”

  Time to go all in. “You’re thinking of my sister, Your Majesty. She is the one planning on betraying you.”

  One of the Queen’s eyebrows raised slightly. “Indeed?”

  Jack shrugged. “So she told me when she was trying to convince me to join the Eyes and help her with her plan.”

  The Queen smiled. “And you would betray her so quickly to me? Even if it means her death?”

  “You won’t kill her, Your Majesty,” Jack said. “You’ll keep her close and not tell her you know so that you can use her as an Eye. And then when the time comes, you’ll be ready for any attack and watch as she fails. THEN you’ll tell her you know. At least, that’s the smart thing, so I imagine that’s your plan.”

  “So much like your father,” the Queen said, still sounding a bit surprised.

  “I really hope not.”

  “So you aren’t here as some misguided attempt to help my granddaughter, then?”

  Jack gritted his teeth, purposefully not picturing anyone, certainly not at the very mention of her. It’d been three months, and the last thing he needed was some blond princess’s face popping into his mind to knock him off track.

  “I want just one thing from you, Your Majesty,” he said. “And to get it, I will follow any order you give.”

  “And what might that be?”

  Jack pulled out his grandfather’s Story Book and opened it to the marked page, then held it up for the Queen to see. “I want to leave,” he said, showing her a picture of the Huntsman carrying the Queen through a blue fire portal. “I want to leave this world and live in one without magic or royalty.”

  The Queen’s eyes widened just a bit, and then she stared at Jack with a curious expression.

  “That is quite a request,” she said. “After all, I would not gain much from you leaving. Still, there are possibilities. How far would you be willing to go, though?”

  “Whatever you ask.”

  “You would tell me where May is, then?” The Queen sat back on her throne and smiled.

  Jack ground his jaw closed so hard it gave him a headache. “If I knew, yes. However, I have no idea where she is.”

  “Again, you tell the truth,” the Queen said thoughtfully. “I would not have thought you’d let her out of your sight.”

  “She has her story to live out, I have mine.”

  “Quite the story hers is, too,” the Queen said. “A handsome prince, true love . . . things we all wish we could find, no?”

  Jack took a deep breath, then two, then three. She was baiting him, that’s all this was. If he couldn’t get through this, he certainly wouldn’t have any chance of reaching the other world. “Everyone . . . wants different things, Your Majesty. I’m not particularly interested in a handsome prince myself.”

  The Queen laughed. “You’re a remarkable boy, Jack. And no matter, if you truly don’t know where she is. I have my best hunter out after her, so it should only be a matter of time.”

  “Let’s hope she hasn’t found a red hood, then, Your Majesty.”

  “Indeed,” the Queen said, her eyes locked on his. “But let us return to your request. I could grant your wish. And if you give me your oath to follow my every order, I will do exactly that.”

  “Then you have it,” Jack said, bowing his head.

  The Queen stood up and gestured, and Jack’s sword jumped into her hand. She pointed the sword at Jack, and he kneeled down in front of her.

  “Then I declare you one of my Eyes in all things and every land,” she said. “And if you disobey me even once, I will kill you.”

  “I know the price of betraying you, Your Majesty,” Jack told her, his mind on the image he’d seen of his sword hanging over Phillip.

  CHAPTER 4

  You’re not going to want to kill me,” May told Malevolent, backing away from the fairy queen in the creature’s own throne room. “Here’s the thing. We can help each other. I think, at least. I didn’t have a ton of time to plan this out.” She paused. “Honestly, I don’t really even know your full story—”

  “You won’t live to hear it,” Malevolent said with a smile.

  “But that’s not the point,” May said, continuing quickly. “Don’t you think there’s a reason I called you? I’ve got something you need, and you’ve got . . . well, all this.” She gestured to the whole castle, magic, everything. “Which would be very useful to me right now.”

  “And how would a child like you help me?” Malevolent said, smiling like a cat would smile at a mouse if cats smiled.

  “Now, let’s not either of us get angry at what either of us says, okay?” May said, holding up her hands and backing away. “I mean, I know you weren’t thrilled with us when we left last time, but that’s what I can help with. You remember that prince who was with me—”

  Flames flickered out of Malevolent’s eyes, and she growled, her mouth opening a bit too wide and dragony for May’s taste. “You wish to hasten your death, I see.”

  “No, see, that’s where you’re not getting it!” May said, backing away faster. “I can help you with that! He’s my friend—he’ll listen to me, the prince!”

  “You both will die by my hand!” Malevolent shouted.

  “Okay, this isn’t exactly going how I hoped it would,” May said, her back slamming into the wall behind her. Well, this had been fun. Well done all around. “I thought you’d be more interested in surviving, but I can see that’s not high on your list.”

  “Your little . . . prince . . . can do nothing to me!” Malevolent growled, her voice getting deeper as her skin began to glow.

  “He might not be able to alone,” May said quietly, “but he found his princess.”

  Malevolent’s eyes went wide, and suddenly she looked like a human again. “What? It . . . cannot be . . .”

  “Oh, it can be,” May said, pushing forward. “It can be all over you if you don’t listen to me for a second. Sleeping Beauty. He woke her up. Probably looking for you right now, if I know Phillip. He likes going out and
finding his giants, you know? Not really a guy to just relax at home.”

  “The Mirror, it foresaw this,” Malevolent said, glancing all around. “Together, they will destroy me! I cannot . . . she promised!”

  May started to say something, then paused. “Wait, who promised?”

  Malevolent grabbed her by her shirt and held her in midair, the fairy queen’s pupilless eyes filled with terror. “You must save me! You must protect me!”

  “That’s what I’ve been . . . I WILL protect you, you just need to do something for me first!”

  Malevolent sneered, despite her fear. “You WILL protect me, or I will burn you here and now!”

  “Do it,” May told her, then closed her eyes. “Fire me up, if you think that’s a smart plan. ’Cause Phillip and Penelope will just love seeing their friend turned to ash. That’ll calm them down and make sure they won’t attack, especially after you tortured him last time he was here.”

  The fairy queen shrieked in rage, then dropped May to the floor. “What is it you want, you foul little beast?”

  May stood back up and glared at Malevolent. “I want your help to make the Wicked Queen . . . go away.”

  This, of all things, made Malevolent laugh. Not for long, and not very hard, but it was definitely a laugh. “I would sooner take my chances against the prince and his princess.”

  “Fair enough,” May said, and turned to leave. “Good luck. I’d try it as a dragon, it’ll look better when they make the cartoon.”

  Malevolent growled again, and grabbed May’s shoulder. “NO. I will help you. What is it you need?”

  May turned back. “I need a way to fight her. A way to beat her, since I don’t have all that magic and stuff that you both seem to have been born with.”

  “She is not a fairy kin,” Malevolent sneered. “Any magic she knows offends this world.”

  “Help me offend the world too, then,” May said. “Whatever I need! I can’t let this go on any longer!”

  “You could not learn enough magic to make a difference, not in a hundred years,” Malevolent told her. “Not such as you. But there might be . . . another way.”

  “Another way—perfect!” May said. “What’s the other way?”

  “A weapon against the Queen,” Malevolent said, turning around and swirling her hand as she hummed silently. A tiny glass ball appeared in the air and danced around.

  “Perfect!” May said again, and grabbed for the ball, only to have her hand pass right through it.

  “This is but an image,” Malevolent said, grinning annoyingly at May’s mistake. “I call it the Fairest, and it was hidden away many years ago.”

  “The Fairest, huh?” May said, staring at the glass ball. “Well, it fits the Wicked Queen theme, I guess. So what does it do?”

  “It is a weapon of sorts,” Malevolent said with a grin that May instantly didn’t trust. “Without it, you will surely perish.”

  “That’s optimistic,” May said. “So where is it, and how do I use it when I find it?”

  “Throw it at the Queen, and the glass ball will do the rest,” the fairy queen said, still smiling mockingly. Honestly, it was so irritating. “As to where it is . . . I can send you there.”

  “Great,” May said, spreading her arms. “Let’s go!”

  Malevolent’s eyes flamed up again, and May took a step back involuntarily. “I . . . cannot go to this place. My kind are barred from it, for we never sleep.”

  “That’s . . . an odd end to that thought,” May said. “Wait, where is this place exactly?”

  “You’ve been there,” Malevolent snapped. “Every night. All humans go there, but without physical form.”

  “What, dreams?!” May said. “Those are just memories or images from . . . oh, forget it. I’m so tired of correcting you people. This weapon of yours is in . . . dreams?”

  “If that’s what you call it.”

  “What would you call it?”

  “The breakdown of all reality, a land subject to no rules save those of its lord, an all-powerful creature who rules your night-lands.”

  “Let’s stick with dreams, just because it’s shorter. Okay, so I go find this Fairest thing in dreamland and bring it back? What kind of dream is it stuck within?”

  Malevolent gritted her teeth once more. “If I knew that, I would know it because I traveled to these . . . dreams . . . and found the Fairest myself!”

  “Well, so what do I do, just fall asleep?”

  “You must enter the realm entirely, not just within your head, if you are to have any power of your own,” Malevolent said, then began to hum.

  “Wait, you’re sending me there with my whole body?!” May said. “You know, dreams can be dangerous!”

  Malevolent just smiled that truly irritating smile as everything began to swirl around, and the world disappeared.

  CHAPTER 5

  Rise, my Eye,” the Wicked Queen said, and handed Jack the hilt of his sword. “I have need of something, and quickly. It’s but a tiny thing. One similar to a task I once set your father to.”

  His father? Lian had claimed the man was here within the Wicked Queen’s lands, but this was the first he’d heard of him since. His father had worked for the Wicked Queen?!

  Well, was that really so surprising, given that his sister was currently?

  “What’s the task?” Jack said.

  The Queen raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t going to ask what your father was doing, serving me?”

  “I’ll find that out when I catch up to him. Just part of a lengthy chat we need to have.”

  “There is a giant living in the clouds,” the Queen told him, watching him closely. “Your father tried to steal a few items from him but left something very important behind. I want that item.”

  The giant. A lifetime of mockery, of pitying looks, of everyone associating Jack with his thieving father, came flooding back, and Jack had to grit his teeth to stay on topic.

  “What kind of item are we talking about? It’s hard to steal something when you don’t know what it is.”

  “A harp,” the Queen said. “A harp sculpted from gold, in the shape of a woman. Do not speak to her, as she speaks only in song, and her music might destroy you.”

  “Destroy me?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “That’s . . . unusual for a harp, or am I wrong?”

  “She was created by the fairy queens,” the Queen said, tapping a finger on her throne. She apparently wasn’t full of patience. “Her power rivals the Mirror’s, in her own way. Fortunately, that’s exactly the way in which I have need of her.”

  “How big is this harp exactly?”

  “No bigger than you are tall.”

  “Oh. Should be pretty easy to carry while I’m running from giants, then.”

  The Queen glared at him. “As soon as you’ve found her, play these chords.” She closed her eyes, and three loud tones sounded throughout the throne room. “Play those, and the harp’s magic shall bring you back here immediately.”

  “And the giant?”

  The Queen finally smiled. “For that, you’ll need to see an . . . ally of mine. Follow my light.” She held out a hand, palm up, and a little bolt of blue exploded over and over just above it. The bolt of blue floated out of her hand and back out the hall the way Jack had come.

  Jack started to follow the bolt of blue, then turned to look at the Queen one more time. “This harp . . . and you help me get away from all of this. Right?”

  “Do what I say, and you shall have all that you desire,” the Queen said, her smile widening.

  “Well, that sounded purposefully vague,” Jack muttered, then followed the bolt of blue out the door.

  The bolt led him up stairs and down hallways, twisting and turning until Jack wasn’t sure he could find his way out, though that wasn’t any different from how he’d come into the castle. Far too late he wondered if he should try a trick a boy from Giant’s Hand had once taught him: leaving bread crumbs behind you in order to find your way home i
f you got lost.

  There were only two problems with that plan. Problem number one: Animals tended to eat the bread crumbs, so it didn’t work so well in woods. Fortunately, that wasn’t so much a problem here. Unfortunately, that led to problem number two: Jack had no bread crumbs.

  It was a sad day when you couldn’t even pull off a plan doomed to fail.

  The bolt led him on, twisting and turning farther than the Queen’s castle could possibly have extended. At times, he was sure he was hundreds of feet above ground, maybe even in the highest towers of the castle. At other times, it felt like he had ended up deep underground.

  He briefly wondered if the Queen would come looking for him if he never came out.

  Then he even more briefly wondered if the bolt of blue was purposely trying to get him lost.

  Fortunately, before he could wonder if the bolt was mocking him with its bolting, it exploded onto a wooden door, which unlocked at the explosion. Jack opened the door to find another, this one made of iron, also unlocking at his touch. A third made of steel, a fourth made of brick (very heavy), and a fifth made of bone all unlocked as he reached out for them.

  Finally, behind the fifth door, a large room opened before him, one shaft of light shining on the dead center of the room. Jack glanced up at the light source and found none. There was no hole in the roof or anything.

  A bit odd.

  The sourceless light shone on more steel and iron, this time in bar form. Or maybe more accurately, in cage form, steel and iron intertwining playfully in gradually smaller and smaller cages, one inside the other.

  Jack slowly approached the cages, expecting them to unlock just as the door had, but no lock tumblers tumbled. In fact, all he could hear was someone slowly breathing, watching as he came closer. Okay, he didn’t hear the person watching, but that was hardly an important detail at this point.

  Someone was breathing, and that same person was watching him.

  “Hello?” Jack said.

  “Hello, boy,” said a tired, gravelly voice. “You’re late.”

  That’s when Jack saw him, a man hunched over in the very middle of the cages, iron cuffs on his wrists and ankles, barely able to move, by the looks of things.