The Enchanted Kingdoms (Haunting Fairytales Series Book 1)

by Becca Alexandra

  ‘I just want to wake Snow up,’ James admitted. ‘I’ve failed her.’

  Belle patted his shoulder. ‘You’ll find a way, sweetheart. I have complete faith in you.’

  ‘We must discuss, first, our plan,’ Lori said. She placed her black birdcage veil on, which covered one of her eyes. ‘The king’s army will not invade Dolorom unless Dolorom is an immediate threat. The king will not allow it, which means I need to bribe more of the guards. I need to infiltrate the king’s guards and lords of the land. Once I have them on my side, we can overturn the king’s decision. Unless, he dies first, of course!’

  ‘Lori,’ Belle gasped. ‘You wouldn’t? He’s your husband.’

  ‘I wouldn’t allow it,’ James said, brandishing his sword.

  Lori rolled her eyes. ‘Put your weapon down, for goodness’ sake. I’m not going to kill him,’ she lied. ‘I need you to leave,’ she said to Belle.

  ‘Leave?’ Belle and James chorused.

  ‘Yes,’ Lori answered. ‘I need you to go to Merlin. A powerful sorcerer. I need him on our side. We don’t have what you would call a good history. But he will listen to someone like you. Kind, beautiful, innocent.’

  ‘Where does he live?’ asked Belle.

  ‘The centre of Cantata.’

  ‘The centre of our world?’ Belle repeated.

  Lori rolled her eyes. Living with Belle meant that she would probably end up with her eyes stuck in her forehead. ‘It’s in the Enchanted Forest next to Dolorom.’

  ‘I will go. What do you want me to say?’ asked Belle.

  Lori handed her a rolled-up piece of parchment. ‘Give him this. It’s a letter detailing our plan. Also, entertain him. Make him like you. We need him on our side, Belle. Do not let us down.’

  ***

  ‘Majesty,’ Lori said as she approached her husband. His grey hair was slicked back, and his red cloak covered his protruding belly.

  ‘My love,’ he replied and put his arms around her.

  She forced a smile and escaped his grip. ‘Why won’t you let me use the army? Am I not queen?’

  ‘You are,’ he said and sat on his throne. ‘But Dolorom is the biggest land. We would not win, and the attack is unprovoked.’

  ‘But please,’ she said and fluttered her lashes at him. Since taking more people’s beauty, she was looking better by the week. Her hair was shiny, softer, and darker than it had looked in years. Her green eyes shone like emeralds, her petite frame paired with her soft features made her look so innocent.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘Sorry, my love. Anything else I would do, but I cannot send my troops out to be slaughtered.’

  ‘Of course, I obey my king’s orders,’ she said and went over to the little globe. She opened it and pulled out a bottle of mead. When he wasn’t looking, she activated the death curse, one which drained her, then and there, of all her beauty. She quickly left the room. Making sure not to show her face to him. Her footsteps clicked down the stone steps. She stopped by the kitchen. She snuck an apple into the kitchen’s supply and waited for someone to eat it.

  A little less than an hour later, everyone in the castle was running around frantically. A guard burst into Snow’s room where she was resting her head on James’s shoulder.

  ‘Princess,’ the guard said.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked, standing up.

  ‘I’m terribly sorry to be the one to tell you, but the king is dead.’

  REVENGE

  The sudden death of the king shocked the kingdom, more so Snow. She had been awoken in the early hours in the morning and had to hide James in her closet. James stepped out of the closet and quickly pulled his shirt and breeches on then tousled his hair. ‘Snow.’

  ‘Don’t.’

  He held her hand. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’

  She walked away from him and grabbed a pipe from her draw. She stomped around the room, her breath rattling as she puffed on a pipe. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ asked James as he snatched the pipe from her mouth.

  ‘It relaxes me!’ she shouted.

  ‘It’s unhealthy,’ he replied and walked over to her bed. ‘She killed him, James. She killed him! I know it. I’m going to kill her.’

  ‘No.’ He walked over and placed his arms on her shoulders, knowing that she was talking about Lori. ‘We will get revenge, but if you go up there now and attempt to kill her, you will be charged with treason. Princess or not. Lori is in charge now. We must play it safe.’

  Snow knew what he was saying made sense, but she was livid. She couldn’t see anything but the image of Lori being stabbed to death. Snow screamed and threw her dagger at the wall, which stabbed into a painting. ‘I will prove she killed him then.’

  James bit down on his bottom lip. ‘If she did it with magic, which I imagine she did, then you couldn’t prove it. Lori mentioned killing him, but my mother and I said no, and she said she was joking.’

  ‘And you kept that to yourself?’ Snow screamed. ‘Whose side are you on?’

  He pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair. ‘Yours, Snow. Always yours.’

  He pulled her down onto the sofa. She nuzzled into his chest. He hugged her in front of the fire while she wept into his jacket. Hours passed like minutes. The crackling of the fire and howling from the wind outside the window was all that could be heard above Snow’s sobs. She eventually cried herself to sleep. James didn’t want to move, in case he woke her, so he’d just laid there. He smiled as he looked down at her tear-stained face. She was pouting slightly as she slept, and the crease on her forehead from anger disappeared. Her fingers linked with his and a realisation swept over him; this was all he would ever need.

  ***

  James took Snow’s hand and looked into her eyes. ‘I will be back soon, okay?’

  She sighed. ‘I don’t want you to go.’ He smiled at that. They were growing closer every day, yet he still didn’t have guts to admit how he felt to her. She was just as stubborn.

  He looked at her darkly. ‘’It’s only one day. Keep yourself safe. Don’t do anything reckless!’

  ‘I can’t make any promises,’ she said and winked. ‘I’m kidding,’ she added on seeing his concern. ‘I’m just going to try and find out what happened to the dwarfs and Red. I know something is up.’

  ‘Don’t get caught,’ he replied. Henry entered the room.

  ‘Snow,’ Henry said. ‘It is time.’

  ‘Wish you could stay for the funeral,’ a teary Snow said.

  ‘We made a deal with Merlin. I have no choice. Look, I’ve been meaning to tell you something.’

  ‘Yes?’ she said.

  ‘I …’ He stopped himself. ‘I’ll tell you when I get back,’ and with that, he disappeared.

  Henry cleared his throat. ‘Ready?’

  Snow gathered herself and brushed down her black top and trousers. ‘Coming.’

  ‘How are you? We haven’t spent much time together,’ Henry said.

  Snow kept her head held high. She felt as if she was losing her mind recently. Since waking from that slumber, she hadn’t felt okay at all. ‘I’m fine. My dwarfs disappeared, and so did mine and James’s friend, Red. I want to find out what happened to them.’

  ‘Oh, well, to be honest …’ Henry started.

  ‘Do you know something?’ she asked him, stopping in the hallway.

  ‘I will do anything to keep you safe; you know that,’ he said. ‘Lori found out about your plan to take her down.’ Snow gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

  ‘You’re kidding? She’ll kill me.’

  ‘She won’t,’ he said. ‘I made a deal with her.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘In exchange for telling her who was a part of the plan, she promised never to harm you,’ he admitted.

  ‘Where are they?’ Snow asked through clenched teeth.

  He hung his head. ‘I’m sorry.’

  She shook her head with disbelief. ‘No,’ she cried. ‘I promised to protect them.’ Sh
e ran away from Henry and into the gardens. The church bells sounded as she sat on the bench. The snow was melting, now leaving a horrible slush on the ground.

  Her head was spinning. James told her not to do anything reckless, and he was right. Lori was in charge, and anything could happen now. But she needed justice.

  ‘Red,’ Snow exclaimed and ran to the stable, grabbing James’s stallion.

  In a panic, she galloped down the winding road to the town then over to the Dead Forest until she reached a familiar shack. It was Red’s. A wolf shot out of the door on hearing the commotion. Snow put her hands in the air and tried to turn the horse. The wolf, however, did not attack. Instead, it rested its head on a log and whimpered.

  ‘Red!’ Snow shouted. ‘Red, where are you?’ The wolf howled loudly. ‘You know something? You’re Red’s pet, aren’t you?’ The wolf howled. ‘What happened to her?’

  After an hour of listening to the wolf howl, the wolf and Red gave up trying to communicate in any way. ‘I’ll be back,’ Snow promised and rode over to Lori’s shack. She knew Lori wouldn’t be home as she was at the king’s funeral. The king who she had murdered.

  Snow jumped off the horse and tied him to the apple tree. In a manic state, she plucked all the apples from the tree and threw them at the shack before finally falling to the ground. I promised to keep them safe, and now, they’re dead. Lori is in power, and Edward is still alive. James is gone. I am alone, and Henry betrayed me. She repeated those words in her head until they were deafening. She put her hands over her ears and screamed. The church bells sounded to pronounce the end of the funeral.

  Grandfather, I’m so sorry. I will avenge you. All of you, Grumpy, Sneezy, Doc, Sleepy, Happy. Her thoughts were distracted as she saw the wolf again. It was near the shack but appeared like it couldn't go any further.

  ‘Oh, James. I need you right now,’ Snow said aloud and jumped back onto her horse.

  URSULA

  The undercurrent carried her to the shore. She found the rock she sat on every day and looked out onto the beach.

  The beach she could never stand on.

  In front of the pebbly stretch were glorious fields, rich with corn. Some of them had crops so high that Ariel wondered what it would feel like to get lost in them.

  Oh, what an adventure that would be.

  ‘Ariel,’ her sister’s voice hissed from behind her.

  ‘Hey, Coral,’ Ariel said dreamily as she watched a man and woman holding hands as they walked merrily down the bay, smiling, laughing.

  Oh, how would it feel to hold hands with another and walk in the sun? How would it feel to walk? she wondered.

  ‘Mother told me not to utter a word to you!’

  ‘A word,’ an eel hissed that slithered its way around her small stomach.

  ‘But they are watching you,’ her sister said.

  ‘Watching you,’ the eel repeated. Ariel batted the eel away with her tail and turned. Now taking more notice of her sister.

  ‘You are not my sister,’ Ariel said. ‘You look just like her. But you have more of a loneliness behind your eyes. The smell of corruption, deceit, and desperation follows you.’

  ‘I’ll get you one day!’ The sea witch cackled and turned back into her plump, ugly self. Her tail, unlike the others, was a mossy green. It felt the same as moss too. Her hair was like black seaweed clinging to a rock. Her eyes, which were barely visible due to the black bags hanging beneath them, were a putrid shade of green. The colour of jealousy. Her fingernails were more like talons, and shells were embedded into one side of her face and her stomach. If you had to ask for Ariel's opinion, which you would get whether you wanted it or not, Ursula was a disgusting slime ball with a bad temper and jealous streak.

  No matter how desperate Ariel was, and she was pretty desperate. Never, ever would she make a deal with the sea witch. Nope. Never.

  ‘Leave me alone,’ Ariel demanded.

  ‘You know,’ Ursula said, who was now side by side with her, stroking Ariel's hair longingly. ‘I have always wondered what it would be like to have magical hair. Beautiful red hair, like your mothers. Like yours. Like the others.’

  ‘My father said not to listen to a word you say,’ Ariel said, poking her finger onto Ursula’s large chest.

  ‘Your father is a liar! My family line is the legitimate heir to the throne. Your father took it from us,’ she spat.

  Ariel laughed. ‘I don’t know that much about it. But if I had to guess, I’d say that the legitimate heir to the throne would never have allowed someone to take their power from them. That shows weakness and our kind does not need weak leaders. Now go and wallow in your underwater cave, witch, and stop bothering me.’

  Ursula snarled. She looked at Ariel, who was more vibrant than the others, with envy. She secretly liked the bubbly streak she pretended to despise and felt sad if anything. Sad that she, the different one, the one with a green tail and black hair, was not befriended by the only other mermaid in the lake who felt like an outsider.

  Everyone knew Ariel wanted to be a human, and they’d say things like It is such a shame that she is so odd. Being a princess was nothing but an annoyance to Ariel. Even though anyone else in the lake would do anything to be in her position.

  Being a princess meant she found it more difficult to sneak off and look at the people as they went about their daily lives. It meant that she was expected to do princess things, like sing, like, all the time.

  Ursula swam away with her pet eel and left her alone.

  Ariel’s hair had grown back since she cut it to give to a woman, at her mother’s request. It now reached down to the top of her tail. ‘Ariel,’ a small little fish whispered. ‘Your father is waiting for you.’

  ‘Cullum. How are you?’ she asked with delight. She hadn’t seen her little friend all day. ‘I’ve been watching the people walk past. One woman was dancing as she walked. What a fun thing that must be to do.’

  ‘S-sounds great, Ariel. But, w-we really should go,’ Cullum stuttered. He was the smallest fish in the lake, by far. The size of one those little crockhoppers. Which were shoes. But Ariel had believed that crockhoppers were to wear on your hands. A dear friend of hers had informed her of that. Her friend was well travelled, so he must be right.

  She had only seen humans who lived near the lake wear them on their feet. She giggled to herself, thinking about how odd those people must be, to wear crockhoppers on their feet. She decided that if she were ever to become human, then she would have to set them straight.

  She swam back under the lake and made her way past the tall seaweeds without getting herself tangled, again, then over to the rocky wall to the kingdom. The sound of music carried through the water.

  ‘The show,’ Ariel said and gasped as she realised why there was music. That song was to play just before the main event, and she was the main event.

  EXPLORING

  Ariel hid behind the large pillar that held up the front of the palace. The seashell opened, and she wasn’t in there. She had to improvise. If not, then her father would be so mad.

  She swam out to where everyone was watching the show. She was behind them. Her father looked furious as everyone looked blankly at the empty shell.

  ‘As I entwine myself in the seaweed of power,’ she sang. Everyone turned and smiled. She swam through them. Most thought it was part of the act. Her father, the king, knew it was due to lateness.

  ‘I look out at the blue abyss,’ she continued. Her voice was beautiful. Light, powerful, and it had the slight sound of bells ringing to it.

  Ariel’s sisters joined her and harmonised with each other. Ariel had the best voice in the kingdom. The subjects clapped as the event finished and the shell closed.

  ‘Ariel,’ her father’s voice boomed once they were alone in the palace hall. She hid behind a pillar. ‘You were late, again!’

  ‘Sorry, Father,’ she said and swam out. ‘I was exploring.’

  ‘Always exploring. Start acting like th
e princess you are!’ And with that, he swam off. His massive blue tail disappeared around a corner.

  Cullum swam out from behind some seaweed. ‘You okay, Ariel?’

  She huffed and sat on the white marble seat. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘Maybe he’s right.’

  ‘No, he’s not,’ Cullum protested. ‘You’re fun; you’re different. Nothing is wrong with that.’

  ‘Hmph.’

  ‘Want to watch the people?’ Cullum asked, hoping it would cheer her up.

  ‘Don’t feel like it,’ she admitted and swam off, humming the tune from the show. She moved effortlessly through the water. Ursula watched Ariel through her magic orb.

  ‘Soon, when he fulfils his promise, Ariel will have no choice but to accept my offer. I will bring them all down,’ she said to the eel.

  ‘How do you know it will work?’ hissed the eel.

  Ursula laughed evilly. ‘He will bring me a prince. I will make it so he falls in near Ariel. Being Ariel, she will save him. I will make it so they fall in love then I will offer her the deal. She has always said no to me, through distrust, but this will tip her over the edge.’

  ‘Then you will kill her?’ the eel asked. It swirled around the cave; it’s black body slithering slimily.

  ‘No,’ Ursula said, smirking. ‘Queen Josephine made a deal with the Evil Queen, so if Ariel ever takes a potion to become human, then she would turn to sea foam if she didn’t return to the lake for good after three days. I will make a deal with the king and queen. I will make it so she cannot return to the lake unless they give me their crown.’

  ‘I love it,’ the eel hissed.

  ***

  ‘Here we are,’ Edward said as they appeared on the pebbly bay.

  Eric looked out over the waters. ‘Where is this mermaid?’

  Stilt walked over to the water and turned to Eric. ‘Stay here. Edward and I will be back momentarily.’

  Edward walked over to the edge of water. Stilt waded through until he was submerged and set off a spell. He reemerged with wet hair covering his face. He moved it out the way and joined Edward at the water’s edge.