Kingdom of Mirrors and Roses

by A. W. Cross

  “She had that luxury,” Father said. “To push everything else aside and focus solely on one thing. But I’m the only parent left, and Clarice isn’t the only daughter who needs me.” I’d never heard him so angry before, so upset. “Helping her is facing banishment. What will happen to you then? To Amélie?”

  I didn’t want to hear his excuses anymore. “I’m going out there. Outside the gates.”

  Before he could stop me, I’d already made it halfway down the stairs. “Belle, no! That’s suicide!” he yelled at me.

  “Don’t worry, Father,” I said while I dashed down the rest of the stairs. “You still have one more daughter left to protect.”

  14

  “I can’t let you through.” Gerard blocked the path to the gate. “If you try to save her, you’ll be banished. Forever. That’s our rule.”

  This was probably the most I’d ever heard Gerard say.

  “Please. For what you did to Duncan. I don’t want you to die too, Belle.”

  “Step aside.” There was no hint of doubt in my voice, not even a hint of nervousness.

  As it had been Clarice’s destiny to be chosen, it was my destiny to protect her, to the end.

  “Belle…” The Hunter pleaded once more, but eventually he gave in, moved to the side and let me pass.

  Unlocking the gate usually took a while, but since most of the Hunters were outside with Clarice, I could just push it open and walk through. Which I did.

  It was probably my imagination, but the moment I stepped outside that gate, for the first time in my life… Or at least, the first time since my near-fatal encounter with the Blight years ago… I felt free.

  I tasted freedom on the wind, heard it in the symphony of the leaves whistling in the trees.

  We’d been idiots to lock ourselves up behind a Wall, when we should’ve been fighting to destroy that which kept us locked up. We should’ve fought for our freedom, even if it caused us to die.

  I crossed the distance to where Clarice was tied up in a matter of minutes. The first one to see me was my sister; the others had their back turned toward the town, facing the forest.

  “No!” she screamed. “No, go back! They’ll banish you! Belle, go back!”

  “Never.” I had made my choice. It was time someone in town took a stance, even if it had to be me.

  “Belle!” Philippe whirled around; his eyes wide with panic. “No, no, no. What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be here. It’s not safe.”

  “I’ll fight the Beast. When it comes for her, I’ll fight it,” I stated. “And if I win, if I save her, then you let her back in.” I addressed all the Hunters. “If the Beast is dead, there’s no reason why she should be sacrificed.”

  “You can’t win from this Beast, Belle,” Philippe tried to reason with me. “Trying will only get you killed.”

  In all the fairytales my Mother read to me as a child, there was always a hero who dared to do what no one else would. Who dared to stand up for what was right. Real life had no heroes; I had no hero. There was only me. And I had probably done half a million things wrong, but in this moment, I knew I was doing the right thing.

  “The sun will set soon. At sunset, the Beast will come,” Richard warned. “It always does.”

  This mythical Beast, the stuff of legend, the monster that could not be killed. “Get inside then,” I told him and the others.

  Charles and Richard exchanged a nervous look between them.

  “Go. Get behind the Wall.” I gestured for them to move.

  “Go,” Gallant, the Master Hunter, ordered them. He bowed his head toward Clarice. “Thank you for your sacrifice.” The words were standard; they were also spoken at the funeral of a Hunter, as if it somehow made it all right, if only you died for a higher purpose.

  Gallant walked toward me, pausing in front of me. When I was a child, he’d taught me how to fight with a sword. I had respected him, always. “Are you sure?” he asked me. “Once we’re inside, there’s no way back. We can’t open the gates for you.”

  “If she stays, then I stay.”

  Gallant nodded, as if he hadn’t expected anything else. “I have only seen this Beast once, and only in a flash. Not long enough to make out any weak spots but aiming for the heart always tends to do the trick.

  “Aim for the heart, got it.” I was surprised at how confident I sounded, even though I didn’t feel confident at all. I didn’t think for a second that I would be able to defeat this Beast; all I knew was that I at least had to try.

  Gallant patted me on the shoulder, and then walked past me, back toward the village, back toward that prison of cowardice. Charles and Richard quickly followed him, leaving only Philippe.

  “Belle—” he started.

  “You’ve been my best friend for years,” I told Philippe, not giving him the chance to finish that sentence. “I love you as a friend. I don’t know if I ever could’ve loved you as something more. I just…” I scratched my neck. “I just wanted to say that. To let you know.”

  “I’m sorry.” Philippe tried to reach for me, but I pulled back, away from him.

  “I should’ve stuck with you. I should’ve been on your side. Belle…” As he reached for me again, the red rays of the setting sun illuminated us.

  “Go inside,” I told him. “You don’t have to die out here.”

  He seemed to contemplate this for a second, deciding if he should go or stay. He glanced over his shoulder, at the sun, at the distance he still had to cross.

  A howl sounded in the distance, similar to a wolf’s howl but much louder, a roar that seemed to rise up from within the belly of the earth.

  “Go!” I urged Philippe again, signaling for him to get back to safety.

  His eyes pleaded with me, saying how sorry he was, but then he bolted off, back toward the village.

  “Run! Go with him!” Clarice shouted at me, panic rising in her voice. “Go!”

  “No,” I said while I cut loose the ropes the Hunters had used to tie her up. If we wanted a chance at survival, she needed to be able to fight too.

  “Go!” She screamed, grabbing for me, digging her nails into my skin. “The village needs you! Without you, they will all die. I’ve seen it; I’ve seen the Tainted attack the town.”

  The sun disappeared behind the horizon, and the rays of run were replaced by the first shadows of dusk. Another howl roared from behind us, closer this time. The Beast was approaching.

  “It’s too late now.” I glanced at the gate, at Philippe disappearing behind it, at the Hunters who were they gathered on top of the Wall. I thought I even saw Father, watching us.

  “What have you done?” Clarice wailed. “You’re going to die too, now.”

  “No one is going to die.” I grabbed the sword I’d brought along and handed it to her. “I’m done living in fear for an illness we can’t stop, for an infection that has infested the entire world. I’m tired of sacrificing one of our own because some Beast demands it. I can still hear Fiona’s screams ringing in my ears and it’s been three years; I’m not about to let yours be added to that symphony of pain. The time for fear is over.”

  I turned toward the forest. Judging from the sounds increasing every second, something enormous was approaching us at lightning speed.

  I lifted the crossbow, aiming at the trees. “Today, we fight.”

  15

  I’d barely taken aim when the Beast burst out from between the trees. It was fast, as Gallant had said, so fast that my first arrow, shot in a panic, flew right past it.

  I whirled around, trying to get in sync, trying to find the Beast’s heartbeat, but the creature moved so fast I could barely catch a glimpse of it. the Beast was huge and hairy, like a gigantic wolf, maybe like Fenrir, the wolf from the ancient legends my Mother had told us about, a wolf so big it had swallowed the world.

  Then, the Beast moved again, charging toward me. It hit me straight in the chest, sending me backward, and for a milli-second, I got a closer look at it
. Not a wolf, more like a bear, or a mix of both, but way too large to be either of it.

  Magical, that was the sense I got from it. A whiff of magic lingered in the air; magic that smelled slightly familiar.

  “Get down!” Clarice yelled seconds before the Beast slammed its arm toward me, trying to hit me. Clarice charged for the Beast, armed with her sword, but the Beast swiftly avoided her attack. The monster roared, turned, and smashed its arm into Clarice.

  She gasped for air, collapsing to the ground. But the movement had caused the Beast to stand still for a second; enough for me to fire. I missed the heart by a lot, not being able to sync with my surroundings, but rather the monster obtained a flesh wound than no wounds at all. Maybe this would help to slow the Beast down.

  It didn’t.

  The Beast focused its attention on me now, roaring in anger as it lifted me up by the neck with its gigantic claws. My feet grasped for ground below but found nothing but air.

  “Let her go!” Clarice yelled, but of course, the Beast didn’t listen. She struggled to get up, still panting.

  I tried to pry loose the claw around my neck that was crushing my windpipe. My eyesight grew hazy, my breathing faint. My feet kicked in the air, colliding with nothing.

  Clarice screamed at the top of her lungs and plunged her sword into the Beast’s lower leg. The monster growled and dropped me to the floor.

  I heard something in the distance, like the clatter of wheels approaching. A cart? Or was it just my head, that had hit the ground so hard I was hearing phantom noises?

  The monster towered over Clarice. It wiped away her sword as easily as a human being would push dirt off a cabinet. Now it had stopped moving so fast, I could get a clearer view of the monster. It was as tall as a house, with black hair all over, and with the snout of a wolf, saliva dropping from its gigantic shark-like teeth. Its eyes glowed red like embers.

  No wonder this creature had easily killed four Hunters. If I wasn’t so angry at the monster attacking my sister, I would’ve been terrified.

  I took aim with my crossbow. Closing my eyes, I listened to my own heartbeat, the steady drum. Then, I tried to find the monster’s heartbeat—it was loud and clear, easy to find. The noises around me faded; even the leaves stopped rustling in the wind. All was dead quiet as I inhaled deeply, aimed and released the arrow.

  It was going to hit his heart. The arrow rocketed right at the rotten heart of the monster.

  And then, at the very last second, while I was still holding my breath, the Beast turned around with a speed no creature that big should be able to move with, and grabbed the arrow before it hit its target.

  The monster pulverized the arrow in its hand, staring at me with a malice that froze me to the spot.

  The sound of wheels on dirt came closer, and I saw something dark shifting in the corner of my eyes. What was it?

  With one movement, the Beast pushed me down to the ground, its grotesque mouth inches away from my face. It snapped at me, trying to bite me, and I held out my hands to protect myself, to try and hold it back.

  I thanked the gods for my mechanical arm, as its strength was the only thing keeping the monster from tearing up my face. I screamed as its teeth grazed me, its strength overwhelming.

  Clarice screeched. Snapping my head in her director, everything clicked into place. The noises of something approaching, like a cart being wheeled toward us. It wasn’t a cart.

  It was a carriage.

  A dark carriage without horses or without a driver.

  Magic? An automaton? And if so, who had invented it, or who had imbued it with magic? And was this person the same person who controlled the Beast?

  The carriage door opened, and a mechanical arm shot out, similar to the one Dollie had, a much more rudimentary prototype than my own. The arm grabbed Clarice and pulled her inside the coach.

  “No!” I shouted, trying to push the Beast away so I could rescue my sister. “No!”

  The door promptly shut behind Clarice, locking her up inside the vehicle.

  The dark carriage, exactly like in my sister’s premonition, raced back toward the forest, separating my sister from me.

  Panic set in, and not fully realizing what I was doing, I balled my mechanical arm into a fist and smashed the monster in the head with all my strength.

  The Beast released its grip on me ever so slightly, but it was all I needed. I pushed him away with all my strength, and despite only being able to push him back a little, it was enough room for me to crawl out from underneath him. He reached for my leg, but failed to grab it, his claws merely grasping my skin.

  I raced toward the woods. In the darkness of dusk, the forest looked menacing, every tree a potential monster. But there was only one real monster; it was lightning-fast, and it was right behind me.

  I tried to focus on the sound of the carriage, but the noises inside the forest were warped. The harder I ran, half-panicking, the more difficult it became to hear from where the sounds came. I caught a flash of the carriage disappearing behind a tree further down in the woods, so I chased after it.

  If I reached it before the carriage made it to its destination, which I suspected was the ruins of the castle, then I might still be able to free Clarice.

  I looked behind me, and saw the Beast fast approaching. He had to zigzag every now and then to avoid a tree, or he would’ve already caught up with me. The village was out of sight now, trees surrounding me from all sides; I didn’t even know which direction I should run to get back home.

  Clarice’s scream from the left startled me, while I heard the noise of the carriage from the right—were these woods spelled too? Why were noises so strange inside the forest?

  I hesitated for a second, unsure of what path to take, but that one second was enough.

  The Beast jumped upon me, smashing me into the floor. I heard something crack—my shoulder? A dazzling pain blinded me. The sleeve of my dress ripped, uncovering my mechanical arm.

  Towering over me, the last face I would probably ever see, was that of a grotesque monster, ready to devour me.

  I felt sorry for having been so harsh on Father, who was only trying to do what he thought was right. I felt bad for leaving Amélie behind, who had lost both sisters at once now. And most of all, I was sorry that I couldn’t help Clarice, that I couldn’t save her.

  The Beast inched closer, ready to attack me, but then seemed taken aback by something. Those ember eyes stared at my shoulder, and I followed its gaze, too shocked to do anything else. It was looking at the metal plate across my shoulder, connecting my arm to my chest, and blocking off the cavity that held my stone heart, the magic that kept me alive all these years.

  The monster looked straight in my eyes, and I saw something in there I couldn’t place. Recognition.

  But at the same time, my mind was racing. Magic. The monster was magic, and I was a Vessel for a magic.

  The thoughts formed in my mind at rapid speed. If I could somehow pull the magic from him, that would certainly weaken him. When I’d unknowingly drained Clarice and Amélie from their magic, blood had flooded from my oldest sister’s eyes, and Amélie had been so exhausted she’d fainted.

  I reached into those dark depths of my being, that hollow emptiness that could only be filled with the magic of others. I tapped into the source of my power, connecting with the part of me I couldn’t quite understand myself.

  My eyes rolled back in my head, and I felt in sync with everything. With myself, with the ground below me and the sky above me, with the trees surrounding me and even with the Beast threatening me.

  Then, I held out my hands, pushed them against the Beast’s chest, and I started pulling. Not really pulling with my hands but pulling with that hollowness from inside me. I yanked at the Beast’s magic, trying to weaken the creature.

  The Beast struggled in my grip, but I didn’t release it from my pull. I gritted my teeth, throwing my head backwards as the power flooded through me, filling the hollowness insid
e of me.

  This power… Why was this power familiar?

  The more I pulled the magic from the Beast, the more it seemed to shrink in size. Its fur seemed to disappear, being replaced by skin that looked suspiciously human. Was I killing him? Or was he… transforming into something else?

  I cried out in fury, pulling more, more, more. The fur had completely disappeared now, showing a crisscross pattern of black veins across the Beast’s body, a pattern I knew well.

  The Blight.

  The monster’s snout vanished, revealing a human face marked with three dark, black veins protruding from his skin. He might’ve been handsome once, before the illness ruined him, and long before he turned into this horrific monster. The claws vanished, and I realized that the Beast was no beast at all.

  He was human. A man infested with the Blight.

  Infested to a point I’d never seen before. The black veins covered nearly every inch of his body: his arms, his legs, his torso. How was it possible he was still alive?

  Of all the Tainted I’d seen, driven mad by the Blight, none of them had looked as infected as he did.

  Stunned, I released him, staring at him as if he was a phantom.

  I hadn’t even noticed that the monster had worn pants back when it attacked me, but now I saw he was wearing trousers, although his chest was bare. But with the veins covering him, he might as well have worn a shirt completely covering him up; you could barely see the skin from beneath the infection.

  He opened his mouth to talk, which was impossible: once you were Tainted, you couldn’t speak anymore, only growl or cry in agony. The Tainted were like reanimated corpses, having forgotten the ability to speak.

  “You…” He started saying, and I just about had a heart attack.

  How was this possible? How was he capable of talking?

  “So, you’re the Vessel.” He titled his head to the right as he inspected me. “You pulled the magic right from within me, destroying my spell.”