by K. M. Shea
“I could make it work with healing, but herbs are not meant for moving physical objects,” Angelique said.
At least, I’m pretty sure. There’s no possible way they could!
Snow White frowned slightly. “Angel.”
“I expected you would know this given your propensity to read, but then again I imagine your library doesn’t have many books about magic. Regardless, you’d be better off having Oswald trot off to find a pickaxe,” Angelique advised.
“Angel!” Snow White growled like a wolf before she reached up and yanked on the collar of Angelique’s tunic, dragging her down to Snow White’s level. “Stop talking and listen to me!”
Tamed by the unexpected and never-before-seen heat of Snow White’s frustration, Angelique replied meekly. “Uh, okay.”
“I don’t know what you are, but I do know you are not an apprentice to an herb wizard! I don’t care what you want to pretend to be; I’ll play along with it. Unless it causes unnecessary problems like it is here.” Snow White leaned closer and closer to Angelique until their foreheads were almost touching. “The queen has been—for all practical purposes—taken over. We have soldiers lined up to take her down and end this. So break down this door. NOW!”
I…well. She’s not wrong. Who cares if I blow my cover? I’m about to be reunited with Evariste!
Angelique flicked her eyes to the door and swallowed loudly. “Sure thing.” It was hard to keep the smirk off her lips—she was going to free Evariste!—as she glanced at Snow White again.
There goes the forlorn hope that I had her fooled in thinking I was an herb wizard’s apprentice. Elle, I’m going to hold you responsible for this one!
Snow White released her now-stretched tunic collar, and Angelique stood up straight and brushed herself off, snorting when Snow White demurely folded her hands in front of her—once again looking like a polite royal.
A sliver of Angelique’s excitement snuck through when she grinned. “You’ve got guts by the boatload when you need them, Snow White.”
“I also have eyes in my head,” Snow White said, her voice colored with a trace of sarcasm.
“Very good eyes.” Angelique winked. “Here we go!”
Angelique threw the herb on the ground and eyed the door, double checking for any sign that it was bespelled.
Nothing. Not even a trace of magic. Very well, then. Let’s end this!
Angelique picked out a spell—one of many she’d gotten good at using thanks to her breaking-and-entering ventures with Quinn. She pictured the chains of the spell and the symbols, then used a quick burst of her powers to create it and toss it at the door, cutting it off so swiftly that hopefully any Chosen mage skulking around Juwel or watching the queen wouldn’t feel it.
The door ripped off its hinges and flew into the room as if hit with an invisible battering ram. Even after it crashed to the ground, it skidded a few steps, its hinges scraping the stone floor.
Whoops! Might have put a little too much power in that one.
Chapter 28
Snow White stared at the mangled doorframe, but the Seven Warriors silently slipped into Queen Faina’s quarters. The lord and his men marched in after the warriors, but Snow White and Angelique remained outside.
The only thing that kept Angelique anchored to the wall instead of rushing inside first was that she didn’t feel any magic at all coming from the chamber. Nor did she feel the strange muffled sensation that muddied up her senses when the mirror had cast protection spells on the larger constructs.
I’m not certain they’re here…
“Top floor clear,” Fritz’s voice echoed from the loft of the two-floor room.
“Bottom floor clear,” Gregori said.
Snow White lingered at the doorway for a moment before stepping inside. “You mean she isn’t here?”
“Correct,” Gregori said.
Snow White scurried into the room and scuttled up the spiral staircase that led to the upper balcony.
Angelique followed, pausing a moment when she first stepped into the room to glance at the soldiers who were poking at padded chairs and tasseled cushions that filled the lower floor—which was arranged in the style of a sitting room.
I still don’t feel any magic.
She hurried up the stairs after Snow White—who was frantically patting down a blank spot on the wall.
“No—blast it!” Snow White hissed. “The mirror, it’s supposed to be right here.”
Wait…does that mean the Chosen knew we were coming and already removed the mirror as it had served its purpose? No!
Angelique threw herself to her knees next to the perfectly made bed and peered under the frame. “Maybe she hid it?” she desperately suggested.
Snow White stared at the wall, as if she could will the mirror into appearing. “If it really is what is influencing her, I doubt that.”
Marzell strode across the balcony bedroom. “Perhaps she took it and ran?”
“Why would she do that?” Snow White asked. “Unless there is a leak among our forces, she shouldn’t know I’m alive—or she couldn’t have until we stormed the castle. Thank you, Fritz.” Snow White was so concerned, she didn’t even smile at her beau when he pulled the large wardrobe back so she could peer into the shadows behind it.
“It seems unlikely she would leave now.” Rupert strode up to a vase of dried up, dead flowers. “Particularly since we can assume that whoever planted the mirror used Faina because he or she wants to take over Mullberg.” He poked the vase and a few petals fell at the disturbance, eliciting a sneeze from him.
“Then should we seek out the servants again?” Marzell asked. “Perhaps someone besides the housekeeper might better know where she is.”
Snow White convened at the balcony railing and rested her forearms against the barrier, her eyes far away as her eyebrows knit together in thought.
Angelique’s heart rattled uncomfortably in her chest as she watched Snow White, hoping the brilliant princess would be able to produce a winning strategy.
Please…they can’t have taken him. Please, he has to still be here!
Angelique squeezed her eyes shut, warding off the stinging sensation in her eyes that forewarned of tears.
“The throne room,” Snow White said.
Angelique opened her eyes in time to see Snow White nod, her blue eyes glowing with certainty.
“Faina is in the throne room,” Snow White said.
“Is this a guess or conjecture?” Wendal asked.
“A bit of both,” Snow White said. “If the mirror is making Faina as power-hungry as it seems, it is the most likely place for her to go. And it felt off as we passed it on our way here.”
“I’ll back Her Highness up on that.” Angelique almost tottered with relief at the reasonable—and hopeful—explanation.
If I wasn’t so cursed emotional, I could have come to that conclusion!
Angelique cleared her throat and tried to reign in her dizzying feelings and recall what she’d sensed when they’d stormed through the palace earlier. “There is evil lurking near the throne room. I assumed it was another band of constructs, but given that the mirror is missing, it probably was Faina herself.”
“The main part of the palace was unnaturally quiet,” Fritz said. “It reminded me of the way the forest grows silent before a terrible storm.”
“Very well.” Satisfied by Fritz’s explanation, Gregori plodded down the staircase. “Let us be on our way.”
Snow White followed the large man, calling out to her noble minion when she reached the bottom step. “Lord Vitkovci, it seems my stepmother is not here. We believe she must have moved on to the throne room.”
The lord replied, but Angelique only half listened as she looked around the empty loft one last time.
He was here not long ago. Snow White saw the mirror here when she last saw Faina. I’ve almost found him.
Angelique’s war magic stirred within her soul, aching to break out.
N
ot yet. Not until I see him.
Instead of forcibly shoving her magic down as she would have a year ago, Angelique caressed it before she trotted down the stairs, joining Snow White and the warriors as they left the queen’s quarters and marched down the hallway in a protective formation around Snow White.
Angelique shifted uncomfortably as the muffled feeling came back.
I can’t tell if it’s because the mirror is this way or because it’s spelled more of the constructs. She held in a growl. Why is it that despite my deep supply of magic, I have so many weaknesses?
“Fritz.” Snow White licked her lips and kept her voice hushed. “Do you hear anything?”
Fritz tilted his head. “Besides the sounds of fighting behind us?”
“Yes.”
He narrowed his eyes as he listened, then shook his head.
They marched up another hallway—Angelique couldn’t tell if they’d been in the area before or not. The whole place looked the same to her, empty of people and glittering with jewels and gems that the people of Mullberg seemed to regard as mere rocks.
They were about to slink through an intersection when Fritz stopped Snow White with a hand to her shoulder.
The other warriors stopped as well, giving him curious looks as they warily adjusted their grasps on their weapons.
Marzell started to open his mouth but shut it with an audible snap when Fritz held a finger up to his lips in a sign of silence.
Alone, Fritz prowled up to the intersection, sticking to the wall and cautiously peering around the corner.
He didn’t appear alarmed, but he was careful to stay silent as he snuck back to the group. “Constructs,” he whispered. “Can we take a different hallway to the throne room?”
Snow White nodded. She took a few steps backwards as she stared at the intersection, then circled back down the hallway and led them to a small, plain staircase hidden in a corner by a plaster wall.
The stairs were made of stone worn smooth and shiny with use, and the stairway was much smaller than others they’d used—likely a servant’s stair, though Angelique hadn’t seen enough of the palace to be certain.
“There’s a grand staircase that leads up to the throne room. We can access it from a lower floor,” Snow White explained.
When they left the narrow stairway, they moved through a few plain hallways that were far tighter and lacked any kind of ornamentation.
They didn’t see so much as a housemaid as they moved through the palace, and it seemed the guards had left their posts to help with the constructs. Occasionally, Angelique heard a shout and felt the trickle of magic that marked a construct’s disappearance, but it seemed like the closer they drew to the throne room, the less often she heard a scuffle.
Eventually, Snow White opened a door that led them into a grand ballroom.
As they shuffled across the beautiful room, Angelique’s eye kept twitching. The room had gemstones imbedded in some kind of resin decorating the floor, giving it a glittering effect that glinted at the fringe of her vision like a sword blade.
I’ll be so glad when Evariste is freed, and together we can stop the Chosen and return to Wistful Thicket. I miss its simplicity.
Snow White halted at a set of massive double doors and set her hand on one of the glossy panes. “This opens up into the Grand Hall—which has the staircase that leads you to the foot of the throne room.”
Wendal flicked his wrist, and daggers appeared in his hands. “So, the likelihood of constructs out there is reasonably high.”
Snow White nodded.
Marzell unsheathed his sword. “Lord Vitkovci?”
The Mullberg lord that had accompanied them shut the visor of his helm. “My men are ready.”
Fritz gently maneuvered Snow White so she stood behind the Seven Warriors.
Gregori solemnly bowed his head to Snow White. “At your command, Your Highness.”
Snow White licked her lips. “Then let us begin.”
The doors opened with a creak that ruined any chance of surprise they had, and with it Angelique’s heart clenched.
Constructs filled the hall so thickly, it was chokingly dark.
One of the big, troll-like constructs appeared to be patrolling the length of the hallway, but the humanoid variety were so numerous, Angelique couldn’t distinguish one from another.
As the door creaked, every construct shuffled around and faced them with their eerie, white eye holes.
“Attack!” The Mullberg lord charged past the Seven Warriors, his men following him in precise formations as they raised their weapons and fell upon the constructs, slicing through them and cleaving into the thick of things.
The Seven Warriors kept to the edge of the room, acting as a guard for Snow White and using the wall to guard their backs as they sidled along.
Weapons whirled and constructs fell, but the room remained dark with the sheer number of foe within.
Angelique tapped her magic and thought she felt something through the massive door at the end of the chamber.
Evariste…
Marzell—wielding a spear—stabbed a construct in the chest, making it turn into smoke and evaporate. “What are your orders, Your Highness?”
Snow White leaned precariously on her tip toes as she tried to see over the horde of constructs. “We have to get up to the throne room!”
“Are you mad?” Oswald spun in a circle, his sword cutting through four constructs in the one move. “We can’t rush it now! What if there are more constructs in there?”
But if we don’t progress, the mirror will simply cast a spell for more constructs—as I suspect it is doing now.
Angelique shoved her hand in her satchel and grabbed a fistful of starfires. “The only way we’re going to stop the constructs from regenerating is to stop Faina. Shine!” Angelique waited until the crystals ignited before she chucked them into the inky black sea of constructs.
She cackled as the constructs snarled from the unusual onslaught. Every construct the crystals touched disappeared, while the constructs within visual line of the starfires stampeded over each other as they fled the glow.
“Fine, but how are we supposed to get to the stairs?” Oswald asked.
Fritz plunged into the writhing mass of constructs, his sword blade whirling as he dodged, spun, and thrust with the grace of a sword master. He never stopped moving as he cut a path through the swarm, slowly gaining ground.
“I guess we’re going.” Wendal adjusted his daggers and stalked down the path Fritz had opened. He used his daggers like a set of claws, carving into any construct that tried to refill the empty space.
Angelique fished another clutch of starfires out of her satchel. “This way, Snow White.” She tossed the crystals so they landed on the sides of the path, scaring off more constructs, then grabbed Snow White’s wrist and toted her along behind her.
The rest of the Seven Warriors fell into step behind them, closing ranks so the princess would be guarded.
This is extremely dangerous, but I think we can handle it since the Warriors are so competent.
Angelique peered over Aldelbert’s muscled shoulder and tossed another starfire, grinning in delight when Rupert kicked one of her previously-tossed starfires ahead of them—further clearing the path.
“Angel?” Snow White asked.
“Hmm?”
Snow White stared at the door to the throne room. “If we are overwhelmed, can you use your magic?”
Angelique cringed.
Now that is the question, isn’t it?
“I don’t know,” Angelique admitted. “I’m hoping with everything in me that what I’ve been looking for is in that throne room with Faina, and if it is…” Angelique’s magic pulsed inside her, reflecting her barely contained impatience. “I might need all the magic I have to grab it,” she said finally.
“I understand.”
Angelique paused, clutching several starfires as she studied Snow White for any sign of anger. “I’m sorry.
But, it’s just—”
Snow White held a hand up and didn’t lose her look of understanding—even when Marzell almost squashed her when he backed up to avoid a construct’s attack. “I really do understand. I’m grateful you told me—it is merely all for strategy.”
Before Angelique could say anything more, three constructs attacked Rupert at once.
Angelique wedged herself between him and Gregori and stabbed a construct with a starfire, moving fast so Gregori didn’t trample her as they continued to carve their way through the seething horde.
The Mullberg lord and his men were handling the big construct with remarkable composure—it seemed the soldier had been speaking the truth to Angelique. All of Snow White’s careful instruction meant the soldiers stood in a semi-circle around the construct, distracting it so their bowman could get a good shot.
Constructs pressed around them. The mirror had to be replicating them given that the chamber wasn’t emptying at all, even though the warriors had cleared out at least a hundred of the creatures.
We need to finish this, or we’re going to be overrun.
Three sets of hall doors were slammed open, and armed men rushed in.
“Clear the way! Clear the way! Clear the way!” the newly arrived warriors shouted as they cut through the constructs, linking up with the men trying to take down the troll-like construct.
Angelique laughed when she saw the Mullberg symbol—a charging ram—on their uniforms.
Snow White surely never knew how popular she was. These are royal soldiers!
The soldiers flooded the room, fortifying the other warriors and cutting through the constructs faster than the mirror could replace them.
Within seconds, the big construct was downed, and though the constructs continued to swarm, the fresh soldiers weren’t phased and fought on.
A Mullberg lieutenant paused in the fight just long enough to point at the stairs that led to the throne room, then to salute Snow White.
Angelique lobbed the handful of starfires she was holding. “I’d say that’s our cue to keep going.”
“Your orders, Snow White?” Gregori asked.
“We continue,” Snow White said. “We have to find Faina, or there will be no end to this.”