by Cela Day
“There’s a Big True,” Grinder said under his breath.
“Now, brothers!” Eld’s voice rang across the car. “I’ve found the answer to this riddle of the blanket and the bread!”
The other brothers turned as one toward him. Eld had lit a lantern, which he held overhead. There, huddled in Glint’s blanket next to the first horse stall, was a girl.
All the brothers gathered around to look at her.
“It’s the Princess!” Digger breathed.
“What’s she doing here?” Dragger asked.
“She’s a wonderfully sound sleeper,” Dint observed.
“She’s been led to us,” Eld said. “We knew she’d need us; we just didn’t know when. You’d better stand back, brothers. No point in scaring the lass!”
The other six brothers drew back.
But before Eld could wake her, Bianca stirred. Stretching her arms above her head, she yawned. Her eyes flickered open. A moment later they grew wide at the sight of the seven brothers staring at her, but she made no sound.
“Good morning, Princess,” Eld said. “Welcome to our humble little home away from home.”
“You live in the horsecar?” Bianca asked in a sleepy voice.
“Indeed we do. And we’re quite cozy here. But if you don’t mind my asking, lass, what are you doing here? Not that you aren’t welcome, but we weren’t expecting you this morning.”
“I came through the roof-vent.” Bianca sat up, brushing straw from her shoulders.
“Not the typical means of entrance,” Eld said. “Any particular reason you chose to come through the vent?”
Bianca explained what had happened the night before. When she mentioned Hunter, Digger hissed through his teeth, then at a look from Eld fell silent.
“And I think I took some of your bread,” Bianca concluded. “And an apple. I’m sorry; I didn’t realize they were yours. I’m sure the chow tent will have more today.”
“You’re welcome to them,” Glint piped up.
Bianca smiled at him. “Thanks.” Then she stood up. “I should go now.”
“Why?” Eld asked.
Bianca looked at him, surprised.
“To tell Fred to be careful when he opens the cats’ car. And to tell my father he should dismiss that man, Hunter. And to take care of Lady, of course.”
“Digger!” Eld barked. “Take Dragger and Dint, and find Fred and warn him, will you? Then find Hunter and keep an eye on him.”
“Find Hunter?” Bianca asked as the three dwarves left the car. “My father should dismiss him right away—he must have gone insane! He’s my stepmother’s bodyguard, you know. What if he tries to hurt her?”
Eld made a sound like “humph.” Then he cleared his throat and added:
“I know he serves her, lass. That’s something we need to talk about.”
“What do you mean?” Bianca looked at him curiously.
“Why don’t we make ourselves a bit more comfortable and I’ll explain? But just one moment: Gripper, Grinder, Glint! Please fetch us some breakfast. Feed yourselves first, of course.”
While the younger dwarves exited the car, Eld made his way to the enormous sack next to his cot. He untied the mouth, reached inside, and, to Bianca’s astonishment, pulled out a small rocking chair.
“Be my guest,” Eld said, gesturing to the chair. Bianca seated herself, while Eld perched on the end of his cot.
“To make a long story short, lass: you have an enemy on this train. You didn’t accidentally stumble into the big cats’ car, and that cage door didn’t open itself.”
“I know,” Bianca said. “Hunter—”
“Hunter wouldn’t have done it unless he was ordered to, lass. I know this Hunter of old. Years ago he wasn’t a bad sort, but then he went looking for power to make his way in the world. He thought he’d found it when he met a certain young woman who took a great deal too much interest in the workings of dark powers we were never meant to have any dealings with at all. Sadly, he was too blind to see it was a bad idea to become her servant. So he served her while she sold whatever virtue she had—along with her youth and beauty, and her very soul—to gain dark power.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“I’m trying to tell you that your stepmother, beautiful as she seems right now, is not all she appears to be, lass. I’m here to warn you that she’s not a good woman. Quite the opposite.”
Bianca frowned. “Why should I believe you? I don’t know you! I mean, obviously something’s wrong with Hunter, but—”
“I hope you’ll believe me because of Steward. The same Prince who sent him to you with the Lady sent us as well. Steward is both your friend and ours.”
“Steward?” Bianca’s mouth fell open. “You know Steward? Have you seen him? Is he all right?”
“Aye, he’s fine, lass. His task was to introduce you to the Lady, and once that was done he was needed elsewhere. He told us to warn you about what is going on around you, but he didn’t want us to speak to you too soon. He thought you weren’t quite ready for the truth. But now I reckon time grows short.”
Eld cleared his throat.
“Steward told me that, if you doubted us, I should remind you to be aware of yourself, and the part you play in this Show of Wonders.”
Bianca slowly nodded. “That’s one of the things he told me when he taught me about Lady.”
“Aye, lass. So he said.” Eld’s dark eyes narrowed. “And if you don’t mind my asking: how would you describe this part you play?”
Bianca blinked. “Why, I take care of Lady, of course. So everyone who comes to the show can meet her, and see how wonderful she is.”
Eld nodded, apparently satisfied. Bianca leaned back in the rocker. She trusted Steward, and if Steward trusted the brothers—
Suddenly she remembered the cold, dangerous look in her stepmother’s eyes when Papa talked about the dwarves. She remembered how that look sent a shudder through her entire being, as if she’d been touched in the heart with a knife-blade of ice.
“Did you know her?” Bianca finally asked. “Anasophia? Before now, I mean.”
“Yes, lass.” Eld nodded. “Or rather, knew of her. Far away, in another country, we knew her for what she was. And that’s why we’re here now: to ensure you know her for what she is too, so you and your father come out of this encounter with her alive and unharmed.”
Bianca spread her hands wide, a gesture of appeal. “But Papa loves her!”
Eld shook his head. “No lass. He loves an illusion, and the sooner he’s freed of it, the better for both of you.”
Bianca nodded, but her heart hurt at the thought of what Papa might suffer.
“So here’s my plan,” Eld continued. “Some of us will keep an eye on Hunter. And some of us will keep an eye on you. I’m including the Lady in that group, of course—she is your true friend. But above all else, you mustn’t spend any time alone with your stepmother.”
“That won’t be hard.” Bianca nodded. “I hardly ever see her.”
“Good. Then between us, we’ll see this through.”
ANASOPHIA WOKE LONG after noon. Silken sheets slid against her smooth skin as she stretched her limbs.
How wonderful to know the chit is dead!
Still, it never hurt to make these things certain.
Her husband, still unsuspecting, had risen hours earlier to oversee preparations for the matinee, so she had the car to herself as she rose, bathed, and dressed. Then she made her way to Madame Mysterion’s tent.
The sight of a strange roustabout standing by the tent’s door gave her pause. Hunter should be here, managing those lined up to hear their fortunes.
If the fool had failed her—
She met the roustabout’s greeting with a glare that made him step backward.
“Where is Hunter?”
The roustabout shrugged. “He didn’t show up like always when we raised the tent, so the boss told me to take his place.”
She pushed p
ast him.
“Wait!” the roustabout protested. “There’s a customer in there!”
She ignored him. The young woman sitting in the chair across the table from the mirror jumped as she entered.
“This fortune is over,” Anasophia snapped. “Begone!”
“But I paid for this!”
Something in Anasophia’s face must have changed her mind, for a moment later the young woman fled the tent.
Anasophia faced the mirror and demanded: “Tell me what you see.”
The hag smiled. “Why so anxious, coz?”
“I’m not anxious!”
The hag’s smile faded and her eyes closed. More quickly than usual, she intoned: “Your rival continues her ascent, for she is well-loved by those you fear and loathe. The shadow she casts over you is thick, dark, heavy. If you continue on your current path, it is a mantle you must wear.”
The hag’s eyes opened and she looked at her enemy, light glinting in her dark eyes.
“Fool!” Anasophia shrieked. “I don’t believe a word of it! She’s dead, I tell you, dead—or good as!”
“And I tell you she is not.”
Anasophia leaped from the chair, kicking it across the tent. Her hands found the pouch at her waist.
“Then this time I’ll see to it myself!”
She rounded the table and grasped the frame’s edges in either hand. Eye-to-eye with her enemy, Anasophia hissed:
“For a few hours, I must restore your beauty. But no one else will ever know.”
Anasophia closed her eyes, and the next moment a strange transformation began to take place. The skin of her face grew loose and wrinkled; her nose lengthened, and her blonde hair turned white as her proud shoulders sagged.
When Anasophia opened her eyes again they were hag-dark instead of ice-blue. She looked in the mirror and saw her own beautiful face—or rather, the face she’d stolen from the queen.
“Mark this,” the once-again-lovely queen in the mirror said. “If you do not turn from this dark path, you will lose more than my beauty. But even now, another path is open to you. You have only to choose—”
“Silence!” Anasophia cried in the querulous voice of the hag. “I’ll choose my own path and do my own will without help from you or anyone else! And when the girl is dead I’ll return and suck that beauty right back out of your face! It belongs to me, for I have the power to take it!”
She threw the blanket with such force the frame’s mount tilted backwards; for one moment the mirror tottered off-balance before settling safely on the ground.
IT HAD BEEN A LONG, hot day. Lady was obviously overjoyed to see Bianca that morning, snuffling her face and hands thoroughly with her trunk, and, as soon as they exited the car, lifting Bianca to sit on her head. Then they’d walked around the meadow where the circus tents were going up, trailed by Eld and the brothers Gripper, Grinder, and Glint.
As always, curious bystanders had lined the circus lot. People pointed excitedly at Lady but stood back from her path. Some were selling things: men and women with work-worn faces offering sacks of freshly-picked fruits and vegetables, jewel-like jars of jam, or hand-knit caps and scarves. Although Bianca usually bought something if she saw a hungry look in someone’s eyes, today Lady hadn’t allowed anyone close enough to offer Bianca anything. So Bianca simply waved at everyone as Lady walked by, and everyone waved back.
Before the matinee they’d stood in the menagerie, then appeared in the Grand Parade. Afterwards they’d returned to the menagerie before the evening show, followed by one more march around the big top. After circling the ring the second time, Bianca thought her arms might fall off if she had to wave for even one more moment.
As Lady exited the big top and lifted Bianca carefully from her head to the ground, the seven brothers met them. Eld had the bulging sack on his back.
“We must leave you now to perform,” Eld said. “Stay close to the Lady and near the menagerie. Digger reports Hunter seems to be gone, but remember: not one minute alone with your stepmother.”
“I’ll be careful,” Bianca assured him.
Eld turned to the others. “Now, brothers! Time to mine!”
The dwarves departed. Bianca and Lady walked through the menagerie and out into the summer night, where it was cooler. A crowd of lingering matinee-goers stood just outside; a cry of delight went up at the sight of Lady. The elephant stood patiently as people lined up to greet her.
Bianca was so exhausted that instead of standing next to Lady with her hand on her foreleg as usual, she sank into the cool grass and leaned against a tent pole. Lady was behaving beautifully; Bianca wasn’t worried about her.
“Excuse me, miss?”
It was the quavering voice of an old woman. Bianca looked up.
“Would you care to buy a candied apple?” The ragged-looking old woman carried a tray on a strap around her withered neck. “I made them myself. An old family recipe.”
There was only one apple left on the tray. And it was lovely: even far from the midway lights its glossy red shape seemed to shine. Bianca could actually smell its sweet tartness. Her mouth watered, for she’d felt too sickened by what Eld had told her to eat anything that day.
Besides, she felt sorry for the old woman.
“How much?”
The old woman shuffled her feet and named her price. Bianca was surprised it was so low.
“Here.” She offered a coin to the old woman. “Please keep the change; you’re not asking enough.”
“Why, thank you, dearie.” The old woman grinned, revealing black gaps between her brown teeth. “That’s mighty generous of you.” She pocketed the coin and handed Bianca the apple.
Bianca licked its glossy side before taking a big bite. The candy was exquisite; she’d never tasted an apple quite this good before. The sweetness and tang on her tongue were just right—
And then they weren’t. Bitterness filled her mouth.
Bitterness?
No, that was wrong. Something was very wrong—
She looked up in panic, but the old woman had disappeared into the crowd. Bianca tried not to swallow but it was too late; the blood-red candy coating slid down her throat and lodged there, painful as a shard of glass. Even as she hacked she knew it wasn’t going to come back up—
She couldn’t call for Lady. She couldn’t call for any help at all.
She could taste the poison, and she couldn’t draw breath—
Then everything went dark.
Chapter Seven
THE BAND WAS PLAYING the dwarves out of the big top when a lone, horn-like blast in the distance rent the summer night.
“That’s the Lady!” Eld cried. “Run, brothers!”
The seven brothers dashed through the big top’s back entrance and all the way around the enormous tent, the mountain-sack thumping on Eld’s shoulder.
One glance around the menagerie tent told them Lady and Bianca weren’t there.
Then Lady trumpeted again. The dwarves tore through the menagerie and out the back flap, nearly stumbling into Lady’s hindquarters just outside.
A crowd stood at a respectful distance from something on the ground near Lady’s head, for Lady flapped her ears and slapped her trunk at anyone who tried to come too close.
“No, no, no!” Eld’s voice was anguished.
But it was the sight he most feared to see: the Princess, lying flat on her back, her lovely face corpse-white beneath the midway lights.
Lady allowed the dwarves to run to her side. Eld dropped the sack, fell to his knees next to the Princess, and laid one ear against her chest.
Nothing.
“We’ve sent for a doc!” someone in the crowd called.
Eld grimaced, for he knew that type of physician knew nothing about curing this type of evil.
“We must bring her father to her,” Eld said to Digger who stood nearby, his kindly face creased with concern. “He loves her best; surely that is what she needs most now.”
“If i
t’s not already too late,” Grinder said under his breath.
“I—” Eld began, but Lady interrupted him. Stepping forward, she planted a massive foot next to the Princess, then slid her trunk beneath the girl’s body. The trunk’s loop tightened and she lifted the Princess up, as though to place her on her head as she’d done so many times before.
“No, my Lady!” Eld cried. “She’ll fall off if you try to carry her now!”
But Lady didn’t stop. And as Lady lifted her higher, Bianca’s head tilted forward, and—
Plunk!
The piece of poisoned candied apple fell from her mouth. A plume of smoke rose as it dropped, turning to ash and leaving a blackened dead spot on the ground.
A moment later Bianca opened her eyes.
“Wh-what—Lady!”
The dwarves burst out cheering.
“The Princess lives! By the love of the light, she lives!”
The crowd of onlookers joined them, clapping and whistling.
“She’s all right! The little girl is okay!”
“Eld!” Bianca cried. “What’s going on?”
“I—wait! My Lady, wait!”
But Lady wasn’t waiting for anyone: dwarf, girl, or man. She swung Bianca onto her head and walked away at a faster clip than Bianca had ever known her to move before: past the menagerie, around the big top, and circling the sideshow’s tents. But after crawling across the roof of a speeding train, riding Lady felt as safe as sleeping in her own bunk. Bianca leaned into Lady and held on to her halter.
Lady headed directly for the tent at the very end of the sideshow. Without any hesitation, she slipped her trunk beneath the bottom of the tent’s side and lifted it up, ripping the canvas right out of its laces.
“Lady!” Bianca was aghast. Lady had never destroyed anything before.
Inside, the tent contained nothing but a table and chair, and what looked like a tall shapeless piece of furniture. Lady touched it with the tip of her trunk and something slid away—a blanket, falling to the ground.