“Why?” Snow asked.
“Our family line is cursed,” Tristan said. “I will do my part to see that the bear shifter line is eliminated.”
“But you make a cute bear,” she argued.
“And yet, we are ostracized and kept away from the world as children. Our shifts are too unpredictable.” Snow felt the melancholy roll off him in waves and longed to hold him until he felt better.
“I need to go find my brother and defeat the evil one who imprisoned us as animals,” Tristan said. He tucked his big head against hers and for a shimmering, blossoming moment they were one corporeal being in the crisp autumn afternoon.
And then he was gone, leaving a gold coin in his wake.
Snow tilted her head and picked up the coin with a question in her eyes. Snow looked up to see Red watching her. “That was Tristan,” Snow explained.
“I know,” Red said. She walked towards her sister and held out her hands. “Come on. Let’s do dishes. You can tell me what he said.”
Working side by side, the dishes were soon washed and the tea kettle put on. Dusk was beginning to settle in. One last cup of tea to warm their insides before the long walk home.
“What did he say?” Red asked as their tea cooled and they nibbled on the remaining cookies.
“He said he was looking for his brother. That they would try and defeat the evil one who had put a spell on them, but he would not return home to court me.” Snow’s throat grew tight with emotion.
Red’s lips parted. “Why?”
“I don’t even know why it’s upsetting me so much, Red. I hardly know the man. But out there on that courtyard, it felt like we were one.”
“I understand,” Red said, reaching out to stroke her sister’s raven hair. “But I don’t understand. Why won’t he come back for you?”
“He said he would do what he can to ensure the Knox line ends. That no more bear shifters are born. His childhood was lonely and isolated. He often felt ostracized from other children when all he wanted to do was be a normal boy. That their shifts are unpredictable in youth and they must be isolated.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Red said gently. As the sun dipped lower beyond the horizon, they held hands and drew upon each other’s strength.
“I was jealous earlier,” Snow admitted.
“Of who? Griffin?”
Snow nodded. “I have no memories without you. It’s always been Red and Snow against the world. You’re the proud and outgoing one. Feisty and fiery. I’m the one who bakes and comforts people.”
“And you thought one of us would change?”
“I thought once you were part of Red and Griffin, you would have no more time for me,” Snow said in a voice full of shame. “And I behaved badly.”
Red pulled her chair out and sat next to her sister. The warmth from their skin combined and comforted. “You’re my sister,” Red said gently. “Nothing in the world, no man or bear could ever change that.”
Snow nodded and wiped at her nose and eyes with the back of her hand. Red grinned at her before giving her a handkerchief embroidered with a tell-tale red rose. “Thank you,” she mumbled.
“Sisters before shifters,” Red vowed and held up her pinky. Snow took it, and they shook.
Snow’s step lost its earlier pep as they closed up the shop and headed home. The prickling, eerie sense
But two pairs of eyes, one evil, and one bear watched the girls as they headed towards home.
Chapter Nine
“Tell us about the Knox family,” Snow beseeched her mother when they got home that night. Olga looked up from her sewing. “Tell us about the War Against the Wicked Witches.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Everything,” Red said.
Olga smiled. “Well, as long as it’s not too much information you’re looking for.”
“Please, Mother,” Snow said. “We deserve to know.”
Red sat a tea tray on the table in front of their mother.
“It looks like you girls have thought of everything,” Olga said, sadness creeping into her eyes.
“Is it really that bad of a story? Do you think we are safer as ignorant babies?”
“No,” Olga said. She accepted a cup of tea, blew on it, and took a tentative sip. “Thistle Grove was once a quiet little burg. No Fables and only about twenty families living here then. But that was before the War.”
“How did the War start? How are the Knox brothers involved?”
“Oh, of course not, dear. We just absorbed the refugees from the Woodlands.” Olga sighed, took a sip of tea, and began the story. “The story begins in a quiet clearing in the heart of the Woodlands. There was never harmony between the Fables that most of the strife was stirred up by the Witches. They loved to stir up trouble and feed off the negative energy it provided.”
“They sound like vampires,” Red said. “But instead of drinking blood they soaked in misery and distrust.”
Olga nodded. “That’s often how I saw them myself. Anger and jealousy were their ambrosia. Strife and discord were their currency.”
“It sounds horrible,” Snow said. “I often wondered if the stories from the Woodlands were true or made up to warn people away from the woods.”
“Have no doubt,” Olga said, her eyes kind in the warm light from the fire. “Although there were good days, living under magic wielding tyrants was not fun.”
“Are you a Fable, Mother?”
“Me, oh no,” Olga said with a laugh. “I lived in Thistle Grove before the Fables came. We were such a quiet town then. Too small for any shops or restaurants. And only about fifteen of us at the school.”
“Was Father a Fable?” Snow asked. Her father had died when she was only a year old. Red had at least a few memories of him, but Snow had nothing. She had no memories of his voice or as booming laugh. She hated to admit her need for a father and yet it sat there like the elephant in the room. Noticed but unspoken.
Olga didn’t answer her daughter’s question right away. She had her own timing and pacing and would not be hurried. Not even by her daughters
“Despite the ever-present threats from the Witches, the Fables did quite well. There were cute shops and wonderful balls at the palace. I think, overall, they were happy. For many years the Fables lived quietly in the Woodlands. They were a mix of species including human, wolves, bears, and boars.”
“And Witches,” Snow supplied. “We can’t forget about them.”
“Yes, dear, and Witches. There was Paulina and her younger sister Nora. Paulina was the leader of her coven and a more capricious witch you’ve never met. She ordered hearts to be eaten and children to be tortured. After one particularly gruesome attack, the Fables declared they’d had enough.
“They went after Paulina with all they had. Swords were picked up, spells were learned, and the combined forces of all the Fables were a terrible fate. Unfortunately, they were no match for Paulina’s coven. As each Fable was defeated, they were sent into Thistle Grove. When they first arrived, each Fable appeared as their original form.”
“What do you mean, their original form?” Red asked.
“Just that, dear. Sheriff Avery came over as a wolf. The bear family came over as bears. Naturally, the families already living in Thistle Grover were afraid. Who wouldn’t be?”
Snow shivered in response. Deep down, she had known the sheriff was a wolf shifter, but it seemed easier to pretend otherwise. She wasn’t sure she could look at the man the same way. She gasped and wondered how Ruby must feel. It was obvious they were in love with each other and denied it. But then again, it did make her wonder about Red’s relationship with Griffin, the bear.
And her own with Tristan.
“How’d they become human?” Red asked, but quieted down when Olga gave her a “hush up” look. Olga had a pace to her storytelling and Red’s impatience was not going to interfere with it.
“When Paulina faced the last Fables warrior, she went after him with all sh
e had. He was a mighty man with a love bigger than the Woodlands, and she misjudged his passion. As a result, she almost lost. She didn’t know where he took his strength from because she had completely underestimated him. He was a man who lead with his heart. Knowing his friends and family were on the other side, he fought all the harder. He believed that if he could just defeat Paulina and Nora, then his friends and family would return.”
Red and Snow exchanged a glance. “Who was that warrior, Mother?”
Olga smile grew sad. “Peter. Your father. He used a shield to deflect her spells and a sword to drive her through. Peter knew she was exhausted. She had been fighting nonstop for days as one Fable after another attacked her. Their strategy had been so simple. Exhaust the witch and then defeat her. The task would fall to the last man standing. He fought with a frantic energy and charged Paulina when she was at her weakest.”
“How did he defeat her?” Snow asked.
“Your father was a very clever man. After watching her fight for days, he saw the way she pulled the energy into herself. Peter figured out that Paulina’s magic was like a mirror. She absorbed all the magic from people around her, magnified it, and applied it.”
“That sounds impossible to beat. No wonder everyone lost and was sent into exile,” Red said.
“Exactly so,” Olga agreed. “Which is why what your father did that much more miraculous. She overpowered your father but didn’t kill him. His sword deflected her killing spells, and his sword arm grew tired. Eventually, he switched to his non-dominant hand, just to see what would happen. As predicted, she grew feeble and desperate.
“Peter kept his blows weak and awkward. In doing so, she had no power to draw from. Nothing to magnify. And as you know, multiplying anything by zero gives you zero. And that’s what Paulina had. Zero.
“Once his suspicions were confirmed, and he understood the source of her magic, he was able to devise a better plan. He crept closer and closer to her but his strikes even as his strikes were feeble at best.”
“And no one figured this out before?” Red asked. “She found dozens of men and woman and no one saw the pattern?”
Olga tsked. “Battles are difficult on their own, sweet Red. Let alone without being tasked to figure out your enemy’s strategy in the heat of war.”
“Where was her sister? Her coven?” Snow asked.
“Eventually Paulina lay in a huddled mess, weeping as her power slowly drained away from her. Peter never told me where Nora was or how he had separated Paulina from her coven.”
Red and Snow exchanged another look. There’s information about their father that they would never get. They would never hear his laughter again or play while he told them a story and they would never learn exactly how he had defeated the greatest Witch of the Woodlands.
“What happened then?”
“As Paulina was the crumpled shell on the stone floor of her castle Peter demanded that his friends and family be brought back to the Woodlands. Paulina knew, however, that her sister and her coven would never let the Fables live. So, she made your father a deal. She would exile him from the Woodlands, and he would never return.”
“That doesn’t seem like much of a bargain,” Red observed.
Olga smiled. “No, I guess it doesn’t. But if your father agreed to allow Paulina to live, she would grant the Fables enough magic to pass as human in Thistle Grove.”
Snow was quiet for a long time, staring into the flickering shadows created by the fire. “And the story of the Knox brothers?”
“The Knox family had always ruled the Woodlands. They were a family of bear shifters descended from the line of Callisto and Arcus.”
“They’re the ones who the Roman gods turned into Ursa Major and Minor, right?” Snow asked.
“Yes,” Olga said.
“So, how did they get stuck in their bear forms? Could Paulina have violated her own treaty?”
“Unlikely,” Olga said slowly. “If I had to guess Nora may have found out about the treaty and is trying to get the Fables to violate it and void it.”
“By going deep into the Woodlands,” Red said, her face growing pale. “That’s where Griffin said his brother was. That he had to go deep into the Woodlands to rescue him.”
Red stood and paced nervously around the cabin. “I have to go get him,” she said, her spring green eyes wild with fear. “I have to help him.”
“No,” Olga said. “We cannot violate the treaty. It will either open a portal for the Witches to come to Thistle Grove or our magic will devolve, and all the Fables will be back in their original forms.”
“But there has to be something we can do! Is Gaul one of Paulina’s minions? Luring Griffin into the heart of the Woodlands to break the treaty?”
“Or does Gaul have his own agenda?” Snow suggested. “Perhaps he is an enemy of Witches, Fables, and humans alike.”
Chapter Ten
A scream rent the night air.
Red sat up in bed, panting as the nightmare faded. The darkness, which usually enfolded her like an old friend, now surrounded her like a malicious cloud. Something was wrong with Griffin. She felt in every bead of sweat on her forehead. She closed her eyes, straining to catch the contrails of her dream, but it was too far gone. He was too far gone.
Adrenaline coursed through her body with the force of an electrical storm. She trembled in reaction. Mindlessly, seeking something to keep her hands busy and her mind numb, she climbed out of bed and began to clean her room. Her hands shook as she dusted small treasures and found a stray undergarment under a chair.
But the mindless tasks did their job and allowed her mind to mull over the situation and try and figure out what had woken her from a sound sleep.
Her body trembled with dismay. Dread poured over her like a cold splash of water as her fear fought with her common sense. Griffin was a bear-shifter baron. A powerful lord and feared by Paulina. But her instincts told her Griffin was in trouble and needed her. Who had him and what had she seen that frightened her so?
Running on pure adrenaline, she pulled out a satchel and began folding clothes and stacking them in the depths of the carpet bag. The only mantra she heard as she worked was that she must get to Griffin, must get to him, must get to him. As her hands plunged into a drawer, she felt something hard and cold within the dark depths.
Frowning, she pulled it out and held Griffin’s necklace up to the dim, pre-dawn light. Gold. A gold necklace for Red. A gold coin for Snow. A ray of light began shining in the midst of her thoughts.
Think, Red, she scolded herself.
The Knox brothers were powerful. At least as powerful as Paulina. Perhaps more powerful. They were the first to be exiled, after all.
Paulina was weakened when fighting a weakened foe.
Gaul trapped the brothers in bear form. That, Red knew. Everything else was an endless spin of questions.
They were powerful bears, but not mighty wizards while shifted. What purpose did a human like Gaul have in hunting them? What was Gaul's motives and how did it involve the Witches? Did it even involve the Witches? Was Gaul in league with the Witches.
Red’s breathing grew ragged She shook her head. Gold. What if it was all about gold?
Another thought occurred to her. What if Gaul wasn’t human?
She darted out of her room and entered her sister’s room. “Snow,” she hissed, sliding on the rug in her sister’s floor and landing in an ungraceful pile.
“Red?” Snow blinked and looked out the window, confused. “Did I oversleep?”
“No, it’s still early,” Red whispered. “But I had an idea. What if it was about gold?”
Snow blinked. “Back up, Red. You got ahead of me.” She swung both legs around and rubbed her eyes. “Start over,” she said.
Snow led her sister into the kitchen where she began making a pot of tea. Once the tea was brewed and Snow sufficiently awake, she turned to her sister. “Now, what if what is all about the gold?”
Red took a
deep breath and began. “I woke knowing Griffin was in trouble. I began working through all the puzzle pieces.
“One, we have a powerful witch and her sister who live in the Woodlands. The most powerful witch of her coven, if rumors are true, but with a deadly vulnerability. When faced with a weakened foe, she is weakened.”
Snow nodded.
“Then there is Gaul. He’s evil, Snow. I can feel his malevolence in waves when we see him. He’s the one who trapped Tristan and Griffin in bear form.”
“They’re powerful in bear form,” Snow said, taking a sip of her tea.
“But, not as wizards. Remember, the Knox family was the first Paulina exiled. They were the most powerful.”
“Do you think Gaul is working for Paulina? If he brings weakened bears for her to defeat, she can take over Thistle Grove, too?” A tightness developed around Snow’s chest. Was the Treaty of the Wicked Witches about to be voided and their peace shattered?
“No, Paulina signed the Treaty. I don’t think she has any motive to alter it.”
“Then, who?”
“You forget, she has a sister, Nora. What if Nora wants her sister weakened? What if Nora wants the Woodlands for herself?”
Snow opened her mouth to argue but realized she was blinded by her own loyalty to her sister. “I always thought Nora and Paulina would be loyal to each other. Like we are. But maybe that was naïve.”
Dawn began creeping up the horizon. Soon, she would have to head into the bakery and start the day’s work. She yawned. “Do you think Gaul is working for Nora, then? Why would she want the Knox brothers?”
“To weaken her sister. If she fights a weakened foe, she will be drained. That will allow Nora to overpower her sister and defeat her once and for all.” Red’s eyes were spring-bright as she went on about her theory that Nora wanted to use Griffin and Tristan to weaken her sister and obtain her throne in the Woodlands.
“But what’s in it for Gaul? He must be a magical creature if he was able to trap Griffin and Tristin in bear form. But he lives here in Thistle Grove. Doesn’t that make him an exile, too?”
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