The Real Folktale Blues (Beyond Ever After #1)

by Random Jordan

  Once I was able to move my hatchet arm back down, I glanced with wide eyes around at Ettie, Han and Bonny. They had gathered around behind me. Ettie had her hand tucked into a pocket of the denim duster she wore, which meant she was ready to pop an attack and was just waiting for some sign from me.

  I shook my head, noticing Han also had his hands cleanly on the handles of two swords at his hips. For a big man he was quite good with a pointed tip.

  Bonny I couldn’t really discern anything from, other than she was certainly amused by the turn of events. Or maybe that was because she got to leave. She got more out of this than she was probably expecting.

  Once I had turned around, Bonny pointed to the crates we still hadn’t loaded. Han removed his hands from his sword hilts after a moment, before scooting over to lay his palms upon the crates.

  “No. Leave them.” I heard Hue say, back to his normal baritone voice.

  Han jerked away from the crates. I heard Bonny hiss defiantly. She was upset, but reluctantly turned and directed her people up the ramp of the nearby ship, knowing she was lucky to be getting away at all without a fight.

  I slipped up next to Han and Ettie. They both looked at me like I was trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I just pointed with my hatchet and shrugged.

  “You know he wouldn’t just let you go.” Ettie said quietly. Han hummed and nodded in agreement.

  “It’s better than staying and dying.” I said, pushing past both of them and walking up the plank. I half turned back at the top of the ramp, and watched the twins step onto the ramp while I gazed at Hue’s hair. He never went anywhere without that hat.

  Whatever was going on, it was enough to scare Hue into letting me get away for the second time since I had seen him again after a year. And I think I knew why.

  The twins passed next to me, before I yelled as loud as I could. “One more thing, Hue.”

  He glanced up at me, I couldn’t really make out much of his face, it was mostly all dark, but I could tell he was looking at me with those shimmering sea blue eyes. So I continued, “What happened to your hat?”

  He laughed. But what really gave him away was his voice. I could practically hear him smiling in his voice. “Same thing that happened to yours.”

  “Gaggles of help Hue, Gaggles.” I could hear him chuckling again as I turned and headed up into the ship.

  Something was going down. And it involved both mine and Hue’s caps.

  But why?

  Eleven

  The Red Faerie

  The fox, who had resided in my pocket, sat on the makeshift cot in a cabin room, which I had been directed to by a one-armed sailor girl. I noticed how many more women of all types Captain Bonny kept on her ship. Of course when I mentioned that, all I got was sass from Ettie about how I would be the only woman to notice such a thing.

  The fox yawned and stretched his front legs before rolling on his side and looking like he had fallen asleep, again. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had. Reynard gorged himself on Lemon Scotches and slept all day in my pocket. Surely, he still had to be tired.

  “Lazy fox.” I mused while rolling my eyes and slipping the poncho over my head before tossing it aside. I was just about to pull my tunic off as well when the door to the cabin popped open.

  “Oh Faerie Mother! Sorry, sorry.” A young, low voice cursed. This of course forced me to turn around out of sheer curiosity and drop my shirt back down, unsure of whom it was.

  I blinked a few times, before breathing out in exclamation, “Roberts?”

  “Sorry Miss Gnidori.” Roberts apologized, like he had known I was in this room.

  “It’s alright. I thought you were one of Captain Bonny’s buccaneers. But how did you know it was me? And what are you doing on this ship anyway?” I asked. I had a lot of questions that weren’t being answered lately. So I wanted to change that. I knew I could definitely get my answers out of him.

  “Well word traveled through the ship that we were boarding Red Riding Hood in the captain’s cabin again. So I wanted to see you first this time.”

  “So I am in Bonny’s cabin?” I thought out loud while turning and glancing around me. The royal blues, golds and purples in drapes across the porthole and delicate sheets on the bed probably weren’t normal. Jeweled goblets sat strewn on one of the tables with a few closed chests in the room used as side tables for intricate statues. It made sense that I was in her room.

  My eyes fell back to Roberts, now wearing a similar outfit to all the other buccaneers on the pirate king’s ship. They wore crimson and obsidian bandannas and basic dark tunics and pants. It was definitely a step down from what he wore before.

  “And?” I provoked, after the silence held. I still wasn’t sure how to handle the fact that he had mentioned I had been in here before, even though not even the crusty cot I was to sleep on gave any indication to me that I had been here before.

  “Oh. Uh…” He shifted awkwardly, his eyes turning away from me quickly. “I stood up to the captain, showed her an idea I had that would work better. If it hadn’t been for what happened when I last saw you, I wouldn’t have ever considered doing that. Although, I never would have left with the captain if it hadn’t been for you either.”

  “You changed everything, Miss Gnidori. For the better too.” He concluded, turning his fair-haired head back toward me finally. He was smiling and it was then that I realized why he was in here.

  “I didn’t do anything, Roberts. Please don’t thank me.” I pretty much pleaded with the new pirate Roberts.

  “But you did. Your strength, fearlessness. The tales about you, and the legends, and that talk you gave me. You are like a story to most people, something no one really expects to ever see. Yet there you were, holding yourself so well, as though suddenly I was involved in your legends. Thank you for putting the belief back into me. You showed me I had to do things for myself and my own reasons if I ever wanted to go anywhere.”

  “Then I did you a terrible service, Roberts.” I sighed and lowered my head. After a moment, I turned around and walked away, running my fingertips along the cot sheets to the fur of the sleeping fox.

  “What do you mean?” He asked, while I heard the sound of footsteps echoing nearby. I attempted looking back without shifting my head, but instead looked down to the rising and falling crème chest of Reynard.

  “You have to do things for yourself to create your own power. But only when you do something for others do you discover the peak of that power.” I recited so cleanly. Words my Grandmama told me, many years ago when she was still around. Words I still didn’t entirely understand even now. But that didn’t mean I didn’t believe in them.

  “Who knew you could be so deep, Gnidori.” Yet another voice spoke from the entrance, which made me turn around once again, my hand flinging away from the lemon crème fox.

  I managed to look just in time to see Bonny nodding to Roberts. Her sparkling lavender eye shone like a purple moon as she glanced to me, with a smile.

  “Captain.” Roberts said with the same military salute he would have given to army superior officers.

  “Please Alonso, no need to salute now.” Bonny began, her crackling eye not fading from watching me. “And good to see you and Reynard are settling in for the trip, Gnidori. I do hope Reynard does not think that cot is just for him.”

  “Yeah, I think he did it on purpose.” I shrugged and glanced back at the fox. He had rolled over in the last few seconds to lay on his back with one of his hind legs kicking into the air. He looked more like he was playing dead now. I had to suppress the laugh that tried to wiggle out.

  Captain Bonny nodded to Roberts again, and stepped away from him. “That will be all, Alonso. I’m sure you can find something to do.”

  Roberts looked like he was hesitating, or lingering at wanting to say something more as he glanced to me. But he just kept turning his head and popped open the ajar cabin door and slipped back out with a slam of the wood.

 
Bonny’s eyes never fell away from me as she closed the distance between us after Roberts left. Her smile was still softly arching her lips, and her eye still exploding with a fierce energy. I was weary of what she was going to do next.

  She didn’t say or do anything though. Instead she just stared at me. So I broke the silence.

  “He said again.” My tone firm, but light and lilting, as an expression of confusion befell the pirate captain.

  “Is that code?” She finally asked, bemused and with a flash of a half grin.

  “Roberts. He said that I was on this ship again. What did he mean by that? He said I was in this cabin.” I elaborated further. Really I had six or so days of my life completely missing. So as far as I knew, Bonny knew more about those days than I did.

  “Ah.” The pirate king began, while striding over to a table where a couple of bottles sat. My guess was rum. Pirates loved their rum. At least that was the rumor.

  “Red Riding Hood arrived with her cloak on, and Reynard in her pocket. Greeted me with your voice, and asked for a ride, about five days ago. I supplied her with a ride to the sleeping kingdom. She wouldn’t say why she was going there.” The Pirate captain explained, as she dipped one of the large bottles over two glasses and poured between them, filling them to the edge of overflowing.

  “I didn’t have anyone with me?” I continued. Even though I already knew it was impossible for that to have been me. Hood and cloak on. But then how did they have Reynard? I could understand the hood and cloak since I was missing it. But Reynard was dreaming of chasing whatever the flying fey fox’s chase five feet away from me.

  “She had a tiny, adorable and innocent brunette with her, who slept next to her on a cot. And then a blonde with fiery curls that was never very far out of her sight. I figured the blonde was a bounty head, considering the rumor of Red Riding Hood’s job these days.” She mused with a shrug at the last comment, while turning around and holding a glass out toward me and walking the distance.

  Most people weren’t aware of what kind of job I did have, other than bounty hunters I associated with, or my regular contacts like Ettie and Han. Everything was, after all, based on word of mouth.

  I accepted the drink, and brought it up to my nose. It didn’t even remotely smell like alcohol. But that still didn’t mean I was going to drink it. I learned young never to accept something you don’t make yourself or pour yourself. You never knew what kind of thing would bind you or kill you or worse. Trust me; there really were worst things than death.

  Bonny grinned softly as she watched me. “She wouldn’t drink it either when I gave her a glass. It’s tea, my own special brew. I’m not really very big on the rum like my subordinates are.”

  “Young brunette? Like late teens? Chocolate froth kind of hair and big dimples that could make anyone coo at her? Probably wearing a dress?” I tried to steer back to the topic, and away from the tea. Regardless I still wasn’t going to drink it.

  “Yes.” She said, almost sounding surprised. “Precisely like that.” Then she added accusingly, “You know her.”

  I snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. “I don’t just know her. She lived in my house until she was stolen. She used to be a charge of mine. Same with the blonde.”

  “A charge?” She asked before taking a sip of her tea and sitting against the edge of the bed. She crossed her ankles delicately.

  “Uh, yeah. I uh…” I blew out a deep huff of a breath trying to figure out how to say this. Really no matter how I spun it, it was always something that freaked people out. I was almost considering taking that drink and hoping it had a sleeping brew in it.

  I braced myself, and closed my eyes briefly, lowering my head down as I finally just said it. “I used to be a faerie godmother, many years back.”

  She laughed; that same dragon-bellowing-roar of a laugh.

  Probably the last reaction I could have honestly ever expected. When you say you were a faerie godmother, people usually stepped away from you. Completely different to saying you are a faerie godmother then everyone swarms you, wanting something done.

  You see, faerie godmothers are people chosen because of their exemplary skills in magic. They are drawn from an academy, very proper and everything, trained in what they need to know for magic. It’s also the only legal way to practice magic. The academy is run by the Faeries, who also govern the magic across the world to make sure things like sleeping curses that knock out entire kingdoms don’t keep popping up.

  I’ve been a risk to them ever since I had left the academy because of the faerie godmother missions they were sending me on.

  They wanted me dead, and not in any pretty way, until I found the loophole that gave me my freedom. So long as I bound my magic they had no legal right to come after me. That is the equivalent of saying I would no longer be using my left arm ever, but it would still be there, just I’m not ever going to use it. It’s not an easy thing to do. But the Faeries pretty much control all magic and monitor it, so I don’t have a choice.

  And I really do mean all magic. Magic is vast, really anything you can think of magic being, guaranteed there is someone somewhere in the world that will be able to use that kind of magic. So it’s a difficult thing to regulate and control. Minor practitioners, like Ettie, get away with spells easily. The faeries just keep track of more major spells and magic users that might be capable of things like the faerie godmother that started the sleeping curse.

  It’s not a perfect system, but it does protect a lot of people from dangerous spells and witches. Though, it condemns just as many people to the most gruesome deaths that could ever be concocted.

  Captain Bonny broke me out of my thoughts, as her laughing died away and she actually asked, “You have magic?”

  The way her eye seemed to swirl with life and color made me wonder if she had magic as well. “Kind of. I sealed mine off though. It was the only way I could be allowed to live.”

  “What does that mean?” She shifted almost uncomfortably sitting more up on the edge of her massive over-class bed. She patted a spot next to her, which I guessed was an invitation.

  “Well my magic was a body magic. Pumpkins, people, dresses, changing that kind of stuff. The only way for me to seal it was to direct all the power into my body and give it a constant outlet that I never needed to touch. My agility and strength became that outlet. My magic is essentially constantly powering me to impossible levels of strength, add that to me being an athlete already and I became the perfect hunter. Or Bounty hunter anyway.”

  “Interesting.” Bonny said, her purple eyes looking incredibly thoughtful, right before taking another sip of the tea. “And so the brunette charge?”

  “Her name is Ashe. Ashe Puttel. Most people would probably call her Cinderella if they knew. But she isn’t as noticeable as say Red Riding Hood with her hood always on. I was her faerie godmother. She was my third charge. And my last, as a faerie anyway.” I spoke with a lingering feeling of memories I could recall but wanted to keep down. I still hated the idea of what I had to do for Ashe back then.

  “You mean you were the faerie godmother in Cinderella’s legend?” She spoke almost bewildered.

  “Yes. They called me the Red Faerie back then. I hated it. If I wasn’t being Red Riding Hood, I was the Red Faerie. I can’t ever seem to get away from being ‘Red’.” I sighed, tossing my head down which let some of my cherry locks slide around my cheeks. I watched the tea in my glass swirl around continuously.

  “You don’t look much like a faerie though. Where are your wings?”

  “I have none, cause I gave that up. Anyone can look like a faerie. It’s all about entitlement and belief. Names are power.”

  She patted the seat next to her once more. So I glanced briefly back at the sleeping fox on my cot and smiled. I shook my head before turning back and crossing the distance to sit gently at the edge of Bonny’s bed, next to her.

  “And the blonde?” Bonny continued with the barrage of questions. For some reason I
didn’t seem to mind answering them.

  “Just another case of setting up a girl with a prince. Her name is Gertrude Locke, but I call her Goldie, as in Goldielocks. It was because of her that I first met Prince Charming. Unfortunately he’s not as charming as he has been made out to be. When I discovered Ashe was being set up with the same prince, I knew something was wrong. I stopped the wedding and lost my faerie status. Goldie wasn’t so lucky, and she blames me for it, I think.”

  “So then it was you last time? Taking them across?” Bonny asked, glancing over at me with only a slight turn of her head. I could only see her silver eye patch from this angle.

  “I don’t think so.” I sneered slightly and shook my head, still trying to process it myself. “Last I knew Ashe was being held by Gabbi. For all I know the person you ferried over was Gabbi disguised as me. But it doesn’t explain Goldie, or the fox.”

  “Right, you have him, and someone else has him. Unless there are two foxes like Reynard?” Bonny added; her voice calm and soothing. She seemed just as thoughtful as I was at the moment.

  I stood up almost instantly after she spoke. My eyes were glinting heavily as they widened with realization. “Of course. You said when we met there had been another attack like this already in Charming’s territory. Simply lacking the smoke and fox. But what if by the time you had gotten there, the smoke was gone because someone had taken the fox?”

  “That makes sense. But then you have to wonder-“

  “-why two foxes were made like that. And what kind of serious magic it took to do such a thing.” I finished for Bonny as she eyed me with a lingering curiosity. I half smiled in apology, before taking a seat back down next to her. I didn’t want to start pacing the room.

  “What kind of magic could have done that?” She asked after a moment of silence to drink her tea.

  I blew out a breath, like I would have if my bangs had been in my face, “Ancient stuff. Creating life was something the ancients did; no one does that today, except maybe a dragon. It takes too much power. The last time it happened was Camelot.”