Happily Ever Afters

by Melanie Cellier

  “Bewitchment,” whispered Evelyn.

  “What?” I asked, surprised that she of all people would leap to such a conclusion.

  “Ava said there were rumours of Anhalt bewitching people. It might have been how he got his position in the first place. I don’t suppose you have a godmother, Miles?” She tried to sound nonchalant, but I could hear the hope in her voice. Evelyn would hate the idea of fighting against something that couldn’t be defeated with a sword.

  “Unfortunately not,” said Miles, his voice dry. “I’m neither a prince nor a deserving woodcutter’s son. I’m not even a third son. Us noblemen have to muddle along on our own as best we can.”

  This wasn’t very encouraging, and we all subsided back into silence again. I tried to calculate how long we’d been travelling and how much further we had to go.

  After another long wait, the sound of the surface under the wagon wheels changed, and then we heard cries of greeting and the creaking of gates. We’d reached our destination.

  “Sarah.” Evelyn’s whisper was urgent.

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve been thinking, and I’m pretty sure Anhalt is going to lock us up somewhere. Once the key turns, escape will get a lot harder. So, if you can, try to walk behind me. Get as close as possible without arousing any suspicion. If we get even a moment when we aren’t surrounded and Anhalt’s attention is distracted, go for the knife in my boot and use it to cut me free.”

  I hesitated for a fraction of a second before whispering my agreement. Sleight of hand was hardly one of my skills, and my heartrate was increasing just thinking about holding a knife again. I didn’t see what choice I had, though.

  When someone pulled off the tarpaulin, I was blinded by what seemed to be a blazing light. As someone pulled me roughly out of the wagon, my eyes gradually adjusted, and I was able to see that we were inside the courtyard of a small stone castle. A number of servants mingled with the soldiers, each holding a burning torch.

  Evelyn and Miles were both in front of me and each were flanked by two rough looking men with drawn swords. Only one soldier was pulling me along by my arm, and his blade remained in his sheath. Clearly I wasn’t considered a threat.

  I pretended to stumble so that I could move closer to Evelyn. My guard jerked at my arm but otherwise ignored my change in position. I reminded myself to breathe.

  Anhalt directed his men with a constant stream of loud orders, and the courtyard soon began to empty. When only our guards remained, he directed us all through the castle courtyard.

  It was hard to see much of the building in the dark, but it looked both older and considerably smaller than the royal castle at Rangmeros. The count’s wealth was evident in the lavish interior decorations, and I resented him for having such good taste in furnishings. The stronghold of an evil count should be gloomy and unpleasant.

  We were hustled through several corridors and down narrow, stone stairs. I began to suspect we were heading for a dungeon that would meet all my expectations for dank hideousness. I shivered.

  When we reached the bottom of the second flight of stairs, we were greeted by a solid oak door. It had a large and ominous looking lock.

  Anhalt turned and smiled at us. I looked away from his face in disgust, and my eyes fastened on a large, blood-red jewel that he wore around his neck on a thick gold chain. It shone brightly in the light of the torch Anhalt was holding, and I found it mesmerising. It took me several long seconds to tear my gaze away from it.

  “Ah,” said Anhalt. He reached down to stroke the jewel, and I noticed that his eyes were resting on me. “I see that you’ve noticed my prize possession. An enchanting piece is it not?”

  There was laughter in his voice, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “But enough chit-chat.” He rubbed his hands together. “One of my ancestors was a unique man, and he had an equally unique dungeon built. Apparently he believed that prisoners were less likely to escape if they had something else to spend their energy on. I’ve never had the opportunity to use it myself, and I must say that I find the prospect rather entertaining.”

  He once again smirked at us all, but if he was hoping for a response he was disappointed.

  “His strategy was to release all the prisoners to roam freely throughout the dungeon.”

  My spirits lifted at his words, and I was glad to know we would all be together. His next words were less heartening.

  “I suppose in this case, you might find comfort in such a thing. Of course, you’ll have to find each other first. And, personally, I’d recommend putting your energy into finding the slot where we’ll be sliding through some food and water. It’s not far from this entry.” He chuckled. “But, of course, you’ll have to find the entry first.”

  I now felt nothing but foreboding.

  “Don’t worry if you get lost, some guards will come by to find you…eventually. So you might not want to burn too much of your energy.” He chuckled again, and I wished I was strong enough to wring his neck.

  Instead, while he was opening the door, I sidled closer to Evelyn’s back. We were still accompanied by five guards, but I was hoping that Anhalt now felt secure enough that he wouldn’t bring them all into the dungeon with us.

  Sure enough, he dismissed three of them, and only six of us stepped into the stone corridor on the other side of the door. The meaning of his words was immediately obvious. We were surrounded on all sides by a giant, stone maze. How long would we spend stumbling around without food or water?

  The two remaining guards seemed equally interested in the maze, and Evelyn used their distraction to signal me with her hands. We were all pressed closely together, and I doubted I could crouch down to her boot without being noticed. I finally admitted to myself that I didn’t think I had the courage to try. I was frozen by fear. Just the thought of her knife brought the sickening sounds and sensations of my previous fight flooding back into my mind. I gritted my teeth, determined not to faint. I felt like crying at the thought of letting the others down.

  Before any tears could fall, however, she spoke. Her words were so quiet I could barely hear them, and they were so unexpected, it took me a moment to understand her meaning.

  “Quick, give me your necklace!”

  Knowing I had only seconds before the guard’s attention returned to us, I quickly bowed my head and slipped off the long, double strand of glass beads I was wearing. I placed them in her hands, and her fingers quickly closed over them.

  “Well, come on then,” said Anhalt sharply and one of the guards turned to prod Evelyn with his sword tip.

  I stared at him closely, but he didn’t seem to have noticed our exchange. As we walked along the corridor, I kept close behind Evelyn, hiding whatever she was doing with her hands.

  When we reached the first turn, I felt rather than heard one of the beads drop to the dirt floor. I forced myself not to look down at it and inwardly praised Evelyn for her quick thinking. I still had no idea how we were going to escape but at least being able to find the door would be a start.

  Anhalt led us through so many twists and turns that I soon grew hopelessly confused. It didn’t help that the light was low and flickering and that every part of the maze looked the same.

  “You know,” said Anhalt, as if we were all in the middle of a friendly conversation, “I’m the only one who knows the way through the maze. But don’t get any ideas, I’ll be bringing plenty of guards with me when I come to find you. I imagine you might be feeling a little hungry by then. If you like, I’ll ring a bell when I come through the door, and I recommend that you give me a shout to let me know where to start looking. Your choice, though.” He shrugged. “I’ll find you either way.”

  Once again none of us responded.

  “And here’s our first stop.” He turned and looked us all over. “I think we’ll begin with you, merchant girl.”

  He was gesturing towards me, and I tried my best to look unaffected by my surroundings.

  “You’ll b
e staying here. And don’t expect to see us coming back, we’ll be leaving by a different route.”

  I didn’t move so one of the guards reached forward and shoved me to the ground.

  “Don’t touch her,” growled Miles, his eyes blazing at the guard.

  His manner was so confident and assured that for a moment I forgot that he was the prisoner. I think the guard did too because he fell back a step, his expression uncomfortable.

  “Very noble,” said Anhalt dryly. “Now get moving.”

  The guard recovered and was quick to wave his blade in Miles’ direction.

  Miles threw me an apologetic and concerned look, and then the whole group began to move away down the corridor. Evelyn didn’t even glance at me, and I knew she was trying not to attract any attention to herself. As they turned the corner and the light began to dwindle, I took heart from the sight of one of my beads falling quietly to the floor.

  And then the light disappeared, and I wondered what use a trail of beads was going to be if we couldn’t see it.

  Chapter 14 - Evelyn

  I silently cursed Anhalt for leaving Sarah sitting alone in the dark, but I carefully kept my face blank. The beads were our best chance, and I didn’t dare draw any of the men’s attention to me. My biggest concern was that Anhalt would leave me next. If that happened, I didn’t know how we would find Miles.

  I heaved an internal sigh of relief when we stopped for a second time and he instructed Miles to sit. Miles looked like he was about to rebel so I risked meeting his eyes and giving my head the slightest shake.

  Stay here I mouthed as clearly as I could. I wasn’t sure he’d understood me, but it was the best I could do.

  When we began walking again, I was alone with Anhalt and the two guards. I suspected he was leaving us in reverse order of strength and would have been flattered if I wasn’t so angry.

  He was right, though. He didn’t want me at his back, not when he only had two guards with him. He expected us to be weakened from hunger and thirst when he returned, but I suspected he would still bring a whole squad.

  I intended for us to be long gone by then.

  When I dropped my fourth to last bead, I began to feel a little nervous. How much further were we going to go?

  We turned another corner. And then another. I rolled the last bead around and around in my hand and wondered if I could remember a few turns before I dropped it.

  But then Anhalt stopped, and I almost smiled.

  That was close.

  He didn’t stop to talk, merely instructing me to sit and then hurrying away with the guards behind him. He seemed nervous, and I suspected there was a door nearby where he intended to exit the maze. It was tempting to try to follow him, but I didn’t dare risk it in the dark and with only one bead left.

  Instead I waited until the light had disappeared and then felt around in my boot for the hilt of my knife. My fingers clasped the blade awkwardly, struggling to saw through the ropes without cutting myself.

  The knife slipped twice, but thankfully I received nothing worse than a graze. When the last fibres fell apart, I brought my hands in front of me and massaged my wrists. I winced as the blood flow painfully returned.

  While I had been working, the seemingly impenetrable black of the maze began to slowly lighten. The change was almost imperceptible at first, and it took me several minutes to realise I was able to dimly make out the stones in the wall opposite me.

  I looked around for the source and couldn’t see anything. I shrugged. I didn’t care if it came from a wishing star or a godmother’s wand. I could see, and that was all that mattered.

  I stood up and began to retrace my steps, eyes glued to the ground, searching for each of the beads. When I encountered one, I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket. My knife I left in my hand.

  My eyes were aching from peering through the dim light when I picked up the bead that should have been around the corner from Miles. Unfortunately, when I turned into the next corridor, it was empty except for the scuff marks on the dirt floor where we had left him.

  I exclaimed in annoyance. Clearly he hadn’t understood me.

  I stood for a long moment, indecisive. I couldn’t see any other option than to continue on to Sarah, however. Once we were together, we could consider how to find Miles.

  As my pockets grew heavy and I counted only two more beads until I reached Sarah, I heard a low sound that could have been the murmur of voices. I paused and listened intently. The sound continued but there was no way to identify exactly what it was.

  I continued on more cautiously. By the time I turned into Sarah’s corridor, I was certain it was voices, and I was moving as silently as possible, my knife held ready at my side.

  But it was a cry of welcome rather than alarm that greeted me as I moved into sight.

  Sarah jumped to her feet and rushed over to hug me. I could just see her smile through the darkness.

  “That was truly brilliant, Eve!” she said.

  Miles was slower to get to his feet but he also appeared to be smiling.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him. “I was worried when you weren’t where we left you.”

  He held up one of Sarah’s beads. “I was just wondering what I should do when I noticed someone had kindly marked the path. I could hardly sit around doing nothing after that.”

  I shook my head, but I was too relieved to feel annoyed with him for giving me a scare.

  “Do either of you know where this light is coming from?” Sarah was looking around curiously, as mystified by the source of the glow as I was.

  “It’s moonlight,” said Miles. “The underground levels of castles are always built with a series of thin shafts for ventilation. It must be a bright night out there for so much light to be getting through.”

  I was glad to have the mystery solved. Sarah and I had no experience with castles, but it must have seemed like obvious knowledge to Miles.

  We all began to walk back towards the entry, stepping carefully to avoid dislodging one of the beads in the now somewhat crowded corridor. I was considering what we would do when we reached the locked door, but Sarah’s mind was obviously elsewhere. She interrupted my thoughts with an abrupt question.

  “Did either of you notice that necklace Anhalt was wearing?”

  “It was a little hard not to when he was stroking it like it was his first born child,” said Miles.

  I had to chuckle at his apt imagery.

  “When I looked at it, it was hard to tear my eyes away,” said Sarah. “I think that’s how he’s enchanting people.”

  I considered the idea.

  “It’s possible, I suppose,” I said. “There are certainly tales about charmed objects and so forth. It doesn’t much matter one way or the other while we’re trapped in here, though.”

  “No,” said Miles, “but when we get out, we need to find a way to get our hands on that jewel. It might be our only hope of stopping Anhalt. Imagine if he managed to get close enough to the king and queen to use it on them?”

  I shuddered. Now that was a terrifying thought. I began to move more quickly.

  “Anhalt could be back in the capital tomorrow,” I said, thinking aloud. “If he does plan to use it to influence Ava, now would be the perfect time. She’s missing her personal guard, her only friends and her Chief Advisor. Who’s going to stop him getting close to her?”

  I wasn’t sure how moving faster was going to help us when I hadn’t worked out how to get through the door, but I couldn’t help myself. We reached the door in what seemed like no time at all. I stared at it, disheartened. It was solid and thick and looked like it could withstand a battering ram.

  “I don’t suppose noblemen’s sons are taught anything about picking locks?” I asked.

  “Unfortunately not,” said Miles. “It’s increasingly clear that we’re a rather useless lot.”

  I shot him an approving look, pleased that this ordeal hadn’t destroyed his sense of humour. You
never knew how nobles would take it when their pride was damaged.

  Of course all of us were feeling a little less amused an hour later when we still had no plan for getting through the door. I’d resigned myself to attempting to ambush Anhalt when he reappeared. I only hoped I wasn’t too weakened by hunger, thirst and exhaustion when that moment came.

  Sarah, as usual, maintained a more cheerful outlook than I did and had even managed to produce a small laugh at something Miles said to her when she suddenly stopped mid-chuckle and swung around to face the door. I had heard the same noise. It was unmistakably a key being put into the lock.

  I signalled for Sarah and Miles to back up behind the door where they would be out of sight. There was no time for any further planning.

  The door swung open, and I stepped forward, hoping to get the hilt of my knife against the skull of the newcomer before they saw me. If I was fortunate, I might have time to grab their sword before the next person realised what had happened.

  I was swinging my arm around when I recognised the face in front of me. I fell back and let my arm drop to my side in shock.

  The surprise was quickly replaced by bitter disappointment. My head had been right, after all. Jake was in league with Anhalt.

  “Evelyn!” He seemed almost as astonished as I was. The expression was quickly replaced by his easy grin, however, and I felt a fresh surge of anger that he could smile at such a time.

  “This is excellent. I was picturing myself spending days searching through the maze for you, and I don’t know if we have days.”

  I tried to make sense of his words through the haze of betrayal. Before I could think of anything to say, Sarah appeared from around the door, Miles close behind her.

  “Sarah, Miles. Good, you’re all here.”

  None of us returned his greeting, and his grin slowly faded at our accusatory expressions.

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” He looked genuinely concerned and my confusion grew.