by R. L. Weeks
Jackie sighed. ‘Can’t you wait? It’s so much effort.’
Rapunzel pouted. ‘It’s the only thing that prevents me from trying to escape.’
Jackie stood up and grabbed her basket, annoyed. ‘Slow down with the reading!’
Rapunzel laughed. ‘I can’t make any promises. At least I have an imagination, unlike you,’ she teased.
Once Jackie wrapped her knitted red shawl around her shoulders and climbed down the tower to go and buy more books, Rapunzel formulated a plan.
Books had given her more than just an escape from her boring reality; they had provided her with essential information.
Sneaking glimpses at Jackie’s grimoire when she was away, along with the history of witchcraft, meant that she could try to learn the art of witchcraft behind Jackie’s back. Jackie had unknowingly confirmed it today. The books didn’t say whether the magic of a witch was something one was born with, or something that could be practiced.
Now, Rapunzel knew she could do it, she could get to work. She grabbed a load of spells that she copied from Jackies grimoire. She collected some pentagrams and discarded candles from the cupboard and his them under her bed. If she could get the incantations right and draw the energy, she could light the candles and use the symbols to remove the boundary spell from the tower.
LOST LOVE
Snow walked out of the woods with her head held high. The pack of wolves followed behind obediently. Snow turned and bowed her head. ‘You are free.’
The wolves, one by one, turned and walked back into the woods. All but one.
Emerging from the shadows was a tearful Red, back in her human form. Snow hung her cloak around Red’s shoulders. ‘You freed me.’
‘I promised you I’d help you when Edward was killed. You’re free. You don’t need to stay with me.’ Snow dangled the empty vial from her bracelet and threw it away. ‘It was a potion I had stolen back at the palace. It removes all enchantments. I used it to break yours and the other wolves bond to Lori, and incidentally the spell keeping you as a wolf.’
‘Thank you,’ Red said.
Snow laughed. ‘In fairness, I had little choice. You were all about to eat me.’ ‘Doesn’t matter now anyway, I’m glad I helped you. You’re free to do what you want now, to go home.’
Red shook her head. ‘No, if Lori is there then I cannot return. Plus, you freed me, I owe you. James and I were friends. He loves you. Therefore I will be helping him by protecting his loved one.’
They walked through the snow, the white cloak covering Red. Her hair was tangled, little twigs stuck out at odd places, and she smelled of wet dog. ‘In all honesty,’ Snow started. ‘I thought you liked James, in, well, a fancy him kind of way…’
Red laughed. ‘No, sweetie, I’m not interested in men.’
Snow raised her eyebrows. Of all the things Red could come out with, she didn’t expect that. Red pursed her lips, waiting for a response.
‘Oh,’ Snow replied then shrugged. ‘Cool. So, do you have a girlfriend?’
‘No. I liked a girl once. It didn’t work. She was a princess and knew she had to marry a prince. Her parents would never have understood, and she was loyal to her kingdom. Unfortunately, she was locked away in a tower some time ago, branded insane by her father.’
Snow patted Red’s shoulder. ‘Sorry to hear it.’
‘It’s been a long time. She will always be my lost love,’ Red said and shrugged. ‘Anyway, we need to find a way to get rid of Lori.’
Snow grinned and looked down at her sword. ‘Oh, I know a way. I just need to catch her off guard.’
CANTATA
The world around them was captured in a powdered white silence. The snow crunched under their boots as they made their way to the centre of Cantata, the magical hub of their world. Tears trickled down Ariel’s face and into her hair, which she had pulled down in an attempt to warm her neck from the deadly cold that swept through the forest.
Lori walked ahead of them, wearing a tight black dress that clenched in so tight at her waist that Ariel wondered how Lori managed to breathe.
Ariel’s teeth chattered. Stilt sighed and magicked a hooded gold cloak with white fur trimming the edges. ‘Here,’ he said throwing her the cloak. Lori looked at Stilt and rolled her eyes.
Ariel smiled. ‘Thank you.’
‘I am sorry,’ he said truthfully. ‘We are going to a place where I may be able to get my dead wife and child back. I can’t turn my back on anything that could help with this journey.’
Ariel nodded. ‘I understand, but can you promise me I will return to my Eric once I have done what you need me to do?’
He smiled at her. She truly was a kind person, and even he couldn’t help but like her. ‘I promise.’
Lori put her hand up. ‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep.’
Ariel scowled at her and continued to walk, rubbing her head. ‘Eric’s going to lose his mind! He’s going to be so worried. You didn’t need to knock me out with a candlestick. If you needed help, I would have come willingly. I would have brought Eric with me, and we could have all saved ourselves all of this worry.’
Lori laughed. ‘Oh sweetie, we need you to help us, yes. But what we need you to do requires a darkness that I’m afraid you don’t possess. Eric won’t be out of his mind with worry because he is here.’ She tapped her purse.
‘What?’ Ariel asked. ‘What have you done to him?’ Ariel’s hair turned from Red to purple.
‘That’s the darkness we needed,’ Lori said and pulled out a frog. ‘I turned your handsome King into a frog.
The frog opened his mouth. ‘Ariel, don’t do it.’
Lori took his voice and grinned. ‘Don’t listen to him, because if you do, then you will never see him again. I will stamp on him just as easily as I would a real frog.’
Ariel gulped as she watched Lori put the frog back into her purse. ‘What do you need from me?’
Stilt lowered his head. ‘I am so sorry Ariel, but we need you to kill Merlin.’
Ariel cried out. ‘No! I can’t kill anyone.’
Lori turned and looked at Ariel. ‘Oh, but you have no choice.’ Lori looked around and lifted the veil with her hands. ‘We are here. I have hidden us from Merlin with an invisibility spell, until now.’
Merlin appeared not far from them, stroking his long dark beard which was tied into segments with purple bands. ‘Lori, Stilt, and who’s this?’ he said, addressing them all.
‘Ariel,’ she said and gulped, trying not to cry.
Ariel lowered her head. ‘Ursula’ she whispered. ‘Ursula, I need you.’ She knew Ursula was not her friend, but she was the only magical person she knew who could help her. That she could call too with a simple whisper of her name. But Ursula did not appear.
‘She won’t help you,’ Lori said, laughing. ‘Now, prepare to die, Merlin!’
He lifted his hand high in the air, and a snowstorm blew over the forest. The trees flailed in the ferocious wind, the animals scattered, and Lori, Ariel, and Stilt held onto the trees. Lori lifted her hands, and a tree de-rooted from the ground. It was at least fifteen feet high. She threw it at Merlin, but he turned it to ash just before it hit him.
‘Help us or your King gets it!’ Lori shouted to Ariel. Lori pulled the frog out of the purse and held a knife to its throat. Ariel watched as it frantically tried to escape her clutches.
‘No!’ Ariel screamed. ‘Don’t hurt him!’ her hair turned to purple again, and a fury took hold of her, turning her eyes dark. Her gaze locked onto Merlin’s. She put her hand on the snowy ground and area around him turned to quicksand. He tried to free himself, but his magic wouldn’t work on Ariel for some reason. He wanted to hurt Lori, but his magic would not allow him to hurt another, only to defend himself. He managed to stop himself from sinking by making a large branch fall over the sinkhole, which covered its length. He held onto it for dear life.
Ursula stepped out from behind a tree and kicked the branch from Merlin. ‘I
will kill him,’ she called out to Ariel. ‘If you do, your heart will darken. Mine is already. If I do this, then we are even!’
‘Yes,’ Ariel shouted, crying.
Merlin made the ivy from the forest creep over to Ursula, tripping her over. Lori and Stilt both used their magic to pin him to the sinkhole which slowly consumed him. Ursula got to her feet, and Ariel kept the ground steady for her, using her powers.
Ursula pulled out a jagged blade and glided it across Merlin’s neck. ‘This blade will kill him. It’s made from darkness; from souls.’ Gurgled screams echoed through the forest as the snow storm stopped. The sinkhole disappeared, and Merlin turned to dust.
Lori waited for the forest to implode, but nothing happened. ‘It has no master. He is dead. How is it still here?’
‘Unless he left it to someone,’ Stilt said.
Lori gritted her teeth. ‘James.’
***
James galloped over the hills, his stallion, the one Snow had gifted him when she was a princess, was incredibly fast. He crossed the border from Dolorom and headed toward Northmanni. He had to start somewhere, why not start in the last place he knew Snow was.
As he rode alongside with his mother, memories of he and Snow cuddled by the fire, their first and last kiss, and their last I love you stabbed at him painfully. He remembered every bad thing he had said to her after Edward’s death. He was just angry at seeing his mother so hurt. He had told Snow that he never wanted to see her again. He lied. It hurt him so much to say it.
He reached the edge of the dead woods and looked out into the sea of dead trees. Next to them a frozen lake shone like polished glass. A little duckling tried to swim but was trapped. James jumped off his stallion and helped the little duck escape the ice. It quacked and ran off.
Belle smiled. ‘You were always a caring boy.’
James shrugged. ‘Sometimes I prefer animals to people. They know nothing of vanity, greed, and selfishness.’
‘I agree,’ Belle replied. ‘There’s actually a legend about a woman called the Ugly Duckling.’
James nodded. ‘Would love to chat about it, but another time, okay? Right now, we need to find Snow!’
He was going to get her back. He was going to make everything right.
FREE AT LAST
At the tower, Rapunzel had little luck with her spell. ‘Come on, work!’
Jackie would be back soon. She had probably less than an hour left to try and at least get it half right. Then, if she wasn’t caught, she could try again in a couple of weeks when she’d be alone again. That’s if Jackie could be bothered to go again. She sometimes made trips, but if Jackie could get away with doing nothing, she would. That’s why she had taken the job to keep Rapunzel trapped. It meant very little work for her and a comfortable lifestyle. Jackie had wanted a daughter too, but couldn’t be bothered with the tantrums. At least Rapunzel was fully grown.
Jackie needed Rapunzel’s hair to grow at full-length for herself and Lori. Their dreams would be fulfilled, and then Jackie wouldn’t have to lift a finger again. She could have powers that would enable her to turn whatever poor soul that came her way into a servant.
Rapunzel averted her attention back to the spell.
‘Dolores inferni circumdederunt me, et in elementis maiores animos tollere et emissum huic ligat. Aufer ligat. Da libertatem. Parvo aedificationis.’
A breeze swept outwards from the pentagram on the floorboards. A warmth protruded through Rapunzel’s hands. ‘Did it work?’
Rapunzel ran over to the window. When Jackie would get back, she’d sense the barrier spell had been lifted. This was her only chance of escape.
‘Rapunzelll, let down your…. Wait. Rapunzel?’ Jackie was back and had sensed the shift in magic. ‘Rapunzel!’ she screamed.
Rapunzel let down her hair, pulling Jackie into a false sense of security. Rapunzel hated what she was about to do, but she could almost taste her freedom. She could not die alone in the tower!
Jackie climbed half way up, waiting to see what had happened and Rapunzel got a dagger and cut her hair.
Jackie fell with the hair and Rapunzel cried. She’d killed her. Looking down the window, she saw Jackie move under the pile of hair and smiled. She was alive.
How to escape?
A woman dressed in red and another dressed in black walked over to the tower. The woman dressed in black, Rapunzel noticed, was holding a blue sword with a white glowing handle. She was gorgeous, straight jet black hair, luscious red lips, and skin as white as snow. Her side fringe complimented her oval face. The black dress hugged her slim figure perfectly. The woman cut through the air with her sword and slammed it into Jackie’s chest. Rapunzel screamed, and both of women looked up. Jackie turned into a black mist and swept into a small box. She looked down at the faces of the women.
Wait?
Could it be?
Surely not.
‘Rapunzel, it’s me. Red!’
Rapunzel burst into tears. ‘You came for me. You came back!’
Snow looked up. ‘Hold on, let us get you down. Where’s the door?’
Rapunzel pointed to the left side of the tower. ‘It’s blocked.’
‘I can take it down,’ Red shouted and smirked.
After a lot of banging and swearing, Red and Snow finally pushed open the trap door and jumped up, onto the floor.
Red ran over and pulled Rapunzel into a hug. ‘I’ve missed you.’ Snow smiled at them both. ‘This is Snow,’ Red said.
Rapunzel looked at them both tearfully, half smiling. ‘Thank you for saving me. But, you killed my mother.’
‘Your mother?’ Red asked, confused.
‘Well, she’s been acting like my mother,’ Rapunzel replied.
Red’s fists tightened. ‘She is not your mother. She kept you locked up here!’
‘She clearly has Stockholm syndrome,’ Snow added.
Red rolled her eyes. ‘She didn’t fall for her kidnapper; she just believed all of the crap that came out of that witch’s mouth.’
Rapunzel still had tears running down her cheeks. She looked incredibly innocent, with her honeysuckle hair, her pretty brown eyes, her straight white teeth, and sun-kissed skin. Her hair now fell down to the bottom of her back. Red had never seen her look so gorgeous. Rapunzel looked Red up and down. Red, although she hid it well, was fairly muscular underneath the pretty dresses and cloaks. Rapunzel had always admired Red’s strength. Red’s dark hair fell in layers down past her shoulders, half of it was braided. Snow and Red had gone to a town in Milborn, buying new clothes and Snow had braided her hair.
‘You haven’t aged a day since I saw you,’ Rapunzel said, furrowing her eyebrows.
Snow cut in. ‘Red was trapped as a wolf. She wouldn’t have aged. Plus, it hasn’t been that long, she wouldn’t have aged that much.’
‘It’s been longer than that,’ Rapunzel stated.
‘I’m just lucky I guess,’ Red said, laughing it off. ‘I’m just glad I found you.’
‘How did you find me?’ Rapunzel asked.
Snow smiled. ‘I kept onto Red until she told me who you were, but she didn’t know where you were being held. We searched the forest and the closer we got to you, the more my sword shone, so we followed the glow. Except, it didn’t want me to find you. It glowed brighter as we approached the woman who was keeping you captive. That’s why I killed her, took her soul I mean. The sword wanted me too.’
Rapunzel cried. ‘I’ve missed you, Red. Thank you, to you both!’
Red’s fears about Rapunzel not wanting her anymore, disappeared. The look in Rapunzel’s eyes told her everything she needed to know. It wasn’t the look of lust. It was the look of love.
BATTLE OF MAGIC
Lori and Stilt vanished with Ariel and reappeared back at Lori’s palace. Ariel stepped forward, blocking Lori from entering the palace. ‘Give me Eric and we will go now. You got what you want!’
‘The frog isn’t Eric, silly girl. You heard what I wanted
you to hear. He’s in Milborn, looking for you. He thinks Ursula got to you.’ Lori grinned. ‘If he finds Ursula and tries to kill her, she will kill him.’
Ariel screamed. ‘No! Please, help me get back there soon. Hang on, no, she won’t. I made a deal with her to free her. She won’t hurt him.’
Stilt bit his lip. ‘When she helped you kill Merlin, she said that you’d be even. Deals fulfilled I’m afraid. A wish got her out of there. You wishing her freedom meant that she would have got her powers back. She can now use them to kill whoever she wants.’
Ariel cried. ‘Please help me get to Milborn. I must tell Eric not to go after her.’
Lori shook her head. ‘No. Unless, you’re willing to make a deal with me?’
‘What’s that?’ Ariel scowled.
Lori grabbed a lock of Ariel’s hair. ‘This will do nicely.’
‘My hair?’ she asked.
Lori nodded. ‘Mermaid hair can call up the souls of lost pirates. I will need them to crew a ship. Now, I will send you home.’
Lori clicked her fingers, but Ariel didn’t vanish back to Milborn as expected. Stilt stepped forward. ‘My fault.’ He grinned. ‘That cloak, when worn, will keep you from magical harm.’
Ariel’s eyes brimmed with tears. ‘You were trying to protect me?’
Lori tried to grab the cloak, but Stilt stepped in front of Ariel. ‘Yes Ariel, I did, and no Lori, I gave it to Ariel.’ He turned and smiled at Ariel. ‘Take off the cloak and just hold it. Keep it. It will protect you. Thank you for your help.’
Lori huffed and clicked her fingers, keeping her deal, and Ariel disappeared. ‘That cloak would have helped us!’
Stilt shrugged. ‘Guess we are doing this the old fashioned way then.’ With that, he walked out of her chambers to get ready for their journey. Once he had gone, Lori turned to her mirror but jumped when she saw the reflection. Snow was standing behind her, and by the window were Red and Rapunzel.
Lori turned and looked at Snow with annoyance. ‘Why won’t you just die?’