Brune tried to listen to what they were saying, but the flies buzzing around her head drowned out their voices. Cursing her failing hearing, she peered through an old set of opera glasses in time to see the girl shiver and be given the young man’s jacket.
“Just as I thought, soft as a marshmallow,” she muttered in disgust.
When they started heading straight for her, she jerked backwards, causing her neck to further dislodge from her spine. With her head pitched at a grotesque angle, she reached for the Orb. It was imperative she keep them in the circle to activate the governing spell. As she swung the pendant from its long chain, she watched the two youths stop in their tracks. She almost fell over with relief.
“Time to get on with this,” she said, her voice a dry rasp as she focused her intent.
They turned and marched back to the giant book.
The Orb’s swing increased of its own accord, its pale glimmer thickening into a band of glowing light. She shambled through the maze of bookcases and stopped behind the spellbound couple. Her gaze dropped to their clasped hands. She considered separating them but decided it would be more bother than she had time for.
The Orb’s spiraling coil of light descended to the floor, splashed over the wooden floorboards in a haze of liquid gold and pooled around the girl’s feet. As the light curled up her legs, Brune funneled her burning desire for the Rod into the Orb.
Suddenly a torrent of emotions surged out of her. All her desperation, fear, determination and instinct for survival poured into the girl. The current was strong, frightening, as if her very soul was abandoning her.
Brune grabbed the Orb, halting its swing. As the golden light thinned to twinkling specks, the connection between them faded.
Wondering what had just happened, she staggered to a nearby chair. Her body was so stiff with rigor mortis she had to tilt into it. Her hips cracked like dry twigs as her weight hit the back of the chair, snapping her into a sitting position.
She fixed her blurred vision on the ancient Book of Fables. Seeing it open distracted her from a troubling thought that had been whispering within the fog of her infirm mind. She hadn’t seen those ensorcelled pages since her eighteenth birthday––the day she’d opened the giant book and plunged into its wondrous tales. But they hadn’t stayed wondrous, had they? Sinister forces had orchestrated the unpredictable rules within the book, and in the end, each fable had turned more hideous than anything she could’ve ever imagined.
She tore her gaze from the towering tome too late. The dam had broken. A flood of regret slammed into her. Stomping her foot in frustration, she heard it crunch under the force. “Useless bones,” she grumbled.
The girl glanced over her shoulder, looking straight at Brune.
“Turn around,” Brune commanded.
The teenager kept staring.
Brune could tell the girl was still in the trance. But somehow she’d managed to awaken within the spell, much like becoming aware of being in a dream while asleep. The ability to do such an extraordinary thing spoke of a strong and stubborn will. Maybe there was a backbone inside that marshmallow after all.
Struggling from her seat, Brune shuffled across the floor, her loose leg dragging. She drew within inches of the girl’s face, scrutinizing her through the clouding film coating her eyes. She was pretty. Long wet auburn curls framed fine-boned features and wide trusting eyes, the irises a bright swirl of golden brown with sparks of red.
Brune touched the girl’s pale cheek. When she saw her dry, dead fingers against the smooth, alabaster skin, she jerked her hand away. The sting of envy pricked her, poisoning her thoughts. She wanted to gouge holes in that creamy skin. She recoiled from the vicious impulse. Good looks had never been her concern. The boundless energy, strength and stamina of youth were what mattered to her. But it was maddening to stand next to this fresh-faced beauty while she decayed at record speed.
Enough of the pity party, Brune told herself. Time to get back to business. Especially since the girl had awakened within the trance. “I am Brune Inkwell,” she said, revolted by the awful rattle in her cankered throat as she spoke. “I’m sending you on a very important mission, for which failure is not an option. You will die before you give up. Do you understand?”
The girl nodded yes to the question.
“It doesn’t matter how long you take to accomplish this task, because time passes differently in the Book of Fables than it does here. I’ll experience a few minutes from the time you leave to when you return, whereas you might experience months, or even years. So there’s no need to hurry and make unnecessary mistakes.”
Brune paused a moment, watching to see if the girl was registering the information.
Her expression remained devoid of emotion, perfect and empty as a porcelain doll except for her eyes, which followed Brune’s every move.
“Tell me what it is you’re supposed to bring back,” Brune asked, testing the spell’s influence.
“The Rod of Aeternitis.”
“And who has the Rod?”
“O’Deldar.”
Brune’s confidence increased. She knew the spell would hold fast until the Rod was in the girl’s possession. A wavering sense of guilt rose to the surface. The odds were good she was sending the girl to her death. “What’s your name?” She figured she should at least know the name of the person whose life she was risking.
“Fate.”
“You’ll be needing this.” Brune removed her aide mémoire, a family heirloom she always wore on her waistband, and clasped it onto Fate’s skirt. She hated parting with it, but she knew she needed to arm the girl with all the help she could get. Without the little writing tablet, she never would’ve survived her own journey through the fables. “You’ll know what this is for when you read the warning at the beginning of the book. Do that as soon as you enter the first fable.”
A fly skittered over Brune’s eyeball. She batted it off, almost losing her balance. An image of maggots squirming inside her rotting corpse swiftly banished any lingering sympathies. “Time to read those fables you’re so curious about."
Fate’s gaze turned to the open book and the first fable’s elegant title penned at the top.
As Brune limped out of the way, she eyed the boy with uncertainty. “Don’t know about this one, but hang onto him if he proves useful.” She stood outside the circle, her crooked shoulders hunched tight in expectation. “And Godspeed,” she whispered.
Fate murmured under her breath, “The Lonely Sorceress.”
And that was all it took to propel Brune’s desperate plan into motion. She watched through fogged eyes as the giant Book of Fables lurched forward and slammed shut over the young couple.
An unnerving thud of finality echoed through the bookstore. Brune hobbled back over to the chair, sat down and set her watch to track the passing time. There was nothing to do now but hope the powder puff had enough grit to stay alive and return with the Rod before she turned to a pile of dust and bones.
This concludes the bonus prequel, Chaos In The Keep.
Did you know this book is available in paperback?
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost thanks to the love of my life, Tony, for believing in me. Without your encouragement, guidance and unwavering support, this book would not have been written. Thank you for working side by side with me in the trenches to bring this book to publication, designing the first gorgeous cover and helping me to create the beautiful book trailer. And to my amazing son, Tyler, for your quiet confidence in me to write a story you enjoyed enough to read twice––an unexpected phenomenon that spoke louder than any words of praise ever could.
Thanks to my mom, Gerry, for planting the first seeds of magic in my heart with our walks in the woods to find fairy rings and my dad, Larry, for knowing I had it in me to do this. Also to the rest of my wonderful fa
mily and all my good friends for your unfailing enthusiasm, even when I had to answer “no” to that seemingly eternal question, “Did you finish your book yet?”
A big thank you to my editor, Rhonda Helms, for steering key story elements in the right direction and guiding character development to a much richer level. Huge thanks to Denise Tilley, for walking the last mile with me to catch copy editing issues, as well as the added bonus of your invaluable insights. And also to Nora Snowden for giving me great pointers on my book jacket copy. Special thanks to my beta readers, especially those I tortured with the early drafts: Thora Gislason, Vickie Hadersberger, Madelon Scott-Eichen, Nadine Tegart-Reaugh, Raquel Larson and Bonnie McRae. And a big smiley nod to all my stellar writer friends from RWA-GVC for your combined wealth of knowledge and ready support.
Thank you to Emilee Moore for gracing the cover with your beautiful face and Brian Hawkes for the photography. And much thanks to Tom Parkes for helping me construct the replica of the Book of Fables in miniature for the cover. I must also thank Sara Dorey and Stephen Brace of Here By Tomorrow for allowing us to put your amazing music, “Ballad Of A Night”, to the book trailer. Also much gratitude to Dion Tilley for pairing the perfect music to the video.
Last but not least, thank you, dear reader, for choosing this book. I hope Fate took you on a great adventure.
About the Author
Bestselling author T. Rae Mitchell is an incurable fantasy junkie who spent much of her youth dreaming up worlds and bringing characters to life. While most kids grow out of such things, T. Rae didn’t and she sometimes took playing make-believe a bit far. Like the time a wizard hid a bottle of dragon beans in the back yard and left her son convinced he could grow his own dragons. Needless to say, the beans failed to produce and disappointments were had. That’s when T. Rae decided to funnel her crazy imagination into writing. She has since begun her young adult series, Fate’s Fables, Book One of Fate’s Journey, which can be found on numerous Amazon Top 100 Best Seller lists, such as Coming of Age Fantasy and Fairy Tales & Folklore.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
The Lonely Sorceress
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
A Dark Faery's Love
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
The Goblin Queen
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
The Heart Of A Troll
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
The Dragon Empress
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Old Mother Grim
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
The Lightning Sword
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
The Bloodthirsty Oak
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Bonus Prequel: Chaos In The Keep
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Fate's Fables Special Edition: One Girl's Journey Through 8 Unfortunate Fairy Tales (Fate's Journey Book 1) Page 46