by Lindsey Kelk
‘Bravo, Cook,’ the king said as Cook prepared to carve. ‘It looks so good I wish it would run down the table and jump right into my mouth!’
Underneath her napkin, Cinders felt the familiar fluttering feeling in her fingers. Golden sparkles flew from her hands all the way down the table and showered the suckling pig. With an indignant OINK!, it opened its eyes, jumped up from the plate and ran down the table, directly towards the king.
‘Somebody stop that pig!’ the king wailed, leaping out of his seat and running away. ‘Stop the pig!’
The queen leaped towards the regicidal hog with a look of determination, only to slip in a puddle of apple sauce and fall right back down on to her queenly posterior. Cinders stared in horror as the pig bore down on the king and bit him right on the bum.
‘I wish the pig would STOP!’ she yelled, sending another scattering of sparkles towards her dashing dinner. At once the pig froze, one trotter in mid-air, just as he was about to take another big old bite out of the king’s royal bottom.
‘You!’ The king turned to stare at Cinders, two bright red spots appearing on his cheeks. ‘It was you!’
‘Um. Not really,’ Cinders said. ‘I don’t think.’
‘Yes it was! You cast a spell!’ the king insisted. ‘What are you, a witch?’
‘I didn’t cast a spell,’ Cinders replied, slowly realising what had happened. ‘You made a wish and I granted it. By accident.’
‘She’s a witch!’ the king insisted. Joderick looked at his new friend, evidently uncertain of what to say or do. ‘She’s a witch and witches must be locked up! Guards, seize her!’
‘But I’m not a witch,’ Cinders argued as she backed away. ‘And, quite frankly, I don’t think witches are nearly as bad as you think. There’s one living in the woods near us and she’s ever so nice, always gives me a card on my birthday. Her name’s Veronica and she’s a delight. Of course there was all that nonsense with Hansel and Gretel, but Hansel was totally in the wrong there: everyone knows he ate her gingerbread door and then made up the thing about the kidnapping and the oven to get out of trouble.’
‘She’ll be defending fairies next,’ the queen said, grabbing her butter knife and thrusting it forward to defend herself. ‘Guards, take her away!’
The two guards either side of the door looked at each other uncertainly, as if they were there for purely decorative purposes and unsure about tackling an unpredictable, if very little, witch.
‘Joderick, I promise I’m not a witch,’ Cinders said, eyeing the floating pig in the middle of the room. To be fair, she could understand why they were all a bit confused. ‘Please don’t let them lock me up!’
Just then there was a commotion outside in the hallway. Her trusty best friend bounded into the dining hall, knocking over the guards in their shiny suits of armour as he ran full throttle towards Cinders.
‘Never fear! Sparks is here!’
‘A talking dog!’ the king shrieked. ‘She’s definitely a witch!’
‘I think it’s time to leave,’ Sparks said, pausing to nab a string of sausages. ‘What?’ he asked as Cinders arched an eyebrow at him, making her way towards the door. ‘I came to save you, didn’t I? No harm in grabbing a snack on the way.’
‘Guards!’ squeaked the king. ‘GUARDS!’
‘Yes, guards!’ squeaked the queen. ‘Guards, guards!’
‘Oof,’ groaned one of them. ‘Can’t get up. Give us a hand, Georgie.’
‘All those pumpkins, Peter.’ Georgie staggered to his feet and stuck out his hand, puffing as he tried to pull Peter to his feet. ‘That’s what it is, innit? You’re a bit squished in that there armour.’
‘You’re a fine one to talk, Georgie!’ huffed Peter, struggling to stand up. ‘You ate all the pudding and all the pies— Oi!’ Peter snatched at Cinders, who was sidling towards the doorway, lost his balance and pulled Georgie on top of him with a crash.
‘Cinders!’ yelped Sparks. ‘Come on!’
‘Jodders!’ yelled Cinders, turning to her new friend. ‘Are you coming with me?’
‘Don’t even think about it, son!’ yelled the king.
‘Yes!’ yelled the queen. ‘Don’t you dare leave with that girl!’
Joderick looked from Cinders to his parents, then back to her. Then he smiled and ran over to Cinders.
‘Joderick Jorenson Picklebottom!’ shouted the queen. ‘Don’t move another muscle!’
The guards were clanking to their feet, but kept pulling each other over, crashing this way and that, still shouting about too many pumpkins and pecks of pickled peppers.
‘Quick!’ said Joderick to Cinders, dashing for the door. ‘Follow me!’ He tore out of the dining room and into the hallway, ignoring his shrieking mother and furious father, even though he knew he’d probably be grounded for all time.
‘Thanks, Joderick,’ Cinders said, hurtling after him and tearing off her wig and loosening her corset as she ran.
‘Hurry,’ panted Sparks. ‘Before those guards are back on their feet.’
‘This way.’ Joderick pulled on a candelabra and a small, Sparks-sized door opened in the wall underneath it. ‘This tunnel leads all the way to the stables. No one will know where you’ve gone.’
Sparks leaped into the tunnel without a second thought and disappeared into the darkness.
‘My dress is too big!’ exclaimed Cinders, trying to wedge herself into the narrow stone doorway. ‘I’ll never fit.’
‘Here.’ Joderick pulled off his jacket and his trousers. ‘Put these on instead.’
Cinders looked at the crown prince of the kingdom, standing before her in his shirtsleeves and long johns. He had never looked more regal.
‘Thank you, Jodders,’ she said, swapping clothes with her new friend. ‘Thank you for everything. I want you to know I would never have done anything to hurt you or your family. At least not on purpose. Even if I laughed a little bit when the pig bit your dad’s bum.’
‘He’ll survive,’ Joderick said, almost smiling. ‘When you get to the stables, grab your horse and head east. Whatever you do, don’t go west or you’ll end up in the Dark Forest.’
‘Will I see you again?’ Cinders asked, suddenly sad at the thought of leaving her friend behind. ‘And won’t you be in terrible trouble?’
‘I’ve a feeling you will see me again,’ he replied, turning as the sound of guards’ footsteps thundered up the hallway. ‘And I’ve a feeling I will be in trouble. Unless I can come up with a story – it wouldn’t be the first time. Now go, before they catch you!’
Cinders took a deep breath, closed her eyes and jumped head first into the pitch-black of the tunnel.
‘We’ve searched the entire kingdom, Your Highness,’ the head guard announced as he and his army returned to the throne room. ‘There’s no sign of Cinderella, her dog or her horse.’
‘Don’t stop searching!’ the king ordered. ‘No one goes to sleep until she’s been found. I will not have a witch roaming wild in my kingdom.’
He’d been pacing up and down ever since Joderick had explained how the girl had put a spell on him to make him help her, and then disappeared into thin air outside the dining hall.
It was witchcraft all right and the king was almost certain that, somehow, those fairies were involved as well.
‘We believe she may have gone towards the mountains, Your Highness,’ the guard went on. ‘We found tracks that led right up to the edge of the forest.’
‘The Deep Dark Scary Forest?’ the king asked.
The guards nodded.
‘At the bottom of the Dark Mountains?’ the queen asked.
The guards nodded.
Joderick sighed. Exactly what he’d told Cinders not to do.
‘Then she’s a goner,’ the queen said, almost happily. ‘Nothing can survive in those woods, not even a witch.’
But Prince Joderick wasn’t so sure. If anyone could survive in the Deep Dark Very Incredibly Scary Forest, he was fairly certain it was Cinder
s.
‘Cinderella is officially exiled from this kingdom,’ the king declared. ‘Inform her family.’
‘I’ll go,’ Joderick offered. ‘I’d like to tell them myself.’
The king shrugged. ‘I was thinking we’d send a text, but all right, if you must.’
‘We still need him married by midsummer’s eve,’ the queen reminded her husband as Joderick left the throne room. ‘I’m certain the fairies are behind this plot somehow.’
‘Me too,’ the king agreed. ‘Don’t worry, this time we’ll take matters into our own hands and find him a far more suitable match.’
‘This doesn’t seem like a very good idea to me,’ Sparks said as they trotted up to the trees at the edge of the Dark Forest.
‘It doesn’t seem to me like we have a lot of choice,’ Cinders said, high atop Mouse the horse. ‘Unless you want to go back to the palace and live in the dungeons.’
‘It’s you they want to lock up,’ he reminded her. ‘Not me.’
Mouse squeaked in agreement.
Even though Joderick had said to ride away from the mountains, something still drew Cinders in their direction. Before she realised it, they were right at the foothills, surrounded by tall trees that grew up and up and up until they blocked out any stars in the sky. The air was as cold as ice and the sky was pitch-black, and Cinders began to feel a little afraid. But, even so, she knew this was the right direction in which to travel.
‘We have to go this way, Sparks,’ she said very, very quietly as one golden, glittering tear slipped down her cheek. ‘I can feel it in my bones.’
‘It’s not your bones I’m worried about,’ he muttered. ‘It’s mine.’
‘I just wish we could see a bit better,’ said Cinders. ‘And had some kind of help.’
For the first time, she was beyond thankful when the sparkles shot out from her hands and lit up the forest around her.
Or at least she was until she began to float up out of her saddle and hover in mid-air.
Sparks covered his eyes with his paws and Mouse ran round and round in circles until he collided with a low tree branch and promptly fell over.
‘Oh me, oh my! What’s occurring?’
The sparkles subsided and Cinders opened her eyes to see Brian standing in front of her, wearing a neon-pink tracksuit and lime-green wellies.
‘Ah, it’s you,’ the fairy said. ‘What do you want? I was halfway through mowing my lawn.’
‘Where have you been?’ Cinders gasped. She was relieved to see her fairy godmother, but she was still very upset with her. ‘I have had the worst day of my entire life.’
‘Did you not just hear me?’ Brian asked. ‘I said I was mowing my lawn and it’s not one of those fancy ride-on mowers so don’t go acting like you’re the only one who’s had a rough day. What’s the matter with you?’
‘I went to the ball, I met the prince, then the prince asked me to marry him and I had to go and live at the palace and then I accidentally wished a roasted pig back to life and it bit the king on the bottom!’ Cinders paused to take a deep breath. ‘He accused me of being a witch, we ran away and now we’re stuck out here, in these woods, with no idea what to do or where to go.’
‘You did all that in one day?’ Brian looked surprised.
‘Blimey.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Cinders yelped. ‘It’s been a week!’
‘Are you sure?’ Brian asked, frowning in concentration. ‘Definitely doesn’t feel as though it’s been that long to me. Two days tops. I mean, I have a big garden but still.’
‘It’s been seven very long days,’ Sparks corrected her, nodding. ‘Trust me.’
‘Hmm.’ Brian raised a glittery eyebrow. ‘Interesting.’
‘And now the king wants me locked up!’ Cinders threw her tingling fingertips into Brian’s face. ‘And, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m currently flying!’
‘Of course you’re not a witch,’ Brian scoffed, patting Mouse the horse on the rump and then giving his mane a sniff. ‘You’re a fairy. Now is it me or does this horse smell like cheese?’
Cinders began to float slowly back down to the ground.
‘I’m … a … what?’ she asked slowly.
‘You’re a fairy,’ Brian replied. ‘Or at least you’re a half-fairy. Your mother was a fairy and your dad was, well, a bit simple but nice enough for a human.’
‘I’m a fairy?’ Cinders repeated.
‘Can you grant wishes?’ Brian asked.
Cinders nodded. ‘Mine and other people’s, it turns out.’
‘Do you have a very, very sweet tooth?’ Brian asked.
Cinders nodded. ‘Even now I could murder a chocolate-chip cookie.’
‘And do you own a talking dog?’ Brian asked.
‘I’ll say yes to that one,’ Sparks replied.
‘So if we add in the fact that your mother was a fairy I think we can conclude that you, Cinderella, are also a fairy,’ Brian said. ‘Unfortunately, you also take after your father so you’ve a tendency to be a bit dense. I mean, your mum just told him to keep you away from the palace and he never questioned it? Hopeless. But you? I honestly can’t believe you haven’t worked it out before now.’
‘This explains everything,’ Cinders gasped, finally putting two and two together. ‘And I bet all fairies have really smelly feet, just like me, right?’
‘Um, sure, why not?’ Brian said, wrinkling her nose.
‘They really are disgusting,’ Sparks commented, holding his nose with his paws. ‘Always been foul. It’s not right for a young girl to have such stinking socks.’
‘Right …’ said Brian.
Cinders’s head was spinning. She was a fairy. Her mother had been a fairy. It really was quite a lot to take in on an almost empty stomach.
‘Why don’t I have wings like you?’ she asked.
‘What exactly have you done to deserve a pair of wings, young lady?’ Brian scolded. ‘Kids today, expecting everything on a plate as soon as they snap their fingers …’
‘Okay, I’ll wait on the wings,’ Cinders said. ‘But why does the king think fairies have claws and fangs and that they eat people for dinner? Whatever happened between the Fairy King and King Picklebottom all those years ago?’
Brian rolled her eyes and shook her wings, leaving a circle of glitter all around her.
‘Some people never get over a break-up,’ she sighed. ‘Trust me, it’s just bad publicity. We don’t have fangs, we don’t have claws and we definitely don’t eat humans. Not really much for the savoury options at all, to be honest – we’re definitely dessert people. As you might have noticed, all fairies have a sweet tooth.’
‘Jodders told me there’ve been no fairies in our kingdom for more than a hundred years,’ Cinders said. She had never been so confused in her life. ‘So how did my parents find each other at the palace? They did meet at the palace, right …?’ It was the only thing her dad had ever told her. If that turned out to be a lie …
‘Oh, yes, they did,’ said Brian. ‘Your mum left Fairyland and came over here. Probably passed this very spot on her way. But it’s an awfully long story. Are you sure you want to hear it now?’
‘Yes!’ Cinders exclaimed. ‘I want to hear everything! Why did my mother leave Fairyland? How did she come to meet my father? Please tell me everything.’
‘I would, only I was thinking you might want to get out of the forest before nightfall,’ Brian suggested. ‘Because that’s when the gadzoozles and nobbledizooks come out to hunt.’
‘And that’s bad, is it?’ Cinders asked, looking around nervously.
‘Depends,’ her fairy godmother replied. ‘Do you like being hung upside down and roasted over an open fire?’
‘Not especially,’ Cinders answered.
‘Then I should get a wriggle on,’ Brian said, looking at her watch. ‘The journey to Fairyland won’t be easy for a halfling, but your magic will get stronger as you get closer to home. And, if you’re ever in desp
erate need of help, you must eat cake. Cake boosts your magic, as you might have worked out by now.’
Staring into the darkness of the forest, Cinders felt herself shiver from top to toe. What she wouldn’t have given for one of Joderick’s chocolate brownies right at that moment.
‘Can’t you take me there yourself?’ she asked. ‘I could help you finish mowing that lawn.’
‘It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid,’ Brian replied, shaking her head. ‘And because you’re only a halfling you won’t be able to wish yourself in either. You need to quest through the Dark Forest, traverse the Empty Valley and then travel along the mountain pass if you want to make it to Fairyland.’
‘Sounds a bit too dangerous to me,’ Sparks said gruffly. Mouse twitched his whiskers and flicked his tail in agreement. ‘Perhaps we should pop back to the palace and see if all the fuss has died down?’
‘And spend the rest of our lives in the dungeons?’ Cinders reminded him. ‘They wanted to lock me up when they thought I was a witch. Imagine what the king would do if he found out I was a fairy!’
‘Maybe the dungeons aren’t all that bad,’ Sparks suggested, cowering at the thought of venturing into the Dark Forest. ‘Did you even get a good look at them? If each cell has its own telly, I say we give it a try.’
But Cinders had made up her mind. There was no going back – she could only go onwards. If her mother had braved these woods and journeyed through the valley and along the mountain pass – even if it had been in the opposite direction – then so would she.
‘No, Sparks, it’s time to find out who I really am,’ she told her four-legged friend as she climbed back into Mouse’s saddle. ‘We go on to Fairyland.’
‘Righto.’ Brian clapped happily before checking her watch. ‘Would you look at the time? I must dash, but do shout if you need anything. I probably won’t come right away, but I’ll give it a shot. And don’t worry about the munklepoops – their bark is worse than their bite.’