‘You call that easy?’ Scotty says, peering over the edge. ‘I can’t even see the bottom.’
‘I don’t think there is a bottom.’ Bianca swallows. ‘I think it just goes on forever.’
‘Well, that’s just nutty,’ Scotty replies.
‘I have to go across.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘It’s the only way.’ She moves to step onto the bridge but he stops her.
‘Are you crazy?’ he says. ‘You have no idea what might happen! The bridge could be an illusion or anything!’
She drops to a crouch and pokes at the brick. ‘Nope, definitely real,’ she says. She turns to him. ‘I guess this is goodbye.’
‘What?!’ he exclaims. ‘I’m coming with you!’
‘I think this is my part,’ she replies, with a smile. ‘You never have Prince Charming and his best friend coming to put a shoe on Cinderella or kiss Snow White awake.’
‘Well, had he had the chance, I’m pretty sure he, too, would have a dashing blonde man by his side!’
‘Scotty.’ She puts her hands on his shoulders. ‘This is mine to do. You need to go back to Cory and Daisy.’
‘No.’ He shakes his head. ‘Look; I’ll at least come with you into the tower. You can do whatever you want after that. But we don’t know what you might be facing in there. Just... let me help protect you a little longer, okay?’
She smiles at him. ‘Okay,’ she says. ‘Agreed.’
She moves to step onto the bridge again but before she has chance a strong arm grabs her by the back of her shirt, dragging her back. It’s not Scotty. She squeaks and reaches for her sword, but an even stronger arm stops her with a hand clasped around her wrist and pulling her backwards.
‘Scotty!’ she screams as she’s dragged kicking and screaming into a large group of trolls.
Before she knows where she is, there’s a hand on her ankle and another on her wrist, a hand still grasping her shoulder, painfully while another grasps her elbow. They seem to be trying to decide what to do with her as they drag her ever further into their group. There’s at least thirty of them, each as big as the one in the original cave.
She’s never been as terrified as she is right now as she struggles in their grasp, trying to grab her sword, lighter, hairspray... anything!
Hands push at her, pull at her, big mitts the size of dinner plates, fingers digging into her skin and causing her to howl in pain. ‘Scotty!’ she shouts again.
And then, out of nowhere, he comes running in. Trolls fall down as he slashes them with his sword and the ones holding Bianca look around in confusion, unable to comprehend what’s happening. Before she knows what’s happening, the ground is coming up at her and her back slams down onto it with a painful crack sound when they release her. She gasps in pain as the trolls storm past, one barely missing stepping on her chest.
She curls into the foetal position, staring up at the battlefield in pain and horror as Scotty faces down all of the trolls by himself. ‘Scotty,’ she gasps out. She shoves down on the ground and somehow pushes herself into a standing position, wavering unsteadily on her feet.
Bianca draws her sword again once she’s regained her balance, gripping it steadily in her hands and looks up, squinting in the direct light of the sun setting over the hills, in time to see a troll about to stab Scotty in the back of the neck.
Her sword slides into the troll’s chest like butter and then she rips it out, letting the creature sink to the floor.
‘Thanks,’ Scotty says, turning around.
‘Thank you,’ Bianca corrects, in time for another troll to attack.
She spins around and slashes a troll, who falls backwards onto the brick bridge. As soon as its weight is dispersed across the brick, the bridge crumbles and the troll – and the bridge – plummet down to the fog below.
‘I’m so glad you didn’t try that bridge!’ Scotty shouts, fighting off his own troll.
Bianca pulls a smoke bomb from her belt, lights it with her lighter, and throws it into the throngs of trolls in time to see a horse approaching from ahead with the prince on its back.
‘Scotty!’ she shouts, pointing towards the horse.
‘Damn it!’ Scotty yells back as the smoke begins to disperse, confusing the trolls. They back towards the precipice, standing side-by-side as they fight, the horse getting closer.
A troll goes flying over them and lands on an invisible platform. Bianca stares at it in shock and Scotty stops a troll before it can hit her with a club.
‘You should go,’ Scotty shouts over the din of troll-noise.
‘No!’ she exclaims. ‘I can’t leave you here!’
Scotty gives her an exasperated look and they fight for another few minutes, trolls falling into the precipice and howling in rage. They don’t seem to be confused by the smoke anymore, which is a disadvantage.
The prince gallops by on his horse, leaps over the two humans and lands on the invisible platforms, hoofs hitting the emptiness in all the right places, crossing a hidden bridge. Bianca turns and watches him as she fights. ‘No!’
‘Go!’ Scotty shouts. He grabs her by the arms and shoves her towards the edge of the precipice. ‘I’ll hold them off! Just go!’
‘But...’
‘Go!’
She turns again in time to see the horse and rider plummet downwards towards the base of the cliff having missed one of the invisible stones. She takes a breath and leaps onto the first one, landing firmly in the centre. Then she reaches out with her sword to find the next one. Two invisible bricks later, she turns back in time to see Scotty being carried into the throngs of trolls.
Knowing she can’t go back, she takes a deep breath and carries on.
Nineteen
She manages to leap across ten invisible stones before she notices the prince climbing up the outside of the tower. That’s when she starts moving faster. She can see the barest of outlines of the platforms where the smoke from the edge of the precipice, having seeped across to the bridge, bends around them and she uses that to her advantage.
She leaps gracefully to the next one and manages to balance. The next one is higher up, so she jumps to grab the edge and somehow clambers up. She can see the prince below. He’s seen her too and speeds up his ascent.
‘Damn it,’ she mutters. She leaps for the next block and misses.
The result is her clinging to it by her fingertips, legs swinging freely as she struggles to hold on with one hand. Her arms burn and she knows she’s going to feel this tomorrow. She’s going to feel all of it; her back, her legs, her shoulder, her arms... everything is going to ache and she can’t bring herself to care.
With a feat of undeniable determination, she pulls up onto the platform and scrabbles towards the next one up ahead. The window is getting closer; so close she can reach out with a sore arm and her fingertips almost grace the sill.
‘Alexandra!’ she shouts.
She scrambles up the last two platforms and jumps towards the window, grabbing the opening and dragging herself in.
She lands in a circular room and takes a moment of lying on the floor to appraise it. The carpet is plush and light blue; there are silken curtains on the windows – two windows at opposite sides of the room – and there’s an open trapdoor up ahead that, on first glance, Bianca would guess leads to a bathroom or a kitchen. The main part of the room, however, catches her unawares.
She expected Alexandra to be trapped in a horrible dingy room in the middle of nowhere, but instead the whole thing is luxurious. She could happily climb into the bed and live there for the next week; the duvet is thick and looks so soft and the mattress looks so comfortable.
But, instead of retreating into a world of soft pillows and warm quilts, Bianca stands up and walks across to the trapdoor. ‘Alexandra!’ she calls out.
A blonde head appears out of the hole and her eyes widen when she sees Bianca. Her hair is cascading down her back, wavy and loose with two small plaits around from her ears to the back of her head and s
he’s dressed in a beautiful, flowing apricot gown.
‘Bianca?’ she whispers, stunned.
‘Yeah.’ Bianca holds out her hand and helps Alexandra step off the steps and up into the room.
‘What are you doing here? The prince will be here any second to kiss me and take me to the kingdom to wed!’ Alexandra exclaims.
‘I’m here to save you! He isn’t a prince; he’s the enchantress’ son. He’s going to marry you; have you have his kid and then kill you.’
‘What?’ Alexandra looks sickened. ‘Oh my god!’
‘I’m your Prince Charming. I’m the one you’re meant to be with, not him.’
‘What do you care?’ Alexandra says. ‘Why do you want to be with me?’
‘Because... because those weeks you were in my life were the best of my life.’
After a moment of silence, Alexandra reaches out and touches Bianca’s face. ‘You’re older,’ she whispers.
‘Eighteen,’ she confirms.
‘Me too.’ Alexandra smiles, softly. ‘It was my birthday a few days ago.’
Bianca smiles back. ‘Happy birthday,’ she says.
‘Thanks.’ Alexandra smiles shyly, but then her face hardens, as though she suddenly remembers the circumstances. ‘But you still shouldn’t be here. If it’s my destiny to marry and be killed then so be it. I just won’t have his children.’
‘You have a large supply of invisible condoms then, do you?’ Bianca snaps.
‘What do you care?’ Alexandra repeats. ‘I don’t even know why you’re here.’ She turns away. ‘Just leave me to my fate.’
Bianca catches her arm and turns her back around. ‘What have I done wrong?’ she splutters. ‘What the hell did I do that deserves this?’
‘Nothing.’ Alexandra shakes her head. ‘Let go of my arm.’
Bianca removes her hand and looks at her imploringly. ‘Alexandra; I want to be with you. I’ve given up everything to be here with you right now. Nissa came to me; she told me what’s going on. She told me I’m the one you’re meant to be with. I’m the one who dreamt of that hole. I’m the one who came to rescue you!’ She pauses. ‘Don’t you want to be with me?’
Alexandra watches her, cautiously. ‘Why did you come here? Why are you so desperate for me to come back to you?’
Bianca’s next words are quiet, barely audible. ‘Because everything’s so empty.’
‘What?’ Alexandra breathes.
‘It’s like there’s a hole in my world when you’re not in it.’ She’s reaching out now, hands touching hair and face and neck, as though trying to remember, memorise and hold onto in case she gets ripped away again. ‘It’s like there’s a gaping chasm in my life and I just can’t... I can’t go on without you here with me. You might as well just push me out of that window if you won’t be with me.’
‘You let me go.’
‘What?’
‘You made it clear you didn’t want me. And then you let me go. Without a fight. Why didn’t you fight?’
‘I didn’t know you wanted me to,’ Bianca whispers, crying now, hot tears rolling down her freckled skin. ‘Did you want me to?’
‘Yes.’ Alexandra reaches out, taking Bianca’s hands into her own. ‘God, yes. I needed... I need you in my life. You’re the one who rescued me. You looked after me and made me feel so much love I never believed I could feel.’
‘Then why did you leave? Why didn’t you fight to stay?’
‘I wanted you to stop me.’
Bianca reaches out, arms widening, and Alexandra steps into the hug. ‘I missed you,’ whispers Bianca.
‘I missed you too.’
She reaches down, lets her hand rest against the side of Alexandra’s face, brushes her thumb over her lips and tilts her face up to kiss her like she wanted to do so long ago and yet never did. Why didn’t she?
And then there’s something around her waist; thick and strong and dragging her away, slamming her into the wall before she can even open her eyes.
When she does open her eyes, she stares down in horror at the creature beneath her; still mostly prince, but with a long tail – which is currently around her waist, pinning her to the wall and squeezing – and talons growing from the tips of his fingers, skin turning scaly and green.
Alexandra screams.
‘Kiss me,’ the prince demands. ‘Kiss me and I will be your handsome Prince Charming again. That’s all it takes.’
‘You’re not my Prince Charming,’ Alexandra hisses. ‘She is.’ She moves to turn away, but the prince grabs her by the arm, swings her around until her back is pressed against his chest, neck exposed to his lips, which he slides down her skin.
‘You taste so good.’
‘Let me go!’ she shouts. She wrestles in his grip and tries to hit him with her elbows, but he keeps a tight grip on her as he twirls her around to face him. He holds her upper arm tightly as he releases her with his other hand, his fingers instead sliding up her body towards her face where his long, sharp talons pinch into her cheeks, pursing her lips together.
She shakes her head, twists and turns in his grip, trying to escape.
‘Don’t hurt her!’ Bianca shouts. ‘You’re not the one for her! I am!’
‘Shut up.’ The tail twists around her and slides up, squeezing her chest and constricting her breathing. She wheezes, helplessly, fingernails scrabbling against the scales on his tail.
‘Please,’ she says, through what little breath she has. ‘She doesn’t deserve this.’
‘Oh, I’m not so sure about that,’ he whispers. His words hiss slightly, sending a shiver through Bianca’s body. ‘She seems to deserve it; she waited in this tower for me, after all.’
‘She waited for me!’ Bianca tries to shout, but it comes out as a helpless wheeze. ‘She’s mine.’
The tail constricts further and Bianca finds herself completely unable to talk as she struggles in its grip.
‘Let’s see if she’s still yours once I do this,’ the prince whispers, and brings his mouth down on Alexandra’s for a kiss.
Twenty
Time seems to grind almost to a halt as the prince’s mouth hits Alexandra’s and the girl goes limp in his arms. There’s a long period in which no one moves, speaks or makes any kind of sound, then the tail starts to let go and the kiss deepens and Bianca sees – to her horror – that Alexandra is kissing back, leaning into the prince and wrapping her arms around his neck.
The tail pulls away and Bianca – previously practically up on the ceiling – slams down onto the ground face-first. The air in her lungs leaves her and she lies, helpless, on the ground as the prince – appearing to be human again now – pulls Alexandra in as close as he can. His hands are all over her, fingers slipping in through the lace of her dress.
‘Get off her,’ Bianca wheezes from the floor.
‘Or you’ll what?’ The prince looks around at her, humour dancing in his eyes as Alexandra steps in to lean against his chest, hands on his waist. ‘Pant me to death?’
‘I’ll kill you,’ Bianca promises. ‘I’ll kill you and spend the rest of my life proving to her why I’m the one she’s in love with.’
Something flickers and disappears in Alexandra’s eyes for a second, but then she’s turning back to the prince, smiling up and him and saying, ‘What should we do with her? We have a royal wedding to make preparations for and we’re running out of time.’
‘I don’t think she’s worth killing,’ the prince says, with a smirk. ‘I think we should leave her to suffer. Her friends are undoubtedly dead by now; if my mother’s trolls didn’t get them the assorted beasts of the wilderness will have and she’s lost you. She should live with that.’
‘You know,’ Bianca says, from the floor. ‘I’m going to enjoy killing you. You’re not human, so it’s not murder, and, whereas I didn’t enjoy killing the trolls, I’m going to really take pleasure in your death.’
‘Mm...’ He gives her a smirk. ‘Maybe I’ll keep you as a pet. With a bit of
training, you’d make an excellent guard dog.’
‘We must leave,’ Alexandra insists. ‘We have plans.’
Bianca pushes herself to her feet using all her willpower and most of her leftover muscles and pulls her sword from its sheath. ‘Fight me,’ she tells the prince. ‘For the hand of Princess Alexandra.’
‘My dear,’ the prince says. ‘Haven’t you noticed? I’ve already won. There would be no point.’
‘Then I’ll kill you here and now,’ Bianca says.
‘You can’t. I’m unarmed and you wouldn’t kill an unarmed man.’
‘Watch me,’ she hisses.
He laughs and puts his arm around Alexandra’s waist, leading her towards the window. ‘Come, Alexandra,’ he says. ‘We shall leave now.’
He climbs out of the window, helping Alexandra to move with him, and Bianca just stares after them in horror, physically unable to follow.
*
By the time Bianca regains enough strength to climb down from the window and lands on the new bridge – red brick and six foot wide, leading across to the edge of the precipice – Scotty is there.
‘What happened?!’ he exclaims. ‘I was about to be killed by trolls when they just... gave up and went away. I just got here; your horse found me.’ He gestures at the horse up ahead. ‘So, did you kiss her? Is it over?’
Bianca shakes her head, silently.
‘What happened?’
She shivers and Scotty takes off his hoodie, helping her into it. It’s about six times too big, but it’s baggy and loose and comfortable and it smells of her best friend. She wipes at her eyes with the sleeve and sniffs.
‘You need to talk to me,’ he says as they walk across the bridge towards the other side. ‘Tell me what happened.’
‘Prince got there first,’ she whispers. ‘I lost.’
‘What?’ Scotty says. ‘How can that be? You’re the one she’s supposed to be with.’
A Hole in the World Page 14