I squinted and could make out vague features of someone standing on the other side of the hedge, but it was too vague to make out any details.
“Then where are they?” Another voice asked, this one lower, more on a grumbling tone.
“We must go now.” A third voice.
I knew that voice.
I gasped, my breath getting stuck in my throat. That voice was familiar, something from a memory, or maybe from a nightmare… But whose voice was it?
“Did you hear that?” This was the first voice again. “They must be close.”
“Let’s go!” The second voice.
Footsteps hurried off, in the direction we had come from. I had hoped the third voice, the one I recognized, would speak again, but no such luck.
Caspian and I waited until the voices had disappeared in the distance, before he pulled me out of the hedge. I half-stumbled over the hem of my dress, and he caught me before I tumbled to the floor.
“Sorry, I’m a bit clumsy,” I apologized while I straightened up, and tossed a strand of loose hair behind my ear.
“It’s okay.” Caspian kept on staring at me, but he didn’t let go of me yet, his hands still protectively holding mine.
“Do you think the others are okay?”
“The hedge told me we’re almost in the center,” Caspian said. “Malachi and Celia are there already.”
I blinked at him, taken aback. “I didn’t know that plants could talk to you.”
“One of the advantages of being a prince of the White Kingdom. The white magic allows us to have a strong connection with all kinds of plant-life,” the prince explained. “I’ll explain more later. For now, let’s find the others and let’s get the heck out of here.”
Despite the circumstances, it was nice to see him act a little less formal for once. More hands-on, taking decisions, taking action. I liked him more like this, it seemed more natural to him than the formal behavior too, even though Malachi had said Caspian was a lot better at court intrigue than Malachi was.
Pulling me along, Caspian led us out of the rest of the labyrinth, toward the center. The moment we rounded the last hedge leading to the middle of the maze, my heart stopped beating until I laid my eyes on Celia. Even if she looked furious, I was thrilled to see her.
I yanked my and out of Caspian’s, lifted my skirts, and rushed toward Celia, wrapping her in my arms. I hugged her as hurt as I could.
“You’re crushing me!” she protested, but I didn’t care if I broke all the ribs in her body, I was so relieved to see her again.
“I thought they had gotten to you,” I told her, as I held her at arm’s length to inspect if she was all right. “I thought maybe they had hurt you, or kidnapped you, or—”
“Wait a second.” Celia’s fury seemed to slowly make place for mild curiosity. “Who is ‘they’?”
“What happened?” Malachi asked, more to his brother than to me.
“Someone else was in the maze,” Caspian said. “Regina ran into them first. Then, we found each other, and we went through the rest of the maze together. We encountered three more people, but luckily we could hide in one of the hedges.”
“Is that why you were holding hands?” Celia scrunched her nose, still looking as displeased as if someone had shoved a nasty-smelling perfume under her nose.
“Yes. Caspian saved me,” I told her. “He helped me through the labyrinth, and he used magic to hide us in the bushes when they came near.”
“Three voices?” Malachi drew his sword as well. “Do you think they’re still around?”
“It’s probably nothing,” Celia said, gesturing for everyone to calm down. “Maybe some ladies-in-waiting also went in the labyrinth, or some servants came looking for us. I’m sure it’s nothing. There’s no place better protected in Wonderland than the Red Palace.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. When I saw it when I was alone… It seemed threatening to me.”
“Why?” Celia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Did it do something to you?”
“No, but—”
“Then how do you know it was trying to threaten you?”
“I…” I licked my lips, not sure what to respond. “I don’t know. But when those voices passed us by, it was clear from their conversation that they were looking for us. I don’t know why, but they were.”
“Regina is right,” Caspian said.
“Still.” Celia shrugged, as if it was no big deal and all of this was completely normal. When we were children, we had played hide-and-seek in the maze on dozens of occasions, and never once had I been chased by creatures looking like a Babayuk. “What did it look like? Maybe it was just the servants coming to look for us?”
“It wasn’t a servant,” I insisted. “It looked a little like… A Babayuk. You know?”
“That’s just a myth,” Celia said. “A story they tell little children.”
“I’m not saying that’s what it was.” I flinched realizing a hint of anger had slipped into my voice. “It’s just what it looked like. Can we go now? Whatever we saw or heard, our safest bet seems to be to get out of here right now.”
“I agree,” Malachi said, the first words he had spoken since Caspian and I had emerged from the maze. “We can inform the guards; they ought to know if any of the servants or someone else was looking for us.” Still with his sword drawn, he led us toward the exit—once in the center, there was a signpost clearly showing the way to the exit.
Less than five minutes, all of us were safe and sound outside the maze. I stepped back a few meters, looking at the gardens. There was no one in this part of the gardens but us. I spotted a few other ladies higher up, closer toward the castle, but in this lower area of the gardens, the four of us were the only ones present.
“There goes your ‘servants looking for us’ theory,” I said to Celia, sounding snappier than I had intended. “If the servants were behind this, they would’ve left at least one of them waiting outside the labyrinth in case we came out sooner.”
“If it’s not the servants or any of the other ladies, then what is it?” Celia shot back at me, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like an enemy army could just come waltzing in. You just went in there…” She gestured at the maze, “and started hearing things. It happens. You wouldn’t be the first, and you won’t be the last.”
I knew she was thinking about her mother, the Queen, but that wasn’t the same. “Caspian and I both heard,” I reminded her, but Celia just threw her hands in the air, exasperated.
“Why can’t we just have fun? Why does it always need to be drama with you?” she asked me, as if it all of this was somehow my fault. As if I had invited a Babayuk, or maybe something worse, on our premises.
“I’m sorry, okay,” I told her. “But we both saw it, and I’m not making this up. If there is something here, then we have to report it. It could be something dangerous.”
Celia rolled her eyes. “You didn’t make this up just so you could escape having to sing a song for us? Because I haven’t forgotten, cousin, and I don’t plan to let you off the hook that easily.”
I couldn’t believe how ridiculous she was being. I stared at her as if she had grown three heads. Something could’ve been threatening us in the very gardens of our own palace, and she was worried I was making it all up just to get out of a stupid bet?
“Celia, I saw it too,” Caspian interfered. “Something was in that labyrinth with us. I sincerely think we should tell your father and the guards.”
“Hm.” Celia pouted, looking from Caspian to me and back. She narrowed her eyes, obviously not too pleased the prince was taking my side. “Very well then. Caspian, will you please escort me to the throne room, so we can tell my father?”
“And what about me?” I asked before she could say anything else. “Shouldn’t I tell him what I saw?”
“If your description of what you saw is exactly as what you just told me, then no,” Celia said shortly. “There’s no point. Unless you can give a b
etter description of what you saw in the maze?”
Dumbfounded, I shook my head.
“Very well then. Caspian?” She lifted her arm toward him. The prince shot an apologetic look toward me and then, like a lapdog, followed after her, a far cry from the brave man who had protected me in the labyrinth earlier.
“He must’ve hated her treating him like that,” Malachi said when they were out of earshot. “Like some kind of puppy.”
“You read my mind.” I sighed. Why did everyone always dance to the tune of Celia’s song? Was it because she was the princess—was that the reason even Derrick, ultimately, had given in? And if so, would I ever stand a chance, or was I doomed from the start?
“Let’s head inside the castle too,” Malachi suggested. “I’m a bit fed up with the outside air.”
We started walking toward the castle, side by side. After a few meters, Malachi interrupted the silence lingering between us.
“So, the thing in the maze looked a bit like the Babayuk, you said?” When Celia had asked me, she had made it sound ridiculous, but Malachi made it sound as if it was just as plausible an answer as any.
“Yes,” I replied to him. “Very tall and thin. At first, I thought it was wearing a bowler hat, but the more I think about it, the more I think that was the creatures’ head, as if it was perfectly round.”
“Hm.” Malachi scratched the side of his nose. “Do you think you could draw it, this creature?”
“Sure. I mean, I think so.”
“Let’s head to the library then. I would like to see what exactly it is you saw. Maybe it’ll correspond to something I saw myself, in a place far away from here, beyond the battlefield of Red and White.”
I lowered my voice. “The threat from the east?”
Malachi didn’t reply, but he nodded before he pushed open the entrance doors and led me into the castle’s courtyard.
Chapter 9
Malachi and I were in the library on the first floor of the castle. Bella had brought us some hot tea to get over the events of this afternoon, and a warm blanket which she huddled across my shoulders, to warm me. The fireplace was casting cozy light all across the room. I was seated in an armchair on one side of a coffee table, and Malachi was sitting in a regular chair on the other side, bowed over the drawing I had made detailing what I had seen in the maze.
Celia and Caspian still hadn’t returned from seeing the king, and I felt sick to my stomach thinking about how Celia would no doubt do everything in her power to make it look as if I had made all of this up. She hated it when someone stole the spotlight from her, even if the reason was a completely valid one.
“Hm,” Malachi said for the millionth time, still inspecting the drawing I had made.
“You’ve been very talkative in the past half hour,” I said sarcastically. “So, is it like what you saw or not?”
“It is.” The response made me breathe out in relief. So, I wasn’t crazy. This thing really existed, and Malachi had seen it too.
“I’m just trying to figure out what exactly it is.”
“Ah.” I tilted my head to the left, closer toward him as I tried to figure out what the monster I had drawn could be. “It almost looks like a…” I squinted, grabbed my pencil and a new paper, and started drawing out the shadow I had seen again.
“Very broad shoulders, completely square. A head that is a perfect button-shape. If that’s a human, then it’s very malformed. It looks almost like how a child would draw a stick figure.”
Malachi opened his mouth to reply, but just then, Celia and Caspian burst into the library.
I veered up from my chair. “And? Did you tell the king?”
“Yes.” Celia rolled her eyes and slumped down in a lounge-chair near the fireplace. “Father acted all over the top, as usual. He will triple the guards, no one is to leave the palace after sunset. Ridiculous.” She sighed out loud, as if this was the worst possible thing that could’ve ever happened to her.
“If I may,” Caspian suggested. “I do think the King handled with wisdom and care, Celia. If your life was put at risk…”
“Not mine, though,” the crown princess replied without skipping a beat. “Hers.” She pointed a long, elegant finger toward me, accusatory, as if I had chosen someone would follow me into that maze, as if I liked being chased by a creature that barely seemed human.
“Let’s all calm down,” Caspian suggested.
“Regina drew a picture of what she saw.” Malachi stood up and handed her brother the drawing. “It reminds me of what I saw in the village near the Edge of the World. As you know, I could only get a short look at it, but this seems to be the same thing.”
Caspian inspected the drawing. “We need to figure out what this is.”
“Ugh, this is so exhausting,” Celia whined, still not having moved from her chair. “Why do we need to waste our time on this? The guards will figure it out, and they’ll keep us safe.”
I saw anger flashing across Caspian’s features but he pushed it down, trying to calm himself. “Princess,” he said evenly, addressing my cousin, “if this is the same creature Malachi and I encountered at the Edge of the World, then it doesn’t predict anything good.”
“What happened to the town?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“It was invaded.” Malachi was the one who replied, a hint of hurt having crept in his voice. “Torn. Ransacked. People fled, some people died. In the course of one night, the entire village was destroyed.”
“How about that song now?” Celia sat up and clapped her hands. “With all this doom and gloom, I’m in the mood for some music, and you owe me one, Regina.”
My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. This thing was possibly responsible for annihilating an entire village, and she wanted me to sing her a song?
This wasn’t what a proper Queen should do. What a proper ruler should do. She didn’t understand the responsibilities of rulership, and I doubted she ever would. She was too self-obsessed, too focused on Celia, and no one but Celia.
“Not now,” I tried to plead with her. “Let’s figure this out first.” Desperately to bring the topic back to what really mattered, I looked up at the two princes. “This one thing on its own couldn’t have brought down an entire village. We heard three voices at least. What if there’s more—a dozen, an army?”
“Or what if the moon was purple and you would stop nagging about this nonsense and start fulfilling your end of the bargain for once?”
I froze in my spot, my mouth stuck mid-sentence. Celia’s voice was sharp, angry. She was at her most dangerous like this, a weapon without aim, willing to shoot everyone in her view just to reach out and hurt as many people as she could.
The princess got up from her chair. “I told you to sing, cousin. We had a deal. It’s your turn to hold up your end now.”
“I will,” I said to hear, holding my hands out pleadingly. “I promise, but I—”
“Now.” The tone of my cousin’s voice was dangerously low, and I knew better to thwart her when she was acting like this.
“All right, fine.” I walked toward her, balling my hands into fists. “I will sing your stupid song first, but then we need to focus on this, Celia.”
“I will choose the song.” A sly smile curled around her lips. “You said I could choose.”
“Whatever.” I shook my head. “Just choose the song you want me to sing, and I’ll do it. I can’t sing anyway, so it doesn’t matter which one you choose.”
The sly smile grew broader, almost turning into a grin. Too late I realized that my cousin had once again set a trap for me, like a spider waiting for its prey, and I had stumbled right into the trap.
“I want you to sing,” Celia said, her voice sickeningly sweet, the lingering bite of a tarantula as her web rendered the prey paralyzed, waiting for the spider to approach and devour it. “Obelin and the Jabberwocky.”
I couldn’t believe it. The same song I had begged her not to sing yesterda
y. The song about my father, the hero turned mad, the man who had not loved me enough to not feed himself to the sharks of the Pool of Tears. It was bad enough to hear someone else sing this song, but it was ten times worse having to sing it myself.
“You want me to sing that?” My voice was hoarse, as if all the air had evaporated from my lungs. I dug my fingers into my skin until I felt blood gushing from the tiny wounds.
“Yes,” Celia said in an ice-cold tone. “You promised, Regina.”
I couldn’t even hear the song without becoming physically sick, let alone perform it for anyone, especially not these princes who were still almost complete strangers to me. I thought Celia would want to embarrass me about my horrible singing voice, not that she would want to completely gut me to the core.
“This is cruel,” I told her. “Even for you.”
This seemed to take her aback for a second, but she shrugged it off. “You said I could pick any song, cousin. If you didn’t want this one, you should’ve been more specific.”
“Come on, Celia, why not a happier song?” Caspian said, trying to come to my defense. “I’m not much in the mood for sad songs.”
“You were eager to hear this song yesterday.” Celia realized he was trying to manipulate her to help me, and it was backfiring for both of us. “Since Regina wouldn’t let me sing it then, it’s time for her to sing it today. Come on, let’s have it.” She gestured at the empty place in front of some of the library closets in the back of the room. “That looks like a good stage for you.”
Who was she? As my feet guided me toward the spot she had indicated, following the directions of the tyrant that was my cousin, I wondered if this was a trait she had inherited from my uncle, or from my aunt. I could scarcely remember my aunt before she turned into a mountain of silence, but before that, she had seemed kind, calm. Not vicious. Not inclined to hurt others for her own gain. My uncle was stricter—he was the one who orchestrated the lines to the gallows every month accompanied by the shouts of the onlookers that often rang through my ears, ‘off with their heads!’. But he too wasn’t cruel for the sake of being cruel alone. At least, I didn’t think so…
Kingdom of Villains and Vengeance Page 61