"Crush us?" Queen Ino smiled, oddly humored by the announcement. "My, Cinderella, you do make your enemies."
"It is no wonder you failed to kill her," the sorceress said with distaste. "You sound as if you have affection for the girl."
"Do I?" Queen Ino's cutting eyes turned to the sorceress. "Oh, My Sweet Girl! My Rapunzel!" she mocked, and the sorceress raised her staff again.
"Please!" Cinderella shouted. "Why do you turn on each other when it is Grimm who is your truest enemy?"
"So, you say," the sorceress replied, eyes going to Snow White's coffin as the ground trembled and a crack appeared in the glass.
"Well, it does seem the giant comes closer," Queen Ino declared. "If we are going to make an accord, it had better be decided."
"I have no cause to make an accord with you," the sorceress uttered, and, with a small hum, Queen Ino turned to her, stepping nearer the sorceress without fear.
"Would you not like to know that, when you cast a spell and it does your will, it is your own capability and not something... illusory?" the queen asked, hand dancing on the air above her as if in mimicry of the sorceress' magic.
"I have faith in my power," the sorceress sneered.
"I am sure you do," Queen Ino countered. "It is not difficult when it is someone else who does the magic through you."
"I do my own magic!" The sorceress banged her staff against the earth.
"How do you know?" Queen Ino questioned. "We know at least part of what the girl said to be true. We were all sent to the Gulf with the promise of her death, believing we would be alone in that attempt until we came upon each other. That does give her theory some credence. If we do nothing, if we go on as we have, we shall never truly know if we are powerful, or if it someone else who holds the power." Eyes moving over the sorceress, the queen looked unimpressed. "Personally, I do not think you possess that much magic on your own."
For a moment, Cinderella was certain the sorceress would attempt to slay Queen Ino where she stood, but expression easing with a growl, her mouth curved into an infuriated smile.
"Let us get rid of this Grimm," the sorceress agreed. "Then, I shall show you my power."
"I look forward to it," Queen Ino replied, turning her back on the sorceress with the same lack of fear with which she had faced her. "So, where is he?"
Opening her mouth, it occurred to Cinderella she had rallied them to nothing, for she knew not where Grimm was, nor how to find him.
"I do not know," she admitted, and, with a pronounced sigh, the sorceress gave a great roll of her eyes.
"But you desire to find him?" Queen Ino questioned, making way toward them. "Is that what you truly want, Cinderella, to find him and eliminate him?"
"He will never let us have peace," Cinderella uttered.
"Does that mean 'yes'?" Queen Ino asked.
"Yes," Cinderella returned, pushing taller, though she felt mismatched to their power. "I want to find him and make him leave us alone."
When the queen raised her dagger, Cinderella pulled Prince Salimen's sword on instinct, though it seemed most silly when Queen Ino simply pushed the blade aside with the back of her hand and raised the dagger to the cut at Cinderella's cheek.
Gently scraping the dried blood, fresh blood ran and Queen Ino held the blade beneath the cut. When she retracted it, Cinderella could see her blood upon the steel, could feel the care in Queen Ino's eyes as she raised her hand. Thumb sweeping over her skin, Cinderella felt a sharp pain as the wound healed in an instant, and raised her fingers to her cheek as Queen Ino backed away again.
Pulling the blade across her own palm, the queen's blood mixed with Cinderella's, and she slung the blood into the dirt at her feet, where the ground rose in a swirl of red that Cinderella recognized from their first trip through Aulis.
"Blood magic," the sorceress sneered, and spat at the ground, but the look of irritation on her face as she raised her eyes was the only indication the queen heard.
"He is not in this world," she said.
"So, then we wait for him to return?" Cinderella said with displeasure. "And risk what he will send for us from afar."
"There is another option." Queen Ino's eyes studied the swirl before her. "We could go collect him."
"You could do that?" Rapunzel asked in surprise, and Queen Ino glanced over Cinderella's shoulder.
"Between us," Queen Ino tossed a glance unhappily toward the sorceress, "I imagine we can summon such power."
"You cannot do it alone, Blood Demon?" the sorceress queried.
"Can you?" Queen Ino returned, ending the debate.
"He was not solid," Cinderella informed them. "When we last met here, we could not touch."
"Then the magic will need to be strong," Queen Ino replied. "When we bring him, we will ensure he comes in body."
"I shall come with you," Cinderella declared.
"No," Rapunzel uttered, firm hands clasping Cinderella's waist.
"You do not think your time better spent bringing more people to your cause?" Queen Ino asked. "Explaining this to your friends?"
Cinderella did not know if there was any explanation, for, staring at the two enemies before her, the plan seemed pure folly. Rapunzel's hands sliding more tightly around her, though, much to the sorceress' disgruntlement, Cinderella also did not desire separation, and she knew she could not trust the sorceress around Rapunzel.
"You will bring him here?" She directed her question to the queen. "To the forest?"
"We will do as such," Queen Ino replied. "And we will send word when he is here. Embodying an apparition, though, that is high magic, so I will need one thing."
Knowing too well what the queen would need, from where her magic stemmed, Cinderella held her arm out, waiting for the intimate feel of the queen's blade to invade her once more. Fingers gentle against her wrist, the queen pushed her arm back to her side.
"I need Snow White's blood," she said, and the world of Grimm's illusion pressed in upon them. Looking toward Snow White, unaware and defenseless in the glass coffin, she knew she could not stop the queen from taking it.
"I do not need it all," Queen Ino added at her hesitation, seemingly awaiting permission, though it was hardly required.
"Why?" Cinderella asked. "Why does it have to be Snow White?"
"Because the curse, as you know," Queen Ino's voice softened, her hand at Cinderella's chest situating the pieces of her damaged gown back together, "is one of affection, and while I have grown quite fond of you, we simply have not had the time Snow White and I have had. Apparently, I was more of a mother to the girl than I knew." Confession complete, the queen's eyes moved up to Cinderella's in challenge. "What is the matter, Cinderella? You do not trust me?"
Cinderella trusted neither of them, and little of what the queen said, but she did believe the look in her eyes, so familiar, that of a woman who wanted to know where Grimm ended and she began. So, though she did not think she had the right to offer the queen any part of Snow White, she had to trust Snow White would benefit from the outcome if they succeeded.
Keeping an eye trained on the sorceress, Cinderella trusted her the least as she pulled Rapunzel with her to Snow White's coffin, standing alongside the frozen Sawyer and staring at the dagger in the queen's hand as she stepped up on the other side.
"Would you like to do it?" The queen offered the hilt to Cinderella, and, sigh moving through her, Cinderella dropped her eyes to Snow White's face.
Lifting Snow White's arm from the satin on which it rested, Queen Ino nicked the slender wrist with the blade's tip and Snow White's blood ran fast. Producing a leather vial from the pouch attached to her hip, the queen's breath quickened as she collected it, just as it had each time Cinderella's blood ran. She was not lying, Cinderella knew. It was a craving. It was instinct, primal need, and, yet, the queen controlled it well.
"That will do." Her voice shook as she pulled the vial away, eyes longing as they trailed the blood that ran down Snow White's arm. "It wil
l take some time." She closed Snow White's wound with a caress. "There is much magic to be done. Rest here, and ride in the morning. I know you have made your enemies, but I trust you have made your allies too, and, as you have proven, enemies can be turned ally."
Sliding the dagger beneath her skirts, Queen Ino dropped the vial into the pouch she wore at her neck and opened the hand stained with Snow White's blood, bringing the clearing instantly back to life.
Finding himself face-down in the dirt, Big Papa lifted his head with a curse, and Baby G launched at Prince Marvelous where he fought hopelessly with the tree for his sword, knocking him onto his back, and pressed the prongs of his fork into Marvelous' forehead.
"Ow," Prince Marvelous cried out, and the sorceress gave him a firm kick.
At the coffin, Sawyer's momentum carried him forward, his lips pressing tenderly against Snow White's, who showed no sign of life.
"She will not wake," Sawyer uttered.
"Yes," Queen Ino proclaimed, and all eyes looked to her in equal fright and awe. "Have you learned nothing from this? This forest, it lies."
Then, the queen disappeared into the trees with the sorceress, and, Rapunzel's hands upon her hips, soft exhalations stirring the hair at her neck, Cinderella surrendered sense to hope.
Interlude 4
Cough racking his chest, Grimm woke himself with pain, stumbling to the clay pitcher for a drink, but the water tasted like poison, metallic and infested.
Scrubbing his hand down his face, he felt the sweat upon his brow. A fever, he thought, produced, no doubt, by Her. Giving Her chase was an exhausting undertaking. Now, She had driven him to the point of illness.
Moving toward the library, a sound from within made him jump, and he felt his heart as if it was outside of him. Hand pressing against it, he forced it back into his chest, but it failed to calm, throbbing in anger as he followed the rocking sound through the doorway.
Though the library was dimly lit, candles left unintentionally burning, their wax burned low, the man saw nothing. The room was empty of all but that which belonged, and, at each window, the glass was clear, no raps or threats beyond it.
The rocking coming again, Grimm knew it was in the room with him. Stepping quickly to his desk, despite the pounding of his heart, he lit the lantern, turning up its flame, and cast his eyes to the heart of the library.
Light thrown against the floor, at last he saw it, the brown leather book that rocked within the pile scattered across the floor, pushing up as if trying to break free. With a relieved breath, he looked around for his net, ready to nab the rat or field mouse that must move beneath the book. It would not be the first vermin that tried to work its way into a story.
Finding the net in a corner where a bookshelf met the wall, he approached the pile with caution. Almost there, the moving book tossed free and landed on the floor before him. Its covers falling open, the pages flipped rapidly, creating a wind that lifted his hair on end, until, with a flash, something sprung from the pages. Staggering backward, Grimm caught himself on his desk's edge as a woman he had seen only by his own hand appeared before him, so exquisite it was hard to believe he had created her himself. Then another, so haggard it was hard to see beyond the lines he had drawn into her face.
"This cannot be," Grimm muttered, head shaking. "It cannot be."
"Pull yourself together, Creator." The beautiful one stepped forward, hands solid on his arms as they shook him to attention. "You have work, for some of your more noble conceptions are staging a coup."
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Before the Ride
They were supposed to rendezvous at the Juniper tree.
Heeding Queen Ino's advice, they had retired to the dwarves' cabin as the spirits of Grimm's forest came out to play in the night and the giant's heavy footsteps shook the earth from an indiscernible distance, headed in a direction they could not know.
Once inside, it was only the dwarves and Snow White who slept, the dwarves felled by drink and their unsurpassed ability to simply not care when it suited them, and Snow White still asleep at the queen's behest, because, as Queen Ino had said, the forest lied to them.
As it lied to Ruth and her husband.
And to Red Riding Hood.
And to Rapunzel.
For, whatever lips from which the lies came, they came from the same place.
When first light rose into the sky outside the window, the dwarves were neighed awake, and they opened the door of the cabin to find a herd of horses, sent, no doubt, by the queen, but to take them where, Cinderella did not know.
Dividing to conquer the expanse that they could by the fall of evening, they worked off maps copied crudely by hand as they had awaited dawn. By then, they would be great in number, they hoped. They would find old allies and turn enemies into temporary friends.
As Cinderella and Rapunzel arrived in the clearing, though, there numbers were still few, and there was not even the tree beneath which to meet. Where it had once stood, the spot was marked only by Christophe, who kneeled in the place where they had found him and gazed out past the cliff's edge.
"We were getting worried." Jack jumped up to greet them, anxiousness showing clearly on his face.
"Where are Caratasa, Ruth and George?" Norco asked, alighting upon the head of the steed.
"Gone," Cinderella said, feeling Rapunzel tremble in silent lament behind her. "Not just them, but the entire house."
"Gone?" Togo whispered quietly. His desire to keep himself upright leaking out of him with the question, he thumped onto his backside on the horse's head, and the horse gave a nicker of irritation.
Sliding from the mount, Cinderella took Rapunzel's hand as she jumped down from the saddle, and turned to those in the clearing. Loyal, she hoped, the group was small and untrained, and she tried not to consider their chances against the man who held the quill that shaped their world.
"Any change?" she asked, stepping up to the cart in which Snow White lay as still as she had in the glass coffin.
"Nuttin'," Esteban uttered from beside her, too depressed to even take advantage of Snow White's incapacitated state.
"Oh, Esteban, I nearly forgot," Cinderella said, reaching into her sack and finding the tiny doll Rapunzel had found when they raided Hemptown Square. At the time, Cinderella could take no pleasure in Rapunzel's announcement as she added it to Cinderella's sack, but holding the doll out to Esteban, it brought a small smile to her lips. "I did say we might happen upon one."
Esteban's sour face perking up a little as he reached for the gift, the tiniest of grins broke through as he took in the stuffed lady gnome. "She's kinda pretty," he grunted and stuffed the doll into the pocket of his shirt.
All humor fading as she glanced across the cart to where Gurr leaned upon its side, his daughter perched on the box seat next to him, Cinderella wanted to order him away from Snow White. She could tell as she glanced to Rapunzel the feeling was even stronger in her.
"I only want to help," Gurr uttered, repentance heavy in the fall of his gaze.
"Well, I trust we will need all the help we can get," Cinderella returned. "You know the queen shall be there?"
"I do," Gurr responded. "You trust her?"
"As much as we trust you," Cinderella replied, moving past the cart to meet the others. Walking by the three pigs, who were in the midst of a card game she did not recognize with Mo and Chauncy, she stepped before the final newcomer, realizing they had reluctant allies at best.
"Hey, Red," she greeted the girl.
"My parents have gone," Stace stated quietly. "So has Gran."
"Sorry, Kid," Cinderella replied, feeling Rapunzel slide away from her.
Walking up to Christophe, Rapunzel placed a hand on his shoulder to interrupt his vigil.
"What use is a tree?" He glanced up at her to ask.
"No use," Rapunzel replied. "Grimm took it because he knew it would hurt you, as he took all those he knew would help us, while leaving plenty of enemies."
"It is them, My King," the interrogator announced, and the guards split before King Balten, allowing him to come forward.
All relief Cinderella felt at recognizing the troop dissipated as King Balten yanked his steed to a stop before her and slid from its saddle, his eyes incensed as they searched her face.
"The guard I left in wait saw you leave the place where you told me my wife and son would be," he stated. "You have seen that she is not there, and there is not even a place for her to have been. Did you lie to me?"
"No, I did not lie to you," Cinderella replied. "The house was there when we left it, as was Ruth and your boy."
"Do you know what has become of them?" King Balten asked, and Cinderella wished she did not, wished her desire for more than Prince Charming had not cost so many others so much. It was not fair for Grimm to take from others what was not hers to lose.
"I do," Cinderella calmly uttered.
"Cin," Rapunzel whispered, hand brushing Cinderella's hip as she stepped up behind her.
"As I mentioned to you on the road yester-eve," Cinderella said, "a man named Grimm controls this land. He determines where we go, what we do, the choices we make."
"It is he who took my family?"
"Yes."
"Why?" King Balten asked the unanswerable question. For, as far as Cinderella could tell, Grimm did as he wanted for no other reason than because he had the power.
"Because he is angry at me." She gave King Balten the only answer she could. "I angered our creator, and he took your wife and son in revenge."
Rage flaring in King Balten's gaze, he seized the back of Cinderella's neck, handling her with a brutality unbefitting a king.
Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall (Black Forest Trilogy) Page 33