“We are ready to begin, Snow,” Phillip said approaching them from the crowd and interrupting the conversation. “Everyone’s in the courtyard.”
As Phyllo, Dendroba and Phillip took to a small wooden platform, cheers and applause erupted from the crowd. The cheering rose loudly as General Snow White stepped up on the platform, following with her were the Dwarven King and his six other dwarven clan leaders, kings in their own right.
Phillip tried to settle the crowd as Snow White began to speak.
“As you all may know—more than I, there is a tunnel beneath the castle. With tireless effort from within, the tunnel has been completed!”
The crowd of servants and staff cheered loudly, as Snow White continued.
“My dwarven friends have worked to get it ready as best and as quickly as they could. And they stand with me here to demonstrate that after five long years, this castle is no longer cut off from the rest of the kingdom by the tyrannical rule of Queen Cendrillon!”
Everyone applauded with boisterous shouts of joy and continued clapping as Snow White walked about the stage, gesturing for quiet as she continued.
“It cannot come at a more pressing time,” she said in a more measured tone. “Dwarven scouts have reported a massive army that makes its way to our very walls as I speak.”
The cheerful energy suddenly dissipated amid gasps from the crowd.
“The dwarves estimate the army will be here in a day. Anyone who wants to leave, take with you only what is needed so that you can travel swiftly under dwarven protection. We will seal the tunnel at dusk tonight. For any that choose to remain, we will defend this castle as long as we can. We hope to drive back the enemy,” Snow White paused. “But the numbers will not be in our favor.”
From the crowd someone shouted. General White could not hear what was being said over the murmur of gathered castle workers. As it was repeated louder it was shouted out by more people. They were shouts of support.
“This is our home!” Several of the castle staff shouted back. “We will defend it!”
There came applause and still louder applause grew as other joined in with shouts of “We’re not going to run.”
Chanting overtook the crowd. “We will stay! We will stay!”
Snow White was in disbelief. “My heart is warmed by your courage and loyalty,” she said. “I’m sure there are some that will want to leave still, but with the rest we will swell the ranks on our walls and fight to save our homes. We will give them such a fight!” she answered back. “Prince Phillip and General Dendroba will help to organize the defenses. For those that choose to leave, remember those that stayed behind to help give you a better chance to escape.”
Dendroba added in a loud booming voice. “Soldiers of the Queen’s army that have remained here at the castle, you will raise your steel to protect the throne.”
The Dwarven King shouted loudly, his small thick fist thrust into the air “The dwarves have pledged to defend the castle. All seven clans! We shall fight alongside the royal army and alongside every fighting man.”
Snow White looked at the dwarven king with a raised brow.
“… and woman!” he quickly added.
“There is much work to do. And little time left,” Snow White finished. “Good luck to us all!”
The chanting began again from the crowd of castle workers. “Queen Snow!” they shouted in support “Queen Snow!” the crowd began to disperse, energized and talking to each other.
“Seems the popular vote has you as the new queen,” Henry whispered to Snow White, appearing from the crowd to stand on the platform.
Snow White frowned. “Let’s just focus on surviving the next couple of days, please.”
***
From the shadows of a nearby doorway, Hansel and his sister Gretel listened to General White as she talked to others in the crowd.
While Hansel was far more interested in General White’s speech and what the others had to say, Gretel looked about wary of any guards that might realize they had escaped their dungeon cell.
“A tunnel, brother, did you hear?” Gretel whispered with excitement, casually tossing away the keys to their dungeon cell into a nearby brackish, mud-filled puddle. “We can get out of here.”
“I don’t know, Gretel,” Hansel replied. “Maybe we should stay and help fight. After all the castle has paid us well over the years. Looks like they could use all the help—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. They don’t stand a chance. We’ll take the tunnel. Cut our losses and see who wins this war. Take a look around, I have a pretty good idea who that’ll be,” Gretel sneered. “I’m sure we can negotiate a rate to pick up whatever bounty this new army will provide.”
“I think I want to stay and fight for the castle,” Hansel said again earnestly. His voice was calm but insistent. “I want us to be on their side when the war is won, not after the fact,” Hansel ignored his sister’s boiling stare. “You and I are good fighters, better than most here. Maybe this time we can fight for something other than the highest bidder, Gretel.”
“Absolutely not! We are leaving,” Gretel replied, seemingly offended at the suggestion and barely able to hold back from yelling at her brother. “Don’t muck things up any further!” She grabbed Hansel’s arm, “There’s nothing more to talk about.”
“No!” Hansel pulled away from his sister’s grip. “I’m going talk to them, and see what I can do to help, Gretel. If you want to get out of here, well then…” His voice trailed off, as if he couldn’t finish saying what he meant to his beloved sibling.
Gretel stared at him silently for a moment, growing more furious at her brother with each passing second, realizing what her brother was implying. Her anger finally reached a boiling point.
“How dare you!” she seethed. “Fine, Hansel! Go ahead!” Gretel shot back furiously. “They’ll probably throw you back in a cell.”
She poked his chest with her finger, hard and pointedly, “You don’t get to make this call, little brother. I do! You don’t tell your older sister what to do, she tells you!” she said, not even acknowledging her own tears that started to wet her eyes. “This is what will happen. Go and talk to your new pals. I’ll give you until noon. And if you do not come to your senses and see what a stupid idea you were proposing, and if you are not at that tunnel entrance by then. I’m the one doing the leaving…without you!”
Gretel spun on her heel and pushed herself through the crowd, leaving Hansel standing there alone.
***
A dwarf with his face and clothing dirty from the work in the tunnel moved through the crowd. He hurriedly approached the steps and discretely caught the Dwarven King’s attention, Snow White watched as the two met in a short whispered conversation. The Dwarven King nodded and slapped a stout hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. With a nod and a glance about, the dwarf was gone as quickly as he came.
“Sorry to trouble you, Miss Snow,” the robust voice of the Dwarven King interrupted from behind. “I wanted to know if you’ve seen Rapunzel. My dwarves tell me she’s not reported back to us. After that argument you two had this morning, well… I just want to make sure she’s alright. We’ve not seen here down there since then.”
Dendroba looked at Snow, “You had an argument with your lieutenant?”
“Yeah” Snow White replied, “But I figured she would just blow off some steam and come back later.”
“You relieved her of duty, Miss Snow,” the Dwarven King reminded her.
General White sighed as her shoulders slumped. “I did, didn’t I? I’m sure she’s around.”
“Unless,” Dendroba suggested, “She went out the tunnel?”
The Dwarven King shook his head. “No, my boys say she didn’t get by us.”
General White looked around. “It’s been a few hours, but honestly, I haven’t seen her, either.”
“Unless she never left the basement passages,” suggested Dendroba. “There have been dark things put in place down there by th
e coven when they took over.”
“Like what, Phyllo?” Snow White asked, concern suddenly growing in her voice.
“It could be nothing. It probably is. It’s easy to get lost down there if you don’t pay attention to where you are going. But if she is down there and not wandering around in circles… there are some places down there one shouldn’t go.”
“Where?” asked Snow White, suddenly alarmed. “And why did you not tell us?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem, she’s probably just lost,” Dendroba restated, as his thoughts raced furiously in his head. “And there’s no way she could have found it, it was locked away and walled over.”
“Found what?” Snow White asked pointedly, her eyes, blue and stern, met his look.
The Dwarven King added. “Well, if it was walled over it is possible that any new construction of even the past few years might crack or give way. We’ve seen some very new cracks and damage in the foundations underneath the area of throne room. They look pretty fresh.”
Then Dendroba looked earnestly at Snow White as he realized what the Dwarven King said. “That creature that attacked us last night may have caused more damage than we realize. “If…” Dendroba stressed. “If the wall I’m thinking of has collapsed, and Rapunzel happened to have wandered in there… I suppose she could have found it.”
“What are you talking about, lad?” asked the Dwarven King. “Yer blabberin’ but you ain’t sayin’ anythin’!”
“The witches found him early on in the search for the Looking Glass. Mistakenly, they thought it was the Looking Glass. He killed many in the coven before they were able to seal him away. He is too powerful—too dangerous, and too magical.”
“Found what?” asked Snow again.
“The Magic Mirror,” Dendroba said as he began to make his way down the platform and through the crowd, he hurried toward one of the doors that could lead him downstairs. “We’d better find Rapunzel; just to be sure she’s safe.”
Snow White and Prince Phillip quickly caught up with him as they followed, but quickly lost track of him again. Quickly inside the castle, Dendroba knew where he had to go and disappeared down into the passages underneath, not wasting time heeding General White’s shouts to wait for them.
CHAPTER 34
MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL
Leaving the others quickly behind Dendroba raced down into the castle’s underground tunnels barely slowing as he pulled a large drapery above a tall alcove opening from its rings. He continued to run, balling it up in his arms as he went. Bursting through doors with his broad shoulders and hurriedly jumping steps, Dendroba knew exactly where to go. He ignored the shouts of Snow White and the prince until he could no longer hear them at all. Out of breath, Dendroba stopped for a moment at the end of the corridor he had sought. He noticed that the bricked wall that he help build years ago had collapsed and the hallway and its single horrifying denizen were no longer locked away from the world.
Dendroba vaulted over the rubble and sprinted down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of the only door that sat awkwardly shoved into its frame. He took a brief second to mentally prepare himself before barreling through the misaligned door and charged into the room
“Mirror!” Dendroba shouted with angry, authoritative bellow. “Let her go!”
There was an evil, unnatural hiss of glass. “Dendroba! Still the whipping boy of the coven?” The mirror replied, its voice like that of two pieces of glass rubbing together.
Rapunzel’s eyes were transfixed on the mirror, unaware of what was happening, continued blissfully in a wondrous dream only she could see as she gazed helplessly into the mirror’s reflection.
“I am beautiful” She whispered repeatedly in daze. Rapunzel stood close, her right arm extended, with the forearm and hand disappearing into the reflective surface, as the Magic Mirror slowly consumed her.
“Let her go!” Dendroba ordered again.
“I’m feeding right now. It’s been so long since I’ve had fresh food. My last meal was a witch if you remember. You should know- you were there! I took her right out of your hands! I haven’t eaten since. And eating those witches was like eating stale bread. But this one… this one is delicious. It’s like eating a juicy tender steak! AND I HUNGER!”
To emphasize, the glass shuddered and pulled Rapunzel closer, she reacted with a dull moan, stepping closer to the mirror, oblivious to her own danger.
Dendroba growled and rushed toward the mirror, covering Rapunzel’s body with his own and wrapping the drapery around her head to block her stare into the mirror. He wrapped his arms around her and with his back to the mirror, Dendroba with all of his might tried to pull her free from the mirror.
He could feel the mirror’s psychic tendrils try to wrap themselves around his thoughts and memories. He focused harder. He was already familiar with the mirror’s abilities… too familiar, he knew.
“Dendroba! Why won’t you look at me?” he heard in his mind, as he focused more on pulling Rapunzel free. He ignored the mirror, mentally blocking the mirror’s voice.
With great effort he began to pull Rapunzel free of the mirror’s grasp. Then suddenly Rapunzel began to cry out.
“You are hurting me! Let me go!” She sobbed. “Please, let me stay with him!”
Dendroba ignored her, knowing that like many of the witches had found out years ago, the mirror had gotten into her mind. Rapunzel began to struggle. Screaming in a high shrill voice “I don’t want to leave him! Let me go!” Her pain and emotion were amplified by the mirror’s empathic manipulation. She cried and raged, violently flailing and struggling against Dendroba’s hold. Though Rapunzel’s one hand was still engulfed by the mirror, her other hand managed to get free from the wrapped drapery and she pounded violently on Dendroba’s chest, then she shifted her weight, making it that much harder for Dendroba to pull her away.
“I want to be with him forever! Please why are you doing this to me? You are hurting me! Go away!” Then, Rapunzel’s fist connected hard with Dendroba’s face. The pain and shock of the attack caught him off guard and as Rapunzel struggled and pushed back, Dendroba lost his footing and tripped backwards, his feet snagging on a pile of skulls and bones both animal and human hidden by the dark. Not thinking, his hand shot out to catch himself from falling, placing it squarely on the mirror’s reflective surface. There was a flash of pain for a moment as his bare right hand fell upon the mirror directly.
***
General White stood in front of him now, instead of wearing her armor; she wore a silky white dress that accented her shapely feminine curves that the armor had always hidden. Her long dark hair draped about her bare white shoulders.
“You look different, Dendroba. Quite handsome,” she smiled seductively as her sharp blue eyes looked him up and down.
Dendroba felt disoriented. He shook his head to clear the weighted fuzziness in his head. “You are not General White,” he said trying to convince himself. It all seemed real.
“Of course I am,” she said, stepping closer. It was her voice that he heard. It looked like Snow White. She touched his right hand and he could feel it. He tried to remember something, something he knew was important.
“How does it feel to look normal after a lifetime of being a monster? I could never be with a monster. But now you are so beautiful looking, so handsome and rugged…” she cooed.
Dendroba still felt confused, almost uncomfortable, as Snow White continued to compliment him on his looks. There was something about that, but Dendroba just could not recall. He heard Snow White’s voice again.
“—and you and I can be together now. We can rule as king and queen. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? What you were groomed for? To be a king? To be so handsome?”
Snow White put her arms around him; his neck tingled at her touch. Playfully she fondled his hair with her fingers. She locked her blue eyes with his, “Look at me, Phyllo” She said, “be with me.”
“I am handsome,” he be
gan to say dully. “I don’t look like a monster anymore.”
Then Dendroba stopped, his brow furrowed in determination as he remembered something. He pulled away from Snow White’s embrace.
“What’s the matter? I thought you liked me? Don’t you want to be with me?” Snow White said with a pout.
Dendroba drew back his fist and pounded Snow White squarely in the face, sending her falling backwards to the ground. When Snow White’s body hit the ground, she shattered into hundreds of glass shards then faded away.
“I just remembered. I never liked mirrors!” Dendroba recalled.
***
Dendroba pulled his hand away from the mirror. The vision of Snow White was gone. It had seemed so real even as the vision faded from his mind like a waking dream. For a matter of seconds he had come into contact with the mirror, and it had mentally overwhelmed Dendroba.
“I almost had you, Prince of Frogs!” the mirror’s voice screamed in Dendroba’s brain. “All of your life, you were too repulsive, too ugly, to be swayed by a mirror! But now, pretty boy, you better be careful! Consuming you would be the ultimate feast! And I just had my first taste!” Angrily the mirror screamed in Dendroba’s head.
Ignoring the mirror’s rants and with renewed focus, Dendroba was able to break away from the mirror’s devious psychic tricks. He was back in the room, still holding on to Rapunzel who had calmed down now that she was back closer to the mirror.
With great effort, Dendroba adjusted his hold on Rapunzel and then with all of his strength, he finally tore Rapunzel away from the grip of the mirror. She screamed even louder than before, as her forearm and hand finally ripped free of the surface of the deadly mirror. The arm, a ghostly white, pasty and withered, fell to her side limply.
Dendroba scooped Rapunzel up in his arms as she collapsed sobbing uncontrollably. He ran quickly toward the door, almost colliding with the Prince and Snow White who had just found their way. Phillip held a small torch out of the way as Dendroba pushed past him.
Shards Of The Glass Slipper: Queen Alice Page 9