by S R Nulton
“I haven’t the foggiest idea. Honestly, I don’t understand the way his mind works. I know that it was originally his family manor, but I’ve never heard of a log manor house either. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t commission the most ridiculous castle he could. Either that or it grew here after a magic bean was planted in the front parlor.”
And then the age old question of ‘Do Fey snort when they laugh?’ was answered.
I just shook my head. “Actually, he never mentioned in his journals. And believe me, I checked. One entry referred to it as the manor house and the next said castle.”
“Yes, well the amount of magic leaking from the structure suggests that you may have been closer than you thought when you suggested a magic bean. I’ll know more when we get inside.”
Taking his hint, I led him into my home for the previous fifteen years. We proceeded fairly slowly down the halls, giving the captain plenty of time to examine the hall before we entered the library.
With an efficiency born of practice, I removed the magic mirror from its hiding place and placed the call. A few minutes later, the mirror rippled again and revealed the scarred face of the Spinner.
“Hello again! Did your guard arrive? Oh, there you are Dallin! I see you got there in one piece. How do you like it so far?”
“You do know this is a rebellion, not a vacation, don’t you?” I asked, incredulous.
“Well, of course! But it’s still polite to inquire, my dear girl. Not everyone is as blunt as the dwarves are.”
Dallin, er, Craftis held his hands up his hands. “Alright, enough. We have a lot of work to do and don’t need to waste it with pointless arguments.”
“Debates,” I replied.
“What?”
“Debates. We don’t argue, we debate.”
I could hear Spinner laughing in the background as Dallin- Craftis!- stared at me like I’d just said the moon was made of a particularly spicy type of arugula. Not to say he thought I was insane. It was more of a ‘quit being silly’ type of look, but with a bit more warmth. Those blue-green eyes always seemed to be warm as they looked at me…
“Let’s just get started, yes?”
I nodded and stepped back to allow him to set up the spell.
Most people never get to see such complicated magic being used, so I was quite lucky that way. According to Spinner, the best diagnostic spells for mirrors take place on both sides of an open connection. He also told me that my mirror was locked against travel so he couldn’t come through and use a different spell instead. Which was a disappointment because he looked like he was a wonderful hugger and I really missed my grandfather’s hugs.
The captain opened his bag and pulled out a number of spell components, most of which I didn’t recognize. Within a few minutes, the two of them were channeling power back and forth while scribbling frantically in notebooks.
To me it looked like they were playing a game of tug-o-war with a lightning bolt. Still, I wasn’t really trained in magic. From what I’d been taught, there were four main places that people got their magic from. They could have power drawn from spells, objects, elements, or from within. Most magicians used a combination of the four. For instance, mages gather power from and control the four elements. In order to do that though, they have to have a strong reservoir of innate power. It makes sure that they don’t lose their minds while processing the force of the ocean or the strength of a mountain.
For many people, they had a lot of innate magic but no way to focus or use it. I was one of them. My family had a lot of power from the blending of the bloodlines, but I could only use it to change my appearance slightly. I could see magic but not understand it. That was why I found the spell work so fascinating. I’d never learned it because I couldn’t use it. And certainly not like the men in front of me.
Craftis was crackling with power as he finished the last of the incantation and allowed the spell to fade. “Well, that was interesting.”
“Indeed. But we’ll have to study the results before making a conclusion,” Spinner warned. “And we still need to complete the analysis of the castle. Caillte, my dear, you might want to go get some food for the two of you. This might take a while.”
I nodded and headed out the door. It wouldn’t take much to get extra food from the cook. He was actually on my side most of the time, pitying me more than most, which was why he stayed in the kitchen. It put him above suspicion and allowed him to help me when necessary because he was still around. When all the other servants were done away with, he remained because no one thought they could remove him from the room. He wasn’t all that helpful, but he liked me a lot more than he liked my husband and that was enough.
The extra order of food didn’t even faze the man, nor did my odd ramblings about a rabbit chasing a deer before turning into a lynx. And no, I have no idea why that was on my mind!
Man, I am miserable at lying to myself! I berated myself as I brought a full tray back to the library and closed the door behind me.
Craftis looked up and smiled at me. “Perfect timing! This spell doesn’t take as much work to maintain, so we can let it go for a while before having to get involved again. So, what’s for lunch? And tell me, how many men were courting you before you got married?”
My blush was sudden and hot.
This is going to be a long day.
~
By dinner I was nearly certain that I’d learned how to turn myself into a lobster. If I blushed anymore I was afraid I’d look like I had a permanent sunburn, which was physically impossible with my bloodline. We didn’t burn, we adapted, or that was what Grandma always told me. I wasn’t so sure anymore. And, apparently, the good captain enjoyed asking personal questions and making me blush.
Even he admitted he was a terrible tease. He claimed it was all the time he spent around his sharp tongued sister. They were best friends and her humor had only gotten worse after marrying a man who embodied the concept of sarcasm.
He asked me about everything from what men were courting me before I got married to what my ideal husband would look like and where I wanted to live after we married. The man was so presumptuous that he borderlined on rude!
Not that he isn’t also incredibly sweet, I reminded myself. Craftis had made a point to ask about all my favorite things and work them into the conversation, showing he’d been paying attention. He’d also asked me about what my marriage was like and what scared me the most.
By the time the spell had finished, I was exhausted and more than happy to go grab our dinners from the kitchen while he discussed the results with Spinner.
Oh, and that was the other problem. The Spinner kept popping in and out, checking on the spell’s progress and commenting on our conversation. His remarks usually involved making me more embarrassed and encouraging the captain to continue flirting with me. Seriously, he was not helping!
“Dinner,” I said lightly as I place the large tray down.
“Great! I think we’re ready to go over it all,” Craftis replied.
I paused. “That fast? I thought it was going to take longer to look everything over.”
He shook his head. “No. Actually, it’s a lot like what we thought. The spells are centered on the castle itself. It seems that the king tied himself to this specific area. The only way he can take someone’s powers is under very specific circumstances. We aren’t positive what they are, but it centers around a room underneath this structure.”
I blinked. “The basement? Really? Well, that explains why he’s so intent on getting me down there. Every time he comes home, he emphatically reminds me not to go down there. It got worse when something started making noise down there.”
“When did this start, my dear?” Spinner asked, looking a bit concerned.
“Oh, about eight years now, I think.”
That seemed to shock my companion. Spinner, who was still listening in, was as least able to speak. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve been avoiding that door all
this time? You weren’t curious?”
“Why would I be? He told me not to ever go there.” Both men were still looking at me like I was a modern day miracle. “You do remember that I grew up in a mining community, don’t you? We had a number of doors that were blocked off for one reason or other. Some of them led to bottomless chasms, others to magma flows, and still others to caverns filled with nightmare creatures that would kill you without a second thought and enjoyed luring children to their deaths. Each and every dwarf was taught to obey the order to avoid a door. They were always clearly marked, but we were still quizzed weekly on the doors near us that were dangerous.”
It was impossible to know which of them started laughing first, but I think it was a tie. Either way, both men seemed to temporarily lose their minds over some imagined joke. I just didn’t get it.
“S-sorry, but you don’t understand. He chooses women, right?” Craftis asked me, still out of breath. When I nodded, he continued. “That means he was planning to take you for a while. So, he researched and somehow picked the one woman in the area who couldn’t be tricked into breaking his rules.”
I frowned. “What rules?”
“The rules of the spell. The one that he uses to steal magic? It is actually a modified contract spell. In order for you to forfeit your powers and your life, you have to break the rule that he sets out. That rule is opening the door he had you swear you would never open. The door itself is spelled to tag whoever opens it so that he can take the powers of the one who broke the rules.”
“Okay, I get that, but I still don’t get the joke.”
“Well, pretty much every other person would be driven nearly crazy trying to figure out what was behind the one door they weren’t allowed to open, particularly when it starts to make noise. They wouldn’t be able resist. But he chose one of the only women on the continent who was trained not to be curious about that sort of thing. He basically stabbed himself in the hand.”
Looking at it that way, it was pretty funny! Also, I needed to thank my community for saving my life. If they hadn’t taught me so well, I would have been dead years ago.
“As a point of interest,” Craftis said, interrupting my thoughts. “The castle? It’s basically a magnified version of the original structure. Everything is just bigger and grander, but it is still mostly real. It is also the place where Blue Beard is both strongest and weakest. Strongest because it is his base of power and weakest because he is most himself there. All the spells to make people believe he is more… well, everything, they are all in the cities.”
The Spinner continued the explanation. “Then we have the mirror. It is, indeed, siphoning power from the castle and your husband’s spells. The problem is that it’s happening much more rapidly than was originally estimated. Most mirrors would only take as much as they needed in small increments. They like to stay under the radar. This one… well, it isn’t very happy about being twisted by your husband. It’s a bit… vengeful, shall we say. Also, it is pushing for sentience at an alarming rate. It's entirely possible that the reason your madness did so little damage to your psyche because the mirror had already begun to feel and didn’t want to harm you. It also seems that it wasn't able to break through your basic need to protect your daughter. Whenever you felt protective, your mind began to shield itself from all outside influence, including the mirror. That's why you felt more clear headed when Snow was around or writing to you.”
“What does that mean? Not the part about being protective. That makes sense; I am her mother, after all. But the part about it becoming sentient? I mean, I know that sentience means that it will be able to think, but what does that mean for us?”
“It means, my dear, that the curse your husband placed on you will be his downfall. At the rate the mirror is stealing his power, he will be forced to return by mid-winter. He will either have to steal your power or risk being killed by a mob. His powers are dwindling rapidly and he has no way of stopping it.
“Also, I believe that the mirror has become attached to you. Once they start thinking, they tend to latch onto someone and are rather aggressive about protecting them. You are actually quite lucky. Magic mirrors are notoriously picky about who they choose as a master or mistress when they gain sentience. Why do you think my family is always having to deal with everything? My grandfather kept finding himself fixing broken mirrors and then realizing they’d chosen to serve him and now they won’t let anyone but his family line clean them up.”
I giggled, knowing exactly what he was talking about. We’d had enough conversations about the same thing a number of times. I was quite aware of how he felt about his family occupation.
Then it hit me.
“Mid-winter? Sounds like we have to get Snow moving. She has a lot of ground to cover before we can trap him.”
“Trap?” Craftis asked.
I smiled, letting a little madness slip in. “Of course. He deserves to be caught in his own trap. Now explain the details one more time. And don’t leave anything out.”
CHAPTER 7: CEASING HOSTILITIES
SNOW WHITE
The man was insufferable! Every conversation I’d had with the spoiled prince ended with me being insulted and him acting like he wasn’t interested in anything. Actually, that was usually how they began as well.
I swear that if he tells me I’m brainless one more time, I’m going to shoot him in the foot. A crossbow bolt shouldn’t cause too much trouble, I grumbled silently as I headed back to the house with a few rabbits. I didn’t normally go hunting for rabbits, snares were really much more efficient, but I was at my wits end with Prince James.
He’d been working with us for nearly two weeks and I was beginning to worry that my mother’s illness hadn’t totally disappeared. No sane person would believe that the pompous idiot was actually useful for anything outside of coming up with new insults.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of the negativity that had overtaken me. The problem wasn’t Pretty Boy. James was only an annoyance. My issue with him was more the fact that I couldn’t figure him out. Sure, he acted self-important and was exceedingly rude. Still… he would make these remarks that revealed just how brilliant he really was. I didn’t know why he was hiding it, but he clearly was. And he wasn’t nearly as unaffected as he pretended to be.
No, the real issue was how many near misses we’d had with mobs. Not that they were after me. They were after the king and their anger was quickly growing out of control. Oddly enough, James was helping calm them down. He was evidence that their plight hadn’t been overlooked by the other countries.
Still, we need to do something before things spiral out of control again, otherwise there won’t be a country to save.
“Where you been girl?” Blaise asked gruffly. Instead of answering him though, I just lifted the rabbits up. He nodded, knowing that having the extra meat would be welcome. We’d been traveling so much that no one had gone on a supply run lately.
It didn’t take long to dress the game and hand it off to the cook. Oddly enough, the gruesome task made me feel better. At least it was something that I understood. Politics just didn’t make sense.
“What on earth? Skies, are you injured?”
Great. The prince deigns to acknowledge me.
“No.” The answer was short and borderline rude, but I wasn’t interested in getting into another debate. Instead, I moved over to the well and pulled up a bucket of water so I could clean myself.
James, of course, followed me. “Then why are you covered in blood?”
I glanced up at him, incredulous. “Really? You’re asking me that when you see me in hunting gear with a crossbow on my back and a knife on my hip?”
He frowned, his ice blue eyes flashing with confusion. Actually, he seemed to be slower at hiding the emotion this time. Interesting “You mean to tell me you were hunting?”
Instead of answering, I used the cold well water to get the blood off my hands and a rag to wipe down my pants and vest. Leather wasn
’t the most comfortable thing to wear, but it was much easier to clean up afterwards.
“Well? Aren’t you going to answer”
I looked up at him. “Seriously? You already have your answer, you just don’t want it. It’s not my problem if you don’t believe me. Actually, it’s pretty typical. You only seem to believe the worst about me, why not add liar to the list.”
He stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean.”
That made me laugh. “Really? Okay, well, in the last three days alone you have called me superficial, air headed, spoiled, and a pawn. You’ve also accused my mother of being evil, which nearly got you thrown out of the house by her relatives. Ever since you showed up, you’ve treated me like I am diseased, avoiding me whenever possible and trying to make me leave when we were forced to spend any time together. I have no idea what I did to you, but I’m done trying to be polite. If you insult me again, I will stop being nice.”
“Are you threatening me?” James asked. Oddly enough, I think he was taking me seriously for the first time since I met him, though it also seemed to amuse him. He always seemed amused when I stood up to him. Naturally, I decided to use that to my advantage by demonstrating what I meant.
Pulling my knife out of its sheath, I threw it at a tree beside him. When it hit, he flinched. “No,” I told him. “I was warning you. You seem to misunderstand something. I was not raised to be a princess. Honestly, I don’t know why I was even allowed to be born, let alone survived ’til now. I was raised in a castle in the middle of a forest. My only interactions were with a handful of servants that hated me and my mother, a woman forced to marry my father in order to protect me. The only time I left the castle was when she taught me how to survive in the forest, all so I could survive if I ever had to escape. In fact, the first time I was ever referred to as a princess was by you.”
He still looked confused though. Actually, he looked more confused than before. That made me stop. “Do you even know what’s going on here?”