Mercury nodded encouragingly. Both he and Manuel had thought they caught the scent of crone but now it was certain. Crones, crafty and sometimes vicious beings, were not magical in themselves although typically they were in service to other, more powerful beings. The Crones of Turin, being a completely different sub-species, were far more interested in finding new ways to cheat at bingo than crafting any nefarious plots with a malevolent being. Mercury decided that it might be a good idea to pay one of them a visit anyway, besides Baba Yaga owed him more than one favour. How many times had he escorted her safely home after her overindulgence in celebratory wine? Many. Baba Yaga, was the best bingo cheater in Turin.
“So how did the Authorities find out about Rapunzel if they’ve been hiding so well for years?” Mercury asked.
“Now I wasn’t exactly clear on that, but from what I understand a lost human stumbled upon the dwelling and after a very disagreeable meeting with the crone he found his way back to Turin. Apparently he held a position on the Educational Council and, as you know, the basic law states...” She trailed off.
“Every human between the ages of five and seventeen must receive a formal education recognized by the Educational Council.” Mercury supplied with a sigh. “I only wish they were as concerned about our education.”
“Elves don’t have it any easier you know.” Magella reminded him.
“Do they chase you with torches and pitch forks?”
“No.” She admitted. Elves weren’t feared, they certainly weren’t loved, but they weren’t feared. “Anyway, unless the crone agreed to some sort of educational deal, the Authorities would have stepped in and brought a whole lot of very unwanted attention to the crone, and the child she harbours.”
“So what about this was so pressing that you couldn’t simply wait for Manuel to return? Not that I’m not interested or very honoured that Manuel chose me as his ‘second” as it seems. I just don’t see the immediate urgency.” Mercury refilled both of their cups, his mother made the best coffee either of them had ever had and though reluctant to join him for coffee at first, the elf was more than eager for another cup now.
“I passed a small contingency of dark Rylakian soldiers on the far side of The Lonesome Forest, just outside the entrance.”
Mercury inhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing.
“And by ‘dark’ I mean not only their armour. They weren’t wearing the typical diplomatic armour one sees during visits abroad; this armour was black, although still bearing the crest of Rylak.” She stopped and looked abruptly up. “They were interrogating a group of goblins. Interrogating is a polite word. If I wanted to be completely accurate I would choose another. I ran. Something is happening, something terrible, and since the crone has dealings with Rylak...” She opened her hands in a helpless gesture.
Wow. Mercury mouthed. It was unheard of for soldiers from a foreign land to harass citizens, however unsavoury they may be, without the ruling family’s approval, which of course the Charming’s would never give. And Mercury knew first hand that the Charming family were not aware of any Rylakian military action in their lands. Especially so close to their Holiday Palace, and right before the season. Nothing good could come from this.
“Magella? How would you feel about accompanying me in to Turin this morning?”
She groaned in return.
~~*~~
A great feeling of peace settled over Manuel, as his eyes slowly adjusted to the warm glow of the Neutral Plane. This time, being reminded by both Sybil and the Great Oracle, he had remembered to close his eyes. After sharing a meal with the Oracle back on his own realm, the Great Oracle had announced that they were to travel to the Neutral Plane, he wanted to view the situation in his viewing pond.
If traveling through a portal with a Muse had seemed exciting and surreal, traveling with the Great Oracle had felt wild and lawless. With a twinkle in his brilliant blue eyes, the Oracle had winked at Sybil and grabbed the vampire’s hand before throwing the both of them in to the pulsing portal. It had been a wild ride. The Oracle was a mad man.
The Neutral Plane, at least this portion of it, appeared to be a small meadow in the middle of an immense forest. The trees easily stood hundreds of feet in the air, and the grass was the greenest Manuel had ever seen. The air was perfumed by the aroma of grass, sunshine and wild flowers, and in the centre of the small meadow was a beautiful, crystal clear pond. The muse had been right, although Manuel had appreciated the honour of being received in the Great Oracle’s own personal realm; he much preferred the simple beauty of this peaceful Neutral Plane.
Sunshine! The sun was full in the pale blue sky...and he wasn’t burning up!
Not. Burning. Up.
Manuel gasped out loud, shielding his eyes from its brilliance! Never in his lifetime had he ever gazed at a forest, at anything or anyone through the light of day. The sun, ever his mortal enemy, illuminated the world in a way he could never have imagined. Stunned he looked around, drinking in the absurd beauty in this magical meadow. In wonder, he watched the sunlight dance off of his arm. The world had never looked so alive.
The Great Oracle sat cross-legged on a large rock as he leaned over, gazing in to the pool. “Oh, you won’t burn up here, you are well protected. I forgot to mention, the Neutral Plane observes its own rules, it’s the place between places you could say.”
A place between places. Curious.
The Great Oracle went back to gazing in to his pond and Manuel continued to notate the intricate beauty of a world seen by day. So this is what humans see...very interesting. He had always been curious, thought he would never have admitted to that.
“Ah, the elf has found the wolf.” He commented, as he gazed in to the pool. Manuel leaned over the Oracle’s shoulder but could see nothing. He arched his brow and looked up at the blonde man inquiringly.
“Here.” The Oracle said with a wave of his arm. A picture began to from slowly in the ripples of the water eventually revealing an image of Mercury pounding on a door, a disgruntled looking Magella by his side.
“They will get no answer today; the crone they are calling on is sleeping off the after effects of last night’s celebratory wine. I’ve done that a time or two myself, haven’t I.” He laughed.
“She made her report to the wolf then. I am curious...”
“Not much more than you already know.” The Oracle frowned slightly at the reflection.
“And the illness?” Manuel asked.
“Blarney. But you already knew that, you didn’t need me to tell you mate. You also knew the crone wasn’t her Mother, what you didn’t know was that she had ties to the land you call Rylak, the girl is from this ‘Rylak’ as well. But your elf will brief you in detail when you return.”
The image rippled and changed to show Snow sitting out on the porch at her cottage, listening intently to something the dashing Prince Leonardo said. She threw back her head, laughing and the prince smiled in delight. The Oracle smiled tenderly as well at the apparent friendship; nodding with approval.
“So if the child Rapunzel is not the blood daughter of the crone, who is she?” Manuel asked intently.
The Oracle squinted slightly, making several gestures over the pond before sighing and rubbing his temple in agitation and slapping his black leather clad leg uttering a curse of sorts in a language Manuel had never heard.
“What is it?” Manuel asked with considerable alarm.
“Trouble.” The Oracle replied grimly with another sweep of his arm over the pond. “From all sides.”
“What do you mean ‘trouble’?” Manuel was immediately at the Oracle’s side again attempting to make out exactly what the Oracle was seeing in the pond. “Is Rapunzel in danger?”
“The crone will not harm her, she is far too precious. Perhaps more precious than the crone even realises yet.” He laid his hand on the pool and instantly a montage of unsettling scenes flashed upon the still water. Armed goblins and a smattering of large dangerous looking tr
olls stood sentry before a dark and dank cave, smoke swirling around and rising up off the ground. Dark Rylakian soldiers met with the Mother Goethal, and a tearful and horrified Rapunzel engulfed in a cloud of enchanted smoke; falling to the ground.
Manuel grabbed the Oracle’s hand. “Send me back immediately.” The look in his beautiful dark eyes could only be described as deadly, his body vibrated with pent up rage.
“Little vampire, there is nothing that you can do. This is what has been, not what is to be.” The Oracle said gently with a shake of his platinum hair.
“I can rescue her.” Manuel said, looking the Oracle straight in the eye. “I will rescue her.”
“You already have.” The Oracle rose from his position by the pool. “And she will rescue you as well.” But he began to steer the vampire away from the pond anyway. “She is being held in a cave by a swamp, and she is heavily guarded while the crone makes arrangements to take her out of Lonstas. She is not alone in this cave so beware, she is frightened but unharmed. These arrangements will take the crone no more than two days, perhaps less. She will try to take the girl back to Rylak; you must not let that happen, or she will be lost forever.”
The Oracle opened a portal; it pulsed and shimmered as it grew.
“Now, when I send you back it will still be day, and unlike the sun in the Neutral Plane, you will burn. I am sending you to the only safe place that I can, that will put you in contact with your friends. You are going to need them. Do not try to rescue her alone; you will fail.”
Manuel nodded briefly.
“Take care mate, keep safe, trust your friends, and I will be seeing you again soon, we are far from done. And close your eyes, will ya.”
Manuel took one last look at the Oracle, standing tall in his black leather pants and black sleeveless shirt, his long platinum hair standing inches off of his head. The Oracle smiled his wide generous smile, his brilliant blue eyes twinkling, and as soon as Manuel closed his own dark eyes, the Oracle pushed him in to the portal.
The world lost all form beneath his feet as he free fell.
Chapter 12
Stumbling forward as he finally felt solid ground beneath his boots, Manuel lost his balance, a rare thing for a vampire to do, and fell face first on to the floor. Harsh, white light slashed across his eyes, and a hot searing pain began to build in his blood. Instinctively he curled up in to a ball.
Sunlight. His only real enemy. He had perhaps a minute before the pain overtook him and he simply burned up leaving a pile of ash.
Awkwardly he crawled across the room to the nearest door. Throwing it open he found complete darkness and he flung himself inside, slamming the door firmly shut behind him.
~~*~~
The Season was approaching with seemingly break neck speed, and entertaining the magnificent Prince Charming at the Rutherford cottage had reminded Cindy that she still hadn’t made a list of Snow’s necessities for the balls. She found it hard to believe that they were sitting around chatting with the one, the only, the utterly brilliant, and outrageously handsome Prince Leonardo Charming. Cindy had created a thousand fantasies, had at least a hundred dreams, all of them starring the handsome prince, but none of them even came close to the reality.
Snow would need a complete wardrobe overhaul, of that the pint sized fashionista was certain. She threw open Snow’s closet door with a flourish.
Two eyes glowed up at her from the darkness in the closet. Shrieking out loud, she slammed the door shut with a loud bang; groping around madly, she wrapped her small hand around Snow’s favourite baseball bat. Screwing her eyes shut, she opened the closet door and began beating on the dark shape within, all the while emitting sharp, shrill screams at the top of her lungs.
“Help! Help!” She screamed shrilly as she beat the object with the bat. “It’s got me!”
Something squirmed and writhed about as it tried to evade Cindy’s well aimed blows. Ever persistent, Cindy continued to shriek in time with the bat’s thuds, bringing it down even harder with each blow.
Two pale hands rose up from the darkness, grabbing Cindy about the waist and dragged her in to the darkness of the closet. The bat fell helplessly to the floor. One cold hand clamped itself tightly against her mouth, effectively silencing her shrill yelps for assistance.
“Cease this horrendous shrieking, you cursed banshee. You are such a pain.” A familiar melodic voice groaned near her ear.
“Manuel!” She shrieked again against the cold hand. She struggled ineffectively against the stone like grasp of the beautiful vampire. He hesitated for a minute, and then released his hold on her.
“Did I hurt you?” She whispered breathlessly.
If there had been any available light in the dark closet, Cindy would have been presented with Manuel’s most arrogantly superior look. Instead he was simply a disembodied voice.
“I am a vampire, there is nothing you, a small human child, could possibly be capable of that could hurt me.”
“So what are you doing in Snowy’s closet? Hey Manuel, you’re in the closet.” She snickered at her own joke. “Oh, there are so many directions I could take this. This is awesome! What are you doing in here, and if you say sniffing the perfume I am going to take this in all of those directions and more.”
“I am a vampire.” He reminded the little blonde.
She shrugged, not understanding the importance of that statement. Then she got it, it was daylight, and the closet was dark.
“Ohhhhh. Right. But how did you get here?”
“Collect the wolf. And if the elf is tagging along bring her as well.” He commanded.
“What?” Cindy asked in confusion. “You’re staying in the closet? Don’t you think that’s a little strange? People might start talking you know.”
“What part of ‘I am a vampire’ did you not understand? My deepest apologies, I had not realised that you were intellectually disabled as well.” He drawled mockingly.
“Pasty faced Jerk.” She attempted to punch him...if she could find him.
“Collect your friends immediately, Rapunzel is in danger and we are running out of time.” Manuel whispered urgently in her ear before opening the closet door and tossing her out.
“Holy crap!” Was all she said as she ran from the room shouting for Snow at the top of her lungs.
~~*~~
You would think that sitting in a closet, surrounded by girly clothes and an abundance of magnificent shoes would make you appear somewhat less than intimidating, but somehow Manuel managed to appear just as remotely formidable as ever. Perhaps it was the subject matter.
Perhaps it was just Manuel.
Snow had darkened all of the windows by hanging the thickest, darkest cloth, even rolling up towels to seal the bottom so that absolutely no sunlight what so ever could come through. Even so, Manuel stayed safely on a stool in her closet, long legs stretched out before him, a dark look in his eye.
Prince Leo, Mercury, Snow, and Cindy along with a reluctant and somewhat tense Magella, all sat in a semi circle in front of him. Every few minutes Leo would turn and look speculatively at the purple elf, who avoided eye contact completely.
“The Great Oracle said she was being held in a cave, by a swamp. She is guarded by goblins and trolls. I saw her fall prey to enchantments.” The vampire said in a deceptively emotionless voice. “The crone has dealings with Rylakian Soldiers.”
Snow wasn’t fooled by his cool demeanour; the calmer Manuel appeared...the worse it was. And Manuel was never emotionless when the subject matter was Rapunzel...never.
“What colour was their armour?” The elf questioned suddenly.
“Black.” He turned to Snow. “The soldier that visited the crone some time ago also wore such armour. What do you know of this?”
“Not much really. I didn’t have much to do with those soldiers; they were a part of my Stepmother’s personal squadron. The Black Guards, they were created around the time of the uprisings and the rebellion
, they specialise in, well they specialise in everything and they only answer to my stepmother or her personal bodyguard Alaric.” She stopped as she realised that her dreaded stepmother might have had something to do with Rapunzel’s disappearance. That made it all the more dangerous.
“If any soldier of Rylak would be dealing with trolls, goblins and creatures like that, the Dark Squadron would be them. I think they are magically enhanced.”
Everyone was silent for a minute as that sunk in.
“These soldiers, these Black Guards are camped on the far side of The Lonesome Forest. I passed them a day ago. There are perhaps six of them there. A small number, but fearsome all the same.” Magella offered uneasily.
Manuel made a steeple of his fingers as he considered what the elf had said. “I saw the crone speaking with a group of them, but I could hear nothing. Guarding the cave were only the goblins and trolls, all heavily armed. I did not see these soldiers in that part of the vision. I can only assume that they are a part of another side of this story and not what we face at the cave.”
“I’m not looking forward to ever facing them.” Cindy said softly with a shake of her golden curls.
“What did the cave look like?” The prince asked curiously. He had been on several scouting missions across his kingdom recently; perhaps he might recognise the cave from a detailed description.
“It is not a cave I have seen before. It is close to a swamp, and the dampness is evidenced by the moss growing on the mouth of it. The stone is dark and jagged, and it emerges as a mouth from a magnificent and immense cave. The trees are twisted and gnarled in the background, smoke fills the air.”
“Smoke. Like smoke from an industrial area? Or perhaps a great troll fire?” Mercury reasoned with a grimace of distaste.
“Maybe it’s not smoke.” Cindy piped up.
“Perhaps enchantment smoke?” Snow asked trying to be helpful.
“I assume so, as I saw her fall prey to it.” Manuel said sombrely.
“What about the mountains between Lonstas and Rylak? Are there any swamps nearby? I seem to recall a few.” The prince turned to Snow.
Evermore: The Rylakian Heir Page 20