Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales) (17 page)

“Met up with them? How did that come about? And with no saddles, too,” I said. “Were they turned loose?”

Belinda nodded. “Yes, by a man who smelled of blood, they said. He burned the tack and left with three other horses, but set the two of them free.”

I frowned. “Odd. Why would he do that?”

She flitted her hands about. “No idea. I got the sense of a wounded dog about this man, but little else. I’m certain he had a reason, but he didn’t stop to explain it to the horses. Stupid that people assume an animal wouldn’t understand.”

“Agreed. Remy and Cora are exceptionally intelligent,” I said, shoving the socks in my pack. “Is everything ready to go?”

“I believe so. Delphine and Clarice are collecting the last of their things, but the rest are waiting to leave.”

I shouldered my bag. “Then we should be off. Are there any apples left in the cellar?”

“A few, though you’ll need to have Adelaide drop the preservation spell from what you take. She wanted everything that’s left to stay as it is should we return.”

I looked around the room one final time. It was the only home I’d known since I was nine, and I couldn’t help the pang of sadness that took me. Adelaide was right, there had been happy times in this house, ones that had escaped the touch of death’s pursuit. I realized in that moment that, regardless of the outcome of this mission, I wasn’t likely to come here ever again. Soon I would either be dead, or a princess.

I wasn’t sure which terrified me more.

The biggest unforeseen challenge in the trip was finding a way to stop the prince’s endless questions. He’d barely stopped talking the entire ride.

“Stop staring at me,” I growled at him. “I can’t concentrate when you do that.”

Prince Leopold grinned at me. “I’ve never seen someone glamour themselves. I can’t help that I’m curious.”

I grimaced and sighed, frustrated. “I’m not glamouring only myself this time. It’s much more difficult than that. Putting on another’s appearance is one thing, but I’m essentially trying to make us all invisible. When I glamour myself, I’m more or less becoming a memory. As I have no memory of nothing, it’s a very abstract thing I’m attempting. So, if you would, please give me space for this.”

“But, you disappeared at the ball without difficulty. How was that different?”

“I was loaned a necklace for that. I didn’t do anything myself. Now please be quiet. If you must talk to someone, Adelaide or Delphine would gladly educate you. I need to concentrate or all of this could be for nothing.”

I’d been trying to work out the problem for half a day at least. So far, we hadn’t encountered any trouble, or even people, but that could change at any moment. I’d glamoured my sisters before, but never more than three at a time, and then into people we all remembered. I wasn’t certain I could disguise us all, never mind managing complete invisibility on myself and seven other people at once.

I closed my eyes and tried again, this time imagining how the forest would look without our presence. If I couldn’t glamour us, perhaps spelling our surroundings would work better. I cracked an eye open and concentrated on the trees around us, the sparse plants and dead leaves beneath us, the sky above us. Touching each branch and twig and cloud with my magic, it soon became very clear that this method wouldn’t work either. I’d have to spell half of the kingdom before we’d be hidden from view, and that task could take me a lifetime.

“Is there anything I can do to help, Rae?” Clarice asked as she rode up beside me, interrupting my latest round of defeated thoughts.

I smoothed Cora’s mane. “No, and we’ll be out of the woods soon. I’m sorry, but I think we’ll have to come up with another idea. If we all knew the same group of people, something, I might be able to cloak us in such a memory, but there’s no way this one,” I tipped my head in the prince’s direction, “shares any memory of the same eight people we do.”

Clarice fell silent, thinking. After a moment, she leaned around me. “Leo, I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen a fairy migration, have you?”

His forehead wrinkled. “Once, many years ago. Why?”

She leaned back and looked at me. “Do you remember watching it from our balcony when you were seven, Rae?”

Confused, I nodded. “Yes, of course. There’s nothing like it in the world. Why are you—” I paused, suddenly realizing what she was getting at. “Ah! I see what you have in mind, but there’s a problem with that. The sound of hooves would give us away instantly. I can’t overcome hearing, only sight. That’s why I could never have passed for a boy older than fourteen at the castle.”

She gave me an enigmatic smile. “Never mind that part. Could you cast that large of a glamour, though? It’s a small herd, but a herd nonetheless.”

I settled myself, relaxing my posture. “I suppose we shall see.”

Slipping into concentration, I called up the memory of the great fairy migration over a decade past. A river of light wove across the valley as my sisters and I watched from my bedroom balcony, our mountainside castle catching a warm summer wind from the lowlands. Swirling ribbons of pink, blue, and green wove through the golden illumination below, brighter orbs of individual fairies occasionally breaking free to dance around the outskirts, and the faintest hint of music carrying up to us as we looked on. The great swath of light moved over the land, flowing over rocks and roads without any care of direction, leaving a glimmering trail of dust as they faded from view.

Memories of magic are rarer than mundane memories. If you can catch one, it never leaves you, and its power stays with you for all your days.

Light exploded around us, reaching out to touch everything we passed. Brilliant globes of color flitted through the air, weaving between us as our horses carried on without care. Beyond our sphere of illumination, the outside world looked dark and cold, untouched by the magic surrounding us. Looking back, the light trailed behind, a slowly fading sprinkle of glittering embers the only sign of our passing.
 

Clarice slowly exhaled as she took in the results of my spell. “Oh, Rae, what a beautiful memory.” She reached over and took my hand, her eyes glistening with tears. “There was so much love between us then. I remember it this way as well.”

I blushed at the compliment, though there was no need. As I looked around, I knew this enchantment would carry us to safety, as few would dare disturb the fragile beauty of a fairy migration but to stare in wonder. Even the coldest of hearts warmed at the sight.

Under her breath, Clarice muttered words I couldn’t hear, but likely as not they were prayers to the earth spirits, asking for silence. If they were willing to help, they would dampen the horses’ hooves as we rode.

Within moments, it was quiet save for the natural sounds of the forest.

I turned to Prince Leopold, grinning a little. “You may speak, Highness.”

He chuckled. “Well, now that I have permission, I find my words have left me. This…” He looked around, completely in awe. “This is utterly amazing. It’s exactly as I remember it.”

“Memories of magic rarely fade,” I said. “It was lucky we all shared one.”

Stretching his neck back as far as he could without falling, he squinted into the distance. “How far back does the glamour reach?”

“As far back as my memory,” I said. “Far enough.”

“Your gift is unquestionably wonderful, Rae,” he said, fixing his gaze on me.

“As is the rest of her,” Clarice added as she winked, then sped her horse forward.

Back to blushing, I kept my eyes trained ahead.

“I agree with her,” he said softly.

I waved my hand around, brushing it off. “Nonsense. It’s only a little light show.”

“But one who can create something as beautiful as this…” he said. “That is a person with a truly lovely spirit. You are filled with beautiful things, Raelynn.”

Flustered at all the praise, I had no words in return. The honest and kind way he spoke always left me speechless. He didn’t press for further conversation, and we passed the remainder of the day’s journey with the sounds of birds as our musical accompaniment.

I slept deeply that first night, but was still tired when they woke me at dawn. I kept up the glamour for the entire following day, and when we stopped for the night, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open to eat dinner. By the third day of riding, everyone wore looks of concern whenever I glanced their way, but exhaustion kept me from caring overmuch. Not even nightmares could penetrate the blackness that overtook me in the evening, which was a welcome consequence. The fourth morning, it took Erata shaking me awake, panic plainly written on her face when I finally opened my eyes.

Prince Leopold knelt beside me, his face drawn in worry. “Are you ill? Is there anything I can do?”

I sat up with a groan, asking myself that same question. “No. No, I’ll be fine. Such a large glamour is difficult to sustain, that’s all. I’ll be all right once I can give it up.”

“Maybe you should—”

“Don’t even suggest it,” I said, holding up a hand to stop him. “We’re too close to risk traveling without it. I’m not so fragile that I can’t protect my family when it’s most important.”

He paused when I said “family,” his features shifting between happiness and uncertainty. As it hit me what caused this reaction, I backpedalled, but couldn’t quite muster anything to explain it away. My mind was too exhausted to put up much of a fight. Instead, I pushed myself to my feet and tried to ignore the slip, stretching and preparing myself for the last leg of the journey.

“You say we should reach their outpost shortly after sundown?” Erata said as she hefted my pack to hand it to me.

He nodded. “Yes. We should, pending they haven’t moved off from the site, but there’s no reason they would. The Kingdom of Moran has been building up their forces fifty miles from our shared border, so our army has been waiting to see if anything breaks. The diplomacy has been holding for now, but with my mother’s passing…”

As the sadness passed over his face, I had to stop myself from reaching out to him, looking away at the tall brown grass of the fields that surrounded us rather than tempt myself with thoughts of comforting him with more than words.

“At any rate,” he said, lifting his own pack, “there’s no reason they’ll be anywhere except where I left them several weeks back. If anything, they’ll be closer to us than farther from.”

One more day of riding and I could let it go. After that…

Well, spirits willing, Prince Leopold would keep his army’s loyalty and my tricks would become unnecessary.

I pulled two apples and some salt from my pack before shouldering it, the weight nearly toppling me in. As the others finished breaking camp and erasing our traces, I busied myself with the horses, as none of my companions would let me help anyway. Placing one of the apples in my pocket, I cut the other in half, liberally salting the exposed flesh.

“Good morning, Cora,” I said as I approached the mare. “Ready to put up with me one last day?” Handing her one of the salted halves, she whinnied happily. I chuckled. “You needn’t lie about it. I know you don’t care much for magic. I promise it will be over soon.”

While she crunched away on the remaining half, I looked around, watching as the prince helped each of my sisters onto their chosen mounts. Though he did so pleasantly, I saw the hidden anxiety buried beneath the jovial exterior. I had seen his true smile and, even as he told Belinda a little joke, it didn’t shine through as it should.

At last, he came to me and Cora, but when he saw my frown, he paused. “What’s the matter? Have I done something to upset you?”

I shook my head. “No. I just…” I stopped, unsure that I should say anything at all, but my mouth was less tired than my brain and it got ahead of me. “I hope, when this is over, that you find joy again. Your smile isn’t what it was before. I…” Looking away, I distracted myself with smoothing Cora’s mane. “I miss it.”

Feeling very stupid, I glanced at him to gauge his reaction. His expression stole my breath, and I came under the full brunt of his genuine smile. Without a word, he took a knee before me and offered me a hand. When I made no move, he tilted his head, a grin pulling at his lips.

“Help you up?” he asked.

Irritated at myself for being silly again, I set a boot against his knee, and he boosted me onto Cora’s back. Brushing aside my own petty worries, I once again summoned my glamour, cloaking our party in fairy light. Without so much as a glance at my sisters, as I was sure they’d tease me endlessly for that little display with Leo, I urged Cora forward, eager to be away and that much closer to our destination.

The horses stuck with us for much longer than expected. Even better, Remy and Cora parted from them, continuing on with us. This was lucky for me, as the first time I attempted to walk more than twenty steps, my knees completely gave out on me, my body refusing to stay upright.

As I released the glamour when the horses rode away, I sank to my knees, my breathing labored and every muscle in my body with no more strength than apple blossoms in a blizzard. I needed to be stronger than this. If anything happened where we needed to disguise ourselves, I wasn’t sure I could help. Still, there was relief in letting go of a disguise… a relief I hadn’t felt in over a year.

“Rest for a moment,” Prince Leopold said. When I tried to stand, he put a hand on my shoulder, effectively stopping me. “You need to rest. Don’t argue with me.”

I settled back down, scowling up at him as he handed me a water skein. “We haven’t the time to stop here. We can’t sit out in the open this way.”

“You’re both correct,” Adelaide said, interrupting us. “Since Remy and Cora stayed with us, you should ride. That way, we can keep moving.”

“I’m not going to ride when everyone else has to walk,” I said.

“Oh, really. And how far do you think you’ll get before you collapse mid-step?” She set her hands on her hips and gave me a look that instantly transported me back to my childhood self. “If you ride, at least you’ll be conscious and can get some of your energy back in case of emergency.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not a child, Adelaide, I don’t need—” My protests vanished with a yelp as I was lifted into the air. I stared up at the prince, too stunned at the sudden contact to formulate adequate curses for being forcibly moved. Before I knew it, I was astride Cora once more, my pack and another lashed across Remy’s back. Leo grinned up at me, meeting my glare with his own impish glee.