Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales) (23 page)

“But a glass coffin in the throne room?” the first said. “I can’t stomach it. Prince Leopold was a good man. He deserves better than that. He should be at rest in the crypt, with his family. It’s not right.”

“Hush, man. You’ll get us both killed with your talk.”

King Alder held the prince in a glass coffin in the throne room? My stomach churned at the thought of keeping such a morbid trophy, and I swallowed the urge to immediately run there. This would all be for nothing if we didn’t proceed as planned. I nudged Farah.

The door swung open and I took my aim. “Drop your weapons in the name of Crown Prince Leopold,” I said calmly. “If you wish to see him on the throne, do as I say immediately.”

At first reaching for their swords, the men paused and stared at me.

The one nearest me lifted his hands. “Prince Leopold is dead. You cannot crown someone who no longer breathes.”

“By dawn’s light, he will again,” I replied. “Choose your loyalty now: the usurping Dinnarian, or the rightful heir.”

“Dinnarian?” the second man said, mustache twitching. “But the Dinnarians were wiped out centuries ago.”

“Choose. I haven’t time to argue. The Sericean army approaches and the gates must be opened.”

The first man stepped forward. “If the army fights for the prince, so do I. You have my sword.” He knelt before us.

My arrow shifted, aimed for the neck of the other. “Choose.”

It took him a few moments of consideration, but a last glance at the kneeling guard swayed him. Reaching inside his coat, he produced a key. “For the eastern gatehouse,” he said. “Four guard the outside, two inside at the wheel, all king’s men. The bridge between holds another four, then two at the wheel of the western gatehouse. If you make it that far, bar the door. The iron will keep any from entering the other side.”

I considered the first man. “If I have your sword, you’ll keep watch here. Tell none we passed.”

“You have my word.”

He rose and returned to his position, his face a mask of determination. Erring on the side of caution, I flicked my head to the soldier behind me. “Take his weapons. He’ll come with us.” I kept my eyes on the second guard. I didn’t fully trust him. “Your job is to unlock the door when the way is clear. A word of warning: my arrows do not miss or slow for flesh. There will be one on you at all times.”

Nodding, he turned for the stairs to the gatehouse. We proceeded after him. Farah at my side, shield out and ready, her lips moved as she wove a ward behind us. When all eight behind us were through, I felt it close around the mouth of the stairwell. From the way the hairs on my neck lifted, very few would try to breach that spell.

The time for blood was upon us.

My arrow pierced the body of the third guard, the power of it pushing through his skull to strike the heart of the man on the stairs behind him. They fell back against the metal with a clang, alerting those on the other side of the iron door. With a nudge from the sword of a soldier behind him, the Royal Guard with the key hurried up to the door, unlocking it and pushing it open. We swarmed in from behind, overtaking him immediately and rushing the men inside. Leaving two of our number at the wheel, we pressed onwards, meeting the guards on the bridge with blades. Taking aim, I shot for the last of the eastern gatehouse guards, pinning him against the wooden frame of the door, a feathered shaft sticking from his chest as a macabre brooch.

“Bolt the door!” I said to the soldier nearest the far end. “Secure our hold!”

As the last of the Royal Guard dropped in a crimson heap, I turned to Farah. “The throne room. We’ll go now to avoid the rush here.”

With a nod, she followed me to the door of the western gatehouse, and I looked back at the men at the wheel. “Bolt this one the minute we’re gone. Let none pass. You must hold this room at all costs. Once it’s secure, throw open the gates.”

The man saluted, and Farah and I exited, running down the stairs past the still bodies of the guards already fallen to my bow. There was no time for prayers to the spirits this night, and little thought to spare for the lives ended.

Back inside the wall passages, my sister and I crept through the palace unseen. Halfway to the throne room, the sound of pounding feet and cries of battle seeped through the stone. The fight for the castle had begun in earnest.

“What of our sisters, Rae?” Farah said. “They don’t yet know where we’re headed.”

I grimaced. “We must have faith they’ll find us. Perhaps Delphine’s mirror will be of some use to them. If not, we must proceed regardless. He hasn’t much time left.”

Silence fell again as we reached another part of the castle. We were close now, though I wasn’t completely certain where the exit before us led. Farah set a hand to the door, her eyes closed in concentration.

“Powerful magic lies on the other side,” she said softly. “I cannot say what, but it’s more complex a spell than any I’ve encountered before.”

“You think it’s the coffin?”

She glanced at me over her shoulder and shrugged. “It could be. This is the throne room?”

I nodded. “This should be the servants’ entrance I used at the masked ball.”

“Then there’s only one way to know for certain,” Farah said. She placed a light kiss on the edge of her shield. “Spirits be with us.”

Peeking into the room, Farah checked for anyone within sight. She sucked in a breath as she fully opened the door, revealing a scene that stole the air from my lungs.

When last I was there, the place was resplendent and filled with guests dressed in lavish refinement, candles illuminating every gilded surface. Now, the throne room was dark, lit only by the eerie glow of the object at the base of the dais leading to the thrones. Upon a stone pedestal rested a faceted glass coffin, the motionless form of Prince Leopold encased within. It pulsed with a low hum of enchantment, the light it gave subtly shifting with each beat. Trembling, I crossed the room, stopping five paces from it. I stared at it, overcome with the beauty of both the magical prison and the peaceful expression on the prince’s face. His cheeks still held the warmth of life.

Paralyzed, I stayed there, my eyes fixed on him. It was my fault he was that way. I couldn’t protect him, couldn’t warn him in time.

As Farah stopped beside me, a new feeling solidified in my stomach. A fierce determination crept up from the depths of helpless darkness weighing me down, and I knew, without any hesitation, that I would bring an end to the trail of misery King Alder caused in his pursuits. The resolution burned in my gut, filling me with a singular purpose.

“I will end this,” I whispered, taking a step forward, then another. Three steps away, I lifted my hand, poised to open the beautiful abomination before me.

“Rae, stop!” Farah cried out, but too late.

Blinding light erupted from the casket, blasting me off of my feet and halfway across the room. I slid on my back over the floor, skidding along the polished stone before I came to a rest against the edge of the grand staircase leading up to the main doors. The pain took several moments to fully register, and I curled up on myself as it radiated through my body. Needing my energy reserves, I let go of my glamour.

Farah ran to me, kneeling down to my level. “Are you all right? It’s warded like nothing I’ve seen before. I tried to warn you, but…”

With a groan, I pushed myself to standing. “I’m fine. Just a bit bruised.” Every inch of me ached, my skin stinging from contact with so much power. I attempted to stretch out some of the hurt, my thoughts racing. “How can we get through it? If we can’t reach him—”

The doors behind us thudded as they opened. Panicked, we dashed to the right, concealing ourselves beneath the staircase. I nocked an arrow and drew back, ready to fire at the first sign of an enemy.

“It came from in here,” a familiar voice whispered. “He must be…” Delphine’s words died in a gasp.

Five pairs of feet thudded down the stairs, racing towards the coffin in the center of the room.

“Wait,” I called after them. “Keep your distance, sisters!”

At the sound of my voice, they stopped and spun about.

“Raelynn?” Adelaide said.

Farah and I stepped out from the shadows, and I beckoned them towards me. “Here, come out of sight lest more than you were called to this place.”

“The surge of power,” Clarice whispered, “was that you?”

I grimaced. “Unfortunately. I discovered the ward on the coffin the hard way. I don’t recommend testing it for yourselves.” I shook it off. “But never mind that much. Can any of you see a way to break through it?”

Farah closed her eyes, concentrating. Sweat beaded on her brow, and after a minute or two, she broke off from it. “I’m sorry, I can’t find any weaknesses. It’s being powered from another source, tied to something somehow. I can’t tell what.”

“There’s something else as well,” Clarice said, pushing the spectacles gifted to her by my godmother further up the bridge of her nose. “It’s more than a simple sleeping spell confining him. There’s an enchantment on his life force. Once it’s reached its peak, it will be stolen from him, irreversibly.”

I pinched my eyes closed, trying to think beyond my growing fear. “The wards first, the rest later.” With a deep, calming breath, I looked to Farah. “Tied to something, you say? Any clue what that might be?”

“It would have to be something belonging to the one responsible for this,” Delphine answered. “Does he have any amulets or things of that nature? Likely he keeps it on his person.”

I frowned, frustrated. “Not as far as I know. He’s kept this dark side of his hidden as long as he’s been at the palace. If there were anything on him or with him, I would’ve known it. Very few items could power such a spell, and all would be obvious if he—”

I froze, the certainty of my thoughts stealing my words.

“Raelynn?” Belinda said, worried. “You look as frightened as a field mouse. What’s the matter?”

“I…” I swallowed and tried to get a grip on myself. “I know what fuels this curse.”

Not thinking, I sprinted for the servant’s entrance once more, my sisters hot on my heels. No longer caring for stealth with the sounds of fighting burying our noise, I ran as fast as my feet would carry me, out the door on the western side of the castle. Branches and thorny plants tore at my cloak in the forest, slowing my progress, and I threw it from me as I went, cursing the thing once I was free.

The false fear of the ward barely registered in comparison to the threat chasing me to King Alder’s secret chamber in the woods. The thought of losing Leo burned inside me, fueling my rage and pushing me onwards. All notions of caution or quiet disappeared from my mind, replaced by the need to not be too late again.

“Stupid girl!” His voice brought me to an abrupt halt fifty feet from the glamoured chamber. “You go no further!”

King Alder stood in front of the door, his form menacing with rippling black energy whipping around him in vicious tendrils. Without any hesitation, I pulled an arrow from my quiver and nocked it.

He gave a deep, throaty laugh, and waved his hand. A gust of wind blasted the weapon from my hands, sending it flying away. “You really think you can get past me? With an arrow? Your tricks are useless here. You’re too late. He’s mine. A mere hour more and my life will be that much longer. My power is too great. One precocious princess is no match for—”

“Not one!” Erata said, stopping beside me.

Adelaide and the others joined us, sticking close to one another. In that moment, in the face of the shadow that had chased us for most of my life, I felt their love, their support. With my sisters beside me, I knew we had control over our fates. Nothing in this world could break us.

“How about seven?” I asked, fixing him with my stare.

King Alder sneered, a snort of derision with his answer. “So much the better that you are all in one place. You’re considerably easier to kill this way.”

He reared back, his hands pulling magic from every dark place around us. Before he could strike, an icy blast of wind ripped through the trees, lifting him into the air and flinging him to the side. I stared for a moment until Erata nudged me.

“You go,” she said, winding up for another attack. “We’ll hold him here.”

As one, we rushed the remaining distance to the door and I felt for the stone button. “
Aomara
,” I whispered to it, and it opened with a touch of my hand. With a glance over my shoulder at the wall of resolve that was my sisters, I rushed inside, determined to see this through.

The air within the chamber hummed and pulsed, matching the cadence of the coffin in the throne room. My movements slowed, my body straining to push through the consolidated magic contained there. To the left of the entrance, I turned and looked at the object hanging there: the source of his power.

Gold encrusted with hundreds of glittering gems framed the oval mirror. Each facet sparkled at a different interval, the effect dazzling and disorienting. A ghoulish face floated in the reflection, its eyes closed in sleep or concentration. A moment more, and the lids opened. Empty sockets gazed back at me, shaking the core of my resolve.

“Brave and righteous,” it said, its thin lips barely moving, “but you are not he who commands me.”

“I don’t want to command you,” I said.

It laughed. “Spoken as one without power.”

I bristled. My tolerance of helplessness had reached its limit. Scanning the room, a small collection of weapons hung on a nearby wall: swords, a pair of axes, and a solid, spiked mace.

Ignoring the gaze of the specter in the mirror, I approached the collection, considering it.

“You are not as great as he, nor as I. One such as you can do nothing here.”

“You’re wrong,” I said, coming to a decision. “I have something you lack, looking glass.”

The hideous chuckle it emitted made me shiver. “And what is that, little princess?”

I reached for the mace, wrapping my fingers around the handle and lifting it from its hooks. I turned, smiling.

“Hands.”

Though it had no visible orbs, I felt its frantic search of my person, reading my intentions. “Wisely spoken, Your Highness. Tell me, what knowledge may I impart to you? Anything you wish of me, I will say truthfully.”