| Previous Chapter | Story Index Page | Next Chapter |
In the Land of Stories Old
The next morning, luckily, Serena was distracted by both worry and excitement about going into town, because she’d never been shopping before. She was questioning one of the guards about it when Elana came upstairs, and dead or not it was obvious he was amused. “I think you will enjoy seeing the town, Princess,” he told the younger woman, and then bowed to Elana. “Princess Elana, good morning.”
“Good morning to you as well,” she responded. “Was it a quiet night?”
“Thankfully, yes,” he told her. Snow came down the stairs just then. “Good morning, Your Highness.”
“Good morning, Gervais,” Snow said. From what Elana had seen so far, Snow and Merlin knew the names of every single one of the fifty dead guards. “Merlin said it was a quiet night?”
“It was,” he told her. “I believe Prince Hans has left out breakfast in the kitchen for the three of you. He went back upstairs not long before Princess Serena came down.”
“Thank you,” she told him, and they all hurried off to the kitchen. Hans had indeed left out a light breakfast for them consisting of soft-boiled eggs, toast, fruit and tea, with a separate covered dish of sausage and potatoes set aside for Snow. They all finished fairly quickly, and Elana’s surprise was evident when Snow seemed to be ready to leave immediately. “Oh, do you need to get something? Serena and I can wait…”
“No, I’m ready…I just didn’t think you were.” Elana looked her up and down, frowning. “I thought I understood it when you were just working around the castle, but we’re going into town. Not to be rude, but why are you dressed like a merchant’s daughter?”
Snow blushed. “Oh, these…these are just my clothes.”
“So that was the wrong question, I guess: Why did your father dress you like a merchant’s daughter? Because in spite of the way he drags around the castle, he’s still wearing clothes fit for his station.” She raised an eyebrow at Serena. “And why hasn’t your oh-so-fashionable brother done anything about this?”
Serena blushed too. “He probably didn’t want to offer offense by making suggestions.”
Snow’s blush got deeper. “When I was little I had regular princess clothes, but as I got…bigger, the royal tailors refused to make them for me because they said it wouldn’t look good on…me. The dresses they gave me were still made of fine fabrics, just in very plain styles.”
“So they were idiots and not fit for their positions in a royal household.” Elana brushed that away with a wave of her hand. “Good riddance, then. We can find someone who actually knows what they’re doing. Would you mind fairy seamstresses? I know a few.”
Snow looked at her gown with just a touch of envy: it was of perfectly fitted sky blue silk with delicately embroidered flowering vines decorating the hem, neckline, and sleeves. “Did they do this one? It’s beautiful.”
“They did my entire wardrobe. And they work cheap. I’ll send them a message and see if they’d agree to come meet you and check out the area.” In truth, she thought that the fairies would probably jump at the chance to come work at the Black Castle, and they’d be likely to bring some tailor elves along with them, but taking things slowly with the obviously overwhelmed princess was probably for the best. Although… “You know, given the issues you’re going to have with getting servants in here for a while, have you considered just hiring magical ones? Some of your subjects might fuss once they realize, but you’d be able to rightfully remind them that they spurned the opportunity to come work for you so you had to find other options.”
“What kind of workers are they?”
“Loyal ones, very loyal—as long as they’re treated with respect, of course. A magical household is one that always runs smoothly. And it’s not like you don’t have plenty of room.”
Snow sighed. “We have so much room. I’m not sure why the castle is so large, a family the size of Merlin’s would only be a drop in the bucket.” Elana raised an eyebrow. “Fifteen children. He was the thirteenth.”
Elana made a face. “Oh that poor kid. Did they kick him out at thirteen or just foster him as a baby?”
“His father banished him at seven—he was also the seventh son of a seventh son, and his father is superstitious. He said his mother wasn’t very happy about the whole thing.”
“Well, at least there’s that.” Elana resolved to look into that later. Seven-times-seven sons were rare enough, but thirteenth as well? That just didn’t happen—most parents were smart enough not to let it happen. Unless the child had a destiny…
She could have kicked herself. Of course Merlin had a destiny. Arthur had one too, but his was a fairly normal one tied to his kingdom and his bloodline by the Sword. Merlin’s must be huge, something far larger than just rescuing a pretty princess and saving her kingdom. There was no doubt Snow was a part of it, but her part at this point was doubtless to give him something to fight for. Or just to be motivated to stay alive for. Elana wanted to sigh. What a mess. And Destiny had used her to help make it, too.
Because she hadn’t lied to them, once she’d thought about it after the dragon incident she had realized that a dazed hero picking himself up off the ground after a fight and seeing green skin was immediately going to think he’d been tricked by a witch. For some reason, though, it had kept slipping her mind for an entire year that she needed to track the Seven down and trade apologies like a normal person. Elana considered herself very lucky that they all seemed to have accepted her horrendously late apology and let it go.
And a bit more than that, in the case of the triplets, but thinking about her three amorous boyfriends from Vinci wasn’t going to accomplish anything useful at the moment. So she herded Snow and Serena back up to Snow’s room—room! As in just one!—and dug through the princess’s meager wardrobe to put together an outfit a little more suitable for going into town. A touch of magical embroidery spruced things up a bit, and then they were ready to go. Elana paused at the mirror in Snow’s room and cast her own illusion spell—so much easier to make sure she’d gotten it right when there was a mirror—but to her surprise that made both of the other princesses gasp in dismay. She checked her reflection with a critical eye. “What? Did I miss something?”
“No, but…why would you do that?”
Elana met Snow’s eyes in the mirror. The mirror that was now showing her as a blonde-haired, grey-eyed princess with finer features and a complexion the color of rich cream instead of a tree frog. “To go shopping?”
“But why?”
Elana turned around. Snow was nearly in tears. “This is how I almost always go out. People tend to react badly to green women, remember?”
“People react badly to witches who are green,” Snow countered. “And I got into Merlin’s books and found out why. But you aren’t a witch, and you don’t…I mean, I’m pretty sure you’d never do…that.” She reached out and took Elana’s hands in hers. “Elana, you live here now. Even if you and the triplets eventually move somewhere else, you’ll still be coming back to the Black Isle to visit. I understand why you might need the disguise to be safe in other places…but you don’t have to pretend to be someone you aren’t when you’re here. I don’t want you to feel that way while you’re here. Because it’s a horrible way to have to feel.”
And it clicked. Elana pulled Snow into a hug, her own eyes not entirely dry. “Oh Snow…thank you. I’ll take it off if it bothers you that much.” She pushed the younger woman back just a bit, dropping her illusion. “Just so you know, though, I’ve never been ashamed of the way I look. I look like my mother, and my grandmother. But we all used the illusion spell when we went out, because sometimes it just wasn’t safe not to.”
Snow swallowed and nodded. “I understand. I’ve never been ashamed of the way I look either, but…other people were. And sometimes people aren’t nice. The people here, though…well, if Merlin hadn’t made enough of an impression the first time someone was rude to me, Hans and the triplets made sure that impression stuck. There will always be stupid people, but the ones on the Black Isle keep their mouths shut because my really pretty magician and his friends are famous and scary.”
Elana laughed. “They have a reputation, that’s for sure.” Serena was looking like she had a question just waiting to burst out of her, and Elana cocked one eyebrow. “Green witches?” Serena nodded eagerly. “Oh, that’s…Snow, can we just show her the book?”
“We’ll just show you the book,” Snow agreed, and pulled Serena into a brief hug as well. “I don’t even want to say it out loud, Serena. It’s just nasty.”
“Wait, does Merlin know you looked that up in his books?”
“He knew I got into the books,” Snow hedged. “Of course, once I found it, I understood why he hadn’t wanted to explain it to me.” She smiled. “He’s so cute when he’s embarrassed.”
“Snow, he’s cute pretty much all the time,” Serena told her. “And when he looks at you…I want someone to look at me that way someday.”
“You mean you want Arthur to look at you that way,” Snow corrected. “And he will, he’s just being gentlemanly right now. King Uther trained his boys really, really well.”
“He really did,” Elana agreed. “Now let’s get going, we have shopping to do.”
Jack was waiting for them when they got to the antechamber, and Hans was with him. “We will be your escorts today,” Jack said, managing about half of a really elegant bow. “I need to be out of the castle for a while.”
“And I am going so I can watch him,” Hans said, bowing as well. “Just in case his need to get out is not matched by his ability to do so.”
Jack waved that off with his good hand. “I am fine, so long as we do not get into a fight with anyone. And I wish to make certain that my sister is properly introduced in the town, and the Princess Elana as well.” He took in Snow’s changed outfit with a nod. “Very nice,” he approved. “I had thought to begin improving your wardrobe when I began to work on Serena’s, but that will not be until after my next commission is finished. I am glad Elana was able to do something about it before today’s outing.”
“Commission?” Serena asked.
“For a necklace with fourteen pearls and ten small emeralds, worked in gold,” he explained. “The merchant gave it to Hans when he was last down in the market and mentioned that I had returned. That is my other reason for wanting to go down today, I wish to see the jewel merchant in person and let him know why it may take longer than usual to complete the commission. He has never seen me when I was not a dwarf, so that meeting should be entertaining for everyone.”
It was. That particular merchant mostly dealt in gems and other precious or semi-precious substances, and although he’d apparently always been businesslike and dealt fairly with Jack even when he was a dwarf—local artisans who could do the sort of fine work Jack could, green dwarf or not, were a valuable resource—he was completely overwhelmed and full of attempted apologies when he realized he’d been dealing with Prince Jacques de la Mer of the Fearless Seven the entire time. Jack cut that off before it could really get started. “I was under a curse,” he snorted. “And my work fetches the same price regardless of how tall I happen to be when I am making it, no?”
The merchant’s eyes widened. “You don’t want…more, now?”
Jack raised a golden eyebrow. “Only if you have somehow been cheating me, but as I consider myself a good judge of both character and the value of my own work, I am fairly certain you have not. Now, the delay.” He made a minute gesture with the arm that was still in a sling. “If it was simply setting a gem or three I would have no problems, but the commission requires work I cannot do without full use of both hands. So, do you think they will be willing to wait another few weeks?”
The merchant relaxed somewhat and shrugged. “I don’t see that they have a choice. If they want you specifically to make it—and they did—then they will have to wait. But I will let them know there are extenuating circumstances.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.” Jack chatted with him briefly about the quality of the gems which had been coming in lately and then they left and got on with the rest of the shopping. It was mostly small shopping, and after stopping for a drink and a bite at a small café on the boardwalk the five of them started back up the King’s Road to return to the castle.
They were surprised when one of the town guards hurried to join them. “The magistrate told me to accompany you,” the young man told them. “If that is all right with Your Highnesses, of course.”
“An extra sword is never to be sneered at,” Hans told him. “Does he suspect more raiders may be about?”
The guard rolled his eyes. “Almost always, now. We still don’t know how any of the raiders who’ve come managed to reach the castle without being seen, and he wishes to take no chances.”
“And did you volunteer so you could visit your cousin?” Snow wanted to know, and smiled when he blushed. “It’s all right, Jonas. If it was one of my relatives, I’d be coming up to see him every chance I got.”
He bowed to her. “Thank you for saying so, Your Highness. I did not…I was very upset when we found out that everyone who’d been in the castle was…gone.”
“She turned them into vines, mostly, and when she died all the vines turned to dust,” Snow told him. “There was far too much to bury, so we burned it and then put up a memorial. I should have thought…would you like to see it, while you’re at the castle? One of us can take you to it.”
“I would be happy to,” Hans offered quickly. He wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed it, but Jack’s feet were starting to drag a bit. And he didn’t want anyone to suggest Captain Gerard for the task, as that would put more strain on Merlin. “I am sure the king would not want a parade of the curious coming to the castle to see it, but you may certainly tell those who lost someone that it exists.”
“Perhaps that would be an idea, Princess,” Jack addressed to Snow. “There are side routes to that courtyard, so it could be reached without having to go through the castle proper. Next year, do you think, on the anniversary of the death of the witch? A ceremony of some sort which the people of the town could attend would likely be well-received.”
Snow considered that. “I think that would be an excellent idea…but I’m not sure what my father would think of it.”
Jack shrugged one-sidedly. “It does not matter, as by that time you will be queen and may do things as you see fit.”
She blinked. “Oh…you know, I keep forgetting about that. We’ll certainly have a memorial next year, then, to commemorate the defeat of Queen Consort Regina and remember all of her victims.” Jonas reacted with a good deal of shock to that, and her hand went to her mouth. “Oh, you didn’t know? The witch was my stepmother.”
He blew out a breath. “I…don’t think anyone knows that, Your Highness. And no one would have guessed, considering…well, those few who had seen the witch and lived never connected the two.”
“I can see why they wouldn’t have,” she told him. “Regina looked like a beautiful woman when she married my father, but apparently she’d been doing sacrificial magic to de-age herself for quite some time. Merlin says there’s no telling how old she actually was, but she did turn to dust when he killed her so she was probably pretty old.”
Jack and Hans traded a look, and Elana frowned. Someone needed to sit Snow down and explain what happened to born magic users who lost all their magic, but that wasn’t a conversation they could have with anyone else around. Captain Gerard had vouched for his young cousin, but there was still the matter of no one knowing how the initial rumors about the state of the castle and its magician had gotten around. Better to be safe than sorry.
When Jonas came back down from the castle, he went straight to the magistrate’s office. “Sir, I have news.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Not more raiders, I hope.”
Jonas shook his head. “No, this is old news—about Queen Consort Regina.”
“Wasn’t she killed by the witch?”
“Sir, she was the witch.” George reacted with every bit as much shock to that as Jonas had earlier. “No one at the castle realized we didn’t know. The vines she had twining around everything up there…those were her victims, transformed, and when Prince Merlin killed her they all fell to dust. Her Highness said the only thing they’d been able to do with the dust, as there was so much of it and the Fearless Seven were still cursed at the time, was burn it in a courtyard. Captain Gerard confirmed that it was done with proper regard and so released the spirits who were willing to pass on, and afterward they put up a monument there. And Her Highness says they’ll have a ceremony there next year which any from the town who wish to may attend—she wasn’t sure at first, not thinking the king would approve, but then Prince Jack reminded her that she’ll be queen by then and can do what she likes.”
“The king wouldn’t…you know, I can’t say I’m surprised.” George shook his head. “You brought this to me first?” Jonas nodded, and he stood up. “We’ll need to get out in front of this news before it becomes generally known—make sure people know our princess is appalled by what happened and plans to do everything in her power to address it once she’s crowned…when will that be, did they say?”
“My cousin says they were waiting until all of the Fearless Seven were uncursed and they could get some servants in to help them.” Jonas blew out a breath. “It seems Her Highness doesn’t hold it against the people for not wanting to come work up there, considering, but they need help so she came up with something else.”
“And that is?”
Jonas told him, and George laughed so hard he had to sit back down. “Don’t spread that one, but I honestly can’t wait to see the reactions when word finally gets around.”
| Previous Chapter | Story Index Page | Next Chapter |