Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 45

            “Well this explains why she didn’t stop the palace from taking over,” Valerie remarked, eyeing the godmother with a wrinkled nose. “I’d thought that was weird.”

            “Enax,” Isaac shouted, voice going higher at the end. “We need you to look at this.”

            The magician stomped up to them, and stopped arms folded over his chest. “You said we were going to leave them.”

            “This one’s Armith’s godmother. I have a feeling having her free will help us, especially with the crazy one still chasing us,” Isaac replied, still staring at Satinka.

            Enax’s eyes widened. “Godmother? I hadn’t thought that possible.” He carefully approached the column, walking the same spiral pattern he had with the first one, but this time he murmured to himself the entire way, his hands touching various pieces of metal on his person as he went. He stared into her eyes for several minutes, not blinking and turning a silver metal square over and over in his hand as he whispered continuously. Then he reversed his spiral, not stopping until he was in front of them again.

            Valerie could see the sweat beading his face, the slight tremor to his hands and the way he still hadn’t let go of the silver square. “How bad?”

            “Bad. The spell on the woman in the hall was a simple freezing spell. It was on a large scale but the spell itself was simple. That is not the case with the godmother here. I…this is one of the nastiest spells I have ever come across. It can only be broken if the right conditions are met and the conditions…I don’t know how you would ever fulfill them,” he replied, shaking his head and watching the column out of the corner of his eyes. Like he expected it to attack him.

            “What are the conditions?” She asked, frowning and tapping on foot.

            “It is a combination of three conditions that all must be met. It’s a very complicated spell and I have never seen anything like it before.”

            She rolled her eyes. “The conditions, please.”

            “Someone who hates the godmother, who knows that doing so will free her, must freely give their blood over,” he said quietly.

            “All of their blood?” Valerie asked, eyebrows going up.

            He shook his head. “No. A few drops will do.”

            She snorted. “Is that all?” Enax was shocked into silence as he watched Valerie stalk over to the column of ice. She made a rude gesture at it then drew her sword. Holding one hand out, she made a quick slice across her palm, the crimson line rapidly swelling up and spilling over. She pressed her palm against the ice, flinching slightly at the cold, and swiped it down, leaving a long red streak across the ice.

            She stepped back, glancing at Enax over her shoulder. “How long will it take to work?”

            He only stared, mouth open. Beside him, Isaac was standing with his hands propped on his hips. “You hate her? Really Val?”

            She shrugged, flushing a bit. “You heard what she called me. And I don’t like being treated like some goddamn game piece.”

            His attention was pulled from his reply to the streak of Valerie’s blood. It was glowing gold, getting brighter and brighter as fingers of light began stretching out, and slowly twined around the column like vines. The light had just reached the blinding point when the whole square of hall they were in rocked in a soundless explosion.

          Blinking eyes that streamed tears, Valerie heard a cry of “-against the Assemblage?”

            “In case you hadn’t noticed,” she said, rubbing the tears away. “Your Assemblage hasn’t been doing a really good job lately. I mean they let that crazy bitch take over the palace. Clearly, they need to work harder.”

            Satinka whipped around to stare at her, purple eyes going wide. “You were sent away.”

            She nodded. “And you gave Isaac travel rings to bring us back. That’s not what’s important right now. All I care about is getting Darren back. Then freeing the palace. Oh and chopping that psycho into little tiny pieces, then grinding them into paste, burning them and scattering the ashes to the wind. Then I’m going to dance on her grave.”

           “Darren? He is not here? Where is he? And Asterria? Brendis?” The godmother said, voice getting louder as she turned her head this way and that like she would be able to see them that way.

            “I don’t know. We’re looking for them. We found you frozen in that ice. How did you manage to get trapped like that?” She asked, one hand on her hip and one eyebrow raised.

            “She was here. Izolei. I invited her to speak so that we might together stop the war. She…she attacked me!” Satinka’s voice held a blend of horror and anger.

            Valerie snorted. “She did more than that. The entire palace is under the control of her and her army. She’s frozen people solid all over the place and God only knows what she’s done to anyone who stood in her way.”

            The godmother’s mouth opened and closed rapidly. She met Val’s eyes and again, they understood each other. It felt almost like Valerie’s anger passed through her eyes to Satinka, igniting a fire in the fairy. “I am going to find her. When I do, I will ensure she will never do such a thing again, even if that means destroying her.”

            Val nodded, baring her teeth in a violent grin. “Save a piece for me. And if you find Darren-”

            “I will send my godson to you,” she replied with a nod.

            Amorrt, who’d been staring at Satinka the entire time, finally shook himself and stepped forward, bowing. “Godmother,” he said. “I-”

            She cut him off, laying a hand on his head. “You were ill-served, godson. Still you remember your duty. You have my blessings and will ever be one of mine. And you,” she said, looking at Konah. “Have done well by him even with the…interference of your godmother. Should you need me, any of you, please call on me and I will do what is in my power to aid you.”

            Satinka didn’t give them time to reply, disappearing in a puff of purple smoke. Val nodded, praying that she found Darren and that he was alright.