Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 50

           The door opened on a room that was both familiar and unfamiliar to Valerie. The ivy decorated walls, fireplace, and carpet were still there but now they were covered in places with a thin layer of ice. In one corner, an icicle hung while three others were lined up in the fireplace. The furniture she remembered was gone, except for the divan.

            It sat in the centre of the room, commanding her attention. Even had it been jammed into one of the corners, it would still have had her staring at it, one hand opening and closing. Lying there, looking like he had been dusted with white powder, was Darren.

            She didn’t notice she was moving until she was at his side. She looked down at him, noting the faint, but still there, rise and fall of his chest. He looked like he was just taking a quick nap while everyone else was busy.

            She knelt beside him, drinking in the reality of him and his being alive. She wanted to giggle with relief. Instead, she reached on trembling finger out to touch the hand nearest her. She gasped. He felt cold, like he’d been sitting in ice water for a whole day. She jerked upright and leaned over him. Staring at him again, she reached a hand out to touch his cheek to see if it was just as cold.

            The gentle puffing sound behind her, a sound she had learned to hate, made her whip around, hands dropping to her sword. The last wisps of the silver smoke were disappearing from around the tall, fur wearing woman. She glared as she lunged upright, drawing her blade and holding it and herself between the godmother and Darren.

            Izolei shook her head, silver eyes intent on Valerie’s face. “You have led me on a merry chase. And I am most upset to find you here. I had left men to stop you. Thankfully I have long stopped relying on mortals and took the time to enchant the prince there. Now, come along. I will take you to my godson.”

           She opened her mouth to reply when a puff of purple smoke appeared in front of her. Satinka’s usual dress was gone, a silver chainmail shirt and skirt overtop of what looked like tough black leather. In her hands was a tall staff, a carved black vine winding around it. This the godmother held pointed at her northern counterpart. “Izolei!” she screeched, sounding like a hawk’s cry to Valerie’s untrained ear.

            The blonde godmother’s eyes widened. “Satinka! But I had you trapped in ensorcelled ice.”

            “You have had my kingdom invaded, imprisoned my people, bespelled my godson and have repeatedly ignored the will of the Assemblage. I will not have it!” She said, one foot sliding out in an arc until it rested just behind her in a wide stance.

            A shimmering staff of ice appeared in Izolei’s hands, one end sharply pointed. “I will not allow you and the Assemblage to destroy the work I have put into that bloodline! I will have the fire woman, with or without consent.”

            Darren’s godmother didn’t bother arguing further. She slashed her staff forward, a crackling bolt of purple lightning lashing the other fairy’s feet. An instant before the electricity struck, Izolei crystallized armour of ice over herself, making the lightning splash harmlessly to the ground, leaving only a scorch mark and the scent of burning in its wake.

            A sudden line of icicles rose out of the ground under Satinka’s feet. She leapt into the air, hovering for a moment as a hot wind scented with sand blasted the icicles into nothingness. As she dropped back to the floor, she swung her staff down. Another blast of furnace-like wind slammed into Izolei, making her back up a few steps.

            She created a shield of ice in front of her, sending a handful of icicles flying down at Satinka. She swept them away with another wind before twirling her staff around. A whirlwind, visible due to the snow and ice fragments it had swallowed up, dropped down onto Izolei.

            A pillar of ice exploded outwards, pulling the whirlwind apart. Staring at one another for a moment as both their chests heaved, the godmothers tightened their grips on their staffs and glared. They sent their staffs whipping at the other almost in unison.

            A branch of purple lightning scrabbled at Izolei, scorching the hem of her dress as her armour was half-melted off. Satinka’s duck saved her from impalement and the whirlwind shield she twirled up kept the following icicles from touching her.

            The next blow from both of them looked like pure power to Valerie. A beam of purple from Satinka’s staff met the blinding silver one from Izolei. The took met with a scream like a tortured cat, the sound forcing Val to cover her ears while the two godmothers each took a laboured step forward. Stray bits of purple lightning and clear ice slashed out from the roiling line of energy, burning or freezing patches of the wall. Still they moved another step closer, the beam thickening and the arms of purple and silver pushing against and ensnaring each other even more fiercely.

            Realizing that they only had eyes for their opponent, Valerie edged carefully backwards, sword still in hand but with her gaze straying to Darren. When her legs ran into the divan’s side, she half turned, keeping one eye on the duelling fairies while she bent over.

            She touched his cheek, wincing at the equal frigidity of it. She rubbed her thumb along it, hoping to share some of her heat, but he remained frozen. She frowned, fear and worry bubbling up inside of her again. She risked a glance at the godmothers and saw them just as equally as involved in their fight as they had been. She nodded to herself and concentrated on Darren, putting hands on either side of him on the divan.

            She leaned forward, slowly lowering herself to his face, ready to deliver the classic fairy tale curse remover and the only thing she could think of to do. A screech like a dying rabbit made her flinch, the cold hand laid on her shoulder making her spin around. She looked straight into the flat, silver eyes of Izolei.