Brass Automaton

24 - Brass Throne

Had anyone been in attendance, they would've heard a sudden intake of breath as lungs deprived of life decided they still had more to give to the cause. They would've also witnessed The King of Oossah throw off a tapestry covering his broken body.

King John dragged his body out of the throne room, his trembling fingers scraping at the hard stone, his broken limbs heavy behind him. John had stopped hearing the battle cries of the Tenyks; somewhere near there were hushed voices and the rough dragging of weaponry to a pile. It was over then, Ceridwen had lost, or perhaps had fled, and his wife was somewhere in the castle busying herself with her Sisters, celebrating or crying. Victory and loss were interwoven here, appearing hand in hand.

It took John hours, or it could've been days to pull his body up the stairs to his chambers. He couldn't quite tell because there were times when he seemingly awoke prostrated on the stairs and began his ascent once again. He thought about Snow in the aggravating minutes before each struggle for the next curving stair. Had she looked for him in the ruins of her kingdom, their kingdom? Did she think him dead, or still subjected to Ceridwen's manipulations?

It was dark when John reached his chambers. The room was cold and unlit, but John could still see the tiny glass fragment under his bed. He crawled to it, praying it would still work even after the magic that held him seeped from the smooth surface and dissipated in the air. Finally after clawing at the narrow space like mad, John clasped his fingers against the mirrored shard.

Putting it to his lips, he murmured a wish, a favor, for a single glimpse, the last chance. Hesitantly, the mirror brightened, and John exclaimed, tears pooling in his bloodshot eyes.

"It's now or never my love, now or never to save us all."

* * *

As soon as Sky reached Oossah with the Keep looming over her, dark and unwelcoming still, she knew the darkest hour had come. Climbing off Cloud Dancer she caressed his mane, coloring it red for her hand was stained with the blood of her wounds. She bid him a final farewell and paced herself the way a warrior would arriving at long last home and not long now to her dearest. Sky smiled at the thought she would soon see Reese.

* * *

Snow was standing before the brass throne studying it with disgust. There was a time when she had sat on that damned thing, proud and happy, listening for the whistle of the steam. John was beside her, a loving man with a handsome face, and little Reese ran freely, climbing on her father's lap and stealing his crown. John's throne had been torn down, for Ceridwen imagined herself to be the only ruler. Now neither of them possessed that title. One, a middle-aged woman pitying the dead while smeared with their blood, and the other a cowardly witch spitting her venom still.

"My Queen, Snow," came a weak call.

Snow turned with a smile, but upon witnessing Sky's state it faded away. She ran down the steps and took hold of Sky just as the other woman rolled on her feet. Snow sat them both down, beside the rubble and the quiet.

"It's just Snow, remember?"

Sky nodded and said, "It is done. The automaton is steaming no more, and the dwarf king asks for you. You were right, though, you were so very right my queen."

"About what?"

Sky locked her swimming gaze with Snow's inflating brown eyes. "There was a girl inside that thing. I think I knew her well, or may have known her once upon a time."

Snow hugged Sky into a tender embrace like a mother might her hurt child. "I know, dearest Sky, I know. I'm so very sorry for asking you to learn it this way, but it had to be done by you. My hand, see, it's not strong enough, nor is my will. But yours always was."

The rasps of breath were long and uneven. Then, "Am I evil, Snow?"

The Oossah queen took her time and steadied her breath. She rocked the body in her embrace, hushing her death. "No, my lovely Sister, my brilliant Sky, you are not. But somewhere someone did something to you that filled your heart with so much hatred it couldn't last and burst into many pieces. Somewhere out there a part of you is still in a jealous rage, and she won't stop until she is the queen of the ashes and we but crunch as twigs beneath her brass feet."

Sky buckled in her arms. There are so many wounds on her body, Snow thought. She will be gone before the next breath.

Sky struggled when she spoke again, "Snow, if it needs to be done, erase all of me from time. Cease this hateful rule, I beg of you."

"I promise," Snow whispered and a sorrowful tear splashed down on the only noble piece of Ceridwen's dark heart. "I don't know how yet, but I feel that soon I shall, and I promise you, my most trusted Sister, the world will only know the best of you. This you. You will not be forgotten, Sky."

Weak as it was, but it was, a smile played upon Sky's discolored lips. "There was a boy, I remember. He kept me in a cell, but then we ran, and he kissed me out of slumber. I wonder what happened to him."

Snow's eyes filled with tears, but they weren't magick. Sky exhaled, a word lost on her lips as her eyes stared unblinkingly. Snow bent to place a kiss on her forehead. She spoke to the fleeing memory, knowing it would hear.

"Tell my daughter I love her."

She laid Sky's body at the feet of the throne and covered it with her royal gown. Snow knew that the other Sisters would do the body justice while she was gone.

Outside the gates, Cloud Dancer was waiting, shaking his head impatiently. Snow climbed on his back and urged him to run fast toward the forest. Time was precious.