Snow White and Rose Red- The Tale of Sleeping Beauty Page 3

  “We couldn’t know this would happen,” the King said. “We’ve always been on good terms with all. You should’ve seen the crowd that celebrated Aurora’s birth. Kings and Queens presented us with mountains of presents for her. Mages flocked to bestow their magical gifts.”

  “They made her beautiful. Graceful. They gave her a perfect voice. They made her quite a prize for any Prince, even without all the gold our Kingdom had to offer,” the Queen said, a tear falling down her cheek. “I thought she would be happy with any she wed. And now she is never to wake.”

  The King rested his hand on the Queen’s shoulder. “Well? Have you enough answers for one night? These memories cause my wife great pain and I would see her spared. Every day, more false Princes arrive to try their charlatan cures, and each one makes my dear Queen hope and despair all over again.”

  “It’s more than enough for now,” I said, tilting my head. “I am so sorry for your suffering. We of the Vale have taken a vow against dark magic. We are sworn to uphold the peace and come to those in need. My sister and I will not rest until we see your daughter wake.”

  “I believe you,” the King said. “God help me, I have no faith in the Princes, but you two…” He looked down. “I will be frank. My fear of war is no idle musing. Numerous threats have been made against us. My army, what little I have, has been employed to patrol our borders. I’ve sent for mercenaries, but none will answer the call. Why work for what you can plunder? Our time is running short before our land is overrun. We need the Princess to wake and forge an alliance in marriage before it is too late. Ask Delilah for anything you need. Money, horses, men. You have our full support.”

  Chapter 3: Hartland – Rose Red

  Back in our rooms, Snow and I covered the desk in her room with the notes we’d taken. Frowning, Snow wrote out a basic timeline of the events, some of which Delilah had filled in as she’d shown us back to our rooms.

  Aurora’s engagement to Prince Phillip is proposed by King Omlan of Hartland.

  One year later - the marriage contract is signed with the wedding date set for Aurora’s fifteenth birthday.

  One week before Aurora’s birthday, the Hartland Delegation arrives. Phillip and Aurora meet.

  On the eve of Aurora’s birthday, Aurora falls asleep and is unable to wake.

  One year after, on Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, the marriage contract is considered void and dissolved.

  King Stephan opens the City of Gold to Princes who would be suitors, promising that the one who can wake Aurora will have her hand in marriage.

  “So, what do you think?” Snow asked me.

  I shrugged, chewing my lip. “Maybe Prince Phillip decided he didn’t want to wed her? He paid a mage to stall the wedding until they could void the contract?”

  Snow tilted her head and pulled on one of her long, dark locks while she thought this over. “But Hartland had everything to gain from the match. The City of Gold’s wealth is legendary. And you saw the Princess—she was lovely. By all reports, it seems she was civil enough. Would he really oppose the match so strongly?”

  I shrugged. “You’re always the one saying that there’s more to love than looks. We’ve only heard her parents speak about what a wonderful daughter she was. Is? In any case, don’t you think it’s possible that she was secretly horrible, and Phillip couldn’t go through with it?”

  “Perhaps. It may also be that someone is out to prevent the union of Hartland and the City of Gold.”

  I looked out through the window at the strangers who teemed the streets. “Maybe one of the would-be suitors?”

  “A guess I would back… but where would we even begin to investigate them all? According to the King, there are too many to count.”

  “A needle in a haystack,” I said. “But if one of the suitors wanted to prevent the union, then perhaps he also has a plan for how to wake her.”

  “So we have two possible answers for this riddle,” Snow said, marking down both theories, each on a separate piece of paper. “Perhaps it was Prince Phillip trying to prevent his own wedding, or perhaps it was some other suitor who wanted to buy himself time to edge Phillip out. Well. Time is of the essence, and we need to know the truth. Both of these seem likely. Both bear investigating.” She pushed one page towards me. “Luckily, there are two of us.”

  I could hardly believe that Snow would let me ride off on my own for Hartland. Granted that it was less than a day’s journey, but it still showed that she was beginning to trust me if she let me leave her side.

  Of course, she did take the King up on his offer, and procured a dozen men at arms as well as Delilah to accompany me. We weren’t exactly going to march in and tell Prince Phillip that I suspected him of foul play—instead, Delilah was my cover story, a friendly visit to escape the madness of the City and to extend to him the King’s condolences that the marriage hadn’t worked out.

  The day had already grown late. The arrangements made, I planned to depart at dawn. Snow would remain behind to speak with the Princes and see if any seemed to know more than they should.

  Exhausted from the journey, Snow and I had a quiet dinner in our rooms. They brought us fresh-baked bread, cheeses, fruit, and—to my delight—an entire little basket filled with the delicious, buttery bread that we’d had earlier that day.

  The tables seemed too fine to eat at, so Snow and I spread one of our traveling blankets on the ground and made a picnic of it.

  “What will you do without me?” I asked Snow.

  “When I spoke with the King about your arrangements, he invited me to attend a banquet tomorrow. Apparently, every week there is a feast in honor of the visiting Princes.”

  “I’m to miss a feast?” I said, dropping the strawberry I’d been holding.

  Snow gave me a half-smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t have any fun without you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Knowing you, you won’t even try.”

  That night, I couldn’t bear the huge, overstuffed bed so far from Snow. We’d never slept more than three feet apart our entire lives, much less in separate rooms. So I curled up in bed next to her, and to her credit, she only mumbled a few complaints as she wrapped an arm around me and we drifted off to sleep.

  To be honest, I was nervous leaving Snow and riding off on my own, but I didn’t dare show it—any sign of hesitation, and I knew Snow’s resolve to let me grow up would crumble and I’d find myself tied to her apron strings for the rest of our investigation. Instead, I forced myself to smile and promise her that I was more than capable of the task.

  Snow did insist on speaking with each of the men who would be my guard, examining their weapons and warning Delilah to look after me. She checked my horse’s saddle twice, and gave me a little satchel full of hard cheese, an apple, and an end of bread.

  And as we parted, for one final bit of reassurance, she dragged me to a vacant spot in the stables and demanded that I show her I could still do a ring of fire.

  I closed my eyes and pressed my palms together, gathering strength, rage, fire. I flung my arms wide and spun in a circle, flames kicking up in an inferno around me, forcing even Snow to take a step back to avid getting singed.

  “Very good,” Snow said, pulling me close when the blaze died down. “If you’re in trouble, remember to do that.” She patted the back of my cloak where a few threads had caught fire. “And mind your clothes don’t catch.”

  I kissed her cheek and held her tightly for a moment. “Take care of yourself as well, sweet sister.”

  Snow raised an eyebrow. “If I am sweet, it is only to you, Rose. It’s this city that had better watch out.” She kissed my cheek and helped me into the saddle.

  Then I was off.

  The journey was pleasant. Delilah and I fell into an easy conversation, talking about fashion and food, riding side-by-side while the men at arms formed a square around us—one riding on either side, and the rest split evenly before and after us.

  “So what is Prince Phillip like?” I asked her, once we had exhausted the topic of petticoats versus hoop skirts.

  Delilah wrinkled her nose, which I’d come to take as a sign that she was thinking.

  “Is it so hard to say?” I asked.

  “It’s only that I’ve met him under very different circumstances, and each time he seemed a different way. When we were first introduced, it was just a week before he was to wed my dear cousin. He was, that time, the perfect gentleman. He bowed and smiled, and he made the right comments at the right times to seem very clever and kind. He was—he still is—very dashing. Handsome and tall.”

  “He sounds wonderful,” I said.

  “I admit, I was smitten. We all were,” Delilah said with a giggle. “He was everything we expected a Prince to be. And you know there are no men except the King in the royal family right now, so we ladies had given ourselves quite over to imagination about what a Prince would be like. And that first time—oh, he was so wonderful!”

  “And then?”

  “When he heard that Princess Aurora wouldn’t wake, well, of course he wasn’t pleased. He was worried, as we all were. For days, he stayed in the chapel, saying prayers and making offerings and lighting candles. But as the days turned to weeks, he… he lost hope. He began to lash out. He accused us of using a trick to keep her slumbering. His mother had given him the idea that we were delaying the marriage.”

  “Why would your people want to delay the marriage? The King and Queen know all too well that they need Hartland’s defenses if they’re to hold their borders and protect their people.”

  “They do. But you see, it was no secret Princess Aurora had felt that the marriage was too soon. She’d begged her mother to delay it a year or two, but the King and Queen of Hartland had refused, saying that the marriage had
to be made if they were going to pledge their armies to our defense. On the eve of their wedding, Phillip and Aurora quarreled.”

  “The King and Queen never mentioned that,” I said.

  “They didn’t know. I only know because I overheard a little and saw Aurora storm off. She was… is… very stubborn. Her will was nothing to be defied. And she often spoke more openly than her parents would have liked. I heard her telling Prince Phillip that she thought the match too soon.”

  “And then the next day, she cannot wed.”

  “Precisely. And so, the Queen of Hartland thought it all a trick to delay the wedding. Prince Phillip came to agree with her, or at least to suspect. And things grew ugly. Accusations flew, and three months after the Princess fell into her slumber, Prince Phillip and the Hartland Delegation left on… bad terms. Though our King attempted to reason with them, they could see no solution. And so, a year into our Princess’s sleep, they dissolved the marriage contract.”

  “And since, the King has opened the City of Gold to any suitor who would come.”

  “Indeed.”

  I made a mental note to add these new discoveries to our notes when an opportunity presented itself. At present, I felt it might worry Delilah if I began to transcribe every word she said, but it was still tempting…

  We stopped only once to let the horses rest and eat. Delilah and I made our meal with the men at arms, who kept a respectful distance from us.

  A couple of them began to spar, with the excuse that they needed to keep their swords and their killing instincts sharp. I watched, feeling more than a little jealous. My muscles were accustomed to training every day, not long hours in the saddle.

  I must have been staring too intently, for one of them halted and gave me an arrogant grin.

  “Enjoying the show?” he asked.

  “Jackson, leave the noble lady alone,” one of his friends called. “You know it’s trouble for all of us if you upset them.”

  “This one’s not noble,” he said with wink at me. “And I think she likes what she sees.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “I’m a trained fighter,” I explained. “I like to see a fight, but I like even better to join one.”

  “Ladies don’t fight,” one of the guards scoffed.

  “I do. How dare you say such a thing!” I tried to sound my most regal.

  “Then by all means,” Jackson said, spreading his arms wide. “We’d be rude if we didn’t invite the lady to join us.”

  I knew there were a hundred reasons why I shouldn’t, and if Snow had been there, I’m sure I wouldn’t have. But Snow was back at the castle, and with any luck, she’d never learn about this. Besides, I needed to practice fighting with the ruby gauntlet magnifying my magic.

  I stepped into the center of the circle of guards and smiled my most charming smile at Jackson.

  “Where’s your weapon?”

  “Didn’t you hear?” I asked. “I’m a mage from the Vale. I don’t need a weapon.” I flared my fingers, concentrating on the fire within me as it uncurled and spread through my body, sparking to life at my fingertips and setting my hands aflame. While this parlor trick usually had some effect, with the ruby gauntlet amplifying it, the new result was for tendrils of flame to shoot out of my fingers.

  The guards yelped and ducked as the flames leapt out. I bit my lip and did my best to look as though this had been what I’d intended…

  Jackson seemed a bit unnerved, but there was no backing down, not while all of his fellow guards were watching. He charged at me. I raised my hand and summoned fire.

  Perhaps Jackson had expected that he would easily best me. Or perhaps that he’d toy with me for a time, grappling with me in flirty poses while we challenged each other back and forth. I know that I had expected to teach all of them some respect for me—and women of the vale in general. Though neither of us had expected the fireball that shot from my palm. It hit him square in the chest and sent him falling flat on his back. Luckily he was wearing armor, so the blast merely left a charred ring of ash.

  I stared at my palm while the circle of guards slowly broke into a raucous round of applause.

  “To the Lady of Fire!” they cheered, as Jackson—now somewhat shame-faced—was helped to his feet.

  And our journey continued, but I noticed now that the guards were all careful to mind what they said to me.

  I could tell immediately when we crossed from the City of Gold’s land and into Hartland. The road went from hard-packed dirt with a well-maintained arrangement of flowers on either side to a gravelly, muddy mess. It seemed that Hartland either didn’t have the funds to maintain their roads, or else they had other priorities.

  The journey through the surrounding towns to the heart of Hartland was brief but sorrowful. Growing up in a small village, there had been little poverty that wasn’t eased by a kind neighbor. Here, there were dirty children watching us with big eyes. Dogs that looked more feral than tame ranged about, looking to see if we’d drop scraps.

  When we entered the castle grounds, however, it was a different story. The castle bristled with armament. Knights stood guard, dressed in full armor. They drew their swords as we approached, but when they spotted Delilah and the banner of the City of Gold, they let us pass.

  The castle of Hartland could not have been more different. Where everything in the City of Gold sparkled with beauty, this place glinted with sharp edges and danger. I could see why King Stephan would think of Hartland as the perfect military ally.

  Prince Phillip met us in the courtyard, along with his mother, the Queen.

  “Please forgive my father’s absence,” Prince Phillip said. “He’s unwell today, but sends his regards.”

  Prince Phillip helped Delilah down from her horse as a footman helped me down from mine.

  The two embraced.

  “I am so sorry that our meeting could not be under better circumstances,” Delilah said, kissing his cheek.

  He kissed hers in return. “It is always a delight to see you, Lady Delilah, no matter the circumstances.”

  The Queen of Hartland cleared her throat, and the two stepped away from each other. “Come,” she said. “Let us properly welcome our visitors.”

  It appeared that a proper welcome involved laying a table with every cheese, fruit, meat, and delicacy that the land could produce. After seeing such poverty, I was struck that they’d set such lavishness before us.

  Delilah had somehow worked her own brand of political magic and arranged to have me sit beside Prince Phillip. Delilah sat across the room, occupying Phillip’s mother with conversation.

  “I’m so sorry, Lady. I did not pay proper attention during the introductions, and your name has eluded me,” Phillip said to me.

  I assumed he was being gracious, because in her excitement to see Phillip, Delilah had entirely forgotten to introduce me. Of course, it was equally possible that he simply hadn’t noticed. Even now, his gaze lingered still on Delilah.

  “Rose Red,” I said.

  “Lady Red, you must tell me more of where you are from.”

  Every part of how he addressed me was wrong, but I figured that the chances of seeing him after today were slim enough that it wasn’t worth correcting him. “My story is very dull, I’m afraid.”

  I saw the Queen of Hartland shoot Phillip a look when she saw him staring at Delilah. At that, he turned fully to me. “I fear no dullness, not when we have wine to sweeten any story,” he told me with a wink as he poured more into both of our glasses. He raised his to me, and I clinked mine against his. “To prosperity,” he said.

  We both drank, and I hoped that this would work to my advantage and not against me. Wine was said to loosen tongues, wasn’t it?

  “So, begin your tale,” Prince Phillip said.

  “I cannot,” I said. “We’re strangers.”

  “How else do strangers become friends?” Phillip asked, downing another gulp of his wine.

  “Let’s make a deal,” I proposed. “We shall be friends tonight. I shall tell you all of my secrets, and you shall tell me all of yours.”

  “Agreed—let’s drink to it.”

  We clinked our glasses again and drank down what was left. Phillip poured us more while I thought quickly of my options.