Love at First Song
Chapter Eleven: The Fear
Thinking furiously, Giselle's eyes darted to the wall of potion bottles. Most of them had fallen to the floor during Narissa's dramatic transformation. One glinted in the sunshine. Giselle's eyes lit up.
Invisibility.
If she could just get to it without attracting the attention of the beast looming overhead, she'd be safe.
She dropped to her knees and leaned as far as she could towards the bottle. But just as her outstretched hand could almost grasp it, a burst of flame from above destroyed it, along with any hope or chance she had of getting out alive.
--
Rattled by the fall and still frightened for Giselle, Aurora got to her feet and stumbled off in the general direction of the woods. One thought ran over and over in her mind: I have to find Prince Edward. I have to find Prince Edward. The pain Narissa had inflicted upon her had battered her body, and she moved almost mechanically, driven by some deep inner instinct. Maybe she would eventually go numb.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
Aurora froze. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Just because she let you out doesn't mean you're safe, little servant girl," someone announced from behind her in a high whine that could only belong to one person in the castle. "As soon as she's finished with the princess, you're up."
She whirled around. Her advancing attacker was none other than the castle's head cook.
"Louie," she growled. "I always knew I couldn't trust you."
"Stop talking!" the chef groaned in annoyance. "Of course I had to be the one who dealt with the little brat." He glared her. "Now come nicely, or be punished."
For the moment, Aurora decided, it would be best to be obedient. Her legs were still too wobbly to escape.
"So, you're all working together – is that it?"
"I thought I told you to shut up," Louie snapped, roughly snagging her elbow and half-dragging her down the hall.
"You did," she replied breezily.
"I also told you to come nicely."
"I am," she scolded, wrenching her arm free and falling into step with him before he could get angry.
She allowed herself to be led up the same dark back stairwell she had used with Giselle. They continued up the steps until they were apparently on the top floor of the castle. Louie heaved open a large door and forced Aurora inside. Then he bound her and sat her in a corner, facing the wall.
"Don't even think about yelling for help," he threatened when finished. He clenched his fat fingers into meaty fists and pounded them into each other in a gesture that Aurora supposed was meant to be frightening. She hid a snort of laughter with a sneeze.
She hoped Giselle was okay. She remembered the first time they'd met – when Giselle had summoned the animals to her side with a song.
She sat upright. That's it.
"I can't talk?" she repeated, for clarification.
Louie, beady eyes fixed on her, nodded.
"Can I sing?"
He looked at her doubtfully but slowly nodded again. "If it means you will stop talking."
--
"Arrrgh!"
After several unsuccessful attempts to grab Giselle, the giant dragon was growing frustrated. Her large claws were too big to maneuver properly in the small room, and, due to her (mostly) human nature, her fire-breathing powers were limited in their reach. To make things worse, it was difficult to move about at all in the room at her size. Perhaps her plan could have been more refined before putting it into action.
"Coward!" she accused as she turned, knocking over a section of the room's wall accidentally with her giant tail. "Don't make me destroy this castle on account of you!"
Giselle said nothing and remained huddling in the corner as the earth shook with the dragon's bellows. She knew that if Narissa were provoked, she would stop at nothing to make sure she was avenged. And while the queen's castle was a precious commodity as a place to live, entertain, and impress, it meant more to her to get rid of Giselle. And this was frightening.
"I know you're in here, Giselle…"
The princess found it slightly reassuring that, with her head so far above the ground, Narissa could not clearly see her.
She roared again. This time, a spell was being said. And then the dragon was gone.
Giselle gasped. The advantages of invisibility were apparently twofold.
It was less frightening having the dragon there than not knowing where she was.
--
While his beloved was in considerable peril, Edward was with Nathaniel. They were on a jaunt along the meandering forest trail, having a lively conversation with each other about nothing in particular.
"Do you yet desire the heart of a woman, Nathaniel?"
"Well, there is one," he admitted.
Edward grinned with excitement. "Who is it, my friend? I must know."
"Oh, no. I really can't say."
His face darkened slightly with disappointment.
"Why, she must be too shy to reciprocate your feelings," he guessed, thinking that Nathaniel was just embarrassed that his little girlfriend didn't like him back to reveal her identity. "Or, she hasn't the sense to see how loveable you are." He tousled Nathaniel's hair and upsetting his cap. Nathaniel carefully replaced it and smiled sadly.
"It would seem, sire."
But he knew he was not lovable at all – not in the eyes of Narissa; nor should he be in those of the prince he was betraying. He was not loveable. Only despicable.
"My Giselle is the most wonderful maiden in all of the land," Edward was saying.
Nathaniel cringed inwardly. "Of course, sire." He smiled brightly – or at least tried to. "That's why she married you."
Edward beamed. "Why, thank you, Nathaniel!" He clapped his friend on the back. "Always the charmer. If you also search so far and wide, Nathaniel, you'll get a pretty bride. If one of these you too can find, you shall have joy and peace of miiiiiiiiind—"
"Oh, sire, you mustn't sing," Nathaniel lied quickly. "The trolls could hear."
"Oh – of course, Nathaniel. Always one step ahead." His voice dropped to a whisper and he gave the surrounding forest a cursory glance. "What would I do without you?"
Forcing himself to smile, he replied, "I just don't know."
--
"Ahhhhhh…"
Aurora was trying. Really she was. But when she tried to sustain a note, she sounded more like she was having her tongue pulled out while she was trying to say something. She'd never sung before in her life. Only happy people sang. She was not generally a happy person. And she was obviously receiving no response from the animals.
She cleared her throat loudly.
"Sorry," she said to Louie. "I'm a little hoarse today."
Frankly, she didn't care if Louie thought she was an idiot. He already did, anyway. And she didn't have to show any respect to him. He didn't deserve it. She frowned and tried again.
"Ahh-ahh-ahh…"
Maybe Giselle just had the magic touch. Was there a certain number of notes you had to sing to get an answer?
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!"
She craned her neck. That time, she'd sounded better.
Please… please…
But there was nothing.
"Enough!" Louie moaned from the other side of the room. He had been pacing around and was now out of Aurora's line of sight. "I have a headache from all of this useless yapping."
"What are you so impatient for? Waiting to get rid of me?" she asked, her voice almost sticky with artificial sweetness.
"That is exactly what I am waiting for," he snarled, unaffected.
Aurora did not have to look at him to know that he was squinting and scrunching up his nose. He always did this when he got a headache. And he always got a headache when she was stressed. Too bad it wasn't any worse. She kept talking.
"What is it that all of you have against Giselle anyway?" she asked.
Louie glared at her back, even though she couldn't see it.
"The queen says she is part of a conspiracy to overthrow her." He squinted harder. The pain of the headache wasn't diminishing.
"Why would you think that?" Aurora snapped, genuinely frustrated.
"The queen said so."
"Have you always listened to everything she's said and believed it?"
The chef paused. "Well, yes."
Aurora groaned.
Now that she had lost his interest, he forbade her to speak again. "I am so tired of you and your little babblings," he muttered, leaning heavily against the wall, his eyes fully closed now.
Finally, Aurora was quiet. She knew she could only wait for help to arrive. But as she turned to watch Louie, something bright reflected in the sunshine that streamed through the tiny hole of a window that perforated the stone wall. Her heart leapt into her throat as her mind lurched into recognition. It was a butcher knife.
She couldn't wait for long.