Finale

            Adrian and Evelyn stared in shock at the door, trying to understand what had just happened.

            "Why would she want to help us?" Evelyn wondered aloud.

            "Her mother must be hurting her…" Adrian said, but that wasn't what he was thinking. His heart felt as if it had just been set free from chains; Ivy was alive. And yet just as quickly as his happiness had come, dread set in. How on earth was he to defeat the duchess, who was obviously an awfully powerful sorceress?

            He sat back down on the floor, with Evelyn pacing the small space.

            "How am I to overcome her?" he asked, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

            Evelyn looked down at him. "I was just wondering the same thing," she said, sitting down next to him. "The girl said it was possible, so she must have a weakness…" she said, tapping her fingernails on the floor pensively. They both were silent, clearly not coming up with any ingenious ideas.

            The day seemed to stretch on forever, until Adrian was ready to yell at the sun for not setting. The cell was cold and damp, but since it didn't seem to bother Evelyn, Adrian clenched his teeth and pretended it didn't bother him, either.

            They were both sitting on the floor in distress when they heard the click of the lock. Adrian leapt up and unsheathed his sword. Parveneh, fairly shaking in nervousness, beckoned to them, and put a finger to her lips to tell them to be quiet.

            She led them slowly and silently down the narrow hall and up the stone steps to the hall. She pointed across the way to another passage.

            "Go through there and at the end you will see her room," she whispered to them. They thanked her, and then crept very quickly and quietly across the hall and into the passage.

            At the end of the hall they saw a flickering blue light. They couldn't hear any voices yet, but Adrian kept his sword in front of him in case. A million thoughts raced through his mind, most being ones of apprehension and trepidation. He forced himself to keep the image of Ivy firmly in his mind, which eased the fear for a while.

            They finally reached the end, and Adrian flattened himself against the wall, and motioned for Evelyn to do the same. They stood next to a large, intricately carved wooden door, which was opened halfway. Menacing spikes stood out from the stone wall above them, and the image of dragon leered at them from above the door. He craned his neck slightly so that he could see into the room.

            The duchess, in a long satin black gown, was sitting on a throne of sorts, seemingly thinking. Her hand was incessantly stroking the orb on the top of her staff, and in the middle of the room was an enormous cauldron, which was emitting a thin line of blue smoke. At the top of this line of smoke hovered, amazingly, a rose. The rose was blue and was surrounded by a sparkling blue light, and seemed to be floating in the air with nothing to hold it up. This entranced him for a few moments, but then he shook his head and looked at the rest of the room. Nothing else was as extraordinary; just a few mirrors and desks.  Adrian turned his head to tell Evelyn, but she wasn't there.

            Panicked, his eyes flew everywhere for her, until he saw her sliding along the floor, headed for a glass case containing many swords.  His eyes bulged, but he didn't dare to make any noise or sudden movements. Silently praying that she knew what she was doing, he tried to formulate his own plan.

            Yet he hadn't even decided how to get into the room, when a huge crash resounded throughout the room.  Shards of glass flew everywhere, and Adrian had to duck before his eyes were punctured out.  He heard a magnificent explosion and carefully lowered his arms from his face to see that blue smoke had filled the whole room.         

            Without thinking, he knew this was his chance. He ran into the room, swiping the smoke out of his eyes and trying to find the duchess. Keeping his sword in front of him, he suddenly banged against something hard.  Stumbling back onto the floor, he heard a voice say something indistinguishable, and the smoke thinned. 

Adrian tried to walk back on his elbows, reaching for his sword, which had slid away from him. Looking back up, he gulped to see the duchess sliding toward him, a cold sneer on her face.

"I should have known better than to lock you up…silly me," she murmured, keeping her eyes on him. She reached the cauldron, which was in front of him and obviously the hard thing that he had hit. Silence was kept as his hand quivered above his sword. When she made no movement, he lowered his hand, but the sword suddenly flew away from him and into her outstretched hand. He finally found his feet, and stood up, not breaking eye contact with her.

"I suppose it will suffice for you to be the first of your family that I kill," she went on, inspecting his sword. "You are the heir after all…might as well start from the bottom and work my way up."

She made a motion with her arm, and suddenly Adrian was surrounded by a circle of fire. She was no longer visible as the bright red and orange flames danced mockingly around him. The blaze was bright, and he attempted to think straight.

"Going to kill me, are you?" he said, struck by an idiotic impulse of bravery. "We'll see about that."

He heard a disembodied laughter fill the room. With all his might, he ran toward the cauldron. Overturning it, it landed on the fire, and he was able to climb over it and away from the flames. With a resounding crack, the fire disappeared as soon as it had appeared.

"Not bad," the duchess' voice came through the still-heavy smoke. He looked every which way, but he couldn't see her.

"Why don't you come and fight me face to face, or are you too cowardly?" he said, somewhat regretting the words.

The cackling laughter was heard again, and out of the smoke the form of the duchess reappeared.

"Want to fight me?" she said, and her staff morphed into a long, shining, awful-looking sword.

He didn't reply, but she smiled harshly and his sword clanged onto the floor in front of him.

"No magic," he said, staring straight into her eyes.

"No magic," she agreed, but Adrian knew it would be foolish to believe her.

And with a lunge it began. Nothing could be seen but the flashing of the swords as the two battled their way around the room. She pushed Adrian into a corner, but he grabbed a nearby desk and flung it into her way and ran to the middle of the room. He turned in time to see her make it disappear, and then she whirled around and they were at it again. At one moment, Adrian's foot got caught in the intricate woodwork of a chair. He desperately fought to get it out, but the duchess was too quick. He was knocked to the floor as her sword cut him across the shoulder. He lay, the blood flowing from the wound, the wind knocked out of him. His vision blurred for a moment, and the room was soundless. He looked up from where he lay to a mirror hanging complacently on the wall. An image of a young woman lying on a bed as if dead looked back at him.

With a newfound rush of fierce passion, he got up quickly and fought ferociously. They fought for several brutal minutes, in which Adrian's pain was numbed by the image that continued to taunt him from the mirror. His shirt and doublet had been hacked so much that half his shirt hung off his arm. She had cornered him yet again, and he was backed against a cabinet full of small bottles. Impulsively, Adrian grabbed and smashed a vial in between them. The vial erupted and filled the room with thick, dense smoke. Adrian took the opportunity to make a run for it. He had only gotten to the throne, when he heard her make the smoke vanish.  Thinking quickly, he hid behind the enormous throne. He heard her breathing heavily.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, my little prince," she said mockingly. He tried to not breathe as hard, and stayed as still as he could.

"I'm still going to kill your family," she said. "And your little sweetheart. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go kill her right now," she said mockingly. He peeked out from behind the throne and saw her making for the door. Panic flooding through him, he willed his mind to work quickly. But then, his eye caught the blue rose. Somehow, he knew. A tapestry hung on the wall behind him, held by a long rope that hung down a few feet above him. Silently, he climbed up the chair and jumped atop a stone dragon head that stood proudly above the throne, much like the one above the door. He took the rope in one hand.

"Oh really?" he said. She whirled around, a horrible smile on her lips.

He lifted his sword, poised to strike; it glinted in the blue light. The smile washed away from her face in a second.

"No," she murmured. 

Knowing that this was it, he jumped and swung himself on the rope, toward the suspended rose.

"NO!!!" he heard her scream before the rose was sliced in half. He fell to the ground as an intense blue light filled the room; he heard an agonizing scream that seemed to cut his insides.  And then, it was all gone.

He put his sword back in the sheath, and looked around the room, panting. The wound from his shoulder bled freely.

"You did it!" Evelyn suddenly appeared from a room off to the side, bounding toward him.

"I did," he said, fazed.

"Well, don't just stand there, let's go!" she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him. They ran until they found the north tower, and Adrian ran as fast he could up the stairs. He reached the top and opened the shabby wooden door.

Ivy was lying on a moldy, dusty bed, one hand across her chest and one dangling off the side of the bed. He hurried toward her, and sat gingerly down onto the bed. Pressing a hand to her cheek, he felt that she was still warm. She was still wearing the tattered dress from the night of the ball, but her hair had been taken down and was lying like a crown around her head.

"Oh Ivy," he said in despair. "What am I to do?"

Stroking her hair, he sat there for a few minutes gazing at her.

"Ivy," he murmured, leaning down over her face. "I love you," and with that, he put the lightest, sweetest of kisses on her lips.

"Oh, my head." Ivy suddenly spoke, and her arm reached up to her head. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Adrian?" she gasped. Adrian's heart leapt for joy as he smiled at her.

"But…how?" she stammered, dumbstruck, but he shook his head and put a finger to her lips.

"It doesn't matter now," he said softly as she sat up.

"Of course it does!" she said, muffled from his finger. "What about the ball, and my stepmother, and-"

Adrian pressed the finger harder onto her lips and smiled. He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I love you," he said.

Her face broke into the happiest smile, and she said, "I love you, too," and then kissed him.

When they broke from the kiss, she looked worriedly at his wound.

"What happened?" she asked, anxiously. "Are you alright?"

He smiled. "I'm perfect," he said, and kissed her again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Almost The End

~2003 NazgulQueen

Dear readers:

            Okay, I reeeeeeeeeeally did not mean to take this long with this chapter. School has been crazy and I've been really busy, but I am sorry.

            Well, we have come to the conclusion of our journey. I will write an epilogue if the masses demand it! (which I suspect they will? besides, I still haven't said 'happily ever after'.) You all have been fabulous, and I really appreciate your comments!

            For now, I'll be focusing on my other fairy tale, Goodbye, Hello, and my LOTR story. However, I am in the process of developing an original fantasy fic for fictionpress.com, so I'll keep you updated! Please come check it out when I get it up! Please!

            I have loved this story so much I wrote it twice. I really hoped you loved it too! Someone said something about a sequel? I shall have to dwell on this.

            Until next time, I love you all!

            ~Emma the NazgulQueen