Once Upon a Midnight: Audrina
Chapter 03: The Stillness Gave No Token
The woods were strange. At first he couldn't tell why, he only knew it because his gut screamed at him that something was off. There was something different about these woods, it wasn't until he took a few steps into them that he understood.
The woods were too quiet.
"...what is going on?" He searched around, arming his bow cautiously. His searching gaze drunk in his surroundings, knitting his brow from confusion. Then next from horror as he realized the reason for the quiet. Reaching out towards the trunk of the nearest tree, he touched the back of a dragonfly stopped in midflight. "No..."
"Do you like? Guess we found what neutral entailed."
"What?" He spun around, bow still drawn, its arrow pointed directly at the stranger's chest. His eyes narrowed at the hooded cloak obscuring the other's face and form. "Who are you? And what are you doing in the Royal Woods?"
"Wh...hm." Audrina lowered her hood, her dark hazel-brown eyes searching the man's face. Deliberating her response, she tapped her lip with her forefinger then gestured toward the stranger. "It is you who will answer my inquiries. Who, pray tell, are you? And why have you come to my woods?"
"Your...I'm Prince Neal, son of Queen Snow and King David." The man replied, pulling his bow more taut after a brief hesitance.
"Ah." Audrina grinned, her eyes lighting up in sudden amusement. "You're the son who ran away when he realized he'd never be king."
Prince Neal scowled, his jaw pulled as taut as his bow. His narrowed eyes roamed over the strange woman's face and body, secretly intrigued by the fearlessness she showed. His lips twitched. "Well, since we're introducing ourselves, why don't you tell me your name? And why you called these woods yours?"
"Because they are mine." Audrina replied, gesturing around her in emphasis, her bemused smile growing. "Just a little trade that the prince...well, would-be-king, Henry made." She paused and curtsied. "I'm Audrina, owner of this land and purveyor of all its magics and mysteries."
"My...my nephew gave you the kingdom?" Prince Neal's scowl deepened, berating his sister's son in his thoughts for such a decision. How could his nephew even consider it giving away their kingdom after all that was done to get it in the first place?
"Oh." Audrina smiled, sensing the dark thoughts swirling in the other's head. Her gaze lingering on the other's face, she shrugged and gestured an invitation to sit towards a stone bench not far off. Her brow rose briefly when prince Neal shook his head. "He didn't have much choice. Seems not one Enchanted Forest resident was able to think a single nice thought about my mother."
Prince Neal lowered his bow slightly, his question written on his knit brow. "Your mother?"
"Regina, the Evil Queen." Audrina replied, to which prince Neal renewed his aim, his arrow pointed directly at the woman's heart.
"Tell me what your mother did to my family or this arrow will pierce your heart." Prince Neal glowered, his heart pounding as all the stories about the Evil Queen that he heard growing up filled his head. 'I should've come home sooner….'
"Nothing." Audrina replied, all bemusement leaving her face until pure anger was all that remained. "My mother spent a bit over three decades in exile, when one day an imposter shows up, kills the king and queen, kidnaps the princess, and then vanishes. Leaving my mother to pay the price."
"...my...my parents are..." Prince Neal took in a steadying breath, the news knotting his stomach. "...dead?"
"Yes..." Audrina nodded slowly, before clicking her tongue and gesticulating while she continued on. "Huh. The news must not have reached you in whatever realm you called home last year."
"...a year? They've been dead a year?"
"A few months over, but yeah."
"My sister and nephew? What about them?"
"Well, your nephew is with the rest of the Enchanted Forest residents, in the same land my mother was exiled to when I was a baby." She paused, quietly mulling something over. "Perhaps they'll figure out just how impossible it was for my mother to return. Too late. But, well..." She shrugged. "Your sister though, I have no idea where she is."
Prince Neal grimaced, his aim wavering as he coped with the information. "I...I don't believe you."
"Which part? Your parents being dead or..."
"That the Evil Queen had nothing to do with it." Prince Neal replied, his jaw pulled taut while his eyes peered angrily into Audrina's. "She's the only enemy my parents ever had."
"Well, I assure you, my mother didn't kill the king or queen." Audrina returned the same stubborn, angry glare. "If she had, my karma spell would not have worked or would've backfired spectacularly on me." She gestured at the woods surrounding them. "Instead of the plants and creatures of this forest being stilled, I would be the one stuck motionless. For eternity. Or worse. Blinked out of existence entirely."
"Uh, um...I..." Prince Neal scowled, tempted to unleash his arrow at the stranger's heart, but something stayed his hand. He felt, somehow, that Audrina's words rung true, despite how ludicrous they sounded. Before he could form a response or even decide to let loose his arrow, Audrina chuckled and vanished. "Hey! Where…."
Audrina chuckled again, and appeared behind Prince Neal, just inches away. Within moments she pickpocketed a hunting knife and a small cache of potion vials from him. A crooked smile graced her mouth as she glanced over the vials, her eyes lit with intrigue. "What, pray tell, is someone like you doing with Dreamshade?"
"That's none of your business." He replied, scowling while turning to face Audrina. As he did it became evident that the knife and potions weren't the only things the woman took. Cheeks slightly pink, he let his bow fall as he grappled for his now beltless trousers. "That...that wasn't….give me back my belt."
"...your belt?" Audrina clicked her tongue, holding up the belt so that the words sewed onto it were easily readable. "'Seven with one blow', hm, nice wording. Reminds me of a tailor I knew who had the same thing written on his belt." She tilted her head while Prince Neal fidgeted and scowled. She gave a brief, mirthless laugh. "Now, unless there's some fashion trend going around I don't know about, I wager that this is the same belt that that tailor had."
"And if it is, what's it to you?" Prince Neal retorted, trying to maintain a snobby royal posture despite needing to hold up his trousers.
"Well, I enchanted it when we were teenagers. He was supposed to go out, see if my experimental enchantment worked properly, then come back and tell me the results." Audrina swung the belt a bit, eyeing the lettering and how it seemed to glitter under the very bright moon light. "As you see, he didn't." She smirked and then tossed the belt back to Prince Neal.
The moon above threw its pale glow even brighter on the clearing and on them, something that brought a curious scowl to Prince Neal's face.
"Wasn't it just day?" He asked while rebelting his trousers, his gaze for the first time shifting upwards. There was a brief laugh from Audrina as he stared wide-eyed at the starless expanse spreading over the treetops like a deep purple tapestry. The only thing visible was the crescent moon, glowing brighter than even a full moon. "What in the world?"
"The judgment has begun." Audrina said, a smile gracing her lips but failing to reach her eyes. "...it was interesting meeting you. Goodbye." Her smile wavered at the last syllable before she disappeared, vanishing with a snap of her fingers.
"What? Wait! Come back, what judg…." Prince Neal called out, his voice faltering as the moonlight grew brighter and warm. His heart beat wildly in his chest, his gut twisting as he thought about all Audrina had said throughout their conversation. "...a single, nice thought? About my mother's stepmom?"
He swallowed and shut his eyes, shifting through his memories of his mother's stories. There were many - as a child he'd loved sitting on his mother's lap and listening to her stories, about her adventures evading the Evil Queen. Even as he grew older, and ran off to find his own adventures, he'd enjoyed them. Often he would find himself whispering them to himself during sleepless nights.
He took in a deep breath, the moonlight completely enveloping him and piercing him with its strange warmth. There was one story, amid all the others, that hadn't been about his step-grandmother trying to hurt his mother or steal her happiness.
The story about the day Regina saved his mother from a runaway horse.
As the blinding, silver light grew warmer, harsher, he focused on that story. Focused on it and the truth - that for all the evil his step-grandmother had wrought afterwards, if Regina hadn't saved his mother that day, Snow White probably would've died, and thus he wouldn't have been born.
"...thank you for saving my mother that day…." He muttered, even as the light grew warmer - burning his skin like a silver flame. It seemed to pierce into his chest, straight down to his heart. It hurt and felt like he couldn't breathe, but he repeated his thanks.
He continued to repeat it as he blacked out from the pain.