Nixiesocean: Now, for the true enchantment to begin. It will take a lot less chapters than 13 to finally get to the end, I think. Most of the original fairy tale is one part, with vague descriptions of everything else.
But I think I shall enjoy this.
Responses:
Bingo7: Ha! You think Renold's going along? Bwhahaha! No, of course not. Mercy needs to find some inner strength without her shadow. (grin) by the end you'll know what happened to our passionate pair.
Aphrodite Incarnate: This fairy tale, as said in chapter 2 after Piratess of Summer correctly guess it, is The Lion and the Frog. I hadn't heard of it 'til I was bored and went to go read my father's Grimms' Fairy Tale book. Anyways, this chapter is the start of the main part of the tale. You could say Renold is Mercy's non-literal human punching bag.
Onto the story, my faithful readers!
Chapter 14: Escaping Her Shadow
Mercy awoke. She remembered dimly sending Renold away, to think she had told him. The look in his eyes told her he didn't believe her.
She had cried. All night until she was too tired to even get up and wipe the rouge from her cheeks, she cried. She cried herself to sleep, wondering why Marcus hadn't even bothered to come back for her, for she would have run too. Baron David would take the throne, being after Marcus.
She rubbed her eyes; they were puffy. She went to a mirror to see if she was presentable. Her eyes were bloodshot. She sniffed and wiped her nose with a kerchief laying on her dressing table. A light knock brought her out of her misery.
Why did Marcus leave me? Doesn't he love me? She wondered. "Come in," She mumbled. The door opened. A maid carried her breakfast. "I am not eating today, Meg." She whispered.
"Yes, of course, Your Highness, should I send for Queen Anna?" She asked.
"Y – no." Mercy amended. "I fear I shall be bedridden today. Tell her not to expect much of me today."
"Of course, Your Highness." Meg left. The room seemed quieter. Although her walls were pale yellow, with frescoes, paintings and her own drawings it seemed dimmer, darker. She pulled the heavy drapes shut.
She sat down on her bed. More tears clouded her vision and she plummeted further into her despair. With Marcus gone, after her father died, Baron David – her second cousin – could force her to marry, to increase his own wealth.
Yes, he was kind, but power can corrupt. Money tempts even the purest soul. Mercy took solace in the fact that he was already married – in Hanoran law, you had to be to take a title, except in extreme cases, or with princes and princesses – and couldn't force her to marry himself to secure the throne.
Everything came crashing down around her. She had allowed her frustration to flow over, and had yelled at the one person who wasn't related to her and still stayed around, even through her worst tirades. She wept harder.
Another knock forced her to swallow the tears and sit up. She rubbed her nose with a finger and sighed. It opened forcing light into the room.
"Mercy Anna!" Her mother's voice was full of disdain. "What nonsense is this?"
"Mama!" She hadn't called her mother that in… years…
Her mother walked over and threw open the drapes she had just closed. "I expect you to take this like a woman, not some weepy … child!"
Mercy gave a dry laugh. "Men say women are weepy, Mother."
She sighed. "That is not what I meant!" She sat down on the bed and looked her daughter in the eyes. "My son is missing, Mercy, a third of my heart disappeared. You think I am not feeling it?"
Mercy sniffed. "Who holds the other two-thirds?"
She smiled kindly. "One-third for you, and one-third for my husband. But that is not the point. Your behavior is quite uncalled for!"
"Uncalled for?" The princess nearly screamed. "My brother goes missing in that God-curst forest with Hannah, my friend, and you think I shouldn't be sad? What do you want me to do, find them myself? My God, Mother! At least I'm fully related to Marcus!" That stung her more than she'd intended. The queen visibly flinched. "I'm – I am so sorry, Mother, I didn't – I did not mean that."
She stood and brushed off her dress. Mercy noticed tears at the edges of her eyes. "But you did." With that, she swept out of Mercy's room.
With that, Mercy flung herself over the bed and cried more. She'd ruined relations with her mother, her favorite and only brother was gone – possibly dead and… Mercy sniffed again.
She wouldn't think about what might've happen to the pair. She sighed. She couldn't keep this up. Crying was tiring. She sighed and went to her dresser to pull out a dress and ring a maid, but stopped. She blinked and pulled open a drawer.
There, on the top of everything, was a pair of trousers and a loose shirt. She pulled them out. They were slightly dirty, but mostly unused. She slipped out of the nightgown she wore and found some clean underclothes. She dressed and pulled her hair up in a bun. Mercy pulled some thick boots and stockings out from under the dresser and put them on. Then, she opened a dresser drawer and pulled out the fine dagger Marcus had gifted her so long ago for Midwinter.
How to escape Renold? Normally, she would ride into the forest and lose him on a turn or disappear into brush, but he now anticipated these tricks, also he'd be on double alert because of the disappearance of Marcus and Hannah.
She doubted he'd even let her within galloping distance of that twice-curst forest.
She sighed. So, how can I escape him? She pondered this for a moment; then a thought came to her, the traditional way, of course!
She opened the doors to her balcony and sighed. The fresh wind on her face felt nice. Her loose hair whipped around her face.
She pulled out a pair of thick gloves she had ordered for whole day riding to prevent blisters. She put them on and began climbing down the trellis. She laughed lightly. Architects need to study the old fables and stop building trellises outside a princess' balcony!
Finally, her thickly padded feet touched the ground. She heard the door open and Renold's voice say, "Mercy Anna?"
It didn't matter if she said she was fine, or if she said she was running away. His ears were sharp enough he'd know she wasn't in the room. She ran, sprinting at top speed toward the stables before they could sound the alarm and freeze the stables and the gates.
Mercy skidded to a stop, winded, at the stables. She entered and pulled the larger doors open. She left a coin for the messenger horse she was about to borrow. She put the tack on it and mounted. The horse reared – like a picture – and she kicked it into a gallop. She heard footsteps and as she raced past, she noted the blur looked a lot like Renold.
Ignoring his protests, she fled through the open palace gates and out into the fields she normally roamed. The Royal Forest – or as the locals called it, The Enchanted Forest (how cliché, Mercy noted) – drew nearer. It was darker than she remember, as if it was pulsing with black magic, coursing through it. The trees didn't move, although there was a light wind.
She ignored the pounding of horse-hooves behind her and she urged the swift horse to an even faster pace. She heard yelling, but all her attention was focused on the black forest in front of her, drawing nearer with ever breath she took.
Mercy knew they would never follow her into it. They were too afraid of being lost like the two – soon to be three – royals. Finally, she slowed the horse down as she reached the edge of the forest. It refused to go any further.
Annoyed, she dismounted and sent the skittish horse off with a slap on the rump. She brought out the dagger she had taken from her room and held it out, hoping to scare off the "specter" Thomas had spoken of so fearfully.
Eventually, the dark forest encompassed every sense she had. It grew dark, though it wasn't even midday yet. Her eyes began seeing dark forms running about, cackling from unseen bodies and eyes that followed her. She often strayed from the path, and tripped over rocks, roots and underbrush she couldn't see.
Once, she had even dropped the dagger and spent precious "daylight" trying to find it. Convinced holding it out wasn't scaring the ghosts away; she sheathed the knife.
A dark form whirled around and whipped past, blowing her hair from her face. She couldn't help it:
She screamed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Renold had seen her disappear into the forest.
He had failed. He had allowed her to run away into what was possibly the most dangerous situation imaginable. Bavar was ready to invade, since Hannah's people had sent a message before King Jonas, and Unuquat was ready to help, fearing the safety of one of its relatives (Queen Anna). The people were frightened due to the lack of an heir.
Renold Smithson had failed. For ten years he had succeeded, he had kept Mercy safe, even when sometimes he felt like quitting and joining the city guards to be away from the stress of the job, he had stayed, and a few weeks before he turned twenty-five, he had failed, utterly and miserably failed.
He hated failing.
A voice echoed behind him. "Bring him in for questioning."
Before he knew it, Guardsman Renold Smithson, bodyguard to Princess Mercy Anna of Hessex, princess of Bavar for ten years, was being drug away by his fellows to be questioned in the disappearance of his charge.
He had failed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Mercy breathed in and out, panting from the encounter. She shook her head. Stupid me. It's nothing. I didn't see anything. Nothing. I'm imagining everything. All this is a façade to scare me. The fey are trying to scare me into leaving, like they did Thomas. I didn't see anything worth screaming about.
Something undeniable happened just then. A roar echoed over the forest. Mercy screamed again, her nerves on edge.
It's nothing. She tried to convince herself. It's nothing at all.
Another roar.
It's nothing. She kept walking. Absolutely nothing.
The "daylight" became brighter – she assumed it was becoming noon. She kept walking further in, drawn by the darkness, though she was repulsed by it at the same time.
Suddenly, something appeared in front of her, and in the blink of an eye, she had her dagger out and crouched defensively. The dark shape roared.
She blinked. A great paw whipped out and knocked the dagger away. It stepped toward her into the only patch of light in the whole visible area.
The light illuminated a sight, the likes of which Mercy had never seen, except in paintings.
She looked directly into the sky blue eyes of a lion.
- - - - - - - - - -
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