Does the ugly stepsister have a happily ever after?
Chapter 3: The Thickest Thicket
Once upon a time, King Dewey had just divorced his wife, Queen Bernadette, who was of a much older age. To celebrate, the king went hunting in the woods. Then, he spotted and followed a graceful roe who led him into a very dense thicket. He stepped out of his horse to cut the bushes to form a clear path. Suddenly, he met a beautiful maiden sitting under a huge oak tree and wearing a dress of flowers. She was a druid named Susannah. The king made her his new queen, and built her her own castle called Way Castle. They soon had two sons, twins actually, named Reynard and Lupine.
Reynard was skilled in combat and weapons, and he was known for his cunning and agility. While Lupine was skilled in taming horses and hunting, and he was known for his wits around the councilors. They were just pages then. They were united by the warmest affection and inseparable in all their enterprises. Then, the two had a quarrel of who would inherit their father's throne. They went to their father and asked him. But all he answered was "Why must you think of my death, my sons?" Thus, he refused to write a will for it was too early.
And yet, he didn't see his sudden death coming. He was playing his lute in the throne room alone, then he dropped dead on the floor. Queen Susannah tried ever so hard to cry for his grave. But instead, she only wailed and destroyed many things. The royal children were then afraid, and their grandparents took them in the Sun Palace to stay away from their demented mother. Reynard and Lupine continued their education there. When they were squires, they wanted to come to Way Castle though Lionel, their herald, kept on saying it wasn't safe yet. Until, the shocking news reached their ears. Their mother was long dead, and her second husband already took over Way Castle.
Reynard and Lupine travelled at once to their mother's castle where they only met King Jack's two wives, Queens Amaryllis and Isinglass, because King Jack was out hunting as usual. Reynard and Lupine demanded their rightful castle back, but Amaryllis instead challenged them in a joust. The princes knew they could not match her expertise, so they cheated by tampering with her lance, and putting pressure on her horse before they began. But Amaryllis didn't put up with her mischance, and refused to keep her word. The princes declared war and left. When they were in the thicket, Isinglass appeared and changed Reynard and Lupine into a fox and a wolf respectively.
The forest became their home, and they could not find their way out, as if they were meant to stay there. One night, they encountered a dark tower where the sadistic fairy named Lulu haunted and would scare anyone going inside to take her treasure. They asked her of how to get rid from the witch's spell. She told them that it would be broken if they helped someone find a happy ending. "Trust me. I've been working with fairytales for a long time," Lulu said, "It always works." But whenever Reynard and Lupine encounter a human, they would become the prize game for being magical talking animals.
Then, one day, they met a little princess sitting in the woods alone. She was just there sitting and nothing else. She was obviously abandoned there to starve to death. Then, Reynard and Lupine could feel that she was of close blood to them. But Reynard realized she was deaf, never answering his questions of who she was, how and why she was there, and does she want her happy ending. He nuzzled her back while Lupine let her pat him. But she called them Roy and John, and wobbly walked around hitting a tree. Lupine realized she was blind, really blind, illiterate, the term of Necropolitans for people who couldn't sense auras.
Lupine carried the girl on his back and Reynard led the way to the dark tower. Thunderclouds surrounded it, and its bricks gravely moaned. The two brothers were scared and were having second thoughts if they should let the innocent girl go there. But the girl already walked to the door, and went inside. She climbed the seemingly never-ending staircase filled with bones and dry blood. She soon reached the room above, and for the very first time, she could "see" something glistening in the dark. She touched the brilliant thing, and it was as refined as a diamond. Lulu appeared and using magic, she forced the girl away from it.
Then, the fairy began conducting nightmares within the room decorated with cobwebs. The sound of knells appeared archly. A grove of thistles crawled about the floor and walls. The ghosts commenced a night of sighs, and breathed cold air upon the girl's neck. The ghouls spread out their wings of dread and menacingly flew above the girl. Creepy crawlies went inside the girl's clothes. The skeletons danced around as they ululated their macabre song. But amidst this phantasmagoria of horrors, the girl only stared and smiled at the diamond floating in the middle of the room. She never felt such happiness of being able to see something in all her life.
In the morning, Reynard and Lupine saw the princess holding the precious gem as she magically flew out of the tower and out of the thicket. But days passed, the two princes hadn't change back to their human forms. They wondered, then suddenly, they sensed the distressed heart of the young princess high up in the air. It was the stepmothers' playful assassination. It would've been a bloody success, if it had not Reynard and Lupine attacked them. Unfortunately, they were thrown away and became unconscious. When they woke up, they saw the evil stepmothers defeated. The witch in flames vowed vendetta upon the two brothers.
But Reynard and Lupine ran away and laughed and laughed. Suddenly, they were grabbed by surprise, and put in a sack. They were on a carriage. But the next thing they knew, they heard the coachman's terrified scream and someone looting the carriage. The sack they were in was opened and they leaped out to meet a girl wearing jewels from the other sacks. But she was disappointed to see two filthy animals in that one. "Who are you calling filthy?!" Reynard growled. Lupine added, "My dear girl, we are more valuable than those jewels for we could help you find your happy ending." The girl doubted, but since they were talking animals, she went with them.