Chapter Twelve: Tree Stumps and Magic Mirrors
It took Bloom a good ten minutes but she finally found her way to the stables where she was upset to see that Helia wasn't hanging around in, could it be that only this morning they were having lovey dovey talk with him right here? Sighing in frustration Bloom asked a servant where they were keeping the sleeping princess; they directed her through a maze of hallways and rooms to a tower on the other side of the castle. Bloom noted that it was as far away from Stella as they could make it. She also was pleasantly surprised when she saw none other than Helia hanging out outside her room, leaning against the wall looking sad. Bloom wanted to cheer and dance at the sight of him.
Bloom quickly walked up to him "Hi, you're Helia aren't you? We met earlier today in the stables with Princess Aurora. You know her right? Tall, tan, beautiful and so glorious that you just want to kiss her"
Helia turned to look at her with surprised eyes but when he recognised the red hair a small bit of light entered his eyes "Yes, you're the princesses friend"
"I am" Bloom replied in a happy voice "She told me she took quite a shine to you" She went so far as to nudge him with her elbow.
Helia looked embarrassed and blushed, looking to the floor "D-did she?"
"Mmmm Hmmm" Bloom said with a cheeky smile, she leaned against the wall next to him "And I think you too took a mighty shine to her as well. Perhaps you even like her?"
Helia looked startled and glanced around the room where servants were seated warily and placing flowers in vases to pay tribute to the sleeping princess "You shouldn't say things like that in public, someone might hear you. Besides I couldn't like her"
Bloom turned to him and propped her elbow against the wall with a wider smile "Oh come on, of course you could. I saw the way you too were looking at each other this morning, all smiles and blushing. She even invited you to dinner tonight, what does that tell you?"
Helia looked even more startled and turned to her to whisper "What do you want from me? Is this some kind of trick?"
Bloom gave an innocent face "No trick and I don't want anything from you"
Helia leaned back to assess her suspiciously "Then why are you talking to me about such things?"
Bloom pushed off the wall and came to stand in front of Helia "Because it's not about what I want, It's about what she wants" Bloom pointed to the door where she assumed Flora was sleeping behind with the frame covered in roses and thrones "I know she likes you, she told me so. She told me that she couldn't stop thinking about you since the moment she met you, she wanted to know more about you and talk with you. And I can tell that you like her too because why else would you be hanging around outside her room like some lost puppy?"
Helia didn't say anything but just stared at her with surprised eyes, Bloom knew she was onto something and kept talking "Look I think you feel the same way. Have you been able to stop thinking about her, weren't you sad when you found out someone had poisoned her and sent her to sleep? Didn't it feel like you're own heart was being ripped from your chest? What does all this tell you? Come on I know you know the answer, you're just too afraid to admit it!"
Helia was silent still so Bloom answered for him "You're her true love!"
"Shhh!" Helia exclaimed, glancing warily at the people who had turned to stare at Bloom's little outburst "Stop, you can't. I can't. It's not true, as much as I want to be with her I can't. She's asleep under a curse"
Bloom took him by the shoulders with a big smile "You can lift the curse!"
Helia whispered back with as much energy but not as much enthusiasm "How?"
"By kissing her with true loves kiss!" Bloom wanted to scream to the heavens but forced herself to whisper.
Helia reared back a whole three feet and gazed at her with wide eyes, a look so astounded that Bloom nearly laughed. But the fact that she was so on edge stopped her; she got the distinct impression that he wouldn't do it. Helia finally spoke "I can't do that, it would be wrong!"
"Sister you're preaching to the choir about what's wrong in fairy tales!" Bloom thought back to the wolf eating Miss F, Stella as an old lady, Musa falling for a beast and Bloom having to kill the wolf herself if Sky didn't show up "But it has to be done, so scoot!"
Bloom tried to push Helia toward the door but the guy was rock solid "No, I can't kiss her like this! I can't even get up there, haven't you noticed the armed guards at her door" Bloom looked and was surprised to see seven armed guards standing by the door, huh must have totally blocked the out. She turned back to Helia "Oh crap, what do we do?"
Helia stepped away from her again "We aren't doing anything, I'm leaving tonight to go back to my own kingdom and I'm doing it without kissing some defenceless girl"
Bloom could see she was losing him, she stepped after him "But other guys will be doing it too, they won't if you do it first and you can save her the horror of being kissed by like a hundred guys!"
Helia rolled his eyes "You obviously haven't had all the facts, the only people that can get up there to kiss her have to have permission by her parents, and I'm not going to be the one to ask for it" With that he turned and started to walk away.
Bloom hurried after him "Wait, what if you had her brothers permission, he'll give it to you. He wants her to wake up, the queen doesn't!"
Helia paused and turned to her with a confused look "What about the queen?"
Bloom ran after him and whispered "The queen is evil and she's jealous of the princess; she'll do anything to keep her asleep. She's the one that poisoned her in the first place!"
Helia closed his eyes like he had a headache, sighing he looked down at her "I don't know who you are but I'm leaving before you get us both arrested for treason, goodbye"
Bloom watched as the only hope for Flora's survival walked away from her, she couldn't think of anything to say so she just stood there. For a long moment she leaned against the wall and looked out the window, the sun had set and night had fallen. Bloom only had twelve hours until they were all stuck there.
"Are you lost little girl?" A smooth voice enquired right beside her.
Bloom jumped in terror and whirled to see Valtor standing right beside her, looking down on her with a calm small smile. It was eerie to see that he actually looked non-menacing and kind of nice; she wished she had something to throw at him. Like a desk. Bloom stepped away a little and tried to appear calm "No I'm not lost, I was just paying my respects to the princess, that's all"
Valtor smiled and nodded, he was dressed like a king but somehow he still wore that damn red coat of his, as if it was attached to his body "I see, I haven't seen you around the castle, are you a friend of hers?" his voice still carried that smooth gentleman sound to it and Bloom had to stop herself from shuddering in both fear and hate.
"I only met her at the ball, we became fast friends she and I, and it's a shame about her curse though. I guess you'll have to start bringing in princes to see if they can wake her up?"
Valtor actually looked sort of wary, Bloom didn't know if it was an act "Yes that does seem like the appropriate thing to do but the queen is having some...reservations about bringing strangers into the kingdom" he seemed to trail off and fix her with a long stare, like he was looking for something.
After a long moment Bloom spoke hesitantly "Y-you-you're staring at me"
Valtor looked to the ground with a small confused smile "My apologies, I just feel like I know you from somewhere"
Was I trying to kill you? Bloom sucked in a breath and hoped he didn't remember that one time where they'd been enemies and she'd destroyed him "Sorry, can't think of anything. We've never met; I'd remember meeting the king"
"I'm sure you would" he looked at her again with that searching look and asked abruptly "Do you have a grandmother who you're close with?"
Bloom felt surprise run through her "Yes, my granny. She lives in the woods, far away. Too far away really"
Valtor smiled and spoke pleasantly "I know you now, you're grannies granddaughter, I've seen you walking in the woods. You should be careful though, the woods are a dangerous place. For all our efforts we still haven't been able to track down that murderous wolf, it's still out there"
Believe me Valtor; I know it's still alive. I've seen it! Bloom tried to smile "I'll be careful. But what were you doing in the woods?"
Valtor crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, Bloom noticed that everyone near Flora's room had cleared out, even the guards "It's my duty as the king to make sure this realm is safe, I attended one of the hunting parties. It was a short time after the wolf killed your parents. I'm sorry to hear about their deaths, it was a tragedy"
Bloom felt sadness run through her, she glanced to the ground "Thank you" I'm having a conversation with Valtor! I'm having a conversation with Valtor! "You're very kind to say so. I'll let me granny know you said so when I visit her" Bloom tugged her red cloak around her a bit tighter from the sudden chill, seriously the people clear out and now it's colder than ice in here, it's like someone's trying to tell me something.
Valtor seemed surprised and concerned, still eerie for Bloom to hear "You're going tonight? Surely it's not safe with the dangers of the woods, and at night"
Bloom shrugged and started to make her way toward the hall to try and find Helia again "I'll take my chances" Bloom walked away quickly and tried to fight against the sudden urge to run for her life.
...
Icy watched as the red headed girl walked away from the king, the image in the mirror swirled into blackness as the scene ended. Icy turned away from the mirror in frustration and walked out onto the balcony with her long black and ice blue dress spreading out behind her, all the while cracking her knuckles. This girl just keeps coming back! First at the ball, then at Countess Cassandra's place and then she tries to get into the royal trial to save her friend and NOW she's in MY castle talking to MY king! She must be stopped. But I can't stop her alone; this problem with these stupid girls is that they always come back. I must find a way to stop all of them with one stone.
Icy quickly turned away from the night sky with its full shining moon and walked back to her magical mirror "Mirror mirror on the wall, who do I have to kill to make them fall?"
...
Icy pulled her black cloak tighter around her as she surveyed the dark forest around her, the animals had gone noisy and the screeching was starting to give her a mighty headache. It wouldn't be long until Countess Cassandra made her way here and they could figure out how to rid themselves of those pesky girls once and for all. The full moon high in the sky shone done brightly and cast an eerie glow on the woods around her, icy stook in a small patch of the woods that didn't have a single tree except for a broken off tree stump in the middle, the tree curved inwards to make a sort of bowl in the middle. Countess Cassandra had told her that for real dark magic to work, they would need to do it here. The place where real witches did magic. A snap of a branch behind her caused Icy to whirl and face the black woods "You're not scared of the dark are you?"
Countess Cassandra stepped forward from the darkness and smiled sweetly, the black bruise on her face still hadn't even begun to fade and Icy had to choke back a laugh. Instead she asked "How long until the wolf is supposed to be hunting?"
The countess walked forward as she removed the black gloves from her hands "An hour or so, we should be done by then so we'll be safe. Besides the wolf won't be hunting us, it'll be hunting that girl with the red cloak"
"Yes, you told me to give the cloak to her but I don't see what harm it could bring her?" icy watched as the Countess pulled little vials from her inner coat and placed them on the side of the tree stump that came up to their waists.
"The red cloak is enchanted, it'll attract the wolf to her if she sets foot in the woods at night or day, he'll be after her like he was after those three little pigs. Unfortunate accident, terrible for their mother pig, good for the royal dinner though"
Icy replied distracted "They were a little tough to chew" She threw her hands up "but that's not why we're here! We're here to see who we need to kill in order to make all our problems go away"
Countess smiled and opened one of the little vials, out spilled black liquid and swirled into the bark of the tree bowl, it seemed to multiply until it filled the base up to the brim, it reflected their faces back at them. The countess ran a hand over the liquid and hummed to herself, the black liquid changed and brightened until it showed four faces.
Red Riding hood, Cinderella, Princess Aurora and Belle.
"Are these the problem girls?" Countess asked as she stared at them. Icy leaned forward "Yes, from the start they've plagued me!"
Countess leaned a hand on the brim and looked carefree "Well the Cindy girl is old and frail now, so she's out. The princess isn't going to be a problem. Red Riding Hood is as good as dead and that just leaves...this girl" The woman pointed to Musa's floating face.
Icy reared back in rage "But she's supposed to be dead!"
"Well she's not; she must have escaped your huntsman"
Icy leaned over the stump and gripped the edges with white knuckles "Where is she? If she's still alive she's still a threat to my throne!"
Countess sighed heavily and brushed a finger over Musa's face, the image changed and it was clear to see Musa was sitting in a big room while playing the piano happily, a big smile on her face "It doesn't show us exactly where she is! That could be any music room!" icy screeched in anger.
Countess held up a hand "Wait, look"
A tall man with strange marron hair entered the image; he stood a little in the background as if shy to approach the girl called Bella that hadn't seemed to notice his presence. He watched her with a grim expression but in his eyes there was a softness that seemed to be obvious to everyone except the girl.
Icy leaned back slowly "Oh I know who that is"
Cassandra looked at her with a raised eyebrow "Really? Who? He's sort of handsome"
Icy stepped away from the tree stump and looked up at the sky "He's a constant annoyance for me and the king. A traitor and a rebel. We banished him years ago; I don't know how he came across all that good wealth and money to buy a mansion in the middle of the woods though"
"And now he's harbouring the one person who could ruin you" Cassandra looked down at the two love birds who didn't know they were in love "If we got rid of her I'm sure it would be a great loss to him aswell, I might have a spell that could do this"
Icy turned back to her with surprise "Another one. Is it difficult?"
"Exceedingly. But it only needs one ingredient"
"What is it?" icy stepped forward, eager and hopeful. Countess Cassandra stepped toward her and held out a hand "The item I asked you to bring, you still have it?"
Icy didn't answer but instead pulled from the folds of her cloak a single shiny red apple that had been given to her by Cinderella in the trade for the red cloak "Here, why do you need it? I've heard apples are used for sleep spells, are you going to make her sleep like the princess?"
The countess smiled as she dipped the apple deep into the black liquid that seemed to leak into the piece of food slowly "No, it'll do something much more wicked. This spell can change the fate of the one who eats it, I sense some kind of connection between each of these girls, they're linked together. Change the fate of one and you change the fate of them all"
...
"Belle no" Riven said, being unable to keep the little smile off his face.
Musa looked terribly grumpy and rested her chin on the palm of her hand, the two of them sat in the dining room as they ate dinner. Usually Riven would have sat at one end and Musa at the other but tonight they were seated side by side so one wouldn't have to shout across the long room to be heard. Musa played with her food as she turned to him "Oh come on Riven! There's been no sign of the wolf since it attacked you last night"
"It's only been a day and you think the wolf is gone, really, how have you survived this long on that kind of logic?" Riven smiled as he drank from the cup of wine next to him, trying not to laugh at his dinner guest.
Musa slammed her fist down on the table "Don't tease me! It's been night for about three hours now and we haven't heard a single thing from that wolf, I've been here two nights and those two times the wolf would be howling like crazy and it's not tonight. I'm telling you its safe! Please let me go visit my friend in the village?"
Riven looked at her with tired but light eyes "I meant what I said when I told you that I didn't want to be the one to discover your dead body in the morning, so please listen to me and go to bed! If I was going to be okay with this I would go with you and it would be in the day! It's not my fault you're suicidal"
Musa shot him a glare but fought not to smile. Since this afternoon when they'd had their big fight things had been surprisingly easy for them, they'd actually been getting along. She guessed that they'd just needed to get all that tension out into the open and now look at them. They were having dinner and having a good time! Still didn't make him less stubborn though "Are you afraid I won't come back? Because I will, I promise"
Riven leaned back in his chair and watched her, he had been enjoying the last day with her since they finished their fight, she'd gone straight to the music room and started playing. The music she played was magical; they seemed to ignite something in him that made him...happier than he'd been in a long time. The problem was he was now kind of attached to her and it was true, he was afraid she wouldn't come back "Belle, I'm sorry. It's just too dangerous"
Musa wasn't giving up yet "Okay, I won't go to the village. I'll just go for a walk"
"Belle!" Riven exclaimed, sudden so very tired.
"It's just a little walk! I'll keep in sight of the castle, I'll carry a weapon with me and if I hear so much as a wolfish growl, I'll run back home. Okay?"
Something seemed to strike Riven and he turned to look at her with a suddenly guarded expression. Musa watched him for a long time and grew worried "What is it?"
Riven looked away and took a big swig of wine "Nothing"
Musa poked him in the arm "No, something happened there. What was it?"
Riven sighed heavily and looked away from her, when he spoke it was quiet "You said...home"
Musa leaned back in her chair and thought back to what she'd said, he was right, she'd called the castle home "Oh" She said without permission "I did, didn't I?"
A long silence descended and the two of them were too awkward to say anything until Musa started to fan herself with her napkin "Woo is it hot in here? Damn those fireplaces are really doing their job, aren't they? You know what I could go for right now, some fresh forest air" When he looked at her she was giving him the biggest hopeful smile he had ever seen, a had to laugh as he stood up from the table.
"Alright fine" Really he felt so embarrassed that he kind of wanted some space from her "But you take the axe"
Musa smiled and fist pumped the air as they made their way toward the front door, as she tried to cloak around her he came back with the big heavy axe she'd given him that first night "You've got ten minutes before I come hunt you down myself and drag you back here" She saluted him and took the axe, he also handed her a small stone about half the size of her palm "This is an enchanted stone, if you get lost or you need me just hold it in your left hand and think of the castle, then you speak into it and I'll be able to hear it through this" He held up a similar stone.
"Oh so it's like a phone" Musa replied, happy to have some resemblance of modern technology "Coolies"
Riven clocked an eyebrow at her the way he did when he was thinking about her sanity "Ten minutes. Go"
Musa gave him one last smile and pushed the door open out into the cool night air, Riven watched her go while also scanning the forest for any signs of the wolf. It had been a stupid idea to let her go but she was right. The wolf wasn't out yet but it being a full moon he knew that it would be, he always knew.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
I'm the writer of this thing and even I got frustrated with Bloom in this chapter, I kept thinking the whole time I was typing the scene with her and Valtor 'Oh my god, TAKE THE HINT!' Anyway, very happy with stuff, I tried to get a bit more warning and build up for the ending that's soon to come. I'd say I have about three maybe four chapters to go. But good news everyone! While I've had a lot of time to think about how the story is going to end I thought up another story for the Winx Club. It'll be exciting for those who have read "Other side" and "Other side and back again" because it takes place in the same universe as them. I'll make you a deal! You guys give me enough reviews on this chapter and at the end of the next one I'll tell you all about the new story, trust me. It's a really good and juicy idea. A lot of room for growing and funny scenes. Perhaps a lot of awkwardness. So if you want to hear about it, REVIEW!