Chapter 29 – The Moon
Jacob awoke to the late afternoon sun gently illuminating the tower, his head pounding as he recalled the dizzying array of scenes that had flashed across his eyes while asleep. Looking down, he noticed his hand was still tightly gripping the silver mirror. Startled, he reflexively let the thing drop to the bed. The enchanted looking glass had shown him the truth he needed to understand the Piper's motivations. It seemed too easy, yet what the mirror had shown him made perfect sense, all the pieces had fallen into place. The younger Grimm finally understood why the magician remained in the forest, he hoped that the townspeople would attempt to rescue their children and pay the sum of money, ensuring the curse was lifted.
Jacob realized that he needed to talk to Gram as soon as possible, especially before Wilhelm reached the castle. The younger Grimm surmised that if he did not, his brother's hotheadedness combined with the magician's immense power had the potential to produce a perilously destructive conflict. Standing up slowly, Jake noticed a sudden feeling of light-headedness as his field of vision narrowed before fading to black.
The soft sounds of crickets chirping stirred in the early evening air as the two men paused their journey through the forest. The tower's silhouette loomed close in the distance, rising up far beyond the tops of the tallest trees. As the last rays of sunlight began fading under the forest canopy, Wilhelm hitched his mare to a tree at the edge of the clearing. Digging through his saddlebags intently, the older Grimm exhaled a sigh of relief as he found the small leatherbound book that Weiss had gifted Jacob.
Will noticed that his brother had marked a spot in the book with a piece of parchment placed between the pages. Aware of the quickly fading daylight, the older Grimm hurriedly flipped to the marked pages. Seeing the illustration of a ring drawn in black ink which bore an uncanny resemblance to the one on his finger, Wilhelm breathed a sigh of relief, "Jacob, you've done it again," he exclaimed gratefully.
Scanning the page, Wilhelm noted the scrawling hand-written text was mostly in Latin, becoming frustrated at how much he had forgotten in the short time since leaving the university. Coarsely translating the text, Wilhelm gathered it read something akin to this: Two brothers of similar materials, but different expressions. One is for finding, and the other for binding. These rings lose their power when apart.
The finding part was quite plain to Will, the ring he was wearing allowed him to see the other, invisible ring; however, the binding part was less obvious. The older Grimm saw a small note on the parchment bookmark in his brother's scribbled hand which had been repeatedly circled and underlined: not unlike Solomon. Understanding suddenly dawned on Wilhelm, the invisible ring had the power to bind magic. Thankful for his younger brother's brilliance and foresight, Will quickly scanned the remainder of the page before stuffing the book back into his saddlebag. The odds of the second ring making its way to him, the only person who could see it, were unlikely verging on astronomical.
Noticing the sudden quiet that had fallen over the small clearing, Wilhelm called out to Schwarz, wondering where the dark-haired man had gone.
"Over here," the nobleman responded between deep breaths, leaning heavily against the base of a tree. Seeing him approach, Schwarz held up a hand in warning, "I think it's best if you keep your distance, Wilhelm," he advised between gasping breaths.
Noting the nobleman's elongated canines, the older Grimm instinctively took a step back, before looking up at the cloudy night sky. "It's tonight, isn't it," Wilhelm answered softly, noting Schwarz's laboured breathing and eerily reflective eyes.
"Indeed. Wilhelm Grimm, listen to me," the nobleman commanded in an uncharacteristically stern tone, "You need to leave this second. Something monstrous is about to be unleashed here and I don't know whether I can protect you from it. Continue towards the ruins. I'll catch up with you in the morning and we can search for Jacob together. Please, promise me that you will ride hard towards the castle and not stop until you reach it."
Running a hand through his hair anxiously, Will opened his mouth to argue, but held his tongue noticing the nobleman's serious tone. "Fine. I'll go ahead and meet you in the morning. Take care of yourself, Schwarz," Will conceded, hesitating for a moment before turning towards his horse. Unhitching the mare, Wilhelm coaxed Kastanie towards the road and urged her into a fast trot, swiftly gaining speed as the light of the full moon spilled across the road, emerging from behind the clouds' cover.
As the chestnut mare broke into a full gallop an agonizing, gut-wrenching scream followed in their wake.
With the cold light of the full moon illuminating their path through the forest, Wilhelm pushed Kastanie to maintain her swift strides, hearing the sorrowful howl of a wolf echo in the distance. As they flew along the road, the immense castle loomed larger overhead, blocking out the light of the stars. Will felt a foreboding sense of dread wash over him at the sight of the dark towers ominously standing watch over the silent ruins below.
Easing his mare to a quick trot as they approached, the older Grimm was uncomfortably aware of how exposed they were to anyone within the tower. Kastanie veered towards what remained of the castle's stables, picking up her pace as the white silhouette of her sister became visible. Wilhelm tethered his mare beside Fee in the stable before grabbing what weapons he could from their bags.
"Wish me luck, girls," the older Grimm said softly to the two mares, receiving an uncharacteristically tender bump from the chestnut mare's muzzle in return.
Crossing the abandoned grounds, Wilhelm gazed up in amazement at the size of the old castle, two of its four crumbling towers retained their narrow spires while the others had long collapsed, bringing down the roof in some places. Reaching the edge of the ruined courtyard walls, the older Grimm hesitated, uncertain of how to proceed. The soft flutter of wings caught his attention as a raven gracefully landed on a crumbling section of wall in front of him. Tilting its head to observe him closely, Will was disturbed by the eerily intelligent way the animal appeared to appraise him, before gesturing with its beak further into the courtyard. When Wilhelm failed to move towards the ruined wall, the bird hopped anxiously in place before repeating the gesture.
"Fine," Will hissed, following the bird's lead. Stepping over the long-fallen stone wall, the older Grimm entered the crumbling courtyard which was slowly being reclaimed by nature. Bright moonlight reflected off of the broken stones and old tiles littered within the walls, casting deep shadows in relief. Moving further into the courtyard, he noticed pairs of what appeared to be small rocks strewn across the broken stone floor.
Moving closer to inspect them, Wilhelm felt his stomach clench as he realized they were pairs of small shoes, dozens and dozens of empty children's shoes. Blind rage overtook the older Grimm at the sight of the abandoned shoes. Unholstering his gun, Wilhelm raised it above his head and fired a shot upward into the dark night sky with an angry scream.