“I see a lot of things,” the young man began in a spacey tone. “I see more clearly when I have my crystal ball with me though, but Reginald took that from me too.” He pouted. “I see things that happened in the past and things that will happen. You and I are friends, or at least we will become good friends.”
Fern licked her lips. “You’re a seer, aren’t you? What’s your name?”
“Baba Yaga,” the young man revealed. “But my friends call me ‘Yaga’.”
“Baba Yaga?” Fern echoed, her voice tinged with disbelief. “I’ve heard of you.”
“Good things, I hope.” Yaga perked up with a hopeful expression on his face.
Fern hated to dash his hopes, but decided it would be better to tell the seer the truth in order to gain his trust. “Actually, they were horrible. People say that you eat children.”
Yaga drew back with an appalled expression on his face. “I would never do such a demented thing. I much prefer chocolate cake and sweets.”
“Right…” Fern drawled. “Why did Reginald throw you into a cell?”
“I came here to help Prince Snow, but I arrived too late…as usual.” Yaga hung his head in a dejected manner. “The future I see…cannot be stopped. Or, at least, I’ve had no luck in trying to stop certain things from happening. I wanted to prevent Snow from killing his mother, but by the time I arrived here Snow was already on the run. Reginald asked me to locate Snow for him and when I refused he confiscated my jewelry and crystal ball, and tossed me in this cell.”
“So it’s true then…Snow was forced to kill his mother?” Fern asked intently.
Yaga shot Fern an incredulous look. “Reginald ripped Snow’s heart out of his chest and used it to control him. The Evil King made him kill Queen Isidora. Snow loved his mother. He never would have done such a despicable thing. Prince Snow Flurris is a good man.”
“A good man, huh?” Fern said in a skeptical tone. “A giant pervert, maybe. Last thing I head about Snow is that he was sleeping with a succubus demon!”
Yaga’s determined expression turned chagrined. “Ah, yes, well…Prince Snow has a weakness for the ladies. But all his experience with women makes him very good in bed.”
Fern raised an eyebrow at the seer. “And I would want to know that why?”
Yaga gave Fern an innocent look. “I’m just making conversation. But know this - when Prince Snow falls in love one day he will only have eyes for that woman and no other. Prince Snow has never been in love before. He doesn’t know what love is. Once he finds his ‘true love’ he will be faithful to her for the rest of his life. You could say that woman is incredibly lucky.”
“Yeah, well, good for her,” Fern said in a bitter voice. “And Prince Snow doesn’t seem like the type to stay faithful to one woman. Are you really sure about that?”
Yaga nodded vigorously. “I have seen it.”
“So…who’s the lucky lady?” Fern asked, wondering what princess had managed to catch Prince Snow’s eye.
Yaga glanced away and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you. If I reveal that information it could end up affecting your future in a negative way. Your path is entwined with Prince Snow’s. You must go to him, protect him, and ensure that he makes it north to see the Winter King.”
Fern let out a laugh. “What? That sounds crazy. Why would I want to protect that flashy playboy?”
“By helping Prince Snow Flurris you will gain your heart’s true desire,” Yaga said firmly. “Trust me.”
“My heart’s true desire?” Fern echoed, stroking her chin. “King Solomon Cross’s death?” Yaga remained silent, but nodded. “I see…so if I help Prince Snow I’ll get the chance to kill King Solomon, which is what I really want. Hmm. Alright then...I’ll do it. I’ll protect that playboy and make sure he reaches the Winter King Elias alive. But first, we need to get out of here.”
Yaga tilted his head as he regarded Fern and gave her a curious look. “We?”
“Oh, yeah, you’re coming too Mr. Seer,” Fern announced, a mischievous smile curling her lips. “Don’t think you’re getting out of it. Having a seer around could come in handy.”
“I’ve never been on an adventure with friends before,” Yaga admitted in a wistful tone.
Fern’s expression turned sympathetic. She knew what it was like to be lonely and not have any friends. Fern was beginning to think she and Yaga were kindred spirits. The Huntress offered him a soft, encouraging smile. “Well, there’s no time like the present to try new things! I need to get my weapons back and you need to get your crystal ball.”
“And my jewelry,” Yaga added. “Please.”
“Yeah, sure.” Fern took out a double-pronged hairpin from a pocket inside of her cape and began to use it to pick the lock on her cell. The hairpin had belonged to her mother, but Fern didn’t think she’d mind it being put to a good cause.
***
By the time Snow and Blue reached Rapunzel’s Tower the prince had enough strength to slide off his horse’s saddle and approach the tower on his own. Rapunzel’s tower was forty-feet-tall. At the very top of the tower was a small, two-floor, Tudor-style house with a pointed, sloping roof that reminded Snow of a wizard’s pointed hat. Each floor only had one room.
Rapunzel’s Tower stood in the center of a clearing where more than two decades ago Sol Castle stood. The tower was all that remained of the original castle, and all that had survived the war between King Siegfried’s forces and Necromancer Gothel’s. Large chunks of stone that had probably been a part of the original castle were scattered about the clearing and covered with moss and ivy.
Some Fantasians referred to that conflict as the Light and Shadow War. Following Gothel’s victory a shadow had fallen over the land, but Rapunzel had triumphed in battle against Gothel recently, and the Kingdom had been saved from darkness.
A wave of nostalgia washed over Snow as he looked up at the single window where his friend Rapunzel would sit and lower his seventy-foot-long hair so that he could climb up the tower and visit. Now there was an easier way to enter the tower. Snow approached the base of the tower, and walked around it until he came upon the new door. The prince knocked on the door, and waited for Rapunzel or his lover Dr. Henrietta Jekyll to let him inside the tower.
However, the minutes ticked by and there was no answer. By this time, Blue, who was still in his five-inch-tall form, had flown over to Snow and taken a seat on the prince’s shoulder. “Maybe they went out to run an errand,” Blue suggested.
“Yeah. Maybe,” Snow said, but he sounded unsure. He had a bad feeling about this and decided to kick the door in. Snow entered the tower, climbed the spiral staircase that led all to the way up to the second-to-last floor that served as Rapunzel’s combination bedroom, kitchen and sitting room. The top floor of the tower was where Blacksmith Rapunzel’s forge was located and where he made enchanted weapons.
Unlike the last time Rapunzel had mysteriously disappeared from his tower, and ended up in the Heroes’ Labyrinth - this time there were signs that some kind of fight had occurred. Snow walked over and ran his hand over the slash marks on Rapunzel’s sofa that appeared to have been made by a sword. Feathers were scattered around the room from busted pillows, and there were strange burn marks on the walls from spells that had apparently missed their intended marks.
Snow walked over to inspect the burns on the wall and frowned. “What the hell happened here?” the prince wondered aloud. “Who could have done this?”
Blue looked around the circular room intently. “Since there are no bodies that must mean Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta have been kidnapped. Perhaps, they were taken by someone who needed them for their unique skills. It’s pretty rare to be able to forge enchanted weapons and Dr. Henrietta can cure almost any illness.”
“Why couldn’t they have just asked Rapunzel to forge them weapons if they needed them so badly?” Snow grumbled. “And Dr. Henrietta’s specialty is science and medicine from another realm…it’s hard to know what these people who took them are up to exactly. It could be anything.”
Something caught Blue’s attention out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, what’s that?” He flew over, picked up the object, and carried it back over to Snow. “Here. Take a look at this. Maybe it means something.”
Snow took the piece of red leather material and inspected it. His eyes widened with recognition. “This is a piece of Redmond’s riding hood. He was here.”
“Redmond?” Blue questioned. “Are you talking about the hero Red Riding Hood? The Werewolf Hunter?”
Snow nodded, and a dark shadow fell over his face. “Does this mean that Redmond betrayed us? But…why would he do something like this?” The prince stroked his chin in thought. “Maybe this has something to do with Redmond’s missing family, and the Werewolf Clan, which according to Baba Yaga Redmond is destined to defeat. Shit. This is getting complicated.”
At that moment, a crippling wave of sadness washed over Snow that had him sinking to his knees. He clutched at his chest as his heart ached. Tears streamed down Snow’s face. “Ugh. What’s wrong with me? My head…it’s pounding. I remember-”
“Quick!” Blue interrupted. “Drink some of the magical lake water before you remember!”
“Remember what?” Snow moaned.
“Trust me. You don’t want to know,” Blue said fervently.
Snow took out his flask, uncorked it, and drank the water desperately. Almost immediately he felt calmer and more at peace. He let out a relieved sigh. “Phew. Thanks, Blue. I’d completely forgotten about needing to drink the water daily in order to keep forgetting…well, whatever it is you think I should be forgetting.”
Blue gave Snow a concerned look. “Are you feeling alright, My Prince?”
Snow nodded and waved a hand through the air. “I feel loads better now. What are we going to do about Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta?”
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do,” Blue lamented. “We don’t know where they’ve been taken and so we can’t go after them.”
“Maybe we should try and find Baba Yaga and ask him,” Snow suggested.
“Snow, we don’t have time to go off on a rescue mission,” Blue said in a chiding tone. “The clock is ticking. We need to get you north to the Winter King Elias, and have him train you. Ideally, you’ll be able to wield and control your ice magic before King Reginald attacks Cross Kingdom.”
“If this Winter King guy is so powerful why can’t he defeat Reginald and save Fantasia?” Snow asked, giving the fairy a pointed look.
“The Winter King is a dangerous, unpredictable, eccentric recluse,” Blue began. “He’s isolated himself from the outside world because his powers have become too great for him to control properly. He’s become a danger not only to others around him, but also to himself. And well, he’s no hero.”
“Not a hero? Wait…you don’t mean he’s a villain, do you?” Snow asked worriedly.
Blue winced. He knew how risky this plan of his was to have Elias train Snow. The chances of Elias just deciding to kill them both upon their arrival were pretty high. “The Winter King is mercurial. It’s oftentimes hard to decide what side he’s really on, but he’s usually on his own side. I should be able to work with that and convince him to help us.”
“And you think a dangerous guy like that will be willing to train me?” Snow asked in a skeptical tone.
Blue shrugged. “He’s our only hope. Having an affinity for ice magic has become rare among the witches and wizards in Fantasia. Reginald has hunted down and killed most of the wizards and witches that had an affinity for ice elemental magic because they posed a threat to his power. That’s why his Wizard Knights mostly only use fireballs, lightning bolts, wind blades, and earth lances to attack with.”
Snow’s eyes widened. “Is that why Reginald wants me dead? Because he knows I’m a threat?”
During their brief stay in the Enchanted Forest, the seven fairies had revealed to Blue the real reasons why King Reginald wanted Snow dead. Blue decided it was time Snow knew the truth about Reginald’s hate. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your stepfather wants you dead for several reasons,” Blue admitted, raking a shaky hand back through his sky-blue hair. “You being an ice mage is only one of them. You know how your stepfather is in possession of a Magic Mirror, yes?” Snow nodded, and Blue continued. “Well, it’s inhabited by the spirit of an evil witch. Daily, Reginald asks her the same question: ‘Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the handsomest of them all?’ And each day the mirror responded: ‘My King, you are the handsomest of them all’. However, on Reginald’s past birthday the mirror’s response to his question was: ‘My King, you are the handsomest here so true. But Prince Snow Flurris is a thousand times handsomer than you’.”
Snow’s jaw dropped open slightly. “So, let me get this straight, because of some evil chick in a Magic Mirror Reginald hates me? Gods…” The prince put his face in his hands.
“I’m afraid so,” Blue agreed. “In that moment, Reginald became consumed by envy and jealousy towards you. He’s always felt threatened by you, but that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Reginald wants to be the handsomest and most powerful wizard in all the land. He wants to be worshiped by the masses like a god, and you stand in his way in more ways than one.”
“I wish…I weren’t so handsome,” Snow said sadly. “Then, Reginald wouldn’t hate me and we could still be friends.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Blue said, flying over to hover in front of Snow’s face. “It’s not your fault you’re so handsome. It’s a blessing of the gods.”
“A blessing, huh? More like a curse,” Snow murmured. “Because of this face I’m a Wanted Criminal.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Blue said. “You will find out the truth when the time is right. For now, concentrate on what needs to be done in this moment.”
Snow offered the fairy a lopsided smile and glanced around the messy room. “You mean like clean this place up for when Rapunzel and Henrietta get back?”
Blue nodded. “An excellent suggestion.”
Snow and Blue worked together to clean up the room and set things right. Snow swept and mopped the floor, and Blue dusted all of the hard to reach places while in his five-inch-tall form. Once the room was back to normal they made dinner. After dinner, Snow collapsed onto Rapunzel’s bed. Even though he was completely exhausted his mind was still working a mile a minute. According to Blue, Reginald and I are enemies now. I was even beginning to see him as a real father and not just my stepfather. I thought Reginald was good for my mother. How could I have been so wrong about him? Maybe I should stop drinking the magical lake water and remember my ‘greatest sorrow’ already. Blue is coddling me…
Once Snow had fallen asleep Blue flew over to sit on Snow’s pillow. The fairy reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind the prince’s ear. “It is a heavy burden to be charged with saving the world. But you shall not carry this burden alone, my godson.”
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