Yaga glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw the silver cross that had a large red gem imbedded into its center. There was something very unsettling about that red gem that caused a shiver to travel up Yaga’s spine. “You got that necklace from your mother?”
Fern nodded. “Yes. It suited her much better. My mother was beautiful. Jewelry is for attractive people. It would just look silly on me since I know I’m ugly.”
“Ugly?” Yaga set down his knife so he could give Fern a chiding look. “I think you’re beautiful, Fern.” The seer turned around quickly though so that Fern wouldn’t see his rising blush. He started to concentrate on chopping a green pepper next.
“How can you think that when I have these hideous scars on my face?” Fern raised her hand to touch the left side of her face. “When those bandits sold me off to the slave traders and hours later they finally saw my face they complained that they’d gotten gipped, and that they probably wouldn’t even be able to sell me. Because of these scars…I will never know true love.”
Yaga stilled and stopped chopping the green pepper. He hated hearing the sadness in Fern’s voice. “That’s not true. True beauty lies within, Fern. You’re a good, kind person. It will take someone special to see your true worth. The person you are destined for will see that. Don’t despair. You will find true love, Fern.”
Fern shot the seer a startled look. That was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “Whoa. Really? There’s actually someone out there who will fall in love with me despite these ugly scars?” Yaga nodded while keeping his back to Fern. “You know who it is, don’t you? You’ve seen my future. Okay. Spill. Who is it?”
“I…can’t tell you,” Yaga said and began chopping a carrot. “If I do it will affect the future in an adverse way.”
“Tch. Stingy. I wonder who it is…” Fern mused and gave Yaga a speculative look. “It’s not you, is it?”
Yaga almost ended up cutting his finger off as he startled at the unexpected question and was forced to carefully set the knife down. “Me?” he croaked out.
Fern shrugged carelessly. “Sure. Why not? You’re a very handsome man. And you’re sweet and kind. A little weird, but funny. I like spending time with you. Couldn’t it be possible?”
“No,” Yaga said, clenching his hands into fists on the cutting board. “It’s not me.”
“You’re no fun,” Fern teased. “You’re strangely honest. You know, you could have lied and said ‘yes’ - that you’re my one true love and then seduced me. Most men in your position would have taken advantage of the situation.”
Yaga turned around to meet Fern’s inquisitive look. “I would never do something dishonorable like that. It’s not my purpose in this world.”
“Oh, your purpose?” Fern said in a singsong voice. “That sounds interesting. And what is your purpose in this world?”
Yaga glanced away from Fern’s piercing stare, and he wrapped his arms around his torso. “My purpose is to help you, and to help the other heroes to travel down their ideal paths in order to save Fantasia. If I act selfishly then all of Fantasia will be doomed. I have seen it.”
“So you’re a hero?” Fern asked.
“Not…officially,” Yaga hedged. “I’m not supposed to get directly involved in the affairs of heroes. Only help to guide them down the right path.”
Fern frowned. “Wait…what do you mean if you act selfishly Fantasia will be doomed? You’re not sacrificing your own happiness for the good of Fantasia, are you?” She narrowed her bi-colored eyes suspiciously at Yaga.
“I’m happy to be here with you here in this moment,” Yaga said, being purposefully evasive and trying to change the subject. “That is enough.”
“There you go dodging my question,” Fern accused, but then sighed. “Well, I’ll let it go. For now. I do appreciate all the help you’ve given me so far, Yaga.”
“You’re very welcome, Huntress,” Yaga said, giving her a crooked smile before returning his attention to his cooking. He tossed the chopped vegetables into the cauldron.
Fern took a deep breath and smiled. “Smells good. What are we having?”
“Chicken soup,” Yaga said.
“Er, the house won’t be offended, right?” Fern asked nervously.
Yaga shot a perplexed look over his shoulder. “Why would it be?”
Fern laughed nervously and waved her hand through the air. “Never mind!”
***
Eight hours later, Snow awoke to a glass of cold water being unceremoniously thrown in his face. Snow gasped, sat up, wiped the water off his face, and stared wide-eyed at the two uninvited and unexpected guests to the tower.
Blue, who was still in his five-inch-tall form, was also coughing and sputtering. “You crazy woman! You almost drowned me!” The fairy complained while giving Fern his best death glare.
“Good morning, Fern,” Snow greeted dryly. His gaze flitted over to her companion and then his eyes widened. “Baba Yaga! What are you two doing here? And…together?” The prince’s brow furrowed in bewilderment.
Fern folded her arms over her chest and gave Snow a haughty, superior look as she looked down her nose at him. “I’m here to protect you.”
“Protect me?” Snow asked with obvious confusion, but then his expression turned cocky as he came to a realization. “Oh, I get it. You’ve fallen in love with me…and need some sort of excuse to stay by my side. Is that it? I knew you would fall for my charm eventually. No woman can resist me.”
“W-W-What?” Fern sputtered out indignantly. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m not here to protect you because I like you or anything, because I don’t. In fact, I hate flashy playboys without morals like you! Apparently, it’s in my best interests to do so - according to Baba Yaga.” Fern jerked a thumb in the seer’s direction.
“Hi, Snow,” Yaga greeted sheepishly. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“Yaga, I’m actually really glad you’re here,” Snow began without preamble. “I need you to find out where Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta Jekyll are immediately!”
Yaga frowned as a feeling of déjà vu washed over him. “They’re in the Heroes’ Labyrinth…aren’t they?”
Snow shook his head vigorously. “No! That’s already happened. Ashe, Aurelion and I already went to the Heroes’ Labyrinth and saved Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta from an army of undead monsters and Necromancer Gothel. But now it looks like they were kidnapped by Redmond.”
Yaga’s confused expression cleared and he nodded. “Oh, yes…Redmond. That means that they’re currently being held prisoner in Cross Kingdom at Cross Castle.”
Snow paled. “You mean…Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta have fallen into the hands of the Inquisitors? Oh no! We have to go and rescue them right away!”
Yaga blinked in confusion. “Rescue who?”
“Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta Jekyll!” Snow said, throwing his hands up in the air in a show of impatience.
“They don’t really need rescuing though,” Yaga muttered to himself and a dark shadow fell over his face. “They’re not the ones you should be worried about.”
“Snow, I already told you we don’t have time for a rescue mission,” Blue said sternly. “First and foremost, we need to find the Winter King.”
Snow’s lower lip jutted out in a stubborn pout. “But we’ll have to pass through Cross Kingdom on our way north anyways. We should try to kill two birds with one stone. We can rescue Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta Jekyll too. They’re my friends. I can’t and won’t abandon them.”
Blue let out a resigned sigh. “Alright. Fine. If the opportunity presents itself we’ll try and rescue Rapunzel and Dr. Henrietta Jekyll while we’re passing through.”
Yaga looked around Rapunzel’s tower frowning. “Um, have we already defeated Jericho and his band of hired mercenaries?”
“Jericho hired mercenaries to come after me?” Snow asked. “Shit.”
“No. We haven’t faced them yet, Baba Yaga,” Blue said dryly.
“You had a vision about us fighting these mercenaries?” Fern asked Yaga curiously.
Yaga nodded. “Multiple visions, actually. Multiple possible futures. And there’s only one future where all four of us come out of this alive.”
“Well, shit,” Fern swore. “What do we need to do in order to be victorious, Yaga?”
“Yeah, what’s the plan, Yaga?” Snow asked, giving the seer an intent look.
A dumbfounded expression formed on Yaga’s face as Fern and Snow looked at him with rapt attention. He could hardly believe the amount of trust they were placing in him. It pleased him greatly. “Fern and Snow need to head up to the top floor of this tower. Fern, get your bow ready because you’re going to need it. Your enemy will be coming up the wall and trying to enter the tower that way. Snow, you need to be in the forge room because Jericho will break into the room through the roof. While that battle is taking place…the door at the bottom of the tower needs to be barricaded and guarded against two more enemies. Blue, you and I will team up together against those two enemies and defeat them. If we do things like this our victory is assured.”
Snow and Fern shared a questioning look, shrugged, and nodded. “The plan sounds good to me,” Snow said.
“Yeah. I’m in,” Fern agreed with a smile.
Three pairs of eyes landed expectantly on Blue and he bristled slightly in irritation. The fairy folded his arms over his chest and scowled at the seer. “Why should we trust you, Yaga? Whose side are you really on? You sent me to Apple Kingdom to help Snow way too late. Your timing was suspiciously off. You always seem to tell us about things that will happen when it’s already too late to do anything about them! You are a useless seer. Because of you Snow killed-!”
Fern cleared her throat loudly in order to stop Blue from finishing that dangerous sentence. The Huntress gave the fairy a reproachful look. Blue had the decency to look sheepish. “Ahem. I thought we were keeping that a secret from Snow. Isn’t he still drinking the magical lake water?”
Blue’s shoulders sagged. “Yes. You’re right. Forgive me.”
“Um, who’d I kill?” Snow asked cutely befuddled.
“We’re not telling you, idiot,” Fern snapped. “Do try and keep up.”
Yaga’s tentatively hopeful expression had shattered. Now, only guilt and sadness swam in Yaga’s dark green eyes. Blue was absolutely right. If he were a better seer…Queen Isidora would still be alive. He had a hard time telling the difference between the past and the future. He clenched his fists at his sides and met Blue’s incriminating stare. “Look. It’s hard for me to know if something has already happened or will still happen. Sometimes, I’m looking at the past. Sometimes, I’m seeing the future. It’s hard to tell the difference. But, there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s just the way my power works. Sometimes, I get it right. Sometimes, I get it wrong. But I’m just trying to help…as best I can. I know my best isn’t good enough, but…”
“A seer who can’t tell the difference between the past or future is useless!” Blue sneered, his lip curling with disgust. “Gah! You’re more trouble than you’re worth.” Yaga hung his head in defeat.
“Hey!” Fern interjected. “That’s going too far. Yaga is under no obligation to share his visions of the future with us. He’s only trying to help. You should appreciate that.” The Huntress walked over and placed a comforting hand on Yaga’s shoulder and squeezed it. Yaga glanced at Fern and gave her a trembling smile.
“Hmph,” Blue huffed. “He’s either trying to help us or lead us all to our doom. I don’t trust him.”
“Well, I do,” Snow announced in a firm tone. “Yaga helped Ashe, Aurelion, and I find Rapunzel the last time he was in trouble. He even used his magic to send us all to the Heroes’ Labyrinth as quickly as possible. And Yaga tried to warn me about Reginald. But I was too stubborn to listen. Whatever happened that I can’t remember was my fault. Not Yaga’s. Yaga is my friend.” He shot the seer a warm, reassuring look. “So, I’d appreciate it if you could be a little nicer to him, Blue. It hurts me when the people I care about aren’t getting along.”
“Mark my words, Snow, when you finally remember what Yaga failed to prevent you from doing you’ll hate him,” Blue said smugly.
“Oh, yeah?” Snow said in a skeptical tone. “Am I really such a dick? If you really think I’ll act that stupid when I find out the truth then I have no choice.” The prince turned to Yaga and sank to his knees. “Yaga, I’m sorry.”
Yaga gave Snow a bewildered look. “What for?”
“In case Blue is right, and I’m overcome by anger and I try to blame things on you like a total dick then I want to apologize in advance,” Snow explained and gave the seer a chagrined look. “I’m sorry, man. It must really suck how ungrateful people can be even when you’re running around and doing your best to help them.”
Fern was looking at Snow in wonder. She couldn’t believe how he’d humbled himself before Yaga like that. It wasn’t something she would have expected from the prideful prince. Snow continued to surprise her in little ways like this one. Maybe he’s less narcissistic than I thought.
“Please, get up,” Yaga said, walking over and helping Snow to his feet. “You are forgiven, My Prince.” He offered Snow a crooked smile.
“Snow, you’re a prince and will one-day be king,” Blue grumbled. “You kneel before no one.”
Snow raised a cheeky eyebrow at the fairy. “Oh? But if I can’t kneel then how am I supposed to go down on a woman?”
“Snow!” Blue chided. “There are ladies present. Even if she’s a little rough around the edges.”
“Hey!” Fern objected.
“You could do it while she’s lying down on a bed and not while she’s standing up, right?” Yaga asked innocently.
Snow slung his arm around Yaga’s shoulders and laughed. “An excellent idea, Yaga!” A mischievous smile curled his lips.
Fern let out a groan and slapped a hand to her face. But he’s still a womanizer. She thought. “I’m surrounded by a bunch of perverted idiots,” Fern lamented.
Blue rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on. “Where did I go wrong? I should have been more involved in Snow’s upbringing.”
“Isn’t the fact Snow has too much charm your fault, Blue?” Yaga asked knowingly. “I seem to recall a vision of a blue-haired fairy bestowing a blessing upon a baby and accidentally dumping too much fairy dust on top of him while he did so.”
Fern’s eyes widened and she pointed an accusing finger Blue’s way. “That was you!”
“And may I remind you, Blue,” Snow said with a sly look in his blue eyes. “That you were completely absent when your godson Rapunzel needed you during his battle against Necromancer Gothel.” Blue flinched. Those words had hit a little too close to home. “So you see, Blue, no one’s perfect. Not even you.”
“Alright. Fine!” Blue threw his hands up into the air in a defeated gesture. “I’ll give Yaga another chance for your sake, Snow. Now, hurry up and head upstairs already.”
Snow gave the fairy a salute. “You got it.” As Fern and Snow headed for the stairs that led to the top floor, Blue grabbed Yaga’s arm and started to drag him in the direction of the spiral staircase that led to the bottom of the tower. “Come along, Seer. I suppose we need to go and barricade the entrance like you said.”
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