The Enchantress Returns (18 page)
“Then why are you causing all this chaos?” Rumpelstiltskin asked, nervously looking at the vines and thornbushes outside.
“Everything has its purpose,” Ezmia said with a proud and sinister gleam in her eyes. “It’s been so long since my last
public appearance, the world thought I was dead. I needed to show them that I was back and more powerful than ever. And when better than on a day they were celebrating the end of my last curse? It’s
deliciously evil
of me, isn’t it?”
Ezmia closed her eyes and a wide smile grew on her face.
“What part of our bargain do you want me to fulfill?” Rumpelstiltskin asked. “Surely you don’t want me to kidnap Queen Sleeping Beauty now?”
“It was never Sleeping Beauty that I was after,” Ezmia said and angrily paced around the chamber. “ ‘Sleeping Beauty this… Sleeping Beauty that…’ She wouldn’t even have that ridiculous name if it weren’t for me!”
This puzzled Rumpelstiltskin even more. “Then what were you after?” he asked.
“I was after a
child
,” Ezmia confessed. “A child of royal blood, specifically; it’s one of the many things I need to complete a
special project
I’ve been working on.”
“A special project?” he asked. “You mean taking over the world, I assume? That’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?”
Ezmia looked him straight in the eyes. “
Something
like that,” she said. “And it’s a lot harder than it looks. Shortly before I met you I figured out a way to do it. It’s an enchantment of sorts—it’s a very complex formula that requires certain properties to be claimed and special assets to obtain. Once I manage to gather all of them together, not even the Fairy Godmother herself can stop me.”
“It’s been more than a century since I last saw you,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “Why have you decided to strike now after all this time?”
Ezmia waved a hand and the stones in the floor rose to form a large chair.
“You haven’t been around, Rumpy,” Ezmia said and took a seat. “While you’ve been locked away, I have had
quite
the century. It’s not as if I’ve been lying around this whole time. I’ve been betrayed, I’ve been poisoned, and I’ve come back from the verge of death stronger and more powerful than ever.”
“Poisoned?” Rumpelstiltskin asked. “By whom?”
“Evly.” Ezmia said the name as if it were a disease.
“Evly?” Rumpelstiltskin said. “Who is that?”
“She was supposed to be my solution,” Ezmia said. “However, she ended up being my greatest disappointment.”
She waved her hand again and stones in the floor formed a stool for Rumpelstiltskin to sit on.
“It’s a long story, so have a seat,” Ezmia ordered.
Rumpelstiltskin didn’t argue.
“After I cursed the Eastern Kingdom, I went into hiding,” Ezmia explained. “I may have been the most powerful fairy in the world, but I was no match for all the other fairies put together. I knew I couldn’t strike again until I was further along with my
project
—until I was past the point of no return. So I plotted in secret, keeping a watchful eye on all the kingdoms for the pieces I needed to continue my work.
“I assembled a quaint little castle in the Northeast where no one could find me, and plotted out what my next move would be. But it required so many elements outside my reach, I knew I would have to be patient. I brought many troubled souls into the castle, hoping to produce a proper apprentice, but they
all failed me—each being a bigger disappointment than the last.…
“Many years later, in the Charming Kingdom, when the late King Chester was just a prince, the palace had an unexpected visitor one night. A young maiden banged on the palace doors, seeking shelter from a horrible rainstorm. Chester instantly fell in love with her and asked his parents for permission to propose.
“Being the old-fashioned king and queen they were, Chester’s parents said he could only marry the maiden if he could prove she was of royal blood. So the prince devised a plan to test the maiden’s royal status; he made her a bed in the guest chambers with a stack of a dozen mattresses and placed a pea under the very bottom, convincing his parents that only a royal could feel the imperfection through the mattresses.
“The next morning the maiden complained about a restless night, and Chester was certain he had found his future wife. He asked for the maiden’s hand in marriage but she refused his proposal. The maiden had a secret; she had tossed and turned with discomfort all night because she was
pregnant
, not because she was a princess.
“The maiden had been a simple peasant runaway, embarrassed to be with child out of wedlock. She disappeared from the palace as quickly as she came, and Prince Chester never saw her again. Naturally, when I heard about this so-called pregnant princess on the run, I was intrigued—knowing I needed a royal child. I tracked her down in the forest, where she was living on her own in a cave.
“To my delight, she was very much with child when I discovered her. I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse; in exchange for her child I would give her a life of riches and luxury beyond her wildest dreams—
the usual
. She agreed and the deal was made. Unfortunately, she backed out of our agreement shortly before giving birth to the child. She ran into a neighboring village and died giving birth to a little girl, whom the villagers named Evly.
“I soon discovered that the maiden hadn’t been a royal and Evly couldn’t be the child I needed. I let the villagers raise her while I conceived
another
plan to get use out of Evly after all. I was going to train her to seduce and marry Prince White of the Northern Kingdom. Together they would produce an heir and I would finally have the child of royal blood that I desired.
“Unfortunately, when I returned for Evly in her adolescence, she had fallen madly in love with one of the village boys, a pathetic aspiring poet by the name of Mira. I took Evly to my castle in the Northeast to begin training, but all she did was cry and whine every day and night about how much she missed Mira. So I brought the boy to her, imprisoning him inside a Magic Mirror.
“I thought it had been a kind gesture on my part, but it only caused Evly to grow more spiteful. She conducted a plan of her own against me. She broke into my room of potions and concocted a poison so strong that when a few drops touched the ground outside her window, all the trees and plants for miles around were killed.
“Evly laced a small dagger with the poison and stabbed me
with it. The poison almost killed me; I shriveled down to the state of a dying human—I lost all my power, all my beauty, and all hope that I would fulfill my plans for the future. I ran as far away as I could, fearing Evly would try to finish me off, but the stupid girl was so consumed with trying to free Mira she forgot all about me.
“An old witch named Hagatha found me in the woods, barely alive. She recognized me and the effects of the poison. She brought me to her small hut in the Dwarf Forests and nursed me back to health. I became her apprentice but she treated me horribly, taking advantage of the person I once was. She sent me out on the most gruesome errands and forced me to sleep outside like an animal.
“Ironically, the poison is also what saved me. The Happily Ever After Assembly had been looking for me since I cursed the Eastern Kingdom; they didn’t recognize me in my frail state and decided I was dead.
“But one day, a few decades later, Hagatha and I were collecting plants from the Thornbush Pit that she planted around her hut. She was forcing me to do all the work and my hands were scraped and scratched from all the thorns. I remember feeling more angry than I had ever felt in my life. I was furious that I, the woman who had once been more powerful than anyone else, had become a witch’s slave.
“And with this anger I felt something different. Suddenly, I felt
alive
again—like a candle had been relit inside of me. After many long years, my body had finally recovered from the effects of the poison and my powers had come back.
“It’s true what they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; I’m living proof. I was more powerful than ever before. My powers were different, too; my magic had always come from a happily-ever-after source, coming from a life among fairies—that’s why every curse I created could be broken with a kiss or token of affection—but not anymore. This time my magic had no limits.
“I pushed Hagatha into the pit and cursed the vines and thornbushes to trap anything that came close to it,” Ezmia confessed.
“
You
pushed her into the Thornbush Pit?” Rumpelstiltskin asked. “All this time, that’s been
your
magic festering in that godless place?”
“Indeed,” the Enchantress said with a boastful shrug. “Believe me, I wanted to take the credit for it, but I still had work to do before I went public again. I returned to the castle and collected all my belongings, ready to complete what I had started so long ago.
“But I knew that I would have to continue being patient. The kingdoms were experiencing a golden age: Cinderella and Prince Charming were married; Sleeping Beauty had just awoken; Snow White was crowned Queen.… I knew if I waited until the right moment, my return would have a much bigger impact, and now it has.”
Rumpelstiltskin feared what her newfound strength would mean for the future of the kingdoms. “I’ve never understood you,” he said. “You used to be so admired and loved by the whole world—why wasn’t that enough? When did it all go wrong?”
The Enchantress looked to the floor with a snide expression. “People only love you as long as they’re getting something out of you, but the minute you say something they don’t want to hear or do something they don’t want to see, all the admiration drains from their hearts.”
“But why this obsession with power?” Rumpelstiltskin asked as cautiously as possible. “Why do you need the world, Ezmia?”
Ezmia let out a long sigh. “I have my reasons,” she said sharply. “And quite frankly, I don’t give a damn if you or anyone else understands.”
A tension grew in the room, but it wasn’t between Ezmia and Rumpelstiltskin; it was between Ezmia and the world.
“But where do I fit in?” Rumpelstiltskin asked. “If you’re so powerful now, why do you need me?”
“Well, that’s simple,” Ezmia said. “Out of all my apprentices over the years, you have been the most loyal to me, Rumpy. You actually
started
what I asked of you, and now I’m going to let you finish it. Besides, it’ll be nice to have a friend around once I take over.”
They exchanged a weighty glance, both aware that this was nothing close to a friendship.
“There is another child, isn’t there?” Rumpelstiltskin asked with a heavy heart, already knowing the answer. “You want me to kidnap another child.”
“Precisely,” the Enchantress said.
Rumpelstiltskin lowered his head and closed his eyes. He knew he wouldn’t have a choice this time; refusal would mean death.
“Well, that’s enough catching up for one day,” Ezmia said and glided toward the door with a newfound spring in her step. “Come along, Rumpy. There is much work to be done. I’ve waited almost two centuries for this, so as you can imagine, I’ve grown very impatient.”
The stones sank back into the ground and Rumpelstiltskin fell on his behind.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“Hagatha’s old hut,” the Enchantress said. “It’s where I’ve been spending most of my time since my castle was destroyed a year ago. You should see what I’ve done with the place! A little magic goes a long way in the Dwarf Forests.”
Rumpelstiltskin nostalgically looked around at his tiny cell; it had never seemed so much like home until he was being forced to leave it.
“I just have to say good-bye,” Rumpelstiltskin said sadly.
Ezmia raised an eyebrow, not knowing who on earth he was talking about. Perhaps prison had been harder on her small friend than she’d imagined?
Rumpelstiltskin got on the floor and took the bowl off of the daisy. “I have to go now,” he said, fighting back tears. “Please don’t look at me like that. You’ll be all right.” He lightly stroked one of its white petals. “Good-bye, little flower. Please take care of yourself.”
Rumpelstiltskin stood and walked through the doorway, leaving his cell for the first time in one hundred and twenty-seven years, but stepping into a world of even harsher imprisonment.
Ezmia lingered in the doorway, glaring down at the flower. She couldn’t believe something so small and inferior could be so important… so protected… or so
loved
. It ignited a fire inside of her.
The Enchantress waved a hand in its direction and the daisy withered away, crumbling into bits of nothing. A smile appeared on her face—so satisfied to destroy something even so small.
