The Queen's Curse (31 page)

Staring up at him, exchanging glances, holding his gaze, she thought she saw a glint of sympathy or compassion in his pale blue eyes, but as soon as
it came it disappeared. He gestured at the bread and made a movement to leave. She had to act now, as dizzy and sick as she felt; there was a sense of knowing she would have to wait a long time before he would come back, if ever …

Now was the moment.

As he turned and least expected it, she grabbed the plate and with a well-aimed throw, hit him hard to the back of one of his knees. She knew anyone would sink to his knees as he did without a sound. She jumped on top of him, hitting him hard in his face with free fists. Her legs were still bound, but did not hinder her from attacking him with all the force she possessed.

He fell sideways and remained still. She checked his pulse; he lived.

Panting heavily and ignoring the acidic taste in her mouth and the pain of her sore hands, she glanced at the doorway. Surprisingly it was still open.

She knew she could not afford to wast
e any more time now; she had to continue rubbing the robe off her ankles, for she could only hop around.

This took age
rs, but she needed her legs to be free. Staring at the open door, thinking about the sorceress, who could see all and probably did, she felt afraid, but at the same time glorious.

Likely she will send another guard, but I won’t surrender without a fight!

But there were no guards coming and that made her wonder if Sempervirens truly knew what happened here or cared. She must know by now we are coming, wouldn’t she – or would these guards prevent us from meeting her, disturbing her from her great work? That thought was a little discouraging.

‘You will know we are still coming, you can count on that!’ she hissed
through her hurting throat.

Finally her ankles broke free too and her heart leaped up. Shuddering
, she stood, rubbing her stiff limbs, snatching the bread in the process and waiting no longer to go through the door.

Peeking out in the darkened hallway
while taking a quick bite from the bread, she noticed a dim light in the distance. Walking towards it she realized it came from a single torch on the wall. Particles of embedded mineral reflected the flames. She gathered that here were the sorceress’ dungeons, and searching left and right she tried to find other cells. She had no idea where to look for Tirsa. Standing under the flaming torch she spotted just in time two marching guards coming towards her. She turned back, looking for some shelter, but there wasn’t any, but her own cell…

Standing, waiting behind the cell door, she listened as their footsteps came closer. Just when she thought they were coming to her cell the feet stopped and she heard the familiar low cr
ashing sound of the stone doorway. But it came from another cell! Next to hers! Now why hadn’t she thought of that!

Listening, deciding what to do, her heart beating in her throat
, she felt that she had to act, but at the right moment. What would Tirsa have done in a situation like this? She wouldn’t even think, but act immediately and do the thinking at the same time!

She slipped out of her cell quietly with her back close to the wall
; she felt with her fingers for a way to close her own cell door to avoid attention, and soon found it; at waist height there was a tiny hole in the grey-brown rock by her left hand. After pushing in the hole, she saw and heard the door closing; it stopped when only a small crack remained.

Hearing one pair of footsteps, she
braced herself. When a guard stood in front of her, she quickly grabbed his arms, throwing and pushing him in through the crack. In the far corner he hit the wall, but scrambled up. Pushing the hole again the door closed completely, just in time, before he had the chance to slip through to reach her.

‘Denan?’ she heard the guard from the other cell asking a
s he approached. She beat him to it and raced into his chest, forcing him to the wall of Tirsa’s cell with all her strength, pushing the air out of him. Surprisingly, there was little resistance. He gaped with big brown eyes at her when she squeezed his throat tightly. She glanced quickly and searched for her partner, finding her chained to the far end wall, where a limp Tirsa tried to hold her head up to proudly engage her queen.

‘Oh my goodness, Tirsa? Tell me you are alright!’

Tirsa smiled at the sight of her and nodded slowly. She glanced at her chains, and turning towards the guard again without losing her grip, angrily asked in a hoarse voice, ‘Where are the keys to those chains?’

He shook his head as if he did not know. Her grip around his neck became tighter and almost suffocating he tried to remove her hands. ‘Where?’ she repeated
, and at last, he nodded heavily and showed the palms of his hands in surrender.

As she loosened
her grip somewhat, he caught his breath and answered in a tiny voice,

‘We don’t carry keys, just this.’ And from underneath his tight white tunic he showed her a yellow arrow-like amulet; almost a replica
of the one the demon had in his possession; the one they lost.

‘And where do these things lead to anyway?’

‘To the one; our queen.’ He seemed nervous, staring almost shyly down at his boots.

‘Everyone tends to get lost in here. The surroundings constantly change, so this amulet always guides us back to her.’

‘Understood, now …’ and she moved her other hand to pull the amulet from the gold wire around his neck.

‘Don’t!’ he shouted and reached for it, covering her hand to protect it.

He seemed attached to it and afraid of her taking it. She decided to use it against him and with a slick face she said, ‘If you don’t give me a key to those cuffs, I will take it.’

He grabbed her hand tightly
, trying to pry her hand away from his neck, his amulet. But she squeezed his throat hard and he seemed completely powerless.
Now why is that?
she wondered.
They were so strong before when we fought them …

‘I
…I …’ he wanted to say something and she gave him a little more space. ‘I … will die if you take it from me.’ Her eyes changed and showed compassion. ‘Are you sure?’

He nodded and looked pale, thinking about the cruel act of Sempervirens
, when she once pulled the amulet from one of his kind when he ignored her demands. He had died instantly.

‘Very sure.’

She believed him, but did not let go of his precious throat where he seemed so vulnerable.

Tirsa looked in wonder at Artride, for she
had never seen her so strong and determined before.

‘If you don’t free Tirsa right now I will easily
pull this chord. We have come too far to have it all end here!’ She sounded honest enough and the guard tried to read her thoughts; which, of course, frustratingly he could not do anymore in here. Woodchildren were stripped of their magic and enslaved with these golden amulets; very much like Tirsa’s golden chains. They were as immobile as the Woodchildren were. Would they end up like them? Artride wondered, after they had lost their sanity, bestowed with golden amulets around their necks, slaving for the sorceress unto the last of their days?

‘I promise I’ll help you and your kind, if
… you help us,’ she added carefully.

‘I can’t
… think or … decide for myself … anymore.’ He strained to say with effort.

‘There are no visible keys, but the ones to be made up! Everything
… is an illusion!’ he said with great difficulty now, and as she slackened her grip even more, thinking about what he meant, he raised his hands, and as Tirsa screamed to warn her, thinking he would hurt her, he quickly moved to pull at the wire. It broke and with it his soul came free. He sunk like a sack to the floor.

‘No!’ Artride screamed and fell with him, picking up the two pieces of the golden wire; trying to knot them together with trembling hands, pul
ling it over his head again. But he was already gone; she listened to his chest; but heard no heartbeat and felt no pulse.

Her eyes wet from tears
, glancing at Tirsa, she asked, ‘What have I done?’

She shook her head in answer, looking despaired at first, but then she seemed relieved.

‘You have freed him. He was dead already,’ she said with a crooked voice, even worse than Artride’s. ‘It is possible he could not have done it himself, before.’

Artride walked towards her, ignoring the fact she was naked, picking up the freshly filled jar and piece of bread they had just taken her.

‘Woodchildren, in love with life, are very much against suicide. But now he was forced; he had failed the sorceress. Most likely … she would have done it otherwise, you saw the fear in his eyes. Now that you have the amulet you can go look for her.’

Placing the jar at her dry mouth, Tirsa drank carefully, but with great thirst.

‘Easy, don’t drink too fast.’

Tirsa coughed
and then smiled. ‘Here we are again; you nursing me.’ She smiled faintly while Artride with one hand brushed blonde strands out of her face.

‘It reminds me of the moment we first met
,’ she smiled back warmly, but with a worried look in her eyes. Tirsa seemed to be in a bad way; her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks hollow, and she looked a bit yellow.

Finished drinking she chewed on a piece of bread. ‘I have everything I need right here
,’ she cheerfully stated. ‘Food, water, a friend –’

‘But freedom
,’ Artride added, checking the chains carefully at her wrists.

‘Yeah, but when you find a cure for the curse you will come back for me, won’t you?’

‘Don’t talk nonsense; we will go together
all
the way. We’ll just have to find something to open these chains with.’ And she examined the ones at her feet. They both were perfectly round in shape, but … without locks. Discouraged, she tried to hide the discovery from Tirsa and think about the words of the poor lad. No keys, but the ones to be made up? Illusions? Did that mean these chains were illusions as well? Glancing at the Woodchild lad, she thought,
he doesn’t seem like an illusion to me! He is dead alright!

But what if
… a strange thought crossed her mind; what if he was trying to help them with what he said; knowing he was going to die anyway, with something he knew to be true, unless he believed in it? What if giving up believing in what they saw would release the spell somehow? She remembered the old saying; “Only when you let go of what you know to be real, only when you question reality, you will learn that all is illusion.”

What if that was true in this case? Didn’t he say as much as
it
all
being an illusion in here; weren’t they warned by both Roalda and Kashing about the same thing?

‘We mustn’t forget that nothing is what we think it is, Tirsa.’

‘I heard what he said, Artride. I’ve already tried to use my creative mind; without any result.’

‘Perhaps if we worked our minds together; so we both try to think away the chains.’

‘Think away? That … does sound a little surreal.’

‘You see? You don’t think it’s possible, do you?’

‘I had so many bad dreams, discouraging visions. I don’t know what’s real or not anymore,’ Tirsa said in such a small voice, looking so vulnerable and insecure like she had never seen her. The love in her heart grew even stronger.

‘Look at me. I am the only one in this room who is real, besides you
, and that body of the poor Woodchild; that is no illusion. Everything else: the walls, the floor, the golden chains and cuffs at your arms and legs, has been made up; it’s magic. Remember we’re still in a cave and a very powerful mind wants to make us believe differently. She has created it all. And now it will vanish!

~ ~ ~

Tirsa had never believed it would actually happen. Her chains did break after Artride’s faith that they would; or rather after letting go of what she knew to be true. Was it that simple?

It seemed it was, a bit like the illusion in the swamp when Artride despaired and Tirsa believed in breaking the illusion; only now the roles were reversed.

Artride was growing worthy of her title and becoming more a hero to her.

‘What looks like the most difficult path to take at first, is often the most simple
,’ Artride said in a mysterious voice.

‘It seems so logical if you come to think of it; but I have to admit I didn’t expect it to be so simple
,’ Tirsa answered, rubbing her wrists.

‘I have a feeling she again has put us through some test; a cruel one and we thought it impossible to escape without keys; while they were right under our nose.’

‘Well, it appears to me you already know her well, and she won’t be fooling you any more!’ Tirsa smiled and took another sip of the water.

‘Quiet right.’ Artride laughed
, and they continued their search for the sorceress, which was a lot easier now they knew that the arrow-like amulet was indeed a compass, with Sempervirens as their destination.