Page 41 of Wickedly Ever After
He drew himself up even further, cloaking his fear in indifference. “An illusion. My work to create confusion by which the dragon takes the princess captive, meant to terrify her.”
“That was not the look of a woman terrified.”
“What was it the look of?” Hector snapped back. “Love? I can’t believe that evenyoucould mess up that badly.”
“Fuck you.” Ida thrust her middle finger up in his face and stomped off.
Hector slammed his staff down on the ground and stomped off in the opposite direction. Curses tumbled through his mind unadjusted. Damn Ida. Damn himself. Damn dragons and damsels, witches and princes, and damn Happily-Ever-After. He had to get this straightened out before anyone discovered he’d mismanaged his end of things.
Alistair might be in great danger. So might the princess. The kingdom certainly was. Something had gone dreadfully wrong with Happily-Ever-After.
The clouds opened up, and torrents poured down.
20
Ida
Dragon Kidnaps Princess: Prince To Attend Royal Ball With Captain of the Guard
The long-awaited Happily-Ever-After for Prince Archie and the Common Princess got off to a flaming start when the dragon arrived late to the ceremony and set the palace on fire. Damage is estimated at several hundred thousand gold pieces, including damage to an enchanted spinning wheel and three hundred bales of straw waiting to be spun into gold. No word yet on whether the royal treasurer escaped. Is the straw standard doomed? Details on page eight!
Witnesses say the dragon assumed a human shape and the princess herself seemed captivated by the tall, incredibly sexy man who appeared naked in the field to the astonishment of all. Could we be looking at the first lover’s triangle in Happily-Ever-After history? Or is this more evidence of a snafu caused by the missteps of Witches Hector West and Ida North, who may be going senile in their great age? Are heads about to roll? This paper says yes!
—The Sorcerer’s Star
Ida collected herself alone in the tent while buckets of water sluiced down from what had been crystal clear skies. She shouldn’t have interfered. Only the complete desperation of knowing the princess might hurt the dragon—really, Hector, could you at least pick a dragon without a sensitive side as long as his tail—had made her step in. What had Hector used on the girl? It looked like a compulsion of some kind, no doubt designed to make the dragon carry out his side of the magic without hesitation. It must have been a powerful one to make the princess decide to take on a whole group of charging knights to save a dragon.
She rubbed her temples in agitation. Hector’s words jangled in her ears. Just how badlyhadshe messed this up? Could it be related to how she’d picked the princess? Her head was spinning with questions, and none of them had answers. At least no answers she wanted to believe.
“Ida?”
She flinched, then relaxed as Hari slid in through the tent flap, wringing out his sleeves. “Yes?”
“The coach is waiting. Hector and Tinbit have left. So have the other witches. The stadium looks like a complete loss, but the fire’s out at the castle, thanks to the rain—no serious damage there, the steward says. The dragon lit the north tower on fire, the one with all the spinning wheels, but they say the royal treasurer got out in time.”
She rose, trying to pull herself together. “Good. Where is Prince Archibald? Has he left in pursuit of the dragon yet?”
Hari hesitated. “Uh…no.”
“He hasn’t?” Ida yelped.
“He said he’d start out tomorrow,” Hari said. “He had anissue with his armor he wanted to get hammered out. He went off with the captain of the guard to fix it.”
Not good. A prince under the influence of Happily-Ever-After should be horsed and on his way before the dragon was a distant dot in the sky. He might not go far, horseback riding being out of favor with many modern men of leisure, and he’d find himself a comfortable inn where he’d spend the night instead of camping under the stars in this rain, but he would go. The potion would ensure he did.
Amber might be in great danger. So might the dragon. The kingdom certainly was. Something had gone dreadfully wrong with Happily-Ever-After.
“Very well. I’m ready to go.” She conjured an umbrella and walked out into the rain. She had to get this fixed before more than the weather went wrong.
***
The Hall of Witches had changed a great deal over the centuries, but entering always made Ida think back to the first time she’d seen it, when she’d been apprenticed to the old, and very good, Good Witch of the North. Filling those shoes had been the hardest task of her life. She felt like she was tripping over them now as she walked through the ancient wooden pillars, relics of the oldest days, and into the inner sanctum. Hari waited in the coach. No non-witches were allowed inside, with the exception of the elementals, the guardians of magic.
They had no gender, and indeed seldom took physical form of any kind, only wearing a shape when necessary to service the Hall and attend to the Cardinal Witches. Ida passed an undine dripping water on the floor, mopping as they went. They boweddeeply to her, and went on cleaning the dark slate floor and silver grout. The undine’s skin shifted colors as they mopped—blue, green, and yellow—mirroring the ocean perhaps, or a clear pool in a mountain grotto.
When Ida entered the Council’s chamber, the room was still largely dark and rain drummed heavily on the roof. The royal blue curtains were tightly drawn, and the lamps had not been lit, but a salamander, bright orange eyes aglow, was lighting a fire to burn until the meeting concluded, and no longer.
“Your Goodness.” This elemental also bowed and went on with their work.
