Maplepunzel, Part 17

Maple woke up in the softest bed she’d ever felt. “Honey?” Gentle fingers patted a cloth on her forehead. “Maple, are you ok? You’ve been out for two days.”

Her brown eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings. She was in the most beautiful room she’d ever seen. Everything was done in simple but tasteful soft blues and greens. Filmy pale blue lace curtains blew in the breeze on the open windows. The furniture was white, light and airy, just like the room. 

Mackie sat next to her on the bed, wiping down her forehead with a cloth. Hilary was on her other side, the mirror in her lap. Foley lay on the end of the bed, fast asleep. Walter put his paws on the side of the bed with a big bear grin of his own. Maple stroked his silky ears.

“Mackie?” Queen Gertie came in, with King Tom on her heels. “How’s she doing? Is she up yet?”

She gave them a small smile and waved at them. “Sure looks like she’s up and about to me!” Mackie grinned. Eugenia twittered happily from the window, announcing to one and all that their heroine had awakened. “I knew it would take more than some old witch to take this girl down!” He patted her arm. “She reminds me so much of my late Penelope. Penny had power like that. She didn’t use it often, but she had it. She was the strongest healing witch I knew.” 

Maple smiled at him…but then frowned and remembered what happened. “No, Maple, we haven’t gone after the others.” Hilary croaked sadly. Even Jeff showed concern from his mirror image. “All we know is Pavla has them at Prague Castle. We don’t know what she’s done with them.”

Walter growled a little and pawed the mirror’s ivory and gold handle. Prince Jeffrey could help! “What is it, boy?” Gertie frowned and sat on Hilary’s other side. “Why’s he interested in the mirror?”

“I know.” Hilary nodded and patted Walter’s ears with her long, crooked fingers. “Jeffrey, please show us Prague Castle. We can’t rescue the others until we know where they are and what Pavla’s doing with them.” She held up the mirror to the crowd, so everyone could see him.

“Jeff?” Queen Gertrude’s eyes widened. “Our son? My boy, what are you doing in there?”

King Thomas made a face. “And how can we get you out? That must be terribly uncomfortable!”

“Shh!” Hilary waved a bony finger at him. “I’ll explain it later, Your Majesty. For now, just let Jeff use his magic. It’s the only way we’re going to find out what’s going on in Pavla’s mausoleum and how to get into it.”

Jeff nodded, his image becoming wavery. When the mirror’s ripples subsided, they revealed the throne room at Prague Castle. Pavla, now sporting a blood-red gown, stroked the head of something surrounded by three ladies of the court. They all giggled and cawed and cooed, laughing about how pretty it was…until they squealed loudly and jumped back.

Betty emerged from the huddle, bucking angrily. Maple had never seen her more furious. Her round black eyes glittered with indignity. Her hooves were tied with pink ribbons, and the pink choker had been replaced by a glittering gem-trimmed gold collar and heavy chain leash.

“Down, pet.” Pavla, resplendent on her black velvet throne, stroked Betty’s head. “Calm yourself. You’ll enjoy being my possession. You already were one when you were human. How is this any different?” Maple glared at the mirror, while Hilary let out a strangled squawk of fury. 

Pavla rubbed her fingers around Betty’s chin. The little deer snapped so hard, Pavla quickly pulled her hand away. “Now, don’t be that way, pet. Why don’t you eat something?” She nodded at a golden bowl filled with vegetables. “You haven’t touched a thing since you came here. It’s not good for my pet. I want you to be pretty for my wedding.” Betty just snapped at her again and turned away. 

“You’re better off this way. Why would you want a poor woodsman, anyway? And Prince Victor is mine. You never knew how lucky you were, some silly chit with her nose over her writing, whom all the men wanted! You, a skinny little thing, a princess, pursued by two men. What did they see in you?” She smirked, yanking Betty to her side and rubbing her neck. “And now, all anyone will see of you is what I want them to see…a pretty animal that belongs to me.” 

She handed Betty’s leash off to one of the ladies. “See to it that she eats something. Force her to, if you must. And give her a bath. I want her to be especially lovely for my wedding tomorrow.” Betty would not go. She snapped and glared and kicked at the woman, when she wasn’t staying in place and not moving. The woman had to carry her off bodily, even as Betty tore holes in her black lace sleeve.

The mirror waved again as it followed Pavla down the hall. When the ripples faded, it now showed a dark, musty bedroom decorated lavishly in black and red. The furniture was black lacquer that shined dimly in the smoky lanterns. Black velvet drapes covered the closed windows that emitted no light, and the massive canopy bed was covered in thick black and red satin and lace. Ornate mirrors with black carved frames hung on every wall, reflecting the flickering dim light. Pavla stopped and admired herself in one as she stepped into the room. 

Victor lay on the bed, dressed in the simple black wool uniform of the Berlania Army. Maple’s heart throbbed when she saw the thick black fabric bound tightly around his eyes. He rested deeply, his dry peach lips serene. 

“Sweetheart,” Pavla whispered. Maple winced on hearing her own voice still coming from her guardian, all sickly honey-sweet. “Awaken. I have a little gift for my husband-to-be.” He raised his head mechanically and sat up, his hands folded demurely in his lap, his face blank.

“Such a sweet prince.” She petted his balding head like he was a prize poodle before going to her dresser. Maple’s eyes widened at the purple velvet collar and thick chain leash from her workshop upstairs. 

The smirking queen wrapped the collar tightly around Victor’s neck. “Good boy. I don’t want my husband wanderin’ off.” Those long, feathery fingers stroked his throat gently before chaining him to a hook in the wall near the window. “I gotta prepare you for our weddin’ ritual. I brought lots of nice herbs n’ paint from my workshop that’ll calm you and make you pretty.”

“Yes, Pavla,” Victor said. Or Maple thought he said it. His beautiful, deep voice came out as a soft wheeze. Her heart broke in a hundred pieces. She loved listening to his commanding voice! “Yes, I will marry you. You may prepare me.” 

“Shh.” She placed a soft, feathery finger on his peach lips. “That collar’s gonna keep your handsome voice down to a dull roar. Your wife should be the only person who sees or hears you. None of the servants are allowed in this room, an’ I don’t want no one touchin’ you. You’re gonna be bound to me.”

Pavla directed Victor to his knees next to the window, stroking his cheeks and throat over the collar gently, making him nuzzle her fingers with his long nose. She went to the red satin-covered vanity next to the window and picked up two pots of herbs. He looked up at the sound of her rustling satin skirts as she leaned over him. 

“Let me paint you, my prince, so the magic knows to bind you to me. After I’ve shown you off to your folks and Berlania’s taken over Wennaria, you’ll join your little brother in the mirror.” Maple gasped and Hilary shrieked as she murmured chants in Berlanian in his ear. Her long red fingernails brushed black and purple dust from the pots across his handsome face, circles and lines covering his strong cheekbones and forehead. 

“Now,” she cooed into his ear, “you’ll sleep here until I bring you dinner.” She brought a thick pillow and placed it under him as she chanted in his ear again. He lay down on the pillow, and though she couldn’t see his eyes close, his face became placid, his body still.

“That’s one nuisance taken care of.” Pavla smirked as she dusted off her fingers and admired her long, shimmering auburn hair and perfectly slender body in the nearest mirror. “Now, to deal with that meddling woodsman.”

The mirror rippled again, this time emerging into what seemed to Maple to be damp darkness. She’d never been in the dungeon at Prague Castle. Pavla said she didn’t need to know what went on there. Only the worst prisoners were kept down there…and when they went down there, it was said they never emerged. Mackie’s eyes nearly tripled in size as inhuman moans and shrieks reached their ears.

Pavla glided along the dull stone floor, her silky black skirts rustling against her skin, carrying what looked like a heavy black cloth bag. Most of the doors were merely heavy dark wood with bolts and windows of iron bars. 

She stopped before the only door with guards. Two of her rusty black crow-monsters cawed as she pulled a heavy key ring out of her pocket. “You’ve been giving him the Valarian?” One of the crows nodded, his caw affirmative. “And you used the enchanted chains?” It nodded again eagerly with the closest a crow could get to a smirk. “This is good. Very good. Why don’t we see if our woodman still wishes to interfere in affairs that do not concern him?”

Only the barest sliver of watery gold light shimmered through the one tiny window, shining dimly on the figure forced into an awkward position on the stone wall. Maple gasped when Scott looked up at Pavla. Heavy iron bands that glowed a faint black were attached to thick chains attached to his wrists, ankles, torso, and neck. The moment Scott moved a muscle or tried to struggle, the black light flickered, and the chains held tighter. Scott was clearly exhausted as one of the crows forced brown liquid from a cup into his mouth.

“Thank you, my kin.” Pavla smirked at Scott, who gave her his own tired smirk right back. “Hello, woodsman.” She stroked his lank black-silver locks. “Enjoying your time here? Perhaps it will make you less likely to interfere with your betters.” 

“The only thing you’re better than,” Scott rasped, still managing that cocky smirk, “are the oversized feather dusters hanging around my door. And I question that.”

Even Hilary winced at the sound of Pavla’s hand smacking hard against Scott’s cheek. “You…you think you are so smart. What are you?” She circled him, hissing, her voice a near-caw. “You are nothing. You have no lands, no magic like my worthless ward, no title like Prince Victor. What do you have to give your little deer princess?”

“Love, Pavla.” Scott glared up at her with his tired amber eyes. “Maybe you don’t understand this, since you don’t have a heart, but I love Betty, and she loves me.”

“Love.” Pavla chuckled, circling him, stroking his cheek with the heavy black hood. “How will you support her? You, who live on your wits, with nothing but a silly little bear and a broken-down nag to show for it?”

“Watch what you say about Walt and Ferdinand.” Scott narrowed his eyes at the sorceress as Walter growled on the other side of the mirror. That lady wasn’t very nice, talking about him like that!  “They have more heart than you have in your little finger.”

Pavla smirked evilly as she stroked his throat. “What can they do? They’re merely animals. Just like everyone in Hope Springs.”

“So that’s what happened to all those couriers and merchants who came to Betty’s engagement ball.” Scott glared angrily as he tried not to yawn in her face. His deep voice had been reduced to the barest whisper. “You can’t handle anyone being richer, smarter, or better-looking than you, so you killed the competition, so to speak.”

“Hope Springs was expendable. All those silly theaters and libraries, and not even a decent army!” Pavla sniffed. “They hadn’t fought in a war for over a century. Too focused on frivolity to think of the important things.” 

Maple had to lean in to hear Scott. His deep, rumbly voice was barely a breath. “Important things like human decency? You wouldn’t know about that, would you? You’re not even hum…erk!” The black-lit bands on his wrists and ankles pulsed, yanking him back as he tried to move his arms and legs to kick her. 

“I think I’ve had just about enough of you, woodsman.” She fingered the black hood in her hands. “Your little deer princess and my ward were made for royalty, not thieves and liars like you.” He still smirked, even as she tugged the hood slowly over his head. It fit tightly, obscuring his features, with only a slit over his nose for breath. 

Pavla patted the top of the hood, smirking as she turned to the crow monsters standing at the door. “Boys, I give this useless thief and con-man to you as a present. He’s yours to play with. Poke him, prod him, stroke him. Remind him of his place.” 

She turned, locking them all in as the crows started poking the hooded prisoner with their sharp talons, their screechy caws carrying through the hall. “Now,” Pavla smirked, “to talk to the cook and prepare for my wedding.”

Hilary looked up as the mirror rippled again and Jeff returned to the Queen’s chambers. “Well,” she croaked in horror, “that was disturbing.” Jeff nodded in agreement, his brown eyes wide and shocked. Walter growled too. That bad lady was hurting Uncle Victor and his papa! At least his friend the little deer was more mad than hurt.

Hilary stroked Foley’s ears. “Rabbit, you have a very important job.” She looked to the window, where Eugenia chirped expectantly. “You too, Miss Eugenia. I think I know who you two are. The Queen and King have agreed to take you two back to Hope Springs to round up the other animals. We’ll need all the help we can get.” 

Her crooked fingers moved to Walter and gave his head a rub. “You too, boy. You’re a strong cub. You can help.” Walter lifted his paw to salute Grandmother Hilary, then waved his paws like Mama did. He was big and tough! He’d take on a whole army of ugly old crows to help his papa and Uncle Victor!

“How could she treat my son that way? He’s such a nice boy!” King Thomas grumbled. “And that poor Mr. Sherwood, too! He was a good wood-cutter. Never left splinters, didn’t make a mess everywhere with the sawdust. Why can’t she have some respect for good workers?”

“I agree.” Queen Gertie nodded sharply. “Maple, you were Pavla’s ward. I heard her say it. You know Prague Castle better than anyone besides her. Can you get us in?” Maple nodded, smiling. She knew what the queen had in mind. “Good. You, Mackie, Hilary, Jeff, and Walter will be our inside agents.” She turned to the short, balding man with the glasses. “After you two get in and rescue Scott and Betty, I want you and Maple to open the doors or find a way to keep them open during the wedding ritual, so we can get in.” 

Mackie nodded dramatically. “You can count on me, Your Majesty.” He frowned, rubbing Maple’s hand. “But right now, could I have a moment alone with Maple? I really need to talk to her.” 

“Of course.” Gertie patted his hand. “We weren’t going to start until tomorrow, anyway. We need to go over all this with our generals.” 

He rubbed Maple’s hand gently as Gertie shooed everyone else out of the room. “Look, kiddo. What I’m going to say may come as a shock to you, and I don’t have any real proof but…” His voice softened. “Do you remember your parents? Your real ones, besides Pavla?”

Maple shook her head no. “Maple,” he went on, “the last time I saw power like what you demonstrated at the wedding, my Penny was helping our elders and other magicians in Columbus Town drive monsters away. Penny had the strongest light of all. It could just…dissolve them. They were made of black magic and couldn’t be healed.” His voice sounded more strangled as he continued. “Maple…it was just like yours. Penny’s magic was exactly what you did to Pavla a few days ago.”

Her eyes widened as she slowly started to understand what he was saying. “You’re so much like her.” Mackie gently patted her hand. “You have her red hair, her eyes, her porcelain skin. You have her spark, too. She was so much tougher than she looked. And she had a voice like an angel…but get her angry, and she could go from one to sixty in a second and shatter your eardrums.”

She nodded eagerly, pointing at herself. That was her power, too! Her eyes widened as it all began to hit her. “Yeah, Maple…Anna. I’ve found you.” Mackie’s voice cracked, overcome with emotion. “Kiddo…I never thought I’d see you again. When Penny died after Pavla took off with you, I thought my life was over. The queen and king gave me a job as a butler when I couldn’t get anything else. They’ve helped me look for you…and now, you’re here. And I’m never letting you go again. If you’re in love with Victor, I’ll help you get him back. He’s a good guy, if kind of distracted. You’d probably be good for him.”

Gertie stuck her head in just as Maple threw her arms around Mackie, sobbing. “Are you two all right? Mackie, we need your help serving dinner. It’s just going to be Tom, Hilary, Jeff, and me. Maple needs her rest.” 

“We’re fine, Gertie. Couldn’t be better.” He and Maple exchanged similar grins. “Gertie, this is my daughter, Anna. Anna, I think you know the queen of Wennaria.” 

“You…you found her?” Gertie grinned even wider. “That’s wonderful! My dear, you don’t know how long Mackie’s been looking for you. We’ve spent twenty years checking every corner of the Seven Kingdoms to find you!” She took Maple’s hand. “Do you think you’re up to joining us for dinner after all?” 

Maple nodded, smiling, but her eyes were still on Mackie. “Good. I’m so glad you two found each other. We still have so much to talk about, especially now that we’re all on the same page.”

Mackie took Maple’s arm, then Gertie’s. “How would the two most beautiful women in Wennaria like to be accompanied to dinner by the handsomest man?”

“Sure!” Gertie smirked. “Where is he?” His round, expressive face fell as Maple silently giggled. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Come on, let’s go eat.” Mackie chuckled as he walked out of the Queen’s room arm in arm with two of his favorite ladies.