Maplepunzel, Part 10

Hilary nodded, running her crooked finger over Jeffery’s heartbroken image on the glass. “He appeared in my hand mirror two months ago,” she crooned. “I was glad to see him again. I missed him so badly. But Pavla…between…what I am…and the mirror, we can’t speak to one another, or even…” her voice cracked… “touch. He can’t rub my hand, or kiss me like he did.” Tears flowed down her sunken cheeks. “We can’t even speak to one another. He has no voice, and I don’t think sound penetrates the glass. Oh Jeffery…”

Sobs shook her tiny, wizened frame as she wiped at her sad dark eyes with a crooked finger. Maple jumped to her, flinging her arms around the crone. Hilary sobbed on her shoulder, leaning into the younger woman’s strong embrace. “Thank you, Maple.” Betty trotted to Hilary too, pushing her head under Hilary’s gnarled fingers and letting her stroke the silky fur. “You too, Betty. Jeffery meant the world to me. We were to have been married in the spring, just a few weeks after Betty and Victor.”

“Victor.” Scott grabbed Jeff. “Jeff, can you show us your brother?” He frowned sadly. “I’m sorry, Jeff. He fell out of the tower in the Dark Woods and was blinded on those sharp thorns. Pavla used Maple’s voice and hair to make him think he was her and carried him off to Wennaria.”

Jeff nodded slowly and faded into shadow as the glass rippled. When the ripples subsided, he showed the griffin landing on the lawn of a much older and smaller castle. Two older people in crowns, one a tall older woman with short flame-colored curls, the other a sweet-looking elderly man with thick white waves, hurried over to them. Pavla pushed them both aside, ordering two of their pages to carry the still-unconscious prince to his rooms.

After the glass rippled again, it showed Victor’s small, spare suite on the tower’s second floor. As the ripples subsided, Pavla was dabbing at Victor’s eyes with gentle herbal soap, water, and a soft cloth, washing away the blood. “Hey sweetheart,” she purred. Maple jolted at her own voice coming out of Pavla’s blood red lips. “How’s those poor eyes of yours?” She stroked his scratched cheeks. “Those thorns really did a numba on ya, didn’t they?”

“Maple?” He ran her hands over her cheeks. “It doesn’t…seem like you. You’re so different. Something doesn’t feel right…”

“Shh, sweetheart.” Her finger touched his peach lips. “Let me handle this. I’ll make ya feel better. You trust me, don’t ya?”

“Well,” Victor started, blinking his blank brown orbs, “yes, I do. But,” his fingers ran over her turned-up nose and through her long flame-colored curls, “there’s something wrong here. Why haven’t you healed me? I know you possess that ability. I witnessed you heal the cut on my hand. Can’t you perform the same amazing feat for my sight?” His deep voice trembled. “I have to find Jeffery and get back on the front lines. If Berlania gets through our defenses…”

“Would that really be so bad?” Pavla leaned on his shoulder, letting her Maple voice tickle his ear. “We could be together forever. You don’t need anyone else, sweetheart. Just us.” Her long fingernails slid slowly up his long neck and through the short dark-brown hair on the back until they reached his temples. “You don’t need to worry about your brother, or anything else. Let me do the thinkin’, sweetheart. You just rest.”

“Wait.” Victor gulped, trying to pull away. “This seems more like what Maple’s guardian told me she did to her…”

“Would I do that to you, my prince?” Pavla gently rubbed his temples. “This is a calming technique. You’ve had a nasty shock.” Her fingers stole down to his throat. “I’ll do the thinkin’ and talkin’ for both of us. I have to get used to it, if I’m going to become queen of Wennaria.” 

“But,” Victor started, surprised at how soft his voice was, “Maple, I can’t…”

“Shh.” She lay him down on the faded blue quilt. “Don’t speak, sweetheart. All you gotta do is rest an’ let me take care of everything.”

“Yes, Maple.” His murmur was barely more than a breath. “I will permit you to be my eyes. You will take care of everything.” 

The door flung open just as Pavla tightly bound Victor’s eyes with a thick black cloth. “Victor?” Queen Gertrude got to him first. “Miss Maple, we thank you for everything you’ve done for our son. I’ll take over from here.”

“Oh, there’s no need. He’s fine with me.” She stroked the back of his neck. “Ain’t ya, sweetie? You don’t need no one but your fiancee.” 

Victor nodded. “You’re right, Maple.” His voice cracked, too soft to be heard. “I have no need for anyone but my fiancee.”

She stroked his head, tickling his ear again. “You want to sleep, don’t ya? You’re so tired. You’ve had a long day.”

“Yes, sleep,” Victor lay down as Pavla pulled the quilt over him. “I will rest. I’ve had a terrible shock.” 

Gertrude gently stroked his bare forehead. “My poor boy! How did this happen to him?”

Pavla made a face and pulled her hand away. “He was climbin’ a tower to see me. Lost his grip on the rope an’ fell into thorns. Look, I can take care of him.” She gave the older woman her most charming white smile. “Why don’t you tell a poor girl who ain’t been anywhere but a tower all about your cute little kingdom? Victor told me so much, but I ain’t never seen it before.” 

“Oh, I can do that!” King Thomas immediately took her arm. “I know all about Wennaria. I’ve lived here all my life. Except the times I wasn’t here.”

Her giggles sounded overdone to the real Maple. “You’re so funny, Your Majesty! You’ve gotta tell me all about it if I’m gonna marry your son.”

“Marry him?” Gertrude pursed her lips. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Aw, come on, Your Majesty! He was such a gentleman, rescuin’ me from the tower an’ my awful guardian.” Pavla gave the older woman her most charming smile. “How about we get married next week? Sooner, the better. We’re too much in love to wait.”

Maple’s eyes widened in horror. Queen Gertrude didn’t look happy, either. “Well,” she started, “we’d need to get out the invitations, have our cook make the cake and food, talk to our court actor and have him come up with entertainments…”

“Aww, we can figure that stuff out later.” Pavla giggled again, flinging her stolen red tresses over her shoulder like a schoolgirl. She sounded so cutesy, she made Maple’s teeth itch. “Come on, Your Majesty.” She gave King Thomas a kiss on his nose. “You’re almost as handsome as your son. You must be where he got his good looks from. Why don’t you show me around? I ain’t never been in a castle before.” 

King Thomas gave her a shy smile that looked a great deal like his elder son’s. “Why certainly, young lady. Did he ever tell you about the grand League of the Kingdoms meetings we used to have here? Every kingdom in the entire league came here to make treaties. We were known as the Treaty Kingdom, you know.”

“You don’t say?” Pavla giggled again as they headed for the stairs. “Tell me more.”

Gertrude frowned, running her hand over her sleeping son’s cheek. “I don’t like this at all. My poor baby. I’m gonna have to keep an eye on her.” She pulled the cover up to his chin, tucked him in gently, and loosened the black scarf on his eyes before hurrying after her husband and the hussy who claimed she was her son’s bride. As she hurried out the door, the glass rippled again, becoming Jeff in the hovel once more. 

Maple’s face was beet-red. She grabbed Scott and dragged him to the door, pointing in what she hoped was the vague direction of Wennaria. “Mapes,” Scott began, “I know you want to rescue Victor. I want to rescue Victor. We all do. But we can’t leave this second.” 

She glared at him, waved her fists like she was ready to hit someone, and stomped her foot, still pointing at the door. Betty tip-tapped next to her and stomped a hoof, her round black eyes equally heated. “Ladies!” Scott threw up his hands. “First of all, it’s getting dark. Second, how are we all going to get there? We only have two horses. Betty is too small for anyone to ride, even Foley.”

“And no one is riding the princess of Hope Springs!” Hilary croaked from the table. “Including you, Sherwood. I’ve seen the way you look at her.” 

“I’ll be a perfect gentleman, Hilary.” Maple covered her grin when she saw Scott cross his fingers behind his back. “We need to work together if we’re going to stop this wedding. I have money I earned from chopping firewood for nobles and working as a guide for hunters looking for game. That should be enough to find us a place to stay when we get to Wennaria. It’s getting there that’s the problem.” 

Jeffery rippled, showing the bent-over trees. Maple touched Scott’s ax and ran over with a hammer and nails. “We could try to put together a wagon,” Scott interpreted. “You and I could drive it, and the others would ride.” 

Eugenia twittered overhead, pointing her gold-gray wing at the door. “And your bird friend will lead us in the right direction this time, I hope.” She angrily tweeted in Scott’s ear. She brought them here to help Queen Hilary and Princess Betty! She knew all the time where Wennaria was.

“I’m incapable of carrying a hammer at the moment. Besides, it’s beneath a queen,” Hilary sniffed. “I can, however, give you critique and make sure everything is done to my satisfaction.” She tugged at Betty’s leash. “Come here, girl. I want you to stay with me. You’re a princess. This is no job for you, either.”

Betty almost seemed to roll her wide dark eyes. She hurried over and took a hammer off a low shelf in her jaws, then ran over and tapped at the table with it. “See, Hildy?” Scott smirked. “Betty’s not afraid of good, hard work. We’ll find things for everyone to do. Even you.”

It took three days to build a carriage that would fit all of them. Jeffery showed them where the strongest and driest wood could be found. Scott split the woods into boards. Betty pushed up the nail with her hooves, and Maple hammered them. Eugenia tweeted songs that kept up everyone’s morale. Hilary directed everyone in putting the boards together…and then redirected them when she claimed she saw gaps in the sides. 

Scott vanished for a day while she was putting the finishing touches on the driver’s seat where she and Scott would sit. When he returned, he rolled four large, iron wheels and a harness for the horses behind Ferdinand. “Look what I got from Allan Town! Traded five quail and two duck for these babies and the nuts and bolts that go with them.” 

Betty tapped one of the wheels with her hoof. Rust flaked off, falling on her nose. She wrinkled her nose, shaking the flakes off. Dark eyes glared up at Scott as she stuck her tongue out. “Aw, come on, Betty! They only need a little scraping and cleaning. It was all I could afford!”

“I agree with her.” Hilary shuffled over on a knotted cane, leaning on Maple. “Why don’t you cover them with a sheet? Let them rest in peace.” Maple smirked. She kicked one, sending flakes in all directions. Walter tried to lick one, only to pull his tongue back. Yuck! Those flakes taste like grungy gritty stuff. 

It took Maple, Scott, and Betty another day to rub off the rust, and another for Scott and Maple to get them under the carriage. Foley held the nuts and bolts, while Betty and Walter held up the carriage. Hilary inspected it and made sure everything was tightened…and then directed them as Scott tightened the screws and Maple rubbed every last bit of rust off. 

The morning before they left, Maple and Walter gathered fruit from the bent-over plum trees in the swamp. Hilary told them what little they’d need to bring, including pillows for her and Betty and of course, Jeffery’s mirror. Maple packed fruit, bread, and the cheese Scott bought in Allan Town. Walter and Maple helped Hilary into the carriage while Scott harnessed the horses.

Scott finally climbed into the driver’s seat as Maple got in next to him, with Walter perched between them. Foley snuggled on Hilary’s lap as Eugenia chirped overhead. “Anyone got to go to the bathroom back there?” Scott called. 

Maple rolled her eyes and elbowed him as Betty stuck out her tongue and Hilary glared. “Let’s just go, while I’m feeling capable of sitting in a vehicle for hours on end.” 

“Ok ok, sheesh.” Scott muttered about fussy old ladies the entire time they clopped through the swamp. Maple just hoped Hilary was too hard of hearing to catch it.