Myths: The Folklore Trilogy

Chapter 29- In Which Questions Are Answered and Answers Are Questioned

So they threw us in prison, naturally.

"So glad to be enjoying the pleasures of the Palace of Lilitua," Audrey muttered.

The cell was dark and moist, and there was a slow drip in one corner. The stones were rough and cold. I shivered.

"I hope the leopard is ok," Sophie said quietly.

"Seriously?!" Audrey exclaimed. "We're sitting in a dark, cold cell in the depths of a villain's palace, and all you can say is you hope the leopard we just killed is ok? It's dead, Sophie. Of course it's not ok."

"I know that," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears, "I just hope...it wasn't in pain, when it died. It's a puppet after all. A slave. It's not fair to blame a puppet for a master's mistakes."

A voice cleared by the door. We turned. Standing outside our cell was the dark-skinned servant girl that gave us the hint before the arena. I halfway rose to thank her, but she looked at me with a terrified expression and shook her head slightly. I sat back down, confused.

She cleared her throat again. "Presenting Her Terrible Greatness, Mistress Giselle." Then she half-curtsied and scurried out of the room.

Audrey snickered at Giselle's title, but other than that, we were silent.

The door at the end of the hallway banged open, and Giselle strode in, looking furious. She turned towards us with a venomous glare.

"Why did you pick the larger box?" she hissed.

I tried to assume a poise of nonchalance. "Oh, thought it'd be fun." Giselle growled--actually growled--and began pacing in front of our cell. "You must have known what was in the smaller one," she said, regaining a bit of her original airy tone.

"No," I said truthfully, "but could you tell us? I would really like to know."

Giselle stopped pacing and fixed me with a cold, hard, look. I fought the urge to gulp.

"Very well. I shall tell you. It was the tail of a chimera."

That meant little to me, but I caught part of it. "Was the rest of the chimera attached? Possibly underneath the box?"

Giselle smiled slightly at this--she was proud of herself. "Yes."

Sophie gasped softly. I turned and looked at her stricken face. Chimeras must be bad.

Giselle laughed softly. "I see you know what a chimera is. Well, for the sake of your uneducated cell mates--" Audrey bristled with indignity-- "I shall tell you. A chimera has the head and body of a lion, the tail of a snake, and a goat coming from its back."

That didn't sound particularly scary to me...until I thought about it. It could attack you from three different directions...the snake-tail was most likely poisonous...

"Well, glad we felt like having a challenge!" Audrey said brightly. "Too bad it turned out to be the easier option."

Giselle's smile was harsh as ice. She began pacing again.

"I suppose you are wondering what our dear friend Tess was speaking about when I mentioned betrayal," she said with a smug air.

I nodded. I had been wondering that.

"Well, prepare to be shocked," Giselle said with a twisted smile. "Your friend Lee has been my puppet the entire time."

"Who?" Audrey muttered, but I went cold.

"Tess's shadow," I whispered breathlessly.

"Yes," Giselle said, pausing in her pacing. "She has been following Tess closely for me. And, when the time was right, she brought dear Tess to me. All this had to happen because of your weakness, Sierra."