Broken Fairy Tales

4

No one came out of the castle and there were no guards to stop me as I approached. There was nothing. No livestock around in the empty stables, no dogs barked to warn of my intrusion. Just silence. Someone or something had lit the flames that were keeping the lanterns burning.

I opened the smaller door, that was cleverly carved into the door large enough to accommodate... I paused in my mind, trying to think what a door this size could accommodate.

Dragons. Rin said in my head. I looked up at the tall, wooden door, wondering just how large a shifted dragon would be in real life. Larger than I wanted to see anytime soon. I closed the door behind me. "Hello?" I yelled, my voice echoing down empty corridors and up the grand staircase in front of me. "Anybody home?" I called again, slightly louder than before when it was clear no one was answering or moving nearby.

Only my own heartbeat sounded in my ears after the last echo finished reverberating off the cold stone. The torches were lit down one corridor, so lacking the will to care about self preservation I followed them. More willingly by the moment as the air warmed as I went. The torches stopped in front of a door along the hall, with a shiny golden key in the lock. I turned the lock and went inside, finding a very very old fashioned copper tub, filled with steaming water, a table laid with a variety of bathing implements, fluffy towels and a long, thick robe. Several brazers were burning near the tub and around the room, scenting the air with gentle incense and spice. Keeping the room warm and steamy.

My skin tingled as blood and warmth returned to the extremities of my body. I checked and my ears were intact and still round. I felt like there were eyes on me, but couldn't sense anything alive nearby. It didn't matter, whatever provided this hot bath earned a show if they wanted to watch it. I started to shed my clothes. Dust, snow, ice, water all falling from my nearly frozen garments. I left the overworn clothes in a heap, not caring what happened to them as I slipped into the water. I had no idea how long it had lain in wait for me, but the water was still just on the edge of being too warm as I sank into it.

I heard a low pleasured moan ring against the walls before I realised it was my own voice as cold muscles sank into warm water scented with essential oils. I lowered my body into the water, letting the water lap up and over my skin. I wasn't tall like most wolves, only standing at five foot nine, my muscles compact and not bulky. For once I was grateful that I fit in this tub. I looked over the edge at what was available to wash with, lamenting that there wasn't a nail brush to properly scrub the dirt out from under my nail beds.

I closed my eyes, and sank my face under the water, scrubbing it roughly with my hands before rising again and wiping the water and a layer of grime away. When I went to reach for the wash cloth and bar of soap that smelled clean and minty there was a small, wooden nail brush, with what looked like actual boars bristles for brushes. Like my grandmother had in a set she kept from her own mother.

Can a castle really be enchanted? I thought about a nail brush right? I didn't say it out loud? I asked Rin. Hoping against all hope that he would be there. Things were already past being too weird. I needed him. I needed something normal.

I don't know. You didn't speak out loud. I can confirm that. He said, his voice neutral, but he was talking to me. Answered me when I sought him out. I missed him. But I knew why he turned from me.

No. You still don't.

Ok, maybe I still didn't understand. But I'm glad you're helping. I'm. I paused, hating to admit it. I'm scared.

You should be. Stay alert, but so far we seem safe. Then I felt Rin recede to the background, keeping watch on a plane deeper than I could reach on my own. Trusting that Rin would alert me if something approached, I let my body relax in the warm waters until the cold had left my bones and my body no longer ached. Somehow the water never chilled. I had scrubbed under my nails, and my skin all over until I finally felt like all the road had been wiped from my body. It took two shampoos and rinses to say the same for my hair.