Cinderella vs. the Fairy Godmother (sequel)

Chapter 2

            The soft metallic clink of the door being unlocked caused Valerie’s body to tense up. She was balanced on the balls of her feet, her body already positioned in the karate form she’d learned. The door opened slowly and with a faint groan. She waited long enough for the person to take two steps inside before she struck.   

            She kicked up and out, slamming her foot into the man’s side. He went down with a cry. Val leapt forward to make sure of the man. A light pricking sensation on her neck made her turn; to find that she now had two sword points resting lightly against her throat.

            “Goddamnit!” She cried.

            “Back-up, my lady,” The older of the two men said.

            Glaring, Valerie complied. “I am so going to kill you the first chance I get.”

            “We figured as much, my lady. Hence the precautions,” he said, following her with his blade. While he kept his eye on her, the other man knelt to see to the man Val had downed.

            “Who are you people? What do you want?”

            “My name is Harutyn. I apologize for the violence so far but it was necessary.”

            Valerie voice was a low hiss. “If you’ve hurt my friends…”

            “Your companions are safe as far as we know. We left them where they were.”

            She relaxed slightly but kept her eyes moving. It was one less thing to worry about. “So why did you kidnap me? It can’t be for ransom or you’d have tried for Darren.”

            “There is something only you can do,” Harutyn said. A moan from behind him caught Val’s attention. She watched the man she’d kicked being slowly helped to his feet, clutching his side. The fact he didn’t look like he was going anywhere fast pleased her and gave her a bit of hope that she might be able to get herself out of this.

            “If you’ll follow them, my lady,” he said, jerking his head towards where the one man was supporting the other in the doorway. They were clearly waiting for her. Harutyn was moving now, slowly and while keeping the sword against her neck, until he was behind her. Considering the available options to her, Val gave in.

            “Where are we going?” she asked. They ignored her. She shrugged, she’d find out soon enough, and kept an eye on her surroundings in case a chance to escape presented itself. The hall that lay outside her cell was much the same as the cell itself. Nothing but plain grey stone, interrupted by the odd wooden door. The hall curved around, so Val didn’t see the stairs until they were right in front of her. They were made of; you guessed it, grey stone and were barely wide enough for two people to walk down at once. The stairs led down to a hall the twin of the once they’d just walked through.

            “At least you had a theme when you decorated,” Valerie commented as they walked through the new curved hall. Again, she was ignored.

            In minutes, they were in front of another staircase and it was identical to the first one. The utter sameness of everything began to unnerve Valerie. If there were multiple staircases per floor, and only one set led out, she’d be lost and still trapped even if she did run.

            Walking down the next hallway, she was almost relieved when they stopped in front of the doors. Juggling his companion and a key, the man in front eventually got the door unlocked and led the way in. Valerie stopped just inside to stare.

            The room was much bigger than the one she’d been locked in. The walls even had a few holey tapestries up on the walls, making the boring grey rock more bearable. In the middle of the room was a bed. A proper bed, not the box Valerie had woken up on. It was wide and had a fat mattress, over top of which were several thick blankets. A table and several chairs lay to one side of the bed and what looked like a wardrobe stood to the other.

            The pinprick kiss of metal against the back of her neck got Val moving again. The first two men let her walk past them, the injured one finally able to move on his own, and took positions up beside the door. She repressed a sigh. So much for making a rolling break for the door. Following the prods from the sword, she walked up to the head of the bed, noticing as she got closer that the bed wasn’t empty.

            When they stopped just to the right of the figure, she got her first good look at the face and froze. Long dark brown hair partially hid one eye while the rest of the mass of hair spread out under the head. His eyes were closed but she still remembered that shade of blue-grey that had reminded her so much of thunderclouds as he’d glared at her.

            She turned away and stared at Harutyn. “Why do you have him?”

            He bowed his head. “Because we owe Prince Amorrt a great debt. We wish you to awaken him. Now, if you please my lady.”

            Valerie frowned. “You’re joking right?”

            “No, my lady. I do not want to use force but if there is no other option….”

            She rolled her eyes. “You’re all idiots. I couldn’t wake him up if I wanted to. As I understand it, the only person who can wake him up is whoever his princess is. Which I am most certainly not.”

            “What?”

            “I don’t even live here in fairy tale land and I know that. Just watch,” Val said before bending down and pecking Amorrt on the lips. Harutyn leaned forward expectantly but after several moments he sank backwards, sword lowering to point at the floor.

            “Told you so,” she said.

            “I was so certain it would work,” he whispered, eyes distressed under his greying brows. “You were who he hunted last. We assumed because you were his. What are we to do now?”

            “Why the hell would you want to wake him up in the first place? He’s a bastard.”

            “Because he saved us.”

            “Saved you? Saved you from what?”

            “From Princess Benelle,” he whispered, a slight shudder running through his body.

            “Who?”

            “She was our princess. She…she killed many men, royal and common alike. We couldn’t stop her and any who tried she slaughtered. But Prince Amorrt slew her after she attacked him.”

            Valerie frowned as she processed this. “Wait…was Princess Benelle Amorrt’s princess?”

            “No. She had long since killed her own prince but because she was sometimes able to revert to her human form, she tricked many a wandering prince into believing she was meant for them.”

            “Benelle was the Bear Princess! Jesus! I told Darren there was probably a good reason why Amorrt killed his princess. Bah. Too late now. He’s tried to kill Darren too many times. Which I still don’t understand why. It’s not like it was Darren’s fault.”

            Harutyn shifted his weight and avoided Valerie’s gaze. She stared at him. “You know don’t you? Why Amorrt went after Darren.”

            The older man sighed. “From what he said and how he behaved, I think his highness believed that if he killed Prince Darren, his life would go back to the way it was. He wasn’t…thinking clearly after he was attacked. We did what we could for him but…”

            “He went crazy,” Valerie finished, sighing. “That’s great. Now-”

            The door exploding inwards cut off the rest of her words.