Chapter 14
In the early evening hours, Cinderella listlessly sat in what used to be Aveyron’s gardens. She leaned against a functioning bird bath and stared at a blooming wild rose bush that had grown to impressive new heights since the gardener was recruited to supervise crop fields.
What do I do? Aveyron is saved…but if we are attacked…
Cinderella cut the thought off.
“Cinderella?”
“Over here,” Cinderella called.
Mariska, Lady Klara’s youngest daughter, minced her way around the overgrown rose bush. “Mama said to tell you we are leaving for the ball. Our friends have come to pick us up,” she said, smoothing the skirts of her saffron dress. The orange-yellow color complimented her dark hair.
“You look beautiful,” Cinderella said.
Mariska smiled. “Thank you. I have a mask, see?” she said, slipping a mask of the same saffron hue of her dress over her face. It covered her nose, circled her eyes, and was edged with gold beads. “It is to be a masquerade ball.”
“How charming,” Cinderella said.
“Silla insists it is a stupid idea, but I think it is romantic,” Mariska said, removing her mask.
“I am sure you will have a fine time.”
“Thank you, I do hope so,” Mariska said. She awkwardly clasped her mask. “You are certain you don’t want to come?”
Cinderella held in a harsh bark of laughter. “I am certain. Even if I wished to, it is too late now. I don’t have anything to wear.”
“You could borrow something,” Mariska offered. “Although I think your hair would clash with all of my clothes, and I am rather tall…”
“I thank you for your kindness, but I shall have to refuse,” Cinderella said. “Enjoy your evening, Mariska.”
“Thank you. Good bye,” Mariska said, saluting Cinderella with her mask before she hurried out of the gardens.
Cinderella listened to the clip-clop of horse hooves as the carriage Lady Klara’s friends arrived in started on its way.
Cinderella rested her head against the bird bath. “It’s so bleak. This is a war, but our soldiers can’t even see the enemy and have no choice but to remain defensive…”
Cinderella sighed. “And this country…Even if I wish we didn’t hate each other, both sides still exchange insults. Queen Freja strangles money out of us, and then we fester with hate and snarl at her soldiers who then smash us to prevent unrest. The searches, the constant patrols. They wouldn’t be performed if they weren’t necessary. Both sides hate each other too much. I don’t think it can be breeched.”
Cinderella shifted and recalled a conversation she had with Friedrich. It felt like years ago, but it took place only two or three weeks prior.
“You can conquer a country with forgiveness.” He said.
“Erlauf won’t forgive. Queen Freja has proven she will not forgive,” Cinderella said. She looked over her shoulder at the immense chateau. “I have enough trouble as it is. I don’t need to go solving our country’s problems as well.”
Cinderella’s mind was assaulted with the memory of the mage holding the poor, defenseless Erlauf woman above his head, his hands covered with black magic.
“Blast,” Cinderella muttered. “BLAST!” she shouted, making the goats—that were still loose on the lawn—look up at her in wonder.
“Father… what would you have done? Oh, I know—you would have run to Loire,” Cinderella said, her heart still smarting from that revelation. “…Or would you?”
Cinderella sat up, her thoughts racing. Her father bought Windtop Manor in the chaotic month before Erlauf swallowed Trieux into their country. Shortly after the takeover, the mass murdering of the Trieux nobles took place. There was then a few months’ gap before Queen Freja ordered Cinderella’s father to marry Lady Klara.
If her father meant to flee, why didn’t he?
“He bought the manor before our servants saved us. After, maybe he decided to stay,” Cinderella said, excited. Her hopeful smile fell from her face. “Or maybe he just didn’t get the chance to leave,” she said.
Cinderella closed her eyes and recalled her father’s face, his warm smile, and soothing laughter. “Papa wouldn’t have spread hate,” she whispered. “Even when everyone else was taken captive, he said it was our fault for going after Erlauf first.”
Cinderella scrambled to her feet. “I will never know if my father meant for us to flee to Loire and leave our servants behind, or if he had another plan entirely. What I do know is that he wouldn’t want me to stand by and watch everyone be destroyed.”
Cinderella shifted her eyes from the great chateau to the distant city lights. “And if that mage meant to murder me, it must mean that I can challenge this shared hatred.”
Cinderella’s mind buzzed like a humming bird as she stalked to the front of her property. There were a million things she had to do, and she had to do them immediately.
As much as the finances pained her, it was time to hire a few Erlauf servants—perhaps people who knew something of flowers and could assist Cinderella’s poor, over-worked gardener with future flower crops.
She needed to start hosting again—not the elaborate parties of ages past, but simple and tasteful dinners. She could invite Julien and his Erlauf miss, and Marie and Armel, and whatever officers Friedrich could rustle up. The separation had to end.
Worst of all, she would have to face Queen Freja and her family. “If we have to forgive, that means I must forgive,” Cinderella said through clenched teeth. “This desire, it’s too big for me. How can I change a country when my reach is only to Werra?”
“You should have dropped your illusion and attacked her with your regular magic—regulations or not,” a cheerful, grandmother-y voice said.
“I’m already in trouble for using magic in Arcainia. The last thing I need is another broken rule for the Conclave to wave in my face,” said another voice, which was far more youthful and slightly lower pitched.
“Yes, but that wretched queen would be safely dead, and the princes wouldn’t be flapping about as barnyard fowl.”
“But I didn’t, so our hope rests in Princess Elise. You are sure there is no easy test I can use to sense the strength of her magic?”
“Not with that magic type, dearie. It would take a powerful enchanter to probe her limitations. Your master could do it.”
“Sybilla.”
“I know, I know. Well here is how I see it: Send Elise to face this Queen Clotilde and stand in reserve. If it looks like she will lose, step in, and use your real magic. Sooner or later, you will have to face it anyway.”
“As you say so. What are we doing here?”
“We’re here to see a girl. My sources tell me the lady of the house had a nasty run in with a mage.”
“A black mage?”
“You betcha. I would like to question her to see what more we can learn.”
The two speakers rounded the corner of shrubbery that shielded them from Cinderella’s sight, and Cinderella felt her breath leave her.
The first speaker—the grandmother-y voice—was a short, squat woman who wore golden wire eyeglasses. She had salt and pepper hair, but it was soft and shiny like a housecat’s fur. She wore a friendly smile, and every part of her plump person leaked comfort and joy.
Her companion was a stark contrast.
The lower pitched speaker was also female, but she was young like a blooming flower and was beautiful enough to steal Cinderella’s breath. Her eyes glittered like brightly polished jewels, her hair looked softer than silk, and she wore an iridescent blue dress, which seemed to turn purple as Cinderella gaped.
“Hello there, dearie,” the grandmother-woman said, flapping a hand at Cinderella.
“You did not tell me you were here to see Duchess Lacreux,” the beautiful woman said.
“I am. How did you know?”
“The Duchess is famous for her scarlet-colored hair.”
“You’ve been tramping across the earth for how long on your doomed quest, and you still can remember that the Trieux Duchess has red hair?”
“It’s a fact I recently learned while I was looking for these,” the beautiful lady said as held a pair of sparkling glass slippers at her companion.
“Seems impractical.”
“I was looking for a mirror. I was told of a ‘magic glass’ in Werra and thought to give it a try. The rumor never added the last word: slippers.”
“I’m sorry, dearie.”
The beautiful woman shrugged. “What can one do? But I am being rude. Duchess Lacreux, please forgive our discourtesy and allow us to introduce ourselves.”
“I am a Sybilla, a First Appraised Isolator Rank Yellow, charged with childcare and development: a fairy godmother.”
“And I am Angelique, an Enchantress-in-training.”
It took every bit of Cinderella’s pre-war training to shut her mouth and curtsey. “Welcome, madams,” she said, her voice calm even though she wanted to scream.
A fairy godmother and an enchantress were standing on Aveyron soil.
Enchanters were the highest magic rank one could achieve, and a fairy godmother was right below it.
“How can I help you?” Cinderella asked.
The fairy godmother adjusted her spectacles and pulled a length of parchment and a full-sized quill out of a pouch the size of Cinderella’s palm. “I was told this afternoon you had an encounter with a black mage. Could you describe him for me—oh dear,” the woman said when Cinderella’s legs buckled, and she sat down hard on the ground.
“I-I’m sorry,” Cinderella said, trying to push herself to her feet. “Please forgive my—,” Cinderella cast around for the right word in her brain, but she grew distracted when she realized her cheeks were wet with tears.
Horrified with herself, Cinderella almost leaped out of her skin when the Lady Enchantress knelt before her. “Do not be alarmed; it is sometimes difficult for a person to be in the presence of magic as powerful as Sybilla’s, even if she is not using it.”
“Speak for yourself, dearie,” the fairy godmother chortled.
“I can tell your heart is pained. What troubles you, Duchess Lacreux?” Angelique asked.
It was the Enchantress’s sympathetic eyes that did Cinderella in.
Cinderella burst into tears. Not soft, quiet, beautiful tears, but loud, snotty ones that made her face red and splotchy. Somewhere between the sobs and hiccups, Sybilla the fairy godmother joined Cinderella and Angelique on the ground.
“There, there, dearie. A good cry is just what a girl needs, sometimes,” she said, patting Cinderella with a plump hand.
When Cinderella’s tears slowed to the occasional trickle, she reluctantly accepted a white lace handkerchief from the Lady Enchantress.
“Now, what has you so upset?” Sybilla asked.
Cinderella swallowed with some difficulty and stared at the handkerchief. “It is as you said. Today I was attacked by a black mage.”
Sybilla nodded. “A run in with one of those brutes is enough to make any lady cry.”
“But that’s not it. I-I didn’t know—or maybe I didn’t see—how Trieux’s hatred for Erlauf and Erlauf’s hatred for Trieux is ruining us. The black mage said we would destroy ourselves, and darkness would rule here. I talked to someone, and he said if we want to survive, our attitudes must change, and our people must change. But I don’t know how.”
“Are you not the only Trieux Duchess, the highest ranked of all remaining nobles?” Angelique asked.
“Yes, but what can I do?”
“My dear lady, forgive me for being blunt, but what can’t you do?” Sybilla kindly asked. “Every person in your beloved country is born with potential to change the world. But you, who desire to spark the change, have been dealt an incredible hand to play. You are a duchess. I have been in Erlauf for just a few days, and even I have heard how you string the Erlauf First Regiment along like a girl leading a lamb.”
“I suspect you are thinking of firepower, Duchess Lacreux,” Angelique said. “You believe you don’t have the power to fight back because you haven’t an army to your name or magic to shield those you love?”
Cinderella nodded. “There are things I can do—things that will affect Aveyron and perhaps Werra. But how can I extend my reach? All of Trieux festers with hate.”
“I believe, Duchess, you underestimate the power of kindness. A gentle word, a smile, an act of compassion, these are the things that can turn hate to love,” Angelique said.
“Or, if that is your worry, ally yourself with someone who can reach all corners of the country,” Sybilla said.
“Who?” Cinderella asked.
“Queen Freja, of course,” Sybilla said, adjusting her eyeglasses.
“And how will I win Queen Freja to my side?” Cinderella asked, fighting some of her own prejudices.
Sybilla patted Cinderella’s hand. “Dear, it might not be a matter of ‘winning’ her. Have any of you nobles from Trieux tried to talk with her?”
Cinderella was silent.
“Speak to her. She is a brilliant queen, not a tyrant,” Sybilla recommended.
“But how?”
“There is no time like the present. Isn’t there a ball coming up? I nearly drowned in the invitations when the queen learned I was here,” Sybilla said.
“It is tonight,” Angelique said.
“Perfect! There you have it—a ball is a public party. You will freely be able to approach the queen, or at least a member of the royal family,” Sybilla said.
“Yes,” Cinderella said, warming to the subject.
“If the ball is being held now, you ought to go change so you may leave as soon as possible,” Sybilla helpfully added.
Cinderella blinked. “I haven’t any dresses suitable for the occasion. My step-sister said I could borrow something of hers—though she is taller than me,” Cinderella frowned. “I know—I can walk to Werra and borrow something from Marie.”
“Borrow? Borrow? Goodness, no. There will be no borrowing of ball gowns tonight,” Sybilla said, shivering as if the word was dirty.
“Than what am I to wear?”
“I can help you,” Angelique said, standing up. Her dress was spotless and perfect even though she should have wrinkled it while sitting on the ground. “I am a little skilled in alteration magic. If you do not mind the wait, I should have something suitable in a minute or two.”
“In that case, please excuse me, so I may wash,” Cinderella said, shakily rising. She ran to the well and scrubbed at her hands, face, and neck. She poked her head in the kitchen, looking for some of Aveyron’s servants, but they were nowhere to be found.
Cinderella looked through the chateau for a few minutes before she gave up and rushed back to the enchantress and fairy godmother.
“Ahh, there she is,” Sybilla said, clapping her hands.
“Please hold still for a moment, Duchess Lacreux,” Angelique said. She walked a circle around Cinderella, first brushing Cinderella’s chin-length hair.
Immediately Cinderella’s head was heavy with hair as her long, scarlet locks draped to her elbow. As if it had a mind of its own, her hair started moving, braiding small tendrils that pinned themselves to the crown of her head with pearl-topped pins and white roses the size of a thumbnail.
When Angelique touched the sleeve of Cinderella’s dress, the fabric changed to a beautiful shade of snow-white silk. The changed fabric bloomed across Cinderella, rearranging itself as it moved, and grew until Cinderella had a full-skirted dress that brushed the ground. The tops of her shoulders were bare, but a stretch of pale, storm-gray fabric skirted around the top of Cinderella’s dress and glided around the sides of her arms before fastening in the back. A similar shade of fabric gathered at the waist, held in place by a string of pearls.
Gloves the same storm-gray as the highlighter fabric encased her hands and ran up to her elbow. Pearl bracelets appeared on her wrists, and a pearl necklace with a diamond shaped like a heart draped across her chest and fastened itself at the back of her neck.
“It is a masquerade ball, yes?” Angelique asked.
“Yes,” Cinderella said.
“Then you will need this,” Angelique said, brushing her palms together. As she slid her hands apart she revealed a mask—covered with white silk and storm-gray lace—that would cover Cinderella’s nose and circle around her eyes—just as Mariska’s mask did. She handed it to Cinderella, who held it close to admire the lace pattern.
“And for the final touch,” Angelique said, placing the glass slippers she held on the ground.
“I couldn’t,” Cinderella protested.
“Please,” Angelique smiled. “They are not what I was searching for, and I have no use for them.”
“I cannot thank you enough,” Cinderella said, sliding her feet into the shoes. They were surprisingly comfortable—as if made of pillows of water rather than glass. “You have helped me beyond what I could have dreamed of. Is there nothing I can do for you?”
The Lady Enchantress shook her head. “It is the duty of those of us gifted with magic to use it for whatever good purposes we can find. I am pleased I could help you.”
Cinderella shyly brushed the fabric of her dress. “Thank you,” she said, her cheeks turning light pink.
“Now, shall we call for your footmen and carriage?” Sybilla asked, eagerly clapping her hands.
Cinderella smiled uneasily. “I will walk.”
Sybilla blinked. “Walk?”
“Aveyron does not have a carriage, and I cannot use the horses. They have worked all day and are likely to be eating their evening hay.”
Angelique cleared her throat and thoughtfully looked away. Sybilla gaped, her jaw hanging. “No carriage?” she repeated.
“No.”
“Humph. We shall fix that—temporarily at least,” Sybilla said. She turned and studied the goats. “No, but I will be back for you later,” she said to the unconcerned livestock. “Cows—oh goodness no. You can hardly have spotted horses. Sheep? Too stupid. Hmm, I know. Attention, creatures. This young lady is in need of some assistance to reach a ball. Are there any volunteers?”
Aveyron was silent.
Cinderella shifted her gaze to Angelique to see if this was acceptable behavior for a fairy godmother, when there was scuttling at her feet.
Four clean, well-fed mice scurried across the lawn, stopping in front of Sybilla.
One mouse sat on his hind legs and twitched his nose at Sybilla. The other three mice cleaned their whiskers and occasionally helped pat a neighbor’s fur into place.
“Of course, I see. I’m sure she will not object to that,” Sybilla said. “In that case, I thank you for your kindness. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, be horses.”
There was a bang, and a cloud of smoke encased Sybilla.
“Drat! I forgot about that,” Sybilla coughed from inside the cloud. “Where are you, mice? Oof!”
When the smoke rolled away, four horses, outfitted in black harnesses, were lined up in front of Sybilla. The horses twitched their noses a little too often, and their fur was the same shiny, well-kept, velvet brown as the four mice, but they took to their new bodies quite well.
“Magic,” Cinderella gulped.
“Sybilla’s magic,” Angelique was quick to add.
“Yoo-hoo! Yes, you two! I need a footman and a driver. What say you?” Sybilla called out to the two nearest goats.
The goats chewed mouthfuls of grass and looked unimpressed.
“How is that for gratuity? Is anyone else more prone to honor than these two pigs?” Sybilla called to the rest of the herd.
An ancient, shriveled buck goat Cinderella kept because she didn’t have the heart to see him slain approached Sybilla with one of the year’s baby goats—a doeling.
The doeling pranced and jumped, leaping over the back of the old goat, who baaed at Sybilla before knocking the doeling in the head with his horns.
“Thank you very much. I assure you the mice won’t be much trouble. I’ve already given them directions,” Sybilla said. “Now, be men!”
Nothing happened.
“Herm. That was embarrassing,” Sybilla said as the goat baaed at her. “I beg your pardon. Be a man and a girl!”
There was another explosion of smoke. When it cleared, an elderly driver dressed smartly in white and gray stood with a young girl who wore gray breeches, a white shirt, and a white hat.
“Very good; you both look grand. If you would stand with the horses, please. Now, a carriage. Duchess Lacreux, have you any pots or apple baskets?”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. I see a pumpkin patch yonder. It is the wrong season, but with luck, that will make the pumpkin more cooperative,” Sybilla said, striding off towards a field.
She returned some minutes later, a suspiciously round carriage plated in gold rolling after her. The mice-horses arranged themselves in front of the carriage—their harnesses curling into place by magic—while the goat driver climbed into place.
The goat footgirl opened the door of the round carriage, revealing an inside of orange satin.
“I could not get it to entirely agree with me, but no one will see the interior anyway,” Sybilla grudgingly said. “Now, dearie, I am sorry to say it, but this magic will only work until midnight. The mice need to be home by then, and I must confess I need to leave the Werra city limit, and once I do, my magic will cease functioning.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Angelique frowned. “I, too, must be leaving.”
“Off to see that Arcainian princess?”
“Yes. If she can overtake Clotilde, it would be wisest to make our move as swiftly as possible.”
“Smart.”
“Perhaps,” Angelique said before turning her attention to Cinderella. “I will stay in the area with Sybilla until midnight, but on a night as suitable as this for my mount, I really should ride. When I fall out of range, my magic will fade as well. I apologize, but I cannot stay longer.”
“There is nothing to apologize for. I cannot repay you for this,” Cinderella said, gesturing to her clothes and the carriage.
“It was our delight,” Angelique said. “I wish you all the luck I can spare.”
Cinderella shakily smiled. “Thank you.”
Sybilla narrowed her eyes at Cinderella. “Do not be afraid, dearie. Your good cheer has more power than you know. Even your animals know you labor for them. Now, run along. You are fashionably late, but you haven’t much time to spare.”
“Thank you,” Cinderella said, accepting the goat-footgirl’s help into the round carriage. The door closed after her, and Cinderella barely had enough time to push aside an orange, velvet curtain to wave at the magical women before the carriage jolted forward.
Dazed, Cinderella sat back into the satin covered bench. “I’m going to the Victory Ball to speak to Queen Freja,” she said.
Her heart pounded in her throat, and Cinderella’s mind buzzed. What should she say? What could she say? No one would mistake her for an Erlauf lady, but did everyone know of her brilliant red hair?
“I won’t say my name. Not yet. Even if someone in the court does know of my red hair, they must also know I chopped it. Perhaps they will think I wore a wig as part of the masquerade. I don’t think anyone will correctly guess who I am. I haven’t even met any Erlauf nobility besides when I was presented to Queen Freja as the new duchess.”