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Striding straight through the creek, ignoring the coldness of the water on my bare feet and uncaring as the train of my purple gown became saturated, I called out for her. “Theodora. Theodora, I need you.”
The roughhewn wooden door opened. Instead of the bent form of Theodora wearing her cloak of animal skin and moss, I saw woven blue silk and waves of tawny hair.
“Briar Rose! What are you doing here? It is not safe!” I cried out as I hustled her back inside the cottage. Turning, I scanned the glen for any sign of danger but there was nothing. No startled bird cries or warning snaps of branches. Satisfied, I stepped into the cottage and bolted the door.
With my hands on my hips, I turned to face Briar Rose.
“Don’t be mad, Zellie,” she said with a pout.
“Oh no. Don’t Zellie me,” I shot back, ignoring her childish endearment for me as I began to pace the small confines of the cottage. I had to keep shifting to avoid the various herbs and flowers which were hung in bunches from the rafters to dry.
I had befriended Briar Rose the day I found her wandering alone in the forest crying. She had just lost her mother and the poor distraught child had wandered away from the castle in her grief. I saw that she was returned to her mortal keepers yet despite my warnings and chastisements the child insisted on returning to the forest whenever she could, in search of me. She was such a sweet, innocent thing, I could not turn her away. Especially when I learned what a boorish, uncaring man her father, the king, had become since his wife’s death. It seemed he thought his daughter’s only purpose in life was to marry someone who would bring him more riches and power. So, I allowed the child to play in the forest, with the strict admonishment that she was never to tell a mortal soul.
It would always be our secret.
When Briar Rose was a little girl, her father’s machinations did not mean much, but then almost within a cycle of the moon, she had grown into a beautiful woman. Once more, I found her crying in the forest. Her father was forcing her to marry a decrepit mortal not long for this world. Caring nothing for his daughter’s wishes or future happiness, he wanted the lands promised to him by the old baron.
I could not let such a hateful fate befall my precious Briar Rose, especially not when I knew she had formed an attachment to a young prince. They had met at a spring ball several seasons ago. Their attachment grew stronger despite the necessity of secrecy and distance.
So, we had come up with a little deception. We would fool her father into thinking Briar Rose was dead, knowing if he thought there was a chance she still breathed, he would chase after her. The subterfuge would give us a chance to spirit Briar Rose away into the arms of her true love. Once she was married, her father the king would no longer be a threat to her.
The plan had gone wonderfully well…except I had never considered the kingsmen. I did not know they possessed the knowledge to bind my powers and worse, to affect my mind and body so.
Still, I would risk all again, for never in the time of the ancients and beyond had my kind refused a request of pure heart from an innocent. I was a protector of the forest and my realm. It was my duty as queen.
Yet again, I felt a pang of sorrow at the thought. Once more, unbidden, the cry leapt in my breast.
Who protects you?
The kingsmen.
My men.
No! No, this was foolish and dangerous thinking. I had to focus on the task at hand.
“Hrafn is to blame for this,” I said as I pointed an accusatory finger at her.
“Don’t blame him,” she pleaded. “I forced him to tell me. Zellie, how could you? I never would have asked for your help if I thought my father would be so cruel as to call the kingsmen down upon you. Oh, the terrible tortures you must have faced and all because of me!”
With a cry, she buried her head on my shoulder as she wrapped her arms tightly around my middle. I stroked her hair and made soothing sounds.
I felt a slight stab of guilt at her obvious distress. Briar Rose was far too innocent for me to explain to her that the tortures they visited upon my body were not quite as torturous as she supposed.
Leaning back, I placed a finger under her chin and tilted her tear-stained face up to me. Affectionately brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, I said, “You are not to worry about me. Please tell me you have married that prince of yours by now?”
