Cursed (24 page)

“That’s for being the greatest guy I know,” she said.

She could see Evan smile in the dim light.

“Anytime,” he said.

Evan eased out of the room and Sasha followed. They were in a long hallway made of dark stone. It was cool to the touch and slightly slimy with a green moss growing on its surface.

“My guess is we are underground,” Sasha said.

Evan grunted a reply. They continued down a dark hallway until they came to a staircase. They ascended the stairs as quietly as possible. When Evan opened the door above, it led to a well-lit hallway with wood floors.

“We are probably in the servants quarters area,” Evan guessed.

Sasha heard the banging of pots and rush of water. “Maybe near a kitchen?” she suggested.

They continued down the hallway trying out doors as they passed. They were all locked. They wound their way around the kitchen passing a dining hall obviously used by servants with its long tables and benches for seating. An adjacent room had wood burning stoves. Several women dressed in long plain dresses bustled about cooking and washing pots and pans.

“Where to now?” Sasha asked as she heard a commotion behind her.

She peaked over her shoulder to see men dressed in paramilitary garb. “Who’s that?” one said to the other.

Sasha turned around and pushed Evan.

“Run.”

They sprinted past open doors and other rooms until they got to a grand opening with a huge staircase. Sasha tripped over a statue in the foyer and sprawled to the ground.

Her pursuers were on her in seconds.

“Go,” she screamed at Evan. “Find it.”

Evan waved at her and continued running. Sasha was seized in an iron grip by her arms. She struggled heartily until her hands were yanked behind her back.

“She smells,” one man said binding her hands with a cord.

“Take her to the dungeons,” ordered the other man.

With her escort Sasha returned to the lightless basement.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Sasha struggled with her restraints, pulling against the ropes. As mystical as Tysseland was supposed to be, its devices were effective and rudimentary. Who needed handcuffs when there was rough twine?

Inadvertently Sasha had rubbed the skin raw around her wrists and made little change in the rope tightness. She was about to give up when she heard a whisper.

No, it wasn’t a whisper. It sounded more like, could it be, wind chimes? She inspected the cell to see where the noise was coming from. It was the same sweating stone walls she’d been staring at for at least an hour. It was hard to tell time when her watch seemed frozen.

She wondered if that was an effect of Tysseland that its time was different from her timeline. Wasn’t that something Dominic had said? She still hadn’t figured out where Tysseland existed. Was it a different universe? A parallel world?

The tinkling grew slightly louder and she concentrated on it to see if there was a pattern. It was hard to discern anything beyond the background noise in the prison. Periodically she’d hear footsteps go by her door, the jangling of keys, the rough yell of guards and the whimper of another prisoner being abused.

While a tiny part of Sasha was hoping for clemency from her grandmother, from what she’d heard she didn’t seem to have a sympathetic bone in her body. The queen had also been planning Sasha’s death for 17 years. She couldn’t see her giving up now.

While she brooded, the wind chimes got louder but she still couldn’t find the source. Then a light, no bigger than the head of a pin, zipped by her eye, almost landing in her eyebrows.

“Hey,” she yelped leaping backward. The light left her field of vision and then zoomed back. The speck was so small she had a hard time making it out. And then it grew bigger and bigger.

While the light swelled, so did the tinkle of the wind chimes. It still wasn’t much louder than a buzz in her ear.

She watched fascinated as the pinprick of light bulged into the shape of a tiny person. Sasha wasn’t sure if it was male or female. It seemed a bit androgynous. The figure was the size of a kidney bean. It had short blue hair cut close to its head. She couldn’t see its tiny features very well. It seemed to have eyes, she couldn’t tell which color. It had two arms and legs and was dressed in a lederhosen kind of getup.

The figure hovered by Sasha’s nose making her cross her eyes to see it. She waved her hand around her head to make it move away. It backed off but not by much.

“Who are you?” she said. She was incredibly curious. She’d never seen anything of higher intelligence this small.

The wind chimes noise halted when the figure came to rest on Sasha’s shoulder. She lifted her arm and the figure walked down to her elbow so she could see it better. She glimpsed wings on its back before it turned around to face her. What was this thing?

“I am Deal,” said a high pitched merry voice. Girl? She still couldn’t tell.

“Nice to meet you,” she said unsure. “I’m -.”

Before she could finish, it cut her off.

“I know who you are,” Deal said. “I’ve been following you since you arrived in Tysseland.”

“Wow,” she said. “Why have you been following me?”

Deal stepped off her arm and flew to between her eyes. When she shook her head, it backed off a few inches. The wind chimes were a low tinkle sound.

“Tysseland doesn’t get visitors very often,” Deal said.

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “It lacks in the hospitality area. My mother could really teach these people a thing or two.”

“Willow Bean is well known here,” Deal said.

“How do you know Willow Bean is my mother,” Sasha said flabbergasted. Were there no secrets in Tysseland?

“You look just like her,” Deal said. Sasha didn’t believe it.

“I look nothing like her,” Sasha said stubbornly.

“Ok,” it said resigned. “I cast a spell to see your family origins.”

Sasha didn’t understand the spell but she believed it could be done. How else had Deal known?

“What can you tell me about her?” she said eagerly. She hadn’t fully digested what her mother told her. She’d said nothing about her life in Tysseland. Maybe she could find out some stories from her childhood that could help Sasha understand her mother.

Deal flew in a circle, not answering. It eventually came to rest on her arm.

“We don’t have time for that,” Deal said.

Deal’s dismissive tone pissed Sasha off. No one wanted to tell her anything. She almost died before her mother told her about the curse. How much more dangerous does it have to get before she could get answers?

“I’m about to die,” she said tersely. “I don’t mean to sound selfish, but what’s more important than that? You can reschedule your manicure.”

She couldn’t see the fine details of Deal’s face but it seemed stunned. Was it male or female? She still couldn’t tell. Its body had no curves like a female or masculine muscles like a man. Cripes, it wasn’t even human. Trying to figure out its sex seemed silly, so she gave up. He was rude like a man so that’s how she was going to think of it, him.

“What is a manicure?” Deal said.

Sasha snorted. Now who was wasting time?

“I want to know something about my mother, something that only you would know,” she said, suddenly desperate. Not because time was running out. She felt like this might be her only opportunity to discover something about her mother that she otherwise would never know. Sasha had always felt that her mother was a mysterious puzzle. She needed clues to figure her out.

Deal appeared conflicted. She thought he would refuse to answer her question.

“Your mother is very strong,” Deal said suddenly. She had to strain to hear him because he was talking so softly. “She might be too strong. That is why she left. She could have destroyed Tysseland. Instead she left so it could survive.”

Sasha frowned. What did that mean? She took her time responding. Deal’s description of her mother was perplexing. Willow Bean didn’t seem to be overly strong otherwise wouldn’t getting rid of the talisman be a priority? Sasha had to go to Dominic to find a way to Tysseland. No, Deal must be wrong. That just didn’t sound like her mother.

“She must be a different person now,” she said carefully. “She doesn’t seem that strong.”

Deal flew from side to side in front of her face.

“You don’t know your mother like I do,” he said. “She has done things, terrible things.”

Her curiosity peaked, she pushed him.

“Do tell.”

“My people are allies with Willow Bean but I wouldn’t call her a friend,” Deal said. “She is too much like her mother.”

“Can’t you be more specific than that?”

Deal circled Sasha in a lazy flying motion.

“Years ago we helped Willow Bean and Charles find a cache of precious metals,” Deal said. “They took the treasure without following through on the promise that was made to my people.”

“What are your people?”

“We are Horum,” Deal said as if Sasha knew what that meant. She made a motion with her hand for him to continue. “We are a small people. We have made ourselves very useful in the information exchange business.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Because I was told to,” Deal said settling on her arm again. “The Horum are very intuitive. They know change is coming to Tysseland. My masters thought it advantageous to help Willow Bean’s daughter, especially if Willow Bean becomes queen one day soon.”

Sasha stared at Deal incredulously. Willow Bean was going to be queen?

“I don’t think that will happen anytime soon,” Sasha said. “My mother doesn’t like moving.”

“Now, can I tell you why I am here?” Deal said impatiently.

“Go ahead,” Sasha said. She wasn’t satisfied with the answers he gave her. It was exhausting talking to him. She felt very drained like when she used magic. Geez. Why hadn’t she used magic to untie the ropes? It was like her brain was frozen. Ignoring Deal, Sasha turned to the ropes and concentrated. It must have been obvious on her face because Deal flew between her eyes.

“Don’t bother,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “Your magic won’t work here. There is a spell over this chamber. Unless you know how to break the spell no one but Vania can use magic.”

Sasha slumped against the cold wall, broken, and slid to the floor. She was doomed unless Evan could find her. She couldn’t imagine he would. The castle was like a maze and she had no idea where she was.

“Ok, what did you want to tell me?”

Deal flew in front of her and blew into the air. A cloud of gold dust appeared above him.

“I thought you said magic couldn’t work in here,” she said, a bit whiny.

“Mine can,” he said. “Horum aren’t human.”

“Well then set me free,” she said scrambling to her feet.

This time she saw Deal shake its head.

“She would know it was me,” Deal said.

Sasha knew he meant Vania. He didn’t have to explain his fear of the queen’s revenge. She was a vindictive woman. The curse she put on Sasha was case in point. She stayed quiet as he flew into the gold cloud and moved particles around. She watched as lines formed into a picture. Finally she could tell it was a map.

“Wow,” she said impressed. “Pretty neat trick.”

Deal finished the picture and flew to the side. Indicating with his miniscule arm, he pointed to the largest room on the map.

“This is where they’ll bring you,” Deal said.

“How do you know this?”

Deal ignored her question and flew to a tiny room that seemed to be several floors beneath the basement on the other side of the map.

“This is where you want to go,” Deal said.

Since Deal was in the information business, Sasha figured he knew what she was seeking.

“Ok,” she said studying the map closely. “How do I get there?”

Deal got inside the map and then followed the hallways he drew that led to tiny room.

“The room is underneath her bed chamber,” he said. “It can be accessed from the sleeping quarters or from behind a statue in this hallway.”

Deal showed her where the statue was located.

“What does it look like?”

Deal described an ogre. It was a gigantic beast of at least 400 pounds. It was made of stone and couldn’t be moved the conventional way.

“Should we go through the bed chamber then?”

Deal shook his head.

“There will be many guards posted there.”

“If the ogre can’t be moved, how do we get in?”

Sasha knew she wasn’t going to like the answer when Deal gave her a sympathetic look.

“You have to slay the ogre.”

That sounded crazy. How can a stone ogre be killed?

“I don’t get it.”

“You have to wake the ogre,” Deal said. “And fight it to the death.”

Cold fear like a heavy stone sunk into the pit of her stomach. In addition to finding the talisman, she had to fight some vicious animal that was four times her weight.