Queen Mab (2 page)

She pointed her rosewood wand and the lamp went out, plunging him into darkness and feeding her power.  Cloaked from view in these shadows, she waved her wand once more and brought forth the cloud of smoke to return her to the size of a human woman.

"Lord Capulet," she murmured.

He stirred and whispered, "Hmmm?"

"A great disservice has been done to you and yours.  The House of Montague seeks to destroy your home, to annex your lands, to undo the work of your fathers," she spoke.  She planted a dream of such reality that in the morning, he would believe it prophetic and true.

"Pull down the House of Montague," she whispered.  "Destroy them before they destroy you.  Raise your sword and strike down the liar who falsely professes to love thee."

Lord Capulet stirred in his sleep, her words slowly catching on.  The poor man's legs moved as if he ran.  He thrashed as if he could escape her touch.

"But why?" he whimpered.

"Because," she replied as she leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I have seen the days to come, my Lord Capulet, and have seen the destruction that will be wrought by the House of Montague."  She let his dreams reflect the future of that which might be.  "Strike.  Strike now with fierce determination and cut them like wheat before the reaper.  Tear them out by the roots so that their weeds will not choke the last of your family, leaving your line barren, withered, and dying upon the vine.  I have seen what the fates have in store, Lord Capulet.  Your House shall be slain by the hand of Montague, and the sin shall be yours if you do not banish them from your heart and from the hearts of all your offspring."

He tossed in his bed, his brow furrowed.  Queen Mab breathed out the dream, let it settle on his eyes to cloud his vision and keep him from seeing anything beyond.

"Smite them where you find them.  You and your children shall always have an ally in Queen Mab, a queen who will owe you a debt.  Remember."

"Remember..." he murmured as his body descended into the reality she had molded just for him.

She stepped away.  Only the morning would tell if her message had struck his heart true.  And if it did not, if he did not at once begin the beat of the war drums until the very earth shook in time to their thrum, she would visit him every night until his answer changed and he was powerless to say no.

*****

S
he did not have to return the following night, for standing upon the same plain where just the day before they joined in friendship, Lord Capulet turned his army against Lord Montague, crying, "Never shall our Houses be joined!"

Though the war was not yet won, the taste of one so easily turned was victory sweet upon Mab's lips.

T
he battle-scarred land was as gray as the sky.  The wind swept across the soot-covered countryside, the grasses bowing to their mistress.  Though the battles had been senseless, the bloodshed great, over the years Mab began to see war's appeal.  She sculpted the world into a living nightmare.  Never before had so many welcomed her nightly embrace, praying for her dreams to take them away.  But even so, the play had grown tiresome, her boredom great.  Tonight she would bring the final act and hereafter find different amusements to pass the days.

A single owl, brown and mottled as tree bark, flew across the clouds to Mab's outstretched hand.  He lit softly upon her slender wrist, jumping to her shoulder where he could nibble her hair in false affection in the hopes of a bloody treat.

"My queen," spoke a soldier dressed in charcoal.

She did not bother to turn towards Lord Capulet's man. 

"Queen Mab," the man continued, kneeling before her in the dust.  "I delivered the draught.  Lord and Lady Montague are abed."

She looked up at the fortress, at the gates which these foolish mortals thought they could keep barred from her.  In the passing months, Lord Capulet had driven the Montagues back until finally the Montagues retreated to this building of stone where they stayed, cowering under siege.

She smiled an icy smile at the soldier.  "And how shall I repay you for your service?"

The soldier did not lift his eyes, but stared down at the ground.  "Truly my queen, I live to serve."

She stepped closer, her dress made of a thousand cobwebs, spun by a thousand spiders, rustling as she walked.

"Indeed, I have allowed you to live in order to serve.  But your queen is feeling generous.  Tell me, soldier, of the longings of your human heart."

He stammered as his wall of secrecy crumbled, "Perchance to dream..."

She ran her finger along his collarbone.  The owl upon her shoulder cried.

"And what dream would you like to live as though it were real?"

"I should like to be brave," said the soldier.  "Brave and strong..."

She smiled.

"...with a lovely wench at my side."

Her back stiffened, but her expression never changed. "You shall have all that and more."

She waved her hand.  A look of peace and tranquility fell upon the soldier's face before he faded into slumber.  She held out her hand and a wisp of smoke escaped her fingertips, entering the man's nose as he inhaled, traveling to his mind to fill it with the world he so desired.

But before she withdrew, she touched his lips.  "Think that you can yearn for another while a queen stands before you?  Think you that I am so grateful for your report that I would tolerate a rebuff from a beast such as you?  Nay, soldier."  Where she touched, she left angry boils and sores to repulse any woman who might look upon him.  "You take too many liberties.  I know what lies in the dreams of man. Indeed, I am the one who placed them there.  But if your queen stoops to grant you a favor, and you chose to serve your animalistic lust, you may be sure you shall be cast down to your rightful place among the creatures of earth and offal.  You may be sure."

She turned to her army of faerie folk.  "Watch him.  See that he rests in pleasant slumber.  If he does not wake up in a day or a year or a century, who would miss such a soldier?"

Her faerie companions laughed and settled beside the man.

Queen Mab tossed her owl into the sky.  As he fell, she shrank and transformed.  The bird caught her upon his back as he swooped and they took off to the tower where the Montagues slept. 

"Prepare for my return!" called Mab from the heavens.  "Soon we shall feast!"

Her faerie host cried out in response, their voices raised as one in the lust of war.

T
rue to the word of the soldier, the castle was asleep.  The owl flew to a window ledge high above the parapets.  Mab dismounted and entered the room with its fur bedding and carved furnishings.  The fair-haired Lord Montague slept with his wife curled upon his chest.

How fitting would be her revenge!  What better way than with love?  Lord Montague would worship her alone, Mab thought.  She would ensure it.  She would use his own heart to control him, to destroy him like he and Faunus colluded to destroy her.  He would rue the day he ever fought beside the god of daydreams. 

Mab waved her wand and was at once full size.  She peered into a looking glass hanging on the wall.  She wondered what form she would take in these coming dreams.  Mab waved her wand and the tendrils of smoke entered the man's nose. 

It was a dream of home and hearth.  A hunting dog ran in from the fields and Lord Montague entered a cottage with his sword strapped to his side.

"Wife!" he shouted.  "I have returned!"

Mab turned, knowing that he saw his beloved in her face.  She wiped her hands upon her apron and smiled at the man.  "I have been waiting for you," Mab replied. 

She filled the house with the smells of sugar and spice.  She cloaked herself in longing and comfort, feeding the flames of his passion until his desire was so tangible, she could swim through it like water.

Yet, he paused, unsure, as if he could sense her lie.  The hair on the hound's back stood, a growl rippled from his throat.

"Begone," Lord Montague replied.

His single word was a slap.

Her eyes flashed as his stinging authority struck her illusion, threatening to tear it away.

But she steadied it.  And then she smiled.  She was the Queen of Dreams, not some wandering fancy of the mind.  No human would tell her how to shape her worlds.  Mab let the house decay into nightmares, the walls melt with screams.  She was the only light in this tomb.  She reached for Lord Montague, her arms outstretched to gather him in. 

"Love me," she commanded.  She drew him towards her.  Her arms wrapped around him and grasped him tight.  The sky boiled as he struggled.

"You will love me," she commanded again.

But he did not listen.  Instead, the man's form began to shift, to writhe and twist.  The house returned to normal.  Lord Montague morphed into a figure which she had not shaped.

Queen Mab stepped back.

His hair began to grow until it hung past his waist in terra cotta curls.  His face became more delicate.  His clothing strained against the soft curves of his new body.  Beside him, his hunting dog's tail spread and grew until it fanned out into the blues and greens of a peacock, his fur replaced with feathers, his snout grown into a beak.

Queen Mab hissed like a cat. "Juno."

As her clothing changed to the golden robes she wore when appearing in corporeal form, the Roman goddess gave an acknowledging smile.

"Queen Mab," she greeted, the ice in her voice as cold as the daggers of winter.

Mab knew the pretense was useless and with a wave of her hand returned to her garments of black, which clung to her body and hinted at her wicked delights.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Queen Mab asked.

Juno stepped further into the home and looked around, her peacock familiar following her footsteps wherever she walked. "I suppose for some a place like this is their heart's desire.  It is strange that you would be drawn to such a mortal, though.  It seems beneath you."

Faunus stepped into the room. His eyes met Mab's and she knew exactly what led Juno to interfere.

Mab stated with contempt, "This mortal, Lord Montague, stole a bull of mine."

"And that was enough to start a war?" Juno replied, mockery coloring her words.  "My, I was not aware you were so fond of the bovine..."

"I do not take kindly to theft."

"And I do not take kindly to creatures such as yourself tearing asunder a true love match I have carefully orchestrated for the sake of some bullish affection," Juno snapped with flashing eyes.

"Do not threaten me," spat back Queen Mab.  "May I remind you that we are in the land of dreams and that this is my domain?"

"But you use your domain to influence one who comes under my protection and so," Juno replied, "I have come to defend him." 

The peacock spread his tail and let out a fearsome cry.

"If you needed a bull," Juno continued, "You need only to have asked and I would have provided you with one."

Queen Mab laughed, "I have no use for Jupiter."

Juno stretched out her hand.  Though she stood across the room, Mab felt as if ropes of fire were wrapping around her throat, closing in tighter and cutting off her breath.  She instinctually reached up, knowing full well that they were not there.

Juno smiled.  "My dear woman, you may control the world of dreams, but I control the land of the living and at this very moment, my hands are wrapped around your bodily throat."

"I am immortal.  I do not fear death," said Mab dangerously.

"There are things much worse than dying, my foolish, power-hungry child," replied Juno.  "You came here to claim this mortal man's heart, which, I am afraid, I cannot allow."

Queen Mab ceased her struggling and for the first time, a chill ran down her spine.

"Despite your power and tricks, I find you quite repulsive," spoke Juno.  "That seems a fitting way to spend the centuries that you must endure. Indeed, quite a fitting punishment for someone with a heart so vulgar and impure."

Juno stepped close to Queen Mab, circling her as her peacock drew a wider circle beyond.  Queen Mab could feel the power that Juno was drawing up through the earth, through the barriers of the dreamscape, to weave her spell.

"You shall be confined to darkness and cold, to visit people only in dreams.  No longer shall you meddle in the affairs of man.  No longer shall you move with the freedom that you do.  No, you shall live until you have learned the lesson of the act you have tried to commit.  You shall live forever locked up in night, never to feel the warmth of the sun, never to feel the companionship of another, since it seems quite clear you are incapable of bearing this responsibility.

"In your mirror, you shall look quite the same, but you shall be an illusion to any that cast their eyes upon you.  They shall see a face that matches your heart, as vile as it may be.  Once revered for your beauty, you will instead reflect your true nature.  Like your dreams, reality shall shift to display the secrets of your dark soul.  This prison is of your own making, but I gladly forge the bars of justice to hold you."

With that, Juno released Queen Mab.  Mab collapsed upon the floor, gasping for breath.

"The funny thing about dreams, Mab, is that they fade so quickly upon waking.  Indeed, I should be surprised if you have any memory of this conversation at all.  You shall wander the earth and never know why all manner of people step away when you enter the room, no idea why you should repulse them so.  I believe this is a fitting punishment for your crime.  You shall never know love unless your own heart changes, a task I am sure you are quite incapable of."

Juno walked to the door, her robes sweeping the floor with each step.  Her peacock flanked one side and Faunus the other.  Before they left, Juno gave Mab a sideways glance, her shoulders shivering with repulsed delight.  She whispered to Faunus.  "My, my. Quite as repugnant as I have always suspected."

She swept out the door and called from the yard, "Your bull shall be returned tomorrow!"

Faunus gave Mab a wink. "This has all been a most amusing diversion."