The Queen's Curse (32 page)

‘I was worried sick about you
,’ Tirsa conceded.

Artride impulsively slid her hand tenderly into
Tirsa’s. Electricity shot warmly through Tirsa.

‘And to think we were only parted by a wall!’

‘A very thick wall.’

‘An illusion
,’ Artride reminded her.

They were back in a white corridor, which seemed endlessly long, with no turns whatsoever, but their compass slid at a pleasant speed ahead of them over the white floor.

Then the scenery changed and the corridor ended in a spacious round hall. The white of the walls shone with majestic colours; the colours of the rainbow, but not only the walls, the very essence of the air was illuminated with colours. It was transparent and even the two women were covered in it. Looking up they soon spotted the source for the profusion of transparent shades and light: a giant round glass window was placed in the ceiling of the hall. Knowing they were still in a cave, they could see the clear blue sky outside; so close but yet so far. The sun was not to be seen, but its light reflected on the white walls and because of the glass window it had a magical effect.

Without speaking they bathed in this healing light. Looking at each other they admired their naked skin being painted by the rainbow colours. Their face
s purple, necks red and breasts and torsos blue, followed by green for their lower bodies and legs, yellow for the knees and their feet orange. It made them giggle in wonder.

The compass slowly moved on, so they had to follow if they didn’t want to lose it. At the end of the round hall a huge circular gate was to be seen. The compass stopped there.

The gate was shining by itself; completely solid gold and carved with many symbols, however without any knob or other suggestion of how to open it.

‘A snake that bites her tail, hmm,’ Tirsa said with narrowed eyes; staring at the symbols. ‘A sign of infinity.’

‘Or cunningness, when you think about the snake,’ Artride commented, thinking about Tirsa’s nickname.

‘Or both.’

There were also a lot of heads beautifully carved in the gold, filled up with a black kind of paint. Mostly cats with big, hypnotizing eyes, and birds of prey.

‘Art. At least it’s a sign of humanity
,’ The queen suggested.

‘Then why do I have the feeling that it is not something to be joyous about?’

Artride stared questionably at Tirsa, who picked up the compass carefully.

‘So, what do we do; knock?’ she asked the
queen.

‘Please try.’

‘Alright.’ And she bunched her fist and knocked shrewdly at the gate. Thinking it to be solid gold; she suspected there would be almost no sound, but instead a loud noise echoed through the entire hall, which had been deathly quiet before.

It startled them both and it made them nervous.

‘At least that must have gotten someone’s attention!’ Tirsa stated anxiously. Artride’s eyes were tired and somewhat hollow in her face; little was left of the glorious feeling she had felt before, but she could feel excitement just the same, even though she wasn’t showing it.

Nothing happened at first
, and waiting impatiently with heavy hearts it seemed for ever before at last the gate slowly opened with a deep rumbling sound, which again echoed through the rainbow hall.

Curious
, they looked in when the gate was completely opened. A thick fog clouded their view; only a piece of what appeared to be a narrow bridge of glass was to be seen. Beneath the bridge was a bottomless abyss, clouded in a pink, innocent-looking mist. Looking up, it seemed as though a grey sky was about them as if they were outside, with mist rising from below. It felt as if they were standing high up, too.

‘It seems we are leaving the cave and now really enter
ing her palace,’ Artride mentioned and her companion nodded. She commented in a shivering voice, ‘Or this is an illusion as well; we can never be sure.’ They both wrapped their arms around their naked bodies; for the temperature had dropped.

‘Well, we’ll have to find out then
, won’t we?’ Tirsa stated daringly and stepped upon the glass bridge; which seemed so thin it could break underneath her feet.

She took a few careful steps, nodding at Artride who came after her.

‘Don’t look around you or below; it’s probably to scare or discourage us, look at where you are going instead,’ she advised her.

Lights were flashing about them now and a few steps later a low thunder rumbled above them. The thick darkening clouds moved closer and made it harder for them to see where they were going; so all they could do was look at their feet. After they had taken about twenty steps another lightning
bolt split the sky closely behind them and a thunderbolt crashed at the same time. A glittering high sound followed next; the deafening sound of breaking glass, only ten times louder …

Both looked back and saw through the dense dark pink mist that the start of the bridge at the gate
, which still stood wide open, was broken and the pieces were falling into the depths. And small cracks were forming and were coming their way; one piece after another, shattering behind it.

Tirsa swallowed. It was not the scenery which was the only thing dangerous anymore, but the very path beneath their feet. There was only one option
…

‘Run!’ she shouted and Artride; who had frozen at the spot, ran immediately after her.

They kept running without looking back, and Artride, who was the last person to leave the bridge to jump after her friend, felt the glass below her feet give way. Her feet lost ground and she fell. She quickly got a hold of the edge of the bridge at the foot of another open gate, solid wood this time. Tirsa dropped down on her knees and reached her hands out for her. All around them a deafening storm was bellowing, pulling at the queen, whose very life hung on her two hands. The glass bridge was completely gone now. Artride grabbed her hands one by one, and Tirsa used all her strength to pull her up, while Artride firmly held on to her arms; climbing up.

‘Don’t let go!’ Tirsa commanded her. Tears were rolling down her cheeks when the
queen seemed to squeeze the woman’s arms painfully. No, she would not let go of her, she felt.

At last the
queen managed to grab her shoulders and Tirsa was able to pull her up further.

Out of breath
, she embraced her bodyguard tightly, skin to skin. The wind was blowing about them and it wasn’t a friendly wind. It was angry. They held each other for a moment while Tirsa stared at where the bridge had been. She was angry and upset. Another obstacle, how much more could they endure?

‘If this was an illusion,’ she said
, ‘then it was a mighty real one! You could have fallen to your death!’

‘We both could have!’ Artride corrected her with a broken voice.

‘Either way, she has gone too far now, for I am sure this was of her doing! We have to work mighty hard for this counter spell!’ and she stood, helping the queen up as well.

‘Why would she treat us like enemies, this is getting ridiculous!’

‘I am determined to find out and it better be soon; for I have lost all track of time,’ Tirsa said, thinking about her brother.

‘We still have time, but I agree it is about time we get to see this trickster.’

And Artride firmly grabbed her hand and guided her through the open gate, where in the distance a reddish glow was flickering.

It was a huge
, broad red curtain hanging in the dark surrounding corridor, which spread the reddish light. It wasn’t an angry red, but a warm welcoming red, a very physical kind of red; like the inside of a womb. The thick velvet-like curtain waved gently on a warm wind. Artride had to push it aside, for it was blocking their way. It felt very soft when she touched it and she peeked curiously behind it. A little disappointed they discovered more curtains; slightly thinner and silky with pastel colours: yellow, pink, orange, green and blue.

‘Well, she is definitely into colours
,’ Tirsa whispered.

‘And into curtains
,’ Artride added.

The curtains were waving gently from the white ceiling all the way to the white floor
, and the light was all around them from an undetectable source.

Still holding hands they moved on along the lovely curtains which felt sensuous
, almost erotic, when brushing them with their shoulders.
I bet they are enchanted,
Tirsa suspected, and reached out gently.

‘Don’t touch them, Tirsa
,’ Artride warned her, squeezing her hand gently.

Tirsa
swallowed hard and looked at Artride. ‘But we have to if we want to cross this passage way.’

‘Just try to avoid it as much as you can. It is only logical
that this is some trick too. Just use your shoulders like this.’ And she showed her the best way; slipping through the curtains faster.

Some seemed to stick to them, touching their hair and the bare skin of their arms and legs; like they were charged with electricity. And all the while they waved and waved gently on soft music only those curtains could feel.

The enchanted veils had a luscious result on the two women who were breathing heavily with their cheeks crimson; not trying to look and feel at the other and give in to the very present pulsating urge. There seemed no end to the veils which were draping around them, slowing them down; clinging to them and sometimes holding on to them like giant limbs. It became a little too much for Tirsa at one point and she became more and more frustrated; tugging hard at the curtains. At one point Artride was so wrapped in a pink curtain it seemed to suffocate her as well, and the bodyguard tried to rip the cloth off her. She tore the cloth from her body with effort and in doing so, they both noticed the cloth begin to bleed! Artride lay covered in it on the floor with Tirsa holding on to the bleeding rags!

‘How can this be happening?’ Artride cried while Tirsa freed her of the last bits and pulled her up against her body.

‘I don’t want to know.’ She bit her lip hard and looked away; away from Artride, away from the urge of passion she could not, would not give in to, walking backwards, getting tangled in veils herself.

‘But it’s alive! They are alive, Tirsa!’ Artride almost cried. Pieces of bloody cloth still clung to her and she tried to examine them and noticed they still moved! Ripping
them from her in horror she ran away, into the sea of veils, leaving her bodyguard behind.

‘Wait for me!’

Running, Artride finally saw what appeared the end of the living curtains and she jumped into the clearing. Breathing heavily she stared into the direction she came from, waiting for Tirsa to come. She jumped too; with a green veil stuck around her waist.

Looking backwards the veils seemed not at all frightening.

They both sat down for a while on the pure, white marble-like floor, checking themselves and each other for injuries, but even though Artride was covered in smears of blood, it was not hers.

‘I think it was more to mess with our heads
,’ Tirsa concluded, and the other woman nodded. They exchanged looks.

It was hard not to look at the
queen, naked, kneeling. She was striking, even in this state, even more so perhaps; wild, and the bruises and the dirt spots did nothing to spoil that.

Tirsa stood up, wrapping the green veil around herself like a dress
, and picked one of the purple, torn cloths up. It wasn’t moving anymore. It was big enough for her to wrap around the queen, which she did.

‘Arms up, please.’

‘What, no … I don’t want those around me.’

‘We can’t show ourselves naked to the sorceress. I want you to have some dignity and besides
… she would be too distracted by your beauty …’

She strapped and knotted the veil underneath her arms and her breasts held it in place.

Artride turned around.
She or you?
She found herself thinking, but only smiled thankfully.

The giant room had been dark before, but suddenly it changed into dark blue; like the colour of Artride’s eyes. And a small light appeared in the middle on the blue floor. It gave the impression it was water all around them; however
, touching the solid floor it was clear it wasn’t.

It was Tirsa who had sought the warm
, familiar hand of the queen now.

With a sudden glance of surprise and wonder she side
-glared at her.

Something was bound to happen in this room and they both could feel the sudden tension
; it had something to do with the growing light in its centre.

When they waited it appeared that what they had mistaken for a light wasn’t a light at all; but it only show
ed with an inner light. It was a tiny flower; a white, closed water lily and it was slowly growing.

And while it did, the blue room got brighter and smoke arose from below. It
was showing a heavy blue now while the water lily was about the size of a water melon, and still it kept growing.