Cinder

I wear a brown hood these days, but people still call me Red. The cookies in my basket look like regular sweets, but members of the Enchantment Liberation Front know how to read their codes. Today’s batch of peanut butter chocolate chip mean we are meeting at eight in the evening.

A bell tinkles overhead as I enter Eliza Rivers’ apothecary shop. Her Jack Russel terrier greets me with a racket of barks, its tail wagging with abandon.

“None for you,” I tell the dog. “This batch has chocolate in it.”

Eliza emerges from behind a long linen curtain. “Red!” she greets me. “So glad to see you. I was really hoping for ‘cookies.’”

Her terrier suddenly growls and dashes after a corner of the shop. It catches something small in its teeth and shakes its prey furiously. Eliza checks on her dog and announces gravely, “Black mouse.”

Princess Daniella’s spy. There are probably more.

I wish Eliza a good day and carry on with my deliveries. The cats in Marion Fletcher’s general store and Alice Cross’s smithy catch black mice, as does the chihuahua in Fredericia Forestay’s tavern. Princess Daniella is apparently stalking my every move.

My behavior is impeccable, though. I travel from house to business to house, delivering cookies on behalf of Granny’s Bakery. I make small talk. I finish my transactions. I pretend not to notice that everywhere I go, Princess Daniella’s rodent informants follow.

The exception is Isobel Hansom’s farm. Her miniature pinscher licks my ankle affectionately and leads me to the north field, where Isobel is checking on her flowering peas. Isobel smiles and waves me close. She opens with, “You’ve got Cinderella’s stench all over you.”

“Good afternoon to you too,” I reply dryly. I offer her a cookie.

Isobel wipes her hands on her work apron and accepts the confection. “Little John’s Cider Mill,” she remarks as she reads the arrangement of chocolate chips. “All right. But I still maintain that my barn would be more secure.”

“John’s place is less visible,” I repeat for the fiftieth time. “Less obvious. And his security measure is foolproof.”

Isobel doesn’t disagree. She simply smiles with preternaturally sharp teeth. I can see the hint of a yellow gleam in her eyes. “Cinderella’s mice are afraid of me,” she says.

“And what would she tell the Fairy Godmother, if her spies all report we are gathering in your barn?”

Isobel shrugs with a cocky smile. “I really mean it when I say I don’t mind. I care less about where we meet, and more about what we do.”

We shake hands. I return to Granny's Bakery. My grandmother preps the next morning's bread doughs, and I work on the cookie doughs. After a light dinner of eggs, toast, and roasted tomatoes, we "decide to go for a stroll."

Once outside, Granny loudly announces, "Let's wander about Little John's for a spell. The orchard is just lovely!" She may not be the most subtle agent in the Front, but we'd be lost without her logistical acumen (and devastated without her sourdough).

We follow the twisting path through Little John's orchard, occasionally remarking on the lovely sunset or the scents of the growing fruits. Finally, we round a bend and find ourselves facing a white unicorn. It stands eighteen hands tall, with silvery hooves and a golden horn.

Granny steps up first. "My name is Robin Montville, but I am known as Granny. I come with peaceful intentions."

The unicorn touches the tip of its horn to Granny's shoulder. She shudders. It withdraws with apparent approval.

Now I come forward. "My name is Robin Wood, but I am known as Red. I come with peaceful intentions."

The golden horn touches my shoulder and sends a jolt of cold through my entire body. The unicorn steps aside. We continue to the mill.

The members of the Enchantment Liberation Front are already assembled. Granny sits on a wooden bench with Will Scarlett and Marion Fletcher. I stand up on the stool beside the apple press and greet my merry band of dissidents.

"I think our first order of business ought to be a new messaging system," I say. "Princess Daniella's spies seem to have caught on to the cookies. We can't use coins; Princess Blanche's agents have too tight a hold on the mines and treasury. Does anyone have--"

An uncanny scream outside cuts me short. For a moment, the world freezes and the hairs on my arms stand on end. Then something whistles and hits the mill's thatched roof with a THUD. The roof instantly bursts into green-hot flames.

In one united motion, we all pour out of the burning mill. Another green fireball comes at us. Some people drop to the ground and the rest scatter. I watch with relief as Little John picks up Granny and carries her to safety.

Princess Daniella stands over the unicorn's body. She waves her hands in an arcane gesture and shoots more glowing green fireballs at the fleeing villagers. Her projectiles reduce people and trees to cinders.

Isobel transforms into her wolf state and charges Princess Daniella, snarling viciously. Eliza and Alice follow close behind. Fredericia ducks behind a tree, peering at me and singing a mystic melody; as a result, I blend into the growing shadows.

Marion also sets herself up behind the cover of a tree. She aims an arrow with her longbow and waits for a good shot

Magically stealthy, I circumnavigate the fracas. The fire-shooting princess has her hands full, evading Isobel's massive paws and Alice's sharp sword. I flank the princess and strike with my dual daggers. Her chainmail catches most of the force, but I'm sure I've bruised her.

Princess Daniella sweeps her hands in a dramatic circle and her otherworldly flame swirls around us all. I jump backwards to avoid the burn. Alice and Isobel duck down, awkward but out of range, and Eliza leaps above the attack with preternatural grace.

Marion takes her shot. Her arrow pierces Princess Daniella's hip. The princess howls in pain, but the arrow ignites and vanishes.

Isobel tackles Princess Daniella. The princess manages to throw the werewolf off of herself, but she is stuck on the ground. Eliza gestures magically and vines sprout from the earth, twining themselves around Princess Daniella's prone body.

Alice positions her sword near the princess's throat and demands, "Yield, agent of evil! Or in the name of the White Rabbit, I will strike you down!"

Princess Daniella hesitates. She looks from Alice to Isobel to Eliza, then vaguely in my direction. She still can't see me. A moment passes in which the only sounds are the crackling of the burning building and Fredericia's quiet song.

"Do you yield?" Alice insists.

"No," Princess Daniella says.

Alice's expression droops. "I don't want to hurt you."

"If you don't kill me, SHE will."

I say, "Fredericia, I think we're all set." Her song ends and Princess Daniella’s eyes snap to me.

I sit beside the bound princess and gesture for the others to join me. Isobel reverts to human form and adjusts the tie of her sensible wrap dress. Marion and Fredericia come forward from their cover. All join me on the ground.

"I wasn't expecting a prisoner," I admit.

Isobel's face still bears the signs of a predatory scowl. "Cinderella here wouldn't have taken us prisoner. She would have burned us alive."

"Maybe she can be reformed," Alice says hopefully. "We don't really know her motives."

I look down at Princess Daniella. She stares at me with a silent, defiant expression.

Eliza points out, "We don't have a sufficient prison to hold her in."

I look to Marion. Of all of them, she has been my friend and advisor the longest.

"We can't have her return to the Fairy Godmother," Marion says practically. "She saw too many members of the Front. She knows enough to destroy us."

I hold Princess Daniella's angry gaze. "I don't suppose we can entice you to join the Good Guys?"

The princess's eyebrows raise in surprise. "I AM one of the Good Guys!" she protests.

"Right," I say. I strike her on the side of the head and knock her out.

Eliza releases her magical vines. Isobel easily slings Princess Daniella over one shoulder. The six of us bring our Prisoner to Isobel's barn.

Alice fashions iron manacles to prevent more fireballs. Isobel's miniature pinscher darts around, hunting the dozen black mice bold enough to come to Princess Daniella’s aid. The rest of us dig.

Before long, we carefully set our captive down the ten-feet-deep, six-feet-diameter pit, complete with comfort pail and warm woolen blanket. Her hands remain bound before her, unable to perform the complicated movements necessary for her magic. She should have no trouble eating or washing, though.

"It's a prudent measure, Red," Marion tells me. "But, it's unsustainable. The Fairy Godmother is coming to Sherwood in earnest now."

"We should go to her first," Alice suggests. "Head her off. Prevent unnecessary loss of life."

The others agree. Marion promises to get Will Scarlett to look after our captive. I recommend that we go pack whatever supplies we think we'll need, and return to Isobel's farm in an hour.

Outside again, the night still has a vague yellow glow from the now-cooling fire at the mill.

The door to Granny's Bakery is unlocked. She made it home and clearly expects me. But, there are no lamps burning on the main floor, where the business is. I close and lock the door behind me. Then I find a candle, light it, and carry it up to the floor we live on.

"Granny? Are you all right?" I call out.

There is no reply.

Granny is a light sleeper.

I hurry through the sitting room and throw open the door to Granny's bedroom.

A thick hedge of thorns encircles Granny's bed.

"Granny! Granny, wake up!" I cry. I try to grab at the hedge but its thorns pierce my hands painfully.

"Calm down," a voice says dryly. "Granny needs her sleep."

A chill of dread grips my gut. I slowly turn around. I see Princess Briar Rose leaning against the window in the sitting room, her long golden hair shining in the firelight behind her. Another thorny hedge creeps across the window from the outside, growing thick and deadly.

Princess Briar Rose smiles menacingly. "Red, you're coming with me."

----------------------------------------

Check out the second installment: