Chapter 20

N ow that she had the slippers, Malvina left Ella and Nicholas in the custody of the guards. Ella replayed giving the queen the slippers over and over in her mind trying to decide what she could have done differently to keep them in her possession.

All this time, she had protected them, kept them with her, and made sure they were safe. Now, they were in the hands of the enemy. Perhaps she should have left them in the cave like Nicholas suggested.

Her stomach clenched with the horrifying thought of what Malvina could do with them. She recalled Alice’s word, specifically that they were connected to the emotions of the wearer. What terrible things would Malvina do when she put them on and poured her hatred and her malice into them? Destroy the village? Or—worse—the kingdom?

She cut a glance at Nicholas. He must have sensed her looking at him because he gave her a small, apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said. “It was my idea to come here.”

She opened her mouth to protest when one of the guards snapped, “No talking.”

They fell silent as they made their way down a spiral stone staircase that led down, down, down into the bowels of the fortress. The deeper they went, the colder the air turned around them. Torches lined the walls, giving off a sinister glow in the dark recesses of Malvina’s dungeon.

At a gate, the lead guard paused to unlock it from a key from a ring on his belt. The key clinked in the lock, then he shoved it open. The hinges groaned as it swung open to reveal more darkness. Here the air was stale and dank.

The lead guard pulled a torch off the wall by the gate. They followed and, as they entered, Ella noticed a line of cells with iron bars on the right and the left. It was too dark to see if anyone was in those cells as they passed, but she heard the shuffle of feet in one. In another, she saw two dirty hands clutching the bars as they passed. Only the faint outline of a youthful face was visible.

Her heart lurched. How many prisoners did Malvina have down here?

The lead guard paused at one cell, unlocked it and opened the door. Nicholas was shoved inside that one. The door slammed shut. Across from that cell, he unlocked another one. The guard behind her pushed her inside. The door slammed shut with a resounding bang.

The guards said nothing as they left them there to rot in the darkness. Silence descended. Far down the corridor, the other gate slammed closed, sealing their fate.

Ella took a look at her new home. A pile of straw was in one corner. A dirty chamber pot in another, as though it had never been removed from the previous occupant. Her stomach lurched as bile rose to her throat. She turned away, moving closer to the bars where there was a patch of light from a nearby torch.

She peered out of the bars, trying to see Nicholas, but he was deep in the shadows of his cell. She heard a scraping noise.

“Nicholas?”

“I’m going to find a way out of here,” he said, his disembodied voice coming from the dark.

More scraping noises.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“They may have taken my sword, but I still have my dagger.”

“You do?” She hadn’t seen that on him.

“Hidden in my cloak.” Scrape. Scape. Scape.

She caught a glimpse of him as he passed in front of the cell door, then more scraping noises.

“This mortar is weak,” he said, his voice strained with exertion.

“Even if you managed to get out, how are we going to get past the locked gate?” she asked.

He stopped scraping and silence descended, then he said, “I’ll worry about that after we get out of here.”

He sounded so confident it was hard not to believe him. Ella peered out of her cell bars, straining her eyes to see movement across from her. She saw a flash of his hand every now and then as the scraping continued.

Footsteps echoed in the stone hallway. But not the thump of boots. No, this was at a much faster clip as the shoes struck the stone with every step. The woman came into view then wearing a thick hooded cloak concealing her face. She flung off her hood revealing shining silvery hair piled high on her head and propped her fists on her hips.

“Fairy godmother?” Ella breathed. She was truly shocked to see her fairy godmother here.

The scraping came to an abrupt halt. Nicholas’s face appeared between two of the bars as he looked out.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, not bothering to hide his surprise. “And how did you get in here?”

She ignored his first question. “I see I can’t leave you two unsupervised.” She huffed out a sigh. “The girl from the village is two cells down.” She nodded backward.

“Gee, thanks. Did you come to help us or merely give us that information?”

“Don’t be cheeky,” she snapped. “I told you not to come here. Especially with the…” She paused, glancing around, and then whispered, “…slippers.” As she said it, she looked at Ella.

Guilt swarmed through Ella as the heat rose to her cheeks. “I-I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I should have left them hidden in the cave, but I was worried—”

“Pish posh, dear. No need to explain. I know why you did it.”

“You do?”

She nodded. “Of course, I do. You were trying to protect them and keep them safe. However…” She cut Nicholas a glance. “I specifically said not to bring them into the fortress.”

“You did,” he agreed with a nod. “Now that we’ve established what a terrible idea it was, are you going to help us or not?”

Something about the way he spoke to Noella made it seem he was familiar with her. Ella tipped her head to the side, trying to understand their dynamics.

“I can get you out and past the gate but that’s all. I shouldn’t even be here.”

She stepped up to his cell door and pulled out a magic wand seemingly out of the air. She pointed it at the key hole. Sparks flew as she used it to melt the lock. The cell door came open with ease. Nicholas stepped out, sheathing his dagger. Then she turned to Ella’s cell and did the same. When the door was open, she stepped out.

“The girl is just down here.” Noella motioned to the other cell.

“What about the others here?” Ella asked.

Noella paused, turning back to her with question in her eyes. “Others?”

“There are more prisoners here,” Ella said.

“Ella, we don’t know why they’re here or who they are,” Nicholas said. “They could be dangerous.”

“And they could be innocent like Ingrid,” she countered.

“Who’s Ingrid?” Noella asked.

“The girl from the village,” Nicholas said.

“Eh! Are ye goin’ to let me out, too?” someone called from one of the cells.

“No!” Noella shouted, then to Ella, “Perhaps if we had more time, dear, we could do that. For now, we must make haste.”

Without waiting for an answer, Noella hurried down to the cell with the girl in it. She used her wand to open the cell door and then waited. There was no movement.

“You’re safe now, dearest. We’re going to take you home.” She waved for the girl to come out of the cell.

When there was still no movement, Noella huffed. Her wand disappeared back into the air, then she put her hands on her hips once more.

“We must go, little one.”

Still nothing.

“Let me try,” Ella said as she stepped around Noella into the doorway of the cell.

She looked into the cell to see a scared young girl huddled against the far wall. Her clothes were torn and dirty. The cell smelled awful. Her face was dirty, her eyes were round with fear. She had two long braids, one over each shoulder.

“Hi,” Ella said, her voice soft. “You’re Ingrid, right?”

The girl considered whether or not to answer, then finally nodded.

“I’m Ella,” she said. “I know your grandmother, Agnes. She helped me when I was lost.” Ella took a tentative step inside the cell.

Some of the tension in Ingrid’s body dissipated.

“She told me all about you,” Ella continued.

“She…did?” A soft mewl from the girl.

Ella nodded. “Yes. You’re thirteen. And you have a sister. And your father is the apothecary in the village.”

Ingrid straightened a little as she nodded again.

“My friends and I have come to take you home,” Ella said. “This is Nicholas.” She waved for him to come into the cell.

He stepped to Ella’s side and gave a small wave. “Hello.”

“And this is Noella.” Ella stepped a little closer and said in a rough pretend-whisper, “She’s my fairy godmother.”

That got her attention. “Your fairy godmother?”

Behind her, Noella huffed. Nicholas shushed her with a slash of his hand.

Ella held her hand out to Ingrid. “Yes, and she’s going to help us get out of here. And then we’ll take you home.”

“You promise?”

“Promise.”

Ingrid reached for her hand, sliding it into Ella’s. The girl’s hand was cold as she took it and a pang of concern went through her. Ingrid had no cloak but at least she still had on her wool dress and boots. Ella pulled her to her, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders.

“Let’s go,” Noella said.

She charged down the corridor heading for the gate. Seconds later, she had it open, too. She pulled it open and stepped aside. Ella and Ingrid were first followed by Nicholas who turned to face Noella.

“Are you coming?” he asked, concern lining his face.

“I can’t. You know why. The two of you will be fine. Follow the staircase up. At the top, turn left and then take that hallway back to the door. That will lead you outside to the walkway. Then you know the rest of the way,” she said.

“But the slippers—” Ella began.

Noella shook her head. “Those are lost to us, now, dear. She has them. She won’t give them up. Now go.” She shooed them down the hallway.

Nicholas stepped closer, dropping his voice and said something to her Ella was unable to hear. Noella gave him a smile, then kissed his cheek.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, her eyes sparkling with something Ella couldn’t read.

Nicholas turned back to Ella and Ingrid. “Let’s go then.”

They started down the corridor, back the way they came not long ago. Ella stole a glance over her shoulder, but Noella was gone. The only thing that remained was a puff of glitter in the air, as if she had disappeared into it.

Nicholas took the lead. Ella kept her arm around Ingrid as they hurried behind him, but the girl shivered against her.

“Just a moment,” she said, coming to a halt.

Nicholas paused, turning to chastise her to hurry when he realized what she was doing. Ella pulled off her gloves and handed them to the girl. Relief went over Ingrid’s face as she pulled on the gloves.

“And this,” he said, moving toward them.

He pulled off his cloak and wrapped it around the girl, closing the clasp at her throat. It was much too long for her and dragged the ground but it would keep her warm.

“There now. Better?” he asked.

Ingrid nodded.

“Thank you,” Ella said.

“Now come. We have to hurry,” he said.

They hurried to the stone staircase and started to ascend. It wound up, up, up to the top, leaving them all breathless. Ella’s legs burned and she thought she couldn’t take one more step as they reached the top.

Nicholas paused long enough to catch his breath. She took several deep breaths trying to slow her erratic heart. Ingrid clung to her waist, her breath see-sawing in and out. He gave Ella a questioning glance. She nodded to keep going.

He started down the hallway, pulling his dagger from the sheath at his waist. She and Ingrid followed. She kept the girl close to her.

As they rounded a corner, a deep rumbling started somewhere in the fortress. Nicholas came to an abrupt halt. Ella almost ran into the back of him. The rumble sounded again.

“That can’t be good,” he said.

“What is it?” Ella whispered. Her voice shook with the nerves that suddenly erupted.

“Not sure but we should keep going.”

He started again. They took several steps when the rumbling happened again.

Malvina appeared at the end of the corridor in a puff of purple smoke. In her hands, she carried the glass slippers as she stormed toward them.

“Not good at all,” Nicholas muttered.

He held his dagger at the ready. She and Ingrid remained behind him, waiting and watching as the dark queen approached. Fury was etched on her face.

“You…” Her narrowed, terrible eyes fixed on Ella, then cut to Nicholas and the girl. “How did you get out of your cell?”

“I don’t think that matters now,” Nicholas said.

She cut a glance to his dagger. “Do you think that little weapon of yours will stop me?” She shook her head. “The girl and I have unfinished business.”

“You can’t have her,” Ella said, clutching Ingrid close to her.

“Oh, dear sweet child. I meant you ,” she said, fixing her eyes on Ella. “You’re going to tell me how to use these slippers.”

“Never,” Ella said.

“And you’ll have to go through me to get to her,” Nicholas added.

Malvina’s eyes narrowed. “So be it.”

Clutching the slippers in one hand, she waved her other one. Nicholas flew to the side and crashed against the stone wall. He slipped down it, landing on the ground unconscious with a thud.

“Nicholas!” Ella gasped.

“The slippers, girl,” she said as she approached. “Tell me how to use them.”

“I-I don’t know,” she said.

“Do not lie to me.”

“I’m not.” Ella backed away a step at a time as Ingrid scurried to Nicholas’s side. “They were a gift.”

Malvina halted her advance. “A gift, you say?” Contemplation went over her face before she then smiled a dark and terrible smile. “How nice.”

The dark queen waved her hand in an elaborate gesture sending purple smoke curling toward Ella. She took a step back, intending to run back to the staircase, but the cloud overcame her. A sudden dizziness swept over her as she stumbled to the side. Her vision blurred. The last thing she saw was Malvina advancing on her once again with that terrible smile. And then there was nothing at all.