The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 37
“We can’t just leave,” I pleaded with Red. We were crouched behind a line of horses across from the Happy Dragon Inn, peeking through to see what was happening.
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
“We can’t just leave,” I pleaded with Red. We were crouched behind a line of horses across from the Happy Dragon Inn, peeking through to see what was happening.
“We can’t stay here, either.”
“If we leave without her, then she’ll get arrested—or worse!”
Red turned to me. “And what would you have me do? You are my charge, she is not. Had she not chosen to leave and defend those fighters, we would still be together.”
“She left to save those people. You told me we were all in this together!”
Red curled her lip. “Those people were already dead. They were dead the moment they ended up here. This is nothing but a waystation for the damned, and we are just biding our time until we can join eternity.”
“If you believe that, then why haven’t you killed yourself yet, huh? You said you’ve been in Urgu over a thousand years, and yet, you’re still here.”
Red didn’t have an answer and I knew it. To be honest, I wasn’t interested even if she had a perfect response. She needed to figure out how we were going to tell Chelle where we were and what we were doing. I couldn’t just leave her to be found and captured by the Wicked Witch.
“I will send somebody back for her,” Red said. “Once we meet Ozma.”
“And what if they capture her before then?”
“Damn it,” Red said, giving my arm a menacing squeeze. “I am trying to be polite. Please believe me when I say that your girlfriend, while brave, is dead. Nobody can take on a full-grown dragon and live to tell about it. Not by themselves, anyway.”
I yanked my arm free of her grasp. “You don’t know Chelle.”
“No, but I’ve seen enough foolhardy adventurers to know a dead one when I see one.”
“If that’s true, I might as well just kill myself.” I stood up and bolted across the street. Before I reached the other side, Red tackled me and rolled me into the shelter of a house.
“You’re going to get yourself killed,” she hissed.
“I know! You don’t understand. Without Chelle, none of this is worth anything. If she’s dead, then I would rather die, too.”
It was the truth but saying it out loud caused knots to form in my stomach. My body convulsed from the thought of losing the love of my life. I expected some sort of sympathy from Red, but instead she just started laughing.
“Stop laughing at me,” I said, tears falling down my face.
Her laughter became a light chuckle. “You really are a spoiled brat, aren’t you?”
“Excuse me? You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
Red shrugged. “You’re right, I don’t. But whatever happened turned you into a spoiled brat. Do you not even understand what we’re trying to do here? We’re trying to stop the Wicked Witch from ending the universe as we know it. Do you really think your stupid crush is more important than that?”
“No. Love is more important than anything. Without Chelle, I’d rather just die,” I said, wiping my face with the back of my hand. “Besides, if I’m dead, I’m not your problem anymore. It’s a win-win.”
Red glared at me a few moments before speaking. “Idiot. You have a role to play in all of this. I don’t know what it is yet, but you didn’t come here for just no reason. Nobody does.”
“Then why did you come here?”
Her lip twitched, like she wanted to say something, but then from across the street she saw the Queen’s Guard pulling Sam’il out of the bar. He had been beaten and could barely walk. The head guard tossed him into the street.
“Now you’ll watch,” the guard said, “as your precious bar and everybody inside turns to dust.”
“Hypnos will never allow you to do that. His power protects us here!”
The guard punched Sam’il across the face. “He’s been dead for a hundred years. It doesn’t matter if he cares, because he’s nothing but dust.”
“He’s not dead! He will return, and there will be a reckoning for all who oppose him!”
The guard snapped his fingers and I heard a familiar screech from the sky. My heart sank. The leather wings of a dragon descended upon us and perched on the house right above where we were hiding.
“Burn it down!” the guard shouted.
With one breath, the dragon torched the Happy Dragon. Thirty seconds of fire later, the entire bar was in flames, and the people inside screamed in agony as they burned alive.
The guard watched, a nasty smirk on his face. He turned to Sam’il, who was staring in horror. “Where is your precious god now?” It was clear that Hypnos was nowhere to be found.
“At least they left Chelle a clear sign,” Red said. “When she sees this, she’ll know something was wrong.”
I looked over at Red. “And you’ll send somebody back for her?”
She nodded. “On my honor.”
“There doesn’t seem to be much of that these days.”
“That, my friend, is what we are trying to fix.”
As we disappeared into the night, the screams from the Happy Dragon died out. Every life inside was wiped from Urgu, and from the universe.
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.