The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 39
Bang. Bang. Bang. It had taken us the rest of the night to get to Balor’s hut. He was the closest friendly agent of Ozma, the rightful heir, at least the closest one still alive.
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.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
It had taken us the rest of the night to get to Balor’s hut. He was the closest friendly agent of Ozma, the rightful heir, at least the closest one still alive. I hoped he was still alive. I hadn’t seen my old friend in over a decade, but he always had a warm grog of mead and a roaring fire whenever I needed him.
“Quit yer yappin’!” Balor shouted from the other side of the door. When the handle turned, there was my friend, built like an ox with a long, bushy, red beard. “Evening, Belle. What do you want?”
“That any way to speak to an old friend?”
He shook his head. “Probably not, but we can’t be much of friends since I haven’t seen ya in a decade.”
“I’m sorry. That lapse is on me. I have been busy in the hinterlands and mountains for Ozma.”
Balor’s face cracked, and he smiled. “I’m just kiddin’, ya ole so and so. C’mere.” He wrapped me in a hug so tight I worried my ribs might crack.
“Too tight.”
Balor dropped me, and his eyes fixed on Rose. “And who is this lovely lass?”
I squared my shoulders. “I’m afraid I need something from you. This girl…she came through the barrier between Earth and Urgu.”
“My god,” Balor replied, shocked. “There hasn’t been one since—”
“A hundred years. To the day. Nearly the minute when he went missing. Just like the prophesy foretold.”
“So, it is true, then. The prophesy.”
“It looks that way.” I looked back at Rose. “Of course, it could just be a coincidence.”
“Ain’t no coincidences, lass. You know that.”
“Excuse me,” Rose said. “Can somebody tell me what’s going on?”
Balor gave me an inquisitive look, then his eyes turned to her. “You better come in. These are dangerous times and I’d rather not say anything where there are prying eyes and ears.”
Balor moved away from the door to let us inside. His home was just as I remembered, with the same bear skin rug and poorly constructed wooden table. The fire raged so hot that I had to take off my cloak and place it on the hanger next to the door before I even sat down. Of course, that was Balor’s intention. He was of the fire, so the heat never bothered him, so if somebody came into his home, they would be at a disadvantage immediately.
“Sit,” Balor said, gesturing to the chairs scattered around his table. “I will bring the mead, and we will toast to the end of these times.”
“I’m not sure we should be toasting yet,” I replied, but he was already pouring the flagons.
“Maybe you’re right.” He brought one over and handed it to me. “Then we should drink to forget these miserable times.”
“Can somebody please explain to me what’s going on?” Rose said. “What is this about a prophesy?”
Balor brought another flagon for Rose and then sat down with his own. “I assume you know about Hypnos.”
“That he disappeared,” Rose said, placing down her mead. “Yes.”
“And how Hera took over.”
“I told her, friend,” I said.
“Then I can skip ahead,” Balor wiped the foam off his beard. “Good. I hate tellin’ stories.”
“Liar.” I laughed. I had listened to him tell stories about his conquests for hours as we sat in front of the roaring fire. I barely said a word as he waxed on about his life.
“Many thought he died, perhaps by the hand of Hera herself. However, some of us, like me, knew that you could never kill a god. Not really. They are energy. They created life itself, and Hypnos was especially strong here, as this was his domain. For years we searched for him, and then, one day, the Fates intervened.”
“I thought they never opened their tower.”
“They did, only once, twenty years ago, to relay a message to me. They told me that one hundred years after the disappearance of Hypnos, a dreamer would come who would bring him back again.”
“That’s all they said?” Rose asked in a huff.
“There were more specifics, but that was the gist. That is why you are so important.” I turned to her. “I think you might be able to bring back Hypnos and save the world.”
Rose shook her head. “That’s stupid. I can barely tie my shoes, let alone save the world. I don’t even know this world. How can I save it?”
I shrugged. “We don’t know. That’s why I must take you to Ozma, she will know how we should proceed. After all, the Fates themselves bestowed the prophesy upon her. The rest of us only got the information second hand.”
“I will go with you,” Rose said after a long pause. “I already told you I would. But not without Chelle.”
“We can’t wait for her,” I said, forcefully. “If she is alive, of which there is a very small hope, then she will be days behind us.”
“I don’t care.”
“What is a Chelle?” Balor said after a long sip of ale.
“She’s Rose’s girlfriend. She came through the gates of Urgu from Earth to find Rose and bring her to the Obsidian Spindle.”
“Wow,” Balor said, clearly impressed. “That’s some woman.”
“And…she has magic.”
Balor slammed his beer down on the table. “No. She doesn’t.”
I nodded, my eyes wide with excitement. “She might be powerful enough to rival the queen herself.”
“Ha! That’s incredible. Maybe we’ll stand a chance yet.”
“Will you go and find her?” I asked. “She’s at the Happy Dragon Inn. Or what is left of it. It’s been burned down.”
Balor choked in disbelief. “Burned down?”
I nodded slowly. “By a dragon, no less.”
Balor smirked. “Poetic justice, I’ll give it that. Took a dragon to destroy a dragon. Even Hypnos would have appreciated the irony.”
“It shows that Hypnos’s power had faded.” I leaned in toward Balor. “I need a favor from you.”
“I would expect nothing else.”
“Will you go find out if Chelle is alive? And if she is, bring her to the sanctuary?”
Balor nodded. “Aye.”
I turned to Rose. “Is that enough to get you to come with me? He knows where to meet us. He knows everything I know, and much more.”
“I’m still not sure if I should trust you,” Rose said after a moment.
“That’s a good instinct, lass,” Balor said. “You shouldn’t trust anybody, but we are a more trustful lot than most. Certainly, more so than the queen. More important, we can get you to the Obsidian Spindle. Nobody else can do that.”
“If you do that, then I will go with you,” Rose said. “But I’m not helping you until I see Chelle.”
“And what if she be dead?” Balor asked. “What then?”
“She’s alive. I know it.”
“Then I will find her and bring her to you. Of that I swear.”
“If you swear it,” Rose said to Balor before turning to me, “then I suppose I will trust you.”
“You have no other option.”
“Sure I do. I could refuse.”
Balor laughed. “I doubt Red would let you do that.”
This time, it was Rose who laughed. “She hasn’t known me very long. I can be very stubborn.”
“Then it’s a good thing I agreed,” I said.
Balor nodded. “That it is.”
“If this is settled, then we all must hurry.” I got to my feet. “There is no time to lose. Hopefully the next time we see each other, the Fates will have smiled on us.”
Balor tilted his head back and finished his ale. “To that day,” he said, shaking my hand. “To that day.”
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.