The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 40
After we dismounted, we tied the horses near the tree line. We didn’t want them to be food for a hungry dragon, after all.
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.
After we dismounted, we tied the horses near the tree line. We didn’t want them to be food for a hungry dragon, after all. Once they were safe, we made our way back to the burned ruin of the Happy Dragon.
“That building stood for over a thousand years,” Diedre said. “We thought it was invincible.”
“Then what happened to it?”
“Hypnos’s magic weakens every day. His will protected this place, and now that will has faded to nothing.” A smirk broadened across her face. “Maybe he truly is dead.”
It didn’t matter why the place burned down. What mattered was that Rose could have been inside, and I had to find out if she was dead or not.
“We need to get a closer look.”
“Why?”
“To see if Rose…”
“She won’t be here. Even if she’s dead, it’s not like her body is going to show up. If she’s dead, she’s ash. If she’s alive, she’s either gone from this place or captured.”
Captured. I didn’t think about captured, but it only made sense that they would have taken prisoners before they burned the inn to the ground.
“Where would they keep their prisoners?” I asked.
“Behind about fifty guards, locked in a prison carriage.”
I looked around the town for any sign of a prison carriage, but I couldn’t find any. “I’m going in. Wait here.”
“Are you kidding?” Deidre said. “You’re about as stealthy as a two-ton bison. You’ll be caught in a second, and then they’ll look around for me. We need help.”
“I need to find Rose.”
The dragon high above was resting comfortably, the carcass of a freshly eaten goat lay on the ground in front of it. I crept into the town and ducked into a little nook on the side of thatch-roofed house. I listened for guards but couldn’t make out anything.
When I’d reached the other side of the house, I peered around the corner. Two guards were trying desperately not to fall asleep and failing. Finally, they were both leaning against the house, dozing. I leapt from one building to the other.
The charred remains of the Happy Dragon lay in front of me. I heard voices from the other side of the building.
“Have you found them yet?”
A woman’s voice answered. “No, sir.”
I peeked around the corner and saw a tall, blonde man. His emerald breast plate was embossed with a golden peacock. He was talking to a shorter woman in leather armor with a similar emblem on her chest.
“Keep looking.”
“We’ve looked over every inch of this city and…nothing. Maybe she burned up or dusted.”
“Then find her ashes!” the man shouted in her face.
“Yes, sir,” the woman replied, visibly shaken.
The man turned away. There was a crack in the air followed by a flash, and suddenly, in front of the man was the Wicked Witch. She was dressed in a long black gown and wearing a headdress of hooked horns.
“I am displeased,” the witch said.
“Queen Nimue,” the man said, genuflecting. “It is an honor.”
“Get up!” Nimue said. “You can’t find the girl on your knees.” Nimue held out her arm, and the man slowly rose to his feet as if not by his own power. The witch was levitating him. “Of course, you can’t find her without your head, either.”
The man’s face turned purple. “Yes, queen.”
Nimue flicked her wrists and the man fell, gasping for air. “You have never disappointed me before, Captain Balsim. I assume that is because you know the way I deal with incompetence.”
Captain Balsim stayed on the ground, holding his neck and panting. “I do, ma’am. I live only to serve you.”
“Good…” Nimue trailed off. She lifted her nose into the air and sniffed. “I smell something. Something—oh, this is delicious.”
Something tugged on my shirt. I turned around to find Diedre. “Come on. We have to go. Nimue—”
“I know she’s here,” I said, pointing to her on the other side of the charred rubble. “I can see her.”
Diedre peeked around the corner. “We gotta move.”
“I think you’re right.”
I turned to move, but I was stuck in place. Something dragged me backwards against my will. Nimue was holding her hands in the air, beckoning me forward with her fingers. Next to me, Diedre grunted and kicked her invisible restraints.
“My, my, my. Don’t you get around,” Nimue said.
I lifted my arms to cast a spell, but Nimue clasped her hands tightly and my arms snapped close to my body, unable to move.
“I never thought I would see you again.” Nimue looked me up and down and then her eyes settled on the amulet around my neck. “I smell old magic on you, girl. Why do you hide your true form?”
“No, please,” I said.
But she didn’t listen. She took my amulet and crushed it with her free hand, keeping me and Diedre suspended in air with the other. With the amulet gone, I returned to my original form. My snakes curled through the air and hissed at Nimue.
“That’s better,” Nimue said, her voice pinched with excitement. “You are so much more beautiful in your true form. Tell me, does your friend know?”
I looked back at the shocked expression on Diedre’s face. It was twisted into a fury. “You’re a monster!” She spat. “How could you? I never would have—”
“Please,” I said. “I’m only a half-monster. I’m not so—”
“Shut it!” Diedre said. “If we get outta here, I’m gonna cut off your head myself.”
“Well,” Nimue said, chuckling. “I would very much like to see that, but I think she has more use to me than just as a trophy. Don’t you?” Nimue took another deep whiff in. “You have something else that I haven’t seen in even longer...you have a body.”
Diedre gasped. “A body? You were stupid enough to come to Urgu of your own free will? You really are stupid.”
I nodded. “Seems that way.”
Nimue smiled. “Do you know that I’ve been searching for a body for over a thousand years. There is one particular spell that I’ve been meaning to try. It could be the answer to everything. Balsim!”
Captain Balsim ran forward. “Yes, my lady.”
“Bring this one to my castle. Take her friend, too. They could both be of use to me yet. Besides, if my spell doesn’t work, I would very much like to see the red-haired one cut off the gorgon’s head.”
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.