The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 47
Children. They were both children. Children that would surely get us all dusted before the end.
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.
Children.
They were both children.
Children that would surely get us all dusted before the end.
The gorgon, though. She did love Rose. She’d proven it to me. That was something, I guess.
Of course, I could not possibly let her meet Ozma looking like a hideous monster. Ozma, for all her grace and understanding, would never accept a monster into her confidence. Luckily, I knew a dealer in magical artifacts who owed me a couple dozen favors.
Nearby, there was a small inn run by one of Balor’s cousins, another shape shifter, who could help us fix our problem while giving us some desperately needed rest. I hated rest, but in six hundred years I still hadn’t convinced my soul that it didn’t need sleep.
It was near midnight when we finally reached the inn. The place was nothing special, except that it existed in the middle of the harsh mountains surrounding Oz, and that by itself was a feat. The inn was humble and small, but clean, and sturdy in its construction.
“Wait outside,” I told Chelle and Rose before I walked with Balor toward the shop, which also acted as the lobby for the inn. There were not many travelers on the mountain pass, but almost everyone that traveled the path needed supplies and rest when they reached the inn.
“Do you really think this girl is the light that was promised?” Balor said under his breath. “She seems kind of naïve to me to be the prophesied one.”
“Of course she’s naïve,” I grumbled. “She has no idea what she’s in for, or what she’s capable of. Neither of them do.”
“Do you think Ozma will really take them to the Spindle if they help us?”
I paused at the front door of the inn. “I don’t care, frankly. I am compelled to bring the girl to Queen Ozma so that she can regain a sense of hope for the future of Urgu. That is my place in the grand scheme. The rest of the prophesy has little to do with me. I am just the Bearer. If I had to guess, though, I would say Ozma will never let them leave this place.” I looked back at the two girls. “Besides, if the prophesy is true, then they won’t live to see the Return, even if they are the harbingers of it.”
“That’s too bad. They seem nice.”
“What are two lives sacrificed against all of Urgu, and all of humanity?”
Balor sighed. “It doesn’t make it any less sad.”
I opened the door to the store. “I never said it wouldn’t be sad when you joined me. I said together we would end this reign of terror. And we will, no matter what it takes. I made a promise to you once, and I intend to keep it.”
“And get back in the good graces of Ozma.”
I slapped his shoulder. “We will save her, and be welcomed back, my friend.”
The store was filled with odds and ends, bits and bobbins. There were clothes and blankets, and cured meats, plus weapons and tools to get through the harsh winters. I walked past all of it and made straight for the counter where a slight, old woman with a pronounced hunch bent over the counter, cleaning it with a collection of feathers.
“Dilif, my cousin,” Balor boomed. “You look so feeble.”
The woman looked up and smiled. Half of her teeth had fallen out, and those that remained were rotted through. “Better than looking like you.”
They stared at each other for a moment, eyeing each other from nose to naval. Then, they laughed and embraced.
“It’s good to see you,” Balor bellowed.
Dilif released Balor and pushed back from him. “Oh, if only I could say the same. Unfortunately, you only come when you need something.”
“That’s not true.”
Dilif looked at him side eyed. “When was the last time you graced my door?”
Balor thought for a moment, trying to hide his shame. “A century or so ago.”
Dilif crossed her arms. “And was it to say hello, or because you needed something?”
“That’s not fair,” Balor said breathlessly. “You know—the circumstances—”
There was a long silence. Dilif looked at Balor with hard eyes, but over a long moment, they softened. “I’m just kidding, my dear cousin. You still can’t take a joke.”
Balor’s smile widened. “And you still can’t tell one. A hundred years is too long.”
“It’s hard to believe it’s been so long.”
Balor nodded. “The month Hypnos vanished, give or take, marked it a hundred years this week that I last saw you, cousin.”
Dilif groaned. “Yes, I will trust your memory. I try not to think about it. What can I do for you?”
“We were wondering if you had any magical amulets or other artifacts,” I said.
Dilif scoffed. “Of course I do. Wouldn’t be much of an alchemist if I didn’t have magic like that, Red. What are you looking for?”
I pointed out the window. “Something to disguise that gorgon.”
Dilif followed my gaze. When she saw the gorgon, she smiled. “Why would you want to hide her? She’s beautiful.”
“Perhaps, but she will stick out in Oz. You know the rules about bringing monsters within its borders.”
Dilif turned back. “I do. The queen keeps powerful magic to guard against enchantments. Luckily for you, I’m the best and quickest alchemist in all of Urgu.”
“So you have something that we can use to disguise her?”
Dilif shook her head. “Not on me. That kind of magic is old and costly. Not much need for disguise up here. You can be who you are, no matter what anybody else thinks.” She paused for a moment, then said, “I only make items like that on request.”
“What is it going to cost me?”
“Two flights and a heroic adventure.”
I grumbled. “That’s highway robbery.”
She shrugged and resumed her dusting. “You’re welcome to go to another alchemist. I think there’s one on the other side of the valley. Seven hundred miles away.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out a handful of dreams. I picked one up and examined it. Inside, the pink hues swirled and eddied until I saw the makings of a sea voyage. I placed it on the table and picked up another. It was of a woman baking a cake. Not that one. The next one was of somebody flying through the clouds, as was the next.
“These are my three most powerful dreams,” I said, handing them to Dilif. “This better work.”
Dilif cradled the dreams in her hands. “These girls must be very special for you to spend dreams like this.”
I looked back out the window at Chelle and Rose. “You have no idea.”
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.