The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 51
The crypts were dark and dusty, except for the few flickering torches and the fire from my hands.
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.
The crypts were dark and dusty, except for the few flickering torches and the fire from my hands. We ended up in a big room, with some weird kid wearing a crown of tree bark, and she called Red by the name Gabrielle. I hated everything about Urgu, but there was little I hated more than these crypts. They were cramped and impossible to fight in, and there was only one method of escape, a staircase.
“My queen,” Red said, genuflecting.
“It’s good to see you, Ozma,” Balor said. He also bowed low.
Really? Ozma was nothing but a little child. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old.
“You may stand,” Ozma said to Red, who obliged. “You risked much to come here. The last time we spoke I banished you to the far reaches of the kingdom.”
“That was so long ago.”
“Twenty years, almost to the day, and yet it feels like yesterday to me.”
“Excuse me?” Rose said. “You said you were working for Ozma.”
Red looked back at her. “I am working for Ozma. She didn’t approve of my quest, but I did it for her.”
A lie. Typical. I knew I couldn’t trust her. “So, you are a liar, then?”
“I’m not a liar,” Red said. “I just didn’t unpack the whole truth. Ozma frowned upon my search for the chosen one, but I knew it was the answer to everything.”
“Which is where we differ,” Ozma replied with a hint of contempt bouncing on her voice. “I had more pragmatic concerns, like staying alive.”
“Which you have done,” Red said. “Even without my protection.”
“I have become…wily since we last spoke. Before you left, you said that I wouldn’t last a week without you to protect me.”
“And I was gleefully wrong, but where is your council? And your guards?”
“They are few and scattered to the wind. One day, they will rejoin me, when the time is right.” Ozma turned toward Rose. “And who is this?”
I pushed forward to block Rose from view. I spoke harshly. “You can stay back, please…queen.”
“You don’t speak that way to Queen Ozma!” Balor shouted.
I held up my hand, which was still on fire. “I just did.”
Ozma stepped forward and smiled at me. She leaned down to my hand and with a light exhale, the fire in my hand went out. “I like you.”
“How did you do that?”
“I do not have the full power of Hypnos, but his blessing still runs through my veins.”
“You can use magic?” Rose said.
“Little more than parlor tricks these days, really. Since Hypnos left, my power has waned.”
“That’s why we’re here, my queen,” Red said, taking a step toward Rose. I gave her a dirty look but didn’t stop her. “This is Rose. She’s a dreamer. A new one. She came into Urgu through the portal just like dreamers did when Hypnos was still here.”
“She did?” Ozma replied breathlessly.
“That’s right. Exactly one hundred years since Hypnos’s disappearance, just like the prophesy said.”
Ozma chuckled. “You and that prophesy. When will you accept that the Fates left us here to rot? They don’t want to help us. They want to see us suffer. I don’t believe a word they ever said. If they wanted to help us, they would have opened their doors to me years ago instead of watching everything I care about turn to dust.”
“You should. Because it’s true. Just like I said. I wasn’t giving you false hope. I just needed time. But this is proof. Hypnos is still alive, and with this girl’s help, we can bring him back.”
“And exactly how do you do that?” Chelle said.
Red looked down at the ground. “I’m not sure…yet. But that’s why I brought you to Ozma. She’s the wisest person in Urgu.”
“She’s a child!” I shouted.
“Only in stature,” Ozma said softly. “I’m three thousand and twenty years old.”
I blinked a few times. I was not expecting this information. “Well, then. You look good for your age.”
Ozma’s gaze fell on me for a long, silent moment as she studied every crevice of my face. “Who is this?”
“That’s…her girlfriend, Chelle.”
“Fascinating,” Ozma said. “And did you come through the portal as well?”
I shook my head. “No. I came here through a door guarded by Mydnyte.”
“Interesting.” Ozma pointed to my necklace. “Your enchantment. What does it mask?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“Because you’re ashamed?”
“She’s not ashamed,” Rose poked in. “She just doesn’t want to freak you out.”
“What does that mean?” Ozma said. “Freak out?”
“That you won’t like it.”
Ozma giggled. “My dear, I doubt anything can freak me out.”
“It’s because I’m a gorgon,” I said.
“Incredible. And you thought I would not be okay with this?”
“I didn’t know what you would think. I really didn’t care, either. Red thought it would be better, and she knows this dumb place better than I do.”
“Yes, there was a time when I was uneasy around monsters. However, if my exile has taught me anything, it’s that there are no bad races, just bad people. I have relied on the kindness of all types in my time away from the throne.”
“I like that story,” Rose said with a smile. “Not the exile part, but the not being a bigoted jerk part.”
“I like that part, too.” Ozma turned away from us, her hand on her chin. “This is all fascinating. Thank you, Gabrielle. You have brought me something to ponder.”
“Does that mean I can stay?” Red asked cautiously.
Ozma smiled. “Yes, it means you can stay. At least until we figure this all out.”
“And I too?” Balor added.
Ozma turned away. “Both of you. For now, please, let me think on this in silence. I will be back to you shortly, or longly, depending on how long it takes to think.”
I exhaled loudly and crossed my arms. “I don’t mean to be rude, but none of this is why we’re here.”
“Oh?” Ozma said, spinning back around.
“We’re here to get to the Obsidian Spindle and get back home. That’s it. I don’t know or care about a prophesy.”
Ozma looked me up and down. “No, you wouldn’t, would you? After all, you have no idea the depth of our struggle.”
“I’m sorry. I feel bad I don’t feel bad, but we just want to go home.”
“Very well,” Ozma said. “If that is your wish, I will send you across the Cursed Sea on a boat within the hour.”
“You can’t!” Red said. “They have to help us.”
Ozma shook her head. “They don’t have to do anything. They must help of their own free will. Otherwise, we are monsters, just as bad as Nimue.”
“So, we can just go?” I asked. “Just like that?”
She nodded. “Just like that.”
I looked back at Rose, who glared at me. I could tell what she was thinking, but I didn’t care. My job was to get her back home, not to be a savior to a forgotten realm.
“Tell me, though,” Ozma said. “What did you promise Mydnyte to get her to open the door to Urgu? She is not known to be persuaded easily.”
My jaw clenched. “I told her I would kill Hera.”
Ozma chuckled. “And yet, that was a lie?”
I nodded, slowly and carefully. “That’s right.”
Ozma smiled broadly as she stared deeply into my eyes. “You really are quite interesting, and bold. I could have used one like you.”
I broke away from her gaze. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
She shook her head. “You aren’t a disappointment. I don’t even know you well enough to decide whether you would help or hurt me. I suppose I’ll never know, and there is some relief in that. I already have enough to worry about. Worrying that you would betray me, or turn away from me, or not fulfill your promise is not something I need to add. So, in some ways, I should thank you.”
“You’re…welcome?”
Rose swallowed loudly. “Won’t Urgu be doomed if we don’t help you, though? What about the prophesy?”
“We have survived for a hundred years without Hypnos. This world will keep spinning without him for another century, even if it’s not as perfect as we would like.”
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.