Prophecy's End

“Fae!” My eyes snapped open. I was standing in the middle of the valley, arms outstretched as if to receive something. Wolf stared at me from two feet away, a look of pure terror on his face. “Are they gone?” I asked, lowering my arms. “Your feet are on fire!” He exclaimed. “My feet?” Why wasn’t he asking about the fairies? I wiggled my toes and looked down. “Huh.” They were on fire. Why wasn’t I in pain? Hadn’t I had shoes before? “Do something!” Wolf screamed, dancing around me apprehensively. I stamped my feet on the ground. The flames leapt higher up my ankles. “I don’t think I’m in any danger.” In fact, I felt great. Then it hit me again. “The witch! Oh Wolf, am I too late?” It was too dark to see what was happening beyond us. Wolf didn’t answer. He continued to stare at my feet in unease. “Why are you on fire? Shouldn’t we be putting you out?” “Stay here,” I told him calmly. Then I took an experimental step forward. My suspicions were confirmed when one step took me the distance of several normal ones. “It’s just like in the story.” I took a deep breath and then ran forward. It was like I had wings again. The speed at which the forest moved toward me was amazing. I had to focus on the pressure of the ground to keep from getting lost in the exhilaration of it. Soon enough I had reached the dogwood forest. The battle in front of me was enough to kill any enjoyment I might have felt earlier. The trees were fighting the people of both sides, without discrimination, and winning. Our weapons were no match for such inhuman creatures. How can you fight something that doesn’t bleed? Where did you aim? As expected, the witch was nowhere in sight. She’d probably taken advantage of the distraction and run. Bending down, I cautiously touched a finger to the top of one flaming foot. The finger caught fire. Startled, I blew it out. I examined the finger for a second, relieved to see that it wasn’t burned. “Ok,” I said. “Let’s do this.” Quickly, I touched both palms to the tops of my feet. Then I stood and ran toward the borderline of trees. The trees turned to embrace me, barking their hollow cries. I ducked below their jagged limbs, brushing my fingers over their exposed bark. They ignited instantly. Since their attention was on catching me, they didn’t realize right away what was happening. When they did though, EVERYONE knew it. The death cries of dogwood trees are like nothing else. They’re horrible and haunting and will follow you into the recess of your nightmares. I’d only heard the cry once before, and never at such magnitude. As the first set writhed and burned, I made quick work of the other trees around me. If it had been possible for those trees to hide, they would have. I watched my people flee back toward the valley, my heart with them. “Be careful,” I quiet voice said inside my head as I walked into the forest beyond the smoldering dogwoods. I couldn’t tell if it had been the Phoenix, or the fairies, Wolf, or the little girl Evie my brain had conjured up for that moment of guidance. But I could feel them all with me, my strength in this moment of solitude. Whatever lay ahead, I knew I had to face it alone. With my flaming hands held out in front of me, I followed a suspiciously convenient path through the woods. Of course it was a trap. But what other option did I have? If the only way to find Queen White was to play straight into her hands, so be it. I would deal with her on my own terms once I got there. I ran tirelessly on and on. Nothing changed. Not the trees. Not the sky. Not the temperature or the consistency of the wind. I refused to break my gaze from the road ahead. Still, I worried that it would never end. I started to wonder if maybe this was the trap. Maybe the witch had tricked me into walking this eternal loop. Should I stop? Should I go back? My eyes darted to the side, long enough to miss a dip in the path. Next thing I knew, I was flying forward. My chin hit the ground, hard, and I tasted blood. I looked up from the dirt and noticed something odd. There was a flap in the air above me, like the curled edge of a hanging curtain. I blew the flame from one hand and gingerly lifted the corner of it. The flap peeled away from the scenery. I cautiously looked through. Behind the curtain was the same forest as before, but different. Unlike the unchanging forest in the curtain, this one had a curve in the path up ahead. “Sneaky witch.” I whispered while crawling through. Had I not accidentally fallen below the illusion line, I might have walked that endless loop forever. The thought made me shudder. I would have to be more careful. Queen White was more adept at traps than I’d expected. I touched my bare hand to my foot again and continued on. There was a light up ahead, and I had a thought as to what might be causing it. It made sense that this crusade would end exactly where it began, at the Poisoned Apple Tree. I saw the halo of light surrounding the tree before the tree itself. It was like a beacon drawing me home. “Here! Here!” It seemed to shout. Even if I hadn’t had business within its aura, I wouldn’t have been able to resist it. I stopped once I could see the entire thing in all its terrible glory. Below its crown of branches was the Queen, rolling an apple between her white hands. I watched it flash, red, white, red. “Ah,” she said when she finally noticed me. “You came.” I nodded solemnly. “How unfortunate.” She punctuated her sentence by hurling the apple at me. It flew an unnatural distance and with magnificent speed. But I caught it squarely in one flaming hand, where it disintegrated into a pile of ash. The Queen laughed. “You come here with party tricks?!” She plucked another apple from the tree and threw it at me. I dodged it readily. She laughed again, as if this were some game put on for her amusement. “What else can you do?” She stomped her foot and the ground beneath me crumbled. Untroubled, I used my new gift of speed to relocate to safer ground. “Agility AND fire! My, you’re starting to behave like the Phoenix. Let me guess, his dying gift to you? I can only assume the old bird is finally gone since he’s not here to rescue you. So is that your plan? You’re going to rush over here and set me on fire? Well, it’s not going to work!” The witch slammed her fist into the tree angrily. All laughter was gone from her face now. What remained was a mask of hatred. “What was in that mirror? What did you find on the other side?” I took a step calmly toward her. “Tell me! What was on the other side?” Her eyes bulged abnormally. I took another step forward. “Stop!” She screamed. “I’m not going to stand by and let you do this.” With a wave of her hand a chasm ripped through the ground between us, surrounding the great tree like a moat. “That should slow you down.” She waved her hand again and it filled with water. “Try crossing that with your flaming feet!” I stepped forward again, submerging my legs. The Queen gasped. “Who said I needed any of this to beat you?” And with that I plunged my flaming hands into the water. Steam rose around me, obstructing the look of shock I knew was on the witch’s face. I was now unarmed, stripped of the weapons that had gotten me this far. “What you don’t understand,” I called out to her, “Is that you never had a chance.” “Tell me what you found on the other side!” She could have killed me already. But she waited. If she killed me, she might not get the chance to steal the “gift” I had received on the other side of the mirror. “What did you find on the other side?!” The steam had finally dissipated. I could see her face clearly now. It wasn’t nearly as beautiful as it had once appeared. Maybe the magic was wearing off. Maybe the illusion only worked from a distance. But in that enchanted light, I could definitely see the shadow of her true form. It was repulsive, almost reptilian. “Tell me what you found,” she said softly, desperately. She reached a pale hand out to me, straining, as if to help. “OK,” I said. The corner of her mouth twitched. “I found-” I closed my eyes and the world fell quiet, waiting. “-knowledge. I found knowledge.” My hands burst from the water, splashing the once powerful Queen in the face. “And you can’t take that from me.”