Second Hand Curses Read online

  “Really, Jack?” Marie shook her head. “With the doe-eyed girl who’s lovesick and terrified all at once? Have you no shame?”

  “How dare you!” Jack said, clutching his chest. “The very idea what I would engage in such relations with a client. Do you think that little of me? Of my dedication to what we do? Of my professionalism?”

  “It was one of the stepsisters, wasn’t it?”

  “Dammit, Frank, you are not helping me here.”

  “I wasn’t particularly trying to,” Frank admitted. “The girl, however, I do think we should try to assist. Did you manage to get the elderlillies planted before you went off trying to sow your own seeds?”

  “We didn’t… The prince interrupted… Yes, I got the flowers planted.” Jack made a mental note never to steal Frank’s drink again. Clearly it left him cranky, and Frank was far too smart to deal with when he was annoyed.

  Although far from pleased, Marie seemed somewhat mollified by the news. “That’ll hold the fairy through the night, if we can get her in it. But our girl is going to be pricked on a spinning wheel come sunrise, unless we get an iron cage.”

  “The two days I’ve had were enough time to commission the work and begin construction. But there is no possible way we could fit a fairy in what I’ve completed thus far. Nor is it sound enough to hold one as long as we’d require.” Frank looked out the window to the afternoon’s waning light. “There’s roughly an hour to sunset. With Marie’s help and about half the night’s time I could reshape the current piece, perhaps slap together enough to make a complete enclosure, but I doubt we’d be able to fit a fully grown fairy inside it.”

  Jack drummed his fingers quietly along the table. “That was pretty much what I’d expected. Dammit all, we need more time. Or a smaller fairy.” The drumming halted as a look came over Jack’s face. Marie and Frank knew that look very well. It was the one that arrived when they were in tight spots, and usually preceded ridiculous amounts of danger. This was the look that meant Jack had an idea, and even the greatest monsters in the darkest forests gave pause at the sorts of ideas that sprang from Jack’s oddly crafted mind.

  “Since Cinderella was discovered before the agreed-upon time, it’s technically a breach of our contract. Might be best to just cut our losses and go. But I might have an inkling of something that will work. It’s a bit of a long shot, and if it doesn’t work then we are going to have a very angry fairy on our hands come morning.”

  “Knowing what Cinderella is staring down, I’d say a long shot beats the hell out of her being dragged off to serve at some fairy’s feet,” Marie said. It was the answer they all knew she’d give before the asking. Much as Marie loathed fairies, she felt for their victims even more strongly. Given her body’s extreme reaction to any severe change in temperament, it was an understandable, if not always pragmatic, sentiment.

  “Plus, I paid for the metalwork in advance,” Frank added. “So in order for us to recoup our significant expenses we need her to survive.” Frank’s own heart lined up more with Marie’s attitude than the fiscal one he’d voiced, but he knew which of the two arguments Jack would hear the louder.

  “In advance?” Jack spoke the words as if they were ancient curses that would summon forth the vilest of demons.

  “And for a rush job.” Frank could already see where things were heading; he added that one last bit to hurry them along.

  “Well then, Marie is right, we can’t simply let Cinderella be seized. After all, she’s our client and we have a duty to uphold. I’ll handle getting the fairy in the ring of elderlillies while you two will have to make use of as much of the night as possible. It’s going to be tough, but I know one thing for sure: Marie is going to love this plan.”

  As Jack began to speak, a gleefully wicked expression spread across the Marie’s face, the sort that made other patrons uncomfortable when they looked at it for too long. Jack’s words certainly held true; his was a plan that Marie might have chosen even if safer options were available.

  * * *

  The girl was waiting in the garden as Ajiana landed, her soft slippers resting delicately on the grass. It was the least this troublesome wench could do, after failing to seal the deal on the night of the ball and forcing Ajiana to run hither and thither to complete their contract. For once, it seemed, Cinderella had decided to make the mature decision and accept her fate. It a wise choice; Ajiana would have caught her effortlessly even if she tried to run, and then taken the inconvenience out on her new slave’s flesh.

  Cinderella was facing away from the soft grasses where Ajiana had set down, gazing at the cottage that she would never see again. How humorous, to know that the girl was pining for the very place she’d begged the fairy to deliver her from only a few evenings prior. There was no turning back for her now; the deal was complete. The girl had won the heart of a prince, with a bit of nudging from Ajiana’s wand, and had tasted true joy on the night of the ball. She’d gotten her wish; now came the time for payment.

  “Pleasant of you to wait for me,” the fairy said, stepping across the many flowers dotting the garden’s landscape. Were she prone to observation, Ajiana might have noticed that many of these hadn’t been present in the days prior, or that one type of flower had been planted in a large circle. Such worries were for lesser creatures, however. Ajiana was a light fairy, a being of pure magic. She had no need for fear or worry. She was immortal and powerful; what care had she for newly planted flowers?

  At the sound of Ajiana’s voice, Cinderella darted forward, racing toward the cottage without so much as turning back to face the fairy. Ajiana muttered an assortment of swears under her breath, then gave chase. She moved with the speed of the winds and the nimbleness of a dandelion upon the breeze. In no time at all she’d closed the gap between her and her prize. Ajiana reached forward to grab the girl, the first step in claiming and breaking her.

  Instead, inches away from where Cinderella now stood, Ajiana’s hand struck an invisible barrier. Her fingers slid across the mystic membrane, trying to push through but finding it completely unyielding. With a small bit of effort, Ajiana tried to destroy it with a curse, only to find that her power had no effect.

  “Elderlilles under sky of night may bind a fairy of the light.” This voice didn’t belong to the woman she’d been pursuing; it was young, male, and full of an arrogance that set Ajiana’s teeth on edge. He emerged from the shadows of the cottage doorway, wide smile gleaming in the moon’s soft glow. As he moved forward he set a hand on Cinderella’s shoulder and glanced down at her. “Good work tonight. You’ve done your part; now we’ll take things over. Go into the root cellar with your family, and do not emerge until we come for you in the morning. No matter what you hear, stay put. Understand?”

  Cinderella nodded, eyes moist and hands shaking from the terror of what she’d just done. Jack released his grip, and she fled inside the cottage. Her hurried footsteps down the cellar stairs could be heard echoing through the night, even as this young man moved closer to Ajiana.

  “So, then, you would be Ajiana, Cinderella’s ‘fairy godmother’ who made her a deal she should have refused. Suppose you were banking on her not knowing there’s only one fairy who owns that title, and she doesn’t bother with peasants.”

  “And you would be the amazing fool who thought to buy the girl time by binding a fairy. Let me guess, unrequited love interest? Perhaps you’re a farmer’s son whose heart she stole in childhood and you see this as the last chance to win her away from the prince?” Ajiana glared at the man, trying to cast through the barrier and finding not so much as a hiccup charm would pass its border.

  “Come now, you have to be able to do better than that. You fairies are supposed to be able to see a person’s deepest wishes. I’d assumed that meant you had a modicum of skill in reading people. Do you truly take me to be some lovesick farmer’s son, one who happened to know the secret to trapping fairies?”

  Ajiana looked closely and realized that, no, he was not som
e simple bumpkin on a hopeless quest of the heart. Farmers didn’t generally wear swords, especially ones as long and thin as the one strapped to his side. They also didn’t move like cats across a branch, each step graceful and certain. More than anything, though, they didn’t have eyes like this man’s, full of knowledge, humor, and a touch of ferocity.

  “Who are you?”

  He bowed in a deep, measured gesture. “Jack, surname withheld for my own safety, though many monikers have been laid upon me throughout my travels. I am the founder of the Bastard Champions, a small group of scoundrels who handle situations like this one in exchange for coin. There, now we are properly introduced.”

  Ajiana kept watch on him as she began walking around the circle of elderlilles, trying to feel for a way out. “I’m impressed you knew about this little bit of magic, Jack the scoundrel. It’s old magic, so much so that I nearly forgot it existed. However, dear boy, perhaps you should have done a touch more research in your endeavors. While this ring may hold me for now, it will have no effect once the first rays of the sun light this land.”

  “Well, of course I knew that.” Jack walked over to the cottage and leaned against the wall, slowly lowering himself into a seat on the soft grass. “It’s right there in the rhyme and everything.”

  “Then you know that once I am free of this circle, all you will have accomplished is to raise my ire at Cinderella and put yourself in harm’s way. I’m a reasonable fairy, though. Break the circle now, and I’ll let you off with only a minor curse. Perhaps the inability to say people’s names, or eyes that can no longer discern faces.” Her fingers kept pressing the barrier, finding not one weak point she might be able to turn into freedom.

  “Tempting, but there’s a flaw in your logic,” Jack replied. “If we deal with you before sunrise, then I get no curses, and Cinderella pays her tab for us saving her.”

  Ajiana threw back her head and laughed into the night, a noise like high-pitched songbells being played in a graveyard. When she was done, she looked back at Jack, twirling a strand of her long purple hair through her fingers. “Deal with me? You would seek to kill a fairy? A being of pure magic? Tell me then: what precious, well-guarded weapon of legend have you brought to accomplish this? Perhaps you wield the lance used to slay a hundred swamp dragons, or maybe the Lady in the Lake asked you to take up her blade? Ah, but wait, you are clearly neither a king nor a knight, which means you would never be entrusted with either, or the handful of other weapons that might be able to accomplish such a lofty goal.”

  “Quite right you are,” Jack agreed. “Even if I could get my hands on such a weapon, I have no doubt it would refuse to be wielded by one such as I. No, I’m all too aware that killing a fairy is beyond my reach.”

  “Then let us make a deal.” Ajiana’s lavender eyes softened, and she allowed herself to cast the young man a lingering glance. Fairies were as beautiful as they chose to be, and while she didn’t carry on like some of the others, Ajiana had taken the time to form quite a comely body and a striking face for herself. “Perhaps I can be convinced to offer you a true reward for my freedom, rather than a reduced curse.”

  “And no doubt you would fulfill the contracted reward, followed immediately by the sort of curse that lasts through generations.” Jack seemed insultingly unmoved by her advances. “Besides, it’s not as if you have me at a disadvantage. I already told you, you’ll be dealt with before sunrise.”

  Ajiana snapped, perhaps a touch out of wounded pride in addition to annoyance. “Then pray tell, Jack, how will you ‘deal with me’ as you claim? You cannot kill me, and this prison of flowers will only hold for a few more hours. What possible way does a self-sure fool with a touch of knowledge have to ‘deal with’ a fairy?”

  “Iron.”

  At Jack’s word, Ajaina’s blood grew as cold as the metal he’d named. She hid her surge of fear, staring at him with a leering gaze to mock his stupidity. “Iron cannot kill a fairy.”

  “No, but it can hurt them,” Jack said. “Wound them, too, even cause injuries that take time to heal. They do all heal, of course, because as you’ve said fairies are immortal. But iron also binds their magic, so if you lock a fairy in a sealed cage composed entirely of it and bury the cage underground…well, while that fairy might not be dead, she is unquestionably dealt with.”

  “You…you would lock me, a fairy of light, away like some common pixie!” Though she was yelling, what Ajiana really wanted to do was whisper. Such an idea had never occurred to her. That wasn’t how things were done. To vanquish was one thing, but this young man with the unceasing smile was talking about countless years of imprisonment. It was wretched, vile, and wrong. If Ajiana had spared a moment in her frantic scramble of thoughts, she might have reflected on the fact that in her home were no less than ten girls to whom she’d done exactly that. But fairies, at least fairies like Ajiana, were not known for their introspection or their morality.

  “No, actually, I won’t. See, that’s what we do with most of the fairies like you we come across, but unfortunately Cinderella was discovered early, bringing you here before the cage was ready. Which means we had to think of some…less conventional means of sealing you up.”

  Ajiana heard something coming down the road. It was an animal, and it was running on all fours, but she couldn’t imagine a horse heavy enough to make steps that echoed like this one’s. Jack heard it, too. He rose from the ground and walked over to peek around the side of the cottage.

  “That would be my partners. Before they get here, I want to offer you a bargain. A contract, if you will.”

  “Doubting that your scheme will work?” Ajiana snapped.

  “It’s risky, but that’s no different from most things we do.” Jack shrugged, and Ajiana realized that he wasn’t lying. This madman really did things as preposterous as caging fairies with such regularity that he seemed almost bored by the whole thing. That, more than anything said so far, made Ajiana afraid in the core of her being.

  “Anyway, I’m offering now because once Marie gets here she’ll never let me do it. The girl deeply dislikes your kind, and I can’t say I blame her. Still, I feel like this method is going to be messy on top of being quite barbaric, so I think it might be best for everyone if I at least tried to give you an out.”

  Jack walked up to the edge of the elderlillies, only a few inches and one magic barrier outside of Ajiana’s grasp. “Here are the terms: in exchange for your freedom you will void the contract of Cinderella and every other person you’ve even taken. You will swear to never use magic again, save only for a single spell to return those imprisoned to their homes. You will never speak of the bargain to anyone, nor make any effort to see retribution exacted through others. Lastly, you will never communicate with another fairy in any way for the rest of your life. Oh, and if you have knowledge about the location of any greater fairies, throw that in for good measure.”

  “You truly are mad.” Ajiana stared at him in unabashed shock. “What you ask would all but unmake me as a fairy.”

  “Precisely.” Jack glanced off beyond the cottage, where the sound of the impending beast was growing closer. “Do we have a deal?”

  “Absolutely not! I’ll deal with your cage, and one day I’ll get free. When that day comes, I will find you, or your children, or your children’s children, and I will exact a revenge more horrible than you can imagine.”

  “I already told you,” Jack said. “You aren’t just getting a cage. You get something special. But that choice was yours to make, and you’ve done so. It can’t be said that I didn’t try to find a compromise.”

  The pounding steps came to a halt, and Jack gave his captive a brief smile before heading to the other side of the cottage. “Ho!” he called to someone Ajiana couldn’t see. “Were you able to get enough iron shavings?”

  Ajiana swallowed hard, but said nothing. These people couldn’t kill her. She had nothing to fear. She wouldn’t let go of her contracted servants, or her magic. She would drag Cin
derella back home and spend years torturing her for daring to involve such people in their business. The minute one of them stepped in here she would curse them halfway to the pits and use that one as leverage to get her freedom.

  That resolve lasted only until she saw the man round the corner with the barrel on his back. In spite of the towering beast with glowing yellow eyes that walked only a few feet behind, dragging an entire cart of supplies, the pale man was the most terrifying thing Ajiana had seen that evening. Though he moved on mismatched limbs and looked at her with stolen eyes, she sensed what he was the moment her gaze fell upon his form. Before she even saw the scars, or the dragon’s iris in his left eye’s socket, Ajiana knew she was doomed.

  Fairy magic held no power over those already dead.

  * * *

  Cinderella and her family did as they were told. It had been difficult talking them into trusting her, but seeing as she was now on her way to being the princess, her stepmother and sisters seemed eager to appease her. Perhaps they hoped it would assuage any feelings of retribution she might harbor at her years of horrid treatment. Whatever the reason was didn’t matter to her in the moment, only that they followed orders, which they did. They stayed in the root cellar during the quiet. They stayed there when the shouting began. They stayed when the shouting turned to screams, unearthly wails that they prayed never to hear again but would haunt their nightmares for years to come.

  They even stayed put when a sound like a carriage crashing through a wall tore through the night, and their home shook precariously over their heads. Mayphera began crying then, soft silent sobs as tears streamed down her face, but she made no movement to flee. If anything, the others kept their eyes away from the exit, certain that what lay on the other side was not a thing they cared to witness. Some time later, the door to the cellar was pulled open and Jack stood there, his presence wordlessly assuring them that everything was okay.