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“I need you up here with me, Blackie,” Henry said as the cart slowed.
“Fold the tarp and make sure you surround Maggie,” Blackie said and climbed out from under the blanket sealing us in the dark.
The dwarves made quick work of folding the cover and surrounding me. A blanket covered my back, allowing my head and shoulders to be exposed. They each stood on a piece of the blanket, stretching the fabric over my back in an uncomfortable cocoon. Each stood with their arms crossed facing forward in a protective stance.
I couldn't see the entrance to the Hobgoblin Caverns, but as we got closer, the cart was engulfed in the horrible stench of decay and terror.
We slowed to a stop, and the ground shook beneath us. A shadow fell over the entire cart, and I gulped my fear, forcing it into my stomach where it festered like an infection.
“What do we have here?” A voice barreled over us, creating a wind that nearly knocked over the dwarves surrounding me.
“The king owes me a favor, and I am here to collect,” Blackie announced.
The troll chuckled. “I smell magic among your clan. It has been too long since I've tasted magical blood.”
All the dwarves drew their swords, crisscrossing them over me. I could just see part of their defense, but I didn't think their meager weapons would hold against this giant beast.
“You cannot touch my princess!” Blackie said. “Not unless you want the full force of your king's fury.”
A growl rippled the air. “And who are you to stop me?”
“Blackie Sunhaven.”
Silence fell over us like a sweeping cloud.
The shadow decreased by half.
“I apologize for my rudeness, Sir Sunhaven,” the troll said. His voice had softened, and his tone echoed true remorse. “You may pass.”
“Sir Sunhaven?” Henry whispered as the cart started forward.
“It's a long story,” Blackie mumbled.
I caught sight of the troll guarding the entrance as we plodded along under him. He was massive, larger than the castle walls surrounding the queen's kingdom. The sharp claws at his fingertips made that festering fear inside me bubble like the surface of an erupting volcano.
If these creatures were this large and foreboding, why hadn't they joined the war against the queen years ago?
I wasn’t sure I would ever get an answer to that silent question. I only caught a fraction of the trolls’ stares as we navigated the cavern streets, but the ones I caught screamed hostility. We were strangers in their domain, and I was their main dessert.
My nerves jumbled into a crescendo of shocks that rocked my body with every clop of the horse’s hooves. When we stopped in front of a castle so tall I could barely see the top poking through a layer of clouds above, every one of my cells shook. I doubted my ability to stand, but when the dwarves pulled the blanket off, I pushed myself up to my feet, clenching my jaw against my muscles' rebellion.
With careful steps, I moved to the back of the cart. Henry waited for me. His eyes were somber when he reached out to help me down from the back. He kept eye contact long after he placed me on the ground. Even without words, I could see the depths of his love in his unease.
I prayed that coming here wasn't a mistake.
Henry clasped his arm around my waist, and we followed Blackie into the castle with the other six dwarves following us, keeping a healthy distance between us and the trolls that had gathered to see the spectacle.
Guards within the castle surrounded us, leading us into the massive throne room decorated in gemstones and gold. It sparkled, mesmerizing me, making me forget my fear. It wasn't until my gaze fell to the throne in front of us that the hot scratches of anxiety returned.
The king of Hobgoblin Caverns sat in a straight-backed chair. He was larger and more fierce-looking than any of the other trolls I’d had the distinct horror of seeing. His gaze narrowed at me and his nostrils flared as he tilted his head back to take a whiff. He licked his thick lips and smiled, revealing layers of the sharpest teeth I had ever seen.
“You brought me a gift, Sir Sunhaven.”
“No. I brought my princess to your caverns for her safety,” Blackie said from his post in front of us. “She is the last pureblood in the kingdom and the only one that can defeat the queen.”
The king leaned forward, scowling at Blackie. “I do not care about the kingdom outside these cavern walls. This is my domain, and the evil queen is of no consequence to me. But a fine delicacy of pureblood magic... That is quite the prize.”
“Then you will have to go through me,” Henry said, his tone fiery just like his eyes.
Blackie turned, leveling a glare that shut Henry up. He turned back to the troll king. “Unfortunately, you will have to go through us all,” he said. “And that would be a stain to your good name. No one would be willing to deal with you if they knew you were not true to your word.”
A rumbling growl filled the room, and the king slammed his hand down on the arm of the chair.
My knees shook, and Henry's grip on me tightened. We were at the mercy of these beasts, and unless the king honored his agreements more than his stomach, we were in trouble.
“I will let you leave the city.” The king pointed at Blackie.
Blackie shook his head and took another step forward, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at the king. “You owe me your life. I am calling in that favor right now.” He pointed his sword in my direction. “She must survive, or otherwise darkness will come to your caverns and you will be as helpless to stop it as we were. The queen left the lush hills of Dwarfland as a desolate scar.”
The king laughed. “You compare a land of midgets to this land of giants?”
Blackie raised an eyebrow, and the king's laughter subsided. “I alone defeated your best warrior.” He cocked his head. “Imagine how invincible a city of us were. The queen still slaughtered our families, our friends.”
I stared at the little man in front of us, startled at his words.
“The seven of us had a task, one that required us to be away. Otherwise, we would have fallen to her evil, too. Do you know what that task was, King Trenton?” Blackie asked and waited.
The king leaned forward. “What could possibly take all seven of you away from home during a war?”
Blackie pointed his sword at me. “Snow White.”
Gasps echoed in the chamber, but the king sent a silencing glare to his guards.
“It’s actually Maggie White,” I muttered under my breath. I hated my formal name. It was redundant, and irritated me, making me sound like a docile little girl instead of a strong princess warrior.
Blackie glanced back at me, his gaze transmitting a warning. I heeded, dropping my gaze to the floor.
“Snow White was the figment of a senile old man,” the troll king said.
“My father was not senile!” I snapped before I had the good sense to tie my tongue. I straightened, ignoring the flare of ripping pain across the length of my back. “I warn you not to speak ill of the former king.”
Blackie stared at me with his mouth open and eyes wide with shock.
The king sent a deadly glare at me. “Witch, I will speak ill of anyone I choose.”
I pulled on my magic, conjuring the fiery sword I’d fought the dead with. “I have battled against the army of the dead. You don’t scare me.” I held the sword at the ready, tapping into my power to keep my body upright and fierce.
“Maggie,” Henry said from behind me. When he placed his hand on my shoulder, he winced and withdrew it like I had burned him.
I ignored Henry and his damned reasonable tone. My blood simmered. I was tired. I was in pain. And I was hungry. Ravenous, as if I hadn’t eaten for days. I was hungrier than I could ever remember being.
I gripped the sword tighter as my temper escalated.
“You sit here in this cavern, hiding from the world, when you could be helping us save it from the horrors the queen will ultimately deliver. You say this is none of your concern, but it is, because if you do not help us, the army of the dead will march through here and decimate your lands, leaving no one alive.”
The troll king sat back, blinking his eyelash-less lids. His dark gaze locked on me. “The army of the dead?” he asked with a frown.
I lowered the blade and pressed the tip to the floor to steady myself. “Yes. The queen has command over an army of the dead.”
His hand swiped out and grabbed me. The sword fell to the ground with a clang as he pulled me close to his face, two stories above the ground. “What kind of a fool do you think I am, witch?” he bellowed in my face.
I recoiled and pushed on his tight fist with my hands, trying to break his grip. Terror washed over me as completely as his sour breath.
“She was struck by one,” Blackie called from below. “Look at her back!”
The troll king turned his hand so he could see what was exposed of my back. His eyes widened, and then he opened his fist as if I were diseased.
I fell through the air, gasping. I reached for my magic to slow my descent, but the fall was faster than the spell. I hit the floor hard.
Hard enough to rip a yelp from my chest.
Hard enough to rattle my bones.
Hard enough to shoot pains through every muscle and I collapsed into a heap.
The king stood and picked his foot up as if he were going to stomp me out of existence.
Blackie stepped next to me, raising his sword. “I would not do that if I were you.”
The king hesitated, his face a grim mask of frustration. He slammed his foot down next to the throne, shaking the ground with the impact. “You would give your life for this infected witch?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in his answer.
Henry stepped forward and collected me in his arms, then moved us out of the king’s immediate reach. I trembled in his grasp. Every muscle still shook from the collision with the floor.
“I believe the myth,” Blackie said.
“I do not.” The king spat his words like a viper spits venom.
“And yet you dropped her as if you were holding hot iron.” Blackie’s head cocked to the side.
The king wiped his hand on the side of his pants with a grimace before meeting Blackie’s gaze. “I will let you and the other six dwarves stay in my kingdom, but the human and the witch must leave.”
Blackie shook his head. “No. That will not fulfill your debt.”
“My debt owed to you is not enough to keep that witch within these walls.”
“Whatever you require, I will pay.”
“You do not have what I would require to allow her to stay here...alive.”
“What is it you require?” Blackie asked.
“Her magic.”
I blinked, staring up at the massive troll. Without my magic, I would have no hope of surviving against the army of the dead, never mind if I had to face the queen.
Blackie glanced at me and then at the floor. He shifted his weight, and then after one last glance at me, he looked up at the troll king.
God help us all.
Blackie nodded. “But not all of it.”
“But...”
Blackie raised his hand, stopping me with both the motion and a glare that would silence just about anyone. “Trust,” he said softly and turned back to the king. “And you have to heal her.”
The troll crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Healing her is not possible. Anyone with eyes can see the poison has already started to eat away at her.” The king waved at me. “By the rise of the next full moon, she will become one of the undead.”
I gasped, and I glanced at Henry. He was studying the floor, his lips pressed together tight. As if sensing my stare, he looked up at me. The agony of the king’s words seared right through his green-eyed gaze.
“Is there any way to free her of this curse?” Henry asked.
The king sneered at him. “According to the myth your dwarf friend believes, she must kill the spell master before the next full moon.”
“And if she fails?” Henry asked.
“Then she becomes the master’s minion.”