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With a roar and a mighty shove, I forced the white-haired girl off my chest. She wasted no time regaining her footing. Whipping the pendant around her hand, she growled at me and struck me in the chest with her fist. Surprised by her strength, I tumbled backward on the ground, but she couldn’t keep me down. I slapped her across the face and dragged my nails across her skin. It felt hard, like stone, not soft and yielding like a mortal’s flesh. She was certainly a supernatural creature! Spinning around with her arms spread perfectly like a dancer’s, she brought her leg up and delivered a powerful kick to my gut. As if watching a slow-motion picture, I could see the next strike coming and ducked out of the way.
With a grunt, she came at me again, flipping her palms up. Suddenly the sun pendant began to shine on my face, and I screamed in surprise. It wasn’t truly the sun’s rays, but it was equally strong and burned my skin slightly. Yes, I could feel my cheeks warming.
“Enough!” I shouted as I slapped her hard. My strike didn’t appear to affect her. Frustrated, I reached for the pendant, hoping I could throw it into the nearby woods.
“Poor Guinevere.” The girl had a strange accent, and I assumed Queen Thalia was her mother. “Have you lost your way?” She waved the pendant again, and although I couldn’t see her face, I could sense her glee at my pain. “Too much sunlight is not good for you, is it? See? You and I are not so much alike. The sun does not burn me. It serves me. That is much greater than being a slave to the darkness.”
The pain blinded me, but I reached for her anyway. She moved again, and the light prevented me from judging distance so I couldn’t get my hands on her. With a frustrated growl, I did the only thing I could; I ran into the woods as her mocking laughter rang in my ears. Thankfully, she didn’t chase me. What was my plan now? I grabbed the trunk of a nearby tree and steadied myself. My encounter with the strange girl had left me weaker, and my hunger increased too. I would need to feed if I was going to do further battle.
What have I done? It is not like me to be so reckless.
Then I spotted another glinting of glass. Another crystal-clear coffin, only there was no sleeping beauty inside. No golden child with white hair. I could plainly see a gray corpse in ragged clothes. The bits of long hair left on her skull and the remnants of her once-elegant gown indicated that she had been female. What a pitiful sight! Seeing the unknown woman housed in the box both sickened and fascinated me. Why would she not be like the other two? She was clearly not a child but a full-grown woman. I squatted beside the coffin and took in the horribleness of it all. Death was a cruel master. It humbled us all. Well, most of us. And yet, I envied her that she had left this painful world behind.
Then her hand thumped the glass and her dead eyes opened. At least one did. The other socket was empty. How was she still alive? As if she were using her last effort, she slapped her hand on the glass again and left a smudge behind. With my hand to my mouth, I stepped back from the living corpse.
“Ah, I see you have met your old friend. I have to say, Queen Guinevere, I am surprised to see you here. I thought I made myself clear. Camelot has a new queen. You are not welcome here.” It was Queen Thalia who spoke to me now.
I clenched my fist and tried not to double over in pain. The blood hunger seized me without mercy. She didn’t appear to notice my discomfort but instead sat on top of the coffin and rubbed her hand over the surface lovingly. “See? I told you she would come eventually.” The disturbed queen was clearly speaking not to me but to the one she had imprisoned in the coffin. Yes, this was her prisoner! “Queen Guinevere, before you go, perhaps you should say hello to your confidante. She hasn’t aged well, has she? You are both the same age, but this one unfortunately does not like to take blood. You see what happens when one of our kind goes against our nature. But you have not had that problem, have you, Undead Queen?” Thalia clucked her tongue and shook her head in mock sadness.
“How dare you call me that?” I leaned against a tree and growled, the pain fueling me now. “What are you talking about, Thalia?”
She moved her hand over the coffin once more and then stood. I could hear a clicking sound. Was she releasing the corpse? The merciful thing would be to kill her, to let her have a final rest. How could anyone recover from such an emaciated state?
“Come, Queen Guinevere. Don’t be rude.”
I didn’t acquiesce to her request but stepped back. What would my next move be? Could I defeat Thalia in my condition? What magic was this? I should not be this weakened after such a brief skirmish.
“My daughter did good work on you, I think. I can feel your discomfort. We are sisters in a way, you and I. Of the same blood, only...there are some differences.” I put my head in the crook of my elbow for a moment to catch my breath, but Queen Thalia did not appear to notice. She continued in her gloating over me. “How do you like my Sun and Moon? My children are strong, like their mother. Children are the only thing worth having. They are not at all like their cowardly father. They deserve a strong father, a brave king, like Arthur. How could you so foolishly cast him aside?”
“You know nothing about Arthur and me. He would never consent to be your consort. You are no one and nothing to us. You are an upstart queen...if that is what you really are.” The stabbing pain in my abdomen twisted, but I refused to bow before Thalia. “The Pendragon has his own children—and a wife, in case you forgot.”
She did not answer but clucked her tongue at me like I was a silly child. She tapped her fingers on the glass as if trying to get the attention of a lazy pet snake. “Now, now, Nimue. What do you say about this? Do you think me an upstart?”
“Nimue?” I froze at hearing my friend’s name. “What did you say?”
Ignoring me now, Thalia rose. With a wave of her hand, the lid of the glass coffin fell to the ground without breaking. “Here, let me help you, dear. You must be starving. It’s been so long since you have had any nourishment.” Thalia’s strange accent made her words sound kind, but I knew exactly what she intended. This creature, the one she intended to release, would come for me and drink my blood. This horrible thing she called Nimue was an emaciated vampire, denied blood for who knew how long. She would be so hungry, it wouldn’t matter that I was also vampire-kind. The woman climbed out painfully slowly, and the horrible sight of her made me sick. The smell of rotting flesh filled the green meadow and assaulted my supernatural senses.
“Here she is, Nimue. Here is the one who did this to you—Guinevere, the Queen of Camelot. You tried to help her, but she betrayed you. Oh, you do not remember, Guinevere? Fret not. I am sure the memory will come back to you eventually.” She laughed quietly and stepped back as Nimue began to shamble toward me.
I couldn’t move. My eyes would not allow me to look away. “This is not Nimue.” Even as I said it, I knew that was not the truth.
This is Nimue.
Thalia was right. I did remember. I remembered everything.
I sobbed as she moaned and fell to the ground.
“Nimue, I am sorry...I am so sorry.”
