The gathering storm, p.1
The Gathering Storm, page 1
part #2 of The Pure Series
The Pure
The Gathering Storm
by CJ Preece
Chapter Eleven: Allies
“This is not a problem we can ignore any longer.”
Belle stood at the head of a long table in the parlour of Lips. At the table were all of the Pure so far gathered. Adam sat at her right and Philip to her left. Snow had declined to join them. Red was at the very end of the table, nearest to the door. Goldilocks sat several places up, much closer to Belle. The mood of the room lay low.
“If the Witch has returned then we must confront the fact that we are outmatched. Her power in life was tremendous, perhaps the greatest sorceress in history. We know she has survived death on at least two occasions, and I suspect there are many more. Some of you know her personally, others have only heard about her reputation. I tell you now that not only is it deserved, it is quite possibly understated. She has practised the darkest of dark crafts and killed many hundreds through her life. I tell you this not to scare you, but to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation.”
“What do we do now?” Che asked.
“First we need to gather our allies again. Any of the Pure who will answer the call. The only way to fight darkness is with light.”
“And what about those of us who’ve been Corrupted?” Red asked. No one had to ask who she was referring to.
“Hopefully most of us have managed to remain uncorrupted, but those that are are already lost. We will need strength and cohesion.”
“Who’s left?” Greta asked.
“Rapunzel is somewhere in the city. Jack’s here somewhere as well, if we can find him.”
“Probably the nearest tavern,” Philip said with a grin. “I’ll go look for him.”
“He may be Corrupted. Don’t forget that.”
“Well then I’m sure I can save him from his peril.”
“Perhaps we should focus on more likely candidates,” Adam said. “The other princes for example. Luke and Thomas have their hands full defending their kingdoms, but I know that Simão’s realm fell a few months ago to an invasion of ogres.”
Cheveyo frowned at that. “Led by the Witch?”
“I’m not sure. Possibly just remnants from the Ogre Wars, possibly a witch attack force. The cause doesn’t seem important now. His people are here in Ateer, I’m sure he would have come with them.”
“Maybe he’s off wandering the world again,” Philip said. No one rose to the bait.
“What about Paul?” Goldie suggested. “I know his brother’s busy, but he might come and help us.”
Belle considered it. “He’s not much of a fighter, but we will probably need to venture into the Dreamscape at some point to find out all we can about the Witch. His knowledge could help us there.”
“I can travel to him,” Cheveyo said. “His brother and I fought together in the Ogre Wars.”
“Was there anyone you didn’t fight with back then?” Philip asked.
“I seem to remember you being absent,” Red said.
“You wound me!” he crowed. “Though it is the truth.”
“Please,” Belle didn’t have to raise her voice, they fell silent at a single word. “Let’s try and remain on topic. I also heard that Hansel and Gretel had found a way to escape the Corruption. We could certainly use that ability.”
Goldie shifted uncomfortably. “That might not be a good idea Belle. They aren’t Corrupted, but they’re… something.”
“What’s wrong?” Adam asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re still like children.”
“They’re nearly twenty now Goldie. I’m sure they’ve grown up since you last saw them.”
“You don’t understand. I saw them less than a year ago.”
There was uncomfortable silence around the table, until eventually Belle sighed. “Whatever their problem, they may still be able to help us in some way. I want to see them and decide their condition for myself.” She looked around the table. “Alright, new assignments. Goldie I want you to find Hansel and Gretel again. Che, you’ve got the Lindwyrm kingdom. Philip can find Jack. Adam can go out and find Simão. Red I want you to find Rapunzel.”
“She might not want to talk to me.”
“We have more important things to worry about than old grudges,” Belle told her. “Make her understand.”
“Fine.”
“Let’s get moving people, we don’t know how long we have until the Witch may make her move.”
*
Rapunzel’s new place was a simple apartment block near the centre of the city. Next to the door were signs for the various businesses within. Some of the signs had been torn clean off the wall, bringing brick and mortar with them. Others hung by a single screw. Rapunzel’s was simple enough, right at the very top. ‘Rapunzel: Private Investigations.’
The door had a simple lock and an intercom, but Red wasn’t sure if Rapunzel would actually open up for her. Instead she barged straight through, the iron rusted enough to simply snap away. The wooden door that led inside wasn’t even locked. She shook her head at that. One way or the other that couldn’t be a good sign. It almost seemed that the further in she got, the worse the city appeared, as though all the evil was spreading outwards from the castle. But that was something to think about later, after she had completed her task here.
The walk up the stairs gave her plenty of time to think about what she might say, but unfortunately nothing came to mind. She hoped Rapunzel wouldn’t still hold a grudge, but then she had never been very good at reading the other woman. They were close enough in age, but that was about their only similarity. She had been a princess, and Red a peasant. Red chose isolation, Rapunzel was forced into it. Perhaps it was stranger that they had become friends in the first place than that they had broken up so messily.
At the top of the stairs she banged hard on the door, listening closely and hearing the squeak of shoe leather.
“Who is it?”
“A friend.”
“That’s what you all say.”
“I come with a message from Belle.”
There was a pause, then the door handle turned and she was standing there, grimacing at her.
“Hello Red.”
“Rapunzel.”
Rapunzel walked back to sit behind her desk. Red followed and sat in the chair opposite. “Been a while,” Rapunzel said when they were seated.
“Three years.”
“You look like hell.”
“You look like one of Them.”
“Why are you always so rude?”
“Why are you always so high and mighty?”
The two women glared at each other across the desk, Rapunzel gripping a pen tight enough that it cracked.
“You’ve set up quite a business here,” Red said, looking around the office. “Finding people?”
“It’s like your own work, only without the brutal murder at the end of it.”
”So I suppose that bulge on your hip is just because you’re pleased to see me?”
“Can’t be too careful in Ateer these days.”
“Even when an old friend comes to visit?”
“We haven’t been friends for a long time Red.”
“That’s still no reason to be holding a gun on me. How about you put it down before I have to make you?”
Rapunzel grimaced and brought the pistol up from under her desk. Lights all over the slide and butt were lit faintly. Red could see that she had the gun cocked and the safety off.
“That’s not very welcoming.”
“Your turn,” Rapunzel said.
Red reached into her sleeve and undid the catch on her wrist-pistol, taking it off and slipping it into her pocket.
“You’re welcome to search me.”
“No thanks.”
“Now can we finally get down to business?”
“I wouldn’t have thought a bounty hunter would want help from a private detective.”
“Belle sent me.”
“I got her message.” Rapunzel took out a scrap of paper and read from it. “Something is coming. All those still Pure of heart must assemble. Belle.” She put it back down. “Hardly a call to arms.”
“Well now it’s formal. The old Witch has returned. We all need to stand together or we will all surely be destroyed.”
Rapunzel’s face didn’t change. She leaned back a little in her chair and considered the information. “Which witch exactly are we talking about?”
“Turns out most of them. We think that anyone who encountered a witch back in those days probably met the same one.” Red took a breath, this was the information she had least looked forward to delivering. “The old hag who locked you in the tower was her, at least we think so.”
Now Rapunzel’s calm seemed to be very forced. “How sure are you?”
”As sure as we can be. Belle and Adam have gathered a lot of information about this.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“We need to know how many we have first. There are other problems to deal with. I fought a dragon in the Ice Kingdom with Kay and Greta, and and Li-en tells us the giants may be coming.”
Rapunzel sighed and rubbed her face, leaning forwards again. “Didn’t we have enough of this during the Ogre Wars?” She asked. “So many dead, and now this Corruption. Surely this will only be a suicide mission.”
“What’s the alternati
ve? Death for us all? The Witch will come after us whether we are together or alone. If we are the Pure, then surely it’s our duty.”
“You never cared about duty before,” Rapunzel said shrewdly. “The Ogre Wars were about killing for you. What’s changed?”
Red didn’t rise to the obvious antagonism. “I’m older now. We all are.”
“That’s hardly a guarantee of wisdom.”
“If you don’t trust me, then you should at least trust Belle. You owe her that.”
That earned her a glare. Debts were important to the Pure. But they didn’t like to be reminded so bluntly of what they owed.
“I’ll join you,” Rapunzel said. “I’ll come to Snow’s as soon as I clear up some things here. Just don’t expect me to go with you.”
“Fair enough.” Red stood and walked to the door. “Pleasure to be working with you again.”
*
Back at Belle’s there were more people around the table when Red walked in. Jack and Philip were cracking jokes over some liquor she could smell from the door. More surprisingly she saw Simon, quietly on one corner listening as Adam explained something to him. He was wearing his armour, or at least part of it. Hansel and Gretel were there as well, sitting on a sofa against the far wall and playing a children’s clapping game. That told her that Goldie had to be back as well, and indeed she was sitting with her back to the door talking to a youthful looking man dressed in green while Li-en listened intently.
“Red,” Belle stood as she entered. “Did you convince Rapunzel?”
“She said she didn’t want to be seen walking with me, but that she would come.”
“I suppose we’ll have to start the meeting without her. We’re still waiting for Cheveyo to get back as well, and I’ve sent out some feelers to try and locate Simão and Toma. I’m hoping we might even get James to agree to a meeting.”
“If you can tear him away from his loves,” Jack said.
“Oh wonderful,” Rapunzel had appeared behind Red. “I’d forgotten the jesters.”
“Now now ‘Zel,” Philip said. “One can never have too many laughs.”
“After all,” Jack continued. “What is life if not the pursuit of love and laughter?”
Peter, the man in green Goldie was talking to, spun round in his chair. “And what is love and laughter if not the elixir of life?”
“Remarkable,” Rapunzel strode into the room, throwing a heavy-looking duffel bag into the corner. “In trying to sound philosophical you sound even more stupid than I could imagine. The three of you have a rare gift.”
“Too much time spent in your high tower has sharpened your tongue,” Philip said with a grin.
Rapunzel looked to Belle. “I don’t mean to question you, but are these really the sort of soldiers you need?”
“I trust everyone in this room,” Belle’s quiet tones calmed the room, and everyone came to sit. “And since we face a crisis like never before, I would suggest everyone else do the same.”
She looked around the room to make sure that they were all sat and paying attention to her. With a nod to Adam she opened up her file. “I’ll keep this as short as possible, because we have much work to do. The Wicked Witch has returned. Many of you already know her, though you may not realise to what extent. The Witch I speak of is the same queen who once poisoned Snow White, disguising herself as a hag. However, we now believe her to have also been the witch who turned Adam into a beast, who sold the beans to Jack, who imprisoned Rapunzel in her tower, and who was last seen when she was burned alive by Hansel and Gretel.”
“And who presumably has some sort of incredible suntan lotion,” Jack drawled.
“Perhaps the true circumstances would give you pause in your constant joking,” Belle said with only a hint of irritation. “Snow White was convinced the dwarves killed her. Cheveyo parted her head from her shoulders. Rapunzel saw her locked in a seemingly inescapable tower. And Hansel and Gretel pushed her into a lit oven. Yet somehow she has returned. Now how much power do you assume it would take to do that?”
That silenced him.
“Now as it turns out these drains may in fact be our greatest benefit. For I have researched ways of resurrection she is likely to have tried, and they extract a heavy toll upon the caster, as all magics do. If she were still at full strength we would probably not stand a chance, but instead she should be weakened from her constant deaths.”
“We also believe that this may the reason she hasn’t been seen for nearly fifteen years,” Adam added.
“And why exactly do you think she’s back now?” Rapunzel asked.
“While investigating the Dreamscape Philip found evidence of the witch’s seal, and runes which have been woven into the fabric of the Dreamscape. I asked him to sketch out some of these runes and after examining them the only matches I can find are in some very arcane texts and stories. I could explain the weeks and months we’ve put into this, Adam and I, or you could accept my word.”
Red was already getting bored of hearing the same thing explained to her again and again. “So what exactly are going to do about it?” She asked now.
“The Witch is part of the old world. She has connections to the Fair Folk and the giants. So the next step is to split up and start to eliminate some of these threats.”
“What about the Farm?” Simon asked. “Won’t she bring some of them to her aid?”
“The Farm has been taken care of,” Belle said, without even a glance at Red. “They won’t be banding together. Any who join the Witch will do it as individuals.”
He didn’t look convinced, but nor did he ask more questions. Li-en leaned forwards next. “What is our move then?”
“Two groups. We want to make sure that there are as many of us in each group, just in case we run into some real trouble. Li-en, I want you to lead Jack, Rapunzel and Peter into the Giant’s castles. Wait a day and hopefully Simão and Toma will arrive as well, and then you’ll have a real force. The second group will consist of Red, Goldilocks, Philip, Adam and Cheveyo when he arrives back.”
“What about the rest of us?” Simon asked.
“You’re to stay here and help me to plan for the defence of this city, if it comes to it. Hansel and Gretel also will stay with me. Kay and Greta have asked to continue their own quest for now, and I have agreed with it. The last thing we need is for the witch to get her hands on ice glass. Hopefully Cheveyo will be coming back with Paul, which will give me extra eyes in the Dreamscape. We need to prepare for war on as many fronts as possible.”
“So where’s this second group going?” Philip asked. “I noticed you didn’t say.”
Belle walked over to a board upon which was a map of the realm. “Down here,” she indicated a spot to the south-west of Ateer. “There is a very old river, that used to have a stone bridge over it.”
“You cannot be serious,” Jack said. “That old troll didn’t even manage to eat three goats, and you’re scared of him?”
“The story with the goats never happened,” Goldilocks said. When everyone looked to her she shrugged. “What? I met them while I was out travelling. They saw the troll’s head and ran for it. They made up the story so people would think they were really brave.”
“It’s not so much the goats I’m scared of anyway,” Belle said. “More the hundreds who died before the bridge became unused. Most trolls live in packs, yet this one lives alone and still manages to kill so many? I want to know why, there’s every chance it’s an Old Breed of some sort.“
Red shivered as she remembered the last time she had met an Old Breed troll. It had been during the Ogre Wars, and she had faced it with an entire legion of soldiers and several of the Pure. Ten feet of fat and thick skin was hardly something she wanted to face again. They were notoriously hard to kill.
“So if no one has any objections?” Belle looked to each face, but there were no questions. “Very well,” she said. “Meeting adjourned. Everyone get some sleep. You’re going to have a hard few days.”
They went their separate ways, most of the Pure leaving the brothel, heading either to townhouses or, in the case of Philip, Jack and Peter, the nearest place they could get a drink. Red headed for her own room, and it was only when she was up to the second floor that she realised she was being followed. She turned back to see Goldilocks behind her, biting her lip and picking at her nails.
