Macster - The Last Dragon

No more words were exchanged about the dream, so Daviander learned nothing of it, which was how Virginia wanted it. Instead they ate a quick breakfast, doused the fireplace, made sure all the provisions in the lodge were in order, and then locked the door again. After she had returned the key to its hiding place, she let Wolf help her up on the dragon's back, and when they were situated they once more took off for the east. One final time she glanced back as the morning sun shone across the expanse of the forest, highlighting the hunting lodge's tower. Then, with mixed feelings, she looked stoically ahead.

By midday they had traversed the rest of the Disenchanted Forest and flown across the Fourth Kingdom until they were no more than five miles from Whitehorn, the capital city. At this point Daviander took them down for the last time, letting them disembark in a cornfield. "This is where we must part ways for the nonce, milady. I shall fly on to Castle White, per our agreement, whilst thou and Wolf continue on afoot in whatever manner seemeth quickest. No one shall see me until the moment is aright, when thou givest the signal." He paused, about to say something more, but then seemed to think better of it, only smiling encouragingly. "We shall meet anon, Lady Virginia. And thou shalt have no need to fear...we shall prevail."

With that confident pronouncement Virginia sorely needed but was afraid to believe, Daviander took off, wings stirring up a stiff wind that set the cornstalks to rustling and swaying. Higher and higher he soared, the light shining around him in a halo...and then he began to shimmer, to ripple, to grow indistinct. Virginia narrowed her eyes, trying to keep him in her sight, but it was useless. In moments he had faded from view. She didn't know if he had turned invisible or changed colors to match the sky, but in either case, she could not penetrate his magic, and neither would any denizen of Whitehorn or any of the Ice Queen's spies and ice demons. Whether the witch herself would be immune was an unknown variable that deeply disturbed Virginia. She'd always hated algebra.

Together the two of them followed the broad road leading to the capital, walking as quickly as they could without tiring Virginia out, until after half an hour of traveling they reached a hill where they could view the city below, with its whitewashed walls, cobblestoned thoroughfares, and countless houses, inns, stores, and barn-like warehouses. At this point a fortuitous encounter with a peddler's wagon gave them a ride the rest of the way to Whitehorn, allowing Virginia to rest her aching feet. The peddler was garrulous, as well as a little too jolly for her taste--she suspected he'd been drinking--but was content to carry the brunt of the conversation himself with only a few obscure answers about their background and reason for traveling to satisfy him. Fifteen minutes later the old man dropped them off in the center of town and went off to find an alehouse, leaving them alone.

Wendell's capital was the largest city in the Kingdoms, and the early afternoon streets were extremely crowded and noisy, so it was unlikely that anyone would notice them if they simply walked to the Royal Estate, but Wolf was taking no chances. At his insistence, Virginia remained hidden in a narrow alleyway that smelled none too clean while he made his way into the sprawling marketplace to find transportation and information. The entire duration of his absence could not have been more than half an hour, but every minute of it she paced about anxiously, trying not to imagine what sorts of nasty things could happen to him if anyone recognized him as a hero of the Kingdoms and word got back to the Ice Queen.

Just as Virginia was about to break her word and go looking for him, Wolf returned. "I found it!" he exclaimed smugly. "The perfect way to get out of town and to the estate unseen. But we have to hurry, or we'll miss our chance."

As he led the way back into the marketplace, Virginia grabbed his coatsleeve. "Wolf, were you seen? Did anyone you talked to know who you were?"

He shook his head, grinning. "First time I've ever been grateful for that old adage that 'all wolves look alike'! Thanks to that anonymity, no one gave me a second glance. A few pointed but casual questions and I got all the gossips talking. Seems no one here knows about the Ice Queen or what she's done, the witch isn't taking any chances of a warning getting out to the other Kingdoms until no one can stop her. But the people are a little suspicious, because there haven't been any personal appearances by Wendell in the last two weeks, just messages and proclamations. And he's received visits from all the other rulers, but none of them ever left. Some people think they just went home a different way, while others think some important council is being held in secret. None of them know the truth." Wolf sighed in regret and pity.

Before she could ask any more questions, Wolf led her through the crowds and down another alley to a sturdy, well-constructed building built out of brick that a swinging sign proclaimed to be the Lion Inn. In the yard were a series of wagons and carts, hitched and ready to leave. Gesturing to the nearest, he hurried to the back and threw aside a tarp to reveal a collection of foodstuffs: loaves of bread, barrels of water, bushels of fresh vegetables, slabs of cured meat, bags of flour and malt and sugar. "In here, Virginia! These are supplies for the castle, this wagon'll take us right where we want to go!"

With Wolf's help she clambered in the wagonbed, then joined him in throwing the tarp back into place to conceal them. It was just in time, as Virginia heard the back door of the inn open and the sound of raucous voices, laughter, and heavy bootsteps on the cobblestones. She held her breath, listening as a man with a loud, crude voice came to the front of the wagon and climbed up on the seat. There came the sound of coins changing hands, someone pounding someone on the back, and then the lash of a whip. Horses nickered, the wagon jolted backwards, and then began to creak out of the innyard.

Glancing over worriedly at Wolf, she saw he had lifted the tarp just enough to make a slit of light above the lip of the wagonbed so he could peer outside. Following his lead, she settled in to watch and wait, hoping they would remain undetected. All they needed now was to have a resentful teamster report them as stowaways, thieves, or spies.

The next half hour was the most agonizing and suspenseful half hour Virginia had so far experienced. Through the gap in the tarp she could see the people of Whitehorn thronging and mobbing the streets, bakers and wine merchants, knights and priests, lords and ladies, seamstresses and tailors, farmers come to town and silversmiths displaying their wares. Soldiers and royal guards patrolled the streets as well, and she tensed whenever a garrison walked by, afraid that a random inspection would give them away, and there was no telling whether any of them served the Ice Queen. Anyone, she knew, could be an enemy now.

Just when she was keyed up to a fever pitch, the wagon reached the northern gates of the city and passed out unmolested onto the white-gravelled road that led to Castle White. She heaved a sigh of relief and focused her gaze on what lay ahead. At the bottom of the hill, just visible through the trees, were the gardens, hedges, and fountains of the Royal Estate, and beyond it, looming into the afternoon sky of peaceful blue, was Wendell's castle. She abruptly felt a strange sense of deja vu. Once before she had ridden in the back of a wagon with her father, a prisoner of the Huntsman and the Trolls. Once before she, Tony, and Wolf had seen a similar view of the castle from the edge of the woodlands surrounding the ornate fairy tale structure on the day before the coronation ball. It was almost as if history were repeating itself, giving them another chance at a flawless assault on the fortress. At least this time, she reflected, they wouldn't have to swim through a murky moat, nearly drown in an underwater passage, avoid a sewage-churning cistern, and deal with a smug riddling frog.

The wagon descended the hillside smoothly and unhurriedly, passing through the forest and manicured lawns until Virginia felt like yelling at the driver to move it along, but the journey proceeded steadily, and she knew all too soon they would be arriving. She reached out and took Wolf's free hand, squeezing it for reassurance, and he glanced at her, smiling tightly. Once more she prayed that her dream would not come true, that somehow they would defy the odds against them and succeed.

A contingent of sentries at the gates of the palace stopped the cart to ascertain the driver's identity and his reason for seeking admittance to the grounds, and Virginia again held her breath. What if this wagon wasn't legitimate, denying them entry, or the soldiers needed to search it to make sure it didn't hold anything that wasn't supposed to be there? They had the shoes, of course, and could don them if it became urgent, but they had been saving the magic for the last minute to conserve it... Luckily the guards found nothing amiss with the driver's permit, and none of them even twitched the tarp aside, only unlocking the vast iron gates and waving them on through. But the sound of the gates locking behind them was rather disconcerting. There was no turning back now.

On down the entry road they creaked, jostled from side to side by the horses' uneven gait as they circled the central fountain. The shadow cast by the castle fell over the wagon almost at once, irregular and bizarre, and as she raised her eyes from it to the silhouette that created it, she found she had never really studied the palace before. It was a strange mixture of styles, Gothic and Victorian and others she couldn't recognize, with hundreds of towers and spires and crenellations, as if the original builder had not known when to stop adding to it, intent on making the most complicated castle ever built. It was like a fantasy version of the Winchester Mansion. You could get lost in it.

As the wagon passed the last standard with its flapping banners and pennants and turned into the driveway extending along the foundation of the palace, Virginia knew they could not stay inside it much longer. Soon the driver would stop, and if they were still in his vehicle he would discover them. She hissed softly to Wolf to get his attention, then moved to the rear of the wagon. Pushing the tarp aside, the two of them leaped down to the ground, landing unharmed since they had not been moving very fast. The driver did not hear them and continued on.

Pulling the magic shoes out of the rucksack for the last time, Virginia put them on and took Wolf's hand. As soon as they had been swept up in the whirling lights and disappeared, she squeezed his hand and led the way across the driveway toward the arched entrance of the castle. But before they could reach it, she noticed two carriages pulled close beside the steps and slowed, suddenly wary. One of them was pale blue, in the shape of a pumpkin with curlicued vines for wheels. The other was a brilliant shade of red. A terrible suspicion filled her at who they might belong to--and they were confirmed as she and Wolf reached the steps. Standing beside one of the stone urns at the base of the banister was an ancient but beautiful woman in a blue dress whom she recognized from the brief glimpse Virginia had received of her at the coronation--Cinderella. And beside her, intent and with an air of supreme authority about her, was noneother than Red Riding Hood III.

Back in the ominous shade of the deadly, intertwined brambles of the Sixth Kingdom, before the breaking of the spell, when she and Wolf and Colin had decided to press on to the castle instead of backtracking to recapture Carmine, Virginia had argued that if destiny foretold they and the queen were to share a common fate, their paths would cross again. But, despite her longing to break through Riding Hood's heart, she had secretly hoped she would never see the woman again. And yet here she was, looking as arrogant, imperious, and selfish as ever, as if nothing at all had changed. Worse, she now stood between them and their goal...and in Virginia's mind burned and seethed the terrifying image of Carmine betraying them to the Ice Queen, as she had in the dream. What were they to do now?

There was no time to do anything, for as she and Wolf silently approached the two women, they were already speaking in hushed, fervent tones. Cinderella spoke first. "What are you doing here, Carmine? I was invited by Wendell to help him plan a ball and choose a wife."

Red Riding Hood sniffed and looked down her nose at the other queen. "I could ask you the same question. Why are you here, when Wendell invited me to capture and prosecute those traitorous wolves after he rescinded his pardon?"

Cinderella frowned and glared at her. "Still going on about wolves, are you, Red? How terribly antiquated of you!" But then her brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Something isn't right, however. It seems a strange coincidence we should both be invited here, for such disparate purposes, through unexpected missives, at the exact same time."

The queen of the Second Kingdom gave her a long look of exaggerated sarcasm. "Oh, really? How astute of you to notice! Apparently age has not dulled your wits after all..." Before Cinderella could retort an angry reply, Carmine held up a hand for silence. And then, suddenly, all the arrogance and blatant haughtiness evaporated, and the auburn-haired ruler reached out to grasp Cinderella's wrist tightly. Her azure eyes held a determination, a sense of just cause, of destiny. "Listen to me, listen to me now. You are absolutely correct. Something is wrong here, and I know exactly what it is." She paused. "Those letters were not sent by Wendell. They were sent by the Ice Queen."

"What?!?"

Carmine hushed her. "I know it will be difficult to believe, I was skeptical myself at first, but I have it on good authority--that of the Lady Virginia."

"The Lady Virginia?" Cinderella blinked, surprise and respect mingling on her cosmetically enhanced features. "What has she to do with this? I was under the impression she had returned to her Tenth Kingdom."

Then, as Virginia eavesdropped in shock and amazement, Red Riding Hood proceeded to explain the entire tale as far as she knew it, of how the heroine and her mate Wolf had gone on a quest to the Sixth Kingdom to locate a dragon whose magic fire could defeat the Witch of Winter after her spells had ensorcelled Wendell and his court. She held nothing back, was completely truthful, and admitted her own part in the matter. But then she added that she had seen the error of her ways, and was now a firm ally in this endeavor, that she intended to do all in her power to redeem herself and save the Kingdoms.

"So you see," she concluded, "there is a chance for us. Because I am privy to the plot, I was not fooled as all of the others were. And while both of us may have walked into the Ice Queen's clutches, I did so willingly, deceptively, so as to gain access to the throne room and an opportunity to wreak vengeance upon the witch." An unholy light burned in her eyes, a fire of martyrdom, and Virginia started as she realized Carmine meant every word she said. Wolf's invisible hand clutched hers in a crushing grip, and she knew he too was just as stunned and disbelieving.

"Now." Red Riding Hood was calm once more, collected and unflinching. "I know you and I have not seen eye to eye on many occasions, Cindy. But this once you must trust me. You must believe that rescue is at hand, that Wolf and Virginia are even now on their way. And you must follow my lead when we confront the enchantress."

Cinderella's eyes were troubled. "I knew something was wrong," she murmured, almost to herself. "I just knew it. I felt it. That was why I came, to help Wendell if he was in trouble. But this..." She fell silent for long moments, while Virginia watched unobserved, feeling almost like an intruder. Then she looked up and met Carmine's eyes with the same iron will. "It is worse than I expected, but that will not deter me. Lead the way, Red."

Silently Virginia exulted inside as she watched the two queens turn and ascend the steps of the castle. They had another ally in their camp...two, in fact. Her mind was a whirl of doubt and uncertainty, a flood of images past and present, of Carmine's hatred and contempt and stubbornness intermixed with her repentance, her acknowledgement of wrongdoing, her oath to stand against evil. She was torn between her dream-image of Carmine and the reality before her. But all she could conclude was that, somehow, what she and Wolf and Colin had each done had somehow made a mark on Red. The queen had changed, enough to make a difference. Here was a shifting of the balance, a tipping of the scales back in their direction. With Red on their side, the dynamics of the plan had changed drastically, and all might not be in vain.

Even as her thoughts careened about wildly, Virginia was following the queens with Wolf at her side. Together the four, two visible and two invisible, two approaching boldly and two enveloped in concealing magic, climbed the five steps and passed through the immense doors of Wendell's castle. Inside, Cinderella and Carmine trod the marble floor with stately steps and slow, the monarch of the First Kingdom catching up the hem of her blue gown with one hand, while Red Riding Hood kept her scarlet-gloved hands empty and free at her sides--perhaps to be ready to take some defensive action? Virginia wondered, incongruously, if Carmine had brought a weapon with her.

With agonizing slowness they walked, the guards that lined the corridors frozen at attention on either side, neither moving to bar their path nor challenging them vocally--directed not to, most certainly, by the Ice Queen, as there was an unnaturalness to their posture that denoted fear. Despite the power of the shoes, Virginia still trembled each time a sentinel turned their way, frightened by all the eyes that seemed to be upon her. On and on they continued, until it seemed as if the hallway were endless.

Finally the golden doors of the throne room appeared, and Virginia tensed once again. Her dream hit her with full force now, and although Carmine and Cinderella were there to even the odds, still she could not shake the sense of foreboding, of a dark omen, of death and worse. She flexed her hand instinctively, digging her nails into Wolf's palm, and he hissed softly through his teeth. For a moment Cinderella paused, looking back in curiosity, but of course she saw nothing. The party moved on, treading the red carpet, and Virginia's heart pounded in her throat. Yet again she felt as if eyes were watching her, only now they seemed to come from all around her--here from a gargoyle, there from a marble bust, and there from an innocuous mirror. She longed to run, to scream, anything to break the unbearable silence.

But then the doors of the throne room softly opened, and she and Wolf had to hurry to catch up before they were shut outside.

Just as in the dream, the chamber seemed empty. Just as in the dream, a pervading mist crawled and crept at knee height and below, churning and twirling sluggishly. Just as in the dream, she saw the frozen blocks of ice scattered all around the room, sealing away royalty and dignitaries in unusual positions...agonized, fearful, uncomfortable contortions. But unlike in the dream, the crystalline prisons rose from fields of ice and snow that had spread to cover the entire floor. In fact the very walls of the throne room dripped with icicles and yielded icy shelfs and boulders at every turn. It was as if the room had been transformed into an ice cave. Here and there she recognized something familiar--a chair back, a chandelier, the corner of a painting--emerging out of the ice as it grew to swallow all. Every inch of the winter landscape glowed and shimmered in the sunlight pouring through the windows, lending an even more surreal quality to the scene. And it was cold, so bitterly cold that she began to shiver at once. Immediately she began taking shallow breaths so that her exhalations would not give her away.

The sound of the doors slamming shut was a hollow boom in the chamber, and several icicles cracked and fell to the floor, breaking apart. Then all was quiet, far too quiet. The throne itself was empty, and Virginia felt intense dread as she began to look about surreptitiously for her enemy. She did not see her. Instead she saw two things that gave her pause. All along the walls stood troops of ice demons, even more grotesque and horrifying in person than they had been in the Spying mirror's images--perfectly still, as if joined to the floor, but each one bore some manner of weapon fashioned of ice: a sickle, a sword, a mace, an axe. The second thing she saw was very much alive, three figures grouped together for protection near the foot of the throne. Two of them were extraordinarily tall while one was short, but they all wore leather, chains, spikes, and other metal adornments, and even from here she could smell their rancid odor.

Oh no!

Virginia barely stifled her groan of dismay in time. It was Burly, Blabberwort, and Bluebell. Despite her warnings, they had foolishly answered their letter as well. The ice demons she could handle. She had known about them, she had told Daviander, and he had incorporated them into the plan, assuring her he could fend them off. But the Trolls? Throwing them into the fray was a great unknown, who knew which side they would take, whom they would attack, what mayhem and chaos they might cause! Could anything else go wrong?

"Your Majesties...how good of you to join us." The frigid, utterly emotionless voice crackled through the silence like an arctic wind in the icy branches of a skeletal tree. Trembling uncontrollably, Virginia turned with Carmine and Cinderella to watch as she stepped out from behind the throne, all pale and rigid, slim and shapely but devoid of all seductive grace. Instead the Ice Queen manifested herself as a snow ghost, fragile and frozen, but possessing undeniable power exuded from every bleached strand of hair and every inch of gelid flesh. Her will when directed through the mirror was nothing compared to her actual presence. She seemed to give off a baleful, searing light, she was so incandescently white, so painful and chilling that Virginia went numb all throughout her body simply from looking at her. Hers was a chill that went beyond cold, beyond any scientific understanding or measurement of temperature, an eidolon of ice that clutched its fingers into the spirit. Hers was a chill that defied all logic and reason, a power that snared the will and flung all in its path on a centripetal course to madness and despair. Her chill was a paradox, so cold it burned and consumed any pitiful flesh that stood in its way. It stabbed like a wedge of ice, deeper and farther than Virginia had ever believed possible.

It was, simply, a manifestation of pure malice, a hatred determined to crush all opposition.

Virginia was on the verge of giving up all hope, of surrendering herself before the impossible might of the Ice Queen, casting herself on the whims of the witch because she was already lost and without a chance of survival, when Cinderella's voice interrupted her tortured thoughts. "Queen Griselda...so it is you. I thought as much."

Everything seemed to kaleidoscope around Virginia as she heard those words uttered, and somehow the hand of icy death that had inexorably wormed its way into her chest and grasped her fluttering heart was shattered like the shards of ice that composed it, thrown aside and wrenched free of her body, and she could breathe again. It all came down to that name. It was not the name itself that mattered; it was that the Ice Queen had one. All of this time, Virginia had known her only by a title, as if she were not truly human but a personification of winter, a natural force that could not be reckoned with, bargained with, reasoned with, a magical entity beyond the concerns of the world that was as unavoidable and relentless as winter itself. But no, now she knew differently. The Ice Queen had a name. That meant she was an individual, a person. She had thoughts and emotions, dreams and hopes, fears and worries like everyone else. She had magic, yes, great magic that could yet conquer the Kingdoms. And she was more hateful and vindictive than anyone Virginia had met, even the Swamp Witch. But she was human. She was mortal. She could be killed, she was vulnerable, she was no embodiment of winter however much she might believe so herself. The Ice Queen was not omnipotent. She was not God. She had flaws, she could make mistakes.

Virginia's resolve strengthened once more, and she glared daggers at the sorceress who stood on the dais, all unaware of her presence. No, Griselda had no power over her. She was only one woman, one queen, and she had to be stopped.

Throughout all of her realizations, the Ice Queen had been studying Cinderella with amusement and disdain. Now at last she spoke once more. "You knew? You knew I was responsible for all that had occurred? How is that possible, you doddering old fool?"

"I am smarter than you think, Griselda," Cinderella replied with a mysterious smile. "I have the wits to challenge even you! I am not frail and decrepit, I am still the woman I always was, and you have deluded yourself into forgetting it!" She rose to her full height, back straight and shoulders squared, and Virginia was at once intensely proud of her for a reason she could not name. "Do not mock me, do not overlook me. I am still one of the Five Women Who Changed History, and you are not a part of that history, you are not in my tale. Begone with you, back to the Eighth Kingdom! I abjure you!"

Someone inhaled sharply. Then came a tremulous, but still blustering and cruel voice filled with contempt as Burly the Troll King stepped forward. "Yeah, you heard Cinderelly! Let us go if you know what's good for you! Suck an Elf, I am king of the Third Kingdom, and my brother and sister and I won't ever bow to you! We learned our lesson from the Evil Queen, we aren't going to fall for it again." He lifted his sword and waved it menacingly, first at the ice demons, then at the Ice Queen. "You can't hold us here, so we're going to leave, right now!"

He turned to stalk out, with Blabberwort and Bluebell nodding emphatically and scowling fiendishly before following, but before they had gone more than a few steps, three ice demons suddenly lurched into motion, silently blocking their path, while others moved to guard all the doors. Burly brandished his sword, but he fell back a pace as one demon came to tower over even him.

The Ice Queen, meanwhile, stood even more rigid and infuriated on the dais, her elegant face marred by her rage until every bone seemed to stand out, the muscles drawn so taut that Virginia could see every plane and angle of her skull. The effect was terrifyingly macabre. "You dare to command me?!?" she shrieked at Cinderella. "You who are old and feeble, and never once in your life used the power that was yours?" She pointed at Burly and his siblings. "And you, who are too stupid and brainsickly to realize when you are duped, when you are lied to and misled, twisted to the Evil Queen's own ends as she steals your kingdom right out from under you? You dare to challenge me?!?"

Slowly, ferally, she began to stalk down the steps of the dais toward the gathered group, and in spite of herself Virginia was once again caught in the grip of fear. The malevolence in the Ice Queen's eyes was indescribable. "I know you, Cinderella. I know your weaknesses, your illusions, your pride. I know you could not have known of my plans unless someone else told you. And it was you!" A long, thin, bony finger pointed at Red Riding Hood. "You knew long ago, because the Lady Virginia informed you of every detail she gleaned from espionage, and still you are a vainglorious fool! You imprisoned her in your dungeon, and even now you stand before me because you were too driven by hatred and prejudice to see through my lies. I know you! I know you all!" She gestured around the room, at the living and the entombed. "That is why it is my right to rule the Kingdoms. I have the power, I have all power, more than any other witch still alive, and I belong at the head of every throne. The Kingdoms are mine, mine, and none of you shall prevent me from claiming my destiny!!!" Her eyes by now had darkened from icy blue to an impenetrable onyx, the shade of black ice, and just as dangerous. They blazed with an insanity that made Virginia want to cover her face and cower on the floor.

But somehow, somehow, Cinderella and Carmine each stood their ground. The blue-gowned queen spoke first. "Really, Griselda, you should know better...you will never rule the Kingdoms, that was never the will of destiny. It was your own ambitions. You were given the Eighth Kingdom centuries ago, you were charged with maintaining order and balance between the ices of the north and the warmth of the south, and that was all. That is what the history books say, and what the magic mirrors reveal. The rest is all your fantasies."

"Fantasies that will not come true," Red Riding Hood added, inserting herself into the conversation. "Because you are wrong, you do not have all power. You have magic, yes, but you have no soul. No heart. We do, and therefore we, each and every one of us together, are stronger than you and always shall be. Even if you ensorcell us as you have the others, or murder us, we shall still win." She jutted out her chin defiantly, and then she smiled grimly. "And in any case, we are not alone. For you were wrong about me, I broke through my prejudice and listened to reason. I listened to the Lady Virginia and her mate, I believed them and came here prepared to do whatever it takes to defeat you. And they, too, shall do the same...for they escaped my dungeons and are even now on their way here."

Virginia had been listening in admiration and awe to Red's speech, but as the queen made her final pronouncement, she wanted to strangle Carmine. The other woman seemed to realize her mistake too, but a second too late, and although she had not, thankfully, blown the entire plan by revealing the quest for the dragon, it was clear she had said enough to jeopardize it. The Ice Queen had been seething with rage, but at the revelation that her enemies were free and en route to the palace, she managed to relax, to step back and gaze inscrutably at Carmine, and then to smile...slow, wicked, sly. When she replied, it was in the same cold, emotionless tone as when she had first appeared. "I see...I must thank you for informing me so well in advance of their arrival. I would so hate to be caught unawares. Now that I know of their coming, I can...arrange a lovely surprise for them." She laughed then, soft and brittle.

Carmine looked crestfallen, horrifed, and distraught at what she had done. But before she could do any damage control, the Ice Queen stopped laughing abruptly and her face became as hard as stone. "Play-Queen, you know not what you say. I have more power than you can possibly imagine. Do you see what I possess?" She waved a hand theatrically around the throne, and Virginia stepped back in dismay, nearly stumbling on a pile of ice, as she saw what she had missed before. They were here in the throne room, all of them, nearly hidden by the mounds of ice and snow--her mother's magic mirrors. Ancient relics of evil and colossal power, and they were now under Griselda's control. Once again the scales tipped away from Virginia, and this time she feared they would never tip back. They were doomed. Done for. Finished.

But the Ice Queen was still speaking sneeringly to Red Riding Hood, who had paled visibly. "Ah, I see you do understand. But let me make a demonstration to reveal how truly powerful I am." She extended one beringed hand, more pale than an albino's and so thin it was nearly fleshless. It tensed minutely, fingers flexing like claws--and then Carmine screamed. Virginia wrenched her gaze from the Ice Queen to see Red Riding Hood almost as pale as her tormentor, a ghastly pallor flooding her cheeks as she clutched her chest. The Ice Queen twitched a finger, and Carmine screamed again, shivering and gasping, her breath billowing out in huge clouds of bluish-white. Ice crystals began forming beneath her nostrils and around her eyes and lips, and her back arched painfully, parabolically. As far as Virginia could tell, the Ice Queen was not only freezing her, she was stopping her heart.

"Had enough yet?" Griselda inquired solicitously, conversationally. She smiled. "My power grows stronger each day, with each ensorcellment, and the mirrors only fuel and multiply it. No one can stand in my way. Not even Lady Virginia. When she arrives, I will be certain to give her your regards, and express the faith you have in her...because I am afraid you will not be here to do so in person." She paused, touching a fingertip to her mouth thoughtfully. "How shall I dispose of you, I wonder?" she mused aloud. "Freezing you as I have the others seems far too anticlimactic. You five are the greatest threats to my reign. You deserve something...special..."

Virginia listened in growing dread. They had to do something, now! Now, while the Ice Queen was toying with and teasing her victims...they had to get into position, be ready to offer protection, be ready for battle, ready to summon Daviander. As Carmine writhed and twitched in agony, as Cinderella stood transfixed, and as the three Trolls backed toward the throne, herded by the ice demons and holding onto each other fearfully, Virginia jerked on Wolf's hand and began leading him across the room toward the place they had chosen to make their stand.

Meanwhile, the Ice Queen was still taunting Carmine. "Shall I send you through the Lethe mirror, perhaps? Cause you to forget all you are, all you were, all you ever shall be? Or the Mirror of Mnemosyne? Shall I entrap you for eternity in your most gruesome nightmares, your deepest shames, your most painful memories? Or shall I thrust you into the Traveling mirror? Banish you from the Kingdoms and seal you forever in a world where you cannot long survive? Oh, the possibilities are endless..."

Suddenly she broke off, frozen in place, eyes bulging as she stared across the room. Virginia started. The Ice Queen's eyes were fixed unerringly on her and Wolf, they had to be! It was impossible, but she was looking right at them! "No..." the Witch of Winter whispered. "No, it cannot be, they cannot already be here...not this close to victory..."

As all her attention fixed on the intruders, the spell was broken, and with a gasp of fear, pain, and sobbing relief, Carmine relaxed and went limp, still clutching her chest but no longer under the witch's power. She brushed away the crystallizing ice and then began to cry softly, wavering as she tottered about, ready to collapse.

"There!" the Ice Queen snapped, pointing directly to where Virginia and Wolf stood. "It is the Lady Virginia, it is Wolf!"

The ice demons rotated on ponderous feet, hollow eye sockets gazing curiously and unseeingly at the pair, but it was obvious they could not detect anything amiss. Cinderella and the Trolls had also turned and were peering incredulously at what was to them empty air. Virginia looked down hurriedly and discovered she still could not see herself or Wolf. What was going on? The shoes were still working...

"There!" the Ice Queen cried again, pointing this time behind Virginia and Wolf. "Look in yonder glass!"

Understanding hit Virginia like a bolt of lightning, and slowly she turned around to look behind them.

There, surrounded by festoons of ice but still suspended in its familiar niche, was a large, oval mirror hung vertically, glowing with a blue light--the same light that had come from the Ice Queen's wand in her dream. In the glass was reflected the entire throne room--Griselda on the dais; Carmine, Cinderella, and the Trolls at its base; the ice demons poised for battle...and as plain as day, her and Wolf with linked hands, and the golden Troll shoes on her feet.

The Truth mirror had given them away.

"Get them! Kill them!" the Ice Queen screamed, even as she threw out one arm, causing her wand to slide from its sleeve pocket into her hand. The star on its tip froze the air around it in a ball of ice.

The ice demons began to march toward them.

Virginia stood unmoving for a few heart-stopping seconds as she debated what to do. This wasn't how the plan had been devised, but Daviander had said they had to be ready to make adjustments as needed. Well, this was one hell of an adjustment, but it was now or never, and it was their only chance. She only hoped the dragon's hearing was as good as he'd claimed it was.

"Wolf!" she shouted. "Now!"

After one startled look in her direction, Wolf threw back his head and howled, a piercing, keening cry that echoed and reverberated around the throne room. More stalactites of ice broke free and plummeted to the floor, smashing into the tiles. The ice demons paused, wary and distracted. On the faces of Carmine and Cinderella was rising hope, while the Trolls crouched with hands over weapons, stupefied.

As the sound of the howl was still ricocheting and amplifying in the vaulted chamber, their prearranged signal, another sound joined it, a vast and colossal roar that almost seemed to shake the heavens, so deep and bellowing it made Virginia want to cover her ears. Then the light in the throne room was suddenly blocked out, casting it into dim shadow, as something enormous eclipsed the afternoon sun. The Ice Queen whirled atop the dais, turning...Virginia saw her as from a great distance, a silhouette formed of icicles and sticks, a doll propped up by a careless child, one hand outflung with the wand held aloft...and beyond her, she saw another silhouette, far more massive and titanic...a silhouette with great wings flapping, spiked tail lashing, clawed feet extended. Daviander came like the chariot of Apollo as driven by Phaethon, bearing the sun as it hurtled toward the unsuspecting earth. And to further foster the allusion, Daviander's mouth was agape, crimson and orange fire bursting out in a column of heat and incineration, expanding and billowing out like the blooming of the deadliest tropical flower known to man. He came flying at the vast, floor-to-ceiling windows that stood behind the throne, came flying without a single sign of stopping.

And then his strafing fire struck the plateglass, and the entire bank of windows exploded, spraying fragments all across the throne room.