Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

“What?!” Virginia cried out.

“You heard me, Lady. I hate repeating myself.” Pip had such an attitude problem. He flew circles over and over again over Patrick’s head and Melody just cowered behind him trying to look invisible. Wolf narrowed his eyes and growled low in his throat towards Patrick. Patrick’s guard instantly went up and he prepared himself for any confrontation he might have to deal with.

“Look, this bird is talking gibberish, Wolf. Why do you trust the bird, of all things? How do you know it’s telling the truth?” Patrick calmly said through clenched teeth.

“He’s right, Wolf. We don’t know. And there is only one way to find out.” Virginia pulled out the Shoes of Truth and slipped them on as fast as she could. “Let’s see if these babies work.”

Oh God, this is where I’m going to turn into a skewered rat! Melody cried out silently in her own mind. They’re going to find out that I’m the one who’s been sabotaging them. They’re going to know everything about me. Oh mother. I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry that I can’t avenge you. I tried! I really did try but I just can’t do it! I’m so sorry, mother! Melody wailed to herself behind Patrick’s large frame.

“How do we know the shoes will work either? Be sensible here, you two. Who are you going to trust? A pair of old shoes and a talking bird or your friends that you have been traveling with all week now?” Patrick tried again to reason with Wolf and Virginia. He knew he himself was innocent. But he could sense Melody trembling behind him and he knew instantly that Melody might just be the troublemaker they had been worrying about. For some odd reason, though, he didn’t want to believe that Melody could be behind it and he wanted so much to protect her so he tried his best to rationalize.

“I suppose we can test the shoes but that’s just going to be wasting one of the four questions we have to ask.” Virginia said. “We have to make our question a good one.”

“Huff, puff.”

Wolf and Virginia stood in silent thought and contemplated over the matter.

“Cripes, I’ve got it!” Wolf cried out. “Okay, are you ready, Virginia?”

Virginia nodded and closed her eyes even though it hadn’t called for any eye closing for the magic to work. It just made her feel better.

“Virginia, who is the mastermind behind all the magical spells and curses that have been occurring amongst our group of travelers and our… errrr… relatives?” Wolf said all in one breath. “That’s a fairly good question that covers a lot of ground, don’t you think?” he whispered to Patrick, who stood off to the side. Patrick just grunted and agreed.

Virginia stood in silence for a little while. Then her eyes flashed open and she squeaked out:

“The culprit who is mastermind stands before you cowering.
Blood is shared amongst the lasses,
Combine them and they shall be overpowering.”

“What is that load of crap?!” Patrick cried out.

“Huff, puff. It’s one of those OLD models of magic shoes. It speaks in riddles and rhymes. This is just terrific! We have no time for riddles!” Wolf howled.

“What’d I say? What’d I say?” Virginia asked insistently. She didn’t seem to recall anything about what she had just said but she knew she had said something. Wolf repeated it to her and she just stood in silence, frowning.

“Okay, I understand the cowering part. But what is this about sharing blood and gaining power?” Virginia sighed with frustration. “I guess it answers our question though. Melody is the only one that is cowering here, obviously.”

Virginia was very disappointed but she had suspected all along that Melody might have been the brains behind the whole thing.

Melody stepped out from behind Patrick. She could easily say that the shoes were malfunctioning and claim that she was innocent but she didn’t want to. Nothing she was trying to do to avenge her mother was working. It was time she came out and admitted it. Even though now she knew Patrick was going to hate her. Everyone was going to hate her.

“You killed the queen,” she said softly to Virginia.

Virginia gave a surprised gasp. “I know I did. Is this your way of taking revenge on us for killing the queen?”

“I-I wanted you dead. I wanted to destroy the Fourth Kingdom. I wanted King Wendell to suffer for making me suffer,” Melody began to sob.

“Why was the queen so important to you?” Virginia asked hesitantly. She had a sinking feeling already but she didn’t voice it.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all over.”

“What is this spell you put the Sixth Kingdom under, then? I don’t understand what the Sixth Kingdom has done.”

“Huff, puff. The Sixth Kingdom is a lone kingdom off on its own at the edge of the map. Nothing of importance has ever happened here,” Wolf chimed in.

“I don’t know what happened. I didn’t mean to. It was by accident. I-I don’t even know what I did! My potion, it got mixed up. The dove, he knocked it over. The map was soaked but there was nothing to wipe up. I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t get anything right. I’m sorry I tried to hurt you all. I’m sorry for everything!” Melody wailed hysterically. She dropped her bag on the ground and ran off back into the field of tall yellow grass.

“Melody!” Patrick called out. “Melody! Come back!”

“Forget about her, Patrick. She’s evil,” Wolf said.

“Don’t you dare say that about her. She’s not evil. She’s just lost. And if you were her true friends, you’d try and help her.”

“Cripes, she tried to kill Virginia! And she’s been putting spells on us and everywhere we went. You want us to help HER?!” Wolf howled. “We need to figure out how to break this spell that is keeping the Sixth Kingdom imprisoned instead of worrying how to help someone who tried to kill us.”

Virginia took the magic shoes off and stuffed them back into her bag. The revelation of Melody’s deception and the damn riddle the shoes had exposed was getting her mind all jumbled up.

“I’m afraid there are other things that you might have to worry about first, Wolf,” a low growl of a voice came from behind them.

Virginia squeaked and her heart jumped up to her throat. It was an ugly hairy tazzie. In daylight, it looked twice as horrible.

“Bon!” Wolf snarled and bared his teeth. “I thought I caught your scent.”

“Is that your way of greeting an old friend? I’ll forgive you for our last meeting in the forest but this time I’m afraid I can’t let it go.” Bon took out a small brass bell and held it up to the light. It tinkled slightly in the air.

Wolf narrowed his eyes and the crinkle between his eyebrows deepened when he realized what was going on. But it was too late.

Bon rang the bell with all the force he could muster and the bell tinkled piercingly, disturbing the silence that had fallen among the group when the tazzies had revealed themselves. At the sound of the bell Virginia’s eyes glazed over.

“Virginia?” Wolf whimpered when he noticed the change.

Patrick tried to shake Virginia but Bon’s tazzie companions immediately grabbed him and held him fast. “Virginia, my pretty. It’s time to do as I say now,” Bon sneered in her ear but loud enough for everyone to hear. “I want you to kill your husband, Wolf. Right NOW!”

Virginia’s eyes shot up at that command and Wolf took an involuntary step back. “Virginia? Love of my life? It’s Wolf. You’re under a spell. Snap out of it,” Wolf whined and backed up some more. He didn’t want to hurt Virginia if he didn’t have to.

Virginia’s face was a blank. Only her glazed eyes showed any emotion and they were showing only emptiness right now. Without blinking, she pounced on top of Wolf with unbelievable strength that she’d never had before. She grabbed and tore at Wolf’s hair and head. They fell over onto the bank of the giant’s footprint lake and rolled in the mud and water. Wolf struggled slightly for he didn’t want to hurt Virginia but the strength he beheld was so incredible that he was already having trouble trying to free himself from Virginia’s tight grip.

Virginia’s wet hair hung down in her face. She thrashed about on top of Wolf and finally got a firm grip of Wolf’s neck. She began squeezing and Wolf’s eyes bulged from the tightening pressure. “Virginia,” Wolf gasped and clawed at the hands at his throat.

“Drown him Virginia!” Bon’s low voice called out.

And Virginia promptly tightened her already iron grip and submerged Wolf’s sputtering head into the murky water of the footprint lake.