Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 52915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“I will go find my princess,” I announce. “Thank you for sparing her. I know you could have easily taken her with you.”
“I’m not a monster,” she says. “I may be the woman at The End, but I do not take anyone whose time has not come. I fear for you, Prince Charming. I fear your end may be premature, and it will not be I who ushers you away, but one of my crueler cousins, one of whom already stalks the path of Emmaline.”
She points to the ground outside the tavern, which is completely covered in tracks and footprints from groups of wanderers coming to complete their tales. Emmaline’s tracks should not be that visible, but they are, because they are one of the only tracks heading from the tavern toward the forest. I say one of the only, because they are not the sole tracks. There are larger imprints behind her belonging to a version of the tavern keeper nobody ever wants to meet.
“Do you fear for her safety?” The woman is looking at me with a morbid curiosity.
“I do not,” I say. “I fear for your sibling. Emmaline carries Dragonslayer, but more than that, she carries light. No darkness can claim her.”
“I hope that is true,” the tavern keeper says. “Good luck, Prince Charming.”
She goes her way, and I go mine.
I cannot imagine what Emmaline will do in Resolution, but I have a feeling the inhabitants thereof will not appreciate her presence any more than those at The End seem to have done.
Resolution is a beautiful place, accessed via the forest of memories. The town was founded many centuries ago, and it is inhabited by the descendants of the original founders, people who will never go to The End, but instead serve the needs of those on their way there. Resolution is a place where all wrongs are righted, all conflicts resolved. It would be a lovely place to go for a vacation, but nobody vacations there. It can typically only be accessed via the Mountains of Trial, and they are a terrible place.
I had hoped she would stop somewhere in the Forest of Memories, but I suppose she does not have much in the way of things to remember, and so I press on to Resolution. I have not been here before, and yet I can immediately tell that the place is in a quiet kind of disarray. It is not as though it has been ripped to pieces, but something has definitely annoyed the locals. They are bustling about in an irritated fashion. A policeman is blowing his whistle and attempting to herd some of the population back into what I can only describe as a ghetto of sorts, an appendix of brick and straw where they appear to have escaped from.
“Your lot don’t belong here, and well you knows it! Nobody wants to see you loose ends! I’ll tie you up if I catch sight of you, I will. String you up and let you hang!”
His cruel words echo unpleasantly around the township. There are citizens in good standing, merchants and fine ladies and gentlemen and others of such ilk who are looking on approvingly as the police officer attempts to corral the riff raff who are evidently not allowed a place in Resolution, who are a stain on its otherwise pristine appearance.
I am surprised to see that some of the unfortunates being threatened and herded are none other than my very own servants, Lady Feathering, Miss Fluffy, Ms Slow, and Miss Fox, to be precise. Their once fine gowns have been reduced to patches, and they are wearing dirty sacking aprons in an effort to spare any more damage to the rough hemmed silk they once all took such pride in.
They should not be here. Even if they are loose ends to our story, our story is not over. Unless our mere presence here has indeed played into Balthazar’s wizened old hands, and our story is ending faster than it should.
I rush to them, knocking the police officer to the ground. He lets out a grunt of annoyance but decides not to confront me. A prince is still a prince, even, and perhaps especially, in Resolution.
“Lady Feathering, what are you doing here?”
“We were sent here by the wizard who usurped your throne,” she says. She has lost none of her elegant speech, the slight clucking quality of it only adding to the nobleness. What she says should not surprise me. Of course Balthazar has intentions on my throne. From the moment of my arrival, I have been greeted as Prince. The story has shifted, even all the way over here in the Far Far Away. I am no longer king. I do not care. My thoughts are not for thrones and crowns, they are for Emmaline.