Beautiful Beast

Chapter 10

KALISTA

In a tiny cell, a young woman is curled up on a pile of straw. Her hair is a beautiful copper red and spills softly over her quivering shoulders. What has happened to this little thing that would bring her to such a dank and lonely place? Perhaps she is a thief or a murderer. But her delicate frame hardly convinces me of that.

With a startling clang, the cell door slams open and a soldier steps inside. He roughly pulls the girl up to her feet, but when she resists, he snatches a handful of copper locks and jerks her toward the hall.

"No. No. Don't take me to her." Tears stream from the young woman's beautiful blue eyes and she pulls at the soldier's uniform, begging him to let her go. But in his expression, there is a chilling emptiness. Either he does not care, or he is being manipulated by another.

He drags her through a hall, down a flight of stairs, beneath a towering archway, and into a spacious room. Harshly, he throws the girl down and she tumbles to a red carpet that covers the floor and leads to a throne. Beside this edifice of cold stone, stands a woman in a white a gown. But she is no bride. She is not even dressed in this colour for a celebration or performance.

Galinda smiles demurely at the wretched figure before her. "Welcome, child." Although these are gentle words, there is no gentleness in her voice. As usual, her expression is steely as well, but there is something different about her. Is it her posture? Her expression? No, it is the hint of grey at her temples and the tiny wrinkles gathered about her eyes. I want to laugh at this display of weakness. She pretends to be so infallible, but she, like everyone else, is not immune to the harsh fingers of time.

"Please, I have done nothing and if I have, allow me to serve you till the debt is paid." The girl begs, lifting her tear-filled eyes toward the queen.

Galinda slides forth with the fluidity of a snake who is slipping through grass toward its prey. "Dear, it is nothing you have done. But I do need something from you."

The young woman nods mutely as Galinda reaches out a hand and touches her face.

"You know that youth cannot last forever." Galinda croons softly. "Unless, of course, you seize it and take it back." Galinda's fingers suddenly clench the woman's jaw and her nails dig into her cheeks. "I take from you your beauty and your youth. It is mine and it will live its course in me."

Black tendrils slip from Galinda's hands and swirl about their figures. It feels like days slip by, yet in a moment the young woman's hair turns grey, then white, and her skin became wrinkled and pale.

With a flourish, Galinda releases the woman and the poor victim crumples onto the red carpet. That carpet might as well be made of blood. How many years of youth have been stolen upon it?

Breathing deeply, Galinda steps back and lightly touches her face. It is perfect and soft and the wrinkles around her eyes have vanished.

She laughs gleefully. "I am once again beautiful. I am the fairest in the land."

With a start, I wake and lurch up in bed. Sweat makes my hair stick to my forehead and my chest rapidly rises and falls. I want Beedy to come to my side and tell me it was only a bad dream, like she used to when I was a child. But those words would be a lie. It is true. I saw it happen through the mirror.

Long ago, on that fateful day, I picked up the piece of mirror Galinda had left behind and asked it to show me my nemesis. It did, but then, there was little to see. She was worn and weary from laying such an immense spell and lived as an old hag in a tiny hovel. Over time, though, she grew stronger and one day, I found myself looking at youthful and beautiful Galinda. I puzzled as to how it happened as I watched her use her magic to spread rumours about the beast, enchant kings, then destroy them and take over their kingdoms. When finally I caught Galinda in the act of regaining her youthfulness, I was horrified beyond words. I should have known she would go to such lengths—she is both heartless and vain. But what I saw made me sick.

I never asked the mirror to show me Galinda again. What purpose would ithave other than to feed my nightmares? I have seen what she is capable of, myentire life is a witness to her cruelty.

*****

Any thoughts on the true villain of this story??