Cursed: The Legend of Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Fourteen - Old Magic

CopyrightⒸ 2019 by B. R. Bailey All Rights Reserved

Lucinda had failed. That fact bounced around Briar Roses head, weighing her body down like molten lead. How was she supposed to do what the leader of the Curse Breakers couldn't? Lucinda was the most skilled and methodical of all the Wizards and Witches between Alagil and Brightstone.

She vaguely caught details of the Castle as they walked, Sir Leonard all too happy to make up for his lack of speed with the vast knowledge of his mind. If he didn't, she suspected the walk would become rather boring and, like all things boring, seem to take much longer to complete than it does.

"See those windows to our left? Original glass from the first manufacturer in this country. It was the first castle with windows more than a twelve inches wide within seven kingdoms!

Each pane is thirty-six inches wide and one hundred and twenty inches tall. There are a total of twelve panes in this hallway."

Looking at the wall of windows and the vaults floating above made Briar Rose feel small, even smaller than Sir Leonard himself. Tiny though he was in form, there was no doubting that he belonged in this regal structure.

Briar Rose knew that she had no place in a Castle.

Blood aside, she had been raised in a cottage in the woods. The only castle she had ever seen was the estate of Lady Rachel and that was from the road half a mile from the edge of the residence itself. As a Lord, her husband ruled over the city and it's neighboring villages, so they had a small castle in the area.

It was easily ten times the size of her cottage.

While that castle made no illusion to its size, Merlins Keep seemed to unfold as you wandered deeper into it. There was no way it was that high from the outside. Unless...the gardens tiered incline acted as an optical illusion to mask the sheer size of the Castle?

"King Arthur the First had to barter a whole squadron of cavalry horses that he had raised himself to commission those windows," Sir Leonard continued, catching Briar Roses attention.

"I heard it told that a Wizard built this Castle?"

"The Wizard Merlin helped to build it," Sir Leonard corrected, throwing both paws out. "A great Wizard and even greater mentor, Merlin taught Arthur how to be wise and good in all things, especially business. Arthur built the castle himself, following blueprints Merlin drafted.

As it was being built Merlin enchanted it, layer by layer, protecting the future. No one has ever managed to destroy the Castle, so I'd say he did a bang-up job. And look at the carvings! Spectacular! See those vaults up there? Each one is etched with roses!"

"Really?" Tilting her head back, Briar Rose stared up over twenty feet, into the peak of each arch. True to his word, each arches vaulted pillars were carved with rose vines, little leaves and flowers branching out to fill the interior of the arches.

"They even matched the baseboards! I never noticed until I was transformed. See the little leaves down here?" Sir Leonard walked up to the wall, trailing his little paws over the three-inches thick stone.

Briar Rose had to get down on her knees to inspect the stones with him, running a finger over the delicate work.

"Wow!"

"It's the whole length of the Castle! Not a single part is anything less than marvelous."

"There's magic twined into the vines! I've never seen anything so tedious before," which was saying a lot, considering who she grew up with.