The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 61
I had a secret nobody knew about me. I wasn’t much good with magic. I had unlocked a spell here and a spell there, but aside from some shields and a slew of simple offensive spells, my knowledge of th
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
I had a secret nobody knew about me.
I wasn’t much good with magic. I had unlocked a spell here and a spell there, but aside from some shields and a slew of simple offensive spells, my knowledge of the arcane arts was limited. Breaking a complicated ward was well above my ability, especially one placed by the power of a god.
I couldn’t tell that to Red, though. She would have insulted me, called me a coward. I had to give it a shot, for both of our sakes. Red was a dangerous person to have around when we were on the same side. I didn’t want to see what happened if I crossed her.
I placed my hand on the ward. “Aperi mihi debes.”
Nothing happened. “Nunc aperta.”
Again, nothing. “Get iam aperta!”
Breaking wards was all about knowing the original spell and reversing it precisely. If you didn’t know the exact incantation, then all your words were useless. If you didn’t have the will to cast such a spell, then you would likely be dead before you even broke the first layer of the ward.
“Why isn’t it working?” Red snarled.
“I don’t know. I told you this was powerful and old magic. Something I have never seen before.” I slapped my hand against the stone peacock. “This is not my area of expertise.”
“What is your area of expertise?”
“Blowing things up.”
“Then try that.”
Could it be that easy? Could I just blow up the peacock and grant us to access the tunnel underneath the city? It wasn’t that far-fetched. Powerful wizards often thought of the most complex spells they could conjure and made wards to protect against them. They overlooked preventing the easiest spells.
“It’s going to attract a lot of attention.”
“Then it had better work.”
I shook my head, doubting myself, but offensive magic was something I knew pretty well. It was about the only thing I knew well. I knew how to fight, and that knowledge might be exactly what we needed to break Nimue’s spell.
With my hands placed in the air before me, I whispered, “Globulus igneus.”
The fire grew in my hands and as I pulled them apart, it grew larger than my head. By the time I stopped its growth it was nearly the size of my body.
“I’d step back if I were you.”
Red and Balor moved behind me. I pushed the fireball forward and it exploded on the peacock, sending it smashing into a thousand pieces.
“Scutum caeli!” I shouted and the air formed a shield around Balor, Red, and I until the debris cleared. Once it had, there was a hole in the ground where the statue once stood.
“Wow,” Balor said. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“Stop!” We heard from the other side of the garden. I turned to see a dozen or more troops funneling inside.
“Go!” Balor shouted. “I’ll hold them off and buy you some time!”
“But—”
“Go!” Balor insisted. “I’ll be right behind you.”
I grabbed Red by the cloak and pulled her toward the secret tunnel. She jumped inside and I followed, wishing Balor the gods’ speed but knowing I would likely never see him again.
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.