Of Fairytales and Magic by Emma Hamm
Chapter 20
How dare this horrible creature try to take away what was rightfully hers? Freya had little in this world that was her own. But her memories? She had spent her entire life gathering each individual thing she remembered, and this horrible creature had taken them away from her.
Even for a small amount of time. Such a thing was not something she could forgive.
“You are a monster,” she snarled. “Not a god.”
“Many have said so.” The shadows fell away from the Horned God once again, revealing the leathery skin and the horns that wept black blood. “But your opinions do not change my power. I can destroy worlds if I wanted to.”
“I think you’re too weak for that. You feed off the suffering of others, and so few would dare step foot into this place where they know a monster waits.” She swallowed hard. Her words could end in her death, but someone had to take this being to task for what he had created.
This was a room too similar to the Spring Maiden’s horrible home. He didn’t care about anyone who came to him for help. And that’s what gods were for, weren’t they? To help the people who worshiped them. The people who gave them their powers.
This one didn’t care. The Horned God thought all people who reached out to him were insignificant. That was his greatest weakness. Underestimating others.
She opened her mouth to scold him even farther, but stopped when she felt clawed hands on her shoulders. Ice cold hands with claws that dug into her skin until tiny beads of blood welled in tiny wounds.
“I am a god,” the Horned God repeated. “I know what you’re thinking, Freya of Woolwich. I know what you want to say to me. And I know that you think this is all because I’m underestimating you. I am not one of the fae, remember? You forget that you are not dealing with anyone that you’ve dealt with before. Scold away, little mortal woman. You will learn that I am not someone to fight.”
She had no doubt, but someone had to fight him. If he wanted to hurt people, then she had to stop him. That was how Freya had lived her life in the faerie realm. And she would not stop now.
“Good,” the Horned God replied. He took another step closer while the hands on her shoulders forced her to stay in place. “You think to fight and that is a good trait. Fight against anyone who denies you the right to what you want. That is the first step to becoming the Autumn Thief.”
Eldridge stiffened at her side. He obviously wanted to move away from the approaching god, who had taken his memories as well, but he didn’t. He stayed right at her side until the Horned God could have touched her.
And then, shockingly, Eldridge reached out and put a hand on the Horned God’s chest. “No closer.”
Even the Horned God looked surprised. His eyes widened and those spears of light brightened until they were painful to look at. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Goblin King?”
“You know the rules. You cannot touch her,” he growled. “Or you will answer to me.”
Answer to Eldridge?
Freya looked between the two of them, her brows furrowed and body locked in place. Why would the Horned God answer to Eldridge?
“Careful,” the Horned God replied with a chortle. “You awakened more questions than you want to answer, Eldridge.”
She wished the god would get out of her head. Of course Eldridge had given her more questions, but she’d ask them when this was all over with. The Horned God could go pound sand and then some if he thought he knew what she was thinking.
The hands rose and grasped her skull, squeezing until she let out a small whimper. “I can’t touch you,” the Horned God whispered, “but my magic can. And don’t think for a second I’m not aware of everything that’s going on in this head of yours.”
The power inside her rose to the battle. It lifted, growing stronger until it pressed against her throat with words she released. “Get out of my head.” Even her voice didn’t sound like hers.
“Don’t be monumentally stupid, little girl. Even the magic of the Autumn Thief doesn’t scare me. I helped make it.” But the Horned God released her head with a sharp shake of her skull and then took a few steps back. “The trial I gave you was one of endurance. The Owl Mother is so obsessed with intelligence, but I want to see that the Autumn Thief will be someone who can see through magic. A person of more than just intelligence, but instinct.”
Freya was quite certain she had passed that test then. She’d seen through his illusions, even though she had not a single memory to help her through that journey.
“Yes, yes,” he muttered. “You saw through it, although I don’t know if that was really you, or if it was the help of seeing the man you love. I may have underestimated your relationship with our Goblin King. It’s an unusual thing to see a faerie and a mortal whose souls are so entangled.”
She should take that as a compliment. Eldridge and she were one functioning unit. They saw a problem, they tackled it together, and that worked better for them. They always overcame whatever was thrown at them. That was the beauty of their relationship.
Instead, she took the words as a veiled threat. Like the Horned God thought he could have beaten her if the Goblin King wasn’t involved. Yet again, another person thought she wasn’t anything without the help of a king.
“There it is,” the Horned God said. “The right train of thought. The reason you’re having to undergo so many more trials than anyone who came before you. We don’t think you’re ready for this.”
Anger flared in her chest so brightly she swore it spilled out of her hands in a shower of sparks. “Then I will continue proving you wrong. All three of your kind will give me what I want, which is the understanding that this magic is mine. I stole it, as the thieves of old would have done. I will take what is mine and I will keep it.”
“And be impressively aggressive while you are fighting for it, yes yes, I know.” The Horned God waved a hand in the air, dismissing her words. “You aren’t the first to come up with that idea, and you won’t be the last when you lose the magic, eventually. Like I said, there is only one more step for you to complete before I never have to see you again.”
Good. She would take whatever he had to throw at her. If it meant she left this cursed ballroom, then she would do anything. “What is it?”
The Horned God reared back, and the candlelight played on the horns atop his head. The light ringed them in a red, demonic glow that had her swallowing in fear. He had created the Midnight Monsters, so surely there was more to this story. More to him than only a god who wanted to see what she would do if he pushed her hard enough.
“Of course there’s more,” he replied to her thoughts with a booming laugh.
He reached behind him with a flourish, and drew out a single, wicked dagger. This one was warped metal, the blade weaving like a river on a map. The wicked tip gleamed.
“Every step requires sacrifice,” the Horned God said. “Owl Mother wanted your blood. She likes to taste the memories there, feeding off your essence. But I want more than that. I want more than your blood or your pain.”
Of course he did. Look at him! Freya’s gaze swept from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. She had known this creature would require more than physical sacrifice. More than what the others would even want.
When a person fell so deeply into darkness, it was hard to be satisfied by anything less than the depraved.
“What do you want from me, then?” she asked again. “I don’t care for the theatrics. Tell me now. Or I will simply walk away from this knowing that I already bested you.”
“You can’t walk away, Freya. That’s why you’re still here.” He held out a long, clawed hand for her to take. His fingers had an extra digit of length. That was why they looked so odd.
Freya glanced at Eldridge, but the Goblin King said nothing. This was up to her.
Taking a deep breath, she reached out and put her hand in the Horned God’s. He closed those terrible fingers around her wrist and then grinned so wide he almost split his face open. “Good, at least you’re learning. Not everything has to be a battle, Miss Freya. Or is it Lady Freya now? You’ll have to decide if you make your sacrifice for me.”
“You keep talking about it as though I’m not going to do it.” Freya knew there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t give up. After all, if she failed this, then she would die anyway.
The power inside her belly swelled and she could feel a shield slam down between her and the Horned God’s mind. It was the barest of moments. A brief respite from danger. Then the power of the Autumn Thief whispered, “You’ll give up anything but the babe.”
It let her linger in that horror before disappearing.
She tried her best not to think about it. Not to dwell that a monster like this could ask for the one thing she couldn’t give. But surely he wouldn’t ask for that. No one could be so cruel.
“You’re hiding something from me,” the Horned God said while leading her away from Eldridge. With a wave of his hand, the floor opened up and a small altar rose. “You’re getting good at hiding things you don’t want others to see. Good. You’re learning, and that means that you might survive all this.”
“I don’t know if you’re warning me, threatening me, or trying to teach me a lesson.” She schooled her thoughts ever more, trying her very hardest to not think about that light which could not be thought of.
“All of them, actually.” The Horned God nodded toward the altar and held out the knife with his other hand. “One last test, and then you’re done.”
“You said you didn’t want blood or pain,” she replied.
“I don’t. I want something that is important to you. Something that symbolizes a great love. A piece of yourself is owed. A piece that you cannot take back, but that stands for the rest of your life. It’s your choice, one who would become the Autumn Thief. But I grow hungry, so you haven’t much time left.” His eyes glowed brighter, this time with a red hue.
He must know, she realized. He knew she was hiding something so important to her that she might think of it even while she desperately tried to hide it.
But riddles had multiple answers, and she could figure this out. He didn’t want that thing she couldn’t think of. He wanted something important to her. Something that stood for all that she wanted in this life. For all that she loved.
She looked over her shoulder at Eldridge and saw he also wore an expression of horror. “No,” he said, his voice floating through the air like he shouted through water. “You will not harm her!”
The Horned God lifted a hand and threw up a wall of shadows between them. He looked back to Freya and smiled that horrible grin. “You have no help this time, Freya. Your choice must be your own. Make the sacrifice.”
Once again, he had given her too much time to think. She had looked at Eldridge and realized her entire life was wrapped around him. He had given her this gift. He had saved her from her boring old life and given her an entire kingdom at her feet if she wanted to take it.
Her life started and began in those starry eyes.
Who was she without her Goblin King? She was just a girl living on the edge of the forest, plagued by fears that were so unfounded. Tears gathered in her eyes until the altar grew blurry.
Freya spun the ring on her finger, hoping the mere action might ease the torment in her mind. It didn’t. There wasn’t time to second guess herself right now, so she slipped the ring off her finger and put it in her pocket.
She then took the offered knife and steadied herself with a single breath. She couldn’t hesitate. If she did, then she’d never go through with this. And it was the only option that she could see in this horrible place where creatures fed off blood and pain.
Freya set her hand on the altar, drew the blade back, and brought it down on the ring finger of her left hand. She’d thought it would be hard. That her body wouldn’t let her hurt herself so badly. She’d thought her hand wouldn’t go through with it.
But she stared down at her severed ring finger, and belatedly waited for the pain to hit her.
“A finger?” the Horned God chortled. “That’s all you have to offer? I do not accept!”
Thunder boomed over her head, and she knew that there wasn’t much time for her to argue. If she didn’t open her mouth, then she would die. And all of this would be for nothing.
But that was her finger.
She’d cut it off.
Freya licked her lips and tried not to scream. Was she breathing? The floor was opening up beneath her, ready to swallow her so the Horned God could play with her for the rest of eternity and she couldn’t talk.
Her lungs expanded in a massive gasp. On the exhale, she found her voice again. “In the mortal realm, a man and a woman show their everlasting dedication and loyalty to each other by wearing a ring on that finger. It is the most honorable way to pledge yourself to another. Your life. Your future. All wrapped in a band of metal on your hand. And...” She swallowed down vomit as her entire body shook with the pain and blood loss. “And now I can never make that pledge to the only man I have ever loved in my life.”
“Ah, that changes things.” The Horned God stepped into her line of vision. He picked up her finger between two of his own, delicately holding it in front of Freya’s face. “Now this, Freya of Woolwich, this is a sacrifice.”
And as she watched, he lifted her finger above his head and dropped it into his mouth.
The sound of her bones crunching between his teeth made sparks fire in the edges of her vision. His expression twisted into one of pure pleasure before he flicked his own fingers at her. “I change my mind. I accept your sacrifice. Away with you.”
The wall of shadows fell behind her with a sound like shattering glass. Freya wasn’t sure if she turned first or if Eldridge scooped her into his arms before she had even moved. All she knew was that he had her against his chest as she cradled her bleeding hand.
