one song
my heart keeps singing
of one love
only for you
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry,” Daiyu said, flicking Mina’s braid so it fell over her shoulder, just to see her turn and smile. “Perhaps you grew up around the sea. Perhaps you don’t remember. But it’s not my business.”
Mina gave a wider smiler, before she fumbled to her feet and refastened her cloak around her shoulders, holding out a hand for Daiyu. Daiyu took it and stood.
“Thank you for trying to save me. And for staying.” Daiyu took a deep breath. She didn’t want to break down again. “You had nothing, and — and I appreciate you choosing to stick with me. You could have gone back to Yulán with Orion.”
Mina shook her head, tightening her grip on Daiyu’s hand, before reaching to take the other. They stood like that for a moment, Mina’s thumbs brushing against Daiyu’s knuckles, their eyes locked. Mina’s gaze was unyielding, captivating, her gaze always open and kind. Daiyu wished more than ever now that Mina could speak, that she could hear her voice. But even without it, she was possibly the most honest person Daiyu had ever known. It was in her face, in the openness of her expression.
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I found it back! That one web-story I spoke about before, where "Hansel and Gretel" was fused with "Little-Brother, Little-Sister"? It is part of the story written by lotdanccatte "The Roebuck-Prince, the Tower-Maiden and Iron Henry". It is part of a bigger (if not massive) multi-crossover of all the Grimms fairytales mixed into one epic narrative - in fact it is the first part of it, followed by "The Long Sleep" and "Iron Henry's Extraneous Tales".
All three of them form the series known as "Iron Henry and the Devil in Conflict" (aka Das Märchen der Märchen). It was @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales who made me aware of the existence of this series, and you can see all the scholarly passion for fairytales poured in there through the "notes" section.
In fact, after this one epic of German fairytales, the author went on and did another "massive fairytale crossover" for... French fairytales, specifically those of Charles Perrault and madame d'Aulnoy, titled "The Courts of Glass and Briar", trying its best to imitate the style in which the stories were published in English... And this dedication to pastiching fairytale styles while studying their cultural areas led to a THIRD series: Cinche Cunti, overo Lo juorno de li juorne (Five Tales, or the Day of Days), this time based onto the Pentamerone.
And while it wasn't there last time I checked, it seems now there's a fourth "cultural entry" with Fairytales of the Gilded City - a fantasy version of the Gilded Age of New-York, told under the angle of Dutch fairytales?
There was a version I found mentioned in an old book on fairytales by Maria Tartar, where Cinderella, after marrying the prince, discovers a well of blood under the palace, which her step-mother then throws her into and she has to get out to save her kids from the step-mother and step sister who've taken her place.
Well, we already had that plot line in Cinderella 3, only minus the well of blood. But that strange detail stayed with me. (Did an earlier picture based on it here)
Why is there a well of blood under the prince's palace? That seemed more appropriate to a Bluebeard story.
And that's when I had the idea: What if it was Bluebeard's castle?
After Bluebeard's death centuries ago the castle was taken over by the Royal family and eventually a newer palace was construted over it, but the foundations were still there, with all their dark histories...
And their ghosts...
(And this way I could tie in my Bluebeard stuff I'd already done! Probably wont turn this into a full comic any time soon sorry but enjoy a little taste :)
As always click on the pictures for better quality as Tumblr always makes them kinda fuzzy :p
Look at the world
so close and I'm halfway to it
Look at it all, so big
Do I even dare?
Thia was sorry. Desperately. But she wasn’t sorry for wanting what she’d wanted. For wanting to be free. She had a right to want things, to desire things. Dala couldn’t take that from her.
She shut her eyes and shrank back, her stiff limbs relaxing, her muscles a dull ache. It wasn’t so bad. There were worse places to die. Thia wasn’t the first. She wouldn’t be the last. Just another step in the cycle. She let her fists unclench, fingertips cold.
A trill rang out, distant, feeble. She craned her neck upwards, took a breath, and listened. The song carried on, its voice clear and sure. A voice Thia recognised, a trill she’d heard many mornings. She pressed her hand upward towards the voice, fingers prying at crumbling stone. Her shoulder blades prodded back against broken walls, her body crying out in protest, but still she pushed, until she felt a crumbling under her nails, and revealed a pinprick of light.
She pried at the pinprick with her fingers until it was as wide as a teacup, the morning light searing on her face. Her robin sat perched on the edge of the sunlight, peering its beady eyes in at her, its voice ringing. It fluttered out of sight when she dove forward, prying herself free.
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Chapter 9: Daiyu
Daiyu and Mina meet seven centaurs in the woods.
Excerpt below the cut!
A thunderous sound caught Daiyu’s ear and she turned, pushing Mina behind her as a centaur charged into the clearing, towering over her. Another followed behind, and another, as they circled Daiyu and Mina until they were surrounded, their weapons drawn, each with an expression between a snarl and a scowl. Daiyu looked around the circle, aware of the dagger at her belt, but afraid to draw it. She gripped Mina’s arm, keeping her still by her side. The poor girl was trembling.
“State your business in our glades,” the first centaur said, voice clear and strident. His white hair was tied in two long braids falling over his shoulders, his vest a simple brown leather, his skin tan and fading into a horse’s body of gleaming gold, strong legs and a swishing white tail. His eyes were a cold blue as he peered down at them, his weapon of choice a long spear with a curved blade. “You are trespassing.”
Daiyu took another look around the circle. There were seven of them, far too many to outrun. She took a deep breath. “You have our apologies. We don’t know where we are. If you could point us in the right direction, we will leave your lands immediately.”
“Why have you come all this way into the forest, child?” the second centaur asked, her eyes as large and dark as Mina’s, her body sleek and the colour of rich soil. Her tail flickered. “This is no place for humans.”
How to even begin explaining it? She glanced at Mina, who had hidden her face in Daiyu’s shoulder. “I have run from my stepmother, who wishes me dead. I cannot go home to her.”
“And you?” the palomino asked, gesturing with his spear towards Mina. “What’s your business here?”
“She can’t speak. She’s my friend, Mina. My name is Daiyu. Please, just let us go, and we’ll be on our way. We meant no harm.”
A trilling drew Daiyu’s gaze upwards as a small shadow passed overhead, a solitary raven. The palomino centaur rolled his eyes as the raven cried out again, swooping down and landing right on his head. He shook it off with a horselike snort. “Get off, Cahal.”
Cahal?
The raven let out a sound almost like a cackle, spreading its wings and taking off again, before it burst into a flash of black feathers and, landing right before Daiyu and Mina, became a man. Daiyu staggered back, all too aware of the weapons at her back, and tugged Mina close.
“Come on, Roane, stop teasing them. The poor girls are terrified.” The man peered at the both of them, hands resting on his hips. He was dressed in a worn pair of trousers and a long tunic. His leather vest was just like the centaurs, his hair in a long, similar braid, and golden, his eyes a warm brown. He was quite handsome, and there was something familiar about his face. “What did you say you names were?”
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Chapter 7: Tarni
Tarni finally meets the lady she lost her sealskin for.
Excerpt below the cut!
The handmaids combed the knots from Tarni's curls, before handing her a light robe to wear, but no shoes. She was glad of it; she wasn’t quite ready for shoes. None of the maids were wearing shoes either.
“Now, dear, follow me and Lady Daiyu will see you. Quick, now!”
The elegant tapestries on the wall outside were simple and beautiful, mostly depicting the surrounding landscape in different colours of thread. Tarni recognised most of the landmarks, though she had never seen them like this.
“Here we are.” The handmaid stopped before a shut door and rapped quietly on the corner of the frame. Tarni's foot tapped on the floor, stomach turning in somersaults. Her first moments with Daiyu on the beach had been such a blur, she could hardly remember it. But now, in this quiet, lovely place? What would she say to her? How could she begin to explain what she had been through to come here?
The door slid open and Daiyu appeared in the doorway, her hair falling loose down her back, the front pinned back with a golden comb, her garments long and coral red. She smiled, her dark eyes glinting. “There you are. How are you feeling?”
Tanri opened her mouth to say much better, thank you, my lady. But nothing emerged. She touched her throat, devastation crushing her shoulders.
“Oh, of course. My apologies. Well…are you feeling better?”
Throat full, Tarni nodded in silence.
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Chapter 10: Astra
Astra asks to find Bram in mortal peril.
Excerpt below the cut!
Astra woke up to Bram bellowing for help.
She fumbled for her sword and fought free from her blanket, the forest dark around her, her vision not yet accustomed. She scrambled to her feet and swung her blade almost without thinking, turning on her heels, but there was no sign of him. “Bram!”
A dark, looming shape stepped out from the trees, its footsteps heavy. Its form was obscured by the shadows, black hair draping long like weeds, a squirming Bram gripped in one enormous hand.
“Let him go, now!” Astra felt like the fifteen year old she had been before her sleep as she brandished her sword at this monster, so much larger, its eyes endless and terribly bright, gleaming through the dark.
“Or what, child?” the giant asked, squeezing the flailing Bram tighter. “I’ll let him go when you do something for me.”
Astra sprung forward, blade raised. A tendril snapped out from the giant's body and wrapped itself around the blade, before stabbing it deep into the trunk of a nearby tree. Astra staggered back, reaching for the dagger on her belt. Her pulse hammered in her throat.
“There is a camp just west of here, deeper into the woods,” the giant said, its voice crumbling like dry earth. “Go there and tell them Seren has summoned you, and you need a key. They will give it to you, and you must bring it to me at the glass mountain.”
“The…what…” Mind racing like a frantic rabbit, Astra managed to ask, “Why can’t you get it yourself?”
“I cannot pass their defences. I have no choice but for you to go in my stead.” The giant shrank back, feet barely scuffing the floor as its tendrils tugged it back across the trees. “Follow the path to the camp.”
In the next moment, the giant and Bram were both gone, the only sign they had been there Bram’s abandoned things, and a faint rumbling in the trees.
“What path?” Astra shouted at nothing, an owl screeching overhead, tears stinging her eyes.
Then she spotted the pebbles; white and round and trailing through the forest in single file, glowing under the light of the moon. Wiping at her eyes and taking a heaving breath, she ran to her sword and gripped it, pressing her leg against the trunk and yanking it free. She took off in a run.
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