Sir Henry, or rather the name she concealed from the world, Vanessa Montero could feel her heart beat as quick as lightning. Her body trembled as she peered inside the curtain of the big top. I should have known Rosemary was an Everblood, she thought to herself. She had never personally witnessed an Everblood devour its prey, but she had heard enough stories in taverns and inns to make her weak in the knees. It wasn’t a pretty fantasy. Everbloods were ravenous creatures that savored every part of the body they desired, draining it until it was nothing but an empty husk. Vanessa realized if she didn’t do something fast, there wouldn’t be anything left of Cyrus but a pile of miserable bones, if that.

Cyrus wouldn’t be the only one suffering, all of the men’s lives were at stake. Vanessa’s knees wobbled as she realized that the time called for a manly hero, one who didn’t fear supernatural beasts from another dimension. Unfortunately for the young knight, these beasts were her greatest fear other than being exposed as a female, and she felt she’d rather take on all the burly men in another Full Moon Tavern brawl than a single Everblood.

I’ll find Archibald, Vanessa thought, he’ll know what to do. I just need to get out of here before anyone comes.

“EEK!” She screamed as she felt a hand as cold as a frozen cadaver grasp his shoulder. She nearly jumped fifteen feet before turning around to see it was Morales the Silent Swordsmen. Upon closer inspection, she saw the wire intertwined with his lips wasn’t just paint and it made Vanessa shiver to the bone. Had she been caught? The mime’s lips twitched upward into a smirk, and with a loud splatter, all Vanessa could see was red.

As she trudged through town, Vanessa brushed off the tomato sauce that had been splattered on her face and hair. She was thankful that most evil clowns thought she was a target of mockery rather than an object of suspicion. Vanessa headed in the opposite direction of the carnival to a house on the other side of the town.

It was a cozy two story house protected by a white wooden fence with a gate. A tiny cottage painted teal, the house had a doctor’s coat of arms hanging on a sign above the front door. Van stopped to admire the little house and imagined how nice it must have been for Nick and Sadie Belle to live a sweet little domestic life together. As much as she liked to deny it, even as Sir Henry, Vanessa was a true romantic at the tender age of 13. And ever since she followed Cyrus into the back alley and learned of Nick’s banishment to the Dark Realm, she vowed to bring him back as well as the other men who had been ripped away from their loved ones.

Vanessa burst through the door and saw Sadie Belle and Archibald sitting in the waiting room with exasperated looks on their face. They sat in wooden chairs and gazed out the window into the orange forest. “Where have you been?” Archibald asked. “You could have helped us with Mrs. Dum and Mrs. Dim.”

“I thought I’d leave your ex-lover quibbles to you,” Vanessa winked.

“You know for an honorable knight, you really are a little scamp,” Archibald remarked with an exasperated sigh. “You’re lucky I can still cast spells with my feet and it was enough to distract those buffoons!”

“Well, to be fair,” Van said. “I was also going after your Prince Cyrus.”

Archibald leaned back and his tired eyes opened. “You know what happened to him?”

“I know more than that. I know what Rosemary’s game is, I know what’s happening to the men around the town and I know what’s going on tonight.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Vanessa proceeded to explain everything and when she reached the topic of sacrificial ceremony and the elegy Rosemary would sing to complete it, Archibald’s eyes opened even wider than they were before. “I’ve never heard of an elegy that accomplishes such a wicked deed,” he said. “I wonder if there’s a way to stop it.”

Sadie Belle’s eyes illuminated and she spoke for the first time. “As a practitioner, I’m required to know all about magical ailments. Everything from love sickness from love potions, to speaking jinxes. And even the stuff I don’t know…well, hold on a moment.”

The young woman ran into her office beside the counter. Archibald and Vanessa heard rummaging sounds with books and paper being thrown aside until Sadie emerged with a tome as thick and black as midnight. The front cover was adorned with the same blood red eye that pierced Vanessa’s gaze in the Cave of No Return. She loathed everything associated with that singular eye.

Sadie paid no mind to Vanessa’s revulsion and beamed proudly. “Before he died,” she said “My father passed this book onto me. He said ‘Dark times are upon us and you'll need to learn how to treat magical ailments inflicted by the darkness.’ Most of our knowledge of dark ailments is collected in this book called the Demon’s Almanac.”

“That’s a mighty old book, my dear,” Archibald said. “I think I’ve only seen one other copy in my travels.”

“My father was head of the secret surgeon society. They were formed to combat magical ailments and when he took over, the former head gave him this book.”

“May I take a peek,” Archibald said with an eagerness in his eyes. “I have a feeling the elegy we seek is in here.”

Sadie Belle was hesitant but slowly handed it to Archibald. The Majester then licked his finger and pressed on the age old book causing Sadie and even Vanessa to cringe. He paged through muttering, “Forbidden fruits, Damnation spells. Ah here we are. Elegies. Hmm, how’s this. ‘Elegy for the Bogatyrs. A singer gifted in the dark key can chant these words “Our lives will never end, our death will never begin. Here in the lands of shadows, life becomes death and death becomes life.”

Sadie Belle and Vanessa found themselves turning pale with sudden realization. “That sounds like what she’s trying to accomplish here, that wicked wench,” Vanessa said, “And she’ll have all the able bodied men at her command by the night’s ending. What will we do?”

Archibald looked up from the book and turned to them. “Thankfully, I’m a team player. We’ll save Cyrus and all the men before the night comes to a close, I can promise that. Says here that like all spells that require intonation, if the words are botched, it will not work.”

“Great,” Van said. “We know one weakness, at least.”

“In that case,” Archibald responded. “Sir Henry and I will both infiltrate the tent pretending to be men wanting to see Rosemary, and when we get in, I’ll use my obnoxious kazoo playing to drown out Rosemary. Then Henry can jump on stage and impale her.”

Vanessa turned from snow pale to ghostly pale upon hearing that. “You know you can’t kill Everbloods that way.”

“Of course but I don’t think she’ll be able to sing with a sword in her diaphragm.”

“Hey,” Sadie Belle asked in her self-righteous voice. “What do you want me to do? I’d really like to help.”

“You can sneak backstage and save Cyrus during our commotion.”

“Ok…” Sadie Belle said, looking down at the ground. “But what about the men who’ve already had their bodies taken. What about my Nick?”

“Mm,” Archibald said, putting his finger to his lip. “It doesn’t say anything about reversals…All it says is that in spite of soul transfers, there are still things that keep the bodies tied to the mortal realm.”

“That doesn’t help at all,” Sadie Belle whined, her eyes beginning to water again. She grasped her hands to her clothes and a tear came down her face. “I need a moment,” she said, and walked into her office.

“Poor girl,” Vanessa said with a look of sympathy in her eyes.

“That’s nice of you to share condolences with her,” Archibald responded with a knowing smile. “But you don’t strike me as a sensitive type, Sir Henry.”

Van immediately snapped to attention and deepened her voice. “What me?” No. We must be strong for the ladies!”

“Ah yes,” Archibald said, thumbing his fingers on his pants. “Even if they must do the emotional heavy lifting in this situation.”

“Yes…” Vanessa said quietly.

She gazed out the window. The darkened gray skies folding around the now orange trees made them look even more foreboding. But not as much as the darkness that existed between them. She keeled, hoping her friend Cyrus would be okay on this wicked night.