“I deserve an Oscar for this acrobatic performance,” Loki said, still struggling with both hands.
But his snake was amazingly powerful. It grew smaller snakes from its sides that stretched even further and sprayed poison into the wolves’ eyes. The wolves dizzied and dropped back toward land, pulling the carriage down with them.
The scene from Loki’s eyes was epic. A golden carriage in the air, pulled by poisoned wolves and strapped to the snakes from his Alicorn, all of this with the full moon in the background. Loki thought it was so crazy that he must have been dreaming. But hell, he was in a dream and this was what dreams may come.
The carriage came crashing down in front of him. Loki jumped off the unicorn as the snake pulled itself back curling around the Alicorn’s surface. He ran toward the carriage’s remains and saw Snow White sprawled on the floor. Carmilla was gone.
He pulled the demolished parts of the carriage away and knelt down next to Snow White. He patted her lightly on the cheek but she wasn’t responding. She was also paler than she’d been all dream long.
“Wake up, Shew,” he pleaded. “Wake up. I’m here beside you,” he rested her head on his arms but her hands fell loosely to her sides. He didn’t know what to do, wondering what happened to her. She didn’t look like her unconscious condition was caused by the crash of the carriage. Something else happened to her while she was in mid-air.
Crows started cawing and gathering around the trees all around him. Loki raised his head, assuming that this meant the dream was about to end. Soon enough there’d be earthquakes and mountains falling and they’d wake up. But was it safe to wake up while she was unconscious? He didn’t know.
Laying her back on the ground, he saw her lips were dripping blood. It didn’t make sense. He wondered if she had bitten the Queen while struggling in the air.
But that wasn’t the case. Next to Snow White’s paralyzed body, Loki saw a bitten apple. It was a blood apple, the juice that seeped from it was red, and he assumed Snow White had taken a bite off it. Carmilla must have forced her to bite on it while they were in the carriage.
Behind him, Loki heard Charmwill screaming. Loki stood to his feet and saw Charmwill in the distance. He was on his knees, his hands bound behind his back, and surrounded by the huntsmen. They were half-circling him with their swords to their sides. Each of them wore that same black cloak that didn’t show their faces. The wind puffed through their hollow heads and stirred the cloak as if they were black ghosts. They had caught Charmwill and were about to execute him. Loki wanted to run to him.
“Don’t come for me, Loki,” Charmwill pleaded. “I’m not as important as her.”
Loki stood stranded, looking back and forth between Snow White and Charmwill. He didn’t know whom he should save. The dream was about to end and he could only save one. The earth underneath him rumbled. The earthquake was nearing.
“Save the princess,” Charmwill screamed, sounding afraid. Never had Loki heard such a shiver in his guardian’s voice before.
Loki expected the Huntsman to appear from the dark to kill Charmwill. He needed to think fast. Was he going to face the Huntsman against Charmwill’s advice? Was he going to think of a way to save Snow White and give up on the man who unshadowed him and had blessed him with a second life? It was a hard call. It was like choosing between past and future, old and young, and it was going to break Loki’s heart either way.
Slowly, someone appeared from between the huntsmen circling his guardian. But it wasn’t the Huntsman. It was Carmilla.
She walked slowly among her huntsmen, approaching Charmwill. A number of goblins next to her were pulling the Queen’s favorite mirror behind her. They stopped in front of Charmwill and Carmilla tilted her head, meeting Loki’s eyes in the distance.
“I swear if you say that Peekaboo-I-see-u thing one more time I’m going to kick your majesty’s royal ass,” Loki snapped.
Carmilla let out a short laugh then turned her shoulder towards him, as if ignoring him. She reached her hand into the mirror and pulled a sword made of sharply edged glass. She walked closer to Charmwill and patted him on the cheek like a puppy.