Enchanted in Time (Enchanted After Thirty #1)

Chapter 25

25

T hey spent the entire afternoon galloping through the gloomy forest. Other than a few brief rest stops at various springs or berry and hazelnut bushes, they took no breaks. Hannah kept checking the position of the sun to make sure that Irmgard was still speeding northward, but the unicorn was doggedly maintaining the exact direction.

Back in the clearing, in the presence of Irmgard’s fellow unicorns, Hannah had sensed just how much the unicorn longed to return to her herd. Perhaps this mission held the key. She’d gotten the impression that Siegfried, the lead stallion, was very strict, but as the alpha animal, that was probably necessary.

Still, it seemed merciless to exclude Irmgard then and there, as Edeltraud had done, just because she was so forgetful. Hannah could understand why Irmgard had set off to prove something to herself. Hopefully, her quest would help her to drive out the Evil and gain the patience and wisdom required to be accepted as a full member of the herd.

“How will we recognize the fireflower?” Hannah had asked Siegfried before they rode off.

“It grows on the barren ground of the Black Stone and is at most one foot tall. There is only ever a single plant. You will never find it in clusters, and it produces just one flower. That flower is large and a bright, fiery red. In its center gleams the white pearl that you will need to free the soul.”

Hannah wondered if she knew of a flower like that from Ines’s nursery, but she could think of no plant that matched that description. Meanwhile, Siegfried had gone on to say, “Above all, you shall recognize the fireflower by the fact that the Evil will do everything in its power to shield it from you. The Evil itself cannot pick it, nor can it destroy it. It cannot trample or uproot it. It is powerless against the fireflower!”

As Irmgard continued galloping north with Hannah on her back, Hannah was still pondering the unicorn stallion’s words when she saw the mountain looming in the distance. She lifted her head in astonishment. “I know that mountain! It’s there in my time as well. It’s called Rupertsberg—why that is, nobody knows!”

“What do you mean it’s still there in your time as well?” Irmgard whinnied inquiringly.

“Frieda, or Friederike the Enchantress, sent me back in time to the day when Prince Maximilian would experience the transformation for the last time. She thought I would be able to save him.”

“But how could you have done that? The prince was known for his unwillingness to make a quick decision. Even if you had been the woman of his dreams, he would never have married you that same night. She must have known that!”

“She said that I needed to help him find Mirabelle and apologize to her.”

“From the looks of it, though, it didn’t work with you there, either. That couldn’t have been the reason. Tell me everything that happened from the beginning.”

Hannah summarized how the events of the past few days had led her to go to the ball and what Frieda had told her about the circumstances.

“That doesn’t make sense. She takes you away from Anni, Hans, and Mirco?—”

“Leon, Emi, and Marco!”

“Isn’t that what I said? She takes you away from your children, who now are all alone with her, just so you can point the prince in the right direction and hold his hand as he apologizes? No, I don’t think so.”

“But the brick pathway came to a fork that Maximilian said wasn’t there before.”

Irmgard shook her head. “No, no, I remember it differently. There was always a path that went right past Mirabelle’s house. The prince is wrong—I’m absolutely sure of it. Friederike the Enchantress must have had some other reason for sending you to help Prince Otto.”

“You mean Prince Maximilian. But he was absolutely sure he had never seen that path... maybe she hid the second path from him. But why? Well, she’s already very old. Could be she’s not all there anymore.”

“No, no, no! Not Friederike the Enchantress! And she’s not that old, either. Enchantresses grow very, very old, believe me. She’s hiding something from you—I’m sure of it. There must be some reason for your presence. And now she’s sitting over at your place and babysitting your children?” Irmgard laughed as she whinnied. “She doesn’t even like children!”

“What do you mean she doesn’t like children?” Hannah nearly fell off the unicorn’s back with shock. “She rings my bell almost every day to stuff them with candy, and for weeks she’s been offering to babysit.”

“Friederike the Enchantress? No one here would willingly entrust their children to her!”

Hannah turned white as a sheet. “What are you saying?”

“She can be very gruff and forceful. She’s very bossy, and if things don’t go her way, there will be hell to pay! Hardly anyone knows her well, but everyone has heard the stories about her. That’s why everyone was surprised that the role of godmother for Prince Cunibert?—”

“Prince Maximilian!”

“Yes, exactly! Everyone was surprised that she took on the role of godmother for him. The same way that people were surprised that his mother, the Queen, went to see her to ask her to do it. Going to her is dangerous all by itself. You never know if you’ll come back in one piece!”

“She probably chose Friederike the Enchantress because she knew about the curse, and she was hoping she would help protect her son.”

“Could be. It’s still strange, though, that Friederike the Enchantress agreed. She hates children.”

Hannah shook her head in disbelief. That made no sense. The woman she knew, her neighbor Frieda, had behaved like a typical grandma to her children. She was kind and lenient, infinitely patient and affectionate. Had it all been an act? Could you fake that sort of thing?

Hannah’s pulse quickened. How were her children doing? Hannah thought back to the last few conversations she’d had with them. They hadn’t looked sad or upset when she had spoken with them through the magic mirror. And her children had never been able to fool her. She was their mother! She would have known if Frieda were treating them badly. Or would she?

Luckily, Marco was there. He was already older and very bright. He would protect his younger siblings... but against an enchantress? How would he manage to do that?

“Why on earth did she send you here?” Irmgard’s question interrupted Hannah’s dreary thoughts. “Do you have magical powers?”

Hannah shook her head. “I wondered the same thing at first. She told me I needed to help break the curse, and then I could return.”

“There must be something about you, or she wouldn’t have chosen you.”

“Maybe she deliberately picked me because she figured that, deep down, as a single mother of three, I was yearning to go on a retreat or adventure. She probably thought she would have an easy job of it with me—and she probably did.” Hannah was clinging so tightly to Irmgard’s mane that her knuckles were turning white. Had she really seemed so desperate, so miserable?

“If she had randomly picked someone, then it would definitely not have been someone whose children she would have to babysit in the meantime. Why didn’t she come here herself?”

“If only I knew.” Yes, if only she knew. Why had Frieda chosen her? She had moved in next door about six months before, and since then she had been cozying up to her and her children every day. Well, of course—the best way to get to a mother was through her kids. That must have been obvious even to a woman who didn’t like kids.

She had purposely moved in next door to her and spoiled her children, and in that way, with each passing day, Hannah had grown a little more used to her presence and trusted her a little more. Until the letter arrived and she had invited her into the apartment—and then left her children in her care as well.

As she was having these thoughts, Hannah suddenly started to scream—so loudly that, under normal circumstances, she would even have frightened herself. Three ravens flapped their wings and, emerging from the top of a spruce, made raucous squawking sounds as they flew overhead.

Irmgard slowed, came to a halt, and turned her head slightly toward Hannah. But Hannah would not stop. She screamed and screamed as all her anger at Frieda and, most of all, at herself poured out. She had to scream, or she would have exploded. She had to let out her anger, to blow off steam to be able to think clearly at all.

She jumped down from the unicorn’s back, dropped to her knees, and held her face in her hands. The screaming subsided. She huddled on the ground, totally still, until the first silent tears welled up in her eyes. One after the other, they streamed down her cheeks, leaving wet trails on her face. Irmgard nudged her gently with her muzzle and rubbed her head as if she were trying to pet her.

“I’ve abandoned my children. All these years, I’ve guarded them like a lioness guards her cubs. No one could come too close. I knew I was the only one who would keep them safe. And then I suddenly let a total stranger talk me into leaving my kids alone. Oh, Irmgard, what have I done? How could I? What kind of mother am I?”

“We all make mistakes. And we’re here in this world to learn. Don’t torture yourself, dear Hannah. Even mothers can’t always see what’s coming.”

“I’ve always been watchful and overprotective. I wouldn’t even let my boss Ines look after those three. I never wanted them to feel neglected or foisted off onto someone else. They should know that I love them more than anything. Even if I am all they have, I always wanted them to know that they had a safety net under them.”

“Calm down, you haven’t?—”

“I would never have left them alone if Frieda hadn’t forced herself on me like that and the children hadn’t begged me to leave them with her so I could go to the ball and dance with a prince.”

“The kids wanted to stay with her? The kids knew her?”

“Of course, or I never would have gone!”

“And they weren’t afraid of her? Of her big teeth and fierce look?”

Hannah raised her head and knit her brow. She had never seen a fierce look on her neighbor’s face. She shook her head. “The kids like her.”

Irmgard whinnied. “Incredible! But there you go! If they’re not afraid of her, then she’s treating them well. I can hardly picture it, but that must be the case.”

“I hope and pray you’re right.” Hannah folded her hands and sent a quick prayer to heaven. Please, Andrew, she inwardly implored her dead husband, watch over our children until I’m home again! I promise that this is the first and last time I’ll ever abandon them.

“What were her reasons for choosing you?” Irmgard asked.

Hannah shook her head. “I haven’t the faintest idea.” She thought a bit. “Maybe because I recently told some acquaintances that there had to be a Prince Charming waiting for me somewhere as well...”

Why had Frieda chosen her? How long had she been planning this? Hannah brushed a loose strand of hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “And why didn’t Frieda find out about the Evil and Mirabelle’s soul long ago?”

“Hmm?” Irmgard snorted.

“She’s intelligent, she’s clear-headed, she wants to protect her godchild, and she knows that this curse has to do with Mirabelle. She knew from the beginning that Mirabelle could not have put the curse on the royal family. And she knew that Mirabelle had awakened something evil in the forest that had been dormant for a long time.”

“What are you saying?”

“Why didn’t Frieda observe and listen in on Mirabelle the way you did? It doesn’t make any sense to me that she knew nothing about what happened to the mother’s soul back then!” She looked up. “She must have known! She knew about the soul, but she kept it from me! Just like everything else...”

Irmgard nodded, and her horn glistened in the sunlight. “I’m sure she knew about it. Didn’t she say so?”

Hannah slowly shook her head. Oh, that woman. Just wait until she got her hands on her!

The unicorn snorted. “Now get up on my back again. It’s already afternoon! You can sit and think at the same time.”

Hannah nodded in agreement and jumped up on Irmgard’s back. It was getting easier every time. She clutched the unicorn’s soft mane as Irmgard immediately trotted off.

Hannah’s stomach was making loud growling sounds, but she didn’t feel hungry. She still wanted to think about Frieda, but the mountains that loomed before them were distracting her. A single large mountain towered over several small ones that were grouped around it haphazardly as if surrounding their leader.

“Rupertsberg. I’ve gone hiking there with my kids. We thought it was creepy. Leon was terrified and wanted to go right back home. He said there were lots of haunted caves there.”

“What made him think so?”

“He claimed he was hearing loud banging and howling noises. Emi, Marco, and I heard nothing, but Leon insisted he did. He was terribly afraid, so with all his insistent whining and weeping, we decided to turn around and go home.” Hannah laughed at the memory. “Emi was yelling furiously, and Marco was whining the whole way home. Both of them really wanted to get to the top of the mountain and see the caves. And Leon was crying, and I had to carry him all the way to the car. That day, I thought to myself: how can one person handle all this by themselves? Now I wish I were there again, back with them on that day. It was so much fun!”

“Children are a wonderful thing,” Irmgard agreed, and there was a hint of melancholy in her voice that Hannah would have heard if she hadn’t been so absorbed in her own thoughts. After a moment of reminiscing, she directed her gaze toward the massive, barren mountains.

“Look! There’s a path over to the side that leads right to the middle of the mountains and to Rupertsberg, the big mountain.” Hannah pointed Irmgard in the direction she meant. “See it?”

Irmgard snorted affirmatively and trotted toward the narrow point of entry that lay between two smaller, rocky mountains.

“What did Siegfried mean when he said to beware of the thunder?” Hannah asked.

“I haven’t the foggiest notion...”