Chapter 14
Tanya stands in front of Morlock’s house before anyone is awake, her bags hidden in the stable ready to go once she has finished her business with Morlock. She looks around, her new cloak’s hood over her head and face to hide her from prying eyes but no one else is awake. She holds in her hand the bag that contains a bloody knife and a bloody box. She chews on her lower lip as she waits for Morlock to answer the door, having already knocked once. Not receiving an answer, she knocks again, hoping that Morlock isn’t still asleep or her plans to disappear before the village really begins to wake up and the streets become busy is ruined. Morlock opens the door, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them as he stares in surprise at the person standing before him on his doorstep.
Tanya clenches her teeth, her eyes puffy and red as if she has been crying as she pushes her way into his house. She drops the bag onto the table and turns to face him, “I have done all of the tasks as you have asked. Now lift the curses off of me and my family and friends.” Her voice is hoarse from all of the crying she has done in the past few hours.
Morlock raises his eyebrows, shaking his head, “You lie!”
Tanya picks the bag back up again and throws it at him, repeating herself, “I have done all of the tasks you have asked. Now lift the curses off of me and my family and friends.” She sits down, pushing her hood from her face to show that she has not placed the veil over her so he can see her burned face.
Morlock looks down at the bag he has caught and shakes his head in disbelief. He looks back at her and notes that there is what looks to be blood on her hands. He then rips the bag open and pulls out the bloody knife, the blood being fresh. He walks over and places the knife down on the table in front of her, watching as Tanya flinches and looks away from the bloody gleaming death tool. He then pulls out the box to see blood on the sides and drops the bag, opening the box, staring down at a pair of eyes, a tongue, and ears. He drops the box, the contents falling out onto the floor, spilling blood. He can’t believe that she had actually killed Mark but here is proof that she has done just that, completely surprising him. He feels sick to his stomach and turns away from the contents of the spilled box, placing a hand on the table to steady himself.
“You promised that if I did this, you will take the curses off of us!” she whispers angrily at him, glaring at him. “Take the curses from me and the others now!” She fights the tears that threaten to fall once again as she stands up beside him, her hand resting on the table.
Morlock nods his head, a promise is a promise so he has to take the curses off of Tanya, her parents, and her friends, Stacy and Lennie. She had lied, kept lying, and has done all of the 7 tasks including the hardest of all tasks he was sure would break her and force her to marry him. He leaves her alone for a moment, returning with his spellbook from his basement lair. He flips a few pages until he finds what he is looking for and goes to the kitchen, finding what he needs to make to break Tanya’s curse. A few herbs and fruits later, and Tanya has a new drink that she quickly drinks, the curse vanishing and she can feel her strength and life return to her. She sighs in relief then looks at Morlock as he flips a few more pages to the next spell to stop the curse for the others.
“Yata-morlaw-pendoram-de-powersete,” he says, snapping his fingers three times afterward. “Yata-morlaw-pendoram-de-tertest. Yata-morlaw-pendoram-de-lightus.” He snaps three times again and closes the book. “The curse is gone on your family as well as the town. Everyone is free.” He puts the book down on the table, sighing heavily as he turns away, not noticing that the knife is gone. “I don’t know what I will do now. I didn’t think that you would have done the last task and thought by now we would be married.”
“I told you, Morlock, I don’t love you and would never marry you,” Tanya says, standing directly behind him. “It’s time we go our separate ways, Morlock. I haven’t decided where I will be going but I am leaving after I finish one last thing.”
Morlock turns to ask her what she meant but is greeted by a sharp pain driven deep into his stomach. He looks down to see that she is holding the knife. She pulls her hand back, pulling it out, then stabs him again. She smiles as she watches his eyes widen and she stabs him again, this time pushing him hard backwards so that he trips over his own feet and falls to the ground. He grasps the hilt of the knife, hearing a sizzling sound as poison he hadn’t noticed on the tip eats away at his insides. He then turns to look at the eyes, tongue, and ears sitting in the box on the ground since he had bumped the table before going down to see nothing but a pile of flowers. He tries to speak but nothing but gurgling comes out of his throat.
Tanya sits down beside him and smiles as she watches him struggle to talk, “The fairies from the first task. We never switched the baby with the changeling. And then the witch helped me after I told her what happened. The phoenix did attack me as did the dragon but I never killed the unicorn. They allowed me to take a horn from a dead elder then stabbed themselves and me to make it more believable. Then the fairies helped me with this little trick for you. Now that I am free, I am going to head back to my friend Lilly’s house and live with her for a while I think. No one knows where she lives except me, well you did but you won’t make it so you can’t come to find me. And I think I will be using your magic bag and taking all of your magical items to give to Lilly. The ring too since it wasn’t meant for you, it’s meant for her since her totem animal is the snake. I saw it in a dream but decided to give it to you for safekeeping.” She picks up the flowers and lets them rain down on him as he lays on the floor bleeding out. “Morlock, thank you. You have made me grow up a lot more and have helped me travel, seeing more places and meeting some new amazing people and creatures. So, thank you for that.”
She pats his shoulder before grabbing the magical bag and begins to pack all of the herbs, other ingredients, and the dragon egg inside. She then takes the ring from his finger and places it on her own, taking the box and putting it inside the bag as well. Morlock coughs a little, pain racing through his body from the coughing and the dagger. He can feel the poison reach his heart and he sighs, taking his last breath, still staring at the woman he loved in awe, surprise, and now fear. She checks him for a pulse. Satisfied that he is dead, she heads down to the basement to collect everything else from down there until there is no other magical item to be found.
Tanya puts the bag on her shoulder and heads for the stable where her horse stands ready to leave, her bags mysteriously on his back already. She looks at the horse confused but it melts away and smiles when she sees flashes of fairies speeding away from the stables and back to the meadow. She takes the horse by the reins and they walk together as the village begins to wake up to another glorious sunrise. She turns once she is at the front gate of her village, looking back as the first people begin to emerge and go to work. She pulls the hood back over her head to hide her burned face and turns away, walking away with her horse by her side, ready to start her new life.