The Fairy Godmother Part 6

“Do you all know what to do?” I asked the shoe maker, the man who had been pretending to hold his wife in stasis and the ex door man of Sybil’s home.

“I slip a sleeping draught into the visiting King’s drink,” said the ex door man. I’d waved my wand and got him a job at the palace, if I could have, I’d have waved my wand to put the stuff in the King’s drink, but there was too much risk of it ending up in the wrong glass. He was to take the drink to the King before the ball, that way we’d know it went to the right person. If he slept through the whole thing, then there was no way he could meet Sybil.

“I have been taken on as an extra driver for the day and I shall collect Sybil to take her to the ball,” said the shoe maker. “I never thought my taxi drivers licence would come in useful, not after we opened the shoe shop.”

“And what do you do then?” I asked him.

“There’s some sort of do on at the convent, I think it’s a prayer vigil, or something, I take her there and leg it before she realises she’s in the wrong place. The Nun’s have taken a vow of silence, so that should make it hard for her to find out she’s in the wrong place. They don’t have any phones and even if she takes her mobile, they have something that will kill any signal within a ten mile radius of the place, so she wont be able to get a taxi, not for hours,” the shoe maker smiled.

“And you are the right one for that job because of your taxi licence and because she has never seen you before and so you shouldn’t raise any suspicions,” I said.

“That leaves you two,” said the shoe maker.

“We are going to search Sybil’s room to see if we can find the mirror and get some answers out of it,” I replied.

“Answers?” asked the ex door man.

“Like how to take the curse off the village, how to get the shoe makers wife out of stasis, what has she done to the Head Fairy how do we get the jewels back,” I said. “If all goes to plan we will meet back at the shoe makers after midnight.”

“And if it doesn’t?” asked the shoe maker.

“Then we probably wont be able to get back,” I said. “Good luck everyone.”

“We are going to need it,” muttered the man who was going to search Sybil’s room with me.

Half an hour before the ball was due to start, the ex door man walked through the corridors delivering drinks to all the guests. He knocked on the King’s door, the King answered.

“Is this important?” he asked. “Only everyone is very busy.”

“Complementary drinks,” the ex door man said, handing over a glass for the King to taste.

“Very nice,” he said as he knocked back the contents, the ex door man gave him a second glass, which was also laced with the knockout drugs and pushed the trolley into the room.

“It should help everyone to relax,” said the King, smiling and sitting down. He was snoring before the ex door man closed the door.

“That’s my part played,” he muttered and headed back to the shoe makers house.

The shoe maker knocked on the door of Sybil’s suite of rooms.

“What are you here for?” asked the maid.

“I’ve come to drive your Lady to the Ball,” said the shoe maker.

“It’ll be good to see the back of her for a while,” the maid muttered.

“Not easy to get on with?” asked the shoe maker.

“Do your job, speak when spoken to and you should be OK,” she said.

“Will she be long?” the shoe maker asked.

“Wait here and I’ll find out,” said the maid. “Five minutes,” she said a moment later.

“So what do you and the rest of her staff do whilst she’s away?” he asked smiling at the maid.

“Everyone else has the evening off,” she sighed. “I get to wait for her return and see to her every biding.”

“Tough Job?” he asked.

“Depends on how the evening went,” the maid replied. “If everything goes to plan, she’s happy and generous. If it doesn’t, then you’ll get the sack for just looking at her wrong.”

“Tough,” he said.

“Here she is,” said the maid as the doors opened and a tall thin woman stood there.

“My Lady!” he said bowing. “The car awaits to drive you to the ball.”

“I should think so,” she smiled. “There was some talk about making my own way there.”

“An error in administration,” the shoe maker replied. “A Lady such as you should never be expected to make their way anywhere.”

“This car?” she said.

“If you will come with me,” said the shoe maker, holding out his arm and bowing.

“Of course,” she said, taking his arm and leaving the room. Another maid followed in her wake carrying a coat and a bag.

I and my companion, co-conspirator, whatever you wish to call him, waited across the corridor and watched behind a cloak of invisibility whilst all this went on.

“What do we do now?” he asked as the door to the rooms closed and the shoe maker and Sybil disappeared down the stairs.

“You heard the maid say that all the other servants were getting the night off,” I said.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Then they will probably be going out,” I said, as the door opened and a group of servants left.

“It’s alright for you,” the maid muttered as she watched them leave. “I’ve got to stay here and pray that my Lady is in a good mood when she gets back.”

“She wont be,” muttered my companion.

“I know and I don’t feel too happy about that,” I sighed.

“So what do we do?” he asked.

“Wing it,” I muttered walking over to the door and knocking on it.

“My Lady is out,” said the maid when she opened the door. “As is everyone else,” she sighed.

“I know,” I smiled.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I am your Fairy Godmother and I am here to grant you three wishes,” I said, holding my wand up as if that proved anything.

“Three wishes,” she sighed.

“Three wishes,” I repeated.

“My Mum is ill, I want her to be better,” she said. “And I’d like to be with her, not here.”

“And lastly?” I asked.

“I would like enough money to last us for the rest of our lives, to keep us comfortable, nothing fancy or anything,” she said.

“No sooner the word than the deed,” I said, waving my want three times and the maid vanished.

“Nice,” said my companion. “I was just reckoning on hitting her over the head with something.”

“We need to find the mirror,” I reminded him.

“Perhaps you should have kept the maid here, she might have known where it is,” he said.

“She wouldn’t be able to tell us if she were unconscious,” I said. “Anyway, people who consult these mirrors tend to do so when they are alone.”

“Start with the bedroom then,” he said.

“Of course,” I said walking off in the direction that Sybil had come from and opening the door to a very large stately bedroom.

“Talking mirror where are you?” I asked.

“Like it’s going to tell you,” he laughed.

“Over here,” a muffled voice replied. I opened the wardrobe and saw something at the back wrapped in an old sheet. I picked it out and unwrapped it.

“You aren’t Sybil,” the woman in the mirror said.

“Do you like working for her?” I asked.

“Look where she’s put me,” the mirror replied. “I should be on a wall for all to admire, not shoved in the back of a wardrobe.”

“How would you like to be the centre of attention at the Fairy Hall?” I asked.

“That sounds much better,” she smiled. “What do you want?”

“There is a village, she put a curse on it,” said the man.

“You want the curse lifted,” said the mirror.

“That would be good,” I said. “And the shoe makers wife, she’s in stasis.”

“He wants her back,” said the mirror. “And what do you want?”

“The Head Fairy, Sybil has her prisoner,” I said.

“That’s doable,” said the mirror. “But not easy.”

“So what do we need to do?” he asked.

“The curse on the village will lift if she sets foot in a religious house,” said the mirror. “She’s a Godless creature, so I don’t know how you will do that. The shoe makers wife will wake up when the King falls into a deep sleep and the Head Fairy will be released once the dawn breaks,” she added.

“I nearly forgot, we need the Head Fairy’s Jewellery back,” I added.

“If the Head Fairy opens the Jewellery box and tells them to come back, then they will,” the mirror added.

“How will you know when these things are done?” I asked.

“I am a talking mirror and I will know,” she replied as the shoe makers wife walked into the room.

“Where am I she asked,” looking confused.

“Well, that’s one,” said the mirror. “And now number two, I don’t know how, but she’s just walked into a convent.”

“Now we just have to wait till dawn,” the mirror said.

“Do we all have to stay here?” the man asked.

“There doesn’t seem to be much point,” I agreed, waving my wand over him and the shoe makers wife.

“What have you done to them?” the mirror asked.

“Sent them back to the shoe makers house,” I replied. “Till then we wait.”

by Janice Nye © 2019