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Instead of looking angry, Bertha seemed almost ashamed. She wrung her hands in agitation.“I didn’t mean to. But you are so pretty and so sweet, I just want to keep you!”

“I am not a pet to be kept!” cried Serena. “You took away my memories and my will; you trapped me .”

Bertha took a step forward, and Serena thrust out the blade in front of her. “Stay back,” she said coldly. “If you come closer, I will stab you. I know you cannot use your magic from a distance, and you need to touch me to cast the spell again.”

“Please,” sobbed Bertha, “please don’t go. I’m so lo-onely !”

The last part was almost a howl which sent chills down her spine.

“You’re disgusting,” spat Serena. “Being lonely doesn’t justify trapping someone against their will. I am leaving, and if you take one more step toward me, I will throw the knife.”

She inched closer to the door, and Bertha dropped to her knees. Serena threw open the door, and ran outside as fast as she could, as far as she could go from the cloying cottage and the horrid old woman who was still wailing on the cottage floor.

She walked and walked and walked, until she was safely hidden within the woods that Gerda had mentioned passing through when she was looking for Kay.

There, she found a place to rest for a bit while she ate and tried to get over the horrible feeling she had felt after realizing she had been under a spell for almost two days.

It was a gross violation to have your will snatched in such a way.

She had just finished off her food when an arrow whizzed by, narrowly missing her face. Before she could scream, she felt cold steel kiss her throat.

“Make one wrong move, Princess,” murmured a throaty female voice, “and I’ll slit your pretty throat right here and now. Understand?”

She tilted her head ever so slightly.

“Good.”

The blade disappeared, and she gave a shaky sigh of relief.

A robber.

A beautiful one, but dangerous nonetheless.

“Hand over your bag,” she said.

Serena passed it over, knowing there was no use in refusing. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anything valuable in it anyway.

The robber girl rummaged in it, and upon realizing there was nothing of use in it, snorted and tossed it aside.

“Strange princess you are,” she remarked. “Traveling with nothing but scraps.”

“I’m not a princess,” protested Serena.

“With that hair?” said the robber girl, “you couldn’t be anything but.”

Rina fingered her pink locks self-consciously.

“I’m not sure what my hair color has to do with anything,” she mumbled. “Certainly not being royalty.”

The robber girl collapsed onto a log nearby and groaned. “I was so sure you were the perfect target when I saw you sitting there with your pink hair eating that bread so daintily. Now that you’ve wasted my time, I deserve to be entertained at least.”

“I…I really can’t stay,” said Serena nervously trying to edge away.

A knife whizzed by and stuck itself on the ground next to Serena’s feet, making her flinch.

“I really wouldn’t risk making me angry, Princess,” said the girl pleasantly. “Now why don’t you sit down and tell me what you’re doing in this neck of the woods.”

Heart pounding, Serena seated herself on the same log, a generous distance away from her.

“I’m looking for my friend. He was taken by the Ice Queen, and I need to get to her palace.”

The girl snorted. “Seems like an awful amount of trouble for another person,” she said. “Better you leave him alone; that’s what I would do.”

“I can’t. I need him to go back home,” Serena said. “Besides, even if I could, I wouldn’t. He’s my friend—well, I think we’re friends, but he just won’t admit it. Anyway, I would never leave him behind, even if I was able to escape myself.”

The girl eyed her with a peculiar look on her face. “How odd. You’re not lying; you truly mean it.”

“Well, of course I do.” Serena gritted her teeth. “I would never ever abandon a friend.”

There was a silent pause.

“My name’s Morvena, but you can call me Mor,” said the girl.

Serena looked at her in surprise.

“What?” Mor scoffed. “There’s not much you can do to me, na?ve idiot that you are. Might as well introduce myself.”

“I’m Serena. Rina if you’re a friend. It’s a pleasure to meet you…Mor.”

Mor let out a sarcastic laugh. “It’s been a long time since someone called me a friend. Let alone said it was a pleasure to meet me. You truly are something, Princess.”

She tore off her scarf to reveal a pretty face with elfin features.

“Now tell me about this quest of yours.”

Serena explained her predicament to Mor as the sun dipped and the stars once more revealed themselves in the inky black sky .

“So”—Mor paused—“You need to find this friend of yours, break into the Ice Queen’s palace, save him from the evil queen herself, escape, and then go back home.”

Serena nodded.

“You really are crazy, Princess.”

She scowled at Mor.

“I’m not really asking for advice,” she snapped. “You’re the one who asked me what my quest was. I never said you must help me or anything.”

Mor laughed then, the sound loud and true, and Serena was shocked at how young it made her sound.

“Oh, but crazy reckless quests are exactly the sort of thing I love. I think I know how to help you.”