Page 4 of The Pebbled Path

A simple nod.

“How do I know that I can trust your word?”

“Clever girl.”

She ought to have been offering him compliments. He would have said as much, but she’d not given him permission to speak again.

“Ours is a mutual agreement,” she said. “I will bind us to it on a talisman, one that will annul our promises should either of us break our word. Should I cause harm to your father, you will be freed from your servitude.”

He waited impatiently for her attention to return to him.

“And if something were to happen to you?” the girl asked his lady love.

The answer began on a laugh. “Foolish child. Do you think me so weak as that? I am protected by magic more powerful than you can imagine. I cannot simply be killed, so you had best put that idea from your mind.”

“What is to stop me from fleeing or refusing to live a life of servitude?” The girl spoke a great deal.

Even as the woman’s gaze narrowed in apparent anger, she remained exquisite. “Your father would be lured back.”

His love stood in silence, watching the child, waiting. He did not look at the girl to see what she felt. Only this vision before him mattered.

“What if he comes looking for me?” the girl asked.

“He won’t.”

He moved to close the distance between them, but his love waved him away. He obeyed.

“I will send him away, and he will agree to go. Upon returning to the fork in the road, the spell will be broken, but he will remember nothing of what is here, and that includes you.”

“He would forget me? His own daughter?”

“There is a price to be paid for cheating fate. Are you willing to pay it?”

He did not see her answer. He did not look.

A moment later, his love turned to him once more. She snapped her fingers. Confusion settled over him. He still knew he wished nothing more than to remain, yet he could not remember why.

“Go,” the woman said. “Climb into your cart and drive home.”

“I will do whatever you ask,” he said. He indeed would, but the declaration sounded odd to his ears. He turned and walked toward the door. The younger woman stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Pardon me,” he said and pushed on.

Go. The instruction repeated in his mind, forceful, unignorable. He climbed into his cart and set the pony in motion. All of his attention focused on the path laid out before him. It was very important that he reach home quickly. He flicked the reins, setting the pony at a faster clip. Onward and onward. Faster and faster. Until the path he rode merged with another.

A cool spring breeze rustled the trees all around him as he made his way home. Trips into the forest were enjoyable, but he always looked forward to returning home to the quiet solitude that awaited him there. Many might think a man alone would be lonely, but he wasn’t.

He’d always been alone, and he found comfort in it.

Chapter Two

The days passed and grew into weeks. Gretel thought often of her papa, though doing so broke her heart. The enchantress’s required forfeiture meant that Papa had no recollection of her. He did not miss her as she missed him. He did not mourn her or grieve her. In his mind, she never existed.

No one would ever know how miserable she was. No one would ever come to rescue her. She was not afraid, though. She intended to rescue herself.

Gretel worked hard without complaint. She did all that was asked of her, knowing that maintaining her part of the bargain was essential to protecting her father. But as she worked, she thought and plotted and reminded herself that she was clever and brave. When the solution presented itself, she would be ready to take advantage.

Being the enchantress’s servant meant Gretel could not leave the forest. Doing so would invalidate their agreement. The enchantress always slept late, allowing Gretel the morning to see to her chores indoors, then escape to the outdoors once her mistress was awake.