Free Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales Paperback by Tanith Lee Page B

different part of the floor. At that, the dogs, cats, and birds—who had taken not much note of him—
    looked round at the far wall, which sighed and slowly shifted open.
    Beyond lay blackness, but there came the scent of cold stones and
    colder night. One by one the girls fluttered through like gorgeous
    moths. Yannis followed without trouble. Even though the hidden
    door was already closing, he strode on two strong legs straight
    through the wall.

III
    Beginning with an enclosed stone stair, which did not impede the
    now-fleet-of-foot Yannis, the passage descended. Nor did the almost
    utter dark inconvenience him; his unbodied eyes saw better than
    the best. After the stair came a descent of rubble, but everything
    contained within the granite bastions of the palace. Here and there
    the accustomed steps of the princesses now did falter. Once, Yannis
    found to his dismay, he reached out to steady the youngest princess.
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    • Tanith Lee •
    Fortunately, she seemed not to realize. But he must be wary—her
    compassion might have been a trap.
    He had learned her name, nevertheless. The eldest girl had called
    her by it. Evira. That was the name of the youngest princess, Gold-
    as-Gold.
    Ultimately, the way leveled. Then they walked on in the dark until
    splinters of the moon scattered through. At last full moonlight led
    them out onto a snow-marbled height, far above the city. They were
    on the western hill, where massed the houses of the dead.
    Yannis knew they must soon enter some mausoleum, and next
    they did, after unlocking its iron gate with a key the eldest princess carried.
    Yannis had lost all fear. He had no need of it.
    Within the tomb lay snow and bones, and the ravages of the
    heartless armies of death and time.
    And then there was another door, which Yannis, as now he was,
    saw instantly was no earthly entrance or exit. And despite his power and freedom, for an instant he did check. But the twelve maidens
    went directly through the door, even she did, Evira. And then so did Yannis too.
    Beyond the door lay the occult country.
    It was of the spirit, but whether an afterlife, or underworld below
    the Sun Beneath—or an else-or-otherwhere—Yannis was never, then
    or ever, certain.
    Although it was unforgettable, naturally. In nature, how not?
    Should the sun have sunk into a country beneath the earth, then
    this land, lying below the other two, had no hint of daylight. Nor
    was the round full moon apparent. Yet light there was. It was like the clearest glass, and the air—when you moved through it—rippled a
    little, like water. The smell of the air was sweet, fragrant as if with growing trees and herbs. And such there were, and drifted flowers,
    pale or somber, yet they glowed like lamps. Above, there was a sort
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    • Below the Sun Beneath •
    of sky, which shone and glowed also, if sunlessly. Hills spread away, and before them an oval body of water softly glimmered. Orchards
    grouped on every side, they too glinting and iridescent. The leaves
    nearby were silver, but farther off they had the livelier glisten of gold.
    The moment this somewhere closed around them, the women
    discarded their cloaks and shoes, and shook out the flaming waves
    of their hair. Then they ran towards the lake.
    As they ran, he saw their plain garments change to silks and
    velvets, streams of embroidery budding at sleeves and borders like
    yet more flowers breaking through grass.
    And he was aware of his own joy in the running, and his lion-like
    pursuit, his joy in the otherworld, in life and in eternity. Strong wine.
    Strong as—love.
    He did not glance after the spirit-cord, however. He sensed he
    might not see it, here.
    When the women reached the lake, they were laughing with excited
    pleasure. Some of the silver and golden leaves they had sped under
    had fallen into their hair—ice on fire, fire on water—he, too, had
    deliberately snatched a handful of each kind of leaf. But the leaves of the