Once upon a time, long ago, in a valley far from here, there lived a poor prince. The prince lived in a small castle with a small mote on a small plot of land in the center of his village and ruled his people with a kind and just hand.
He was not plain or dull, but neither was he handsome or clever. He was simply a man born in a station of mediocre power over people know one knew or cared existed. But then one day everything changed.
A letter had been dispatched to all the princes of the land calling them to gather for a feast and to share news of their kingdoms. The prince, wary of leaving his kingdom, packed his cases and set out on the journey.
Upon entering the city of Lyr the young prince was taken aback by the opulence and grandeur of the city and sought to discover all it had to offer. It would be his doom.
One day after the meeting had concluded the young prince took to the streets to explore the wonders of the city. He came upon an inn that served food and drink and the aroma of cooked meats and bread was more than he could bare and so he went in.
As he took a seat the most amazing thing happened. A bar maid, the most incredible beauty to have graced the world, caught his eye and began to walk up to him. His heart leaped out of his chest, his breath was labored, his mind a whirling jumbled mess.
She was a stout girl, with long golden hair and grey eyes. She walked as though her feet never touched the ground and her countenance was plentiful and proportionate. She was the most perfect woman that was ever made and she had him by the soul.
“What can I get you?” She asked.
“Um, well…” He stammered.
“Marry me.” He finally choked out the words.
"Excuse me?”
“OH! What I meant to say was, will you marry me?”
“I don’t get it, is this a joke?”
The prince stumbled to his feet and offered the bar maid a place at his table. She objected at first, stating that she was working and had no time to waste on a childish fool, until the price pulled a pouch filled with coin to change, his mind.
They sat and talked and ate and drank and laughed. They shared their stories and experiences. She was far more interesting than a prince from a small kingdom and he clung to every word she spoke.
The inn had closed and still they sat talking, laughing and enjoying each other until finally their night ended. He was hesitant to leave each other’s company and on the very next day, they were wed.
He took his new queen back to his kingdom and showed her to his people who took her in with open arms and the kingdom flourished and all were happy. All good things however come with dark clouds and so it was in this story.
The prince was so in love with his queen that he could never tell her no. her every whim, every indulgence, every need was supplied to her. If the cost was more than he could offer, she would find someone to supply it for her. Even though it was insulting to the prince he loved her so much that he would look away if it meant that she would stay with him.
One day, the cost of loving his queen became more than he could take and he told her no. he told her that his love for her would span all time and he needed to find a way to quell her desires. He told her that she needed to find a way to see in him what he saw in her and that there was nothing she had done that could not be forgiven. He begged her to please see him and understand that even though he was a prince of modest stature, he would give everything if she would be with him and him alone.
His queen laughed at him. Telling him to look around and see that his kingdom was over. All that he had was gone, his riches, his people, all that he had was gone, used by her to fill her needs and he was too blind to notice.
“No.” he shouted.
“No more. All I ask is for you to love me and me alone!”
His queen stood up from her throne and laughed.
“You don’t get it boy!” She spat at him.
“I am not some simple-minded bar hand, I am the Ahzeen!”
As she stepped down from the alter of her throne she began to change. Her hair glowed as amber fire. Her body twisted and bent, shifting into something inhuman. Her eyes flashed blue for a moment and then yellow. Her limbs contorted and began to grow scales as she turned into a dragon of the east.
The prince stumbled backwards at the sight of the great worm that now coiled itself at the foot of their thrones. The great wingless monster slithered and drooled as it came towards him.
“I do not fear you. For all that you are and have been, I love you.” He shouted.
“You cannot be loved. Look at you, look at how tiny you are! A tiny prince from a tiny kingdom with tiny hopes and aspirations. You are and will forever be nothing!”
“No.” The prince said flatly. His heart heavy and dispirit.
He stood stripped bare, naked to the words she spoke as she cackled and hissed at him. In his soul he could feel the truth of her words growing, taking over, becoming his truth.
He pulled his sword and stood before her. She would not win. She would not take everything without a fight. And so, they waged war upon each other.
A fierce battle raged. The back and forth of words and blows and as she spoke, he could feel more and more of himself falling away, weakening his resolve and sapping his strength.
“You cannot win.” She smiled.
“You were and always will be a weak child, easily manipulated. Easily played with. I will defeat you and all that you were or ever will be, will become mine.”
The prince stood still. He lowered his weapon as he stared into the eyes of his one true love. He remembered all the time they had spent laughing, loving, being happy for no other reason than to be happy.
“You’re right.” He said calmly.
“I cannot fight you anymore. I don’t care what you are. I don’t care what you’ve done. From the moment I saw you, I loved you and I will love you long after we are both dead and gone.”
“Fool.” She sneered as she raised herself to full height.
In a flash she dove down upon him with all her fury. Her jaws parted exposing every fang. It was to be her final attack.
In that moment the prince stepped aside as her head crashed into the floor. He raised his sword high in the air and brought it down across her neck. Its blade struck true.
His queen fell to the floor. Her body transforming back to the woman he once knew. She sat there on the floor her hand on her neck trying to hold the blood that flowed at bay.
“I am so sorry.” The prince wept.
“I will love you until time ends and the stars are cinders in the sky. You are and will be my morning and evening star.”
She struggled to right herself as she held her neck. The venom in her eyes spoke volumes to the prince. She made it to her knees before him, gasping for life.
“I never loved you! I curse you! From this day forth you will be the wretched scabby ogre I know you to be. From this day on until time ends you will be what you are, ugly, unlovable, unneeded. You will never be mortal again.”
And with those words, the queen slowly slumped to the floor. Here eyes never left the prince. The hate in them now fixed in death. Hate was the last thing she felt for him.
The prince fell to her. He picked up her body and cradled it in his arms. He wept. He wept for her, for the one thing on the planet that hated him the most. He wept. For all the hatred she had spat at him, he poured the equal measure of his love on her.
As his tears fell upon her face, it began to change to ash. The ash then swirled around them both in a maelstrom of smoke. The torrent then clung to the prince, changing him, contorting him, him transforming him, fulfilling the curse of his dragon queen.
As the storm faded, the prince sat and watched as the last of her ashes drifted from his mangled hands. Slowly he got to his feet and walked to the alter of her throne. With a thump he sat at its feet and a single tear traced down his face.
With one deafening howl of self-pity and grief he announced to all the lands the queen is dead.
But this is where our story really begins…
Years pass as years do and the prince’s kingdom fell to ruin. The homes of his people toppled into ruin, their fields fallow, now overgrown with weeds breaking through the fence rows as creeping vines clung to everything. The once proud castle that stood in the center of his kingdom was bent and grey. Great beams jutted out of the ground to support slumping spires and flocks of screeching crows circled above it all. It was a miserable sight for all to see and a curse fulfilled.
Setting in the throne room amid a pile of garbage sat an ogre. He was filthy and miserable. As he sat, he slowly poked through the piles of baubles and rotting finery. From time to time, he would pick up something and stare at it longingly. Sniffing bits of cloth as tears ran down his face.
Treasures of his life before his curse, the last possessions of his queen, his love, the woman that turned him into the monster that he had become. He had loved her the moment he saw her and they lived a tortured life until she showed her true form and he killed her for it.
He wailed at the thought of what he had done to her and his life before. The misery was complete and utterly devastating. He felt every moment of the pain for thirty years.
Thirty years he spent lamenting all the sweet things he had tossed aside with the swing of a blade. All the glory and warmth, all the horror and filth, his entire life and the memories that came with it served to bend him, contort him, twisting and spinning him about like a rusted top.
As it was for so long, he would grieve for hour on end until the strain of it all would force him into a haunted restless sleep. He would collapse on the floor holding some dear thing in his hand dreaming of her and what she meant to him. Twitching and whimpering like a dog. And this was his life for thirty years. He accepted his fate for it was the last thing his queen wanted for him and so it was that his misery and filth, his sorrow and desecration had become comforting to him. He was a monster in the truest sense of the word and it was his lot and hearth, so it must be.
The sound of the weeds rushing past her ears was the only thing she heard. Her labored breath and pounding heart muffled by the dry cracking of dead foliage in her ears as she sped through the underbrush.
Her auburn hair swayed and flowed as she ran giving it the appearance of a torch setting the fields on fire. Eyes grey as fog and sharp as a blade scanned the area for any sign of her pursuer. She was ready at a moment’s notice to fight or flee her sense keen and ever watchful.
Her life had been spent under the rule of her mother the queen in a land far to the west. She had wanted to run for a very long time, to be free of her mother’s rule and tyranny. She wanted to be whatever it was she wanted to be. Her need to be free was overpowering.
You could see in her eyes the burning desire. There was still joy in her heart and yet, in her eyes you could see an unfed drive and years of struggle. There was sadness to them that ran deep clouding joy, imprisoning a spirit of unfathomable joy. This is why she ran.
Her mind was clear, not panicked as she ran. There was purpose to her flight. She would go east, to the sea and once there she would find safe passage across the waters to someplace far out reach of her mother’s hand. A place that would accept her for who she was, so that she might begin a life filled with joyful days and peaceful nights. It would be the happily ever after she had read about in so many times.
Her feet, light and quick, avoided any obstacle and it looked to many as if she were not touching the ground at all. It was as if the wind was her chariot and the rising sun the steeds that drew it.
As she made her way across the countryside, she saw a deep gloom gathering before her. Clouds dark, cold and unsympathetic gathered in her path, threatening to rain on her parade. She tucked her head just a little bit more and with an iron resolve moved even faster.
As the clouds approached and the wind chilled, she found herself breaking free of the tall grass and could see the ruins of a village not too far off and she thought to herself that perhaps she could find suitable shelter until the storm passed. She always had a plan, as the plan formed, there were plans in place in case of threat. She was a magnificent creature of nature, a force to be reckoned with.
He lay in his despair sniveling in his sleep. The cold floor of the throne room offered neither warmth nor comfort and it was not meant to. As he slept the murder of crows, ever watchful began to cry out, sounding an alarm. There was something different in the land. Different was danger.>
Slowly he woke to the shrieking of the flock, wiping his eyes he cleared his head and sat up.
“Strangers.” He muttered as his face twisted in rage.
Just as the rain began to fall, she had found a home with more than enough of a roof and dry space to start a small fire for warmth. As she looked around, she saw a blanket that was not too torn or worn out to wrap herself in and so then settled down by her fire to rest.
The house was a modest place. The hole in the roof let in enough light so that she could see and the furnishings, though decaying, spoke of a happy place, perhaps a merchant with children playing. It was a comfort to her to imagine what it must have been like in the home, when it was in use.
Outside she could hear crows screaming and a rhythmic pounding of thunder. Boom, Boom. It seemed to rattle off in a curious pattern, once to her left, then to her right. It rattled the little house as the thunder rolled from north to south as if it were searching, almost hunting for her.
She tucked herself deeper into the blanket, little needles of uncertainty and fear began to crawl up her spine as her imagination to hold of the gloom and the storm. She knew there was nothing out there but sound and fury, but still…
Suddenly with a deafening roar and gust of wind, the house rocked, like it had been struck by something very large and very terrible. With a start, she gathered the blanket around her face, sprung to her feet and ran to the door.
No sooner did she clear the threshold; she struck something full on. Falling backwards and to the ground she saw the most horrible sight she had seen. Standing there before her, in all its terrible countenance, an ogre!
She struggled to clear the rain from her eyes as she clambered backwards trying to get back inside the house. The ground was soaked and the blanket hindered her movement. This was terror in her eyes now. She thought she was dead.
The ogre looked down at her, this little mess wallowing in the mud. The fear in her eyes told him all he needed to know. She was an intruder and she feared him just like all the others.
As he bent down over her, he looked into her eyes. Her eyes, grey and wonderful filled with horror and yet peeking out of the dread he could see there was happiness in them. A real joy.
“What are you?!” He demanded in a voice loud and rude.
The girl squealed in terror.
The ogre lifted a leg and slammed it down just inches from her head.
“I said, what are you?”
“I… I’m a girl… I’m, I’m a girl” She stammered.
“Well, I know that. I’m not blind! Are you Ahzeen? Are you Wortnot?” he bent closer squinting his eyes.
“You one of those Imaji?” he sneered a threatening grin.
“I don’t know what any of those are.” She said trying not to choke on the rain spilling over her face.
The ogre looked her over. He inspected the girl from head to toe and with a dissatisfied snort stood upright scanning the land. He down to her once more and said,
“That’s my blanket. Everything here is mine. You can use it, but it stays here.”
“Thank you?” she spoke in confusion.
“What?” the ogre sneered looking down at her with one eye closed.
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but aren’t ogres supposed to eat people? I mean, you don’t want to eat me?”
“More than you know.” He cackled with laughter.
“I would lick you like a lollypop, feast on your thighs and roast your ass to perfection. Is that what you wanna hear?” he snorted and turned away.
“Besides, you would only serve to wake up my appetite without bedding it back down.”
“Hay!” She yelled insulted.
“There’s no need to be rude!”
The ogre turned to face her, rain pouring down his face. He smiled a sinister smile and winked at her as he pointed to himself.
“Ogre, remember?”
The storm lasted for three days and in that time the girl had set out to re-enforce her makeshift home. Barricading the broken windows with bits of old furniture using a rock as a hammer, and hanging blankets over the holes in the roof to do their best to keep the rain out.
She gathered wood for the fireplace and in time made a not so shabby home for herself amid the ruins of the town. But after three days of work and no food she was weak and terribly hungry.
The sun never shone on the village; there was only grey skies and black nights. There was no food to be found and the well was black and thick, rain water was all there was to drink. She sat and pouted, fretting about how hungry she was until finally she decided that there was only one thing she could do, so she gathered her belongings and headed for the castle.
The ogre sat by a window overlooking the village. For three days he watched as the girl busied herself in the rain repairing the house she had taken over. He was curious about the lass, where she came from, where she was going. He tried to remember her face and yet all he could fix on were her grey eyes.
He had known a grey eyed lady before. The thought of her drove him into a wild depression. Grey eyes brought nothing to him but trouble and trouble was something he did not need.
Still, this girl was different somehow. Her auburn hair, even in the gloom seemed to burn like fire, bringing a little light to his town. What would it matter? He was an ogre, unlovable, miserable scabby lump of twisted flesh incapable of being loved…
Loved? He thought to himself. When did anyone say anything about being loved? The curse had made it clear that love no longer had a place in his life, his eternal life, his dismal life of solitude. Where did love come into the equation? Love… hogwash!
His thoughts began to clear as he watched the girl coming towards the castle. The hair on the back of his neck stood and a chill ran down his spine. What could possibly bring her to his front door? Why would she even be so bold as to try? It seemed that it was time to ogre up as it were.
The castle loomed in front of her imposing, wretched, it smelled of rotting things and wet dirt. She could not understand how anything could live in a place like that. It was uncivilized. Even the circling crows seemed to dislike the place, they didn’t land on it, hey just circled the place.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to the castle burst open. The ogre stepped out in front of her snarling, threatening, snarling.
“What do you want?” He bellowed.
“I’m hungry. Do you have any food?” he gasped shaking of the start the ogre had given her.
“Food?” he seemed stunned by the question and taken quite off his guard.
“Yes, food.” She repeated.
The ogre slumped to the ground in front of her rubbing his head. It was, as it seemed, difficult for the ogre to get his head around the question.
“You mean like biscuits and meat and stuff…”
“Yes… that would be food.” She sighed.
“Don’t have any of that here. Ogres don’t eat.” He said flatly.
“You don’t eat.” She scoffed at him.
“No. Ogres are eternal creatures. We live forever; there’s no need for food.”
“Three days ago you said you would lick my legs like a lollypop and roast my ass for dinner if I weren’t so scrawny.” She barked.
“Look, you have to stop all the talk of me eating you. It lends a sexual tone that does not further the plot. It’s going to lead to letters to the editor and that’s just more stuff I don’t need.”
She began to laugh, it was a snicker at first, and then an out loud belly laugh that sounded quite childlike as it fell on his ear. She walked over to a rock, sat down and wiped the tears of joy from her eyes.
“I must admit, I did not expect humor from an ogre!” She chuckled gathering herself.
“I’m… well… When are you leaving?” The ogre asked gruffly.
“I’m hungry. I don’t have the strength to go anywhere really.”
The ogre stood and looked to the crows circling his home. He let out a loud barking sound and the crows came rushing down, landing on him. One of the crows landed on his shoulder close to his head and the ogre whispered something to it. When he was done the crow growled a little and the entire murder leapt into the sky and disappeared. She watched as they flew off into the distance not to be seen.
“What did you do?” She asked.
“I sent them off for food.”
“You can talk to birds?” She asked mystified.
“You understand what you just said right?” She smirked.
“Yes, foul language. I am also versed in horse language, fish language and cow language.” He snorted.
“Cow language? How does that sound?” she asked with wide bright eyes.
“Moo.” He said flatly.
She once again, burst into laughter. Her mirth rang like chimes throughout the entire village. As she laughed the ogre looked to the skies above and saw that the clouds were thinning just a little bit.
He looked down at the girl who sat on her stone smiling up at him. He saw in her eyes joy, not fear. He looked into her grey eyes that shown just a little green.
Something stirred in him. Something ancient and forgotten, something old from a time before, from a time when his home was lush and green and it filled him with dread. He was not allowed to feel. It was forbidden. The curse defined his life, how it must be and there was no room for anything like joy.
He looked down at the girl with a terrible sneer. She was not to be trusted this, girl with auburn hair. She was there to take what was left of his life from him. She was dangerous.
“You need to go.” He barked.
“You need to leave. As soon as the crows return with your food, eat, pack and go.”
“What did I do?” she asked.
“I am sorry if I offended.”
“You’re here to take from me what is left. You are here to disrupt and dismantle my home.” He said choking on his words and falling to his knees.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just passing through. I would have been gone if not for the rain.”
The ogre stood, his hands clinched, his eyes filled with a horrible resolve. He was a monster and a monster he would remain.
“When the crows return, you will have three days to be gone.” He turned and started walking back into his home.
“I am Elisabeth. My name is Elisabeth.” She shouted.
The ogre stopped, stood stock still.
“So?” he said.
“When the three days are up, you can call to me and let me know it’s time to leave.” She said in a soothing tone.
He stood, sighed and dropped his head little.
“What may I call you? So that I may say goodbye.”
For what seemed like forever the ogre stood stiff as a stone. One would think he was a statue; he stood so still. And then slowly he turned his head to look over his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
“Justyn, Justyn Tyme.”
With that he left the girl setting on her rock and disappeared into the darkness of his home, slamming the door behind him.
“Well Justyn. It was good to meet you, no matter how rude you are.” She said as she picked herself up and made her way back to the hovel she had fashioned for herself.
The ogre sat peering out his window, watching the girl make her way to the crippled little shack. The girl with auburn hair and grey eyes, his thoughts bent on her face.
He grabbed his arm, it tingled for just a moment, the feeling was strange to him, almost painful.
“Elisabeth.” He sighed.
Justyn sat at his window watching Elisabeth as she kept herself busy. She labored for hours rebuilding, as best she could, the hovel that was slowly becoming a home.
When the crows delivered her food, she would stop and stare up at the castle, smile and wave and set to making herself a meal. The glow of her fire at night was a bright pinprick in the blackness that was Justin’s world.
When he slept, he slept tortured and restless. The image of his wife filling his head screaming at him reminding him of how little he meant to the world and that poor girl in the town below.
“You could never be good enough for her.” The queen spat from her throne.
“Look at you, scabby, filthy. Look at those hands! No one would ever want to be touched by those wretched things. And who would want to kiss a toothless, unclean beast like you? You’re never going to be happy again! You don’t deserve peace!”
Each dream, the same. Each moment spent in the waking world, the same. Words hard and sharp constantly filling his mind like hammer blows. Beating him down, keeping him down, down where he belonged. The struggle however, just behind his wife, in the recesses of his mind, was a young red-haired lady looking at him, through him, into something long buried.
Elisabeth.
He woke with a start, nearly tumbling off the pile of treasures he slept on. Confused and half-minded he looked around trying to get his bearings.
The sky erupted in a blast of thunder. Justyn jumped to his feet and looked out the window scanning the sky. The blanket of black rolled in from the east, flashing lightening and howling winds its herald. This did not bode well. This was going to be a problem.
“Elisabeth! Elisabeth!” He called.
“Elisabeth!”
He scanned the town for a sign of her and saw nothing. His heart leaped into his throat. Something must have happened to her.
He kicked the door of his castle open and rushed out into the oncoming storm. He rushed to her hovel and called her name to no avail. Bending down he poked open the door to the house looking in to see if she were there.
“Elisabeth!” he cried again, a sense of dread filled his mind.
He stood and barked for his crows. They came to him despite the heavy winds and perched in the roof.
“You need to find Elisabeth.” He spoke.
The crows chirped and cawed at each other for a moment, then looked at him quizzically. The leader of the crows cawed a couple of time, hopped on one foot and stared at him.
“I don’t care… I do care, but please go look for her.” He sighed.
“Look for who?” Elisabeth asked.
The startled ogre slipped his footing and fell, landing flat on his back. The crows flapped their wings and made noises not unlike laughter, at him. Elisabeth stood with her hands over her mouth and a look of fear and shock as Justyn lay flat on his back slowly gasping for air.<
“Look for who? Do you have another damsel on the side?” she teased.
Justyn, still trying to regain his breath held up one hand a finger pointing to the sky. He then pointed his finger to the oncoming storm turned his face to her and whispered.
” To the castle… now”
“But what about you?” She asked.
“Go.” He said trying to right himself.
She ran for the castle as fast as she could. The rain was pouring now and made things hard to see. Lightening flashed like bombs and the thunder nearly cracked the sky. She was having a hard time keeping her footing and slipped more than once.
A massive hand closed around her waist and lifted her into the air. Another hand hovered over her head like an umbrella shading her from the storm. Justyn had managed to catch up to her and was making their way to the castle with her safely in his hands.
The winds picked up and howled like a freight train. It was getting harder and harder for him to move forward. Twice the winds blew him backwards a couple of steps and still he persisted on.
Justyn tucked Elisabeth closer to his chest as he leaned into the oncoming gale. Pressing his shoulder into the winds, each step becoming harder than before he was close enough to the doorway of his castle to leap for the safety of his home.
He landed short with his arms being the only thing inside the doorway. He let Elisabeth lose as he clutched for the door jam. She ran to him, but he barked at her to stay away.
Struggling to keep his grip, Justyn looked Elisabeth in the eye, knowing that this effort was doomed, he smiled a little and just let go. The winds sucked him up and out of the doorway. Elisabeth howled in sorrow. Her eyes wet with tears, she pushed with all her might to close the door behind her, to leave her friend to the raging storm and his fate.
The storm threw itself upon the little castle with all the sound and fury of hell itself. Elisabeth wanted to be strong but her fear for the loss of her friend and the tempest blowing outdoors sapped her resolve. She wandered about aimlessly try to find a good safe place to wait out the storm.
Finally, she made her way to the throne room. It was covered floor to ceiling in paintings of a young blonde woman with eyes just like hers. On the floor in front of a throne, scattered about, were her possessions. Rings and clothing, glasses and baubles piled in a heap like offerings to this person. It all seemed pitiful and wretched to her.
She walked up to the heap slowly, looking it over and trying her best not to weep. One of the crows was setting on the back of the throne, watching carefully, as if guarding the horde. It watched intently as she made her way around the massive pile, almost waiting it seemed for her to make a mistake, so it could strike.
Elisabeth reached out to touch the mess when the crow ruffled its feathers and flapped its wings a couple of times, to get her attention.
“That would be ill advised.” The crow choked.
“You can talk?” she said startled.
“I can do many things, but there are rules to follow, so let’s just say, this is an hallucination.” It said.
“Was she his queen?”
“Yes. And more.”
“Will you tell me?”
“She was Ahzeen. She was his queen. He loved her. He loves her still.” The crow muttered.
“How did she die?” Elisabeth asked.
“Greed. Her appetites were storied. She wanted more. He said no. She became the dragon. He killed her. Ash.” Said the crow.
“He murdered her?” Her eyes were wide with fear.
“Ahzeen.” The crow coughed.
“Ahzeen are terrible. Greed only for themselves. Kill lands, people, food. Speak curse. Master gone. Ogre now. You see.”
“The ogre is the master of this place. I think I understand. He wasn’t an ogre at all, but his wife turned him into an ogre and he killed her for it.”
“Close.” The crow cawed.
“Close. Touch nothing. Go no nearby. Run from this room. Unsafe.”
Elisabeth’s eyes settled on a small gold vile poking out of the mound. Her gaze was transfixed on it. The thing seemed to call to her. The lure of it beckoned her to pick it up and she was unable to resist the call.
The crow began to screech and flap its wings, doing all it could to snap her out of it. It flew towards her passing very close to her head, yet nothing could break her concentration.
Picking the little vile off the ground, Elisabeth stood staring at it in childlike wonder. She polished the vile until it shone bright, until she could see her reflection in it.
Her eyes lit with the reflection of the vile. She could almost hear the whisper of a word in her mind, “Open”, as her hand, trembling reached out for the cork on the top of it. With a slight greedy smile, she opened the vile.
Nothing happened. She blinked as absolutely nothing happened. She looked inside the vile but there was nothing there save for a small amount of ash. She brought the vile up to her nose, to smell it.
As soon as the vile was close enough, the dust inside popped out and covered her face. Elisabeth rocked backwards dropping the vile. The crow screamed and lifted itself out the room. And in slow motion, as Elisabeth’s eyes closed, she drifted to the floor.
Justyn sat up slowly and in great pain. The storm had blown him nearly out of his kingdom. Gingerly he inspected himself. Feeling grateful for being an ogre he found no external damage.
“That’s broken!” he snorted holding his ribs as he tried to get to his feet.
“I’m going to rupture something someday.” He said as he slumped to the ground.
In the distance he heard the storm raging on. He had to get to Elisabeth. He needed her. She was the only creature that seemed to tolerate him enough to speak to him. She had spent more time in his kingdom than anyone else.
His mind was fixed on her. Fixed on her face and the way her eyes shined when she laughed. Something stirred inside him. There was a warmth in the pit of his stomach. It felt odd and wonderful. When he thought of her, the hair on his neck stood up and his chest tingled. He had felt this a long time ago, it was familiar to him… was this, love? Did he find a way to love again?
His musings were cut short when the sound of a crow shrieking in the distance snapped him to reality.
“Oh no.” He sighed as he got to his feet.
“Elisabeth, no.”
He bolted for his home. For the woman he loved. For the hope they may share, and to rescue her from the danger she was now in.
Elisabeth sat ensconced on the throne in all the finery afforded to a queen admiring all the expensive and wonderful things she had gathered about her. She smiled a smile of pure joy as she ran her fingers through golden jewelry and strings of pearls.
She hummed to herself as she stood to admire her reflection in the mirror. She began to sway and spin about, her eyes never leaving the mirror. Her humming gave way to a little giggle and then to outright laughter. She seemed quite suited to the life of royalty.
With a sudden and very loud bang, the door to the castle flew open as Justyn bounded into the room. He stood in the center of the room breathing heavy and filled with fear.
“Elisabeth!” he cried exhausted and in pain.
“So, you’ve finally returned.” She smiled as she sat down on her throne.
“What’s happening? What’s going on here?” He asked in surprise.
“You don’t know? I’ve made myself at home.”
Justyn stared at her in disbelief. What could have happened to her? Why was she acting this way? His eyes fixed on a small golden vile hanging from her neck. His blood ran cold and a chill walked up his spine.
“What have you done?” He asked in disbelief.
“I’m not sure what you mean. Didn’t you miss me while you were away?”
“Where did you get that?” he asked pointing at the little vile.
“This old thing? I found it in the pile of my stuff you had flung about the floor.”
Her voice was both pleasant and sinister. Her eyes were filled with rage as she smiled at him.
“What’s the matter Dear, didn’t you miss me?”
“Sue…” the word slipped from his lips almost by accident.
“Yes Justyn, Sue, your beloved wife!” She hissed.
“How?”
"I'm sure you can figure it out.” She spat at him holding the vile that hung from her neck.
“Let her go. Leave her alone!”
“Oh god no!” She laughed sinfully.
“It’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to stretch my legs and I do have to say, these are some very nice legs.”
Justyn stood in dismay. How could this have happened? How could he have let this happen? How was he to save the girl from the monster within?
“Let her go!” He barked.
“Let her go or…”
“OR WHAT?” she bellowed back.
“You’ll beat me? Will you bruise this delicate little thing? Will you slice her throat to get me out?”
Justyn stepped one step back, his resolve crumbling in the face of her truth. If he did anything to Sue, it would mean the end of Elisabeth.
'What do you want? What can I do to get Elisabeth back?”
“Come my love.” She said as she slowly stood holding the weapon that had ended her so long ago.
“Tell me you love me. Let us embrace.”
Leaping from the throne she threw herself at Justyn wick a wicked fury.
She swung the sword violently as Justyn dodged every swing. She moved with an unholy speed and vigor, growing more and more angry with each miss. She shrieked in fury as the blade flew through the air missing its target.
“Now dear, you’re making this harder than it needs to be. Give me hug and a kiss and DIE!”
“You’ve lost your touch, dear.” He sneered as the blade fell hard by his feet.
“I may be a little rusty.” She spoke.
“But let’s see if you can defend against this!”
She held out her free arm and drug the blade across it, cutting deep.
“NO!” He wailed in terror.
“As I thought.” She spat.
“You love this creature.”
“I do. I love her.” He sighed.
“I told you years ago that as long as there are stars in the sky you will never know love. You would be this great monster that you are inside!”
Justyn slumped to floor. There was no way to defend against her. He could not attack for fear of hurting the woman he loved, nor could he keep her from harming Elisabeth.
“What can I do? What will it take to get you to let her go?”
She slunk over to Justyn placing the blade under his chin, lifting his head to look at her. She scoffed at him, ancient and deep hatred burning in the eyes of his love.
“Die.”
She lifted the sword high in the air and was about to swing the killing blow when he raised an arm in the air holding the blow.
“Before I die will you answer one question?”
Lowering the sword with a sigh, she stood over him glaring.
“Fine.”
“Elisabeth, do you love me?”
Her body began to twitch. She shuddered as the blade fell to the floor.
“Do you love me Elisabeth?”
“What… have you done to me?” She asked tripping backwards.
“Elisabeth. I love you. Do you love me?”
She fell to her knees, clutching her head, knocking the crown from her head. She pounded the floor and shook violently. She cried out in pain. She looked as if she were going to throw up as she looked Justyn in the eye, tears running down her face.
“YES!” she shrieked.
As the word fell from her lips Elisabeth fell to the floor. Justyn shot to his feet and ran to her, holding her in his arms. He brushed the hair from her face looking deeply into her eyes.
There was a sharp pain in his side. Slowly he looked down to see the sword buried deep in his side. He looked back at the face of his love. She was smiling menacingly and began to laugh.
“Did you honestly think that would work?”
Justyn held her even tighter. He stared into those grey eyes, the eyes of his love, the eyes of his dead wife as a single tear fell from his eye and onto the cheek of the girl.
“Elisabeth, I love you.” He said as he bent down and kissed her.
“I love you too.” She said in a voice tender and warm and true.
The room lit brighter than the sun. With a deafening crack of lightening both were throne away from each other, landing in a crash on opposite sides of the room.
They lay prone for a moment as the glow in the room faded. Justyn began to lift himself but the sword in his side forced him to stop and prop himself against the wall.
Slowly Elisabeth pulled herself to her knees as a smoky grey cloud gathered around her, spun and then faded away. There was a scream, almost silent that faded with the cloud. Elisabeth scrambled to her feet and made her way to Justyn.
She stared in wonder to find propped up on the wall was a man. He was older, no hair and a long grey beard. She looked into his eyes and there she found the eyes of her love. The curse had been broken and he was free to be the man she knew in her heart that he was.
“Elisabeth?” He whispered.
“Yes. It’s me.” She said, her eyes filled with tears.
“Is it over? Is she gone?”
“I think so. But look at your hands.”
Justyn looked down at his hands, the hands of a man. The curse had been broken and he was a man again. Slowly he looked down at his side, the sword buried there.
Justyn looked up to Elisabeth, smiling just a little smile. He knew his time was limited. The cost of breaking the curse was a high price indeed.
“Could you… pull this thing out?” He coughed.
“If I take that out, you’ll die.” She sobbed.
“I don’t think anything can change that now.” He twinged in pain.
“I don’t want you to die. I love you. What would I do without you?”
“Open a bakery. Make mint frosting.” He tried to laugh but ended up cringing from the pain.
“This is not the time.” She scolded him.
Justyn reached out and took her hand. He sat smiling, looking into her eyes.
“You have such beautiful eyes. I’m sorry I was mean to you. I’m sorry for all of the mean things I did you to you, I wasn’t myself.”
She stood staring at the sword. Her hands trembled as she grabbed the hilt. She held it there for a moment trying to steel herself against what she had to do and with a quick pull, drew the sword from her man’s side.
Justyn sat on the floor gazing into the eyes of his Elisabeth as the world began to fade to black. The last thing he saw was her face, the last thing he heard were the words, “I love you.”
There was a modest kingdom out there in the world. Not large and garish, but simple and prosperous. It was ruled by a king and queen who loved their people as much as they loved each other.
The farms were good and produced lots of food. The cattle were plump and gave more milk than any other kingdom. The chickens laid eggs and the pigs were fat and willing to be bacon.
The throne room was bright and full of merry making as a single crow sat on the throne of their king. There were no disputes. There was no vice. The kingdom was filled with love and love flowed through the kingdom like a river.
Setting on the throne was an elderly king, bald with a long grey beard. Beside him was a lovely young woman with auburn hair and grey eyes. Their loved saved both of them from a gruesome fate, from death itself. They were never apart from each other. They spent all their time together. He loving her, she loving him.
For all the days of their lives, for all the nights of their lives they were inseparable. The love they knew was all encompassing. They loved each other, they loved their people, they loved their kingdom.
Never before and never since, had the love they shared been seen on this green earth. It was a magic that is lost to us now. A love that cannot be lost or contorted. A love that only comes…
Once upon a time…
Loading comments...