"Yes, yes, well, as you know, Our daughter, Cordelia, disappeared some four years ago on this date, and it has been confoundedly near impossible to find her. . . nay, it has been impossible. We used dogs, and that got us noplace. We dragged the rivers, We searched the woods and fields, We even sought the help of several witches and soothsayers, and yet Our daughter is still missing. Now. . . well, We understand that you requested that the betrothal be called off between Our daughter and yourself, but We are in dire straits, Prince Terrence, and when it comes to this point, most princesses can only be found by a prince, or a dullard. We can't explain it, but that is the way that it seems to work best. We wrote to all of the princes to whom Our daughter was betrothed to in the past, as well as all of their youngest brothers, and all of the dullards that We know of in the kingdom, but Our efforts have been futile, until now. Prince Terrence, you are Our last hope. You must help Us to find Our daughter."
Prince Terrence stood thoughtfully for a while, his chin in his hand, his eyes moving about the room, taking it all in. Finally, he nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. I accept. On condition, however. You must give me control over where we search. You must consider me the leader of the expedition, and everyone, including yourself, must answer to me. You must also allow me to choose who will go on this journey with us. If you will accept my conditions, I will do it."
This caused the king to pause. He was a somewhat vain king, and liked to be in charge. He did not like to have to be second to anyone, and especially someone like this, a prince who was known to be a radical thinker, an upstart, who did not respect the old ways and traditions, but challenged everything. Yet, he had no choice, if he was to find his daughter. This was the only prince to agree to help, and he couldn't afford to grasp at straws. Finally, he nodded his consent. "Yes. . . We cannot argue with your demands at this time, We are in too desperate a need for help. Everything will be as you wish."
Chapter 7
Prince Terrence sat atop his stallion and looked about at his search party with pleasure. Seeing the king's face, he had to struggle to keep from laughing.
"Are you certain that We only need six men?" the king asked, frowning just as deeply as he had before. "We have never taken less than a thousand of Our bravest and best."
"If you had ever gone hunting alone, you would know that that is the best way to go about it. Too many hunters can scare away your quarry, before you have a chance of catching it, delaying you by days, even weeks. The smaller your hunting party, the better your chances."
"But I told you, We have dragged the rivers! We have searched and searched, and it takes thousands of Our men to comb that much territory! You cannot search any space with only six men!"
"You did tell me, indeed. Therefore, we can only assume that she is not lying dead in a river or in a ditch, but that she is very much alive, and does not wish to be found, or is being detained by someone who does not wish her to be found, which is why we must hunt, and why we must be stealthy."
"But these men, Prince Terrence? Aside from Us, you have yourself, a half-blind hunter with a falcon, an old man, a young boy, and a girl from the town!"
"You must come along because you are the king, and the girl's father." Prince Terrence said, calmly. "I must come, because I am the leader, as you agreed. Titus is the best hunter you have, even with only one working eye, Nathan is an old scout, he once led an entire troop of soldiers out of enemy territory in the Holy Land. As for the boy, he ran away once, and lived for six months on his own, so he will know this territory well. The girl has her purpose, as well, believe me. I have chosen each one for a purpose, Your Majesty."
Cornelia's head jerked up in surprise. She had assumed that Prince Terrence had put together his team as a joke, not with any sort of purpose, unless it was to enrage her father. Now that he had explained his reasoning, she felt greatly confused. What purpose could he have in bringing her along? She had no tracking skills. She had never hunted anything. She didn't even know the territory. What could she do? Mayhap he had chosen her to cook for the men, but if he had, he had done that without first making sure that she could cook, which was arrogant, selfish, and short-sighted of him, because she most certainly could not. Perhaps a simple meal, but even then it was scarcely edible. She had been raised to be a princess, not a cook, and even the last four years of poverty had not been enough to instill in her the skills that she had spent 16 years avoiding until then.
This time, as the king's search party left, there was very little pomp and circumstance. Most of the people of the kingdom assumed that the party of six was the king's way of saying that this was a last-ditch effort before he simply gave up, and those who celebrated, celebrated in secret. The others were silent, mourning rather than celebrating. It was not so much for the missing Princess Cordelia that they mourned, either, but for their king and queen, for if their royals gave up, they knew that it would break their hearts, and there would be very little happiness in the kingdom from that point onward. So, as the small party departed, only the queen, her maidens, and a few servants waved from the balconies. The king sulked, because he felt that this was a bad omen, and knew that it was Prince Terrence's fault, and blamed him fully. Cornelia stayed silent.
Chapter 8
"We've gone as far as we can." Titus said, as his falcon returned to his gloved arm. "If we cross this river, we are no longer in our country, but in King Gni Su Kong's."
"This is further than I've ever gone." the boy, Anthony, spoke up, sniffing the air. "I don't recognize anything past that stand of trees we passed a moment ago."
The old man didn't say anything. He didn't have to, because he had told them all along that he had not seen, heard, or smelled anything that appeared as though it might have been left by the princess.
The king turned and glowered at Prince Terrence. "We have searched for a month, Prince Terrence. We have not seen anything, and we have seen no evidence that you have been doing anything at all to find Our daughter. You are a charlatan, and I begin to think that you are not even truly a prince! We will turn around and go home, and then, after We have had time, We will bring Our armies against yours in a great and horrible war. Let it be a lesson to you and all who know you that no one crosses Us and gets away with it."
Cornelia looked at Prince Terrence in horror, wondering how he would take her father's edict, but the prince merely sat upon his steed silently, head up, shoulders back proudly, not even seeming to have heard anything that the king had said. The king also saw this, and it kindled his anger, causing him to bristle up in his saddle, until he shouted angrily, "Have you not heard a word that We have said?! We will ruin you! We have heard the rumors about you, and we heeded them not, for We needed your help, and this is how you repay Us?! We will destroy you, and yet you sit there, as though We were merely singing ballads and making merry! You are the Foolish Prince, even as they say. We will kill you where you stand, and save Ourselves the trouble of going to war!"
"You sound very silly, when you talk about yourself that way." Prince Terrence said calmly. "Say 'I' every now and then, it won't actually kill you. I knew that this moment would come, Your Majesty. I am not so narcissistic as to think that I could do more than all of the king's men and all of the king's horses, and even the king's best trackers. No, nor am I so foolish. You asked me to help you, and I have done the best that I know how. I have chosen your best men. I have traveled to the edge of your borders, and I have looked behind many a rock and tree. So, now, as you can see, we have reached the end of what we can do, and have reached the conclusion that there is nothing more. Unless, of course, you are willing to let me try one last thing, which is perhaps the most radical, and most dangerous thing of all."
Stepping down from his horse, Prince Terrence reached up and helped Cornelia down from her horse. Cornelia closed her eyes and bowed her head, knowing that none of the men had liked for her to come along, and that each one resented her. she, too, was cold, and wet, and miserable, but they all seemed to blame her f
or everything that had gone wrong, and had let her feel it very strongly by their hard looks and their hurtful words.
Prince Terrence took her by the hands, and then looked around at the others one by one, his gaze hard, penetrating. "Don't think that I haven't heard your murmurs and your complaints. Every one of you have questioned my reasoning for bringing this girl along. No, she cannot cook. No, she is not very pretty, and no, she cannot sing or otherwise try to entertain us, to help the miles and the time go by more pleasantly, such as dancing or telling jokes. Yes, she does seem to be of absolutely no use to us, and yet she is probably the most important person in our troop."
Turning now to gaze at Cornelia herself, he gently lifted her chin. "When I arrived in your kingdom, King Philip, this girl was the first person that I met. She was working, as I have told you, in a shop only perhaps a mile or so from your palace gates. I saw that there was something different about her, even then, and as time went on, I became even surer of it. How many peasant shop girls do you know, gentlemen, who cannot cook, cannot sing or otherwise make merry, and yet knows the proper way to bow according to every station, and can eat properly with every fork, spoon, or knife that she is presented with as well as knowing the proper use of a finger bowl?"
Smiling, the prince shook his head. "Several years ago, I went to the palace under the guise of a scullery boy, and I met a maiden who was all that is wicked and horrible, and I begged my father to release me from my bond to her, which he was kind enough to do, but I never forgot her, nor did I wish to, for a person is a person, and no matter how nasty they are or how terribly they treat you, any person you meet is worth remembering. When I returned, I met her again, although at first I did not recognize her, because she had changed a good deal, so much so that no one else, not even her own mother, recognized her when she returned to her own home."
"Are you absolutely mad?" the king asked him, his face rapidly changing to the approximate color of a pickled beet. "That-that-that wretch is not Our daughter! Even a pig standing on a street corner would know the difference, for We think that they might be related!"
"Oh, you'll regret that comment later." Prince Terrence said, shaking his head calmly. "Nevertheless, as it is usually required to break a spell, I will do what I can, and then we shall see what we shall see, Your Majesty."
Then, leaning his head forward, the prince lightly kissed the princess on her lips, a very short kiss, but enough to do the trick. Then, as is a very wise thing to do, he stood back.
Light shone all around Princess Cordelia, and she began to change, her hair losing its frizz and becoming sleek, black, and manageable once again, her pores clearing up and the scars disappearing one by one, her lips became as full as they had been at sixteen, and her filthy rags became a lovely ball gown, her hairy feet becoming small, dainty, and immaculate as they had been before, once again cushioned in her golden-tipped slippers. Once the transformation was complete, she stood there, looking the part of the princess that she truly had been all along.
The king was so startled, he fell from his mount, then crawled over to his daughter's feet, crying and throwing his arms around them in complete and utter jubilation.
"I am sorry that I did not go ahead and break the curse at the castle." The prince said, apologetically. "But I wanted to be sure of you first, and I also sort of enjoy making things a little dramatic. I can see that you have changed a good deal, and that you are not the same wicked, vindictive person that you used to be. Princess Cordelia, if you wish it as well, I think that I would like to reinstate our betrothal. Does that meet with your approval?"
Princess Cordelia was too overcome by emotions to speak immediately. She had begun to wonder if she was ever going to change back, and to feel as though she would spend forever as the ugly hag that she had become, never finding happiness or love, and yet the prince had seen her for who she truly was, even from the beginning, and she had been blind to it, because he had hidden his own feelings, emotions, and suspicions so well. With tears in her eyes, she nodded, and choking back a sniff, she replied, "Terrence. . . I would love to."
Chapter 8
They got married the following spring. King Philip never stopped using the royal "We", and Queen Juliette never stopped worrying for her daughter, but they both came to know her a great deal better than they had before. King Philip, of course, did not go to war with the kingdom of Condor after all, much to Prince Terrence's father's relief, and the two kingdoms were united forever after.
And Queen Cordelia of Condor never belittled anyone again. . . especially servants, or little old beggar women.
The End
Charming The Beast Page 2