by Anita Valle
“Dear knights, I cannot marry all three of you!” said Coralina in a strong voice to soar across the theater. Rows of eager peasants crowded the rough benches before the stage. The entire kingdom, it seemed, had surged into the castle for the performance. Coralina had spotted Pipsy in the first row, sitting beside Grenna, and yelling “There’s Pa!” whenever her father walked on stage.
Kerrick’s boots clomped the floorboards as he paced to and fro. Coralina hadn’t seen him since the night on the terrace and had harbored a fear he might forsake the play. He had come sullen, but otherwise cooperative. “The maiden must choose among us!” Kerrick declared. “Which man can make her happiest?”
“That is not an easy choice.” Coralina shook her head. “How shall I know who loves me most?”
“I do!” the men cried together and Coralina sighed. When the knights were conveniently called offstage, she turned to face the audience. She wore a simple peasant gown with a purple apron, and though most peasant women didn’t wear purple aprons (or plunging necklines), she felt authentic. “Whatever shall I do?” she implored the people. “However shall I know which knight truly loves me?”
“Perhaps I can help you, Child.” A gypsy woman emerged from a decrepit tent nearby. Heidel was barely discernible beneath the tangled gray wig and false warts. Coralina stumbled back in fear and hoped the audience didn’t notice her limp. She had refused to use the crutch during the play and each step agonized her wounded foot.
The gypsy told of the enchanted tower that would test the devotion of her lovers. “But there is a price!” Heidel held up a gnarled finger. “Only one of your heroes shall prevail. The others will feed my special pets who live inside the tower.”
Coralina shook her head. “How terribly sad. But, as I said... I can’t marry all three.”
The audience chuckled but Coralina felt annoyed. She wished she’d written a bit more compassion into the fair maiden’s character, something that made her less... self-absorbed.
She agreed to meet the gypsy the following morning and the curtain dropped to end the scene. Coralina hobbled down a short staircase to the room behind the stage, a dense jungle of props and trunks, every surface dripping with costumes. She passed her sister Briette on the stairs, arms laden with flat wooden trees. Though Briette never appeared in the plays, she enjoyed setting up the scenery.
Coralina sank onto a trunk, lifting her sore foot to rest on the opposite knee. Despite the ache, her senses hummed with exhilaration, the rush of power she experienced whenever she performed. Jaedis sat on another trunk in hushed conversation with Shulay. Both wore scaly green costumes and held goblin masks in their laps. Jaedis neither looked nor spoke to Coralina but this didn’t surprise her. Jaedis, like Kerrick - and Maelyn - and Luxley - was still mad at her.
She heard the next act begin. The men would argue among themselves about which of them the fair maiden would choose. Then the gypsy would appear. She’d tell them the maiden was trapped on top of a terrible tower and the men would march into the dark forest, vowing her rescue.
Coralina smiled whenever Gord spoke. Very well - the audience would have to endure a pleasant, predictable ending. But Gord would get something better. She had a new surprise to deliver on top of the tower.
When the scene ended, she followed her sisters back onto the stage. The red curtain hid the audience beyond, but she could hear the rumble of murmured conversations.
Briette wheeled the tower to the middle of the stage. Jaedis and Shulay stepped inside through a small door. Coralina lifted her skirt and carefully climbed the outer stairs. She sat on the small roof, tucked her legs beneath her, and blew a whooshing sigh of relief. At least she needn’t stand for a while.
From her perch at fifteen feet, the hanging candelabras hovered near her head, grazing warmth across her cheeks and shoulders, and casting a golden haze over the stage below. Heidel stood at the base of the stairs, adjusting her wig. The men waited in the wings. Jaedis and Shulay had stopped fidgeting inside the tower. Coralina gave a nod and the curtain rose again.
“Behold!” Heidel waved a dramatic hand. “The maiden is my prisoner! And none but the noblest heart shall set her free. Who, I wonder, will be the first to face the monsters?”
“Fear not, Fair Maiden! I have come!” Kerrick dashed out of the wings, his wooden sword held high. Coralina clasped her hands. “Do not ascend the stairway unless your heart is true! Tell me, Noble Knight, do you love me?”
“Truly I do!” Kerrick bellowed. “And the foul beasts which hold you captive shall perish beneath my blade!” He started up the staircase. But as he reached the first window, Shulay lunged out with a savage snarl. Her claws sank into Kerrick and dragged him inside the tower. Next came a horrid scream followed by sounds of snapping and crunching. Coralina had given them walnut shells to stomp on.
The nobles in the audience covered their faces, but the peasants laughed with gusto. They never tired of watching people get eaten.
“Noble Knight, do you love me?” Coralina now asked of Willow. Willow made his lavish declaration and began to climb the stairs. When he reached the second window, Jaedis leapt out and dragged him inside for more snarling and crunching. The peasants laughed even harder.
Coralina dropped her face in her hands. “There is no hope for my heroes!”
“Do not despair, Fair Maiden.” Gord stood below her with a reassuring smile. “Though I’ve lost my sword and broken my shield, I will slay these monsters and carry you to safety.”
“No!” Coralina held out her hands. “You will perish!”
Gord shook his head. “The beasts cannot conquer the heart that beats true.” The steps creaked under his feet as he climbed. When the monsters lunged from their lairs, he strangled them with his bare hands. Across the theater, not an eye blinked or a hair wavered as he reached the top of the tower.
Coralina gained her feet, careful not to flinch. Gord stopped climbing a few steps below the top so they faced each other at eye level. Coralina was certain the entire audience could hear her booming heart. His subtle smile, his crimson tunic and matching cap tilted over his brow, the candlelight glimmering in his dark eyes.... More handsome than any prince could ever hope to be.
“N-noble Knight,” she whispered. “Do you love me?”
A long pause. So long she wondered if Gord had forgotten his line. His smile slipped away. And once more, his eyes hardened into that frigid stare of contempt.
“No.”
Chapter 26
For a moment, Coralina couldn’t speak. Startled, bewildered, she simply tried the line again. “Noble Knight, do you-”
“NO!” The word smote the walls like a thunderclap. Gord held her in a hard stare. “No, Princess Coralina. I do not love you. Never have.”
He had spoken her name. The audience would know this was not part of the play. Coralina’s breath quickened. “But... but....”
“What is there to love in you?” His voice rumbled low with deepening anger. “Vain. Shallow. Deceitful. Treacherous. A woman without honor and without heart.”
His words fell on her head like hammer blows but Coralina couldn’t absorb them. She felt dizzy, her foot hurt. Even if she wanted to run, Gord blocked the staircase. She was truly trapped on top of the tower.
“I don’t understand.” Her voice trembled. “I... I thought-”
“I know what you thought!” Gord shouted, moving a threatening step upward. “You thought you could snare me, as you’ve snared so many others. Like a bloodthirsty savage, you feast on the hearts of men! You were so confident, so certain of your victory. I decided to let you think you’d won.”
Coralina felt punched in the chest. Her knees gave out and she sat hard, her skirt puffing around her. Unable to lift her eyes to his face, she stared at Gord’s boots. “So... so it was all-”
“Pretense,” said Gord. “I played your game, unpleasant though it was. Someone had to avenge the hearts you’ve broken. I knew I could do it - my heart was in no d
anger. You think yourself beautiful, Princess Coralina, but in my eyes you are ugly. I never admired you. I never cared for you. I never wanted you.”
Another long pause.
Then from the audience, a single pair of hands began clapping. The sound unleashed a torrential applause as men across the theater rose to their feet, clapping, cheering, whistling. Coralina knew them all, the faces of her former lovers. Had there really been that many? The remaining audience joined the clamor until the whole theater roared with celebration. For Gord.
Gord clumped down the stairs, ignoring the crowd. The cheering followed him into the wings. On top of the tower, Coralina curled into herself and shut her eyes until the curtain fell.
Chapter 27
One hour.
Still on the tower.
Alone.
Coralina lay on her side, crunched in the same ball of pain. She felt like someone had stomped on her body, several times over. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t cry. She only wondered why she wasn’t dead.
Bereft of the crowds, the air around her thinned and chilled. She sniffed and the sound crackled in the cavernous theater. She couldn’t lift her face to look at the emptiness.
To kiss him. That had been her new surprise. He said he wouldn’t, but she’d planned to spring it on him at the end of the play. She was certain he’d return the kiss, and ardently.
Vain. Shallow. Deceitful. Treacherous.
And Stupid.
Her hair had fallen across her eyes. Beneath the curly blanket, she heard a pair of boots climb onto the stage. They clomped across the floorboards and up the tower steps. Light footsteps, not heavy. Not Gord.
“Poor little Coco.” A warm hand pushed the curls off her face and Kerrick smiled. “Brutal, wasn’t he? I never suspected.”
The candlelight pierced her uncovered eyes and she twisted into her sleeve. “Leave me.”
“Oh Coco.” He sat on the top step and continued to stroke her hair. “I know you’re humiliated. Badly. But it will pass.”
Humiliated? He thought she was humiliated? That was like noticing a scratch on her finger but not the arrow in her chest. She scrunched tighter. “Leave me!”
“I spoke to Gord,” said Kerrick. “He knows he acted rashly. He’s sorry, Coco.”
Coralina uncovered her face. “Is he?”
Kerrick nodded. “He wants to see you. In the Wending Way.”
Hope blossomed in Coralina’s soul. “Will you help me walk?”
On Kerrick’s arm she limped through dimly-lit corridors. No one disturbed them. Coralina remembered nothing after the curtain dropped and wondered at the silence.
“Maelyn forced everyone out,” said Kerrick when she asked. “I heard her telling the princesses to leave you alone for a while.” He glanced behind them. “Can you walk a bit faster? I don’t want Gord to think you’re not coming.”
She walked faster, each step a hot barb through her foot. They passed through the main door and into the soft night. The glade surrounding the castle shone with the silvery pallor of moonlight.
“We need a torch.” Coralina turned back but Kerrick laughed and tugged her forward. “For the Wending Way? We could cross that asleep!”
“But it’s dark, Kerrick.”
He held her firmly against his side, guiding her to the forest. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “He’s just a few feet in.”
Except for pale spots of moonlight, the Wending Way was a black tunnel. The Lumen trees, wider than houses, stood around them like the legs of giants. The undergrowth buzzed with the chirps and chitters of small creatures.
“There!” Coralina pointed ahead. An orange glow flickered against the trunks of distant trees, suggesting firelight. “Gord!” she shouted.
“Shh!” said Kerrick.
Coralina pulled him along the trail. “Gord, I’m coming!”
“He can’t hear you over the insects,” Kerrick hissed. “There’s no need to shout.”
Coralina ignored him as she hobbled toward the orange trees, her sight of them often blocked by larger, closer trees. She turned off the trail, pushing through prickly shrubs and crushing ferns beneath her feet.
Within minutes she reached a circle of trees with orange light dancing over their trunks. They stood around a patch of dirt littered with chunks of broken rock. Coralina looked for the light source and gasped.
One of the Lumen trees bore a giant hole near its base, like a cave. A torch had been stuck in the dirt, burning inside the tree. The cavern glowed like a lantern, and to Coralina, it looked like a mouth, wide open and hungry. Her memory flung out her nurse’s old story about goblins inside the trees....
“Go on.” Kerrick nudged her forward.
Coralina hesitated. “He’s... in there?” Something felt horribly wrong. This wasn’t like Gord. “Why doesn’t he come out?”
Kerrick laughed. “All right. She’s here!” he yelled.
The man who appeared in the mouth of the tree was not Gord. Though silhouetted by the torch behind him, he was too small, too slim. The firelight flashed off a metal object in his hand.
Scissors.
Coralina sucked in a sharp gasp. Kerrick’s hand clamped over her mouth, stopping her scream. “Don’t worry, darling,” he growled in her ear. “It’ll grow back.”
Chapter 28
Coralina kicked like a mule but Kerrick wrestled her inside the tree. The torchlight yellowed the cavern’s inner shell. Smoke drifted up the core as through an endless chimney. Kerrick flattened Coralina under his body, holding her stomach-down on the moist earth. As he fought to pin her flailing arms, his hand slipped from her mouth.
“WHY?” Coralina shrieked and the hand jumped back. Kerrick snorted. “Can’t flirt without your pretty hair, can you? Maybe this will change your ways. No one wants an ugly princess.”
Coralina writhed, her chin and shoulders scraping the dirt. Wild fear sickened her belly, her whimpers smothered in Kerrick’s palm. “Hurry!” he said to the other man.
“Hold her still.”
With her face in the floor, Coralina couldn’t see the other man. His raspy whisper was somehow familiar. She heard his footsteps move toward them, heels scratching the soil.
“Why did you light a torch?” Kerrick snapped. “Someone might see it!”
“Squirrels, you mean?” the man sneered. “No one comes this way at night. And you can’t expect me to work in the dark. Might’ve snipped off her pretty little ears.” He snickered.
“Well, quick! Get it done!” said Kerrick. His voice came from just behind Coralina. On sudden inspiration, she snapped back her head so it smashed into Kerrick’s face. “Agh!” Kerrick drew back reflexively and Coralina wrenched out from under him. She clawed to her feet and dashed across the cavern. But as she reached the open mouth, Kerrick slammed against her and they crashed onto the ground, just outside the tree.
“Kerrick, you’re my friend!” Coralina cried.
“I was!” said Kerrick, his voice rife with anguish. “Do you think I wanted this? To be a bandit? I didn’t know what else to do! I needed money, lots of it, to marry a princess. To keep you rich and happy. But you showed me I wasn’t enough. You wanted anyone – and everyone – but me!”
“No, Kerrick!” said Coralina.
“Don’t lie to me!” Kerrick shouted. “I’m done with you, Coco! But I won’t let you go without a punishment. You pretended to love me. Well, now you can pretend you have hair.”
The other man snickered. “Hush and hold her still. Her hair’s getting dirty.”
Coralina fought savagely but Kerrick held her face in the ground. She felt strange hands gather her hair, lift it off her neck. Cold metal touched her scalp and she screamed into Kerrick’s hand. The scissors closed with a sickening snip.
A moment later, the scissors dropped, plunking to the ground by her ear. The man sprang away from her, running hard into the forest. “What’re you doing?” Kerrick shouted.
Whump!
Coralina didn’t know what happened. Kerrick’s grip loosened and his body slumped over hers.
“Ha ha!” someone cried. “I’ve struck the scoundrel down! His villainy is vanquished! Coralina, my flower, are you hurt?”
Coralina rolled over, heaving an unconscious Kerrick off her back. A handsome man stood above her, holding a torch and heavy stick.
Coralina began to sob. “L-Luxley!”
Chapter 29
“I’m here, my precious!” Luxley crouched by Coralina, flashing his white grin. The golden torch glimmered in his shining blue eyes. “Did I not promise you? No villain can ever harm you while I’m near.”
“I didn’t know you were near!” Coralina pushed to a sit-up, her voice and limbs quivering.
“When have I missed your magnificent plays?” said Luxley. He helped her stand and brush the dirt off her face and gown. Coralina looked at Kerrick lying motionless on his side. His lower arm stretched outward and near his fingers lay a severed strand of hair, curling over the ground like a black snake.
Coralina felt behind her neck and grimaced at the choppy ends. But she couldn’t complain. It had nearly been much, much worse.
“Where did you come from?” she asked. It seemed strange that Luxley had appeared out of nowhere.
“From Maelyn,” said Luxley. “I was speaking to her in the library, arguing that she should allow me to see you. We stood by the window and noticed you leaving the castle with that scoundrel. Maelyn said ‘Why is he taking her out there?’ and then with great consternation, added, ‘Luxley! I’d like you to follow them.’ And so I did.”
“Did you see the other man who attacked me?” Coralina asked. Luxley nodded. “For a moment. A short rascal with a skinny, sour face. I might know him if I saw him again.”