Disparity - a Rumpelstiltskin story (Fairy Tales Retold)

by Sonya Writes

  Cameron returned to his true form, and the courtyard came back to life. He and his parents hurried back to the palace to discuss the event in private.

  They all agreed to tell no one of the curse, for every person who knew was another person who couldn’t possibly reverse it. Cameron went to the north tower each night, where no one would hear his screams as he went through his transformation. The hidden passage was later built so he could return to his room if needed once he’d become Rumpelstiltskin.

  He sighed and rolled over in the bed.

  Only someone who does not know of the curse can lift it.

  For years he’d agonized over the sorceress’s words. How would it possibly come about for someone to call him by his real name on accident when he looked so extremely different from himself? He suspected he would be cursed forever, and it was a large part of why he hadn’t married yet. How could he explain to a bride that they wouldn’t be sleeping together at night? Or worse, how could he explain to a bride that he turned into a hideous monster every evening at sunset.

  Perhaps monster was too harsh of a word, but he knew well the sound of screaming when others laid eyes on him. For a moment he wondered what he looked like. It had been years since he looked into a mirror as Rumpelstiltskin. One thing he did know, however: he looked nothing like himself. He looked nothing like Cameron. Being mistaken for the king while in this form would be impossible. Especially considering what little chance there was of him coming into contact with anyone during the night. He couldn’t just wander the halls hoping to bump into someone. They would see him and scream. It had happened a few times before, and he suspected such encounters would never result in his being called by his real name.

  Suddenly a memory came to him. A few years before the curse took place, he had a nanny who watched him throughout the day so his parents could perform their royal duties. There were times he accidentally called her ‘mother.’

  He meditated on this thought for a moment. “That’s it,” he said. “Once Alina and I are married, I’ll spend time with our children as Rumpelstiltskin. Perhaps one of them will call me father on accident. Perhaps that will break the curse.”

  He looked forward to seeing her again. She seemed to trust Rumpelstiltskin. He wanted her to trust him as Cameron as well. He wanted to show her that he would be a good husband.

  A sliver of sunshine rose on the horizon, and his transformation began. He writhed in pain as his bones lengthened and straightened themselves out. His face gradually returned to normal. King Cameron stood and prepared for the day ahead.

  ~

  the wait

  King Cameron ascended the stairs to the north tower. Quinn walked a few paces behind him and carried two plates of breakfast on a tray. Cameron knocked on the door and waited. “Alina, are you awake?” he asked.

  “I am,” came the reply.

  He opened the door and found her sitting in a corner of the room. When she saw it was him, she crossed her arms and turned away.

  “I thought I would have breakfast with you this morning,” Cameron said. Quinn set the tray on the floor in front of Alina and then he left the room. Cameron sat down on the other side of the tray.

  “Is it customary for royalty to be sitting on the floor and dining with a prisoner?” she asked dryly.

  He smirked. “Perhaps not,” he said. “But for the future queen I am inclined to make an exception.”

  She looked at him. “Future queen?” she said. “Then you really expect me to spin all this straw into gold?”

  Cameron bit his lip, realizing the mistake he’d made. “At this point I’m not exactly sure what to expect,” he said. “But on the chance that you do spin the straw into gold, I would like to learn more about who my future wife is.”

  Alina turned her back to him. “I don’t have any interest in eating with you this morning,” she said. “If you wanted to court me for marriage this was the wrong way to go about it, and I insist you release me from this ridiculous request.”

  He sighed and looked away. “A man is nothing if his word means nothing,” Cameron said. “I hope you can understand how important it is that I keep my word when I make a declaration. I am king after all and I cannot appear weak before the kingdom. I must follow through on what I have said.”

  “In that case,” she told him, “you really must learn to think before you speak.”

  Cameron chuckled. “I am not a harsh man,” he said. “But I am not always wise, either. I will admit to having made an unwise declaration two nights ago, but the declaration was made, and so I must stand by it.” He picked up his glass of water and drank. “I do wish for you to eat,” he said. “If my presence is hindering that from taking place, then I’ll be on my way. Enjoy your meal, Alina.”

  Cameron stood and left the room. He left both plates of food for her, and as he descended the stairs he hoped with all hope that the sapphire could enable him to spin straw into gold.

  ~

  Alina listened to the king’s footsteps as he went down the stairs. The noise echoed throughout the room. She’d heard the same sound every time Quinn came and went. It was good to know when she was and wasn’t alone.

  But then again, she didn’t know for sure, did she? That strange man with the strange name had shown up silently the night before. Rumpelstiltskin, he called himself. He could be hiding in the wall and listening that very moment. He may have heard her entire conversation with His Majesty. Alina pulled open the stone door and peered inside. The tiny corridor was empty. She studied the size of it again. It was certainly too small for her to escape through. She would just have to wait for Rumpelstiltskin to return and see if his magic sapphire could turn straw into gold.

  But what if it could? She would have to marry King Cameron, then. It was not an idea she was fond of, though perhaps it was a better choice than death. Alina wondered what would happen if she spun the straw into gold and then refused to marry the king. Would he allow her to go? She wished she could see Rumpelstiltskin again. He seemed to know a lot about His Majesty and how he might respond to certain things.

  The day passed slowly. Alina finally gave in to hunger and ate part of her noon-time meal, after having refused to eat anything since she arrived. She thought about her father and wondered how he was doing. Was he in as much agony as she was over this? Probably worse, she thought. He didn’t know about Rumpelstiltskin and his magic pendant.

  Just then a rush of terror went through her mind. What if Rumpelstiltskin was lying to her and teasing her about the pendant? What if it was not magical at all? She had less than two weeks to live, then, and what a horrible place to spend her final days. Alina began to sob once more as she had for most of the previous day. It was a long wait until sundown. She hoped Rumpelstiltskin would return once more, if only to show her she had a friend in that horrid place.

  Quinn had stopped checking on her after bringing her dinner tray the night before. Perhaps it would be the same tonight, and then Rumpelstiltskin could return without fear of being caught.

  ~

  It was a few minutes before his transformation would take place. Cameron reached into the drawer of his nightstand and pulled out his pendant. The sapphire had a soft glow to it. One more day and it should be ready.

  He contemplated whether or not he should visit Alina that night as Rumpelstiltskin. He did wish to see her again, and she seemed more open to speaking with him when she didn’t know it was him she was speaking with. He wanted to get to know her better before they were married.

  But he had no legitimate reason to visit her that night. He couldn’t help her spin the straw into gold yet, and he thought it would seem strange if he showed up merely to talk.

  He put the pendant in the drawer and closed his eyes. His transformation was about to begin. He lay down on the bed and clenched his teeth. The difficult part was not crying out and alarming anyone during the transformation. Even after years of going through this, the pain still took him by surprise on occasion. He had deve
loped a higher tolerance for pain since he was a child, though, and for the most part was able to remain silent.

  His bones shrunk and withered. His hair turned wispy and gray. His skin pressed together in awkward folds and his voice grew deeper and scratchier than before. In his opinion he hardly resembled a human at all.

  When the transformation was complete, Rumpelstiltskin stood and the king’s clothes fell from his body. He changed into his own garment, which he kept hidden in the passageway, and as he did he heard the faint sound of someone calling his name.

  “Rumpelstiltskin! Rumpelstiltskin! Are you there?”

  It was Alina! She wanted to see him. He hurried into the tiny clothes made for his withered body, and then scampered up to see Alina. He found her waiting by the door.

  Rumpelstiltskin took a moment to catch his breath. “Alina,” he said. “You were calling me?”

  “Oh, yes,” she told him. “I have been so lonely. I just needed someone to talk to. I thought I would wait patiently to see if you might come of your own accord, but when you did not, I decided to call your name and hoped you would hear.”

  “I told you I would be by again tomorrow,” he said. “The magic isn’t ready for tonight.”

  “Yes, I know. Oh, but you don’t understand how lonely it is in this room. I’m about desperate for a conversation with someone other than myself.”

  Rumpelstiltskin gave a crooked smirk, thinking that he knew quite well how lonely it could be in that room. He’d already tried to ease her loneliness once that day. “I thought King Cameron came up to visit with you,” he said. “Were you not able to talk with him?”

  Alina sighed. “I can’t talk to him,” she said. “I just can’t. And I’m not sure what I’m going to do if your pendant works and we actually turn this straw into gold.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I can’t marry him. I mean to say, I won’t. I don’t think I will. I’d like to turn him down but I’m not sure how or if I can do that.”

  It hurt to hear those words, in part because he was growing to like Alina, and in part because he now believed that marrying and having children might be the answer to his breaking the curse. “From what I’ve heard, your father already agreed to the king having your hand in marriage,” he said. “If I’m not mistaken, then according to the law, the decision lies with your father.”

  “I know,” she said. “It’s not really my choice, is it?” She hid her eyes behind her hands and leaned against the wall. Her shoulders started to shake.

  “Alina, are you crying?” Rumpelstiltskin asked.

  She wiped at her eyes. “I am,” she said. “I am, and I have good reason to. I’ve been promised to a man I barely know, and whose first encounter with me involved a death threat toward both me and my father.”

  Rumpelstiltskin put a hand on her shoulder. “I promise you, Alina. King Cameron is a good man. He will treat you well.”

  She gestured around the room. “Do you call this treating me well?” she asked.

  “It is an odd circumstance, I agree,” said Rumpelstiltskin. “But, be glad he put you in this particular room. Otherwise I may not have been able to come.”

  “You are right about that,” she said. “But, if he wants a chance with me he will have to earn it. I suppose I may have no choice about marrying him, but I do have a choice about whether or not I ever allow him into my heart.”

  “Give him a chance to earn it, then. Talk with him the next time he comes to see you. Talk with him the way you’re talking with me. Tell him your concerns.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “Speaking with him under these circumstances, it disgusts me. He waltzed up here this morning pretending he wants to get to know me, and as of yet he has no idea whether or not the straw will ever be spun into gold. What if you’d never come at all, and here I was simply doomed to my death? His coming up here would be like dangling a carrot in front of a starving rabbit and keeping it just out of reach.” She laughed and spoke in a mocking tone. “Hello Alina. You’re going to die in two weeks, but I’d like to get to know you and pretend to be nice to you for a while before I kill you.” She huffed and dropped her shoulders. “He has already proven insensitive,” she said.

  Rumpelstiltskin scratched his head. “I’m not sure what to say,” he said. “I would offer to pass along your concerns to the king, but of course then he would know I’ve been up here.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I feel better already just being able to talk with you about everything. I’ve been so alone up here. It is nice to feel that I have a friend.”

  “You’ll always have a friend in me,” Rumpelstiltskin said.

  “Would you visit me every night while I am up here, even if we can’t spin the straw into gold?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “I think I can do that.”

  “Thank you. It would mean the world to me.”

  There was a moment of silence between them. Rumpelstiltskin thought of his curse and its possible solution. “I have a request for you also,” he told her.

  She looked up at him. “Anything,” she promised.

  He smiled. “If the pendant works and we are able to spin all of this straw into gold, then when you are queen, I want you to promise me you’ll bring your children to this room every night so I can read to them before bed.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “Do you promise?”

  She hesitated for a moment. “As long as I am able to do so without it upsetting their father, then yes. I promise.”

  He smiled. “Perfect. Then tomorrow, we shall see if we can indeed spin straw into gold.”

  ~

  spinning straw into gold

  Cameron did not visit Alina the next day because of what she’d revealed to him as Rumpelstiltskin, but that night the sapphire was ready. It gave off a bright blue glow and glittered more than a usual sapphire would. He put the pendant around his neck and awaited the transformation. Once it was over, he went to the tower as Rumpelstiltskin.

  Alina was beginning to fall asleep when he arrived, but her face lit up and she forced herself awake once she saw him. “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to see you again.”

  He chuckled. “It’s only been since last night,” he said. “But, I feel the same way.”

  “I told myself to nap today so I would be rested when you came, but I just couldn’t sleep. Then, a few minutes ago, I suddenly felt so very tired.” She yawned.

  “Believe it or not, I’m quite tired too,” he said. “But perhaps this will keep us both awake.” He pulled the pendant out of his shirt and a blue glow filled the room. Alina had to shield her eyes for a moment before looking at it fully.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said. She reached out to touch it, but he pulled it back.

  “You must be careful about touching the sapphire itself,” he said. “That is when the magic is used.”

  “Do you really think it will work?” she asked. “Can it really help you spin the straw into gold?”

  “That is what we’re about to find out.” He walked over to the spindle. “Now,” he said. “You will have to help me with this.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Tell me what to do.”

  “I was hoping you could tell me, actually. I’ve never used a spindle before. Do you know how this works?”

  She laughed. “Yes, I do,” she said. “How about if I spin the straw and you work the sapphire?”

  “That would probably be best,” he said.

  Alina grabbed a handful of straw to start with and began feeding it through the spindle. Rumpelstiltskin held the sapphire up against the spinning wheel and closed his eyes. “Spin straw to gold, straw to gold, straw to gold,” he said.

  The sapphire glowed a little brighter, and then the entire spinning wheel began to glow along with the sapphire.

  “Now,” he said. “Spin the straw.”

  Alina worked the straw as quickly as she could, spinning it on the spi
nning wheel, and to her amazement each piece of straw was transformed to a thread of gold.

  “It’s working!” she said. “It’s really working. Bring more straw.”

  Rumpelstiltskin walked back and forth with piles of straw for her to spin, and Alina worked at the spindle for three hours. They didn’t stop until the sapphire grew dull and the straw ceased to change any more.

  “I guess that’s it for tonight,” said Rumpelstiltskin.

  “Yeah.” Alina took a deep breath and looked at the pile of gold they’d created. They managed to make it through one third of the straw in the room. Alina picked up a strand of the gold. “It’s real gold,” she said. “The straw has actually turned into real gold.” She sighed. “I suppose this means I’ll be marrying King Cameron soon.”

  Rumpelstiltskin patted her on the back. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll still be your friend after this.”

  “Thank you, Rumpelstiltskin.” She looked up at the rest of the straw. “I wonder if he’ll ask me to spin the rest of this into gold too, or if he’ll bring me down to marry me right away.”

  “You’ve proven you could perform the task,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “That is all he asked for. This will probably be enough.”

  She sighed. “I wish it wasn’t,” she said. “This room is familiar to me now. I’d rather spend the rest of the two weeks here.”

  Rumpelstiltskin smirked. “You’re an odd one,” he said. “But if that’s what you’d prefer, then perhaps you should suggest it to His Majesty tomorrow.”

  Alina laughed. “I find I can barely speak to him,” she said. “I don’t know how I would ever offer a suggestion for anything.”

  “It will come in time. All wives come with a plethora of suggestions and demands, I hear.”

  She nudged him on the arm. “Oh stop,” she said. “I doubt if His Majesty and I will ever be that close to one another.”

  “You never know,” said Rumpelstiltskin. “You may turn out to be far closer to him than you ever imagined possible.”