by Walleye
“Daughter!” He exclaimed. “Watch your mouth. I am your father after all.”
“Don’t worry, Daddy. No matter how big you get, we’ll still love you.” Ella said as she patted his hand.
“I get no respect.” He muttered to himself.
The Beast picked up one of the snails and sucked it out of its shell. He smiled in sudden surprise. “I like it.” A very relieved cook quietly left the room.
After that dinner settled down to a very desultory conversation as everyone tried not to think of the empty chair at the table.
Upstairs in the Queen’s bedroom Gwen took a damp cloth and wiped off Maryellen’s flushed face. A slight fever had sprung up after they had gotten her undressed, cleaned up and into a clean nightgown.
‘This was not unexpected.’ Gwen thought. ‘After all the young woman’s intestines had been torn up by a boar’s tusks. If she hadn’t been saved by the use of magic she would probably be gasping out her last breathe right now.’ She rang out the cloth into a bowl of water beside the bed and then patted the girl’s forehead again.
After she had dipped the cloth in the bowl again she pulled back the sheets and inspected the two wounds in her patient’s abdomen. The two scars were pale white but there was no inflammation around the scars.
If magic hadn’t been used to heal, then Gwen knew from previous experiences that there would have been bleeding and infection and in two days the wounds would’ve swollen and begun to stink and this would be quickly followed by death.
She covered the girl back up and tucked the sheets up around her chin. “You’re a very lucky young woman.” She declared. “Someone must be watching over you.”
She didn’t see that someone as the little fairy sitting on the top of the hilt of the magic sword leaning against the wall beside the bed was invisible to her. Thistledown was watching Maryellen carefully. Right now her friend was extremely vulnerable to someone like the Sidhe sorceress Morgin and she had to be on her guard against any more attacks. This last one had to have been delivered by the Sidhe sorceress and Thistledown blamed herself that she had not recognized earlier what was happening.
Out in the woods Morgin got to her feet, leaned against the oak tree and put a hand to her head. Her head was still throbbing and her back ached from where it had impacted the tree.
‘Where did that darned mermaid get that magic sword from?’ She thought angrily. If she hadn’t had it, then she would be dead and the Beast struggling to survive.’
“Grooo.” A curious green troll hooted as it shoved the bushes aside and looked down at her. In troll language he’d said. ‘You don’t look so good, grouchy fairy.’
“Oh, beat it, you ugly green frog.” Growled Morgin. “Go find a bridge to haunt.”
“Groo!!” The green troll snapped back. Meaning in troll language. ‘You should talk, ground worm.’ Troll language is very sophisticated and depends on ultrasound.
“Worm?” Morgin shouted. “I’ll fix you!”
She flung her hand out and a spell knocked the troll backwards into the brush. “Good riddance.” She declared as she headed back to the fairy ring deep in the woods.
A few minutes after she left the brush was shoved aside by something. “Meow?” A plaintive voice asked and a green fluffy house cat who had to weigh fifty pounds walked out into the clearing, sat down, and began cleaning its fur with its tongue. A cat template forced on a troll was going to lead to all sorts of strange things such as a cat with all the attributes and attitudes of a troll which in some cases is not all that different from how cats normally behave.
The cat rose to its paws and waddled off in the direction of the castle with its big green tail swishing back and forth.
This attracted the attentions of a large ogre who grabbed the cat by its fluffy tail. It held the squalling cat up to look at it. Deciding that it would make a good snack the ogre lifted it up towards its mouth. This turned out to be a big mistake as it put the cat’s claws in reach of its face.
With a screech the former troll-turned cat attacked and now it was time for the ogre to squeal as the cat tore chunks out of its face. The ogre threw the cat away and lifted its bleeding face to see the cat stalking towards it with all its fur fluffed up and wailing like it was the one who was hungry.
Ogres aren’t too bright but this one had had enough. It turned and ran, leaving the cat the uncontested victor. The cat Morgin had created from a troll hissed its disgust and then sauntered off to the castle.
Morgin entered the fairy ring and then passed through the entrance to the Sidhe kingdom. As she stepped into the fairy land bathed in silver light. All she wanted to do was rest but this wasn’t about to happen.
“Sorceress Morgin, the Princess wants to see you immediately.” A slender Sidhe dressed in green and holding a silver wand proclaimed.
Morgin nodded. You never dared to show your displeasure by even sighing. She followed the green Sidhe to where Elrith awaited her.
Princess Elrith was being bathed by pots of water poured by three slender and nubile golden maidens in a pool of silver water over whose surface red flames danced and flickered. Overhead three blue moons moved in an eternal triangle of dance as the lands of the Sidhe had stability in no place on Earth but existed in their own universes.
Elrith ignored Morgin for just enough time for her subordinate to get the message that she was displeased with her. Finally she looked up. “Well?” Her voice held echoes of anger controlled but just barely so.
Morgin knew better than to dissemble. “I punished the mermaid for her insult to you, me and the Sidhe race. She now lies near death in the castle.”
Elrith fastened her cold, hard gaze on her sorceress. “I did not command such action, did I?”
Morgin froze for a second before she replied. “No. But you did command that I make sure that both of the cursed suffer as you were displeased that they might escape too soon. I carried out your commands by injecting a new element into the situation, the magic boar who inflicted great suffering on both of them.”
Elrith raised an eyebrow. “Do you expect me to accept that argument?”
Morgin bowed. “I expect that you will want even more done. The Beast escaped serious injury and now the woman who can break the curse has arrived. I predicted within a week that the one they call Belle will speak the words he needs to hear aloud and then the curse will be lifted if I hadn’t done what I did.”
Elrith smiled and there was no warmth in it. “I like boldness when it serves my purposes and I know when to listen to good council.” The smile faded away to be replaced by a glimpse of fangs. “However, you have drawn too much unwanted attention to us by your overt use of magic. Do you have a suggestion how to cause more trouble that will not indict us?”
Morgin had been pondering this so she had a quick answer. “I would cast a spell on the Prince to cause him to lose his temper easily which would affect his judgment and make it hard for any woman to get near him.”
Princess Elrith frowned. “That is not a bad idea but wouldn’t his wizard detect the spell?”
“No.” Morgin grinned evilly. “The man is incompetent and right now is almost powerless. Besides when the Prince was first transformed he had a terrible temper. No one would be surprised if it came back.”
“A worthy idea.” Elrith replied with a dark smile. “But that doesn’t seem like enough in light of what I’ve just learned.” She leaned forward and said softly. “The mermaid princess survived your incompetent attack and is getting stronger by the day. I hope that you have something in mind to remove her forever from this fairytale.”
“I would send a Senas from the Land Under The Hill to draw the Prince and his guards out of the palace. This will leave the mermaid princess vulnerable to attack and it should be easy to kill her. The fools will think they are dealing with a ground-dwelling wurm but the Senas will be much, much worse. Give me permission and she will be dead.” Morgin urged her.
“Do it.” Elrith replied as
she turned back to the maidens awaiting her in the pool.
Getting To Know You
The Beast went to the entrance to the room his Mother used when she visited. The last such visit had been five years ago so he knew she wouldn’t be here anytime soon. But if she ever showed up she would immediately be demanding that he get ‘that woman’ out of her room.
He stood in the doorway and saw that Gwen was trying to move her patient to a more upright position by pulling her gently forward onto her own chest so that she could get another pillow behind her patient. He noticed immediately that she wasn’t having an easy time of it.
“Here, Gwen. Let me assist you.” He came forward and used his paws to steady the unconscious woman’s shoulders so that Gwen could get the pillow situated behind her back. His use of her first name was quite common in medieval times as a way of addressing untitled women but many lords just said. ‘Hey you.’
Gwen got the pillow placed and the Beast laid Maryellen gently back against it. “Thank you, Sire, for your assistance.” Gwen’s opinion of the Prince went up a notch. He obviously cared for this woman and by addressing Gwen by her name he was giving her some respect.
He asked Gwen. “How is she doing?”
Gwen took a damp cloth and wiped her patient’s forehead off to remove the water beading up there. “It’s too early to say for certain, Sire, but since she’s sweating that’s a good sign as it means that her fever has broken and it is usually the fever that carries someone away.”
“That’s good to hear.” He said as he pulled up a chair besides the bed. “Do you have any idea of how long it’ll take for her to recover?”
Gwen considered this for a second before she spoke. “With magic induced healing?” She shrugged. “Who can know for sure? It could be days. It could be a week or more.”
They were interrupted when Belle came in the door. “Sister, you can go to dinner. I had the Cook set aside something for you and I’ll take over now.”
The Prince grinned at Gwen. “I hope you like escargot.”
Gwen chuckled. “If by that you mean snails, then I like them when they’re cooked properly.”
Belle hadn’t noticed the Prince sitting there until he had spoken. She blushed and curtsied. “Forgive me, my Prince. I meant no disrespect as I didn’t see you there.”
“That’s all right. In a sick room I’m no longer in charge. You ladies are.” The Beast replied with a wave of his paw.
Gwen came to her feet and stretched. She turned to Belle. “She is still unconscious. The good news is that her fever broke about an hour ago. I think that at about the time Ella relieves you after midnight we can try and to get her to drink some watered down wine.”
Belle nodded. “All right, sister. You go and get some rest.”
“Very well, Belle. Goodnight.” Gwen said as she went out the door.
“So your name is Belle?” The Prince asked. He shook his head and said teasingly. “Three blond sisters who are so beautiful that I’ll never be able to tell you apart.”
“That’s a compliment which I’ll be sure to inform my sisters about.” She responded in kind and smiled to see him fidgeting.
She continued. “Yes, Sire. My name is indeed Belle Fontaine and I am the youngest of the three.” Belle sat down at Maryellen’s side of the bed and checked her forehead for a fever using her fingers.
Johnathan looked her over, taking in how pretty she was. He decided that she needed to know what he honestly thought. He told her. “You understand that you were the one I contracted with your father for and not your whole darn family.”
Belle’s cheeks colored but not from embarrassment. “I’ve been meaning to speak with you about that, Sir.” The emphasis on the last word was very chilling.
He braced himself and sighed. “After talking with your sister I can see that speaking plainly seems to be a family trait.”
Belle ignored this comment. “What I’ve been meaning to ask is this. What kind of person blackmails a father into giving his daughter away for a year?”
He gave her an honest answer. “A desperate one.” He found he couldn’t meet her eyes as it was a decision that he was not proud of. It seemed like something he wouldn’t have done before he encountered the old man desecrating his beloved roses. But that wanton destruction had made him so mad.
“And.” She continued. “What kind of man forces a young woman into his house for a year without even providing a chaperone?”
He studied her intent face for a moment. She was more curious than angry at him he realized and he needed to give her an apology. “I apologize.” He told her. “I was in the wrong and acted precipitously.” He knew he also had to give her an explanation.
He sighed. “You see I’m a grower of very rare and beautiful roses and each one of those plants has taken me years to create and grow. In many ways they are the only ones of their kind and in their own way are irreplaceable.”
He stared at his paws as he told her. “The white rose bush that your father was hacking up with his shears had taken seven years of care and nurturing to reach a stage where I could start taking shoots from it to send to the Empress of China and to the Holy Roman Emperor and when I saw it chopped to pieces, I lost my temper.”
He waited to see how she would take this. He hoped she would understand why this was so important to him and just let it go. But she quickly showed him that she would not let him escape so easily
“I thank you for your apology but I think there’s more to your anger at what my father did, than just your roses.” She said.
He wanted to stand up and yell at her. ‘They’re not just my roses!’ But he controlled himself.
Belle continued. “Now my sisters and I have come to understand that you are cursed to be in this shape. Is this curse the real reason behind some of your very heavy-handed actions towards my family?”
He stared at her for a moment before he reluctantly nodded his head. This young woman could infuriate him in one minute and impress him with her intelligence in the next minute.
He finally admitted. “The curse that I am under has a deadline built into it. So you are looking at a man who has less than a couple of months left before the curse can never be lifted and becomes permanent, leaving me as a beast forever.”
He sighed. “So that may have been part of my desperation and anger at your father. Also, I was told that you three are related to royalty and my Mother wants the curse to be broken only by a princess and so with time running out on me I felt I had to something.”
Belle looked at him in surprise. “I’m not a princess and neither are my sisters. Where did you hear that we were?”
“Who do you think?” He replied with a nasty grin. “Your oh-so loving father bragged to me about it.”
“He’s done it again.” Belle said angrily. “Before we came here my father got us into trouble by bragging in a tavern in a neighboring kingdom that one of us could spin straw into gold. Some king heard about it and kidnapped us to make us spin straw into gold for him.”
“How did you get away from him?” The Beast asked.
“It’s a long story but we had the help of a trouble-making leprechaun and a dwarf who called himself Rumpelstiltskin and he could really spin straw into gold. I guess I really have him to thank for reuniting me with my sisters. After my Mother died we three had drifted apart and become estranged. Our adventure with Rumpelstiltskin got us together again.”
“You three were lucky.” He told her. “I’ve heard of so many dysfunctional fairytale families whose only goal in life seems to be to destroy one another. Snow White, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel all have evil stepmothers or stepsisters whose only goal in life is to destroy the unwelcome interloper. For you three sisters to stick together and like each other seems so much outside the pattern of all the fairytales.”
He sighed. “My own family is a case in point. My Mother has not been close to me since my Father died. I never seem to measure up to her standards of perfe
ction even before I became the beast. She has even told me that she favors my cousin Elliot as my replacement.”
“Is that why your cousin Elliot is here right now?” Belle asked. “Is she inspecting her possible future home?”
The Prince chuckled. “My first thoughts were the same. However, after talking with Elliot I found that she hadn’t changed in any way from the young woman I grew up with. I now find I envy her the freedom that she has seized for herself and again I wanted to dislike her for that. But she convinced me that she is here because she is still my friend. She doesn’t want to rule here and will refuse it if offered the throne.”
He grinned. “I want to be there when my Mother hears her say that as I’ve never seen an apoplectic fit in person before.”
“Your cousin is a very unusual person.” Belle said as she pulled the blanket up and tucked it around Maryellen’s chin.
“She certainly is.” He replied. “I think that’s why she surprised everyone and achieved knighthood. She’s the first woman to do so since Spain freed itself from the Moors. She won her honor by taking a sword and attacking a troll army that was attacking Frostburg and killing ten trolls all by herself. She is a force to be reckoned with.”
“I hope I will get to know her better.” Belle replied. “However I have some more questions.”
He snorted. “Shyness is not one of your faults I can see. Go ahead and ask.”
“”One thing I do not understand.” Belle said. “Is why were you cursed to be a beast. What did you do to deserve such a punishment?”
“I was extremely rude to one of the Sidhe who was in fact a princess and for that rudeness she laid the curse on me.” He replied. He wanted to tell her the full story but because of the curse conditions he couldn’t reveal more to someone who hadn’t been here when it had happened.
“And what is the cure for this curse and how does this cure involve me or my sisters?” She asked
He sighed in frustration mingled with resignation. “The curse prevents me from telling you that. I can reveal only that a woman is part of the cure. As I’ve told you my Mother wants her to be a princess.”