She was so dirty and tired from walking, that she reached back and undid the many pearl buttons on her once beautiful dress. The hem was now hopelessly stained with mud and moss. She allowed the dress to drop from her shoulders and pool at her bare feet. Walking to the edge of the creek, she dipped her toes into the water, and found it delightfully cool and invigorating. Without hesitation she entered, allowing the coolness to envelop her tired, aching muscles, and wash away the accumulated dirt and mud from her long journey. Holding her breath, she sank beneath the water level, allowing her hair to become completely drenched in the cleansing waters.
When she rose for a breath, she was completely taken aback from the sight she witnessed.
Standing in the deadly nightshade was the most stunning, gorgeous creature even her imagination could not conjure. The size and shape of a slender, fully grown man, the being bore skin the color of lilac, with long wavy hair, black as night and streaked with purple. Thick tendrils of nightshade framed his head, and curled down his arms. Even from Princess’s position in the creek, she could see his eyes were silvery grey.
A low vibrational hum from the secret womanly place between her thighs caught her off guard. In all her years, she never felt such a unique energy from her own root. It was as though her body possessed some primal power she was never aware of. It was simultaneously glorious and wondersome. Her fingers ached to explore the area from where the feeling pulsed.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The deeply male voice broke her from her new found thoughts and feelings, and snapped her back to the present.
“I’ve come for your help, Sir.”
“I cannot help you. Now you must leave this area, and never return. When I turn around, you will be gone, and never return here if you value your life.”
He turned away, and she saw his well-defined back and shoulders. Loose fitting trousers of a gauzy material covered his lower half. He was so fascinating; she could barely keep focused on her task. He said he would not help her.
He must help her.
She had to change his mind.
She rose from the creek, and stepped on to the dry land. Tentatively, she took a few steps towards him. Her fingers ached to touch his unique skin, his hair, but she resisted.
“Sir, please, if you will only hear me out.”
He whipped around with such force it startled her to where she almost lost her footing and stumbled.
“Good gracious girl, put on some clothing!” He barked, and tossed her dress to her. “Don’t you know what presenting yourself naked to a man is asking for?”
Did he not find her pleasing? A heat filled her cheeks. For the first time in her life she felt a strange, new emotion she did not like.
Shame.
Quickly, she held up the dress to cover her ample breasts and nether regions. She didn’t have enough material to cover her bottom. Surely, he couldn’t be put off by the sight of her naked rear, could he?
“I’m…I’m sorry my body offends you, Sir,” she stammered, and looked at her feet, no longer able to make eye contact with the man creature. “That was not my intention.”
“You are a peculiar little girl,” he commented.
“I am not a little girl, Sir. I am a woman, and I need your help. I am told you are the only one who can help.”
“Who told you such nonsense? I cannot help you. I cannot even help myself. I am naught but a cursed huntsman.”
His words saddened her, and two tears escaped from her eyes, and fell upon pale cheeks. If he could not help her, then her brothers’ fates would be sealed. Forever enslaved to Valentina, doomed to remain vile, mutant, gangrenous swan creatures.
The world became a little darker to her. If she could not save her brothers, what would become of her? Alone in a world she did not know or understand, she considered that she might as well fill her pockets with stones, and walk into the deepest part of the creek.
“I asked you, who told you such nonsense?”
“My brothers, Sir. They have been captured by my father’s new wife. An evil witch of a woman named Valentina.”
The man being visibly shuddered at the mention of Valentina’s name. Was he also a victim of her charms and evil ways?
“Go on,” he encouraged.
“My father came home with his bride after a time away. He wore a look of terror on his face I’ve never seen before. He banished us from our home, into the desolate forest. Days ago, she arrived with my father’s entourage, and I hid myself. From my position, I saw six swans fly away. When all was quiet, I took shelter in a hollowed out tree trunk until I was fairly sure of my safety. It was then I followed the trail of feathers.”
Princess stopped speaking, and clutched her dress tighter against her now shivering body.
“And then?” he prodded.
“And then, I came upon a little shack in which were six beds in a row. I crawled beneath, and fell into a sleep. I awoke to six mutant beings entering the shack. They had bodies of a man, but with green skin and the black eyes, beaks, feathers and wings of a swan.”
Her brown eyes lifted to connect to his silvery grey. “In the next instant, the hideous skins dropped from their bodies, and left behind my brothers intact. They had but one hour to explain to me their capture and enslavement by Valentina, in a social club, where she is proprietress. They sent me to you before they once again returned to their mutant form.”
Dark clouds closed over above, and Princess shivered harder as a coldness settled on the land.
The man being before her seemed lost in his thoughts. She knew she had to try once more to gain his help.
“Sir, if you can help me to save my brothers, I am willing to pay your price. No matter how high it is. I am a very good seamstress. I can cook and clean for you.”
“I am not in need of a seamstress, or cook, or a cleaner.” He pushed back a tendril of nightshade from his face.
She needed to sweeten the pot.
“I can sing and dance for you, if you’d like.”
He turned on a slow, sly smile. “What makes you think I would be interested in that?”
Once again, undefinable feelings filled her core. “What would interest you then, Sir? Flesh? Blood?”
“First of all, stop calling me Sir. I detest it.”
“Then what should I call you.”
“Erich. My name is Erich. And what do they call you?”
Now that his anger seemed to dissipate a bit, she was lulled by the smooth sound of the timbre from his voice. “They called me Princess. Now there is no one left to call me by any name.”
“Princess?” He tossed back his head and laughed, and when he did, the tendrils of night shade rustled around his body.
She didn’t understand the joke.
“Is my name amusing to you, Erich? Do I amuse you?”
He sobered, and looked at her hard; starting and her feet, and working his way up her barely covered body, taking extra time at her breasts, before finally settling on her face. Although he appeared to appraise her value to him, it did not particularly disturb her.
“Perhaps you really are a Princess.”
She didn’t know how to respond to his statement.
He let out a visible sigh, and motioned to her. “Let’s go, Princess,” he motioned. “You may come into my home, and have something to eat and rest. Beyond that, I promise you nothing.”
Perhaps this was progress, she thought, and followed him through a thicket of trees to a small cottage covered in thorny vines that would ward away unwelcome visitors.
Inside was a single room, with a straw bed in one corner covered in cloth, and a few mismatched pieces of wooden furniture. She watched him pull on a pair of tattered gloves of animal skin, and prepare a plate of fruit and cheese, and fresh milk from a pitcher.
“Eat, Princess.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. After days of surviving on berries and breadcrumbs, she was famished. She pulled a chair up to the
table, and ate with relish. After eating her fill, she patted her lips demurely with a rough piece of cloth.
As darkness fell, Erich lit two candles that cast a glow over the humble amenities. The repulsive smell of animal fat reeked in the air. She didn’t complain, she was just happy to be out of the elements and the dangers that might lurk beyond the four walls.
He pointed to the straw bed. “Rest now, Princess.”
She curled up on the bed, and he placed a small blanket over her. As tired as she was, she was more fascinated with the nightshade man.
He simply slid down against the wall in an upright sitting position, and closed his eyes.
“What are you?” she dared to ask.
“Tired, Princess. Tired, is what I am.”
“I mean, are you a man, or were you born this way?”
His eyes remained close. “All right then. If you must know, I was once a man, like your brothers were once men. One day I was in the forest with my hunting party, and I became separated from the others. Soon, I was hopelessly lost when a woman appeared in my sight. Beautiful she was, like you are, Princess.”
Princess now lay on her crooked arm, wide-eyed and riveted to Erich, and the story that was unfolding.
“I said, Good woman, I am hopelessly lost. Could you show me the way to the forest’s edge? She turned on a smile, and said she could, but instead, she took me to her Swan Club and upstairs into her bed. Afterward, I demanded she show me the way back, and she said her price for my return was marriage. I was repulsed by her demand, and told her under no circumstances would I take her as my wife. She grew deeply scarlet in color, and blew a cloud of powdery purple charmed deadly nightshade dust from a secret compartment within an onyx rose ring she wore on her first finger. When the powder filled my lungs, I collapsed at once.
When I woke, I was in the forest, transformed into the wretched being I now am. And she was long gone. She made sure she took away not only the quality of my life, but the ability for any woman to ever love, or touch me again.”
He paused, and pressed his lips together. Eyes still closed.
Was he finished with his tale? Princess wanted to know everything.
“Was this the same evil witch my father married? The woman who turned my brothers into swan creatures and enslaved them? The one called Valentina?”
“Yes, Princess,” he replied simply.
So when Valentina could not ensnare Erich in her marriage trap, she instead succeeded with her father.
“I must find a way to save my brothers…to save you, Erich,” she said most sincerely.
A thin smile appeared on his purple stained lips. “I cannot be saved, Princess. Perhaps your brothers still can. We shall sleep on it now, and discuss it in the morning. Now sleep.”
There was one more question Princess needed to know. “Why is it you’re wearing gloves, Erich?”
His eyes opened. “My dear Princess, a part of my affliction is I am toxic. If I even caress your beautiful face, as I wish to do, my poisonous touch will kill you.”
Chapter Two
Princess rose early from a dreamless sleep. She did not even have a comb to smooth out her hair. She busied herself with sweeping out the small cottage, and prepared a breakfast of fruit and herbal tea, before Erich ever woke.
What would happen today? Could Erich possibly have the cure for what ailed her brothers? Or would all leads become dead ends?
Erich was silent as he sat at the table with a mug of herbal tea between his palms. Finally, he rose, and motioned to Princess. She followed without question, as he led the way from the cottage further into the forest.
They came upon a door covered in moss. Erich swept away the growth with his gloved hands, and used his boot to knock three solid thuds upon the door.
Three thuds sounded in response, and he reached for the handle, and lifted the door.
“Go, Princess, and be careful. I cannot help you down, or catch you if you fall.”
She peered into the darkish hole, and descended a skeleton of stairs attached against the strong earthen wall. She landed on her feet at the bottom, and turned startled when she saw an old hag in a brown cloak, sitting alone at a small table. A dank, damp smell filled the air. The claustrophobic single room lit only by one candle. In the hag’s bony fingers, she shuffled a deck of playing cards.
Behind Princess, Erich stood a safe distance from her. She couldn’t explain the warm feeling emanating from her core at his nearness. It was inexplicable to her that she wanted so much to crawl into his embrace, feel his heart beating next to hers.
But he was poison to her.
His touch alone was enough to kill her.
That alone should’ve been enough to sober her feelings, but it didn’t.
The old hag crooked a finger. “Come sit, my dear, and tell me your problems.”
She looked back to Erich for approval, and he nodded.
Princess took a seat upon the stool directly across from the hag. Immediately she saw a milky cloud covering both eyes, with only a hint of blue beneath. It was apparent the hag was blind, and that saddened Princess.
“Don’t pity me, my dear, I see well enough through my fingertips.”
Princess was taken aback by the old hag’s keen perceptions.
“My six brothers have been captured, and enslaved by the evil one called Valentina. She has used her magic charms to turn them into grotesque mutant swans.”
The hag began to lay out the six cards in a single row upon the table. The faces of the cards were faded to the point they were almost unreadable. Her gnarled fingers with black fingernails stroked each card.
“Valentina is a very shrewd and cunning witch. A skilled herbalist, but not a completely proficient one—yet. Your brothers are under the spell of a concoction fuelled by hemlock.”
Hemlock, Princess had heard of the herb. It was deadly as the nightshade she poisoned Erich with. This revelation was worse than she imagined.
“But there is somewhat good news.”
She immediately perked up. “Good news?”
“As I said, Valentina is good, but she’s not that good. At the stroke of midnight on the sixth week, the spell will end, and your brothers will return to normal.”
Princess clasped her hands together. Sheer joy bubbled inside her. “They will be saved!”
“Not so fast. As we speak, Valentina plots her next move. Though you now wield powerful information she does not. She knows her spell will not last forever, yet she does not know how long it will last. Fortunately for you, I do.”
Her joy deflated. “What about my father?”
“Forget your father. Although he remains alive, he is now lost to the world.”
Princess was surprised that she felt nothing but numbness at the mention of her father’s fate.
“How are my brothers?”
The hag shook her head slowly. “They are not being treated very well, I’m afraid.”
Princess jumped up from the stool. “I must get to them, even if it is only to comfort them. Please tell me how to help!”
“You will have to infiltrate Valentina’s Swan Club. Go to the door, and seek a job. But the price…the price will be very high.”
“No!” Erich bellowed. “It’s far too perilous to be beneath her roof. Surely she will recognize Princess.”
She turned to him. “I will be fine. She will not know me.”
“Are you willing to sacrifice?” asked the hag.
She turned back. “I will do whatever I must to save my brothers. Tell me what the price will be?”
“Your innocence.”
***
Near dawn, Erich led Princess through the forest until they arrived at the gates. Behind was a large and foreboding dwelling.
Valentina’s Swan Club.
“This is where we must part, Princess.”
She looked into his handsome face in the low light of dawn, and tried to imagine what he once looked like when he was a man.
“Not forever?” she asked quickly.
“No, I will come to you soon enough. Will you be ready for me?”
Her heart fluttered beneath her breast, and the warm, vibrational hum between her thighs once again began its tune.
“I will be ready and waiting for you. Don’t be too long though. I already miss you.”
His expression pleased her. Yet she felt he was not quite finished with her at that moment.
“Now, Princess, I offer you my humble protection. But there will be one very big consequence to you.”
She swallowed hard. “I accept it without question.”
He lifted a dark brow. “Without question?”
“Absolutely.”
He stepped close, his toxic body only mere inches from hers. A heady woodsy scent emanated from him.
“Close your eyes, and open your mouth, Princess.”
Immediately, she obeyed, but full of anticipation at what may come to her. Surely, it was not his poisonous kiss!
He blew his breath into her nostrils and open mouth. It was a mixture of the deep, dark earth, fragrant moss, and something unrecognizable and other worldly. An almost faint fell upon her, but she recovered at the last second.
Then when she opened her mouth to speak—nothing. Her voice was gone. Not as much as a squeak remained. She began to panic, and touched her throat in disbelief. Had Erich poisoned her? This after she trusted him!
His eyes focused upon hers, and held her captive to him.
“Princess, listen to me! I’ve opened a channel between us. A secret, etheric cord now binds us together, and will allow me to visit you in dreams. The consequence is you will not be able to sing, laugh, or even speak, until the six weeks is complete. Your muteness will help keep you safe when I cannot be with you.”
Although the prospect of not speaking startled her, she had nothing to laugh or sing about any way. So she nodded her agreement to him.
“Now go forth, Princess. Stay vigilant.” He touched his fingers to his lips, and held them in the air. “Until we meet again.”
Undoing the Swan Girl Page 2