by John Moore
“Seems to me that left a pretty substantial power vacuum. Why didn’t the neighboring kings try to move in?”
Bear looked surprised. “Your Highness, they did. Your grandfather, King Charming, declared Alacia a protectorate right after than.”
“Illyria owns Alacia?”
“You didn’t know that?” said Ann.
Charming shrugged. “I don’t keep up with the political end. I deal more with tactical matters.”
“I know. Slaying and rescuing, right?”
“Right.”
“But didn’t the people remain loyal to their own king?”
The Bear studied the bottom of his glass. “Well, they had a choice. They could pay taxes to the King and then more taxes to the nobles who held their land. Or they could just pay taxes to a new King. Figure it out.”
Ann didn’t like that idea at all.
“Mandelbaum, what do you think? Is there a Princess in there or what?”
“On the one hand, your Highness, local folklore is a very unreliable source of information. On the other hand, throwing up a hedge like that is not a piece of cake. I daresay there’s something important behind there.”
“All right then. I was ready to blow off this grail thing, but if there is a princess to rescue, then my duty is clear. I’m going in tomorrow.”
“Ah, Sire, it will take me three or four days to analyze that hedge spell and devise a counter to it. If I have to send for equipment from Illyria, possibly several weeks.”
“Leave the hedge alone. I’ve got an idea.”
Mandelbaum brightened. “No wait, I’ve got just the thing. Have you ever noticed how the smoke from a fire rises up the chimney…”
“Ride over in a bag of smoke? Forget it,” said Charming.
Mandelbaum looked at Wendell. “Perhaps it wasn’t explained to you clearly. It will work.”
“I’m sure it will. I’ve got a better idea. Remember that time the army was chasing those bandits and they crossed the Lassendale river and burned the bridge behind them? Well…” Charming sketched out his plan. Mandelbaum stroked his beard and nodded.
“I can do it, Sire. I can make the preparations tonight and be ready at dawn.”
Wendell jumped up. “I’ll help you, Mandelbaum!”
“Okay,” said Charming. “Get some rest, too, Wendell. There’s no telling what we’ll find on the other side.”
“Then if you’ll excuse us, we will get to work.” Mandelbaum rose and bowed, once to Charming, once to Ann. “Good night, Little Princess.” He left with Wendell in tow.
“What a nice man,” said Ann.
Bear rose also. “Guess I’ll be pushing off, too. Thanks for the dinner, Charming. You’re a right good sort.” He grinned. “Pretty neat trick with the sword.”
With the table clearing out, the innkeeper saw his cue to come over. “Prince Charming, I can’t tell you what an honor it is to have you staying in my humble inn.”
“Why, it is not humble at all! I find it to be excellent.”
The innkeeper puffed out his chest. “Thank you, your Highness. You will find I have put you in our largest and finest room, and supplied you with a goose-down mattress. Your retinue will occupy the room next to you. Your maid can sleep in the kitchen with the other girls.” He beamed at Ann. “My wife has prepared a place for her right next to the stove, so she will be quite warm.”
“Um,” said the Prince. He glanced at Ann, waiting for her to announce that she was, in fact, of royal blood, and would appreciate a room befitting her status. Instead she simply returned to him a cool stare and said nothing. “Actually, uh, I will need my maid to do some, uh, mending, yeah, mending, and she’ll have to consult me on things and will be up pretty late so why don’t you just put her, uh, in the room next to mine?”
The innkeeper was shocked into speechlessness. A wave of angry red started up from his neck and climbed quickly to the bald circle of his scalp. Ann was certain that it was only the threat of lese majeste that prevented him from striking the young prince. Then the man came to a sudden realization and his anger disappeared as quickly as it had grown, to be followed by a roar of laughter. “Of course,” he bellowed. “Your Highness is making a joke. Ho, ho, ho. Certainly you would never expect us to lodge an unmarried woman in the same wing with the men. How foolish of me to get caught by your little jest.”
Charming glared at Ann. Still she said nothing. He forced a smile. “Right, right. I was just being flippant. Sure, put her in the kitchen. And if she gives you any trouble, throw a bucket of cold water on her.”
Ann rose and curtsied. “Whatever his Highness desires,” she said meekly. “But I must come up to your room this evening to bring you your milk. The Prince always has a glass of warm milk and an oatmeal cookie before he goes to bed,” she told the proprietor.
Charming ground his teeth.
“Eh?” said the innkeeper. “Cookies?” He looked at Charming and then back at Ann. “Well, I guess that’s okay. One of the married women will accompany you. And now, by your leave, Sire, I must attend to the other guests.”
Charming saluted him off. Ann smoothed her dress. “And now, by your leave, Sire, I must be off to attend my place in the kitchen.”
“Wait a minute! Why don’t you tell him…” But Ann had already flounced away, leaving Charming alone at the table in a rapidly emptying room. “Girls,” he muttered.
Eventually he went up to his room. Wendell had neatly unpacked the bags but was nowhere to be found; presumably, he was still out with Mandelbaum. Charming pulled off his boots and lay down on the bed. The goose down ticking was every bit as comfortable as promised, but he found himself unable to relax. He thought about Ann. She had a really pretty face. But the girl drove him crazy. She showed no appreciation for the fact that he was Prince Charming, for goodness sake! What did she want from him anyway? He rolled over on his stomach, then rolled over on his back again. She had great tits, too. Those maid’s uniforms really showed them off. He rolled over on his stomach and pounded the pillow. Then he fluffed it up again. Then he rolled over on his side. “This mattress is too soft. That’s the trouble.”
The door burst open and Wendell popped in. “This is great! This is going to be a great spell.” He grabbed some candles from the bags and ran out again.
“Well, good for them,” Charming said to the empty room.
Charming had a great deal of respect for Mandelbaum and he admired the magician’s ability. The old man had a vast store of knowledge. The problem with magicians, though, was their inability to produce repeatable results. That was why Charming didn’t like to rely on the stuff unless he’d seen the spell worked a couple of times before.
Mandelbaum was pretty consistent, although Charming didn’t buy all that stuff about symbolism. Filling a grail with water, he suspected, was probably no more symbolic than sticking a sword in a scabbard.
Then came the softest of knocks at the door, so soft that at first the Prince wasn’t sure he heard anything. Then the knock came again, three soft raps, and the door quietly opened. Silently, holding a candle, Ann slipped in and shut the door behind her.
She was a vision of loveliness.
The light from the candle highlighted her cheekbones and reflected from her shining dark eyes. Lustrous black hair fell about her shoulders in soft waves. Her lips were full, red, moist, and slightly parted, and her lashes batted gently against her smooth, perfect skin. She wore a simple white cotton nightshirt that effectively concealed the shape of her body, yet the few curves that did show through were all in the right places and richly promising. She was barefoot.
Charming’s mouth went dry.
Ann put the candle on the nightstand and sat on the bed beside Charming. “Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi,” said Charming. “Where’s the other girl?”
“They’re all asleep. I took the opportunity to come up and see you.” She smiled wryly. “No milk and cookies, though. Just me.”
“Well,
I’m not really disappointed. Why didn’t you tell the innkeeper who you are? You could have had a room to yourself.”
“Silly boy.” Ann took Charming’s hands in both of her own. “The innkeeper wouldn’t put a woman in the same wing with the men, and yet he can hardly throw Prince Charming out of his room. So he would have given me one of the backrooms to myself by kicking out the other girls.”
“Then where would they sleep?”
“In the stables.”
“Yeah, I get it. That was pretty nice of you, not to tell them you’re royalty.”
“Well, I’ve done enough scutt work around castle to start seeing things from the working girl’s viewpoint.”
“Well, um, I still think you’re pretty nice.” Charming suddenly found himself desperate to keep this conversation going. “Um, well, what I mean is that it was pretty, uh… uh, nice of you give up a room like that.” He felt like an idiot. “You know, to sleep in the kitchen so they don’t have to sleep in the stables is, um, nice… oh heck.”
“My goodness. The charming Prince Charming is at a loss for words?”
“Well, you took me by surprise, coming in here. Give me a minute.”
“Oh, take your time.” Ann leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, which didn’t help Charming’s concentration any. He tore his gaze away from her breasts, gently rising and falling with each breath, and looked straight into her eyes.
He said, “Ann, this evening when I went to my room, I looked out the window and there was a hedge rose growing outside. Normally, those bushes don’t bloom until summer, but this one was in a sheltered location and so it had budded. The light from the window fell upon a single flower, a red rose, newly opened. The evening dew had fallen, and a few drops water clung to the tender petals and glimmered like pearls in the lamplight. That was all I could see, Ann, a single, perfect rose, shining in the darkness, and when I saw that rose I thought of you.”
“Ooh,” Ann murmured. “Not bad.” She snuggled up next to the Prince and rested her head on his shoulder. Charming could feel her soft breath on his neck. His blood pressure headed skyward. It was time to try out some moves.
“You know, Charming, you and I have a lot in common.”
He put his arm around her waist, wondering if he could get away with touching her thigh. “We do?”
“Uh huh. We both have parents who envy our youth and popularity.”
He used his other arm to brush her hair back from her face. “I guess.”
“We both feel a strong sense of duty to our people.”
“Uh, yeah. Sort of.” He gently tightened his arm and she snuggled closer, pressing the length of her body against him. He bent his head down to her face, until his lips were only inches from hers.
Rapturously, Ann closed her eyes and let her mind drift away. Without thinking, she continued to murmur, “Both our mothers died in childbirth.”
The Prince stiffened. “So what?”
“When I was a little girl, I thought of her all the time. Do you ever think of your mother?”
“Um, not at a time like this.”
“It’s odd growing up without a mother, especially knowing that she died as a result of your birth.”
“Now wait a minute!”
“In a way, we’re responsible for their deaths, almost like we killed them.”
Charming’s blood pressure returned to Earth with a thump. “Hey…” Even for a priapic teenager, the thought was unsettling.
“Not that I feel guilt or anything. When you were growing up, did you ever think about things like this?”
“No!” The Prince sat up and let Ann’s head drop to the pillow. “No, I never thought about things like that. And I don’t particularly want to think about them now. Jeez, you sure know how to kill a romantic mood.”
“Romantic mood?” Ann seemed to suddenly realize where she was and scrambled out of the bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… you didn’t think that I… I have to go now.” She yanked open the door. “Well, I’ll see you in the morning, I guess.” She held out her hand for him to shake.
The Prince ignored it. “Is it cold outside?”
“Um, it’s a little chilly, yes.”
“Good.” Charming sighed. “I’m going for a walk.”
His bootsteps woke the entire floor and Ann had a devil of a time getting back to her bed without being seen.
WHEN THEY RODE OUT of the village, the sun had not yet burned off the morning’s mists, but today, Charming and Wendell forswore their usual dilly-dallying, even when out of sight of the village. Wendell had caught about four hours sleep, more than enough when one had the energy of youth, and was burbling with cheerful excitement, riding his horse ahead of the group and taking off to explore side trails, then galloping back. Charming had an inner tension that came with the sense of upcoming danger; though he outwardly appeared calm, he was eager to get on with the business at hand. Mandelbaum had been up all night, yet no fatigue showed on his face; he sat stolidly in the saddle and smoked his pipe with aplomb.
Ann stared straight ahead, rode in silence, and answered all queries with “mmph.” She studiously ignored the Prince. The fact that noone seemed to notice she was ignoring him, least of all the Prince, made his behavior of the night before all the more infuriating.
When they reached the thorn hedge, Wendell scouted around until he found a pile of charred branches. “Right here. Here is where it was. See, here’s where we built the campfire.”
Mandelbaum studied the hedge. So did Charming. “It’s perfect. It looks exactly like the rest of the hedge. See, I must have gone in here, but you’d never tell by looking at it.”
Mandelbaum simply nodded. He produced a small scissors from his pocket, snipped off a twig, wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and returned both scissors and twig to his jacket. He threw his cloak back over his shoulders. “Well, to work then.”
“What are you going to do?” said Ann, interested in spite of herself.
“Ah,” said Charming, “She speaks at last.”
“Shut up. What are you going to do?”
“Watch and wait.”
While Charming sat under a tree and whittled at a piece of willow bark, Mandelbaum and Wendell opened two huge duffel bags and began unpacking equipment. First, they removed dozens of intricately carved wooden stakes and hammered them into the ground in a pattern that was roughly circular. Apparently the spacing was very important for they constantly measured and checked the distances between stakes with a piece of knotted string. They took out leather bags of powders and sprinkled them over the ground between the stakes. They opened up vials of foul smelling liquids and measured them out with glass pipettes, dripping some of the fluids on the ground, some on the stakes. Then they took out fingers of metal — brass, copper, and to Ann’s surprise, gold and silver, and placed them on some of the stakes.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” Ann asked Charming.
“I am doing something. See, I’ve made a whistle.”
“I mean, aren’t you going to help them?”
“They look like they’re doing fine without me.”
“Hmmph.” Ann flounced away and Charming observed that her outfit was really perfect for flouncing. She approached Mandelbaum. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No,” said Mandelbaum testily. “You’d only get in the way. I briefed Wendell on this last night. You just sit over there somewhere.”
Ann returned to the tree and sat down by the Prince. “All right. I guess I’m being silly. Actually, I suppose I ought to thank you for last night.”
“What? Thank me? What for?”
“For not… taking advantage of me last night. I guess I got carried away. I was all ready to… kiss you… and things. Last night I felt like you rejected me, but now I realize that was wrong. But for your strength of character I might have done something that we’d both regret.”
“Oh,” said the Prince. He opened his mouth several time
s as if to speak but thought better of it. After a few minutes more of silence he finally said. “Actually, I may as well be perfectly honest here. I didn’t walk out because I’m armored in virtue, I walked out because that mother thing got me upset. I mean really, I was really attracted to you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I think you’re beautiful. And more important than that, you’re not just beautiful, you’re wonderful.”
“Well, thank you. You’ve just made me very happy.”
“You’re welcome. You can tell me how handsome you think I am now.”
“You look okay.”
He stuck his tongue out at her and she laughed and punched him on the shoulder. “Now, tell me how we’re going to get across the thorns.”
“Just wait. Mandelbaum’s almost done.”
Mandelbaum was, in fact, finished and the ground between the stakes was beginning to smolder. Wendell was packing up the duffel bags and moving them a safe distance away. The Prince and Ann stood up but didn’t come any closer. Mandelbaum was muttering incantations and giving a few final taps on some of the stakes with a wooden mallet. Then he tapped out his pipe and beat a hasty retreat, his cape flapping behind him.
It happened in a matter of seconds. In one instant a small, blue flame appeared in the center of the ring, in the next a sheet of fire covered the entire circle. A second later there was a roar and a column of flame leapt twenty feet into the air, showering bits of soot and smoking embers in all directions. Within another minute, however, the conflagration died away, leaving nothing but a circle of charred dirt in the grass.
“That’s it?” said Ann. “That’s going to get us through the thorns?”
“Hang on.”
Beneath her feet Ann felt a faint rumbling, a rumbling that quickly grew in strength. “What is it?”
