The Black Swan

by Mercedes Lackey

  If he actually sits down and thinks, hell realize that I could have hurt him, and didn't, she thought. Right now, though, he's just angry that I managed to deceive him. What could he expect? After all, he threatened me, and I was perfectly within my rights to escape. She heard him blundering off again, and won how long it would be before he gave up and left.

  It had better be soon, or I'll have to make myself invisible in order to get out of the water. She had no intention of spending hours under this ledge until her fingers and toes were withered as a dried grape, but she also didn't want to waste magic if she didn't have to. Besides, being invisible didn't imply that she would be undetectable. There would be a "hole" in the water where her body was, she would leave footprints, and as water droplets fell from her body, they would become visible again. If he was at all intelligent and saw any of those signs, he would have a target for that crossbow.

  At that moment, as she waited for him to go back to where he came from, she was torn between amusement at her situation and anger at being put into it.

  Men! Jesu! she thought with exasperation. Stubborn, unruly, quick to anger and slow to think! Why on earth does Odette want to bother with these creatures? Why would anyone want to bother with them? It's easier being a swan!

  "...SO I looked for about an hour, but there was no sign of her," Benno concluded ruefully, "My own stupid fault for threatening her, of course. I lost my temper and as a consequence lost a source of information we can hardly do without."

  Siegfried rubbed the side of his nose with his finger and sighed. This wasn't the worst thing that could have befallen, but why had Benno acted so precipitously? If he had simply treated the girl without threats, they might have learned all manner of things "She must have been one of the other girls I saw with Odette--but why was she there, and not the princess? I would think that they would all be swans at the same time, but she clearly implied that Odette was still ensorcelled."

  Benno shrugged. "I can't even begin to fathom all these magical goings-on. She was wearing black, and didn't you say that the girls you saw were all in white? Maybe the black ones are swan by night and girls by day, and the white ones are the opposite Maybe she's the one that put the spell on them. Your guess is a valid as mine. I'm just angry at myself for letting her escape like that."

  The prince was impatient to plan his own journey to the lake and didn't really care to hear any more about Benno's. "I'm still meeting Odette at moonrise," Siegfried declared, with a look to Benno that warned his friend not to object. "Nothing you've told me is changing that."

  "And I'm still going with you." Benno's answering glare was just as stubborn. "I trust the woman even less now than I did before. And she had better have an explanation for that other girl and why she wasn't a swan."

  Siegfried tapped the table with his finger as he thought, suppressing his irritation with his friend. After all, Benno hadn't seen Odette-, to him, the swan-maiden was not a great deal different from the maid he'd met this afternoon. How could he realize that? "You know, this Odile might not be one of the swan-maidens at all!" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't they need some kind of keeper or herder? What better and safer guardian than another maiden?"

  "I suppose—but that would make her a good candidate for the one who put the spell on them in the first place," Benno pointed out, "And that is what strikes me as wrong. She didn't act that way; if I had seen her at a court, I would have said that she was a functionary of Odette's, not a captor. It was as if I spoke to your mother's seneschal, not to the queen herself. I did not have feeling that Odile was the one responsible for what was going on, although she clearly knew a great deal about it. She has power, and she might be in league with someone far more powerful but I think she is to that person what the seneschal is to your other. She may be able to perform some magic, but she's not the witch who cast the powerful spells."

  Siegfried saw this as a good way to change the subject; neither of them knew enough to make any valid conclusions about either girl and until they had more information, the horse that Benno persisted in beating would remain just as dead as it was when he started. "Are you implying that my mother is a witch?" he asked, grinning.

  Benno looked alarmed for a brief moment, then caught his expression and grinned back. "No. Why? Is she?"

  Siegfried mimed a blow at him, and he ducked. "That's a fine thing to say about your queen!" he chided. "I suppose I ought to report you for treason, but I like you too much. You will, however, be happy to hear that my day was just as fruitless as yours. I didn't even get to hunt properly; only one of the princesses ever courses with hounds—Honoria, of course—so naturally all the rest of them stayed in the camp, and since I had already spent sufficient time with Honoria, according to Mother, so did I " He made a face. "We spent the entire afternoon listening to Uwe and reading poetry aloud. Uwe is pleasant enough to listen to, and at least he's acquired a few new tunes, but unfortunately Uwe didn't get much chance to play."

  'I thought you liked poetry," Benno objected. I like good poetry," he countered, "Not the drivel that passes Poetry in their circles."

  Benno's eyes lit with sympathy and understanding. "Blessed Jesu!" he exclaimed with mock horror. "Don't tell me they all trotted out scrolls from their pet troubadours and read them!"

  He groaned and nodded. "Worse than that, their ladies trotted out paens of praise to the princesses. It was so bad it was very nearly comic. Blue skies/blue eyes, lady fair/silken hair, angel's face/fairy grace, moon/June—"

  "Loon, buffoon," Benno laughed at his mournful expression, "I prefer my wild swan chase to your afternoon! I think I would rather wade through another couple of bramble thickets than have to listen to that much bad poetry and smile through it all."

  "I was hard put to keep from laughing—when I wasn't fighting to stay awake," Siegfried nodded, but kept his next thought to himself. Benno would hardly approve.

  The only thing that made it tolerable was that I knew I would never have to endure another afternoon like it—for I have no intentions of wedding any of them. They could all take their bad poets to whatever poor fellow did marry them, and he pitied the man if he had to listen to such drivel on a regular basis.

  Poor little princesses! I pity them, too; they are trying so hard to win me, and I am already won. . . .

  He would not, could not confess this to Benno, not yet, but he woke this morning knowing with the certainty of the sun rising that he would never be able bind himself to anyone but Odette. The mere prospect of taking anyone else to wife made his heart grow cold. It was insane, of course, but it was a glorious madness, and he would die before he sacrificed it on the altar of duty.

  After all, the queen had pledged him that he could wed where he willed, and as soon as he secured Odette's consent, he had every intention of holding his mother to that pledge. No matter if it cost him his throne, he would woo and wed Odette, the swan queen.

  And that was another thing that Benno did not yet need to know.

  ODETTE unexpectedly encountered another knot in Odile's wet hair, tugged it too hard, and apologized. Odile shrugged. "Pull away, it's my own fault for being too lazy to braid it in the first place. It wouldn't be a mess now if I'd just braided it."

  "Well, you couldn't have known you were going to find yourself diving into the lake, could you?" Odette continued her self- appointed task of combing out the snarled, wet hair and braiding it into a neat coronet. She'd found Odile sitting beside the lake in the moonlight, dry and wearing a new gown, but trying without success to get the tangles out of her long hair. Odile was frustrated to the point of tears, and just about ready to cut her hair off entirely. Odette immediately took the comb from her and without being asked, took over the task herself. Odile, both surprised by the kindness and touched, thanked her profusely.

  "It never occurred to me that your visitor last night might have told a friend about us." That was noncommittal enough, and kept her from betraying that she had spied on every moment the two spent together. "I
t should have, though," Odile continued, with a grimace Odette couldn't see. "Men call us gossips, but they tell more tales to each other than we ever do," Still feeling spiteful toward the importunate young man who was the cause of all her current difficulty, she added. "The young fool probably thought he'd find a veritable harem of loose women here! He probably thought we were pagan sylphs or gypsy witches, trying to seduce every man coming along with our bodies!"

  "Oh no, no—" Odette said hastily, "I am sure Siegfried would never have said anything that would give him that impression!" The abrupt silence that followed her outburst led Odile to think Odette had spoken without thinking. After a moment, the princess added lightly, "I wish I could have seen his face when you dove into the water, though!"

  "So do I," Odile chuckled, feeling a little better. After all, she had outwitted the young man, trounced him thoroughly, in fact, and that was some comfort. If she'd just braided her hair, she wouldn't even be undergoing this inconvenience.

  "There! You're done!" Odette had finished while she'd been thinking, and gave her hair a little pat of approval.

  "And just in time, too, unless I miss my guess—" Odile caught sight of one of the others running toward them, skirts held high in both hands, presumably to warn Odette of Prince Siegfried's approach. White silk fluttered behind her in an echo of swan wings. Odile turned to glance at Odette, and saw her face take on a brief pallor that had nothing to do with the moonlight.

  "Odette—" the maiden said as she reached them, dropping her skirts to gesture behind her.

  "I should go—" Odile said, and before Odette could object, she leaped to her feet and ran off into the darkness beneath the trees.

  But not far. No, although she suffered a twinge of guilt over her actions, she paused in the deepest shadows just long enough to make herself invisible, then stole back to within listening distance.

  Odette waited for the two men who approached her looking remarkably composed, the center of a half-circle of the others, who watched and waited with her. In the moonlight, they formed a remarkable tableau, looking every bit as magical as forest spirits in a tale. The prince looked a little surprised to see that she was not alone; Odile could not tell what the other man felt.

  It was her intruder from this afternoon, though. Although he tried to remain expressionless, as he searched the group of girls, she wondered if he could be looking for her. If so, he didn't find her, and his expression as he examined Odette and her escort was full of wary suspicion. The maidens moved not a single muscle; the only movement was that of their diaphanous white gowns and the flowers and swan feathers ornamenting their hair, fluttering a little in the faint breeze.

  Siegfried, looking completely confident and at his ease, bowed to Odette; she acknowledged his courtesy with a regal inclination of her head. If last night she had been the half-terrified, half- angry, fey spirit, tonight she was all queen, in command of herself, if not of her fate. After a dubious glance at his friend, the other young man did the same.

  Benno von Drachheim, Odile recalled. But if he's a genuine landsknecht, I'm the Queen of Sheba. He's a knight, no doubt, but it's his father who's the landed one; he's just the heir, if he's anything. The title's no more than a courtesy for a son, assuming he didn't just appropriate it.

  "I hope you will permit me to present my friend, Landsknecht Benno von Drachheim," Siegfried said, with the same formality he would have used in a lofty hall. At least the young man hadn't claimed a title he didn't have. It should have been amusing, but Odile felt no inclination to laugh.

  Odette slowly extended her hand for him to kiss, head held very high on her long and graceful neck, face marble-pale in the moonlight. Benno dropped a very perfunctory salute on the back of it before it was withdrawn. "I had not thought you would come as anything but alone," she said to Siegfried, as if Benno weren't there—a nice little bit of byplay that clearly made Benno uneasy. "I hope you have not confided in anyone else; you could be creating danger for us. Not all hunters would hesitate to kill us. Some would think us creatures of the devil and think it their duty to remove us from the world."

  Siegfried only smiled. "My friend is concerned for me," he replied, with a glance at Benno.

  Odette turned a gaze on Benno so cold that it should have coated him with a rime of frost. "And what was it that made him concerned?" she asked icily. "Does he think we are unholy demons? Does he believe there is anything we could possibly do to harm you? Did he think my companions and I would fall upon you and tear you to pieces with our bare hands? Or did he suppose that we were the perpetrators of the curse we suffer under, and not the victims?"

  Even in the moonlight, Odile saw Benno flush. Put that way, the young man's suspicions sounded both ridiculous and crass. Odile smiled; that was one score for Odette! I never realized that she was this clever! She uses honesty and truth as any warrior would use a sword!

  "So you are cursed!" Siegfried seized on that eagerly. "It was as I thought!" Abruptly he dropped to one knee before the startled maiden, and seized her hand before Odette could shrink back, "If there is a way that I can free you from it, tell me now! I swear I shall do so, no matter the cost!"

  Be careful Odette! Odile warned, tense with worry. Don't forget what the conditions are! Don't do anything yet!

  From the appalled look on Benno's face, that was exactly what he had most feared the prince would say—but Odette gently took back her hand, and shook her head.

  "Do not swear so rashly before you know what you swear to," she replied, her voice faltering, just a little, as she looked down into the prince's eyes. "But if you truly wish to hear all of our story, I beg you, come apart with me. What I have to tell you is not for any ears but yours, for if you should change your mind, I would not wish any others to know what I have to tell you. They might not hold their tongues as you would."

  She glared at Benno now so that he winced—but then her expression softened, unexpectedly, and as she urged Siegfried back to his feet, she extended her hand to the chastened Benno.

  "I can see that you are the true friend to your prince—and I must ask you to trust me long enough for him to hear me out. I swear to you, by whatever saint you ask, that I will not permit him to make any offers before he has heard all, both good and bad. Will you grant me that much trust?"

  Odile gave Odette more points in the skirmish between herself and the prince's interfering friend. Put so graciously, how could a man who claimed to be a knight and a gentleman do anything other than acquiesce?

  He did, and with better grace than Odile had expected. "I ask your leave to question your maidens, however," he added, before Odette could draw Siegfried aside. "The one I met with this afternoon was singularly uncooperative, and did nothing to allay my mistrust."

  The corners of Odette's mouth actually twitched, but she gave no sign that she had already heard the tale from Odile. "So long as you make no threats, nor offer them any insult or harm," she replied pointedly. "But if any of them feel you have done so, you must not be surprised if they choose to depart from your presence, however abruptly. We may have no weapons, and no strong hands to protect us, but the night is a friend to us, and will conceal us from those who would harm us."

  Yes, and I personally would like to see you led into a bramble patch if you treat them as you treated me!

  Before he could reply to that sally, she turned away from him and walked away. With her skirts trailing on the grass behind her, she moved swiftly and gracefully along the bank. She glanced back once, and Siegfried followed on behind her.

  And final score to Odette, Odile thought with great amusement, as she observed the crestfallen look Benno cast after them. Check, and mate, in one move!

  Then, obedient to her father's orders, she followed silently in their footsteps, leaving Benno to cool his heels and allay his suspicions among the other swans.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ODETTE did not take Siegfried far from the clearing and his friend, just far enough that there was no chan
ce that Benno would be able to overhear them or keep a watchful eye on them. She chose another, smaller clearing for her conference, one bordered by the lake so that moonlight flooded it completely, Odile followed at a discreet distance, and when they stopped, she tucked herself into the shadows and whispered a little spell that would bring every word they spoke to her ears. She should have done that last night, but she had been too surprised to think of it. Her father would want to know exactly what they said and did, and if she could not give him an accurate accounting, he would likely never trust her with anything again.

  The thought of going home and being confined to the estate again was suddenly unbearable; she thought that she would be willing to sacrifice a great deal for the sake of this new freedom she had tasted. It was even worth the guilt she felt for playing the spy.

  And I made no pledges or promises to Odette that I would keep my distance, she consoled herself. I am simply making certain that she adheres to the conditions Father set for her. Surely she expects that he will have some sort of watcher on her!

  "In a way, your friend is right; I am not what you think." Turning to face Siegfried, Odette broke the silence abruptly, and with a curiously unadorned choice of words. When Siegfried made as if to reply, she quieted him with a shake of her head. "No, Siegfried, you must hear me out without interrupting, or I will never be able to tell you everything that I must. Yes, I and the others are spellbound; cursed to be swans by day and our own selves again only by moonlight. And yes, the spell was placed upon us against our will. But our captor believes that we all deserve this curse by our own actions, and I, at least, cannot deny that I deserve some punishment, though I wonder if any man, even the most severe critic, would say it should be as harsh as this. We think him cruel and even evil—but in his own eyes, he is surely executing a just and proper retribution upon us. There may even be some who would agree with him. You may be one of them, once you have heard me out."