by Finley Aaron
“We’ve got to stop them!” Ella brought her mount up sharply and turned.
“The men will need time to get away,” Henry agreed, turning as well. “Let’s give them as much time as we can.”
Ella drew her sword and ran down the first of the horsemen, slashing with her blade, which ripped a hole down the arm of the soldier’s leather armor.
He screamed and drew up sharply.
There was another horseman riding at a full gallop behind him, whose mount had to leap out of the way to avoid the first. Ella brandished her sword at him, but he was beyond her reach, and circled around the first man in search of an opening.
Ella turned her horse to head him off. She didn’t want anyone making it through to the carts, if she could help it.
Up ahead, three of her archers on horseback saw what was happening and turned back to come to her aid.
She and Henry needed their help. They were vastly outnumbered, and unable to block the floodplain against the advancing horde. Riders skirted past, ignoring their drawn weapons, dancing around their charging horses, and slipping past on the right and the left. In spite of her best efforts, Ella found herself being pushed closer to the boats, carts, and rescued prisoners.
Given that she had only a sword and a shield, and no lance, Ella was unable to unhorse any riders. As more of her men turned back to help bar the way to the encroaching army, fewer of the men tried to ride past her. Instead, they locked blades and attempted to fight their way through.
Off in the distance, she could hear the carts, laden now with passengers in addition to their cargo, headed across the field toward the road.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who noticed where the carts were headed. Some of the riders turned left and attempted to ride after the fleeing carts full of men.
The sun had broken over the eastern horizon by this time, and Ella could see everything more clearly.
It wasn’t looking good for the escaping prisoners.
Ella turned her horse to go after the cavalry who were chasing the carts. They’d catch up to them quickly if they’re weren’t stopped, and the men on the carts were too weak to defend themselves, even if they had weapons, which seemed unlikely.
The Arabian steed under her bore down on the other horses swiftly, and Ella rode wide of them in an attempt to block them from the side. She swept at the first man, blade drawn, half expecting him to shove her aside and keep going, but he pulled out his sword and blocked her blow.
The horse beneath him halted its charge and turned to face her. The man jabbed with his sword. Ella got her blade under his and swept it up and away (the man was quite a bit taller than she was, and on a higher horse). The soldier whipped his blade around swiftly.
Ella’s arms were tired. She’d already fought with Bruce and with the guards atop the tower. Her arms trembled as the larger man tried to use his overwhelming strength against her.
Another of the riders turned his horse and rode at her. She caught just a glimpse of him approaching, but couldn’t do a thing about it until she got rid of the first man.
Ella swung her shield over her horse’s head, essentially batting her opponent’s blade away, but he brought it around again, just as quick. He was overpowering her. She wouldn’t be able to hold him off for long, and the second rider was nearly upon her.
The swordsman leaned down hard, his blade crossed with hers, pressing the cold steel close to her face. Ella strained to push back even as the second horseman reached her, blade drawn.
With a loud cry, the first horseman sprang back, dropping his sword as he gripped his bleeding hand.
Ella spun to look at the man who’d just saved her. In spite of the morning light, she could hardly believe what she saw. The man had a gray beard, and he wore a uniform like those of the rest of the cavalry, but his face was that of her father.
Before she could bring herself to speak, the man turned and blocked another oncoming cavalryman.
He was fighting on her side, regardless of his tunic.
Ella urged her mount closer. “Father?”
“Yes, Ella!” He swung his sword, beating the man back, before turning to her.
“They told me you were dead!”
“I nearly was. Thought it a mortal wound. They put me in the infirmary, and when the soldier in the bed next to mine died, I switched our documents. I’ve only been well enough to ride for a week.”
Ella blocked a blow from another soldier. She’d have embraced her father if she’d thought she could turn her back for even that long on her enemies. Instead she cried, “Do take it easy then, Father!”
“I’ve been trying to learn what happened to your brother, but I didn’t want to give away my identity,” Robert added.
“I freed him from the dungeon. He’s on one of those carts, if he hasn’t found a horse to ride.”
“Good.” Still, her father hesitated, beaming at her and looking as though he might try to embrace her in spite of the battle raging all around. “You burned brightly, little Cinder,” he told her, his voice full with pride. “You’re the brightest Cinder, Ella.”
Ella’s throat grew tight with emotion, but she knew she should not let herself be distracted from the battle at hand. “Catch up to Bertie, Father. I’ll take care of this mess.” When her father looked reluctant to leave, Ella, fearing he’d only do himself more harm by continuing to fight, added, “Keep him safe!”
That was all Robert needed. He turned his horse and raced ahead, peeling off the enemy’s jerkin as he rode.
Ella turned her attention back to the field. Henry was behind her, locked in combat with two cavalrymen. She urged her mount in his direction and rode up with sword drawn, knocking aside the smaller of the two men, whose horse stumbled backward.
Ella slashed at the man with her sword. It wasn’t a strong blow, nor a particularly accurate one, but it was enough to topple the already unsteady man from his horse.
Henry gave a cry, and Ella turned around to see him bracing his sword against that of his opponent.
Raedwald.
Ella charged at the interloper, but another cavalryman rode between her and the fighting pair. She locked swords with the newcomer, who kept her full attention until Henry suddenly charged him, knocking him from his horse.
“Raedwald’s down!” Henry told her. “Let’s catch up to the carts!”
Indeed, a quick glance around told her that, not only was Raedwald unhorsed, but several more of Henry’s men had taken horses and weapons and joined the fight now that all the carts were loaded with men, and on their way to Charmont.
She and Henry rode after their countrymen, joining the others who continued to unhorse the last of the enemy men.
Ella had just begun to think they were going to get away after all, when Henry gave a sudden cry and leaned hard against his horse’s mane.
He had an arrow in his back.
“Henry!” Ella screamed, riding alongside his horse. She glanced back to see Raedwald back on horseback, with a crossbow in his arms, a gloating smile on his face.
Raedwald’s smile faltered an instant before an arrow struck him hard in the shoulder, knocking him from his horse.
Bruce lowered his bow before riding over to help Ella catch Henry, who was sagging off his horse. Bruce caught the prince, holding him under his arms and avoiding the arrow, which was surrounded by a wide bloom of blood.
“Henry!” Ella tipped the prince’s face toward her, but the light was already fading from his eyes. “No!”
Bruce trembled, shaking his head, tears already streaming down his cheeks. “I was too late. A second too late. I promised the king I’d bring his son home alive. I’ve failed.”
“No!” Ella insisted, “No!” She glanced around them.
Raedwald fled from the battle field. His injury did not appear to be a mortal one.
If Henry died, the crown would eventually pass to Richard’s line. And Richard cared only for his own gain, not for the people of his kingdom.
“Henry, please! Stay with me! Live!” Ella pleaded, but Henry gave no response.
Ella searched the field helplessly. The battle was won. The carts rode on. But her love was fallen.
She looked at me and shook her head. I could see there, simmering on her tears, the decision that tore her heart in two. If she wished her last wish, I’d be gone from her life.
Her wish would end at midnight, and I would still be gone.
She might lose everything.
“Fairy godmother!” Ella screamed through a choking sob. “I wish my final wish. I wish that Prince Henry live, and not die.”
I didn’t try to remind her of the terms of her final wish. She knew all those things. I could see that in her eyes.
But just as clearly, I could see she also knew her victory meant nothing without the man who’d made it possible—the man who’d risked his life, even given his life, to save her brother and win her hand.
I spun up into the air, and with a shower of blue fairy dust, granted her last wish, and was gone.
Epilogue
I wasn’t there to see it when Henry sputtered back to life, or to cringe as Bruce pulled the arrow from his back, or to keep watch over him as he lay gasping in pain in a merchant’s cart as they fled away, and Ella confessed all her love for him, and he for her. When she pulled off her cap and used it to wipe away her tears, revealing her long braid, so that all the men realized they’d been led into battle by their soon-to-be princess, I was not with her.
Nor was I beside her to pray fervently for mercy as the hour approached midnight, and Ella wondered if Henry would be taken from her after all.
I was not with her to weep with relief as the next morning dawned and her love was still with her, and she embraced the happy knowledge that no belated chime of midnight would steal away her love and deliver him to death.
Not that the road was easy for him even then. He was weak and his condition tenuous as they made the journey home, pursued now and again by bands of pirates, so they had to fight them off and post watchmen always ahead of and behind them as they went, and were forced to fall back on every map in Ella’s collection in order to make their way home. The high mountain pass, as it turned out, still existed, though the road was littered with rocks in places, so that men had to go ahead of the carts and roll the stones and boulders out of the way.
Still, they made it home.
When they arrived back in Charmont after their perilous and arduous journey, and Henry rode triumphantly into the city, propped up on his horse by Ella sitting tall in the saddle behind him, while the people cheered and threw flowers in the road ahead of them, I wasn’t there for that, either.
I was up in the sky, nestled against a backdrop of stars, my twinkle distinct from those celestial bodies. I had a great time of it, granting wishes to many a hope-filled child who wished upon the first star of evening, little knowing the star they wished upon was me.
From that viewpoint far away, I watched the events unfolding on earth, and I smiled, celebrating with sparks of joy at Robert’s triumphant return to Caprese, the ousting of Madame De Bouchard and her daughters, and the sale of the goods from his carts, to eager buyers,at ten times their usual price.
Ella tracked down the farmer whose pumpkin had become her coach. She paid him ten times the usual price of the gourd, and presented him as well with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, enough to make many pumpkin pies.
She spent the next year cleansing Charmont of any hint that Madame Augusta had ever lived there—throwing wide the windows, airing out the rooms, and reclaiming the dresses her mother had made for her.
The horses, too, were glad to be home, and frolicked in the pastures when Ella was not working with them. With the birth of new foals the next spring, Robert announced their herd was growing too large for their pasture, and so promised Ella six of her favorite horses as a wedding gift, to go with her when she went to live at the castle.
Henry recovered from his injuries as I smiled down from the heavens. While he grew stronger, his father the King, buoyed by the successful breach of the trade embargo, visited their allies in the neighboring kingdoms, and rallied them to band together, vowing to eliminate the trade impediments finally and completely.
Together, Prince Henry and his father tracked down where Richard had been keeping the embezzled tax money, and refunded all overpayments to their grateful citizens. There were many times Richard and his son were publically booed, until they finally left the country in disgrace. They fled east, of course, only to discover that the enemy of their enemy no longer wanted to be their friend, and they relocated several times before finally settling down quietly in Nordheim, where they were never able to speak a word against the rulers of Charmont, for even there, the people had felt the pinch of the trade embargo, and celebrated Henry for saving them from it.
The king and the prince went on campaign together, forcing the pirates back out of the lands they’d invaded, and freeing the kingdoms to the east from their oppression. They opened up trade routes, cleared even the waterways of pirate activity, improved roads, built bridges, cleared the mountain pass, and in all other ways, worked to protect the safety of travelers and merchants for many years to come.
With their kingdom secure, the rulers of Charmont enjoyed renewed support and popularity, to the point that not even Madame De Bouchard dared speak anything against the prince or his betrothed, but instead became one of their most outspoken fans, always playing up the fact that Ella had once served as a lady-in-waiting in her household (she tended to leave off the bit about her marriage to Robert, as that led to questions about why they were no longer together).
It was a full year before Henry finally returned to Charmont to rule alongside his father, and to plan his wedding to Ella, which was the event of the decade.
Ella wore her reunited glass slippers and a gown of the finest imported silks. Her ladies-in-waiting were Prince Henry’s sisters, together with Cecile, Helene, and a few of the other handmaids who had served alongside Ella in Madame De Bouchard’s household. She even invited Agatha and Bertha to serve as handmaids, as well, but by that time the sisters had followed their cousin Richard to Nordheim, and were engaged to be married to noblemen there, and did not return to Charmont for Ella’s wedding.
After the ceremony the newlyweds hosted a ball that lasted three full days, and they danced enough to make up for all the dances they’d missed before. The wine flowed freely (though Jerome chose to abstain, having given it up following a frightful scare with double vision) and the food tables were never empty, though Sigismund kept the kitchen help busy replenishing the sausage platters.
I saw it all, beaming brightly from the sky—so brightly, in fact, that I was spotted by many an eager star-gazer, and granted several more fabulous wishes. Delightful as it was to look down upon everyone, I missed my goddaughter terribly, and longed to return to my duties with her family.
It was little more than a year after that when I found myself again on earth, in Cinderella’s bedchamber, as the first cries of her newborn daughter filled the air. The little girl was healthy and strong. She was named Eleanor, after her mother and grandmother and all the women who’d come before her. She grew to be a wise, kind, brave, and resilient young woman, who went on to do many great things and have grand adventures, and to eventually pass the glass slippers along to her own daughter.
But here I go, getting ahead of myself again!
There’s only one thing left you need to know.
We all lived happily ever after.
THE END
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Cinders: The Untold Story of Cinderella. This story meant a great deal to me, because I have always loved the Cinderella fairy tale, but felt many versions put too great an emphasis on Cinderella’s looks, while downplaying the importance of her tenacity, perseverance, integrity, and strength. My goal was to follow her character through the transition from girlhood to womanhood, and to highlight the st
ruggles she faced, which are not altogether different from the struggles every other woman faces during those pivotal years.
Cinderella faced loss, heartache, and despair. She was forced to persevere and remain true to herself in a world that did not recognize her for who she was, and which threatened to deny her every mark of her humanity: her name, her voice, her family, and her home. Like so many women who have faced similar struggles, she was able to rise above every obstacle placed before her. My hope is that her story will encourage you, wherever you are in your journey.
If you enjoyed this book, you might also appreciate my Dragon Eye series, which features royal dragon warriors. That series begins with the book, Dragon, which can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Finley-Aaron/e/B00Q4YBTRY.
Thank you for joining me.
Finley
