As Jack darted toward the middle of the vineyard row, he saw the dimly lit figure of the person he was to meet, sitting and waiting before him. The figure, dressed in a gown and a furred cloak, stood and embraced him as he arrived, kissing him passionately.
After a moment Jack pulled away.
“You shouldn’t have called for me, Cinderella. It’s not safe. Phillip’s army is ascending tonight, and if I’m not there, he’ll hunt me down himself. I think he knows— he’s promoted me to his personal guard so he can keep an eye on me,” Jack was dressed for battle, wearing a regal looking leather tunic with a crest on the shoulder that signified he was part of the Royal Guard.
Cinderella pulled the fur-lined hood of her royal cloak from her long golden hair. “Phillip doesn’t know,” she tried to assure him. “I wanted to see you again, Jack. I was hoping you would come tonight. Stay with me, please?” she begged. “Don’t go. We’ll run away someplace else…”
“You’re a princess, Cinderella. You can’t just run off!” Jack countered. “I’m just a common guy from a farm. You deserve better than me.”
Even in the darkness Jack could tell Cinderella was crying. “And I’m just a common girl in a pretty dress. I’ve spent many more years cleaning fireplaces and washing dishes than I have being a princess; I‘m not royal blood. This past year since the Queen died, has been miserable. Phillip hasn’t been the same since. These days all he ever talks about is this beanstalk and heading off some giant invasion. It’s all but consumed him and his father. They’re not even sure there is going to be an invasion.”
“It’s my fault, the beanstalk, the giant. I had to tell the king,” Said Jack.
“… and if you hadn’t come to the castle we would never have met. And I’ve never met anyone like you, Jack. I can be myself around you. I can laugh and tell jokes; Phillip doesn’t understand my sense of humor, but you do. He gets mad when I help the castle staff clear the table. But I deserve to be myself. You understand me. You and I have more in common, because we are commoners.”
Cinderella leaned closed to Jack and put her head on his chest, as she wrapped her arms around him. Jack embraced her, taking in the scent of her royal perfumes, and her soft hair. “The time we spent together over the summer, has been the happiest I’ve ever known,” Cinderella admitted. “It’s not the castle or being a princess that makes me happy, it is being with the right person. Once I realized that, the rest didn’t matter. When we first met, I didn’t expect to fall in love with you, Jack. But now I can’t imagine my life without you.”
Jack sighed. “I know. Every time we have to leave each other, it kills me. The world, when I’m not with you, seems duller. When we first began to meet I thought to myself that being with you was a huge mistake; you are a princess, married to the prince. There would be no way for this to end happily ever after for me. But it’s a mistake I would make again in a heartbeat.”
“Then let’s run away,” Cinderella said earnestly. “Tonight, I don’t care. I would give up all of it to be with you.”
Jack looked toward the sky, thinking, absently noting that it had grown even more overcast, the moon and stars were completely obscured by clouds. There was a sudden growl of thunder hidden in the clouds, reminding him of the grim reality still to come.
“Listen to me,” Jack said, putting his hands on her slender shoulders stepping back to look at her at arm’s length “You are a princess. For now at least, you have to stay, and I have to go. Once this is over, yes—we’ll run away, I will go with you and somehow, we’ll start a new life somewhere else. I promise.”
Cinderella embraced Jack again and kissed him, “Oh Jack that would make me so happy!” They kissed again. “Promise me, please, Jack? Promise me you’ll come back.”
Thunder rolled across the land again.
“I promise,” Jack said with a confident smile. He looked into her sparkling blue eyes as he stroked her hair.
Satisfied, Cinderella placed a small playful kiss on Jack’s cheek.
“I have something I want to give you before you leave,” she said with a smile.
Jack gave an unsure, puzzled look. Then Cinderella unfastened her cloak and let it fall away. Staring intently at Jack, she pulled a ribbon on her dress, and let it fall down around her feet.
A roguish smile came across Jack’s face. Cinderella stood there in the crisp night; her perfect skin seemed to glow like moonlight, “I want to give you this so I know you’ll come back to me.”
Without another word, Cinderella kissed Jack passionately; her warm wet mouth enveloped his lips. Her cold skin bristled with goose bumps at his warm touch. Jack was fully enthralled, paying little attention as Cinderella began to remove his sword belt, pulling off his leather tunic and undershirt. The heat radiating from his skin was electrifying as she ran her hands over his solid, muscular chest. Together they laid down on her cloak, amongst the leafy vines of the royal vineyard with the succulent aroma of sweet frost-ripened grapes surrounding them; thunder growing more constant as the winds picked up.
***
The beanstalk was massive. At its base it was measured with over forty horses circled around it, nose to tail. The great stalk was actually comprised of five individual stalks, one sprouting from each bean that had been thrown in the dirt, twisted tightly together with great strength and support— like a rope woven by a skillful craftsman. The beanstalk stretched upwards, disappearing into the cloud layer, nearly five hundred feet in the air. Thousands of small sinewy rope-like vines covered the stalk and grew down into the ground anchoring it. Reaching out across the ground, they spread out over hundreds of feet, wrapping themselves around trees, rocks and anything else in reach to further brace the massive plant.
As Jack rounded the bend on his horse later that night, he felt his stomach tighten. The land was familiar to him as the beanstalk had grown overnight on his family farm. But much had changed since then. The house he had grown up in had been practically destroyed when the beanstalk burst from the ground. It was at Princess Cinderella’s request that Jack and his mother were given a new home nearby. That seemed like an eternity ago. Jack had not been back here to the old farm for many weeks and what he saw when he arrived was a bustle of activity. The king’s army had taken over the whole area as a base camp and operational launching point for the army’s exploratory invasion up the beanstalk.
Tents rattled and flapped in the heavy wind; Jack slowly made his way through them on horseback. Hurrying to tie canvases and straps, the men paid little attention to him.
Finally the great stalk came into full view, dwarfing the crowds of people that hurriedly went about their business. It was very different since Jack was last there. The area was lit by lanterns and torches with flames that bent and danced furiously in the wind. To move the army up the beanstalk, a huge wooden scaffolding structure had been erected and wooden walkways surrounded it. Over the past several weeks, the king’s army had quickly built a large wide ramp that spiraled up the colossal stem for two hundred feet. Torches were lit along the ramps, giving the beanstalk an unreal glow. Jack watched as soldiers in two columns side by side slowly made their way up. As he neared, Jack almost forgot to dismount from the horse as he walked through the busy crowd of soldiers; everyone it seemed was going somewhere and doing something. But Jack was gazing upward, straining to see further up the stalk. He could barely make out the large platform at the top of the spiral walkway that surrounded the great stem like a collar. From his vantage point, Jack could see a series of lights, more torches he guessed, and it looked like some sort of lift system, one that slowly ascended and descended from the main platform up into the clouds.
As Jack watched he began to notice something rather disconcerting about the giant beanstalk. But as Jack was watching and walking his horse, he was not looking where he was going. Suddenly, Jack’s attention was brought earthbound again as he collided abruptly into the back of a man standing in front of him.
Prince Phillip.
“Spriggins! Where in hell have you been?” Phillip barked.
Startled at the sight of the prince, the first thought that went through Jack’s mind was, I just made love to your wife, you undeserving ass. But Jack only thought it and dared not speak it. Instead his reply was sharp as a needle and rather convincing as it had been well rehearsed on the ride back from the vineyard. “I’m terribly sorry, your Highness. I have been looking for you for quite a bit,” Jack gave a polite nod, and then held up the reigns of his horse. “I had some delay, seems the horse got spooked with all the commotion. I had to fetch him out of the wood, the reigns got caught up.”
Phillip studied Jack for a second, hand on the hilt of his sword, mentally trying to find flaw in his alibi, but Jack’s gaze was steadfast. And his alibi was airtight, for now.
“Very well, Jack,” said the prince in a somewhat forgiving, though unconvinced tone. “Since you are new to the Royal Guard, I’ll let this transgression slip this time, but consider yourself warned.”
Jack was hardly paying attention to the lecture the Prince was trying to give; his attention again was drawn upwards to the gigantic beanstalk. Though Phillip did not immediately notice what Jack was looking at.
“The last of the army is ascending up the lifts now, “Prince Phillip continued. “You will accompany myself and the king. After all, this is your beanstalk, farm boy.”
“About the beanstalk,” said Jack, “it’s swaying.”
He nodded toward the giant stalk. The prince and the king turned, looking up to see the beanstalk as it rocked back and forth slightly in the growing wind.
“I believe the lad is correct,” said King Marchen as he approached the Prince, his regal voice was emphasized as he spoke louder over the wind, his long grey hair whipping about his face. The wind had kicked up suddenly, and his words were now accented by the low rumble of thunder in the distance. Almost instantly as the last dull clap of thunder faded away, everyone began to double their efforts.
“The ramp will hold,” Prince Phillip said confidently, but with a glaring look toward Jack. “Supports are anchored into the sides of the stalk as well as the ground. We had the best engineers in the kingdom work this up.”
Jack said nothing, but he was not so convinced.
“We should be heading up now though, before it gets any worse,” King Marchen suggested.
“Of course, father,” Prince Phillip nodded. “Spriggins, you will accompany me,” he ordered.
Prince Phillip turned, motioning Jack with a wave as they all headed to the beanstalk. Jack followed behind them giving a slightly annoyed sigh, and rolling his eyes at the prince, mocking the prince’s command silently behind him.
In a few moments, Jack had handed off his own horse, and was leading both the king’s horse and Prince Phillip’s horse as he followed up behind them. Though both beasts were well trained for combat, they were nervous about the beanstalk and the growing storm. It was all Jack could do to keep the two horses calm and steady as they began to travel the wooden ramp that spiraled up around the great stalk. Jack was sure this was not part of the role of the king’s personal Royal Guard. In fact, he had not noticed any other “Royal Guard” around.
As the king, the prince and Jack ascended, the wind seemed to worsen. The thunder grew louder, and sharper, booming with great frequency. The king and the others followed the last of the army up. The great beanstalk swayed and rocked; a deep, heavy groaning resonating as it did. Not only were they now higher up on the stalk, where the wind from the storm was obvious, but the wind itself had grown more forceful. More than once the king had to yell above the driving wind to “Keep moving up!” pushing the others nervously ahead. Louder now, the stalk protested in the heavy wind with thick, angry guttural pops and evil groans shuddered from within the massive vine. In response, the wooden support beams creaked loudly, but the prince’s confidence in the construction was correct and the structure was holding.
On more than one occasion the beanstalk rocked with such force against the wooden supports that the soldiers had to hold on to steady their balance, or risk falling over the side to their death. The wooden ramp and supports strained and cracked as the beanstalk shifted, as if the great stalk had awakened and was trying to break free of its man-made constraints.
Both the king and the prince spoke little as they made their way up; though the prince only bothered to check on Jack.
“He’s probably making sure I’m not running off,” Jack grumbled, talking to the horses. “Most likely he’s more concerned about you than me,” he added with a sigh, speaking to the horses and getting only a disinterested, nervous snort from them in response. The line of soldiers had stopped again. Jack looked up; they were nearly under the large platform now, one last bend to navigate and they would be at the lifts. Standing there and waiting made Jack uneasy however.
Near the top now, he could feel every movement of the beanstalk as it swayed in the heavy wind, the groaning of the great stalk as it moved gave Jack a sense that it was alive; more than just a plant.
“If it is alive it probably isn’t very happy. The sooner we’re off this beanstalk, the better,” Jack mumbled, talking to himself put his mind slightly at ease; admitting to himself that the wooden ramp structure did make it much easier to ascend than scaling up the stalk as he had first done. I just had to climb this thing, though, he thought.
As he waited, Jack tried not to focus on the near constant roll of thunder or the wooden creaking or the ramp’s shifting planks beneath his feet. Looking out across the sky, the darkness made it difficult to gauge how high up they truly were. The campfires below were much smaller, and in the blackness of a moonless, overcast night, there was very little to see. One thing that did catch Jack’s attention—outlined by several dozen torches, a large group of people were making their way to the encampment below, coming up the main road that Jack had taken earlier. “I don’t think that’s part of the army, more like a local mob,” he said with concern, “—not good.” Jack thought he might point this out to Prince Phillip and the king who were farther up around the bend of the ramp and therefore not able to see from the same vantage point as Jack.
Then there was a sudden, blinding flash of lighting, something Jack had yet to see with the growing storm— lightning. It was followed by a gut rattling boom of cracking thunder. Yet with this entire storm thought Jack, where was the rain? Jack did all he could to calm the nervous horses, as they threw their heads about neighing and nickering.
“Spriggins! Keep up!” The prince yelled from around the farside of the beanstalk. The wind picked up again, even harder now as Jack left the protective blocking side of the stalk, exposing himself to the ferocious gusts that shook the mighty bean stalk even harder than before. From this far up, Jack thought there would be little the prince could do, so Jack decided against mentioning anything that he saw.
This final turn brought them directly under the large platform; Jack could see the large support beams of the platform were anchored into the side of the stalk like great spokes. From underneath, the shifting of the planks and the precarious situation of high winds rattling the beanstalk were more obvious. Lights from above blinked in and out between the moving cracks, and the shadows of the men on the platform above seemed to appear and disappear, accented by the deep dull groaning of the beams as they strained under the weight. All of it was unsettling for Jack, the person who had been the first to climb the great stalk. As Jack and the others slowly made their way up the last part of the ramp, he could now see the stalk fully ascending into the clouds. There was another blinding flash of light as lightning broke across the sky. Jack found it to be rather unusual. Rather than a streak of lightning from cloud to sky, this was
circular. The lightning spread outward across the sky, originating from a ring around the area of the clouds through where the beanstalk broke through. It was followed almost immediately by a large booming of thunder that rattled Jack to the core. The thunder seemed much louder the higher up they were.
“There was no storm like this when I went up,” said Jack aloud, somewhat nervously. “Not at all.”
The platform was wider than the ramp that traveled up the beanstalk, and illuminated by lanterns that swayed on their poles in the wind. There were other people manning the lifts and ushering the last of the troops. There were four large wooden lifts with gates and simple lanterns affixed to the structure. They could easily fit Jack and the two horses, as well as additional crates and bags of supplies. As Jack, the horses and supplies were mustered into the lift, Jack asked the lift operator why they didn’t just build the ramp all the way up.
“Too much to build to go all the way up,” The operator replied, securing the gate.
“I climbed this thing myself, y’know,” said Jack.
“Sure you did, kid,” the operator hardly paid attention to him. “Hang on; it’s a bumpy ride up with the storm.”
Then he moved quickly to the next lift.
Jack was not surprised to see the king and the prince take a separate lift further down the line of the platform. Jack grumbled to himself about being a Royal Guard again. Then with a lurch the lift began to move, a series of ropes pulleys and counter weights began to pull them skyward into the clouds.
Shards Of The Glass Slipper: Queen Alice Page 18
