by Walleye
The dark elf grinned back at his friend. “Fun for us you mean. I can see possibilities in this for us in this tale.”
“Which you will not attempt to exploit.” Lilith warned them. “This tale has already grown dark enough.”
“All right.” The vampire conceded. “But you have to give us more leeway if a lighthearted tale invades one of our darker ones.” He smiled showing his fangs. “Balance must always be restored, shouldn’t it?”
“Yes.” Lilith reluctantly conceded.
Vlad turned back to his friend. “I think you will still find plenty of opportunity to have lots of fun in other merged tales.” The dark elf nodded and rubbed his hands together.
Back at the castle Johnathan wasn’t having what he would’ve called fun. He would rather have been talking to Maryellen. He had just been introduced to Elliot’s two squires, Franklin and Jack, and her fellow knight, Sir Rathbone, who was traveling with her.
Sir Rathbone was over six feet high and built like a wedge. He had a very swarthy complexion and muscles piled on muscles. They had shaken hands and it gave Johnathan great pleasure to respond to the man’s attempts to crush his fingers by upping the pressure in his turn.
Sir Rathbone had been made of stern stuff as he had held out until his bones began to creak. He’d let Johnathan’s hand go and shaken his own back and forth. He’d glared at the Duke and Johnathan had taken an instant dislike to the man.
Cousin Elliot just rolled her eyes and ignored the two of them. Later when she got him alone she had growled at Sir Rathbone. “What was that all about?”
He looked at her as if weighing how much he could tell her before saying. “I don’t like your cousin.” He walked away leaving her to shake her head in disgust at men and their macho games.
The Curser Strikes Back
Elrith the daughter of the Sidhe Queen Elphane was sitting on her golden throne holding court at the entrance to a hidden glade deep in the woods. Surrounding the glade was a fairy ring made of white mushrooms which glowed with a pale yellow light to mark the boundaries. Then there was an inner ring of black mushrooms which glowed with a blue light inside which the entrance to Elrith’s throne lay.
At the foot of the throne, members of the Sidhe court who were transparent in appearance danced inside this inner blue-glowing ring. Behind them fairy towers and castles connected by silver and golden arches could be glimpsed in the thick mists which swirled about their bases in the land Under the Hills.
Whenever one of these apparent ghosts left the inner ring to enter the glade they became semi-solid and glowed yellow with power. The next step was to leave the outer ring and when they did so they became both solid and deadly.
Even as a transparent spirit Elrith shone with a golden light that illuminated her slender form. When standing she stood about six and a half feet tall and was wearing transparent green silks that flowed like water as she moved. She had silver shoulder-length hair and blue cat eyes set in a slender beautiful face which was marred only by protruding fangs as the Sidhe have never been a gentle and kind folk.
She was holding a white staff with a silver owl perched on its tip in one hand as she sat on a floating gold throne and kept time with her other hand with inch long nails as sharp as knives while she listened with only half a mind to the music presented by the very well hidden musicians.
This was because the rest of her mind was occupied with a hundred different problems and enjoyments which she was experiencing all at once and solving and enjoying all at the same time as the Sidhe were not human or held to human limitations.
This was what made the Sidhe so dangerous for humans to interact with. These fairy folk might look human but they were not. They might seem to think like humans but that was only a show they put on for mortals to see.
A slender thin female Sidhe with yellow cat eyes and dressed in green and brown so that she blended in with the woods entered the outer ring and immediately became semi-solid. She moved towards the inner ring as yellow flames flickered around her body; one second she was human in looks and the next she was a tiger with rippling muscles and flashing fangs.
She reached the inner blue circle, strode through it and as she knelt before princess Elrith the music stopped as if the players had been stomped on and the dancers froze like statues.
Elrith looked down at the tiger and said coldly. “I hope you have brought tidings important enough to interrupt the celebrations and my meditations, Druga. For if you have not, the punishment will be most severe. ”
Druga instantly perceived several of these punishments in the space of a second: The worst was being a parasite inside her own intestines. But she knew that she had nothing to fear as not reporting would lead to even worse punishments.
“I do, Princess.” She declared. “You set me to keep watch on the Beast and to report any undesired changes and unfortunately things have changed. The Beast is near to being freed as an interloper is now interfering.”
Elrith scowled. “Why am I being bothered with such trifles? Turn her into a worm and be done with it.”
“I’m so sorry, Princess.” Druga prostrated herself. “But she has become part of this fairytale’s magic. Thus, I can hinder but not destroy her as she is now immune to the use of destructive magic on my part.”
Elrith turned her baleful gaze on the prostrate Sidhe. “You speak nonsense. She’s still human so she is not entirely immune. She can be delayed and side tracked as we have done to other humans who involve themselves in these tales.”
Druga knew this was the moment where she’d either become a parasite or retain her present form. “She’s not human, my Princess. She’s a mermaid and she has been bathed in the magic of the Shane River.”
Princess Elrith looked at her in astonishment. “A mermaid princess is involved in Beauty and the Beast?”
“Yes, my Princess.” Druga awaited her fate.
Princess Elrith considered this for a moment and then lifted her hand so that a small blue sphere appeared, floating just above her palm. She stared at things only she could see inside the sphere before sighing. “Some magic whose origin I can’t perceive is interfering in the magic of all the fairytales. I will spend some time pondering this problem. But I sense some force of darkness greater than our own is now involved in trying to disrupt Fairytaleland.”
She looked down at Druga. “However for our present difficulty with this tale there is a solution which fits the allowed parameters. In my opinion as the originator of this curse Prince Johnathan has not suffered nearly enough. I want him to be miserable right up to the end and to do that I will send one of my strongest sorceresses as we still can within the prescribed limits affect both the interfering mermaid and the Beast.”
She turned and called out. “Sorceress Morgin, step forward as I have a task for you.”
Instantly another woman glowing with magic was standing by her throne. “You heard what Druga said?” Elrith asked the new comer.
“Of course, my Princess.” The Sidhe sorceress Morgin sketched a bow. “You want the human and the mermaid taken care of. I shall make sure they both suffer.”
“Very good, Morgin. You’ve never failed me before.” Elrith said with a fond look. Morgin smiled on hearing this compliment. The smile faded as Elrith warned her very sternly. “Don’t make this a first time.”
“I shall not disappoint you, Princess.” The Sidhe mage said with a deep bow. She turned back to the informer. “Take me there, Druga.”
Druga turned and stepped out of the blue glowing ring followed by Morgin. For a moment a semisolid tiger and a large red serpent appeared inside the last ring and as they passed the white mushroom ring Druga immediately became a slender woman dressed in brown and green. Morgin was now revealed to be a stocky black-haired woman dressed in red silks and a glow of power swirled around her.
Morgin gestured and the two rose into the air in a sparkling cloud and sped away towards the river. Behind them the Sidhe fairy music took up the tune whe
re it had broken off and the dancers resumed their complex patterns as the Princess returned to her pursuits.
When they arrived at the river they found the Beast was back in his palace and the mermaid was back in the magic river. This meant they had to wait until next morning. Morgin amused herself by turning ogres and trolls into ugly toads much to the consternation of the birds and butterflies as these toads could leap six feet in the air.
The next morning the Beast was at the river early and the mermaid was waiting for him. She had been thinking all night about what she should say to him. Should she encourage him or discourage him? She had decided to slow things down, but this resolution lasted only until he started wading into the pool.
She found herself rushing through the water to meet him and spraying him heavily as she slowed down by swinging her tail around. He laughed, dove in and tackled her around her waist. He rolled over and came to his feet holding her in his arms.
“Got you.” He declared triumphantly.
She laughed. “And now that you’ve got me, what’re you going to do with me?”
“I always wondered if mermaids were ticklish. Let’s find out.” He took his lion’s type tail with its fuzzy tip and began running the tip up and down her ribs.
“No! Stop!” She cried just before she dissolved into peals of hysterical giggles. After a minute he withdrew the tip and allowed her to catch her breath.
“You enjoyed that too much.” She accused.
“I think you did too. Let’s see if I can do that again.” And he started tickling her in the ribs again.
“Noooo!” She shrieked as she dissolved into a giggle fit. In retaliation she thrust her fingers against his ribs and began tickling him too.
He began laughing too and she tickled harder. He was so overcome that he fell backwards into the water, cradling her on his chest. He floated to the surface with her still lying on his chest and grinning wickedly at him.
“Truce?” She asked with her hand raised; her fingers poised and ready to start tickling him again.
“Truce.” He replied with a smile.
She laid her chin on his chest and gazed up at him. “I haven’t had this much fun in years.” She declared.
“Neither have I.” He replied as his paw gently stoked her hair. “I find that you are simply amazing.”
“Only amazing?” She asked with an impish grin. “I feel slighted. You used to call me beautiful.”
“You are amazingly beautiful. How was that?” He said with a smile.
“Good save.” She said as she gazed into his blue eyes.
The two of them were being watched by two pairs of very unfriendly eyes. “Well, aren’t you going to put the spell on them? What are you waiting for?” Druga protested to Morgin.
“As long as they’re in the river the magic water protects them.” Morgin retorted angrily. “But as soon as they leave the river, they’ll be mine. I need the Beast to remove the mermaid from her protection.”
For another half an hour the two Sidhe watched in frustration as the Beast and the mermaid played. But finally the call of the horn came from the castle and Johnathan knew he had to return once more.
Maryellen swam with him right up to the beach where she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “I can’t wait until I see you tomorrow.”
He sighed with pleasure and held her against his chest. “I can’t wait either.” Something inside him whispered. ‘She’s the one. Kiss her. Tell her you love her.’
He almost did it but he remembered he was supposed to be freed by a human girl and not a mermaid. Would this make any difference to the magic of the curse?
With this pause the moment passed and he brushed his lips across her soft blond hair. She sighed.
He found he did not want to let her go and she responded by slipping her arms around his neck. They gazed into each other’s eyes.
Maryellen found something stirring deep inside her, something that made her feel complete when she was in his arms. The urge to kiss him was growing.
He carried her up out of the river and onto the bank. She was looking up at him so sweetly that he almost told her how he felt. But before he could Morgin reached out with her magic to seize him and he froze in place.
Maryellen knew immediately that something was horribly wrong. “Johnathan?” She asked in fear as she felt him stiffen and as she watched in horror his blue eyes glazed over and his breathing became shallower.
A voice vibrating with power and menace said from behind the Beast. “Human filth, now you’re mine.”
Maryellen peeked around his shoulder and saw with horror two glowing Sidhe stepping out of the brush. She was not frozen by their magic and since he was so close to the river bank she tried to pull on the Beast’s shoulders to overbalance him and pull him back into the river but his body only quivered slightly.
She heard one of the two Sidhe say. “Are they both frozen by your spell, Morgin?”
“They should be, but keep an eye on the mermaid. She may have soaked up so much magic from the river that she would be immune to all magic but that which meshes with her role in this fairytale. I have prepared a proper spell for her that should make it impossible for her to complete the tale. It’s very similar to the one that is destroying her youngest sister in the Little Mermaid tale right now.”
That was all Maryellen needed to hear. Staying here would just make her a better spell target. With a quick regretful look at the Beast whom she could not help if she stayed she tried to fling herself away from Johnathan’s grip and into the river. She got loose but didn’t quite make it.
She fell to the bank and spun around. Behind her Morgin cursed. “No, you don’t!”
Maryellen pushed off and was airborne when the magic struck her, sending blazing pain throughout her body. She screamed and her muscles contorted her body in midair just before she struck the water.
As she sank through the magic river water pain ripped through her body and twisted her insides before it abruptly stopped. She unbent and looked at herself. She was unchanged but she could feel something trembling within her like a coiled spring. The magic spell was held only in abeyance. It was not gone.
Morgin peered anxiously at the silently flowing river and eagerly lifted her hand to cast the spell again on the mermaid but after a few minutes she realized to her disgust that the mermaid was too smart to come back out of the water where Morgin’s magic could affect her. But if the mermaid ever dared to come out of the river then the spell would activate and it would doom her to fail just like her sister was doomed.
With a smile of satisfaction Morgin turned back to the Beast who stood there trapped in her spell. She looked him up and down as she felt the web of her spell holding him. She drew the web endings into her deft fingers.
“You’ll do for what my Princess wants.” She growled. “She had me put the original curse on you and she wants to make sure that there is no easy escape.”
If she had realized how good the hearing of the mermaid was even under water then she would never have dared to speak out loud. But she didn’t and so she continued. “Your will is no longer your own.” She ordered. “Your will is my will.”
She began making more gestures and her magic power gathered inside the Beast. “You never met or talked to a mermaid.” She commanded. “You cannot even remember her name nor will you ever want to come down here to the river to see the nonexistent mermaid. As far as you’re concerned, she never existed.”
“Now repeat. She doesn’t exist.”
“She doesn’t exist.” The Beast replied dully.
“Good. Now go back to the palace and resume your life.” The Beast strode by her without looking back.
In the river a distraught mermaid was consumed with rage at what she’d just heard. She dove for the bottom and quickly gathered several rocks of the proper size. She shot to the surface. It was time for payback.
Druga smiled at Morgin as they watched the mesmerized Beast walk
away from one of his only chances to break the curse. “That was easy.” Druga proclaimed.
“Yes, I..” Morgin screamed in pain as a five inch rock thrown by an enraged mermaid struck her the back of her skull.
She whirled around with green blood pouring from a cut in her head. “I’ll kill you, you little….!” She shouted just before another hurled rock struck her in the forehead right between the eyes and she went down like she had been hit with an axe.
Considering that mermaids are incredibly strong in the arms as they use them for swimming, it was no wonder that a rock hurled by an angry mermaid could break bones. Also mermaids are very accurate in throwing projectiles, especially when driving sharks away.
Druga ducked as another rock whistled by her ear. She seized Morgin’s hand and started dragging her away as more rocks struck them or bounced on the ground. Finally they got out of range of the rocks and she was able to use her weaker magic to carry Morgin back to the fairy circle.
Princess Elrith found Druga’s story of what had happened to be amusing. “The mermaid’s actions do her great credit.” She declared. Left unspoken was that no credit rebounded on Morgin for treating the mermaid with such contempt and leaving herself vulnerable.
“I want vengeance.” Morgin growled as she rubbed her sore head.
“Of course you do.” Princess Elrith replied with a thoughtful look. “Just like I did when I had you curse that stupid prince. But there are a couple of reasons that’s not going to happen.”
“Enlighten me, please.” Morgin made a respectful bow, but inside herself the Sidhe sorceress was seething with anger.
Princess Elrith deigned to enlighten her subject. “The first reason is that I have recently finished my examination of all the fairytales concerning magic vengeance and unfortunately in every one of them it ends badly for the vengeance seeker. So, I’ve decided that our role in this tale is done for now. But there is a second reason.”
“And what is that, my Princess?” Morgin asked with resignation.
