‘There are queens aplenty in this land, admittedly!’ The fool didn’t sound as if he’d taken offence at the doctor’s rudeness. ‘But, I assure you, good doctor, that there’s no Fisher Queen!’
‘The tale of the Fisher Queen!’ the doctor protested. ‘Surely you’ve heard of that at the very least?’
The fool paused as if briefly considering this, then sadly shook his head.
‘No, no; I’m sorry, I haven’t. But if there is such a tale, then obviously it’s nothing more than a silly little fairystory.’
Crystine didn’t like to ask how you could have a fairystory in what seemed to her to be a fairystory land.
‘It’s not a fairystory!’ The doctor was now almost belligerently insistent. ‘If it were, how would you explain this?’
He reached into his bag, pulling out a glistening, dark blue crystal dangling upon a chain.
Crystine watched the slowly twirling crystal in a mix of wonder and a discomforting sense of recognition. For it sparkled as if it were a captured sphere of the universe.
‘That?’ the fool scoffed. ‘Hasn’t it got you into enough trouble already?’
‘Only because I don’t entirely understand how it should be used!’ the doctor exasperatedly spat back.
The fool glanced Crystine’s way with a grin.
‘It’s nothing to do with any non-existent queen,’ he assured her adamantly. ‘It’s already had us kicked out of a number of homes and inns, because he claims it can predict–’
‘Not predict!’ the doctor fumed, as if exhausted by constant repetitions of an explanation of the difference. ‘It ensures that your child will be of a certain gender!’
‘Well, any one of two, anyway!’ the fool gleefully corrected him. ‘We’re lucky to still be alive!’
‘I just haven’t mastered it yet!’ the doctor persisted. ‘But it definitely does work; because it’s the Queen of Crystals!’
The doctor had left the crystal seductively dangling in the air, where its steady twirling, its capturing and scattering of the light, had entranced Crystine.
‘This Fisher Queen; where does she live?’ Crystine asked curiously.
‘She doesn’t live, Crystine,’ the fool said kindly, using her name for the first time that Crystine herself had noticed. ‘Unless you count living in someone’s imagination!’
Crystine pouted, considering this.
‘Yes, I do count that!’ she said assuredly.
*
Chapter 17
Just as the doctor had, only moments earlier, unexpectedly reached out and grasped the charm, Crystine now deftly palmed the glowing crystal.
She shivered as a surge of cold blood coursed down her arm towards her heart.
How could it do that?
She sensed a connection with the crystal; sensed that it had something to do with her – to do with who she was,
How could that be possible?
How could a crystal have anything to do with determining who she was? Especially a crystal existing only in a world completely (well, almost completely!) separate from the world she had been born in?
She glanced at the crystal glowing so darkly blue in her palm; and in it she saw a child, a tiny babe, calmly resting in the waters of the womb – she was sure!
‘How much?’ she asked the doctor, probing his startled eyes for any clue that might reveal how desperate he was to cling onto the remarkable crystal. ‘How much for the crystal?’
For some reason, she found herself deliberately avoiding saying ‘your crystal’.
‘The necklace!’ the doctor said with only a moment’s pause for thought.
Crystine placed a protective hand around the ruby,
No, not the necklace: she was somehow connected to that too, she realised. It had something to do with bringing her here, she was sure.
In which case, it was probably the only thing that offered her some route back home.
Besides, she was still literally connected to it; she hadn’t worked out how to remove it yet.
She shook her head.
‘The bracelet, then,’ the doctor said triumphantly.
Again, Crystine sadly shook her head.
The cloak was too valuable to part with so easily, even for this remarkable crystal. The Golden Apple, too, was far too precious a gift to give away so wilfully.
The doctor sniggered.
‘So, what else do you have to bargain with?’
‘Pearls,’ the fool declared, preparing to rip away yet another handful of precious stones from his already seriously damaged jacket. ‘How many?’
Now the doctor guffawed scornfully.
‘Pearls? For a crystal that could make me a fortu–’
‘Make you a prisoner, more likely!’ the fool reposted.
‘I only need to figure out how it works!’ the doctor said pointedly once more, snatching the crystal from Crystine’s hand with a deft flick of the chain.
Crystine shivered again, but this time with a sense of loss.
But it wasn’t the babe in the womb waving goodbye; it was the Fisher Queen.
*
No!
That definitely wasn’t possible!
And yet it was something she had definitely sensed.
She stared back at the doctor, speaking to him perhaps far more sternly than she had originally intended.
‘Why do you think this is from the Fisher Queen?’
‘I…I don’t know,’ the doctor stammered hesitantly, as if surprised by his own admission, as if it had only just dawned on him that this was the truth. ‘It was just…something I sensed.’
He grimaced in embarrassment.
He didn’t realise this made perfect sense to Crystine: for hadn’t she just undergone her own weird experience of sensing a connection with this supposedly fairytale queen?
‘You sensed that it was hers?’ the fool jeered. ‘Is that all?’
‘I know it sounds ridiculous!’ the doctor sneered. ‘Up until…up until a second ago, I honestly thought there was a more reasonable connection!’
‘This tale of the Fisher Queen–’
‘A tale only,’ the fool interrupted. ‘Are you sure you should be interested in such nonsense, Crystine?’
‘How long will it take us to find lodging for the night?’ Crystine asked.
‘From what I can remember when heading out here,’ the doctor answered, ‘it’s around an hour’s travelling to the next village.’
‘Long enough then,’ Crystine said authoritatively, ‘for you to tell me this tale of the Fisher Queen.’
*
Chapter 18
‘The Princess Perryvale found herself lost one day amidst the low lying swampland of the farthest extremes of her realm. Here the mist could abruptly descend upon you, confusing you all the more in an area where it was already difficult to spot landmarks that might help you determine where you were.
‘Everything looked the same: flat islands of coarse reeds, surrounded everywhere by rivers and streams that continually turned back upon themselves to form a bewildering labyrinth of swiftly flowing water. The soil, of course, was useless for building any structure, even the poorest of hovels.
‘So imagine the princess’s surprise and joy when, rising out of the mist, she spotted what must have been the very tallest tower she had ever seen. Urging her mount on to leap over the streams lying between them and the soaring tower, she thanked her great good fortune that she had by pure chance come across such a magnificent building, the abode – surely – of nothing less than a great duke!
‘As she hurriedly made her way there, however, she came to a section where the streams were widening into meandering rivers, to the point where she began to fear that she would never be able to persuade her horse to leap across such wide and rapidly raging courses of water.
‘But then – thankfully, once more – she heard a cry of greeting.
‘“Welcome,” came the cry, “if you’re seeking somewhere safe to stay,
you’ll find yourself more than welcome at my home!”
‘The princess was at first startled by this welcoming yell, which seemed to come out of nowhere: but then she saw a boat lying low amongst the towering reeds, in which was seated a ferryman and a queen – a queen who was fishing in the darkly swirling waters.’
‘Wait, wait!’ Crystine cried out. ‘Stop! I know this tale already!’
‘You do?’ the doctor asked, the relief in his voice quite clear.
‘You do?’ the fool said in surprise. ‘But why would a queen be fishing?’
‘I mean, yes; I’ve heard this tale before – but it’s not of a Fisher Queen! It’s the Fisher King!’
‘Aren’t you confusing it with tales of the KingFisher?’ the fool said. ‘If not, then any tale involving a king – even a Fisher King – must at some point involve the KingFisher!’
‘No, there’s no KingFisher involved!’ Crystine stated confidently. ‘It’s the tale of Percival, a knight, and how he comes across a Fisher King who leads him to the grail, the Holy Grail!’
The fool appeared merely bemused by this, while the doctor was completely bewildered. His expression was one of complete confusion, as if he were struggling to recall and reconcile long forgotten memories.
‘But…I seem to remember…no, no! It’s definitely the Fisher Queen!’
‘Then what happens later?’ Crystine asked. ‘Is there a procession within the tower, of girls and boys, carrying a certain something of great importance?’
‘Why yes, there is!’ the doctor agreed happily. ‘They’re carrying branches of May blossom, apples, autumn leaves; and dew droplets that shine as brightly as golden tears!’
Now Crystine was the one who frowned in confusion.
‘Then…if that’s true, maybe it is a slightly different tale.’ She paused thoughtfully, wishing she hadn’t interrupted the doctor after all. ‘But what is the main object they’re carrying? If, that is, there is one?’
‘Oh yes, yes; of course, all these other objects are just minor things compared to the young girl who enters bearing in each raised hand a glittering sphere, one of gold, one of silver.
‘Now these glittering spheres seemed in some way immaterial, for they not only touched, but merged into each other, forming between them what could be the most wonderful, almond-shaped jewel!
‘And within that sparkling jewel, there was first a new born babe, then a child, who in turn became a girl, a woman, and an old crone. And as she withered, she became once again a child within the womb.
‘Now Princess Perryvale wished to know more of this marvel she saw: yet she believed it would be impolite for her, a mere guest, to ask questions of her gracious host. For naturally, it would be an infringement of all the rules that have been set down defining etiquette and decorum. And the princess, of course, did not wish to appear to all the world and even the heavens as an unsophisticated ignoramus!
‘She retired to bed still marvelling at this wonder she had seen, determining that she must, at some point in the new dawn, pluck up the courage to ask for an explanation of what she had seen; but unfortunately, she awoke to find herself all alone within the tower.
‘No matter how much she called out, no matter how much she wandered around the tower’s uncountable corridors, she could find no one who could explain what she had witnessed the previous night.
‘And yet, as she finally, resignedly mounted her steed once more and trotted out across the tower’s drawbridge, the drawbridge immediately rose up behind her as soon as the horse’s rear hooves left the wood and touched the road. The portcullis dropped down into place, and the great doors clattered shut.
‘Then the whole tower itself dissolved before her very eyes, becoming nothing but tear droplets of silvery mist.’
*
It wasn’t, of course, a large inn. The rooms were spartan, with only the most basic items of furniture; that is, a simple wooden bed with sheet-covered straw, and an even simpler wooden chair.
The rooms, including one for the doctor, had been paid for with yet another pearl ripped from the fool’s jacket.
At this rate, Crystine reasoned, the poor fool would soon have very little left of his once marvellous jacket.
As she lay upon the uncomfortable mattress of stale-smelling straw, Crystine was surprised to find that she was tired: for, after all, when she had left her own world it had still been morning, not evening as it had been here when she’d first literally dropped into it.
Then again, if the two worlds differed in this way, how was she to know if time actually progressed at similar rates?
No time at all might have passed back in her own world. Or it could just as easily be the case that whole months had flown by, perhaps even years.
If so, what had had happened to her mother when she had discovered that Crystine had vanished?
Did everyone automatically presume Crystine must have run away? Had the shock of it all finally tipped her poor mother completely over the edge?
Crystine realised she had to get back home as soon as possible, if only to ensure her mother wasn’t suffering unnecessarily.
Sleep beckoned, for it seemed the only answer to her problems at the moment.
Wasn’t that how your subconscious was supposed to help you? To direct your actions, to present your options, through lucid dreams?
Leaning a little across her bed, she blew out the small remnant of candle she’d been given to light her room. Naturally, it had hardly given out any illumination, yet now it’s oily yellow light had been extinguished, she missed it. The darkness was almost complete, but for a few slivers of moonlight that came in through the gaps in the closed shutters at the window.
The incredibly black, angular shadows seemed alien, giving the whole room a frighteningly otherworldly air. Even the chair, upon which Crystine had carelessly, exhaustedly stacked her clothes, seemed strange and alive.
‘Good evening,’ the man sitting in the chair, in the darkness, declared jovially. You’re later than I’d expected.’
*
Chapter 19
‘Who…who are you?’
She couldn’t help it: her voice was tremulous, squeaky.
She wished she hadn’t doused the candle: wished she had something to relight it.
Instead of just sitting here, shouldn’t she be leaping up from her bed?
But then what?
Should she leap at him?
Or away from him? Hoping, ridiculously enough, that somehow placing the bed between them might somehow protect her?
‘No one for you to fear,’ the man in the shadows declared, shifting only a little in his chair, as if making himself a little more comfortable. ‘Unless I’ve made a complete fool of myself, and you’re actually a king!
He chuckled at his own witticism.
‘You…you’re the KingFisher?’ Crystine asked uncertainly.
What could have been the head of the dark figure appeared to nod a little in agreement.
‘And you’re a princess, I hear: and therefore I’m here to help you! To help you become queen, whenever you so wish!’
‘I hadn’t heard that the KingFisher had a good side!’ Crystine replied sceptically.
‘But you haven’t heard everything yet, have you?’ the KingFisher pointed out.
As her eyes slightly adjusted to the darkness, Crystine saw that his otherwise exceptionally dark body glittered every now and again with glints of sapphire and emerald. There was also a hint of a feather-like quality–
The cloak!
Crystine had to check that she still wore her bracelet to reassure herself that it was still firmly secured around her wrist.
The KingFisher either didn’t notice her alarm or wasn’t perturbed by it.
‘Everyone, I believe has their good side,’ he said.
‘Yet if I’m to be queen,’ Crystine said, ‘I have to rule without a king?’
The man shrugged.
‘Do you really need one?’ he as
ked. ‘If you’re queen: why would you wish to share that power, let alone allow some arrogant man to begin to accrue all that power for himself?’
‘Who’d say I’d allow it?’
‘Who says you’d be capable of stopping it? Men can be cunning, untrustworthy; by the time you’d figured out whom he really was, it could all be too late for you!’
‘If you’re really here to help me, could you help me return home?’ Crystine asked hopefully.
‘But you’re a princess now! You can’t just flee your responsibilities!’
‘I didn’t want to be a princess!’
‘Oh, come now: yes you did, when you were a child! Besides, I didn’t want to be the KingFisher – and yet here I am! Do you see me abrogating my responsibilities, betraying those who are dependent upon me fulfilling my role?’
‘Then – could you introduce me to a queen?’
The dark shape seemed to rise from his seat and theatrically bow before her.
‘At your service, m’lady: but haven’t you already met the Hag Queen?’
‘Yes, but now I wish to meet the Fisher Queen–’
The KingFisher laughed, perhaps a little nervously.
‘The Fisher Queen?’ he said, as if unsure that he had heard Crystine correctly. ‘The Queen of The Fall; the April Queen – for these I can arrange introductions! But this Fisher Queen; who on earth could have been filling your head with such nonsense?’
‘Are you saying she only exists in a fairytale?’
‘A fairytale? I wasn’t aware she even existed in such a silly thing! A world of make-believe! Another world completely different to this one of reality!’
‘And yet, here I am,’ Crystine replied.
Naturally, Crystine couldn’t see the confusion in the KingFisher’s expression, yet she flattered herself that she could detect it in his voice.
‘Yes; here you are,’ he said, as if attempting to understand what she might mean. ‘And you, surely, must be inquisitive enough to want to know how you must behave as a queen? And who better to instruct you in that than another queen?’
‘If I’d wished to know that, I could have stayed with the Hag Queen.’
‘Surely we both recognise that the Hag Queen would be capable of teaching you only so much?’
‘She didn’t strike me as being particularly eager to give me any further instruction.’