blinked away her tears and managed a smile for her charming prince and his eyes of summer blue. If she confessed how much she missed her father and mother, he would surely agree to keeping their bedchamber as a shrine. But it seemed more generous to brighten his heart by letting him sleep in the chamber he deemed so fitting.
Her sleep was restless that night, her dreams muddled. But life continued its pleasant journey uninterrupted for several weeks, bringing happier dreams. Calder was particularly loving on the turning of the autumn equinox and gave her gold rings for her fingers. Though she was pleased, she chided him for extravagance.
He kissed her on the cheek. “My sweet, are you not the ruler of this realm? Then surely you are entitled to wear the loveliest baubles I can find for you.”
“I am sorry to scold, my love,” she said. “The money you paid for these pretty golden rings should have gone to repair farmers' houses. Now they will have to wait until after harvest.”
“If I had known that, I would never have bought the rings,” he said. “But it is done and I am sure that the farmers, fond of you as they are, will not mind waiting. After all, they have the harvest to think about, and their pints of an evening.”
“I am remiss,” Damara said. “We have been wed for several months and you have ridden over every acre of our land. I should long ago have invited you to share the responsibilities of administration with me.” Perhaps it was time, too, to confide her secret to the prince, who loved her so well. Her lips parted, but her tongue refused to obey. Her mind echoed, over and over again, her mother's words, ‛I forbid you to speak.’
Calder smiled. “On the contrary. I am not ready to step into your shoes. I should like another few months to learn the land and the people who work it.”
The next day a carriage stopped at the castle gates and debouched an old woman with dyed red hair and fourteen trunks.
“My mother, Alcina,” Calder said. “She has come to live with us.”
“Here? But…”
Calder looked at Damara reproachfully. “She is my mother; I owe her my life. Surely I am entitled to have my only living relative by my side?”
Damara's thoughts seemed caught in a net of cobwebs. But there could be no harm in Calder’s mother, who would naturally wish to be close to her son.
She went out and cordially welcomed the old woman, then brought her into the castle and led her to a large bedchamber with a small reception room attached. The rooms had a southern view and both Calder and Alcina seemed content with the arrangement.
Over the following weeks, however, Damara learned that Alcina had a tongue which wagged at both ends and spewed unpleasant opinions that Damara had never imagined could exist. In order to avoid the old woman's criticisms and litany of woes, she rode out early each day, with Gregor at her heels, to supervise the workers and often stayed to watch the ripe crops reaped and stored and listen to the chatter of squirrels putting nuts by for the winter.
A stray thought flew into her mind one day; it was the people who farmed the land who were the true royalty, not herself, who was merely born to a meaningless title. Mulling over this new idea and suffused with the warmth and joy of a golden autumn, she could believe with all her heart that Alcina did not mean to be unkind or critical. She admired Calder, too, for the unselfish patience he showed by spending most days keeping Alcina company.
One day she came home to find Calder in the library, bent over heaps of parchment maps. When she asked what he was studying, he smiled and said, “Don't worry your pretty little head about it, my sweet. I am plotting a surprise, which I trust will provide endless delight for you.” Her fears allayed, she went off to the kitchens to discuss the following day's menu with the head cook, though she could not help wondering how much money Calder planned to spend on the surprise.
The first winter flurry of snow had come and gone when Damara, on her white mare, clattered across the moat early one afternoon and saw Calder with maps under his arm, leaning against the battlements on the roof of the keep. She handed the reins to Gregor and hurried up the worn stone steps to the roof. Was Calder about to reveal his surprise? She could barely contain her curiosity.
“My lady, I am glad you are come. I have spent much time studying our lands and it is time to tell you of the improvements I have planned.”
“What might those be?” The quick beating of her heart seemed to warn of danger. What possible improvements could be made to lands already rich and beautiful?
Calder waved his arm to encompass the rolling fields, hills and forests, horizon to horizon. “This land feeds us well with barley and corn, my sweet, but barley and corn may be had anywhere. I intend to cut down the trees and level the ground for jousting. Many knights live for sport and they will pay well for such an amenity. More than that, we will grow rich from rents for the seats and huts we erect for those who joust and those who watch.” He raised her chin with one finger so that he could smile into her eyes. “I will buy golden rings for every one of your lovely toes.”
Damara's heart constricted with pain. “My love, I know you have only my happiness at heart, but I cannot give my consent to such a plan. This kingdom is my birthright and my heritage, but also mine to care for. In fairness to the land and those who live on it and by it, such a thing must never happen.”
Calder’s smile vanished and he looked at her coldly. “Your heritage? I know about your heritage, madam. You are naught but a faery, full of foolishness and mischief.”
Her blood quieted, became like ice. “Who told you such a thing?”
“It came from your own lips, my sweetling, as you slept.” Calder sneered. “I will shout it to the world if I must. I am your prince; I am entitled to your obedience.”
For the very first time, her mind spat lightning. She remembered her mother’s words, ‛use your powers only to do good.’ And she had failed. She had raised up this ungrateful prince for her own pleasure. Worse, because of that foolishness, her powers might be forfeit.
Her tongue loosened. “Indeed, you are entitled, too, to all the air your lungs can take in.” She waved her arm to describe the broad arc of the sky. “Pray breathe deep of it!”
Calder gave her a mocking smile. Then the smile turned to a look of surprise as air filled his body, and finally to one of horror as his body inflated into a balloon which floated up from the roof of the keep, becoming larger and larger.
Damara stood amazed, her hands over her mouth. Here was magic after all, come when it was least deserved, but most needed.
A light breeze wafted Calder toward the flag pole. The tip caught him in the chest, and there came a sound like the popping of a champagne cork. As the air rushed from his body, he plunged toward the greensward of the inner bailey.
Damara hurtled down the stone steps. Though he had betrayed her trust, she could not bear it if he were hurt. At the foot of the steps, she lifted her skirts and ran across the grass.
But Calder’s body was nowhere to be seen. Alcina was kneeling, her hands clutched to her breast. Damara opened her mouth to speak, stopping only when she saw the searing hatred in the woman's eyes.
“You murdered my son! You ruined our plans. I shall destroy your crops, destroy your lands, destroy all you hold dear.” Alcina rose and strode toward Damara. “And you yourself shall live the rest of your miserable life as a mongrel dog, begging for scraps.” Alcina raised her hand. In it was a witch’s wand.
Instinctively, Damara raised her own hand and the words came without thought. “Take your true shape.”
The witch’s wand vanished and Alcina shrank. In a few seconds a small green frog squatted where she had been standing. The hatred in its eyes was as easy to read as it had been in those of the woman.
“Leave my lands for all time,” Damara ordered. “And never again will you take human shape.”
The frog shuddered and gasped, but finally turned and hopped toward the moat. On the far side, it stopped and looked back, but Damara raised her hand and the frog fled down the ro
ad.
Damara turned her gaze to the grass, searching for Calder. But, where he had fallen, where Alcina had knelt, lay the body of a green frog. Its jaw sagged, the eyes were open and crossed, the summer blue faded to muddy green. In death, her prince had returned to his true shape.
"My lady." Gregor stood close by. "Shall I have the prince's body removed?"
She looked at her footman and her vision cleared. Here was her real prince, one whose true shape remained as steadfast as the land from which he came.
"Yes, Gregor. Then attend me, if you will, in the drawing room." For a moment she felt breathless and faint, and put her hand on his arm to steady herself. "We have much to say to one another."
The look in his eyes said far more than she could have dreamed possible. "With the greatest of pleasure, my lady."
###
Also by Lea Tassie
Adventure:
Tour into Danger
Cat Humor:
Cats in Clover
Siamese Summers
Cat Under Cover
Cats & Crayons
Mainstream:
A Clear Eye
Double Image
Deception Bay
Science Fiction:
Green Blood Rising
Red Blood Falling
Shockwave
Short Stories
Harvest (collection)
Too Blue
Ra's Revenge
A Proposal of Marriage
Grand Champion
Running the Shale
Early Retirement
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