THERE WAS ONCE...
Valerie Freire

Her voice broke as she tried to keep her tone low to his ear. She'd have to repeat herself.

"There was once... a land, ruled by a King. He was brave and forth right and... and"

"Strong." His gruff voice came through waves of sleep.

"But of course my Lorde," she kindly spoke. The Beautiful Young Queen smiled down at the old man's face. Such a grey and wrinkled with age, but still each feature so strong, like the rest of him. Like a tank or a dragon or any brutal heavy beast. She spread her limbs out the length of the bed and gave a sigh. Then drifted a bit stroking her lightly pudgy belly

"Well?" the King grumbled impatiently.

"Well," picking up where she left off.

"Foremost he was brave."

"Strong!"

"Ok, Strong."

"I thought you were supposed to be good at stories Bride?"

"Give me but a moment. Your grandness is intimidating me..." Yes, that was enough to make the old man's head big enough, so his mouth would stay shut. She pulled her long dark hair from her face a bit exasperated and continued.

"His strength and bravery had lead him to victory in many wars. His people adored him and his wife rightly so. In one particular war, the King was struck down by a battle axe." The old Kings heavy grey brow peeked, and he gave her a warning gaze. He placed his heavy hand on his chest over the scar now healed and closed. That long ago blow had broken his rib cage, and crushed in on his lungs.

"Though he bleed for days and was thought to die, the King's strength... prevailed. With his Queen beside him he indeed healed, but he came back from that war a very changed man."

The old King didn't know what to make of that short story. It wasn't bad, after all the King prevailed. He looked toward his new bride waiting for something else. She sighed softly thinking kindly on the new life growing with in her.

"There was once an Elfin Creature who lived in the woodlands east. She had guarded the land for many years, longer then the turns of winters she could recall. She'd grown so lonely over all those years that her very skin had turned blue with the tears she had shed. "The royal Soothsayer after being banished by the Newly Christian King of the land, was sent on a quest to prove his Pagan powers worth. He was sent to kill the Spirits haunting the woodland east. Banished until their threat would cease against the Kingdom. When he arrived he was tired from his trek, he knew in his heart that the King intended him to die. So saddened and tired, he slept beneath a willow. The Elfin Creature found him alone and forlorn and sleeping. Something about his nature seemed so sad. This one thing she could understand. The Lonely Creature embraced him and kept him warm through the night. When the Soothsayer awoke he was frightened at first but saw how gently the Creature was and felt affections for her. But the Soothsayer thought on his quest and told her everything. He still had love for his King and wanted to bring about his wish. The Creature thought on this and made a deal, if he would stay with her, here, then she would see to it that she'd never try and take back the Kings land again, after all she only did because she was lonely. "The Soothsayer agreed and they lived happily on..."

"I don't like that one." The King grumbled through his eaten away teeth. The young Queen sighed again.

"Very well although they lived on together there pairing was unnatural, so the Christian God never allowed Children to be borne of the two."

"Ha! That's good! That's a good one little Queen, not like us, eh?" The King laughed and grabbed at her stomach with his large brutish hands. The Queen gasped in laughter despite herself.

"I've another one my Lorde," she cooed him back to rest.

"There was once a woodland Princess who longed to be loved. By chance she caught the eyes of a King, who was Brave and Strong and Heroic. He had no bride, so she was kind and young and married this King hoping against hope that love would bloom. Well soon after the wedding the King had to leave to war. The Princess, now Queen, longed for his return. She longed for his comfort to console her. You see the young Queen was inexperienced in ways of the body and lost a Prince to the weakness of her frame.

One day horrible news... she got word that her King was injured and was not thought to live. The Queen commanded for them to bring her husband home so she could care for him, or at least see him before he died. Some soldiers left to retrieve their King. She wept for days in anticipation.

The King finally arrived and he was not dead, but he was very near to it. So the Queen took to personally taking care of him. She even made arrangement through the Guardians of the Woods to heal the King. When asked what is it she wanted she replied to them, 'that the King be strong again.'"

"Yes Strong." The old King liked the sound of this. The Queen smiled and continued.

"the Man of the Pair took a pause and asked her if she was indeed certain that this is what she would want. The Queen reassured them. The Woman Creature hesitated then smiled and said,

'very well, have the King drink a small amount of this potion and he will be strong enough to heal. Just a small amount..' the Woman Creature warned and looked a bit sad when she said it. The Queen was delighted in thinking the King would live but a kind souls as she is she stopped and asked the Creature what was wrong. The Womanly Creature paused and said

'I gave you this thing you wanted, a time will come when I will ask something in return. One thing that can not be refused, then I will be at peace again' The Queen agreed and was on her way again. She came to the side of the King and following her instructions gave the King a very little amount of nectar from the elf. She waited through the night by his side and nothing came of it. The Queen was desperate and at her wits end, if the priest knew what she had done, he'd be furious. So quickly before she put the rest of the potion in his mouth and threw the bottle out the window. When the Priest came to pray for the King, it was as if a miracle had occurred. The King was up and wondering what had happened. The Queen was so happy she cried, again."

"Weak." The Old King mumbled.

"Oh indeed, indeed. How weak of her. That night the King seemed different. He did not seem like the Man she had longed for all these months. He came to her, but not with the consoling as she had desired, but in an urge of strength that pained her. He said he was determined, after this tragic turn in this last war, that his named would be remembered. If it couldn't be through strength in war, then it would be through strength in his family name and the birth of his first son. "After that night the Queen stayed in the King's chamber nightly. There was not one night she did not cry herself to sleep. The King rough touch did indeed leave her with Childe. You see the King would not except such weakness from her again. So children she would bare two, a Prince and Princess. The King never had to be bothered with the Queen weakness again, you see the Queen died baring the heirs to his throne." The prideful King knew in his conscience that he should be offended somehow but Queens were just that. Women to bare heirs for her King. The old man looked to his young bride again, with expectancy in his eyes. She should have known that wouldn't be enough to satisfy his demanding nature.

"Another one then, my King? There was once a young and handsome Prince with dark hair and Darkest eyes. He was sad, you see he may have been his father's only son but he was but a strapling. His father was so great in his eyes, that he could never compare. The King left the Prince's raising to the teachers and swordsman and priests. Now he wasn't strong, but he was quick witted. The Prince knew this was not for him, he was a lover not a fighter. So he took to his own lessons and dressed in disguises and went of to the town. In his many adventures into the town he had realized something. One, that his mother died from the birth of him, but also it was thought that he had died. In fact it was believed the King had no heir.

The Prince was hurt deeply. He had never felt so alone. He could not understand how his father could hate him so even though he was only a smallish boy. What he did not know was that the King had never intended for him to leave the castle. Simply because he had no intention of recognizing this boy as his First Borne son. So the King upon realizing this sent all his best men to search out the cities and villages for the missing Prince. But the Prince had created a new life and a new personage in the town and refused to go back. So the Prince ran about the city dressed as a girl. He hide from soldiers and tricked them. He loved it all so much, because dressed as a girl, with his small weakly frame of a boy, he was able to trick people into believing anything. And in all his time out there he never had spend one dime in order to make one.

Finally one night the Prince, drunk, had decided he was going to confront the King. You see he was heavily drunk and didn't realize it wasn't a place for him to demand answers from the King, even if he was his son. But things didn't go his way either on that dark night long ago, because the guards of castle caught the boy/girl and dragged him off to a dark hole somewhere and locked him in a cell. The Boy raged and kicked and fought but he was to addle brained to gain his bearing's.

In the darkness he heard a heavenly voice in whisper of sobs, pleading with him to stop. When he hesitated he now realized in this small cell he was trapped in was a girl. He had not realized that in his fit he had hurt her. In the darkness and his drunken ways the Prince fell fast to sleep. When he awoke he was still trapped but he was aware of the presence of the girl. The room in the cell was cramped and he had fallen asleep leaning against her. She said she didn't mind. The Prince tried to get her to speak with him but she was quiet and shy. He wondered why she was held in this cell, but dared not to ask. You see the Prince for once hadn't felt alone in the world. He grew to love the quiet girl.

Even in the darkness of the shadow he could see how beautiful she was. With her soft raven hair and eyes as bright as the bluest sky. But she lived trapped away inside this cell for so long she had never known she could be admired. Just as she had never known a man could be so kind. When she called him a man the boy laughed. He told her stories about the world outside and how his father would banish him. How the King wanted him trapped in a convent, which is merely a bigger cell, in his mind. The Girl troubled by this, confessed that the reason she was confined to this cell was indeed the King's doing.

Our Prince raged and this time it could not be contained to the cell. The Girl tried to calm him. She beseeched her love but nothing would calm him. You see he had his father's temper and could not bend it for all her pleading. Eventually Guards came to see what was the disturbance.

Upon finding a boy, namely the Prince hidden away there, they opened the cell. The Prince pulled the girl from the shadows and tried to run for their freedom. But he hadn't expect the girl to be so weak for years of confinement. She fell to the stone floor in searing pain. The Prince went back to carry her but it was too late. The Guards had hold of him and would take him to the King. As they dragged him fitting away he called out to his love and told her to runaway. But the poor girl defeated and pained watch helpless as they took her love away. She didn't see the need for freedom if she couldn't be with him. She put up no fight when the Guards placed her back in her cell.

The poor girl, was so saddened with out him. She thought it might have been better to live and die in her cell never knowing his love then to miss him so.

The Prince came into the audience of the King. He was enraged and maddened and would not submit to the King's rule. He fought to escape. He knew all the tricks of this palace and would not be taken away again. The Prince ran through the night as fast as he could, but his heart was aching. And though for his safety he knew he should leave and never look back, he could not bring himself to pass the eastern wood. He met a man there and begged the strange man to take him in, teach him to be strong and fight. When Strange and Wise man asked why he told them of the girl, and said

' it would have been better to live in confinement in that small hole with her, then a life in the beautiful place with out her.'

And so the Prince grew to be strong and as all men do when they have a valid quest."

"Well... that's good I guess..." The Old King stirred.

"Is it?" the young Queen asked in interest.

"But of course, how could a weakly Prince learn to be a strong King then through hardship. Good story. It would have been better had he died in war..."

"If you say so sire. There was once a Princesses, a beautiful girl, she lived in a box."

"A Box! I should say not."

"But she did my King she lived in a small box. And inside there was her world and she needed nothing more. One day she had the miss-fortune of falling in love with a boy. But her box world was too small for the both of them to fit. But she didn't want to let him go. You see she knew him like no other. They'd been lovers once long before when her world was no more then a womb. So in making the smallest cut, with the littlest blood, and a pain that never was too much for a woman to bare, she hide him with in her. For a long time both boy and girl were as close as god could forge man and woman to be. You see she knew she had loved the boy more then all her box world now.

A dreadful day came, which she knew it would, when they took her boy away. The Princesses cried terribly. She had thoughts of killing herself for loneliness, but a small voice told her not. It was like an angel, as all babe's voices are to mothers ears. It made her a promise that if she could come out she would keep the Princesses company. The Princesses was leery, after all she didn't want to fall in love to deal with hurt again. So she agreed to let the little girl come out and keep her company. Secretly she plotted to strangle the tiny girl once she came out. But when the babe lay in her hands and looked to her with dark soft eyes, just as her lovely boy had, she could not bring herself to do it. She had fallen in love again.

It wasn't so horrible this time around. The girl was so little no one knew. They hide together in the dark waiting for the Boy's return. You see the littlest girl had promised the Princesses this. And he did, just as she had always dare to hope.

This time she would not prove to be so weak this time and carried not only herself on her own two legs, but there beautiful daughter with them, away to hide in the woodlands. Now you might think this the end, but with the woodlands they found a dark magic Queen and her King. They told the Princesses they'd helped her as they'd helped her mother before her. The Princesses was most thankful and offered to give anything in return in gratitude. After all they had reunited her with her love and gave her a new freedom, and new great world to explore. The Queen thought on this told her of a promise her mother never lived to grant her, that they should leave the small girl with them in the woods to raise. Regretfully the Princesses did this though it pained her. But the littlest girl reassured her this is how it was most certainty meant to be. The Dark Queen had waited a lifetime for her and with little tears, lots of warm embraces the Princesses left the woods forever with her love beside her never to look back. Never having to look or think back on the awful King and his merciless ways."

"You know my Queen, if I were a younger man I would assume..." The King started to argue in his most authoritative tone. Quickly the Young queen turned and sat up atop the King she used her weight to keep him still. The Old King was amazed at how he struggled and still could not break her hold.

"I've one last story for you my liege and you will listen. There was once a girl. Dark hair and dark eyes, left abandoned in the woods. She was raised by ungodly creatures like you've never seen. She grew with one thing in my mind to bring down a King. She was made Strong, to rule a nation. You see her uncle/father as her aunt/mother were two of one same strength. One same blood as ours my dear. The true heirs of a nation run by a mad King. A King who rapes and ravaged his Kingdom for his own awful greed. His own will to bring about a stronger end. Well, my liege here it is. People died to appease your demands yet you kill more because your measures are not met. How many woman have died forced to try and bear your seed? How many man have been killed so you could have their wives and daughters?"

The King attempted to fight her off, but for fear of harming the Childe she carried maybe that was his down fall. She pressed herself against him, pinning his hands above his head. He felt the weight press against his chest, and yet somehow it seemed amplified with in.

He felt his heart quickening. Much more then it had in fear of any man or battle. The Queen continued keeping her tone low to a hiss so only he could hear. There was a Strength unnatural about her as well as a look of obsession in her eyes that he had recognize some many times in his reflection. Very unlike himself the King began to fear her.

"It end here and tonight my King, the pain and horror you put my family through and my loved ones to satisfy your heartless demands. So My King Die knowing this... You've gotten what you wanted. The strongest heir in me, and it will be doubly with our Son. Rest easy now knowing your will is done."

The Queen released her grip but he knew it was to no avail. His hands pressed to his chest as he felt his heart clench in a most unnatural way. He could neither think nor move nor scream or fight. He gasped as his face tighten and he felt his heart give way. Apparently it was simply not strong enough to bare all the shock.

The Young Queen stood and dusted off her dress. She summoned some servants to come and take the King's body and prepare it for burial. They asked her if she would like to be comforted by the priest and she laughed.

"I should say not." She smiled at the serving man. "But do go make him available the late Christian King, and after that tell him he's out lived his stay here." The man seemed a bit puzzled at this. "oh don't worry so. We've a lot of work ahead of us starting with the Old Queen chambers. Go and have them fixed and made available to me tonight. As well as the nursery and do have all the cupboards and locks removed from that confined space and let some sun in. Well... now!"

The Queen finally for the first time in her 5 month wretched stay in this dying and dreary castles, felt satisfied. God knows the King never made her feel that, he wasn't quite strong enough for that. But that was behind her now. She felt the warm moment of life with in her.

"Are you dancing my sweet prince?" She cooed rubbing her stomach. "soon my littlest one, and I will raise you to be happy and strong." She felt the motion again and knew the boy was indeed happy.

She smiled to herself satisfied in this end.

If she could have one thing right in this life, it was that she would live to make her son happy as no other person in her family ever have.

So the moral (as with all good stories there are lessons to be learned); Never underestimate your child. We listen and learn, things you'd thought to never say aloud. After all... (like it or not) we are the predecessor and the one true chance at immortality.

[fairytales]