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pereirawrites · 4 years

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𝓢𝔀𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓭 : 𝓐 𝓢𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓦𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓡𝓮𝓽𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Far Far Away, there lived a King & Queen who were happily married. The King’s daily temper tantrums could be heard all over the land, and their silly fights were a matter of regular gossip among the subjects of the province. The aristocratic couple had only one son, Damien, a dark boy with tanned skin & hazel eyes. Everyone who met him, found him to be uniquely beautiful. One unfortunate day, the King had a sudden fall in his kingly bathrooms, & died an untimely death. A tall statue was erected in the town square, to commemorate his valiant wars, during his younger days & all the subjects paid homage at his tomb. The Queen mourned for about a month, feeling lonely for the lack of someone to squabble with.

Then began the reign of The Great Queen of Far Far Away.

The Queen set out to expand her empire, fighting valiantly to conquer the domains of the Lords of the West, winning many battles. While her son, now a well mannered boy of fifteen, looked after the daily affairs at his mother's castle. At the same time, the long queues of kings & princes, asking for her hand in marriage for political leverage, grew steadily. The kingdom flourished during this period of expansion, with a steady inflow of precious metals from the defeated lands making the kingdom's treasury look like a picture from every pirate's dream.

All was well, until the day her majesty met The Count of Well-Spun-Lies. He was tall, dark, & perceived to be amusingly idiotic. Unfortunately the Queen fell for his masculine charms. The now married couple were in pure bliss for the first few months, until the Queen was bored by the new King’s constant complaints about the quality of the bathing soaps, & aromatic perfumes because the King was very concerned about his flawless bronze skin.

But the new King had a secret, no soul except his own knew. Every night, as the clock struck twelve, The Count would stand before a mirror and chant the twelve most important words of his life,

“Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the darkest of them all?”

“Your Majesty, you are the darkest in all the land.”, said the same voice everyday, in its deep baritone. And the The Count would smile slyly, fix his hair & return to his bed-chamber, with peace & calm in his heart.

***

To escape the new King’s narcissistic self-absorption, the Queen entertained herself, by hosting massive dinners and balls with dukes & nobles, to celebrate no occasion in particular. The King & Queen grew further & further apart, but neither really cared. Not until one summer night when the castle was celebrating the eighteenth birthday of the young Prince Damien, where the Queen hoped to get the Prince married off to a dignified princess after the ball.

The King stood once more in front of his mirror, and for the first time in his life, heard the words he had always dreaded to hear.

“You are ONE among the darkest in the land. But there now exists one who is of a darker beauty & a golden heart.” uttered the voice which was now just above a whisper.

“And WHO might this impostor be?”, roared the King as he examined his face in the candle light, searching for wrinkles, but finding none.

“He is the young prince who turned eighteen today.” replied the voice only the king could hear.

The King burned with jealous anger at this terrible news, & plotted his way to reclaim the title of the darkest beauty in the land. He knew the young Prince could not be harmed unless the Queen was removed, & so he laced her wine with rat poison during one of the palace parties. She did not die. So, he increased the dose by vast proportions, & the Queen was finally declared dead by the end of the week. The fate of the young prince now lay in the hands of The Count of Well-Spun-Lies.

Thus, began the evil reign of His Terribleness, the new King of Far Far Away.

The long queues of queens & princesses, asking to be married to his Majesty returned. The King began by marrying the princesses from lands with expensive spices, perfumes & bathing oils, to regain his dark beauty. He tried every way he could to become younger, from long baths in goat milk to getting tanned in the Sun. But nothing he tried ever worked. In the meanwhile, Prince Damien was confined to the dungeons of a castle that was no longer his home.

***

The Forgotten Prince, the subjects called him. Some said he was dead, or that he had died of grief after the death of his poor mother. But no one dared question the King, for fear that they would be beheaded for being beautiful, or worse be used in one of the insane beauty potions to enhance his youthfulness.

As the days went by, the Kings’ frustration grew. The voices in his head mocked him for his ugliness, & he almost went mad when he spotted a slightly greying hair in the mirror. He had had enough, the young prince had to die & his golden heart would be used in his latest beauty potion, mixed with rare herbs from Egypt, whose princess he had most recently been engaged to.

“Summon the Head Huntswoman!” ordered the King, & the trembling servants rushed out of the throne room, a welcome break from his vexing presence.

The head Huntswoman walked in, wearing all black with her bow swung over her shoulder. Her skin was brown like honey, her eyes had a fierce fire in them, & her heart was one of stone. She is pleasing to the eye, thought the King, but she has no gold, silver or spices to give me. & so the King dismissed the thought & focused on the pressing matter at hand.

“You summoned me, your Majesty?”, asked the Huntswoman with a small bow. She disliked giving respect to people, when they clearly deserved none.

“I have a proposition for you.”, he said with a stupid smirk, that he thought people found attractive.

“Today, you will kill the young Prince in the dark forests beyond Far Far Away, & return with his heart, by midnight. Don’t think I’ll be fooled by a pig's heart in place of the Princes! That has been done before. I’ll have my doctors closely examine the heart! You will leave now.” commanded the King.

She gave a curt nod, showing no sign of weakness.

The Huntswoman was surprised by her latest errand, because this proved that the forgotten prince was still alive, but she did not show her surprise, for she had committed crimes far worse than killing a Prince at his Majesty’s command. The once happy land of Far Far Away now lived in mortal fear of its erratic King; and the Huntswoman, though she hated it, was another pawn in His Majesty’s wicked game.

“You are dismissed.” he added with an air of annoyance. He was late for his new bath, this time with spices brought all the way from China.

The Huntswoman left without a word, and proceeded to the dark dungeons of the castle, which always brought a chill to her skin. She had been there several times, twice for disobeying the King, and the other times to torture innocent subjects for crimes they had never committed. But she shrugged those painful memories away.

***

In under two hours she had the Prince sitting on a horse beside her. All she had told the Prince was that the King had asked them to visit the dangerous forests at the border & find him a special kind of herb for his potions.

“I’m Damien, you are?”, asked the Prince, studying the handsome Huntswoman beside him who seemed lost in thought. She glanced back at him, noting the way the Sun lit up his hair like a halo, & the dimple on his left cheek when he smiled. Yes, he was beautiful, she said to herself.

“I’m Gretel.”, she answered rather rudely, feeling bad about it immediately. The Prince sensing her hesitation to speak, did not try to converse with her further as they rode deeper into the woods.

Suddenly, Gretel had an inkling that they were being watched, as though she was the hunter no longer, & was now the prey. And she wasn't wrong as they soon heard the sound of hooves, voices, and excited dogs following them, rapidly advancing towards them. She recognized the hounds immediately, this was the hunting party of the Princess of the North, a sworn enemy of Far Far Away. They exchanged a look & pushed both their horses into a frantic run, as they sped through the forest brush, as fast as their horses could take them.

There was hope for a close escape, until an arrow flew through the air, intending to kill Gretel when instead the Prince pushed his horse in the way & the arrow plunged straight through his heart. The Prince fell off his horse with a groan, & immediately fell into a coma. Gretel, quickly stalled her horse & fell by his side in shock,thoroughly puzzled by the sacrifice the Prince had just made for her. Why had he given his life in place of hers, when he knew nothing about her but her name ? And she was supposed to murder him later that evening.

***

“And who might this beauty be?”, asked the Princess of the North in her shrill voice, pointing to Damien, who was growing paler by the second.

“He is the Forgotten Price of Far Far Away.”, replied Gretel in a calm voice, that was the opposite to the turmoil she was facing on the inside.

“Well, he’s dying. He needs his true loves’ kiss!”, said the Princess matter-of-factly & gave the Prince a long sloppy kiss. But his lips only turned blue, & his skin turned as white as snow.

“He’s already dead”, said the Princess in irritation. “I shall have him placed in a glass casket at my castle for all the world to gaze at his deathly beauty.”, she declared, climbing onto her horse & shouting orders for her guards to follow.

When the hunting party had left, Gretel could stay calm no longer,& the tears began streaming down her face, as she leaned in to kiss the Prince on his cheek as a final goodbye. If only they had more time, she would understand his kindness, but now all she felt was guilt, for that arrow could very well have been her own.

“Why are you crying?”, asked the Prince with concern in his tone. Gretel opened her eyes & found lovely hazel eyes staring back at her, as the Prince tried to sit up.

“I thought you were dead!”, she stated, between tears.

“Don’t worry, the arrow missed my heart, it's wedged in my shoulder”, he replied, prying the rest of the arrow out.

“But you turned blue, & white.” she continued, wiping away her tears.

“Yes, that happens whenever I have fits or concussions”, he replied with a laugh taking her hands in his.

“Shall we run away?”, he asks, pointing at the horses behind them.

“Why not?”, she replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes, showing him the bag of gold bullion which had been forgotten during the scuffle. And so they raced their horses towards freedom, into a night full of new hopes & beginnings.

* The End *

Pic Credits : Wiki Fandom

#character swap #snow white #ravenna #fairytale retelling #fairy tales #short story #story remix #strong female characters #hallucinations

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