Once Upon a Time - Part 2
And They Lived Happily Ever After
Dear reader, this is a two-part story. You can read Once Upon a Time Part 1 here.
His gaze remains for a few moments on the books. The gold letters Once Upon a Time still shine faintly on every cover, the torn pages and bent corners speaking of stories read too often and believed too much.
While his eyes stay on them for that brief moment, the Princess quietly grabs a knife lying nearby, and when he turns back, she is already trying to stab him in the face.
He easily blocks her arm and grabs hold of the knife. She then starts to scream. The Prince gently pushes her onto the bed, holding her down with one arm.
Instinctively, he looks toward his sword lying on the wall near the entrance door. After locating it, he turns back to the Princess, who is still trying to free herself from his grip.
“My Lady, what do you want me to do?”
“Go away,” she answers.
“Leave, find a white horse, clean your armour, clean yourself, and then come back,” the Princess adds.
He looks at the door inside her room, then at the pile of books at his feet, and finally at her again.
“Can I at least eat and drink something before I go?” the Prince asks.
“Don’t you dare take it,” she answers.
He lets go of her and takes two steps back, putting some distance between them, and asks again.
“Can I at least have some water, My Lady? I am dying of thirst.”
“There is no use in that for you. Maybe you fooled the Dragon on your way in, but you will not escape him on your way out. I did not hear you two fighting,” the Princess says.
“Dragon?” he asks, confused.
“Yes,” she answers. “He spits fire and tears everyone apart,” she adds, smiling with closed lips and tightening her fists.
“Of course, the Dragon,” the Prince says, calm but slightly ironic, looking around.
He takes another step back and reaches the entrance door. While still facing her, he grabs his sword and slides it into its scabbard.
“When did you last see this Dragon, My Lady? When was the last time you heard it?” the Prince asks her.
“He is always there, ferocious, with grey skin, and missing an ear from the fight he had with the knights who gave their lives trying to reach me,” the Princess tells him in a serious tone, while sweat starts to form on her skin and her eyes begin to twitch.
“How many were they? How many tried to rescue you, My Lady?” he presses.
“There were many, but none made it this far. No one was brave enough to pass the beast. But you…” She pauses, realising he is actually the first one she has seen until now. For a moment, she steps outside of her books, the books she spent almost all her time reading, the same tales that had twisted her sense of reality.
“I have had enough of this. I will be on my way and leave you be,” he says, interrupting her short moment of clarity with his last words. Then he exits the room, closes the door behind him, and carefully makes his way down the stairs.
Outside, on the entrance door of the tower, he scratches with his knife the words:
You can’t kill this beast. Turn back.
After that, he throws the white piece of cloth he used to wipe his sweat, picks up his helmet, and starts walking in the direction of the forest. Through the tall grass, under the heat of the day that makes the birds silent and the animals hide in the shadows of the trees, he walks on. He thinks about a river not far away, the one he passed yesterday. He just has to endure the thirst a little longer.
Suddenly, he hears a bark, and from the tall grass, a skinny dog rises, wagging its tail as it approaches him.
The Prince, surprised, looks at the dog coming closer, and as it reaches him, he understands. Kneeling down, he pats the dog gently and says:
“You grey-skin, one-eared Dragon.”
Then he heads into the woods, the dog following close behind.
A.O. Homorodean
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