Cruel Sister: A Spander Fairytale.
1
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, in a place where all
fairytales come true, lived a king and his queen and his three children.
They were like royal families in fairy tale countries mostly are; good,
gentle and well-loved by the people. King Giles was a wise man, whose
council was sought from many a man, king, wizard or hero. Queen Joyce
was a beautiful woman, and many were the songs sung of gentle Joyce.
had been christened Elizabeth Anne but was known to all as Buffy,
although no one could anymore remember why. She was a strong-willed and
strong-tempered golden blonde. The middle child was also the only son,
Alexander. He had the kind of eyes you wanted to tell all your secrets,
and a curious shade of brown they were. The poets called them hazel, his
hair they claimed to be black as night. Then there was the youngest sister,
Dawn. Dawn was a bonny child, always smiling and singing some merry little
tune or other. She had as dark a complexion as her brother, but her eyes
were her mother’s pale blue. They were a merry family, in a merry little
kingdom, but as with all fairy tales this would not last. There was
trouble brewing in the kingdom, aye in the royal family itself, and it was
only a matter of time before something horrible would happen. For although
Alexander’s and Dawn’s hair were black as night, the heart of their golden
sister was darker, still.
~~~~~~~~
In this little kingdom there of course were knights and heroes a-plenty,
and one of these knights was Sir Spike. Spike wasn’t his real name, of
course, but nobody who knew him well enough to know what was, was
suicidal enough to ever mention that they knew. But dear readers, if you
swear not to pass it on, I shall tell you that his name was really William,
and he liked towrite poetry about roses and sunsets and moonbeams, although
that was a very well-kept secret.
Anyway, Sir Spike was a dashingly handsome man, which is the third rule
for all good knights (although they tend not to speak of that where
non-knights can hear them). He was blonde, his hair was so pale it almost
blended into his skin and his eyes were and intense pale blue, the shade
that seems to look straight through you and deem you inferior. He had an
arrogant stance and a foul temper, and sharp was his tongue. He was one of
the best sword-fighters in King Giles’ lands, and he was at twenty-nine
still unwed.
That he was still unwed wasn’t really a problem to him, but
most dashing knights tend to have annoying mothers that stick their noses
where they don’t belong and try to run their children’s lives. Sir Spike
had one of these mothers, Lady Drusilla. Lady Drusilla wasn’t mad, as such,
for no rich and well-known person can be mad (most of the kingdom were in
complete agreement that Lady Drusilla was completely barmy, though, but
they kept it to themselves).
Drusilla had been hassling her son to marry for almost a year to no
avail, when she had the wonderful idea to send him to King Giles’ castle
to try his luck there, the place was always swarming with young ladies
seeking to catch the eye of gentle Alexander, and young men seeking the
heart and hand of one of the princesses. Spike wasn’t at all into the
idea, but no man who likes his head where it is and all his parts in
working order ever protests when an enchantress tells him to do
something, so off he went to the castle.
Swearing all the way.
Sir Spike arrived at King Giles’ castle in a foul mood, which wasn’t
unusual for him. It had rained most of the day, so he was drenched to the
bone; his horse had slipped in the mud and injured its hind leg, forcing
him to lead the animal for three hours through the rain, making a four-hour
journey take a whole day. Then there was the fact that he’d accidentally
forgotten to take his best sword with him – which of course didn’t mean
that he was unarmed – and it was so annoying everything.
Of course Queen Joyce greeted her guest with open arms, a big glass of
brandy and a hot bath. In that order, since Queen Joyce was a firm believer
in Being Comfortable. Never let it be said that a guest of hers ran out of
fluffy pillows, warm blankets, beverages of choice and company (she had
made a very good deal with the local brothel, although the king wasn’t
aware of it). Naturally, she also made sure that there were hunts,
mock-battles, banquets, parties, chess games, poetry readings, and everything
else she could think of to keep her guest happy.
~~~~~~~~
On the fourth day after Sir Spike had arrived at the castle he met the
royal children.
As everybody knows, in fairy tale kingdoms Love At First Sight happens
all the time, and it’s the True and Honest kind that lasts a life time
(if only the rest of us were that lucky) so that Sir Spike fell desperately
in love five seconds after being introduced to Queen Joyce’s beloved
children, was no surprise to anyone. It was right after “And this is-”
that Sir Spike found himself hook line and sinker, head over heels in love
with the beautiful prince. And, judging by the adoration in the hazel eyes
gazing back at him, his feelings were very much returned.
Sir Spike leered at the lovely prince, for he was a Man Of The World and
had a few ideas of what he liked to do with that mouth, and Prince Alexander
was blushing in a very comely way as all gentle virgins do. He felt a bit
like Little Red Riding Hood when meeting The Big Bad Wolf in that story he
found in the book his father didn’t want him or his sisters to read… urges
he never knew existed were rearing their heads inside of him and butterflies
swarmed in his stomach.
So wrapped up in each other were they, prince and knight, that neither of
them paid any attention to the eldest princess. They would both come to
deeply regret it, later…
R/R, please. :)