A Grim Fairytale - 1. The White Prince

~A Grim Fairytale~

by

KC Grim

My name is Grim and this is my fairytale. No, I’m not one of those famous Grimm Brothers as you can tell by my name. I come from a family that is actually a lot older than theirs and much, much darker.

Everyone knows the tales of All Hallows Eve. On this night, the boundary between our world and the spirit world thins. For one night alone, demons can pass through to our realm. Yet as dark and terrifying as this night might be, out of the deepest darkest blackness comes the purest light.

This is where my tale will start…

Once upon a time there was a Princess named Magda. Her long black hair hung to her waist and her deep dark eyes were the color of burnt coal. Magda was such a shy girl that she never made friends with anyone outside of the servants that worked within the castle walls. She was the only heir to her father’s throne, nestled high in the mountaintops of Mount Gavadia.

The kingdom was small, yet well protected from the outside world by plunging cliffs that surrounded three sides of the tall stone walls, towering so high that they appeared to hover above the clouds floating between the mountain peaks. The only way in or out of the kingdom was a narrow trail that twisted and turned as it led to the castle’s door.

Life in the kingdom was boring. Magda would spend hours wishing for something to happen, but nothing exciting ever happened and the young girl spent many miserable years alone.

One cold winter night, the Queen of Gavadia unexpected died. Distraught over his wife’s death, the King became an eccentric recluse, and he never left his castle again.

Trapped within the kingdom walls with no friends, the young princess was lonelier than ever. She filled her time reading from books that she found hidden away in the deepest recesses of the dungeon. They were filled with dark tales about powerful creatures, potions and spells and even wicked demons from the underworld, evil so malevolent that no man would dare speak its name. These stories thrilled Magda and she swore that one day she would have a dark adventure like the characters in the books.

These childhood dreams never came to pass. Princess Magda soon inherited the kingdom because, on her twentieth birthday, her father suddenly died, making her the new Queen of Gavadia…but Magda had a very dark secret.

***

“Bring me all of the candles,” Magda shouted at the staff, “I don’t care what you have to do, but I want every single candle in this bloody house, down here by the time I count to three.” She warned them. Usually she didn’t give the servants warnings before their beatings would begin, but today she couldn’t hide her excitement. Her wicked plan was falling into place.

“Everything has to be perfect for the Hallows Ceremony. Do you understand?” The dark scowl that marred Magda’s face was frightening.

“Yes, my lady, every candle has been accounted for and is present as you requested,” One of the chambermaids said as she cowered before her Dark Queen.

“The cupboards?” Magda doubted the girl’s ability. “Did you check there, too?”

The girl nodded her head, but stood frozen in the presence of evil.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Magda’s eyes narrowed in on the young maid. “Did you check the extra box down in the vegetable cellar?”

The girl’s lower lip quivered as she nodded again.

Daylight was waning. Blackness filled the high windows strangling out the light. As night engulfed the castle, the time that Magda had eagerly anticipated was finally here.

“Now!” She screamed as her shrill echoed through the castle. “Bring the offerings, quickly, before the moment passes.”

Magda watched the final rays of light grow smaller. “It’s time!”

Every servant in the small kingdom rushed into the room. The designated carried Magda’s gifts for the Dark Lord. Two bowls, made of the finest royal silver, were place on opposite ends of the long wooden table. Murmured chants filled the air when the earth’s natural light disappeared.

“Grant us your light, Dark Lord,” Magda recited from memory, “as we present our gifts to you.”

Fire flashed as every candle ignited at once. Clapping her hands in delight, Magda smiled as the light reflected on her menacing face. The sharp dagger in her hands gleamed. “I give you my blood,” She shouted as she ran the metal edge over the palm of her hand, splashing her own blood across the center of the table.

The servants kept their eyes cast towards the table, watching in terror. They were Magda’s reverent followers. They had heard rumors for years that their Queen was a witch and tonight she was going to prove it.

“Accept my invitation, my Lord, which we beseech upon you.” Picking up the silver bowl to her left, Magda poured the thick white semen over her blood on the table.

Magda had demanded every adult male in the castle to contribute to tonight’s offering. They were ordered to abstain for a month to make their ejaculant more potent and more pleasing to her Dark Lord. She ran her fingers through the mixture, still warm from the fresh collection and churned it together.

The last bowl held bones from every animal known to the kingdom. They were bleached white, the petrifying flesh disintegrated after rotting in the sun for the last month. It was added to the center.

The Queen led the main incantation as the terrified servants continued to softly chant in the background. “Dark Lord, hear us now! We are yours! Join us, your faithful followers!” Her frantic words grew louder until she was shouting her bizarre mantra at the night.

Suddenly, the windows burst open and a gust of cold air extinguished the flames. Several women screamed. One by one each flame flickered and re-ignited. The bubbling goo on the table twisted and grew bigger, spilling onto the floor where it molded and shaped into a dark form.

Covered in semen and blood stood a man like no other. His head and chest resembled a man, but his skin was covered with serpent-like scales. From his waist down, he had the anatomy and hind quarter of a large stallion.

The castle echoed with screams of terror. The women fell to their knees and trembled. Their Queen’s request had been granted. “Do not be afraid, my children, for you called upon me,” Satan stood as flesh and bone. “I have answered you and I will let you show me your devotion.”

Every servant trembled before the Dark Lord.

Magda had forced her entire kingdom to join her in worshiping the Dark Lord and now he stood before them.

“It is I who has called you, my Lord.” Magda’s eyes held childlike giddiness.

The Lord smiled showing his sharp jagged teeth. “Then you, my child shall pay the price for my attention.”

“Price?” Magda stumbled a step back.

“Yes, my dear, did you think you could call upon me for free?” He leered.

Her face paled when he stepped closer to her. The servants were frozen with fear as they watched him circle their Queen like a lion stalking a lamb.

“My Lord,” Her voice trembled, “I am a Queen.”

“And I shall be your King.” The Dark Lord ripped at the bodice of her gown with his claws, shredding the delicate fabric with little more than a tug. Magda trembled as he trapped her against the table. His large manhood had doubled with his erection and bounced proudly between his muscular legs.

Magda tried to turn, but he used the movement to his advantage and mounted her from behind. The Dark Lord was insatiable. Each time he spilled his seed into Magda, her belly grew rounder. They copulated for hours as the servants watched.

“The hour draws late as your body has filled.” The Dark Lord ran his hands over the large protrusion of Magda womb that started to move.

Magda fell to the floor wrapping her arms around the center of her body. “What is happening to me?” She cried in pain.

The Lord pushed the hair away from her face and softly purred against her ear, “I leave you with a gift, my Queen, a precious gift for you to try and tame.” His words rang with the chime of midnight as he disappeared into the night.

The Dark Queen’s labor quickly progressed. She panted and screamed until the morning light brought the birth of Prince Marcus.

***

The little Prince was the sweetest and quietest child in the kingdom. His cherub face and soft blond locks infuriated the bitter Queen. She would cut off his hair every night and by the morning it had regrown again. Magda would beat every servant in the castle if anyone of them was caught cooing over Marcus’s pink cupid ’s bow mouth or his eyes paler than a winter’s morning.

As the years passed, instead of growing to love her child, the Queen deeply resented him. Prince Marcus was the son of the Dark Lord, he should be the personification of evil, yet he was good and noble, which only made Magda angrier.

Marcus was a lonely child, like his mother years before him, but unlike Magda, he wasn’t allowed to take lessons with the rest of the children in the kingdom. The Queen even forbade the other children from speaking to him or even playing with sweet little Marcus, which left him all alone.

The more Magda tried to beat the light out of Marcus, the stronger he became. The servants secretly started calling him the White Prince, when the Queen found out she became enraged and swore that she would turn the boy evil if it was the last thing she did. Magda vowed to make him into a truly menacing Dark King and one day, all of the surrounding lands would shudder in fear when they heard his name.

One evening, Magda was forcing Marcus to practice his spells outside in the bitter cold. “Chant after me,” Magda told Marcus as she repeated the spell again. Marcus refused to utter a single word. When the Queen pulled out her dagger and held it to his throat, he still kept silent. Angered, Magda used her rage to cast a revolting spell. She grabbed a tiny piglet and sliced its neck, spilling crimson across the fresh fallen snow.

“New life is a dawn and today it will stay, let this soul of the earth be safe, now run away!” Marcus chanted as the small pig jumped to its feet and scurried away. Green emerged from the thick red blood strewn over the icy ground. Sprouting and twisting as beautiful springtime flowers burst and bloomed on the vines as the stalks grew right out of the cold frozen earth.

“I will not watch you kill for pleasure, Mother!” Marcus growled.

Magda glared at her son. She flew into a rage, grabbing the young boy and shoving him inside the tiny pig pen where she left him, outside in the bitter cold for three days.

As the boy grew, Magda would try to test him, try to break his benevolent spirit. One day, she ordered him to remove every stone from the watchtower walls. The tower faced the east and she wanted it to be reassembled on the west side of the castle. Magda smiled to herself. She knew that it took her father’s stonemasons almost a year to erect the tower, yet when the Queen came to check on Marcus’ progress a few hours later, the task was complete. Every stone set perfectly in place.

***

Marcus was happy when the Queen ignored him. He would spend hours exploring the castle and watching the servants going about their busy day, unaware that the White Prince was studying them, learning every job required to keep the kingdom running smoothly. One afternoon, Marcus followed the huntsmen into the forest. It was hard to stay on their heels as they chased down an elk, big enough to feed the castle’s people for a week, but Marcus’ eyes followed every move of the animal and the hunters.

The Queen might have kept him from taking formal lessons like the other children, but Marcus never missed an opportunity to learn something. Week after week, he observed a new worker from the quiet little chambermaids, to the round bellied cook, the sour faced butcher and even the skilled craftsmen that made the necessary repairs to the aging castle. Marcus absorbed their knowledge and before long he had mastered the various tasks of every member of the Queen’s staff.

The years passed quickly and Marcus grew into a strapping young lad. Late one afternoon, while slipping unseen through the hidden passageways in the castle that led to the kitchen, Marcus ran into a handsome young boy named Stuart. He was the bakers’ son.

Marcus was attracted to Stuart’s dark brown hair and deep chestnut eyes, but more so of the light accent that caressed his sweet full lips.

“Father and I come from a small village two days ride from here,” Stuart told his new friend.

Marcus was intrigued with the young man. Stuart had been born away from the castle, but he and his father had both been kidnapped from their village once Magda heard that Stuart’s father was the finest baker around. That was Magda’s way, whatever she wanted she would just take it.

“Why don’t you and your father leave?” Marcus was sad when he spoke the words, but he knew it was wrong for the Queen to keep them here against their will. The young Prince would rather Stuart be happy and free than be trapped here.

“My sweet Prince,” Stuart traced his fingers along Marcus’ smooth cheek. “Everyone here is held captive. The evil Queen has placed a dark spell on the castle’s gate that no man or woman shall ever leave if they don’t intend to return. I’ve tried to leave, but I can’t pass through.”

“One day, I promise, when this kingdom is mine, I will set everyone free.” Marcus whispered. Stuart held Marcus for hours that first night, in the passageway hidden away from the rest of the world.

***

The Dark Queen noticed a change in Marcus and she was furious. She was angered at the thought of him becoming a man. She was jealous of Marcus finding love when all she had was hate.

“You will follow him,” Magda ordered one of the maids. “Marcus is always scurrying around this castle and I want to know what he’s up to.”

When the maid returned with news that Marcus had made a friend, the Queen quickly set her evil plans into motion.

When Marcus fell asleep that night, his dreams were full of images of handsome young Stuart. The White Prince could feel the feather soft touches of the boy’s fingers, starting at his thigh and brushing across his warm skin as fingers worked their way up to his neck.

Marcus stirred in bed when he noticed that the light touches felt so incredibly real. Slipping his hands under the sheet to rub his growing erection, instead, Marcus’ finger passed something unnatural. He awoke and pulled the sheets back to a dozen poisonous spiders crawling in his bed.

A single bite would have been deadly, yet Marcus was able to climb out of bed and to scoop them into a jar without being bitten even once.

The next night, Marcus dreamt of Stuart running his long fingers through his soft golden locks only to awaken to a swarm of bats in his bedchamber, swooping above his head, grazing his hair and again, he calmly walked to the window and released the latch, setting the creatures free.

The third and final night, Marcus dreamed of Stuart’s tight embrace as they held each other only hours before as they made love. Marcus opened his eyes to realize he was chocking. A large snake had coiled around his chest and was squeezing the life out of him. Again, Marcus climbed from bed and unwrapped the snake from his body.

For three nights in a row, Magda had tried to kill him and for three nights, she had failed.

“Alright, Mother, you want to let your dark magic run amuck, let’s see if you can control your creations.” Marcus set the snake down on the floor, and then he opened the window to his bedchamber, before finally unscrewing the lid on the glass jar.

The snake slithered under the space at the bottom of Marcus’ bedroom door as the spiders quickly followed. A dark wave of bats swarmed through the window. Marcus unlatched the wooden door and gave the creatures a command, “I am the White Prince and I command you to find your maker…teach her that she should not release creations into this world that she does not wish upon herself.”

With that they fled in search of the Dark Queen. Marcus didn’t have to wonder if they found her, Magda’s agonizing shrieks of pain told him they had.

***

As the sun rose over the castle, the new dawn brought with it a light that Mount Gavadia has never seen. Queen Magda had died in the darkest hours just before dawn and Marcus was declared the new King.

“As your new King, I demand that each and every one of you, stay here with me…” A gasp fell over the crowd. The servants had longed for their freedom and had hoped that the Good King would finally set them free. “…but only if that is what your heart desires.”

The people erupted in cheers.

“I will welcome those who want to remain here, but I will prepare a feast for those of you who chose to move on. You are all free men and women. Tonight will be a special celebration for one and all, for tomorrow we will wish many of you farewell.”

Marcus held his promise. The few who wanted to leave gave tearful goodbyes, but most of the people decided to stay.

“You are the most amazing man I’ve ever met.” Stuart smiled as he slipped his fingers inside of Marcus’ hand.

“So have you decided if you are going to stay?” Marcus was scared that Stuart’s answer would crush him.

“Yes,” Stuart nodded his head.

The anticipation was too much, “Well, tell me!” Marcus demanded.

“Father will be leaving in the morning. He’s going to return to our village to try and find the rest of our family.”

“And you?” The King nervously waited.

“In the morning, my bright beautiful Lord, I will still be by your side, in the same spot that I will be for the rest of our lives.” Stuart said as he leaned in for a kiss before leading Marcus up to their royal bedchamber.

~The End~

Thank you for dropping in and reading my Halloween tale. It's a little piece of holiday flash fiction to help get you in the scary-story kind of mood for the month of October.   I hope you liked it.  Thanks for reading! KC