By Jennie Dubin-Rhodin

Philadelphia Science Fiction Society

2008 Young Writers' Contest

First Place; High School Category

 

Soft laughter and beautiful music drifted lazily out of an elegant ballroom filled with dancing couples. Long, shining drapes clothed the walls, accenting striking paints and sculptures in pale marble. Against the far wall, a small string quartet played, each garbed in the finest clothes. Around the edges of the room stood small groups gossiping, eyes scanning for the royal family who sat far above the floor watching these people. The Crown Prince was chatting simply to his father, barely paying attention to those below. It was a decadent delight for all those there.

It disgusted her.

All of these people, the royals, the nobles, the wealthy of the realm; they were ignoring the problems just outside of the walls in favor of enjoying themselves. They ignored the perpetual famine, the horrific cold. These people didn't care, as long as they could play and dance around.

A strand of filthy blonde hair fell across her dirt-caked face. Cyan blue eyes were filled with disgust and hatred as they watched. A tattered and ancient dress of dubious origin covered her skeletal frame. She was hidden in the shadow of the room, away from the people's eyes.

Once upon a time, she had been a part of this society. She had been the belle of the ball, the one every woman wanted to be and every man wanted to dance with. She had been the one everyone wanted to know, the story everyone wanted to hear. She had been the one everyone wanted to be friends with because she had held the prince's ear.

Now she was his wife, and a slave within the palace. Just days after the wedding, he decided that she just wasn't good enough and forced her to become his personal slave. He constantly abused and starved her, raping her in hopes of a child, but never treating her with the gentleness needed. The love she once held deep in her heart for him had faded like an early morning fog leaving nothing but hatred behind.

'It seems that Prince Charming wasn't so charming after all', she thought. Her fairy tale didn't get its happily ever after.

Cinderella sighed and walked deeper into the shadows to escape the room. She prayed that, tonight, her husband would be too drunk to call her to his rooms. She hoped with all her heart that he would just leave her alone. He wouldn't call for her and force her, then beat her until she was unconscious. That he would take one of the many women who followed him around and bed them instead.

"Fairy Godmother, I need you." Her plea went unnoticed into the dark night. Or so she thought.

 

*****

 

Just a kingdom away, lived a far different royal couple, Beauty and her Beast, Prince Jacques. After finally regaining his human form, he had married her in a lavish wedding. All sorts of people had shown up, such as Prince Eric from the neighboring kingdom of Oceania, so named due to its closeness to the sea. His guest had been a young, mute woman he had discovered on the beach one day. It was rumored, however, that she murdered him on his wedding night after he had married another woman. It was now a year after the wedding.

Beauty strolled into her husband's study, the deep forest green gown she wore making a slight swishing noise as she walked. Her long, brown braid was interwoven with emeralds, which gleamed dully in the firelight of the room. Jacques was hunched over his desk, straining the deep blue velvet of his overcoat. His black hair was pulled back into a low tail, so it didn't block his deep, green-brown eyes. A frown marred his face, but was quickly fixed into a smile when he saw her.

"What's the matter, Jacq?" Beauty asked in concern. She casually walked behind him and began to rub his shoulders. Leaf green eyes glanced down to the reports on his desk.

Jacq sighed as he answered. "It appears that Prince Charming from the Glass Kingdom has taken a wife, a Princess Cinderella."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Beauty asked in confusion, not understanding the problem. "When he came for the wedding last year, he seemed like a nice man."

He sighed again, sadness crossing his face. He was displeased that he would have to shatter his wife's lovely illusion of the man.

"Unfortunately, the prince is not. He is a womanizing drunk. I remember some of the things that he used to do to woman before I was transformed into the Beast. He would seduce women and then beat them for his own enjoyment. I believe he actually killed a few of them. I doubt he has changed over the years, and his wife must now be taking much of the brunt of his tastes."

A look of horror crossed Beauty's face. "That's horrible! We need to do something about that! We can't just let him destroy this woman."

Jacques just shook his head remorsefully. "There is nothing we can do. Charming probably had a dark fairy cast a spell so that no one would believe her if what I say is true. If we were to try to do anything, he would take it as a chance to declare on the Rose Kingdom. He also would probably demand that one of the fairies of the realm curse us."

As Beauty opened her mouth to reply, the study's heavy wooden door slammed open. A servant put his hands on his knees, panting as he tried to control his breathing. He had obviously run from somewhere to the study.

"Your Highnesses, there's a fairy at the front gate! She demands to speak with you," the man's body was shaking with terror. He obviously remembered the last time a fairy had troubled the monarch of Rose.

"Bring her to the formal greeting hall," Jacques ordered. His hands flexed nervously, and he felt Beauty's hands grip the back of his overcoat.

Silently, the two walked to the hall. Both were very nervous. Jacq was terrified he would be turned back into the Beast. Beauty was terrified that she would lose her beloved husband.

The fairy had reached the room before them. She was an imperious-looking sort, with dark gray hair and stern, blue eyes. Her wings glittered and flickered on her back.

"You are Prince Jacques and Princess Beauty of Rose. I require your assistance," she demanded.

"If it is possible, we shall do it, my lady," Jacques said politely. He remembered what could happen if you refused the demands of a fairy.

"I am the fairy godmother of Princess Cinderella of Glass. I am completely horrified by the actions of her husband, Prince Charming, towards her. She has been wishing to me, but I can't do anything; her husband has had another fairy banish me from the realm, and I can't re-enter. I need your help to free her from him. If I had time, I would just find a way around the spell, but, right now, I need to watch over the Dawn Empire's infant princess; a dark fairy cursed her tonight at her naming ceremony."

"Agreed," Jacques said immediately. "I feared that he was abusing her after discovering he had taken a wife. You have just made it much easier to deal with him."

The fairy smiled at him in relief. She opened up a small pouch that was attached to her dress. Out of it, she pulled two tiny vials.

"Here are two potions. One will help you enter and exit the realm without notice. The other will deal with the Prince."

Beauty smiled at her. "Thank you. We will go out in the morning and help her."

The fairy just smiled and said, "Thank you," one more time. Then she disappeared in a swirl of dust and glitter, happy that her goddaughter would be saved.

 

*****

 

Darius, a loyal spy to Jacques, crept through the Glass Kingdom's royal palace the following night. He had taken half of the one potion to enter Glass; the other half, he would give to Cinderella once he found her. As he had discovered, the potion also acted much like a tracking spell; he could sense where she was. Once again sneaking down a stair case, he reached a rotting wooden door. He felt the spell quicken, alerting him to Cinderella's presence behind it. He snuck in.

Cinderella gasped as she saw the young man creep into her room. Terrified for her life, her back went flush up against the wall of her room.

"Has my husband sent you to kill me?" she demanded.

"No. I was sent here by the rulers of the Rose Kingdom, Jacques and Beauty. They were contacted by your godmother, who asked them to free you from your husband. They were given two potions; one to help you escape, and one to deal with the prince."

Cinderella's eyes shut, holding back her tears of joy. "Thank you! But why would they want to help me?" she asked in confusion, thinking it was too good to be true.

"My prince remembers Charming to be a womanizing bastard. He was afraid that whomever he had married would be brutalized. When your godmother gave him both the chance and ability to help you, he took it."

Cinderella smiled for the first time in months. "What does the second potion do?" she asked curiously as the spy gave her half of the hiding potion.

"I'm not sure. I slipped it into his nightcap, so I guess we will find out later. We need to leave now. I have a horse to take you back over the border into Rose."

She just smiled at him again. As they got onto his horse and ready to leave Glass forever, she never turned back. She never thought about the man she had been married to, and she never regretted leaving. Cinderella just looked forward to a peaceful life in the Rose Kingdom. Now she was going to get her happily ever after.

 

*****

 

Charming chuckled as he glanced over at the bloody mess of a woman sprawled out on his bed. He had had a good night. Grasping his untouched glass of wine, he downed it all in one gulp. He choked as he felt a burning sensation go through his body like wildfire. Collapsing to the floor, clutching his throat, he felt his world go dark. Bruises and lacerations crawled across his body, bones shattering from no physical cause.

It was the curse from the fairy godmother. Every injury he had ever given Cinderella was felt now by him. The amount of damage he had done to her over the months quickened into just a few seconds for him, causing him to die in a violent pool of his blood and bodily wastes.

 

The End