Chapter 18

Three weeks had passed since the adventure with the young man and the fearsome monster. Princess Sara learnt from her overhead messengers, the birds, that the brave and strong youth had indeed been acclaimed as King, had recovered well from his wounds and was now betrothed to the lady originally intended as the monster's next victim. She was happy to hear this.

For some time, now, she had entertained doubts concerning her own role in the affair, letting him suffer so much hurt when she could easily have used the fairy ring to disable the ogre at once. The Princess had certainly experienced rather more than a frisson of pleasure at the sight of the brave young man shedding so much blood, experiencing such pain and yet bravely refusing to submit.

It had always been the same with her. Once, two young and valiant men had jousted to secure her favours and she had watched, fascinated by the sight of the blood they had both shed and the horrible injuries they had inflicted one on the other. After the tournament, she had presented the weary, and half dead, victor with a richly embroidered silk handkerchief, which he had promised to treasure for ever. She had given him nothing else! "All muscle and no brain - typical of his kind!" had been her sardonically dismissive comment to her dear companion Martha as they had left the scene of carnage together.

She certainly would not be so contemptuous about the new King, whose name she still did not know. He was not only brave, strong and marvellously handsome, but, more importantly, he was a man of character and intelligence. Yes! She should assuredly have come to his aid earlier, and felt increasing shame that she had not. She offered a petition to the Fairy expressing her willingness, her eagerness, to make amends for this and to be allowed to perform some act of penance.

That night, as she prepared to rest, she felt that the air against her skin was very much colder than recently. The path had been rising upwards for the whole day, as they crossed a range of high hills, and the height of summer was still some weeks off. She rubbed her ring, expecting the two dogs to appear. Instead, the familiar apparition of the Fairy began to take shape. When she finally assumed solid form, she spoke, after firstly and for some seconds, looking sternly at the cold and shivering Princess as she lay on the rough and hard ground.

"You were indeed most remiss in letting that poor, brave young man suffer so grievously at the hands of the ogre! You were right to let him fight until exhausted and also to allow him to suffer some hurt, as his pride would have suffered had his efforts been overshadowed by a woman's help. But! You were very wrong to sit back and take pleasure in his pain as you did. For that you will be punished.

"This is the penalty that you will pay! The power of the ring has been withdrawn from you for a certain time and you will not have its protection against harm until it is restored. I hope you endure the trials of the next few days with the same fortitude as the young and valiant King Alfonso did his."

"I accept your decision and I heartily and gratefully welcome it" said Princess Sara. "The burden of my guilt has been utterly insupportable these last days. Any price is worth paying to have that burden lifted. A cold night or two will be no hardship."

"You will have more than a few shivers to endure, Your Serene Highness. Much more!"

And with these ominous words, the fairy dematerialised.

The by now seriously chilled Princess resigned herself to a night of discomfort, lying back on the ground, stretched out, with her hands behind her head, looking up at the stars. It was the first time for many long months that she had inspected so closely the array of glittering and twinkling constellations up above. She wondered in childlike amazement at all the mysteries that must be hidden amongst those inscrutable multitudinous, silent specks of light. What an immensity of dramas, each far more thrilling than her own puny earthbound adventures, must be being enacted in those distant reaches of interstellar space, even as she lay there and shivered through the terrestrial night.