Chapter 17

The proud Princess and the youth, whom she had arbitrarily designated to be the King of this barren and enslaved land through which she was passing, walked together, both as naked as on the day of their respective births, up the steep down that led to the lair of the monster. The newly naked young man winced with pain as the sharp stones cut into his tender feet, drawing blood, and the tough and hardened Princess glared angrily at his weakness.

"You must be a true and valiant man, a man of steel, my dear young friend! It is imperative that you face without fear the many dangers that this day will bring. Only such a man as that can be King of this unfortunate land. You are he, oh handsome youth, although you may not know it yet! Do not forget the maiden whose life will soon be entwined with yours and for whom you walk side by side with me to rescue from a hideous fate." The young man said nothing in reply to this strange girl whose mysterious and arrogant coming and contemptuously withering condemnation of the people's craven cowardice had given hope, at last, to a doomed and dying land.

Together they continued their long climb to the top of the hill where the monster had his lair. Her Serene Highness the Princess Sara looked sideways at the fair youth's manly form. Gosh! What an absolutely gorgeous and dishy guy he was, she thought! What fantastically handsome genitalia he had, hanging way down between his thighs and swinging about as he walked! And what muscularity and grace he had been endowed with! She could almost have wished that she herself could be the bride of this King in waiting. However she was, as ever, conscious of her duty to her own land and of her continuing and absolute love for the Prince Adalbert.

"Do you know what kind of a monster it is that we must both face and fight to the death?"

The youth replied "No, Princess. No one has ever set eyes upon the ogre and lived to tell the tale. The maidens are left outside his stockade and their bones are later thrown out to whiten on the hillside in the sun. You will see them when we get near. He made his home here five years ago and we have known no peace and no joy in all that time."

The Princess said no more and the pair continued to walk quickly up the slope towards the wooden stockade. When they reached the site of their ordeal, they stood still outside and waited for the creature to emerge. A roaring could be heard within and after some minutes, during which the young man grew pale with fear and anticipation of a horrible death, the doors flew open and the monster was revealed in all his gross and ugly malevolence.

The low-browed, ape-like figure was a good five inches taller than the young man, squat and thick, where the other was athletic and lean. His arms were long and almost brushed the ground. Instead of five fingers, his hands terminated in three scaly claws, like those of a bird or reptile. The diminutive Princess was dwarfed by this mighty beast, but, of the two, she was the one who showed no fear. She led her companion in the assault, urging him to remember that to be a King, he must first prove himself to be a man and a man of supreme valour at that.

He fought down his fear, overtook the Princess and launched himself upon the monstrous, slavering beast, being immediately thrown back, bleeding from a cut to his side. The Princess urged him not to heed his wounds, but to throw himself again into the fray, and this he did, time after time, being wounded until the blood from manny wounds glistened all over his lithe muscularity. Despite these wounds, which were deep and terrible, he was gradually wearing down the clumsy and cumbersome giant.