For those of you who were hoping for a TLC update, I offer you this instead. This was inspired by a strange dream of mine, then left to stew around in my mind for several months. I finally decided to get it down as a short story, because I always feel better about my writing when I prove to myself that I can finish it. I've never really been successful at short stories, and am rarely comfortable with third person, but we are experimenting here and I am not planning this one any longer than about five chapters, I don't know if I could even stretch it past that, but I shan't keep any promises because I never know what will hit me! Thank you for your continued patience and putting up with me!
In Which the Setting of the Fairy Tale is Established
"Henry! Peter! I don't think we should be wandering off this far!" a hesitant girlish voice broke through the thick jungle air.
"Oh quit being such a baby, you wanted an adventure didn't you?" Peter responded, forging forward through the thick foliage.
"No, you were the one who wanted an adventure! I simply expressed a desire to explore the grounds and I am quite sure we are off of them by now," the girl shot back tartly. "It is much too hot and I am simply not dressed properly for adventuring," she declared. When she had dressed that morning she had not expected tramping through the forest to be on the agenda and so at present she had the misfortune to be wearing a stifling blue dress. It was a perfectly valid reason to be in a rather bitter mood as she followed her cousins through the leaves and twigs that caught at her hair and pulled the blond curls out of their already loose braid.
"If you were just going to complain the whole time you shouldn't have come with," Peter shrugged. Both of them seemed to be going even faster now and she had to hike up her skirts to keep up.
"I was happy to just stay at the home, but your mothers expressly told me to keep an eye on you," she intoned matter-of-factly.
"Funny, that's what they told us of you," Peter smirked at Henry.
"Are you getting paid for it too?" Henry asked with a grin that said he knew she wasn't.
"Why you-!" and with that she redoubled her efforts to catch them.
It was not really the heat or the clothes, though, Amelia Ellison was no stranger to the Indian heat, as far as she cared nothing could possibly be worse than the summer five years ago back in Punjab, when the heat had been enough to cook an egg on the roof! To be quite honest what had really worked her up into such a mood, were her cousins, Henry Oswald and Peter Wheeler. Henry was a tall gangly boy with obnoxiously red hair, but he could be nice sometimes. The real trouble maker of the two was Peter, a clever boy with a sharp smile. Them and their families had come to help her and her father move into their new home. Both Aunts had thought it terribly convenient to come down together but the two boys together could just be so difficult some times and so bossy that there was simply no talking to them. They acted as if they was so much older than her just because they were sixteen and had been attending school in England. Well she was 14 and three months, she would have them know, and not to be ordered about as if she were anything younger! She scrambled over another log.
"You guys, I really-" her protest died on her lips as the foliage suddenly cleared. All the three could do for a moment was stare up in awe at the enormous wrought iron structure in front of them. What looked almost to be an enormous bird cage stood like some long lost ruins in the middle of the jungle. Fantastic black spirals cavorted together up in a decorative fashion, while forest vines intruded in on their dance and imposed their own chaotic style.
"Wow," was all she could whisper.
"Well, come on, lets go in!" Henry exclaimed, not even waiting for her response.
"We don't even know what it is! We can't just-"
"Well we won't find out just standing here will we?" Peter insisted with a bound towards the gate.
"Henry!" she whined as he examined the lock on the gate.
"Oh stop being such a baby, Mia!" he groaned.
"Well, I'm not going in!" she said, planting her feet and crossing her arms.
"Fine then," Peter shrugged, "we'll just go in and look around, and you can stay out here all alone with the bugs and snakes," and with that he squeezed in through the wrought iron fencing with Henry quick to follow suit.
"Oh no you don't!" she scrambled quickly after them, following with only slightly more difficulty, due again to the stifling dress. Determined as she was to stand up to her cousins, she was not about to miss out. She was going to show them that she could do anything they could!
Once fully in, she took a moment to dust off her skirts before looking around. The area was filled with an assortment of smaller black iron structures: cages. Large ones, small ones, some on the ground and some suspended from the ceiling. She could not help but get a rather eerie feeling from the small menagerie. The stone and iron structures were all still intact, and although the trees and decorative flowers and grass had taken free reign of the place, it seemed the jungle had been held at bay, too hesitant to enter past the gate. All thoughts of her cousins forgotten, Mia carefully picked her way along what jigsaw puzzle was left of the stone walkway over to a square cage. The design about the bottom showed some sort of large cat, prowling about its territory, but when she looked inside there was nothing but dead leaves and a door that had rusted open. She shivered slightly and quickly glanced over her shoulder, as if afraid that the ghost of the cat could sneak up behind her. A bird whistled somewhere overhead. She quickly recalled Henry and Peter and rushed off to find them, she did not want to be alone in this strange place.
"Henry!" she called fearfully, "Peter! Where are you?" she rushed about between cages and overgrown branches, noting that designs about the cages depicted tigers, bats, and lions!
"Henr-!"
"Shush would you? We're right here," Henry emerged from behind an empty bird cage, Peter on the other side, rolling his eyes at the folly of his younger cousin.
"Henry, I don't like it in here and it was cruel and awful of you to drag me in here and I demand that we leave right now before we get eaten or caught or-"
"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed, completely ignoring her protests as he rushed over to still another cage behind a large flowering bush.
"Look, it's okay if you're scared Mia," Henry said quickly, eager to rush over and see whatever Peter had found.
There was a shrieking creaking slam from further away and then, "Henry, come hurry, quick!"
"You can just go back outside and Peter and I will be out soon," saying that, he figured he had completed whatever gentlemanly responsibilities he owed his cousin of the weaker sex, and he rushed off in the direction Peter had gone.
"I'm not scared!" Mia protested, however untruthfully, and with renewed courage followed Henry around the bush.
She lost him almost instantly, and could only guess at the direction he had run in. That was when the frantic animal screech began. She broke into a sprint, rushing to find the origin of the awful sound, down the stone path, around the trees and cages and statues. She was running so fast she lost control and barreled into a small golden bird cage on a pedestal. The collision felt worse than it should have, almost as if the entire earth gave a rattle with the cage. Then both of them went tumbling to the ground. She fumbled to try and right it, but then the laughter started and she rushed off again. A white bird flashed over head. Around the pillar, around the cage, she rounded the next corner and quickly spotted what the boys were so excited about. In one of the smaller cages the two had managed to trap a small monkey, and as it screamed and raged about the cage the two only laughed harder.
"Look at it trying to get out through the ceiling!" Peter exclaimed.
"Stupid beast."
"Look for a stick, we'll push it back onto the floor!"
Screeching. Laughing. Desperate flailing.
"Stop it, right this instant! You have gone too far now!" Mia shrieked with all the authority she could muster.
"Shut up, Mia, it's just harmless fun," Peter snapped carelessly.
"Stop it! Stop it right now! You are hurting it!" she cried almost as desperately as the monkey, rushing over and trying to push the two away from the cage, to no success.
"Should have known you couldn't handle the-" they broke off suddenly, staring at Mia in horror. For a moment she thought they were finally listening to her, but in the next she realized their eyes were focused just above her. She swung around. Crouched on the tall cage before them was a native boy with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"You are not welcome here," he spoke harshly.
"And who are you to tell us where we are and are not welcome?" Peter spoke up with false bravery.
"I am the protector," he said simply.
"What, you're barely older than us!" Henry protested.
"Yeah, we're not about to take orders from-" but he didn't even get to finish as the vengeful monkey had suddenly and miraculously opened the cage and took the opportunity to fling itself at the back of Peter's head.
Peter started screaming and scrabbling for the monkey. Henry jumped to aid his cousin but was quickly mobbed by a flock of birds with other ideas. The entire meangerie suddenly seemed alive with movement and wrath. Bugs hummed threateningly, snakes danced in the trees, somewhere behind them a wild growl echoed. Mia could only stare in disbelief as the dark boy, young man really, carefully climbed down from the cage and padded silently over to the boys.
The animals suddenly stopped as the boy narrowed dark eyes at the two intruders, "You are not welcome here" he repeated. "Leave!"
In moments the two were gone, sprinting out of the mad house as fast as their feet would go, neither sparing a thought to remember their younger cousin whom they'd left behind.
Mia frowned as the two beat a cowardly retreat. Some Queen's finest they were! And she would be sure not to let them forget it once she got back. She vaguely wondered how she would find her way back. She wasn't sure if she quite remembered the way out.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the young man finally approached her. "Aren't you going to run off as well? Are you not afraid?"
Well that struck her as a rather rude thing to ask, and the look she gave him said just that. "Well, I suppose not. To either question. You just don't strike me as particularly frightening, or perhaps I am just so frightened that I have stopped being afraid at all," she mused and looked curiously up at his handsome dark face. For some reason, she felt as if there were a million other things to be scared of in here, but he was just not one of them, and with him around, she didn't have to worry about the rest. "Besides, I don't think I have done anything wrong yet," she shrugged.
The edges of his lips curved just slightly up in light amusement. "You are trespassing," he offered lightly as a possible infraction.
"I don't think so, this probably lies somewhere on the land that my father just bought," she said thoughtfully, trying to think of where the menagerie might sit on the map her father had shown her of the nearby area.
A white bird suddenly flashed down from above to land on a branch just near Mia. Mia smiled brightly at the bird, "What a lovely bird you have!"
"Oh she is not mine," he corrected quickly, "I am hers." Mia gave him a strange look as she offered her arm to the bird as a perch, just as she had seen some native men do with their beautiful tamed parrots. The bird turned it beak scornfully up at the offered perch and made a point of shifting more comfortably onto it's branch.
"The princess does not warm up quickly to others," the boy explained, coming closer to offer his arm to the bird. The bird shook it's head again and this time flapped gracefully up to a branch out of their reach. "She just likes to remind us who is in charge," he sighed, lowering his arm and turning back to Mia.
"Well, I don't know if I like her very much," Mia gave a sharp look up at the spoiled bird, "and you don't have to make excuses for her," she insisted. The bird gave a rather indignant squawk and just as if to prove that the strange boy was on her side she fluttered down to perch on his shoulder.
The boy shook his head at the silliness of the two. "Would you like a seat?" he offered, though Mia could see none in close proximity.
"I suppose so," she conceded. The young man nodded and pushed aside some thick foliage to reveal a continued path and a swing on a long rope. Mia smiled, secretly relieved to take the weight off her feet. She happily accepted the swing, and right away began rocking gently forward and back. The boy perched on a nearby rock, while the bird made a big deal of arranging herself into a more comfortable position on his shoulder.
"Alright, young mysterious sir," Mia addressed politely, "So how did you end up here in an old menagerie, working for a stuck up bird princess?".
The bird muttered, to which the boy only stroked it gently, which only seemed to make it more unsettled. "I could ask the same of you," he said enigmatically.
"I am not working for a stuck up bird," Mia responded smartly.
"And yet you have found your way into the menagerie."
"Yes well, I had to keep an eye on those awful cousins of mine. I am quite sorry that they terrorized your monkey, by the way. I did try to stop them; I promise they aren't here long, they are simply staying the month to help my father and I move into the new house because father was transferred here by the army. The aunties insisted on coming to help, and my father didn't mind as he always says he never gets to see enough of them, and they are perfectly nice, if only they had been able to raise those two terrors themselves rather than sending them off to school in England then maybe they'd have turned out better? That's why father doesn't want to send me away, and I am perfectly happy to stay here, there is nothing in England that I can't learn here, and I would not be able to bear the thought of leaving poor father here all alone!" she just chattered away. She was vaguely surprised that she had just told him all of this, but he was a very good listener, he sat on the rock and looked politely interested through her entire rant.
"Well, that's why I'm here. Now it's your turn," she said with poorly masked curiosity for the story of this strange boy.
He looked to the bird, but she only fluttered gracefully to another branch, deciding that his shoulder was no longer particularly comfortable.
"It's a rather long story," he said hesitantly.
"I've got plenty of time," Mia assured him quickly, "The longer I am here the more my cousins might start to worry!"
"I do not think you would believe me," he tried again.
"Oh I think I am up for believing just about anything at the moment," she assured him.
He sighed, but started into the story nonetheless, "Long ago, there were many powerful kingdoms in India, this was long before British occupation," he said with only a hint of bitterness, "The kingdom of these parts was Memjab, it was small, but it had been around longer than history can record. It was a very beautiful kingdom, the palace in particular, it was in the middle of the jungle and built of marble with enormous pillars covered entirely in carvings and designs. Gold statues of the gods were at every corner and rooftop. All of the people were dressed in the finest silk and cotton and colors, they were like the peacocks and vibrant beasts that tamely wandered the palace grounds," his eyes seemed to glaze over as he recalled the sites of the great palace. "But the most beautiful thing in the entire kingdom, was the young princess. She was the only child of the king's favorite wife, and he doted on her. She was the most splendid creature in a thousand years to walk the earth. Her hair was like the darkest and smoothest ink, her skin like the dawn, her eyes brighter than emeralds, with the figure of a goddess, her-"
"Yes, yes, she was very pretty," Mia said testily, she had been much more interested in the palace than hearing about this princess character. It had nothing to do, she told herself, with the fact that she knew she was nothing special herself, her hair was rather frizzy, her features were rather too large, her eyes didn't glitter, and she looked like a stick, but that was not at all the point.
"Right, well," the young man continued, realizing he had perhaps gone on a bit long, "Well, the princess was this way, for at her birth she had been blessed by six magical swans who gave her all beauty and graces, but as they left a seventh swan spoke a warning for the king's ears alone. Over the next eighteen years the princess grew more and more lovely every day. I was about her age at the time and although I was merely a servant, I knew even then, that I would perform some great and heroic deed so that I might deserve her love and her hand in marriage."
"How fantastically fairy tale like!" Mia squealed adoringly. She'd always had a soft place for true love and happily ever afters.
He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes, "My chance came on her eighteenth birthday. She was very old to still be unmarried, but she had refused all of her suitors and her father had not the heart to force her into marriage. During celebrations for a princess's birthday, rich and poor came from all over the kingdom to present the princess with gifts. I'd wanted to find her something particularly rare and beautiful so that I might capture her attention. So I had set out the week before. I had no idea what to look for, but I knew that if I just started, my quest would make itself apparent. I traveled two days and a night until I was far past the jungle, but I was starting to worry that nothing eventful had occurred yet.
That night when I built my fire, I was approached by a beggar man who asked if he might share some of my fire and my food. I was glad for the company and offered him what I had. By the end of the meal I had told him everything of my quest and my love for the princess. He told me I was being silly, that my youth had clouded my mind and that I would soon grow out of it. He told me that I should give up, but my love was unquestionable. He finally relented and said that if I would return tomorrow to the castle and on the day of her birthday, leave the back gate open, he would bring the princess a gift that would secure for me the best chance at her love I could hope for. I foolishly accepted.
'Give me your hand,' he ordered. We shook, then he took my hand into both of his, 'I promise you, your true love,' he said with such certainty I was sure that he was casting a spell.
On the day of her birthday, she was showered with rare and priceless gifts. I began to worry that the beggar would not show up but when it seemed that all had finished, he emerged finally from out of the shadows and proclaimed that he still had his gift to give. The princess, allowed him to step forward. He told her that he had a mirror of immeasurable wealth, that it would show her the face of her true love if she would only look into it. I knew right away that it would show my face and my pure love for her. The princess accepted the mirror eagerly. I pushed to the front of the crowd so that she would be able to spot me once she knew me for her true love.
She stared for a long while at the mirror then turned back to the beggar man, 'There must be something wrong with your mirror,' she told him, offering it back to the man. My hear nearly broke, she had seen my face and still turned me down? I knew something must be amiss. The beggar glared harshly at the princess, and it was then that I knew the traitorous man for the demon that he must have been.
'The mirror does not lie, you sinply cannot love. You Princess, are nothing more than a pretty flower, an empty headed bird, and so you shall become!' I rushed at the beggar, horrified at what I had done but I was too late," he looked mournfully at his hands. "The demon disappeared, as did the princess and all of the people who had not already fled the room, and in their places stood all types of creatures. The king was horrified when he found out, he had this menagerie built and all of the people and his beloved daughter put in it until the spell could be broken. I, knowing that it was my fault and still determined to prove myself, volunteered to watch over it, to protect it.
Time passed. The king died. The kingdom fell. The palace fell to ruins. Through all this time I never aged and neither did any of those cursed. Eventually we all fell into deep sleep. I would wake occasionally, venture out into the world at the time, keep guard over the slowly decaying palace and zoo. So here we are now, you have awoken all of us again."
Mia stared quite opened mouthed at the tall young man, suddenly noticing his fine servant's robe in blue and gold, the sad tilt to his mouth and stubborn set of his chin, that of a man with a still unfulfilled purpose. "Well, how do you break the curse?" she said, refusing to let the magnificent story end there.
"I do not know," he shook his head, "I at first supposed that it may be a kiss of true love, but the princess would not let me kiss her. I am left to suppose that the princess is the only one who knows how to break the curse, but she is quite unable to tell us at the moment," he sighed in defeat, "so I can only wait."
"Oh it's just so romantic!" Mia sighed contentedly, swinging her feet up and her head back at a dangerous angle.
The bird whistled from the branch as if it cared to disagree.
"It is getting rather late," the boy observed as the sun began to cast its last brilliant rays out over the menagerie, lighting it ablaze with gold and red.
"Yes, I do believe I should be getting back," Mia agreed, she suddenly felt absolutely exhausted. "It was a pleasure meeting you-"
"Akash," he offered his hand.
"Mia," she replied, shaking his hand firmly before turning to leave. "Oh, I don't suppose you would know the way back to my house, would you?" she asked quickly.
"Just walk away from the sun, it should be closer than you think," he said with a smile and a wave as the younger girl stumbled off back home.
"What a sweet young girl," he said to the princess as he watched her leave.
The bird simply turned and fluttered off, the sunlight glinting off pure white feathers, just as lovely as ever.
I did try to put in a lot of research time, or at least a lot for me, I very rarely have to becuase I very rarely do any thing remotely historical, but if some one happens to know more about British occupied India than me, or about grammar for that matter, and spots a mistake please feel free to correct, critique and yell at me X), thank you!
P.S. Reviews are always appreciated, but if you don't mind, I know that some people would probably prefer that I be working on TLC, you don't need to tell me. I just needed a short break from it, I promise to return soon, so lets focus on this story for the moment, becuase I am really excited about it!