Swan Wing

by: Tiger Lily21

A/N: All right, so here's a story for you. It's not Ariella or The Crystal Rose, but it jumped into my head about a week ago and I couldn't help but write it down. I've split it into chapters, but all together it's at least 30 pages long. It's based on "The Six Swans". I realized after I got about halfway into it that there are at least three novels out there about what happened to the brother who got the incomplete shirt in that story, but I couldn't just stop. I'd told people I was writing this, and I wanted to finish. It's not very good at all, I don't think. The characters aren't developed and honestly about two-thirds of it is backstory, but I figured I'd share it anyways. I really like Nita. I may have to find another place to stick her someday.

Anyways, here's the first chapter. The rest is going up tonight. I don't feel like staggering it out. I hope you like it.


Chapter 1: The Story Begins

The man came into town late one night. He was dressed in the fine clothes of a nobleman with an overlarge cloak over all of it. His hair was long and scraggly and hung limply around his face. He walked slowly, and his dark eyes roved over the shops and houses along the street. At last he came to a small, blue-gray house with a sign over the door. The man walked up to the door. Cautiously, he brought one hand out from under his cloak and knocked.

A young woman opened the door. She wore a white nightgown. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a long braid. She stared at the stranger for a moment in puzzlement, and then smiled. "Hello, sir. My name is Nita Elwyn. What can I do for you?"

The man pulled his arm back quickly and hid it under his cloak. "I'm sorry to come so late," he said. "I understand you're a healer, Miss Elwyn. I need some help. I have…an injury."

Nita looked him up and down, and then smiled again. "I will do all I can to help you, sir," she said. "Please, come inside and take off your cloak. I'll try to help you."

The man's face twitched strangely for a moment, but then he nodded. "Very well."

Nita walked back into the house. Her guest followed her. Nita closed the door behind them. The stranger looked around the room, but did not remove his cloak. They appeared to have entered into a sort of sitting room. It was plain but simple, with a pair of chairs by the fireplace and a low table by one wall. A doorway led into what the stranger assumed was a kitchen, based on the corner of the stove he could see.

Nita sat down in one of the chairs by the fire. "Please, take off your cloak and join me over here," she said. "I can't get a look at your injury if you're covering it up."

The stranger remained where he was. "I believe it will be easier for you to tend my injury if you know my story first," he said. "It is rather bizarre, but you must believe me. Until I finish, I would rather keep the cloak on."

"Very well," said Nita, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She stood up. "At least come and sit down. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be lovely," said the stranger, walking over and seating himself in the chair across from the one she'd vacated. "Thank you."

Nita walked to the doorway of the kitchen and paused. "You're welcome," she said. "I'm going to go put the kettle on. Why don't you start that story?"

"As you wish," said the stranger. As Nita walked into the kitchen, he began.

"My name is Benjamin Morrow. I was once a prince, the seventh son of King Daniel of Veldony."

"King Daniel?" repeated Nita from the kitchen. "I thought the king of Veldony was named Victor. That was what we heard last time news of Veldony came through."

Morrow laughed slightly. "Victor is the king now. He's my oldest brother. Our father was King Daniel. He was a good man, but looking back at him I can see that he was foolish. Our mother died when I was only a child. Father expressed his grief by alternatively doting on us and ignoring us completely. He would give us fabulous presents and then refuse to let us leave the nursery for a month. My brothers and my sister and I all missed our mother, though I had barely known her, and we missed our father too. I was too young to remember, but at one time he had been a very good father—always playing with my older siblings and laughing with them and our mother. After she died…he just wasn't the same.

"It was my sister who held us together. Her name was—is—Eliza. She's the oldest. She was always a sort of second mother to us. I certainly looked to her as a mother figure, being too young to really remember our real mother. Eliza was kind and gentle and she would play all sorts of games with us, but she'd also make sure we did our lessons and cleaned up the messes we made. She was always there to help with a problem or to hold you if you needed to cry."

"She sounds wonderful," said Nita from the kitchen.

"She was. She still is, though it's been three years now since I've seen her. In any case, she was the one who kept us all in line, especially when Father was away, but we all knew she wasn't really our mother. What's more, we all knew we needed a real mother. Father knew too. That's why, one day, he called us all to his throne room. He was dressed for traveling. He said he was going to search for a wife and he would bring us back a new mother. We were delighted. Eliza promised him we would plan a celebration for when our new mother came. Father left and we spent the next two months planning and working, getting everything ready. We all wanted the new mother to be happy and love us.

"Father came back at last and he did indeed bring a new wife with him. Her name was Daria. She was very beautiful, but something about her cold skin and pale eyes made us uneasy. While we were around Father, she treated us kindly, but the first time we were alone with her we found out that she was not a kind woman at all. She gave us a warning—if we did anything to stop her from gaining what she had come for, we would pay dearly for it. Some of my brothers—Franklin and Peter, the second and third oldest and a pair of hotheads—wanted to challenge her and find out what she really wanted. Victor and Eliza managed to convince them that it wasn't a good idea, that she was dangerous. It was only a matter of time before we found out exactly how dangerous."

Nita emerged from the kitchen carrying two steaming mugs of tea and sat down in the chair across from Morrow. She handed one mug to Morrow, who slipped one hand out from under his cloak to hold it.

"What happened?" she asked. "What did your stepmother do?"

Morrow took a sip of his tea before continuing with his story. "Well, you see, after our new stepmother had been at the palace for three months, strange things started happening. At first it was only small things—food tasting funny at supper, some of us children getting little colds or falling down and getting hurt. Father didn't really think anything of it. We were children, after all, and most of us were boys. We had a reputation for being reckless and wild, running around and roughhousing and playing out in the rain. But then the events worsened. My brother Oliver, who is only a year older than me, and I found a snake in our toy box. It burst out and would have bitten us if Oliver hadn't had the idea to pull the toy box down on it. That knocked it out and gave us time to scream for Victor and Eliza. I'll never forget the look on Victor's face when he saw that snake. I've never seen him so mad. He stomped on the thing with his boot several times before picking it up and then told us that it was a poisonous snake. If it had bitten us, both Oliver and I would have died almost immediately.

"Eliza wanted to tell Father what had happened, but Victor said no. Father was wrapped up in affairs of state, and his new wife had him wrapped around her finger. He would never believe that we hadn't put the snake in the toy box as a joke on our older brothers. We decided to keep a closer watch on our stepmother, and to stick together at all times. It would be harder for her to attack all of us at once, we thought. We didn't realize we were playing right into her hands.

"There were other incidents—heavy objects falling, stairs getting slippery for no reason, sharp items being hidden in our beds. Somehow we always managed to escape without serious injuries, but there were many close calls. Every time something happened, Eliza and Victor argued about whether or not to tell Father. Victor always won.

"All of this happened in the year that I was nine. A year passed and the accidents grew worse. We started getting hurt. Franklin fell down a flight of stairs and broke his arm. Our middle brother, Marcus, fell gravely ill for a time after eating a sweet our stepmother offered him. Our stepmother then offered to treat him, claiming she was good at making potions and medicines. Eliza took a stand against her, luckily, and insisted that the court physician tend Marcus. We kept a close eye on the man and made sure our stepmother did not influence him in any way, and gradually Marcus recovered. Our fifth brother, Jacob, was bitten by one of the hunting dogs and the wound grew infected. Again, Eliza made sure that the court physician tended him and the wound healed.

"By the time I was ten, we were all beginning to fear for our lives. Oliver and I didn't quite understand what was going on, but we knew that it was dangerous and that we could die if it continued. There had been so many close calls—it was only a matter of time before one of us perished. Finally one night Victor and Eliza called us all together and told us that we were going to run away and hide. There was a summer cottage in the woods where we had gone back when our mother was alive. We could go there and hide and we would be fairly safe. Frank and Peter were obstinate—they wanted to stay and fight Daria, but Eliza convinced them that it was foolish. The rest of us asked questions—what should we bring, how long would we be gone, when would we come back. Victor and Eliza tried to answer them as best they could, but they just didn't know some of the answers. At last they told us to pack and be ready to go the next night. It seemed like a good plan. We thought we could get away. We all packed that night, shoving the things we thought we'd need into bags. Then we stowed them under our beds. The plan was for Eliza to come and wake us up just before dawn the next morning so we could run. We went to bed and fell asleep, certain that our plan would work and we would soon be safe.

"The next thing I remember is hearing a sort of chanting and having something tossed over me. Then I was in a lot of pain—it felt as if my bones were reshaping themselves. I tried to scream but the only noise that came out was a sort of honking. By the time I recovered my senses enough to look at my surroundings, I was seeing the world in a whole new way. I heard honking near me and saw five white swans standing around me. I looked down at myself. I had a long neck and was covered in white feathers. My arms were wings, and my feet were webbed. I was a swan too. I tried to cry, but all that came out was more honking.

"I heard a cackle and looked up as far as I could. I found myself looking into the twisted face of my stepmother. She reached out a hand to grab me. Just then I heard another voice cry out. 'Leave them alone!' It was my sister. Eliza, in her nightgown, had burst into the room. Our stepmother turned on her.

" 'What are you doing here, girl?' she snapped. 'And what have you done with my toads?'

" 'Toads?' repeated my sister, staring blankly at our stepmother. She shrugged one shoulder. 'I never saw any toads. What have you done to my brothers?'

"Daria cackled. 'I've turned them into swans,' she said. As she launched into an explanation of how she had done it, Eliza motioned at us with one hand. The largest swan—who must have been Victor—nodded at her and then at the rest of the swans. He moved cautiously toward the window. We followed. We clambered up onto the window seat and Victor unhooked the latch with his beak. Then, slowly and awkwardly, my brothers and I flew out of our bedroom window and into the night, leaving our sister behind with the witch."