Swan Wing
by: Tiger Lily21
Chapter Three: The Story Ends
Morrow drank the rest of his tea and bent to set the mug down on the floor. Nita watched him in fascination. "What happened next?" she asked.
"My brothers and I returned to find Eliza gone," said Morrow, "and as she had suspected, we were terrified. It took us several days to figure out what had happened, and even then we did not know all the details. We only knew that a man had come and taken our sister away. We began searching the country for her every day, flying far and wide. Nearly a year passed before we tracked her down. By then she had married Prince Geoffrey and become pregnant with his child. We saw that she was happy, and that she was still working on the shirts and keeping to her vow of silence, and so we decided to leave her alone. When the shirts were done, she would come and find us, we were sure. After all the pain she was going through to break the curse, we thought she deserved some happiness.
"We all waited eagerly for the news of Eliza's baby. We would not be able to visit our niece or nephew when the child was born, we knew, but we hoped we would be able to be a part of its life when the spell was broken. At last the day came. An announcement was made to the entire kingdom: the prince's strange, mute bride had given birth to a beautiful boy child. He was named Alexander, after Geoffrey's father. Curious, we brothers all took turns flying by the nursery window to see our new nephew. He truly was a beautiful child, and Eliza was radiant with joy. We were glad to see her so happy, and each of us dreamed of holding little Alexander one day and getting to know him. Alas, our joy was short-lived.
"My brothers and I took turns watching Eliza and Alexander to make sure they were all right. There was always at least one of us around the palace at all times, whether in human or swan form. One night it was my turn to stand watch. I stood outside the nursery window on the ground floor and watched Alexander sleep peacefully in his cradle. Then, as I watched, a dark shape crept into the room and picked up the baby. At first I thought it was Eliza, but then the figure turned its face toward the window and I recognized the cold eyes of my stepmother. She did not see me, and turned away again, carrying my nephew out of the room.
"Angrily, I broke the window and clambered through. I ran after the witch but could not catch her. I followed her all the way to the outskirts of the city. There she set little Alexander down on the dirt and left him. I waited until I was sure she was gone, and then bent down and picked up my nephew. He looked up at me with frightened eyes and I held him close. 'I'll take care of you,' I told him. 'I can't bring you back to your mother—they'll know something happened when they see the window. But I'll take you back to live with me until it's safe. I'm your Uncle Benjamin. Your other uncles and I will care for you. Come on now. We have to hurry. Once the sun comes up, I won't have arms to carry you.' With that, I sprinted back through the city, hoping to beat the dawn.
"I barely made it back to the place where my brothers were before I transformed into a swan. I managed to set Alexander down before it happened. Then I had to explain to my brothers why I had brought our nephew home. It was difficult—swans don't speak English, and they don't understand certain things. Still, I managed to get the message across and convince them that we had to care for him. We couldn't do anything that day. I felt so bad—we had no way to feed him or change him or comfort him. When he soiled himself the first time, we just pulled on the diaper with our beaks until it came off and then let him go around without one for the rest of the day. As soon as night fell, we cleaned him up, found him some milk to drink, and tried our best to care for him. We made plans for how to care for him during the day. Looking back, we were completely inept, but somehow we managed.
"Meanwhile, Eliza had discovered that Alexander was gone. The broken window convinced Geoffrey that a thief must have broken in and stolen the baby from the outside. He sent search parties out and set a reward for the return of Alexander, but nothing worked. The witch suggested that Eliza had done away with him, that she was a witch and had eaten her own child. Both Eliza and Geoffrey were horrified at her accusation, but of course Eliza could not defend herself. She sat in the nursery every day and knitted, weeping silently. Four of the six shirts were done. Two years remained in her vow of silence.
"The sorrow passed slowly. A year came and went, and Eliza had another child: a girl this time. They named her Isabella. Eliza never let her out of her sight. She stayed in the nursery constantly and tried not to sleep for fear that Isabella would be taken from her as well. However, she grew so tired that one night she fell asleep. Marcus was watching her that night. He spotted the witch sneaking into the room and stealing the baby from the cradle. He could not break the window as I had; he did not want to wake Eliza. Instead, he ran to the place where the witch had left Alexander and hid there. The witch came and laid Isabella on the ground. Once she was gone, Marcus went and picked up our niece and raced the dawn back to our dwelling.
"We had learned from our experience raising Alexander in the past year and so it was easier to care for Isabella. The siblings grew used to seeing us change back and forth between forms and they were two of the pleasantest babies I've ever met. But while we raised Eliza's children, Eliza was being accused for being a witch again. With no evidence of a thief from the outside this time, Geoffrey was more willing to listen to his stepmother's wicked lies. Even worse, six months after Isabella disappeared, Eliza ran out of nettles. She had to go out and pick more. The only place they grew around the palace was the royal cemetery, so that was where she went. She didn't realize that the witch had convinced Geoffrey to follow her. When he saw where his wife was and what she was doing, Geoffrey became convinced. She was a witch, and therefore she had to die.
"Geoffrey had her thrown into the dungeon to await punishment. Eliza took her knitting with her, working frantically to finish the last shirt. She knitted and knitted. We watched her, but we had no opportunity to free her while she was in the castle. We planned to wait until she went to trial and then swoop down and snatch her to safety. However, the wicked witch convinced Geoffrey that Eliza did not need a trial, that it was clear she was a witch and so she must be burned along with her cursed nettle shirts. On the evening of the last day before the sixth anniversary of Eliza's vow, she was taken from the dungeon under a heavy guard. She was allowed to bring the nettle shirts because they were to be burned along with her. All the way to the outskirts of town, where she was to be burned, Eliza knitted frantically, trying to finish the last sleeve of the last shirt. She did not finish it before they tied her to the stake and piled the wood around her. They allowed her to hold the shirts. The witch herself held the torch to light the fire. It was then that we brothers swooped down to save our sister.
"We had brought the net with us and planned to throw it over her and pick her up and carry her away. Instead, Eliza threw the shirts—including the unfinished one—up into the air at us. We realized what was happening and flew toward them. I'm still not sure if we flew into the shirts or if they flew at us, but somehow they went over us and the next thing I knew we were all on the ground, human, and Eliza was screaming.
" 'I'm not a witch!' she screamed. 'I'm not a witch! I don't know what happened to the children. I haven't been able to speak for six years, because I had to save my brothers.' She turned to look at us. 'Oh brothers, you're human again!'
"We all nodded, and then spoke up in Eliza's defense. We took turns telling the whole story. Geoffrey ordered Eliza released. The children, whom we had hidden nearby, were brought out and their parents covered them with kisses. In the midst of this, the witch snuck away. Geoffrey sent the guards after her and the rest of us went back to the palace. It wasn't until we reached it and calmed down that I realized what had happened."
