The Phantom of the Palace
"Cinderella? Cinderella, can you hear me?"
The voice was a gentle summons, requesting her presence but not demanding it, solicitous in tone, concerned in volume. It made her want to answer, calling her back from out of the darkness into which she had fallen. Cinderella opened her eyes and was surprised by the amount of light that assailed them. She remembered darkness but now there was so much light and-
Cinderella gasped. The man, the man in the mask from out of the darkness, where was-
" Cinderella?" Charles blocked out some of the excessive light with his body. "Cinderella, what's wrong?"
"Charles," Cinderella murmured with an audible sky of relief, some of her fears subsiding with the mere presence of her Prince, who would protect her without doubt. "Oh, thank goodness, I...where am I? What happened?"
Cinderella looked around; she was in a sitting room of some sort, where the carpet was salmon pink and the curtains were crimson. She was lying on a red velvet settee, and sat up to get a get a better view of her surroundings. Cinderella moved her legs off the settee, and as the toes of her slippers touched the floor Charles, who had been standing over her, sat down beside her.
"What happened?" Charles repeated, as he reached out to take hold of one of her gloved hands. "Cinderella, I was just about to ask you the same thing. You were late for dinner, so I came looking for you and I found you unconscious in one of the back corridors, as though you had fainted. What happened to you, and how did you end up there?"
"I...I got lost," Cinderella confessed sheepishly. "And I couldn't find anyone to up me find my way and I kept running into locked doors and-"
"My God," Charles whispered. "I am...I own myself an ass, Cinderella; somehow it never occurred to me that you wouldn't know where to go but how could you when you've only just arrived. And some parts of the palace are dangerous, you could have...please forgive my abject stupidity, I swear it will not happen again."
Cinderella smiled, to put him at his ease and lessen the anguish that he seemed to feel over her recent plight. "It's alright. You've found me now, and I'm sure it was just bad luck that I couldn't find anybody to show me where to go. Although..."
"Although?" Charles said. "What else?"
"There was...there was a man," Cinderella said. "He...I don't know where he came from but he grabbed me and shouted at me and...I don't remember anything else. I must have fainted I suppose but...but who was he?"
Charles's expression was grave. "Cinderella, this palace is a very old place, and like many old places it has many secrets. Some of them are dark secrets, very dark indeed, and some of them should never be spoken of aloud. What you saw, the phantom of the palace, is one of those." He smiled. "But don't worry yourself unduly; he will not harm so long as you stay away from the dark and forbidden sections of the palace. In the light, you will be safe."
"But how do I-"
"Tomorrow I will give you two attendants, to be your guides and companions," Charles said. "They will make sure that you don't go wandering off again."
Cinderella nodded. "I'm sure that's for the best," she said. She wasn't keen on encountering the masked figure again. "And...and it will be nice to have people I can talk to. I...I haven't had very many friends."
"Perfect, two birds with one stone," Charles declared delightedly. He got to his feet, still holding Cinderella by the hand. "And now, my love, shall we go to dinner?"
"Dinner? But, am I not too late?" Cinderella asked.
Charles expression mingled fondness with amusement. "You are my bride to be, if you miss dinner then a new dinner will be prepared for you. And besides, I haven't eaten either."
"Are you sure? I don't want to put anyone to any trouble on-"
"No trouble at all, I guarantee it."
Cinderella lifted up the hem of her skirt with her free hand as she got to her feet. "Then please, lead the way."
"This time, I shall," Charles said, with a smile that set Cinderella's heart fluttering.
And so, holding tightly on to her hand, Charles led her into the spacious, empty dining room.
"You look truly beautiful, by the way," Charles said as he pulled out a chair for her. "Absolutely stunning."
"Thank you," Cinderella replied as she sat down. "So long as you like it, that means everything to me."
Charles talked to her while dinner was prepared, and while they ate. Cinderella had little to contribute to the conversation, which ranged widely across subjects such as art, history, politics. In truth she followed very little of what he said, but feared to say so in case he found out that she was stupid; there were times when she thought - she feared - that he had realised the depths of her ignorance and senseless, but then he always smiled, and paid her some sweet comment to put her at ease. And then, when dinner - a wonderful meal consisting of leak, tomato and onion soup, braised shoulder of lamb and a caramel pudding - was finished, Charles took her by the hand again and led her back the correct way to her bed chamber.
"I notice you ate very heartily just now," he said, as they approached the threshold.
Cinderella chuckled. "I was a little hungry," she admitted. "And the food was so delicious."
Charles laughed too. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, but you might want to watch your portions in future; you wouldn't want to ruin your lovely figure, now would you?"
Cinderella hesitated, uncertain of what to say, he...how could he say something like to her, it was...it was rude.
But also honest at the same time. Her beauty was Cinderella's sole great claim upon his heart, if she lost that...she should probably thank him for pointing that out to her.
She couldn't quite bring herself to do that, but she did say, "Yes, I mean no I...I'll be more careful in future."
"I'm sure you will," Charles said, and he brought her to her room and kissed her goodnight before delivering her into the waiting arms of Chauvelin.
Chauvelin asked Cinderella no questions, and when Cinderella tried to talk to her about the night she had had she received so little in the way of answer from her lady's make that she soon gave up, and sank into silence as Chauvelin got her undressed, cleaned the make-up off her face and brushed her hair before helping her into her night-gown.
"Um, Chauvelin," Cinderella murmured, as she held up the white silk night-gown. "Are you sure this is what I'm meant to wear?"
"Quite sure, ma'am," sniffed Chauvelin. "Is anything amiss?"
Cinderella frowned. It...it wasn't...it was very pretty, but it showed a lot more of her than she expected from her bed clothes: her curves, her arms, her legs, her breasts. Form-fitting, with a plunging neckline and sleeves that were nearly non-existent, it didn't look very warm either.
"Could I not just wear my old night-gown?"
"That has been disposed of ma'am, it was quite unsuitable."
"Oh," Cinderella said. She looked down. "I see. Well, I suppose this will do just fine." It wasn't as if she had much choice.
Chauvelin helped Cinderella to put it on, not that Cinderella really needed the assistance to do that, and then waited as Cinderella climbed into the luxurious bed.
So soft! The mattress felt as though it was about to swallow her up like quicksand.
"Goodnight, Chauvelin," Cinderella said. "Thank you for all your help."
"Ma'am," Chauvelin replied, in a curt fashion and with very little warmth, as she blew out the candle and walked out the door. It creaked a little as she closed it, and as the door closed all light in Cinderella's room vanished and she was plunged into complete darkness.
Cinderella tolled onto her side and closed her eyes as she rested her head upon her exceedingly fluffy pillow. She thought of Charles, in his own room; had he gone to bed, or was he working on some business of state? Cinderella imagined that, at the very moment that she was thinking about him, he was thinking of her too, and the imagining brought a smile to her face. She was the luckiest girl in the world, without a doubt.
With a mind filled with such thoughts Cinderella sank into repose, and her slumbering thoughts returned to the previous night and to the wonderful dance that they had shared together.
"Cinderella?"
"Charles," Cinderella murmured contentedly, as she was roused once again from sleep by his voice but...but it was not so. Not the same. She was not, as she had been before, being called out of darkness into the light but rather out of pleasant dreams and into the darkness that consumed her bedroom.
She could see nothing. All was black; she couldn't see a thing or even make out a shadow or a silhouette.
"Charles?" Cinderella repeated, more loudly and more urgently now. "Charles, where are you? I can't see you, I can't see anything in this darkness."
"You were very beautiful, tonight," he said. "You…you have always been beautiful but tonight…you were even more lovely than when we met."
Cinderella giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. "Well, that's very sweet of you to say so, Charles, but surely you don't need to hide from me in the dark just to give me a compliment? Why don't you light a candle so we can talk?"
"I prefer the darkness; there are things I am forced to conceal."
"I don't understand," Cinderella replied. "What are you talking about, Charles?"
"Charles is not here, for which you should be grateful," Charles called to her from out of the dark. "He does not address you now."
Cinderella frowned. "Is...is this a game? I…I don't understand it if it is. Can you please just light a candle or something?"
"Listen more carefully!" he hissed. "Have you never heard this voice before?"
Cinderella laughed. "What are you talking about, of course I have! You..." She stopped, as memory surged to the forefront of her mind and made her blood chill. No, not Charles. It sounded like him but...but harsher all the same, less smooth and charming, less assured...and she had heard it before.
Cinderella clutched her quilt for all the good it would do her. "You! In the dark...you attacked me."
He sighed. "I am sorry if I frightened you. It wasn't my intent."
"If you didn't mean to frighten me then why did you spring at me from out of the darkness?" Cinderella demanded. "Why did you chase me through the corridors? Why are you here now except to frighten me?" It occurred to her that he might have come to do much worse than frighten her, and she prayed that he meant to do no more than give her a scare.
"For the same reason I am speaking to you now. To warn you."
Cinderella looked around futilely for some sign of him. "Where are you? I thought...Charles said you couldn't come in here."
"And he was right, I am not in your bed chamber, that is simply where you can hear me," said the Phantom. "You should never have come here. You must not stay."
"I've got nowhere else to go," Cinderella said.
"Anywhere would be better than here."
"You wouldn't say that if you knew," Cinderella replied. She poured, even though the Phantom probably couldn't see her. "And anyway, why should I leave? I don't want to go anywhere. I'm going to marry Charles and be his princess and-"
"You must not marry him!" exclaimed the Phantom. "He is not what he appears to be, nor is this place, nor are any of them! You must get out if here while you still can."
"Why?" Cinderella demanded. "Why should I do anything you say? I don't even know who you are. I love Charles, and he loves me too. Why should I believe you over my own heart?"
The Phantom was silent for a moment. "I suppose you have little enough cause to trust me. Has he told you that I am dangerous?"
"Yes," Cinderella murmured.
"And yet I did not harm you when you were at my mercy," the Phantom pointed out. "Ask dear Charles about the under chamber, or the west wing, or the fifth floor of the North tower. He will refuse you access to all of them."
"Some parts of the palace are dangerous," Cinderella said.
"Or forbidden," the Phantom replied from out of the dark. "When he refuses you will see that know whereof I speak. Go to any of those places yourself and you will see more than you wished to see. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Cinderella said in a voice that was soft but ultimately unyielding. "But there can be no love without trust, and I love Charles. I'm not going to test him because you ask me too."
"If you do not, if you do nothing, then I cannot protect you."
"I don't need you or anyone else to protect me from the man I love and want to marry," Cinderella said bluntly.
"Yes, you do," replied the Phantom. "Yes you do, as you will learn to your sorrow."
"All my sorrows have been chased away," Cinderella replied. "You don't know, you can't know, what my life has been like. Charles rescued me when I had almost no hope left. I love him for that, I've loved him from the moment that we met and I know that he loves me too. You can surprise me in the corridors, you can get into my room or speak to me here or however you're doing it, but you can't tell me how to feel and you can't tell me not to love him.
"I'll be his wife, and we'll be happy together."
There was no response. The room was silent. The only sound was the howling of the wind outside Cinderella's room.
"Hello?" Cinderella called. "Are you still there?"
Silence still, and unbroken by any kind of sound by Cinderella's own voice. She waited, and waited for a response that did not come.
But she did not fall asleep. She did not dare to fall asleep in case he came again. She stayed awake, hugging her blanket tight around her like a child, her blue eyes wide and a little desperate until the morning came, and with the dawn salvation.
Author's Note: So this has been a long time, hasn't it.
Slightly embarassingly, the bulk of this chapter (as in, all but a hundred words or so) was actually written in October last year. I'd forgotten about it and was about to start writing from scratch when I found the file.
I think the reason I didn't upload was because I wasn't sure what came next, but I actually think it works as a standalone chapter, brief though it is; the reason I left this for so long was that I was having trouble settling on the plot, but I think I'm much more sure of that now so hopefully the updates will come a little faster in future.
