Chapter 24: Minerva's Story

Rose fell asleep soon after dinner. I suppose all the fairy tales she told the two girls wore her out. I was about to think what a blessing it was until she started to snore. It was worse than her talking. I looked around for a pillow to smother her with, but pillows are hard to come by in a cottage. They just use sacks of grain and I wasn't bent on murder, yet. So wheat would have to wait.

In fact that was exactly what I got use when I finally got around to going out to the loft, my bed. There wasn't a lot of room in the little house, but I didn't mind. The loft was soft with hay and wasn't a hard wooden ground or a rocky terrain.

For a while I sat looking at the stars, just thinking about what had happened during the last few days. It seemed like forever since I was at the castle. So many things had changed. I had changed. My outlook on life, my kingdom, and people had changed. I was sure it had been for the good, and I was sure that if all crown princes did what I was doing, the world would be a much better place. I think if I have a son I will send...

My thoughts were suddenly broken by Minerva's voice below me.

"Lance, are you up?"

"Yes, and quite literally." I rolled over on my side to look down at her.

"Did the giants, by any chance, give you a paste?"

"A paste? No, my back is completely better."

For seem reason, I think she blushed in the darkness. How weird. "Not for your back, for my...injury."

Oh, yeah. I had totally forgotten about her arm. It probably hurt like nobody's business. After all she practically died with that thing and nothing had been done with it since the giants. I went to the ladder and started climbing down.

"I haven't even thought about it, sorry. Let me see it."

Like before she hesitated. She's so stubborn. Girls are so stubborn. Believe me, the girl I'm going to marry is not going to be the average stubborn girl. Oh, no. I can hardly live with my sisters and mom, I'm not even gonna think about having a wife who resists everything you do and say. That would be Ana, by the way.

I grabbed her arm without a second thought and pushed back the sleeve to get a better look. Because the cut was red and a little pussy I knew it was infected. I made a tsk tsk sound and shook my head.

"Why didn't you say anything, Minerva?"

"Could you have helped me?" She asked, sounding a little defensive.

"No, but the T clan could have and I bet Bob's wife is an expert on plants and herbs. Most farmers are. They have to be, since there are no such things as royal physicians here. They're use to it, and would have helped you in a jiffy, if you asked."

"But they probably never had to deal with an injury inflicted by a demon," she said quietly and a little sullenly.

I would have rebuked her for her negative attitude if something else hadn't caught my eye. I brushed back her sleeve a little farther to see, and she immediately jerked back. But I had seen enough, and the object left me speechless and full of fear. Yes, I repeat, fear.

Engrained in Minerva's forearm was tattoo. The fact that she had a tattoo didn't surprise me, much. I'm sure lots of barbaric Gauls had tattoos. But it was the shape and picture that rocked my mind with shock and terror. It was a black snake with a piercing red eye winding its filthy body around a human skull. This was the symbol of the demons.

"You...you're a demon!" I managed to gasp out.

She shook her head briskly, pain and frustration showing in her eyes and face. "No, I'm not. I'm not what you think I am. I swear."

True. "But you are their helper," I accused hoarsely, remembering the book on dark magic and the evil things of the world. "You work for them. You've sold your soul to them. "

"I have no...I have. You're right I have, but unwillingly. I was forced. Please, understand, Lance, I'm not what you think I am. I am more like a slave than a helper."

I hardly heard her. The fact that she had associated with the demons was still holding my mind. A billion questions and thoughts surged in my head and I gripped the ladder, thinking furiously.

"And that's not the worst of it. I have been cursed."

My mouth dropped open.

"Wait, let me explain. It's long and complicated and very painful."

She sighed heavily and sat on bale of hay, before beginning her sad tale.

"When I was fifteen I lived in Gaul with my family. We were like the T clan, one big happy family with no problems and cares. Then I met Eric. Eric is the brother of Robina, I told you he was my betrothed. He seemed like a very nice man, my father and mother approved of him while he started courting me. I thought I loved him, but I was too young to know about that stuff. I tried to tell myself I loved him, but I knew I didn't, and therefore would continue to refuse his proposal of marriage and ask for more time.

"Then one day, he found me alone. He was angry at me for taking such a long time to decide. He was very different from what I knew of him. He was coarse and rude during our conversation, he demanded I marry him. Of course I objected, but by then I didn't have a choice. He showed me his powers. Yes, his powers. He was a worker for the demons. Not one himself, he is pure human, but he has very strong connections with them. I tried to run away, but he was too strong and I was taken to... to..."

She hesitated.

I was afraid to talk. "Their lair?" I finished after a pause.

"Yes. Their lair. The very heart of the demon world and put in prison."

"How did you survive that?" I asked, aghast that she had been to the very root of evil itself. No one to my knowledge had ever returned alive or sane.

"Eric still had plans for me and wouldn't let them touch me. But I was kept in one of their dungeons. Every day Eric would come in and demand I marry him. One day he brought my twin brother with him. He was beaten and was very scared, especially when he saw me. Eric threatened to kill him if I did not only marry him, but also give my life to the demons. What could I do? I couldn't bare to let them kill my brother. My world practically revolved around him. He didn't want me to do it but I did it anyway. That's when Eric had the brand burned into my skin while my brother was dragged away. A few minutes late he was taken back to my room with his head covered. I saw...I saw them chop his head off."

She paused then said bitterly, "Eric never kept his promises. They branded me with a hot iron and put that dreadful tattoo on. I hurt so bad, I'm sure I would have died as I listened to the demons put a curse on me. They couldn't have my soul completely because I was not willing, but they did curse me. I still remember what that gnarled witch said to me." She snorted with dry humor. "I remember thinking, 'That doesn't even rhyme.' She said, 'We throw a disguise over you. As long as you have a cold heart inside, you will act, sound, and even look like a teenage boy to the whole world, except to those who have this symbol of the skull and sacred snake.'"

"They think their snake is sacred?" I couldn't help saying. I was reminded of the trap of the wild men.

She smiled wanly. "They try to believe it. Wickedly sacred they actually call it. But I don't think they believe it. There was only one way the curse could be broken."

"Let me guess," I said, not feeling quite as nervous about the almost-not-really-forced-to-helper-of-the-demons that was sitting right next to me as I had been before. "Prince Charming had to kiss you for the first time."

"I was half expecting that. But that's not what she said. She said, 'But if you learn to love someone without magic, then your disguise will drop and you will be seen as a girl as plain as day. As your love grows your body will weaken until you die in a miserable heap of broken heart."

I opened my mouth in surprise and said, "That's...pretty...sad."

"There's more," she said and I think she almost glared at me. Almost. "That's only part of it. This is what will happen if the other half doesn't work out. That's when Prince Charming comes in. The way to totally break the spell is for the one I love returns my love in words, then I will grow stronger and will be able to break my chains and be free from Eric and the demons."

I waited, not sure what to say.

"That's not the worst of it."

Oh. Great. Now what. Next thing you know she's going to say I'm the Prince Charming. Heh, heh, wouldn't that be funny?

"I love you, Lance."

I had to sit. I sat down hard on a rung of ladder and missed. I hardly noticed I had hit the floor as a puff dust came up. I just stared up at Minerva in shock. She didn't say what I thought she said, right? She had said...

"I love you, Lance," she repeated.

I blinked. It wasn't funny, at all.

"I'm sorry but for some reason that I'm still trying to figure out, I've fallen head over heels for you."

The girl was killing me. First she tells me she's a demon, almost, then she pours out this story of how she was cursed and now she says that she's fallen in love, with me! My brain couldn't handle all these bizarre facts. It was bursting with questions, rejections, and suspicions. Waves of shock were playing thousands of confused symphonies through my body.

And with all these thoughts and feelings, the only thing I could stupidly say was, "Am I dreaming?"

She choked out a dry laugh, although I thought nothing was humorous at all.

"I'm sorry, Lance, but you are very much awake. I wish I were dreaming."

I was speechless. I mean, what could I say?

What would you say if some girl you don't have any feelings forjust told you she loved you and because of it she was dying?

'Sorry, lady, but I don't love you at all, in fact I use to practically hate you. I can speak at your funeral though.'

No. Too harsh. Harsh but true.

'I love you too, babe, let's get married tonight and celebrate by dancing til dawn!'

I couldn't do that either without sounding like a complete liar.

Please, tell what you would have said. I need the advice. You probably would have said: Nothing! You would be stuttering at most. I didn't even do that. I just gaped and blinked. Like a fish. I felt like Conrad, only worse. At least I didn't say anything stupid.

I honestly didn't even like Minerva, in that respect. The only thing I felt for her was pure pity. To me she was like a little sister who use to be a little brother/cousin,and because of that I felt horrible. I almost wished I did love her so she would be able to be rid of her Eric fellow and the evil spirits.

I opened my mouth for the fifth time, but nothing came out.

Minerva began to cry. Cry! I had never heard her even squeak except for when she was asleep that one night. I suppose she had every right to cry, seeing the predicament she was in, but just hearing her sob, and seeing her tears blew me away. She wasn't...Minerva, when she cried. She was something else. I suppose she was the dying girl whose heart I had accidentally broken.

That made me feel ten times worse, and curious. I wanted to know the normal Minerva who lived before Eric came along. Before Perceval, before she fell in love with me. Had I ever caught a glimpse of her? Would I ever catch a glimpse of her? Could I even catch a glimpse of her? Why was I even thinking this?

"I'm sorry."

It took me a while to realize the stutter had come from me.

"I don't usually cry," she said looking away and ignoring my pathetic apology. "Last time I cried was when my brother was killed."

She didn't know she cried in her sleep, I dully thought. I suddenly realized that her crying meant she was growing weaker.

I was dumbfounded and was also dumb. "I don't know what to say, I..."

"Don't say anything," she cried, jumping up. She didn't dare look at me. "I know I'm getting weaker and soon I'll die. You can't help it. It's not your fault. I...I'll be better in the morning. Just forget about all this!"

With those words she ran out of the barn, still crying.