"Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks." - James A. Baldwin
Hello readers. I enjoyed writing this chapter. The background part of the fairy tale is over and the difficult challenge for our brave and beautiful heroine will begin.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, though I have copied Katniss' braid today.
Please read and review, think of it like sponsoring my story in the fanfiction arena.
Annie awoke to the sound of a cracking fire and the smell of the sea.
"Here dearie, have some tea." An old women held out a cup of herbal tea.
She took the cup tentatively and sipped at it slowly, soothing her raw throat. As she moved her arms, several leaves shifted around, to reveal healing skin.
The old woman, who was the Mags that had given the Queen the lure, smiled so gently that Annie felt herself instinctively trusting the woman.
"I treated your stings and seeped out the poison using these leaves. They only grow in a few locations, mainly where fresh water meets seawater. You wouldn't have made it much longer if I hadn't come home and found you passed out in front of my door. Fortunately for you, I make a habit of collecting these leaves."
"Thank you." Annie said, moved by how much this woman had cared for her, a complete stranger!
Mags smiled and patter her knee. "Now why don't you tell me how a girl like you ended up being stung by tracker jackers and only had an old woman like me for help?"
As Annie looked into her kind old eyes, she spilled out the whole tale about hearing her brothers cries of pain and how she had been stung and seen them dead and how she hoped it wasn't real but she couldn't be sure what was real and what was not anymore.
As she was about to start sobbing again, Mags asked for her help repairing a net.
With her hands busy and her mind focused on counting stitches, she was able to stop her hysterics and remind herself that she was alive and the net and Mags were real and she wasn't in a nightmare anymore.
Mags noticed how the girl had calmed herself. "Listen dearie, it's a hard fact of life but sometimes the bad dreams are real, your brothers are gone. If they weren't stung like you, something happened to make them leave you all alone."
As the Annie's lip trembled, Mags handed her another cup of tea. "Still, the good dreams can be real too. This net is real, you are real and alive and you can try to help save your brothers."
"I can?" Annie questioned, green eyes wide with hope.
"Yes, dearie." Mags smiled. "Even a spark of hope can keep the darkness of fear at bay. And remember, even though pain and death are real, so is love. As long as you keep love in your heart, you will know it is more real than any threat or any danger."
"Do you know where my brothers are?" Annie asked, heart beating rapidly.
"No, I'm sorry dearie." Mags patted her knee. "But you still need time to heal. You've been out for almost three days now."
As Annie tried not to cry, she swallowed hard and continued fixing the net.
Mags sought to distract her and taught her a nice song about a merman and a maid. She also told her tales of King Triton and his love of the sea and how his wife had won him over
Over the next fews days as Annie recovered, she learned how to make hear own thread from flax and how to start a fire and cook some basic stews.
While Annie appreciated learning these skills, she yearned to be with her brothers once more.
Finally, Mags said Annie had healed enough that she could go. She helped the girl packed a satchel up with some needles, a net, and a few cooking utensils. Though Annie tried to refuse the gifts, Mags wouldn't hear of it.
When they hugged good-bye, Mags whispered in Annie's ear, "I wish I could take this burden from you, child."
Annie shook her head and kissed Mags cheek. "Thank you, but they're my brothers. They have always looked out for me. I must look out for them. This is my path to follow. I need to be brave now."
Annie walked through the woods for a couple of days until she reached the sea at the far wood's edge. She had gotten discouraged and worried she would never find her brothers. Still, something was urging her to wait here.
So, she sat by the water's edge and waited.
Just before sunset, she heard a rustling, and saw six swans come flying in.
They alighted on the ground and as they did, they changed into boys.
Annie jumped up and clapped for joy, for these were her brothers. "Oh I am so glad I found you!"
The brothers were equally delighted to see their precious sister. For a while, they all stood around, laughing with joy and hugging.
"But what has happened to you?" Annie asked once they had calmed down. "I went to find you and only found feathers and a rose before I was stung by tracker jackers."
"The King made us into mutts." Gale spat out bitterly.
Cinna added. "Every day and night, we remain in swan form."
"Only one night a year, can we resume human form." Beetee said sadly.
"Oh," Annie gasped and clutched Rory to her tightly. "Is there nothing that can be done?"
"Well-" Beetee started.
"No!" Gale cut him off. "It's too difficult."
"What is it?" Annie begged. "Please tell me."
She looked around but none of them would meet her eyes.
She rolled her shoulders back and marched over to Haymitch.
"Haymitch, as a Princess and your sister, I order you to tell me how you can be saved."
Haymitch went to refuse but saw the fire in her eyes. He looked around at his brothers, each one of them and when he got to Rory, he sighed and nodded at Beetee.
"When we were transformed into swans, we were in a lot of pain and uncertain of what was happening. But as we were changing, we gained all of this knowledge we never had before...instincts if you will."
Gale clarified, "We learned how to behave as natural swans, flying, swimming, knowing what to eat, what predators to avoid, the urge to migrate south."
Boggs continued for him, "We also learned that somehow, we know terms of our curse. We can only assume human form once a year, from sunset to sunrise but the rest of the time, we live as swans."
Annie interrupted with a tremble in her voice, "Only one night?"
Rory hugged her. "We chose to spend it with you."
Annie smiled and kissed him on the head and then felt her resolve solidify further. "How can I save you?"
Gale looked at her with a hard look in his eyes. "You'd have to endure the pain and suffering that the King intended for us to wreak on the world and take it upon yourself."
Annie felt her heart rate quicken but she strove to appear confident. "How?"
"You'd have to sew shirts made from stinging nettles from making the thread, spinning and sewing for all six of us." Beetee looked around at his brothers.
"And," Boggs surprised Annie and filled her brothers' hearts with dread as he continued.
"You'd have to complete your task without saying a word or making a sound."
Beette added, "The writing of messages is also forbidden."
Haymitch continued in morose tone. "You aren't allowed to laugh aloud or sing or speak or else, we die as though a knife stabbed our hearts."
Gale scoffed bitterly. "You have to pay for all the voices we'd have silenced with our call. As it is now, our calls only cause loneliness, not death."
Annie felt herself pale, "But..but..but what if I scream or gasp from pain or surprise...I can't stop myself from making a sound...just...how..." She broke off panting and looked around in a panic.
Rory patted her hand and Boggs reached out for her arm. "Dear sister, we can take care of that part for you. If you say an oath and we mix our blood with your blood, it will be as though you were born mute."
"But then you could never speak or laugh or sing again until six years have passed at which time we must be cured or stay forever mutts." Gale stated firmly.
Annie looked away for a moment to hide the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"We'd understand if it's too hard," Gale began, his voice hard and tight. "At any point, if you wanted to speak and tried deliberately, you would lift the muteness and could live a normal life."
"No!" Annie cried out. "No, I will do it. I will do my best to save you."
With that, she grabbed a knife from her bag and made a cut across her hand despite her brothers' gasps and cries of protest.
"I will save you." Her green eyes were as hard as emeralds and blazing with with her love and passion and resolve. She left no room for argument, gave no quarter and her brothers knew when she had that look in her eyes, there was nothing on Earth that could stop her.
They each made shallow cuts on their palms and they mixed their blood with Annie's and smeared it over her lips and throat.
When the blood touched her skin, Annie vowed, "No matter how long it takes or how much pain I suffer, I will never stop until I saved you, until you are human, my brothers, for I love you."
As the last word left her mouth, Annie felt her head spin and her throat tighten and she made to cry out but her breath was suddenly gone. She was trapped in a vortex where she could not see anything but blood red roses turning black and only heard cries of pain, of agony and her throat was burning and her mouth was filled with ash.
Just when she thought she could bear it no longer, it suddenly stopped.
Her throat felt normal now and the taste of ashes was gone.
She looked around at her brothers and touched her throat in question.
They all smiled at her sadly, answering her unspoken question of if the spell worked.
She smiled back at them and moved to hug them when she noticed the darkness lessening.
The sun rose, shining its beautiful light over the scene and as she blinked, her brothers were swans once more.
They honked as they took to the sky and she waved at them, feeling the loneliness of their separation already.
So what do you think of their curse and how Annie has to break it?
I added the writing bit to the original fairy tale curse since I always thought that would be an easy way out of the not talking part, especially since most royalty would know how to read.
Anyway, I always enjoy hearing your thoughts so feel free to share to with me below.