FINDING PRINCE CHARMING
Chapter 3
Because of King John's relaxed border controls, Henryk and Margaret reached Cousin Suzanna's place without being stopped or recognised. Suzanna agreed to take the letter to King John, and assured Henryk she would take care that nobody saw her handing it over. It wasn't as easy as it sounded for a servant to give something to the king in such clandestine fashion. Day after day Suzanna returned, dejected because she had failed, but on the fifth day she came home, smiling happily.
"King John has got the letter, and nobody saw it. He's sure to come soon now."
'Soon' meant that three days later there was a knock at the door late at night. Suzanna carefully opened it and saw a cloaked and hooded figure standing in the street. He looked rather like the angel of death, except he didn't carry a scythe. Suzanna was petrified with fear until the figure spoke.
"Suzanna, don't leave me standing in the street so long, or all this subterfuge will be in vain."
She recognised the voice immediately, opened the door wide, and just managed not to say, "Welcome, Sire."
She ushered King John into her best parlour, and called Margaret and Henryk. They all sat down together around the table in the cosy room with the roaring fire. The clock tick, tick, ticked the minutes away, loud and irritating while the people remained absolutely silent. King John waited for Henryk to tell him why they needed the clandestine meeting. Margaret felt she couldn't talk to King John the way she talked to Henryk. And Henryk didn't know how to tell King John about his plan now that he was face to face with him.
Eventually Esmeralda's father became impatient and barked, "Well? Why did I have to come here? What's all the secrecy about?"
"I want to abduct Princess Esmeralda," Henryk blurted out.
"I beg your pardon?" King John was too surprised to be angry.
Margaret wasn't.
"Henryk! For crying out loud! Have you gone mad? You don't say things like that." She turned to King John and in a much quieter voice said, "Henryk thinks he can still win Princess Esmeralda, Your Majesty. He says that her reputation is undeserved, and that he could bring out the kind, friendly person he knows her as."
"If only that were true, but I'm afraid she's as bad as she is rumoured to be," King John said, shaking his head. "Besides, you yourself called her a lost cause."
"I know I did, but I've seen a different side of her."
Then Henryk told King John why he had changed his mind about Princess Esmeralda. King John listened with interest to what Henryk told him. He liked and respected the young man, and considered him to be a perfect match for his daughter. Henryk's father had been an old and dear friend, and they had often talked about a union between their children. Now their secret plans might come to fruition, even if in a somewhat unorthodox way.
King John wanted to make sure of one more thing.
"I trust you won't force Esmeralda into marriage. She will still have the possibility to say 'no', won't she?"
"Of course, Sir. Margaret will act as chaperone. If I can't win the princess, I'll let her go, but I hope to send a new Esmeralda to you."
"Okay, Henryk, I'll let you try. I trust you. One thing, though. I'll have to promise Esmeralda's hand in marriage to the man who brings her home. It is custom and people would wonder if I didn't promise this."
Henryk nodded. "I know, and if somebody finds us I'll fight him. I will be defending Esmeralda's right to choose a husband, as well as my chance to win her love. Though with a bit of luck nobody will find out who kidnapped her."
King John got up, ready to leave.
"Well, Henryk, hopefully next time we meet will be when Esmeralda introduces you as her intended. I'm looking forward to that, son."
"So am I, Sir."
Henryk stood up as well. The two kings shook hands. The friendship between their countries had been saved, war had been avoided, and a new friendship had been forged.
Suzanna opened the door for King John as soon as he had put his hood up again. Unseen he left the house, unseen he reached the palace. Esmeralda had gone to bed already. Quietly King John entered her room, something he hadn't done since she had stopped being a child. When he saw her sleeping peacefully, he had the urge to tell her, warn her about the intended kidnapping, but he trusted Henryk and he left as silently as he had gone in.
Together with Margaret, Henryk left Suzanna's house shortly after King John. It was early morning some days later before they reached the gates to Henryk's castle. That evening he ordered a groom to saddle his horse, and told Margaret to have the best guest room ready for Princess Esmeralda.
"What are you actually planning to do with her, Henryk?" Margaret asked.
"I already told you, Margaret. I intend to give her some tough love and-"
"You want to give her tough love?" Margaret interrupted. "You won't be able to do it. You've already told me she'll get the best guest room. How is that supposed to help her? Tough love? I'll give her some tough love. I'll treat her just the way she treats her own servants. See how she likes it. If there is even a glimmer of the girl you say she is, she'll understand. But I don't want you involved. Go and get her but don't talk to her; don't respond to her in any way. Then you leave her to me. This is what I intend to do."
Margaret explained her plan and after a few changes, toning down the toughness, Henryk agreed to it.
Margaret looked on as he left again. She shook her head.
"I hope this won't end in disaster," she thought.
Henryk went back to King John's country. He found an abandoned hut where he slept that night. From daybreak he waited, hidden in the bushes, for Esmeralda to appear. He saw her startled look when he grabbed the reins of her horse. She tried to stop it but of course if one horse starts running madly, the other one will follow.
He rode with her into the Dark Forest, where he let her horse go. She tried to escape, kicked him, bit him, but he took a rope, tied one end around her waist and the other end around his own. Then he lifted Esmeralda in front of him on his horse and raced through the forest.
When kicking, biting or scratching didn't help Esmeralda started to threaten him with dire consequences. She commanded him to take her back, fully expecting him to obey. She was after all a princess and everybody always did what she ordered them to do. Henryk, keeping Margaret's warning in mind, only reacted with a scornful laugh. Then Esmeralda began to insult him, calling him a monster, a scare-crow, an ugly beast, a fright, a nightmare, a ghoul. When she saw the dark look on his face she fell quiet.
Suddenly the seriousness of her situation dawned on her. Here she was in the middle of the aptly named Dark Forest with a man she had rejected and insulted. What did he plan to do with her? Get his revenge, no doubt, but how? Would he leave her in the wildest part of the forest, a prey to the wolves or bears or whatever wild creatures that lived here? Would he perhaps kill her? Perhaps, worst of all, he would force her to marry him. She had heard of these forced marriages and shuddered at the thought that she would be for ever at his mercy, his wife for him to do with as he pleased.
"Safest was not to antagonise him further," she thought.
The road became rockier, trees sparser, the forest ended and they entered a wild and uninhabited land. For days they travelled in silence through narrow gorges, on precarious paths with sheer drops on either side. Occasionally Henryk offered her some dry biscuits, an apple or some water. At first she refused until, forced by hunger, she accepted the food. They stopped every evening when it became too dark to travel safely. He made her lie next to him and whenever she got up to try and untie the rope, he pulled her down on top of him, then pushed her away and hissed: "Sleep". Worst of all was when she needed some privacy. He came along and turned his back on her while she went in the bushes. When he wanted to be alone, he tied her to his horse. The first time she had tried to ride away on it; the horse didn't move. The second time she had started walking, thinking the horse might follow. It had just waited till the rope was stretched tight, then pulled her back with a movement of his head which made her fall. After that she stopped trying, more afraid of losing her way in the wilderness than of her silent kidnapper.
When Esmeralda no longer tried to escape, Henryk stopped their aimless wandering and finally went straight to his country.
ooOOoo