The Law of the Prince Charming

Chapter 16.1

The Prince Charming looks out over the flat farmland surrounding him, coated in a blanket of gray skies. The horse trots forward obediently toward his destination.

No.

The Prince Charming knows his destination lay in front of him, a sleeping princess in need of rescue.

That is not me!

Tabitha struggles out of the nothingness. A moment previous she had not even been aware of herself, only the Prince Charming. She tries to move her hands and legs to guide the horse off its path, but they do not respond. She is floating in nothingness.

I can't move!

Panic floods her mind as she tries to force her body to move. Any part of her body, even her eyes. But nothing happens. She feels the nothingness seeping into the edges of her mind as she flails ineffectually.

Let me out! Let me OUT!

There is a faint buzz against the Prince Charming's chest. He ignores the feeling but Tabitha latches onto the sensation. It is her Storybook, receiving some sort of notification. She thinks of Wildrose. 'Focus on breathing,' he had said. 'Long exhales.'

Breathe. You're still here.

She can't control her breaths, but pretends to within her mind, the only thing she does have control of. She feels the edges of panic release her mind.

You're here. You didn't disappear.

She thinks back to the last thing she remembers. The Petaldance's voice. 'Tabitha, I command you to complete the Sleeping Beauty tale, no matter the cost.'

The words echo in her mind, pulsing with each beat of her heart. She can feel the pull of the tale inside her. It might as well be a glowing beacon in the distance for how sure she is of the correct direction. The faerie given command is very powerful.

Tabitha remembers fighting against the command and feeling her body begin to move on its own before her consciousness slipped beneath the cold surface. She remembers being given supplies and a horse, and riding out through the forest before coming to this plain. Only it hadn't been her doing those things, it had been the Prince Charming. He is in control, guiding his horse toward the destination.

I can't go there. I can't.

And panicking will do you little good.

Tabitha focuses on breathing again.

Long exhales.

Her mind relaxes again. She reaches out to her body, to see if she can. She can feel the horse beneath her. It is a white horse she has never seen before. She can feel her armor pressed against her, brought out by the bracelet on her wrist. She can see the surrounding area where patches of black briers sprout from the landscape.

The horse trips beneath her and instinctively Tabitha sinks into her seat and steadies the horse with legs and arms, and this time, her body responds to her. For a moment she thinks she is mistaken, but when she lifts her hands, the horse slows its walk slightly. Tabitha lets out a breath and then smiles at the simple expulsion of air.

She reaches for her Storybook, but the Prince Charming repositions her hand as the nothingness creeps back in place of the control she had for just a moment. Tabitha curses the Petaldance Faerie silently, but he isn't watching. Only I am, and I have done all I can.

The Prince Charming rides past a number of patches of the black briers and gives them a mistrustful berth. Tabitha struggles to breath again, to keep from slipping back into the nothingness.

I'm still here.

Ahead the Prince Charming sees the thatched-roof buildings of a village. As the horse draws closer, Tabitha realizes she does not see any movement, even though it is the middle of the afternoon. The Prince Charming guides the horse off their current heading and toward the village. Tabitha can feel the pull in her mind shift with the change in direction.

The Prince Charming halts the horse just inside the village and looks around. Tabitha follows his gaze. Even with a quest to do, a prince charming will stop to see if anyone is in need of help. A figure lays in the middle of the dirt path leading through the village. The Prince Charming dismounts quickly and hurries to the man's side. His chest is rising and falling in a steady manner, as if he had just lay down on the road to take a nap. Tabitha reaches for him, finding the body once again responding to her.

"Sir?" Tabitha shakes him gently. "Excuse me?"

The man does not stir. His clothing look weathered and worn, his hair in tangles and his skin dirty, but as far as she can tell, there is nothing wrong with him. A basket lay on the ground next to him, the bottom covered in dried, rotted leftovers of what was once foodstuff.

Tabitha stands up, looking around before wandering farther into the village. The faerie's command does not have a problem with this action, even when it takes her directly away from her destination. Apparently her own concern over the villagers is in keeping with what a prince charming would do in this situation. She just has to keep her actions to what is expected for the role and she can stay in control.

There are pens where animals had been kept, only now all that's left are picked over bones. The plots of land that had once been gardens are filled with overgrown plants and weeds. The buildings have all fallen into disrepair and many are collapsed. Briers have taken root everywhere.

Tabitha kneels next to a woman, slumped against a fence. She does not wake either. Tabitha sees a mark on the woman's arm. It is a point no bigger than a pinprick, but with black lines radiating out, like dark veins. Tabitha looks back at the briers. They shift in an non-existent wind.

"Everyone's under the sleeping curse, just like the princess," Tabitha says. "But for how long?"

Tabitha mounts the horse again and looks around at the sleeping people. They will stay asleep until a prince wakes their princess. Their lives had been put on hold because of the tale. A tale over which they had no control.

She thinks back to the Fae in their fancy ball, talking about the tales in such a distinct way. The don't care about the people who have to suffer for the tale to create its magic. Magic that the Fae take to throw balls to impress each other.

"These tales are wrong," Tabitha says. It is not very prince-like, but for the moment her conviction holds the nothingness at bay.

Then she allows the pull of the Laws wrapped up in the command to settle back into place. As a prince charming, it is her job to save these people by saving the princess and completing the tale. And when she does, she has no doubt that the Law of the Prince Charming will become her reality, just like the Lilystar had said. Even if she resists, the Prince Charming will finish the tale. But at least for now, she is in control. Tabitha turns the horse in the direction she is being pulled and urges it forward into a ground-eating canter until she sees the castle in the distance.