The Spinner and the Slipper (4 page)

Titania tilted her head to one side, her golden locks shimmering as they slid over her shoulder. “A promise to whom?”

He hesitated but could not deny his queen. He spoke a name—a name that made his queen suddenly smile.

“Ah!” said she. “Now that is a promise worth keeping.” She looked again into the crystal, one exquisite eyebrow rising slowly up her porcelain forehead. “Yet I do not see that this maiden’s life is imperiled at the moment. Perhaps not as full of sunshine and sweetness as she would like, but she is in no ready danger.
You
, however”—once more catching the captain’s eye—“are at great risk of displeasing your Lord and Master, who has been bellowing for you for quite some time. As you value life and limb, you should make all haste and go to him.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the captain replied. But he could not resist a last lingering glance at the crystal even as he bowed. Loyalty to his master drove him, however, and he hastened from the tower room, taking the steps three at a time in his descent.

Titania watched him go, a variety of expressions playing across her lovely face: curiosity, amusement, intrigue . . . and, finally and most prominently, mischief.

“This,” she said to herself, her voice like a cat’s velvety purr, “may prove
most
amusing.”

CHAPTER FIVE

A Fateful Boast

“Eliana.”

At the sound of her name sharply spoken, Eliana sat upright abruptly in the kitchen garden, both of her hands still full of weeds. Her stepmother stood over her, arrayed in her finest dress—much too fine a dress for the widow of a miller. Eliana had cringed when, three months ago, Mistress Carlyn returned from town and unwrapped this and two similar gowns from paper bundles.

But two years had done nothing to teach Mistress Carlyn any sense of economy. So while Eliana labored to keep the mill working—with the help of Grahame, the milkman’s boy, whom she hired to do the muscle work—and scrimped and saved whatever she could, her stepmother and two stepsisters did their best to ignore their reduced circumstances and live the same extravagant lives they had enjoyed back home.

Mistress Carlyn fastened a pearl-headed pin at her shoulder, scarcely looking at Eliana as she spoke. “Bridin, Innis, and I are on our way to visit the vicar’s wife. Do see to it that the bread is baked, the hearth swept, and all the other little odds and ends are seen to that need to be seen to. Understand?”

“Yes, Stepmother,” Eliana said, wiping sweat from her forehead with a dirty hand, leaving a streak of dark earth across her pale skin.

Mistress Carlyn’s lip curled at the sight of the smear. Without another word she walked away, calling out to Bridin and Innis. Grahame led the donkey into the yard, hitched to the same little cart in which Mistress Carlyn and her girls had arrived at the mill two years ago. He assisted Mistress Carlyn into the driver’s seat then turned to help the girls. Eliana wondered if he noticed the little smile shy Innis sent his way. If he did, he certainly dared not respond in front of her mother.

The trio drove off down the road. Eliana watched them go, a sigh in her throat. She had never minded hard work. She had worked hard all her life, brought up by both her father and mother to see honor in labor well done. So the fact that Mistress Carlyn ordered her about like a servant, well . . . she could shrug that off easily enough.

It was the constant struggle to keep the mill afloat despite her stepmother’s extravagances that left her bone-weary each night when she collapsed on her straw pallet before the fire, shivering beneath a thin blanket.

She looked down at the ring on her finger, so caked in dirt it was almost invisible. Rubbing it clean, she impulsively gave it a kiss and whispered, “Dear God Above, grant me courage! And give me strength.”

Mistress Carlyn aspired to better things than the lot life had thrown her. And while there was little enough the widow of a humble miller could grasp, she grasped whatever she could.

So she and her two daughters sat in the parlor of the vicarage, looking down their noses at the other middleclass ladies who inhabited the village. Mistress Carlyn considered herself superior to these women, but there was no better society to be had for many miles around. So she condescended to be part of this small circle, intimidating the vicar’s wife with her coldness.

Bridin and Innis sat quietly on either side of their mother and dared not speak a word.

“My boy Ailbert is back on a visit,” said Mrs. Barclay, the draper’s wife, smiling round at those in the parlor, though that smile skirted quickly away from Mistress Carlyn’s frosty stare. “He works as a stable boy up at Craigbarr,” she added with pride.

Everyone murmured approvingly at this, even Mistress Carlyn. Craigbarr was King Hendry’s summer palace, some twenty miles away. Even a stable boy who worked there must be afforded some honor.

“Surely young Ailbert must hear interesting news from court?” said the vicar’s wife, her eyes shining with dreams of kings, princes, crowns, and jewels—things far removed from her own modest surroundings.

“Oh yes, indeed!” said Mrs. Barclay, nearly spilling her cup of tea in her enthusiasm. “Yes, they say the prince is to choose his bride come the Spring Advent Ball. All of the most eligible young ladies of four kingdoms will be at Craigbarr! Such a glamorous occasion.”

The other ladies tittered and chattered enthusiastically, but Mistress Carlyn’s mouth hardened into a severe line. All of the most eligible young ladies . . . and yet her own two daughters must sit at home in a miller’s cottage, with no better prospects than milk-boys and cobblers for husbands! They were surely the equal of any blue-blooded lady of the realm.

“The Princess of Greer won’t be present at the ball, from what my boy tells me,” Mrs. Barclay continued. “It is said that she will be wed before the spring is up . . . to a peasant boy, no less!”

“A peasant boy?” exclaimed the vicar’s wife. “How on earth is that possible?”

“Oh, the tale our Ailbert relates is wondrous indeed!” said Mrs. Barclay. “Apparently this young lad climbed a magic beanstalk into the upper realms where giants dwell. He returned from that land laden with treasures beyond all measure . . . and rescued the king’s own daughter in the process! The King of Greer was so delighted—particularly with the treasures, one must imagine—that he immediately agreed to the princess’s request to marry the boy.”

More chatter erupted at this tale, much speculation and curiosity. Mistress Carlyn continued to say nothing until at last, when there was a brief lull in the conversation, she spoke in her iciest voice: “I don’t see what is so marvelous about this peasant boy’s adventure. Once the treasure is gone, it’s gone.”

Everyone stopped to look at her, shocked that she had broken her silence. Suddenly she was speaking without realizing what she said: “
My
daughter can spin gold out of straw! How else do you think we can afford to wear these lovely gowns? And she only grows more talented by the day. Now
that
is a skill that will bring in wealth for decades to come!” She sniffed and took a sip of her tea, which had grown quite cold under her breath. “More than a suitable match for any prince,” she murmured.

Mrs. Barclay and the vicar’s wife exchanged nervous glances, neither one able to think of a response to such an outlandish remark. But wheels were turning already, picking up pace much more quickly than Mistress Carlyn could possibly have imagined.

“
Straw
into
gold!
As I live and breathe, that is what she said.”

Young Ailbert looked at his mother with slanted eyes. “I don’t believe it,” he declared stoutly.

But three days later, when he returned to his work at Craigbarr, he whispered to one of his mates as they brushed down two of the fine carriage horses: “Supposedly she’s getting better at it by the day. Soon she’ll be able to spin a whole room full of straw at a single sitting!”

“Coo,” said his mate, shaking a wondering head as he rubbed down a powerful chestnut shoulder. “A whole room full, you say?”

The head ostler walked by at just that moment and snarled at the two lads: “Are you two lazybones wasting valuable time with idle chitchat?”

“Not chitchat!” young Ailbert protested stoutly. “No, I just heard about this most wonderful lady.” And, despite the ostler’s forbidding scowl, he poured out his mother’s story as best he could remember it . . . possibly with a few embellishments to make it sound more credible.

The ostler listened until the tale was told then smacked the boy upside the head and told him not to dilly-dally over such nonsense. But the story stuck in his head, and by that evening he found himself whispering it to the pretty scullery maid who sometimes brought him nice scraps from the kitchen. She listened with complete attention as he told her of this incredible young country lass, and when he was done, she breathed, “Well, that beats just climbing up beanstalks any day, don’t it?”

She returned to her work, the rumor burning on her tongue. Not being a girl given to restraint where gossip was concerned, she told the tale as soon as she could to one of the under-cooks, who in turn passed it on to the head cook.

The head cook, who wanted to impress one of the posh and pretty young footmen, told him the tale the following morning. “I swear upon my mother’s head!” said she, raising a solemn hand to her heart as proof of her veracity. “
Straw
into
gold
!”

The junior footman, who desperately wanted to get into the good graces of a formidable under-butler, told him the story only an hour later in an effort to curry favor. The under-butler told him that footmen of
this
household do not waste their superiors’ time with unverified country legends. But not fifteen minutes later the under-butler found himself telling the housekeeper, who in turn whispered a few words to the queen.

“
Straw
into
gold?
” said the queen, fanning her face quickly to cool the sudden flush. “You don’t say . . .”

Minutes later she burst into King Hendry’s office, waving away protesting secretaries and councilmen with an imperious hand. “Hendry!” she declared. “I have something you
must
hear.”

With that, she poured out the whole story. King Hendry, seated behind his big desk with lists and legers depicting his kingdom’s debt spread before him, his chin resting heavily in his hand, listened. As he listened he sat more and more upright, dropping his hand to the table, lifting his chin so that his beard stuck out almost straight before him.

“Whole
rooms
full of
straw
turned to
gold
—
overnight!
” said the queen, leaning over the desk, drawing her face as near to her husband’s as she could. “Can you even imagine it?”

“It . . . it can’t be true,” said King Hendry, though his quivering voice betrayed just how much he wanted to believe the tale.

“And why can’t it be?” demanded his wife. “Stranger things happen all the time! Would you have believed that beanstalks could grow up into the realm of giants, and that peasant boys could carry off bags of jewels and gold, not to mention rescue princesses out from under giant noses? Yet our own Lord Kester has journeyed to Greer and seen the beanstalk for himself, not to mention the gold coins the size of serving platters!”

King Hendry chewed thoughtfully on the edge of his mustache. Why should Greer have all the luck? Why should an extraordinarily large beanstalk
happen
to grow on
that
side of the border and not
this
? This kingdom had brave peasant boys aplenty, if they were only given a chance!

But then, who needs brave peasant boys when talented country lasses might produce even more impressive results?

“Whole rooms full of straw, you say?” He spoke in an eager whisper.

“Into
gold!
” his wife whispered back. Some things are too important to be spoken out loud.

King Hendry’s hand formed into a fist, and he struck the desk before him, pounding right in the center of the most impressive ledger full of debts. “Let’s send for her!” he declared. “Let’s send for her and see what she can do! If she’s as good as her word, she’ll marry our boy Ellis and be princess . . . and all she produces will go to the support of her kingdom.”

The queen smiled at this, delighted in the prospect of such a bride for her son. A gold-spinning country lass was ever so much better than a beanstalk-climbing peasant boy!

One thought marred her delight, however, and a cloud crept over her brow. “What if,” she said, most unwilling to speak the thought aloud but knowing she must, “what if the girl cannot do what is claimed? What if she has misled us all?”