Cursed Bunny(54)

As she steeled herself, the princess pondered over how she would get on board. The ship swayed a little from side to side in the air. There was no anchor or ropes about it. She was afraid it would sail away from her at any time, disappearing beyond the horizon once more.

Just then, the golden gears made loud creaking sounds as they started to turn.

From between the gears, a golden ladder was lowered.

As she stared in bewilderment, the ladder reached low enough to touch the sand.

The princess stood up. She walked to the middle of the boat’s shadow and began to climb up the ladder. Heated by the sun, the rungs were hot to the touch, almost enough to sear her palms. The princess gritted her teeth and continued to make her way up the ladder, rung by rung.

When she got to the top and stepped onto the deck of the golden boat, the princess heard a low but deep and mysterious voice that seemed to encircle her.

“And how has a princess of the grassy plains made her way to the Ship of Time and Winds?”

The princess looked up.

There, stood the master of the golden ship.

9

Contrary to the princess’s expectations, the master looked like an ordinary man. He wore no golden armor, his face was not made of gears, and his body was not of sand. His skin was copper-colored, his hair seemed to have faded in the sun and wind, and only his eyes flamed a bright gold. As the prince had mentioned, the master of the golden ship had no left arm, and the empty, pale sleeve of his sun-faded shirt fluttered with every breeze.

“Why do you seek the Ship of Time and Winds?” the master asked again.

He looked ordinary, but his voice was not that of a man. Its reverberations were like the loud footsteps of a beast in a cave or an earthquake tearing through the grassy plains.

The princess began to speak. “The curse—” Just then, a wind started to blow. Its heat and dust prevented the princess from finishing what she was saying. She could not see in front of her.

“The curse, I am here to ask you to lift it!” she shouted with all her might, once she realized the wind would not abate. “Please lift the curse that you cast on the king of the desert!”

“What curse?”

Despite the dust storm, the voice of the master came through clear and true. Even the wind seemed to vibrate with it.

“Please restore the prince’s sight! Please allow our children and their children to be born whole!”

The winds suddenly ceased.

“But why?” asked the master of the golden ship in a quiet voice. The princess felt the golden boards beneath her feet and the very sands of the desert below them tremble with those words, and she, too, trembled in fear.

“To curse someone out of spite for losing a war is cowardly!” she shouted as she gathered her courage again. “Please admit your defeat and lift the curse. The prince is to become my husband, and his children my children.”

“I did not curse him,” replied the master. “I do not lower myself to curse mere men.”

“You lie!” The princess was taken aback, but she pressed on. “Why else would the prince be blind from birth?”

“The truth is different from what the princess has been told,” said the master. “They were cursed because they started the war. The air from the horizon to the sun and moon is a place man may not rule. My ship has sailed peacefully in that air since the dawn of time. It was the king of the desert, blinded by his greed for gold, who first drew his weapons.” The voice of the master of the golden ship was calm. “Those who stare for too long at the sun are bound to go blind. The king of the desert made the foolish choice to brandish his sword at the sun. And his progeny will pay for his sins.”

“Please lift the curse!” shouted the princess. “Or at least, tell me how to lift it! The prince of the desert has suffered since birth because of his father’s wrongdoing. For the sake of his unborn children, the future king will never start a war. I give you my word. Please lift the curse!”

The master of the golden ship sighed. Again, the princess felt the golden planks beneath her feet tremble.

“All right,” he said, slowly. “When the rains fall on the desert, release a blind fish into the sea. Then the curse shall be lifted from the prince.” Before the princess could ask him what he meant, the master added a word of warning. “The true nature of man is different from what the princess understands. Even when the curse is lifted, the princess shall not wed the prince.”

And the master of the golden ship lifted his only hand and made a light, flicking gesture.

The next moment, the princess was in the air. As softly as a feather, she swayed in the air before lightly landing on her feet.

10

The princess wandered the desert for a long time.

The place where the golden ship had put her down was not where she had first climbed the ladder. As she had been born and raised on the grassy plains, she had learned from an early age how to read the sun, moon, and stars to discern her position, which was how she could tell with some assurance where she was. But she was surrounded by sand as far as the eye could see, and the dunes shifted whenever the winds blew. No matter how the winds had blown on the grassy plains of her homeland, the land had never shifted shape nor had the trees and grass ever changed their positions. It was unfamiliar terrain to her, and she had no way of predicting how long it would take, walking across the dunes. All she could do was determine where southwest was by the sun and walk in that direction toward the palace.