Cursed Bunny(56)

This alarmed the princess. As she jostled through the feasting soldiers and made her way toward the main palace building, she saw that the king was giving a speech from one of the balconies.

“… and when the sorcerer is slain, the golden ship will be ours! All the gold and jewels in the ship will belong to us, and with this flying vessel, we shall conquer even greater lands beyond the horizon!”

The prince, who was standing next to the king, opened his now-seeing eyes wide and shouted, “The gold is ours! All the world is ours!”

The soldiers, aristocrats, and servants roared in unison. It was enough to make the walls of the palace shake.

Fear gripped the princess.

“Was the master of the golden ship telling the truth?” she shouted up at the prince high above her. “That the war wasn’t because of the land beyond the horizon but started because you were blinded by greed for gold?”

Silence fell upon the palace. All the people gathered beneath the balcony turned and stared at the princess.

The prince was the first to speak.

“Seize her!” he shouted, pointing to her. “She’s a whore of the sorcerer! Seize her!”

At his command, the soldiers threw their wine goblets aside and dashed toward the princess.

She tried to run. But she was soon surrounded by the king’s men. Before she had taken even two paces, she was caught.

“A witch! A traitor! A whore of the sorcerer, slandering the king to bring him down!” shouted the prince as he stared down at the princess struggling against the soldiers. “Kill her!”

At the prince’s command, more soldiers appeared with their swords and spears.

The princess, held back by the soldiers, looked up at the prince on the balcony. The moment their eyes met, she became speechless. There was no recourse for objection or mercy in his gaze.

He was expressionless. The light that had found its way into his eyes was cold and lifeless. This strange man staring down at her and cruelly ordering her death was not the same prince who had shed tears on her shoulder.

The soldiers’ swords came for her throat. Petrified, the princess shut her eyes tight.

In that moment, the wind began to blow.

14

Sandstorms swept the palace. No one could open their eyes or even breathe because of the flying dust, sand, and earth. The sand dug into the people’s noses, ears, and mouths. Without realizing it, the soldiers surrounding the princess dropped their weapons. Everyone frantically attempted to shield their faces, screwing their eyes shut and coughing.

And then came a rumbling noise. Screams ensued. The princess, through a crack in the fingers she had put over her face, watched as the balcony of the palace collapsed. The king and prince who had stood there fell with it, surrounded by the storm. Rocks and rubble fell over them.

The ground began to shake. The princess looked down. She could see the sand that covered the horizon sinking into ever-widening cracks.

When the ground beneath her feet gave way, the princess found herself floating in the air before she could scream. A familiar ticking noise surrounded her. Above her head was that shadow once more, the same shade that had once given her shelter.

Floating above the crumbling palace, the princess stared as the ship of golden gears leisurely crossed the desert sky.

15

The palace was completely destroyed. Not a single hewn stone in a wall remained where it had been. Once more on the decks of the golden ship, the princess gazed into the haze of dust that had once been the palace.

“This is not the fault of the princess,” a low voice proclaimed, making the planks beneath her feet quake again. “One can break the curse, but it is impossible to cure their blindness from greed. They were always ready to wage another war.”

The princess nodded, shaken. Like the dust cloud below, her thoughts were so foggy that she found it hard to think straight in that moment.

Something cold and moist touched her hand. Startled, the princess turned around.

The master of the golden boat was handing her a goblet of water. The goblet was smaller than the princess’s hand. Despite the hot desert winds that raged around them, the water was as cold as ice, attracting water droplets to the surface of the goblet.

The princess slowly raised the goblet. Her lips touched its rim. Cold water flowed into her.

The goblet may have been smaller than her hand, but it poured forth an endless stream of water. She drank her fill. It seemed like an eternity since she had drunk such cool water. Perhaps it was the first time in her life.

“Stay here,” said the soft voice that rang through the golden decks. “Rule the winds and sands with me, sail above the horizon of time. Until the day the sun and moon shatter and disappear, everything the stars and clouds can reach in this endless realm, it shall all belong to you.”

The princess looked down at the goblet in her hand. She had drunk her fill, but it was full again in the blink of an eye. Water droplets gathered on the goblet again, and the cold moistness in her hand gave her a strangely lovely feeling.

“I wish to live as a mortal,” she finally answered. “I wish to meet a man who is like me, who will cherish and love me as I do him, to have children, to see them grow up and find their own mates and have their own children … That is the life I wish for.”

“There is death at the end of such life.” The master of the wind and sand’s voice was soft.