[ WP ] Make up a fairy tale

There was once a princess in black cotton and fine silk who was slated to rule from her tower over the land of Whisperwind. The Queen and King of Whisperwind were highborn, a proud and warm people with ale flowing free in their great meadhall as young harts sizzled and crackled over the cook-fires. Many a tale did the princess' father tell from his carven throne, and his laughter could be heard booming across the hills many nights and more. During the starred nights the princess could hear music rising up from the city streets to her palace-chamber as a cool breeze swished the lacy curtains and colored lights flittered across her ceiling, reflected from the gaudy lanterns far below. 
 
 The princess had her run of this beautiful city and her fill of clothing, trinkets, and baubles. She had a fine carriage and a brace of strong horses to conduct her, and gold aplenty in her purse-strings to purchase her every desire. She had a study high above the distractions of the city where she could sew or paint or play music as the muses moved her. She had a strong suitor, many amusements, and many fine playthings. Yet... she was n't happy. If you've ever watched a bird flit about its cage, you'll perhaps know how she felt... or a small part of it, anyway. 
 
 One day found her making an excursion into the city dressed in plain clothes. She wished to visit a bookseller without the trappings of class and wealth, and though even her rags were finer than those of most of the commoners, she could still blend in a bit. 
 
 Entering the dusty bookstore she peered around in the sunbeams and motes for the ancient tome she required. The wooden floor creaked under her feet as the scent of musty paper filled her nostrils, and she spun an old globe carelessly as she passed it. It was heavenly. 
 
 Just as she spotted the tome she required ( perched precariously on the top shelf, of course ) and was reeeaaaaching up on her toes to retrieve it, a resonant voice boomed out behind her and made her jump and fall over clumsily. 
 
 `` Bookkeep! BOOKKEEP! Where are you, you cursed wretch? That treatise on the history of Trexador that you sold me was missing its final ten pages!'' 
 
 Turning a baleful eye on the newcomer, she spotted a burly man in worn leather garb and a blue tabard decorated with the bear-and-tree of Rainwood. The silver sword hanging from a thick leather belt marked him as a noble, though the princess wondered what kind of noble would wear such plain clothing. As the man stepped closer, the princess realized that he was n't just burly, but huge -- the floorboards creaked under his leather boots, and his wild aspect was accented by his sunbleached once-black hair and a thick, trimmed beard. He looked down at her curiously before extending a hand. 
 
 `` Pardon, madame. I did n't mean to frighten you.'' 
 
 She raised an eyebrow. `` You could hardly frighten me.'' 
 
 He laughed an easy laugh as he shrugged. `` Is that so? I'm glad.'' 
 
 Turning her nose up at him, she looked back at the bookshelf. He stepped back awkwardly, running one hand through his sweat-damp locks as the other seemed to search for a place to rest. 
 
 `` I... ahhh... I could help you with that, if you'd like.'' 
 
 `` Hmmph,'' she snorted. He took down the book for her gingerly, as though he was afraid he might bruise it, then extended his hand again. This time she took it and stood up. 
 
 `` Ewww... your hand is all sweaty!'' She snatched the book away from the Rainsman and looked at him accusingly, realizing that her head barely came up to his chest. He shrugged apologetically as he frantically wiped his hand on his tabard. 
 
 `` The heat of this city... I'm not used to it. The Rainwood is cooler, more hospitable...'' He was stumbling over his words, trying to complete a sentence. 
 
 `` You do n't find my city hospitable?'' She raised an eyebrow again. 
 
 `` No, no! It's just the heat, I...'' he groaned inwardly, trying to think of something intelligent to say to this beautiful, well-spoken woman. `` You're clearly a woman of letters. Are you the bookkeep's daughter, by any chance?'' 
 
 Her eyes narrowed dangerously. `` Me, a common bookkeep's daughter?'' 
 
 `` Errr... yes?'' 
 
 `` No. No I am not.'' 
 
 `` Ohhh...'' he shrunk internally. 
 
 `` I'll have you know that I am Princess Catherine of the Whisperwind! Second to the succession, first daughter to the King and Queen of this land! So who are you?'' 
 
 He smiled impertinently, thinking *well, I've already found the measure of the trouble. Now there's nothing to it but to go further*, then said `` I'm... nobody.'' 
 
 `` Nobody?'' She placed her arms akimbo. 
 
 `` Why, do n't you know?'' He kept smiling, `` we of the Rainwood are all Nobodies... compared to the radiance of Whisperwind.'' 
 
 `` Hmm. Clever. Did it take you long to think of that?'' 
 
 `` Hey --!'' 
 
 They both whirled as the boards creaked again and a striding, stalking figure entered the doorway. 
 
 `` Princess Catherine. I was told to seek you here.'' 
 
 An involuntary shudder went down her spine. `` Sir Richard Ghaunt.'' 
 
 `` Who is this boy?'' Ghaunt asked, his voice like the quiet wind over October leaves. 
 
 `` I'm Jack Autrey.'' The bearded man drew himself to his full, considerable height though Catherine thought he must still be a head shorter than Ghaunt. She marveled at the height of this bookseller's ceiling for a moment. 
 
 `` A Rainsman.'' There was no question in Ghaunt's tone. `` I've killed many of your kind. They are n't much of a challenge.'' 
 
 `` So I've heard,'' Autrey replied. `` Wait... I mean...'' 
 
 The princess brought her palm to her forehead, then stiffened as Ghaunt addressed her. 
 
 `` And why has this... Autrey of the Rainwood... sought a private audience with m'lady?'' 
 
 She shook her head. `` N-no reason, Ghaunt. We just ran into each other in passing.'' 
 
 `` He ran into you?'' Ghaunt's voice somehow became even colder. 
 
 `` It... it was an accident. Just an accident.'' Her eyes dropped to the floor. 
 
 `` If you think,'' Ghaunt rasped, `` that this mere... boy... is a finer suitor than I, or you think you're clever enough to go behind me you're mistaken, foolish girl. Now, leave.'' 
 
 This time Autrey's eyes narrowed. As he observed the princess more closely, he could see a fine line of bruises running down the right side of her face. Ghaunt wore his sword across his right hip. 
 
 `` You're sinister, eh Ghaunt?'' the Autrey who had stumbled over his words was gone, replaced by a cold figure whose hand rested naturally on the pommel of his blade. 
 
 `` Are you speaking to me without permission, boy? Must I teach you a lesson in impertinence?'' Ghaunt's long, thin fingers curled around the golden hilt of his sword. 
 
 Autrey smiled mirthlessly. `` You're sinister, Ghaunt, and I've killed plenty of your kind too. Of course, I did it face to face on the battlefields of the east instead of by stabbing people in their backs or in their beds at midnight.'' 
 
 A flicker of recognition crossed Ghaunt's face as Autrey's smile widened. Princess Catherine found herself backing away as the two men circled each other slowly in the confined space. 
 
 `` I thought I wiped out all the Greenslates.'' Ghaunt was visibly perspiring. 
 
 Princess Catherine gasped softly. The Ghaunt dynasty's role in the fall of the Greenslates of Rainwood was legendary -- a night attack by a small force of raiders and the entire nobility of Rainwood butchered in their beds. Even the royal family of Whisperwind had come to fear the Ghaunts of Ghostvale after the Bloody Night. 
 
 `` And so you did... almost. But there's a story told in the ports and taverns that one of the Greenslates was sent to war before the attack. Though he was merely a bastard boy, he slaughtered the enemy on the battlefields of the east, wading through blood and steel to bring glory to his house. Yet, when he came home, all he found were ashes... ashes and graves and the bones of his family.'' 
 
 Ghaunt snarled. 
 
 `` Aye, I've killed many men like you, Ghaunt. And now I'm going to kill one more.'' 
 
 They drew at the same moment, then the blades crossed with a shower of sparks. Autrey/Greenslate's xiphos was plain, hard steel, dented in a few places, with a hilt of plain leather and an engraved silver pommel in the shape of a roaring bear... yet the edge of the blade shone, honed with a masterful eye. Ghaunt wielded a gold-and-steel rapier with a master's hand, his blade engraved with silver filigree as a golden viper with rubies for eyes seemed to snake its way down his guard. The rapier was faster than the xiphos, but Autrey/Greenslate fought with a battlefield ferocity against Ghaunt's polished swordsmanship. 
 
 
 Greenslate struck with a gloved hand, breaking Ghaunt's jaw even as Ghaunt's rapier pierced the Rainsman's shoulder. A great sigh of pain escaped Greenslate's lips, and his sword clattered across the room as he fell to the ground with a resounding thump. Ghaunt spat a long stream of blood and a couple of broken teeth at the prostrate man, then chuckled even through his broken jaw. 
 
 `` Nnno long shhpeeches, Rainshman. Muh fav'rite part. Going to hhhurt.'' 
 
 He drew the rapier along Greenslate's cheek, adding to the pool of blood spreading across the floor. 
 
 `` Yer eye firsht, hmmm?'' 
 
 To enunciate his point, Ghaunt play-jabbed at the Rainsman's eye with the tip of the rapier before drawing it back in a dramatic arc. There was another gasp of pain and a loud thump. Greenslate looked up to see Ghaunt on his knees, clutching at his spurting chest. Princess Catherine stood behind him with the xiphos, now bloody, panting hard. Somehow Greenslate managed to speak as he extended a hand. 
 
 `` Shhh... give it here...'' 
 
 She numbly complied, and even though the blade nicked his fingertips Greenslate took it from her gently and sat it on the ground. As he stood up he kicked Ghaunt over, never to rise again. 
 
 Taking the princess in his working arm, Greenslate murmured to her softly. `` It's okay, it's okay. You're safe now. Safe.'' 
 
 She trembled and pressed close to him before she started and looked into his face, seeing him as though for the first time. 
 
 `` Princess?'' He asked breathlessly, looking deep into her eyes.
