[ WP ] After rescuing her , the prince finds out that the `` damsel in distress '' was actually locked in the tower because she was a convicted serial killer .

He first saw the tower on a hunting trip, covered by vines and brambles. He would've thought it abandoned were it not for the thin column of smoke rising from its chimney. He would n't have seen it at all, but the deer he was chasing led him far from the usual paths, deep into the heart of the forest. So deep that the leaves blocked out the sun. So deep that the woods were silent. 
 
 His courtiers broke the silence when they finally caught up with him. `` Please do n't run off, your highness,'' panted his page. `` Your father will kill me if I lost you.'' 
 
 `` Nevermind that,'' said the prince. `` What can you tell me about that tower?'' 
 
 The page looked up. `` I heard some locals talking about it, at the last town we passed through. They say a foreign princess lives there, guarded by an evil witch. They say she was jealous of the girl's beauty, and so hid her away.'' 
 
 `` And why has no one rescued this princess?'' 
 
 `` They say the witch has dark, arcane powers at her disposal, the kind that honest men shudder to even think of.'' 
 
 `` Then send a dozen men. A hundred. Surely her father would have spared no expense to secure her daughter's freedom.'' 
 
 `` Her father is dead, your highness. They say he was killed by the witch, shortly before the princess was taken.'' 
 
 `` I see,'' said the prince. 
 
 `` Let us return to camp, your highness,'' said the page. `` It begins to grow dark.'' 
 
 -- - 
 
 At camp that night, the prince decided that he could not sleep. 
 
 It was a full moon, as bright as any lantern, but the brightness could not pierce the trees. So the prince brought his own, a little flame enclosed in glass, as he cut his way through the undergrowth. He wandered for hours, meandering through the trees, trying to remember where the tower had been. It was well past midnight before he finally reached it. A light shone from the only window, high up at the top of the tower. 
 
 There was no door to the tower, but there were vines, thick and strong, snaking their way up the stone. The prince climbed. Thorns dug into his skin. By the time the moon dipped below the treeline, he could hear singing from the open window. A woman's voice, beautiful and clear, a sound that cleaved his heart in two. 
 
 By the time he reached window, pink had begun to creep into the sky. Inside, a young woman sat reading by the light of a small lamp. Her hair glimmered red beside the flames. Her face was as beautiful as her voice. 
 
 `` Good evening, my lady,'' said the prince. `` Or perhaps good morning.'' 
 
 The princess looked up, startled. `` You're a person,'' she said. 
 
 `` Indeed I am,'' responded prince, still clinging to the windowsill. `` May I come in?'' 
 
 `` Of course,'' said the princess, setting her book aside. `` Please forgive my lack of manners, but may I ask why you're here?'' 
 
 `` To rescue you,'' said the prince. `` I heard how you were kidnapped and kept confined here by a witch. I decided that I could not allow such an injustice to stand uncorrected.'' 
 
 `` That's very valiant of you,'' said the princess, `` but the -- the witch is very powerful. She would stop at nothing to get me back.'' 
 
 `` Then come home with me,'' said the Prince. `` My kingdom produces the greatest knights in all the world, and my castle has a guard a thousand strong. Come with me, and every one of them would defend you with their lives.'' 
 
 `` Then let us depart,'' said the princess, rising. `` Quickly, before the witch returns.'' 
 
 -- - 
 
 Her first night at the castle, she woke her maids with a scream. A physician was called, and in the confusion, the prince was woken as well. 
 
 `` What's the matter?'' asked the prince. `` What's happened?'' He glanced at the bed, where the princess sat cradling her left arm. 
 
 `` It's her wrist,'' said the physician. `` It appears to have been burned.'' 
 
 `` How did this happen?'' 
 
 `` She would n't say, your highness.'' 
 
 Across the room, the princess met his eyes. `` Please leave us,'' said the prince, and the servants all departed. 
 
 `` What's the matter, my lady?'' asked the prince. `` Is this... is this the work of the witch?'' 
 
 The princess nodded. `` She placed a curse on me, when I was first locked away.'' 
 
 `` Can this curse be broken?'' 
 
 The princess nodded again. `` I will be broken when first I kiss my husband.'' 
 
 `` Ah,'' said the prince. He thought for a moment. `` If I were to marry you, and then kiss you, would that lift the curse?'' 
 
 `` You would do that for me?'' asked the princess, eyes widening. 
 
 `` If you would have me as your husband,'' said the prince. 
 
 In the morning, all the castle gathered to witness as the prince kissed his bride. 
 
 -- - 
 
 It was a week after the royal wedding when the first maid was discovered. She had been drowned in the well in the middle of the night. By the time she was found, her body was already bloated beyond recognition. 
 
 A crowd had gathered in the courtyard by the time the princess arrived. `` Where is she?'' she asked, her face pale. 
 
 `` You do n't have to see this, my love,'' said the prince, trying to usher her away. `` This is n't something you should see.'' 
 
 `` I must,'' said the princess. 
 
 The crowd parted to let her through. 
 
 `` She died because of me,'' whispered the princess, just loud enough for her husband to hear. 
 
 `` What do you mean?'' 
 
 But the princess only shook her head. 
 
 In the evening, she knocked on the prince's door. 
 
 `` What I said earlier,'' said the princess, `` about how that maid died because of me. You asked me what I meant.'' 
 
 `` I did,'' said the prince. 
 
 `` I meant,'' said the princess, `` that her hair looks like mine. The witch must have come for me, and mistaken her for me in the dark.'' 
 
 `` Nonsense,'' said the prince. `` The guards would have noticed if the witch was in the castle. It was just an accident, my love. Just an unlucky accident.'' 
 
 A week later, another maid was found dead, this time hanging from the kitchen rafters. Then an ostler's wife, then the kennelmaster's daughter. Guards were placed on high alert. The prince himself stood sentinel outside his wife's room at night. Servants began to dye their hair: blonde, brown, or any colour but the princess's red. And then, for a while, there were no more deaths. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Six months after the princess's arrival, the guards began to fall ill. Nothing serious at first, just headaches and nosebleeds and upset stomachs. The illness was blamed on unclean water ( a maid had died in the well, after all ), but when a new well was dug, the illness only worsened. Men lay abed for days, moaning in pain, before passing away. Often, they were too feverish to recognise even their own families. 
 
 `` We must leave,'' said the princess, pacing the snowy courtyard. Her breath frosted in the morning air. `` My presence here puts these men in danger.'' 
 
 `` It's an illness,'' said her husband. `` It will pass.'' 
 
 `` It's not,'' insisted the princess. `` These men are being poisoned.'' 
 
 `` Then I will have someone check all the food that comes from the kitchens.'' 
 
 The princess shook her head. `` It wo n't help. We must leave.'' 
 
 `` If it would truly ease your mind, I have another, smaller castle in the mountains. It's very remote. Your witch will not find us there.'' 
 
 `` It would.'' 
 
 `` Then we shall leave, first thing tomorrow morning.'' 
 
 `` No. Let's leave now.'' 
 
 -- - 
 
 Death followed them to the mountain fortress. Not at first, but swiftly enough. The servants and guards enjoyed a mere month of calm before a stable boy was found at the foot of a tower, limbs smashed and broken. 
 
 `` An accident,'' insisted the prince in the morning, trying to keep his wife from seeing the wreckage. `` He must have fallen.'' 
 
 `` And what was a stable boy doing atop a guard tower?'' asked the princess. 
 
 To that, the prince had no answer. 
 
 `` Let me see his face,'' said the princess. `` He died because of me.'' 
 
 `` He did n't,'' said the prince. `` The maids may have died because they looked like you, and the guards to thin their numbers, but why would the witch want a stable boy dead?'' 
 
 `` Because it's her nature.'' 
 
 `` My love, time and time again, you have told me how of terrible this witch is. But who is she? Or what? Why does she go to such lengths for you?'' 
 
 The princess looked at him. `` Do you regret marrying me?'' 
 
 `` Never, my love, never. I merely wish to know what we're up against.'' 
 
 She sighed, long and deep. `` You should have left me in my tower,'' she said. `` Now that I am out, she will stop at nothing.'' 
 
 -- - 
 
 [ This turned too long, so the last part will be in a child comment. ]
