After a breakfast of fruit and nectar, it was decided that the group would separate. Richard figured they'd only need a few people to free Elaine, not a whole army. He, Bobby, and Charles would search the edge of Sherwood Forest for the tower, while the remaining group would travel to Andersen Bay. There, they would hire a boat to cross the sea and find the mer-princess.
Betty refused requests to join either party. “As much as I want to find my husband, I also don't want to run into Malade's forces, and there's our children and dogs to look after. I can do more from here than I could out in the open. I'll leave the fairy realm when you rescue the other princesses.” She took Brett's arm, her blue eyes shining with hope. “If you run into Allen on your travels...”
“Don't worry, Betty, we'll find him.” A smile crept across Brett's lips. “And the second we do, we'll send him right back to you.”
Charles was reluctant to be parted from his new friend, too. “You don't have to stick with me.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Go have some fun with the guys. It might do you some good. You could learn how to use that lute, instead of yowling like a cat caught in a rainstorm.”
“At least I'm not wearing a brown rag coated with more dust than a desert.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of yourself.”
“I always do.”
He, Richard, and Bobby took off into the forest, leaving the others to drive Cornelius and the cart to Andersen Bay. They each brought a small pack of supplies from the fairies, and Charles had his lute. They searched high and low through the woods for several days, bur found nothing besides trees, birds, bushes, and small animals.
“I'm beginning to wonder if we're going in the wrong direction.” Richard hacked away at the low-hanging tree branches with his sword. “Or maybe being a tree for several months scrambled Gene's brains. I haven't seen so much as a mud hut, much less a tower.”
“I trust Gene. He's my friend.” Charles rubbed his face where one of the branches hit him. “And could you be more careful? One of your trees almost took off a piece of my nose!”
The shorter man smirked. “This is where being built lower to the ground can be useful. You need to learn to duck.”
“Wait!” Bobby waved his hands before they continue their argument. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah.” A beautiful, sweet voice floated over to them on the wind, seemingly carried by the very air around them. Charles strummed softly on his lute. “I think I recognize that song. It's a new one.” His humming joined her voice on the wind. “'A Love Song.' I heard a lady from the northern kingdoms sing it when I was in Yorkalia.”
Footsteps and angry muttering in a Britannica accent suddenly drowned out both songs. “Shhh!” Richard threw his hands over the lute strings. “Someone's coming!”
“Why don't we follow her and the music?” Bobby nodded into the woods. “I have to know where that song's coming from. I don't think I could live until I know. I've never heard a lovelier voice.”
“Good idea.” The woman passed them as Richard tugged them into the foliage. The second she passed, he waved them on. “Follow me.”
They followed the woman in the black cloak with its enormous collar and glittering onyx beads deeper into the forest, past where even most animals lived. In the thickest part of the woods, a tall tower, its stone bleached white with age, stood tall against the trees that closed off much of the blue sky. The only opening was a large window built into the very top.
A young woman sat on the edge of the window, her hand sending a bird into the air. Just as the bird flew off, the other lady arrived. “Princess Elaine,” she snapped, “send down your hair! I need to talk to you!”
“Yes, Malade.” It had been difficult to tell just how long Elaine's hair was until that moment. The thick, straight locks fell down the wall in a rippling cascade of gold. The light of the mid-afternoon danced on it as the evil queen climbed into the window. “Oh, please be a little more careful! You might rip my hair out!”
“Be quiet, you silly brat!” The black-clad figure shimmied up the wall surprisingly well, disappearing into the window.
“So that's Malade.” Charles made a face. “I'm almost afraid to ask what she's going to do to her, considering she's already turned one guy to stone and another into a wolf.”
As if in response to his words, raised voices carried from the window. “No!” screamed the higher, sweeter tones. “No! You can't keep me here forever! You're just a mean old witch...ow!”
The last words ended with a sharp slap. “Keep that up, girl, and I'll do worse to you. I'll stiffen that pretty tongue of yours and turn you into an ugly toad!”
“No!” Bobby would have leaped out of the bushes if the other two men hadn't grabbed his arms. “We can't let her do that!”
“I agree,” Richard whispered, “but we can't help her now. Not with Malade there. None of us have magic. She'd be more likely to turn us into toads.”
Charles gave Bobby a small grin. “At least it would improve your looks.”
He nudged him. “You're no blushing beauty yourself, Spectacles.”
“Shhh!” Their shorter leader indicated the window. “She's coming!”
The second Malade shimmied down the golden braid and vanished into the woods, the trio of men darted out. “How are we going to get to her?” Charles shook his head at the tower, which pierced the sky. “The stones are too smooth for us to climb.”
“I have an idea.” They moved back as Bobby cupped his hand to his mouth, imitating the Queen. “Princess Elaine, throw down your hair! I forgot something!”
“Are you sure?” Elaine called from the window. “You sound weird. Do you have a cold?”
Bobby waved them back into the bushes. “Uh, no. All that yelling earlier made me a bit hoarse, that's all.”
“Well,” the sweet voice hesitated before continuing, “all right. But don't tug so hard! I'm still trying to get all the tangles out from your last visit!”
Bobby waggled his eyebrows at the duo in the brush. “Don't wait up for me.” The second the yellow hair dropped into his hands, he climbed up, making sure to be far gentler with her braid than Malade had been.
“Lucky stiff.” Richard made a face. “I've heard of Princess Elaine, though I've never met her. I imagine he'll want to take her back to the fairies himself. That is, if they even want to leave the tower after he gets an eyeful of her.”
His bespectacled companion smirked. “You're just jealous. You're not climbing hair to rescue a walking jiggle TV show.”
That was when the scream started again...but this time, it sounded angry. That scream was followed by the sound of heavy metal clanging on human bone. “Ok,” Richard gasped, “I'm not jealous anymore. I think we ought to go up there and see what's going on. She never moved her hair. Bobby might have bitten off a little more than he can chew.”
Charles hadn't climbed anything besides a tree in years. It was slow going up that tower. His lungs were fit to bursting when they finally made it into the window. “And I thought,” he puffed, “I was in decent shape!”
“You're not used to swinging into trees and hiking around the woods,” Richard reminded him with a chuckle. The agile bandit had already gotten through before he was half-way up the wall. “Princess Elaine...owwww!” He no sooner started talking than a heavy black frying pan came down on his head, knocking him unconscious instantly.
“That's what you get for thinking you can come up here and ravish me!” Princess Elaine was, indeed, a very beautiful woman. Charles suspected she would be even prettier when her face wasn't the color of a tomato, her blue eyes weren't flashing angrily, and her nostrils didn't flare like a bull's. A ruffly white and lavender peasant gown with a frilly skirt covered in a purple woven apron was skimpy enough to show off perfectly formed porcelain shoulders and long, slender legs.
“Who are you?” She shoved the pan at Charles' nose when he managed to huff through the window. “Why have you come here? Do you desire me? Do you want my magic?”
He stepped back, almost falling over the other two. “Your Highness,” he started, bowing as best he could, “we don't want to hurt you. I sure don't!” His hands went in the air. “We're here to rescue you! We heard your argument with Queen Malade earlier. We heard her slap you.”
Blue eyes as deep as the ocean widened. “You're here to rescue me?” Those eyes dropped down to the pile of men groaning on the floor. “Uh-oh. Maybe I was a little bit hasty with the pan. I thought you were bandits who came to...well...you know!”
“Not at all, Your Highness! At least, not me.” He sighed. “I'm Charles, the minstrel. My friends Bobby and Richard are bandits, but they're not here to ravish you. That I know of.”
Richard groaned as he rolled onto his elbows. “Did someone get the license plate number of the carriage that hit me?”
“I'm so sorry!” Elaine bent over to help them up, giving both men a good view of her ample bosom squeezed into the tight ruffled peasant top. “I thought you were here to hurt me!”
“You seem to have beaten us to it.” Bobby winced as he touched his head. “How can a girl with such a sweet voice be so strong?”
The princess' cheeks turned a delicate shade of rose pink. “You think I have a nice voice?”
“It's the most beautiful I've ever heard.” Bobby took her hand and rubbed her knuckles gently. “I'm Bobby, Your Highness. My boss and our friend and I would never harm a lady. We want to rescue all of the Legendary Princesses.”
“I wish I knew where the rest were!” Her electric smile dropped into a pout. “Malade's convinced I know something about them. That's why she has me here. That, and she wants to take my hair and my magic and everything!”
“We can't let that happen.” He fingered her hair. It was so long, it snaked around the floor and took up most of the tiny room. “We have rope in our packs. My friends could go get it for us.” He gave them a look. “And they could do that now.”
“How do you have such hair?” Charles found the end across the room on a small sofa. “I've never seen anyone's hair grow this long.” He patted his toupee. “Er, would you be willing to share your secrets for getting it to grow like that?”
The princess shrugged. “It's magic hair. As long as I don't cut it, it'll just keep growing.” She returned to Bobby, who wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed into her twinkling eyes.
Richard understood the nods his friend kept giving to the window. “Ohhh. Right. We'll let you two have time alone.” He turned on his smirk as he passed Elaine and her considerable bust. “Very alone.” Charles quickly scrambled after him.
It took them longer than expected to find the rope. They had to take everything out before it could be located. “Not that Bobby probably minds,” Richard chuckled as they repacked their supplies. “I believe he's mad about that girl. I've never seen him this much in love before.”
“That happens to people sometimes.” Charles blushed. “It's never happened to me, but I hope it will, someday.” His eyes roved over Richard's broad backside. “Maybe it already has.”
The light had grown soft and golden when they finally emerged with the rope. “You know,” Charles began as they made their way to the tower, “Bobby should have come back by now. Do you think something might have happened?”
His companion smirked. “I suspect our friend got from a to b with that royal lass.”
They'd just returned to the tower when he noticed the familiar figure in the black cloak climbing Elaine's golden hair. “Malade's coming!” He hastily shoved Richard back into the bushes. “We can't go up there now. There's no time! Bobby's on his own, unless he can get out of there fast.”
Richard narrowed his eyes. “Bobby. If she hurts him or Elaine in any way...”
No sooner had Richard spoken than black light flashed in the window. A pale hand snapped up the golden hair, a gleaming pair of shears in the other. They could clearly hear Bobby yelling in the tower, and two screams, one deeper than the other. Elaine's golden hair was thrown from the window, as if it had been hurled by another hand.
“Something's wrong here.” Richard tucked the rope under his arm. “I'll go first. I've dealt with Malade before.”
“Careful!” Charles gulped as they started up the tower. “I don't want to be turned into a wolf or a pig or a snake or anything else!”
Climbing the tower seemed to take even longer this time. Richard reached the top well before he did. The hair felt different in his arms. Almost like it was attached to an anchor that wasn't nearly as strong as a human head. Black mist oozed out of the window, obscuring his vision and making him feel sick to his stomach. He almost started back down the hair...before he heard Richard's angry shout.
“Bobby!” His fingers grasped the stone window ledge as the voices grew louder. “Malade, what did you do to him?”
“I can't see!” Bobby's lilting voice was laden with pure terror. “There's a shadow there...Elaine, I can't see!”
His elbows were now on the ledge and his lungs were fit to bursting. Malade didn't notice him. She was too focused on Richard, who held his bow and arrow on her. Elaine wept behind him, clutching Bobby...and as he slowly raised an ankle over the window, he noticed that Elaine's golden tresses had been cropped close to her head. A hook in the ledge held the severed locks.
“He deserved what he got for gazing upon a beauty that belonged to me.” He could only see Malade's slender back encased in a cape of fine black spider silk dripping with onyx beads. “He will never look upon her again...and you'll all forfeit your beauty and youth and her magic to me.” Her milk-white hand stroked Richard's chin under the hood. “There's something about you, bandit. You're very familiar to me, and quite easy on the eyes...”
His other foot swung into the room. Richard caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye and gave him an small shake of the head. He couldn't let Malade know he was there. Not now. He was nobody to her, a mere minstrel with no magic or title.
Elaine sobbed over Bobby. “I'm so sorry,” she wailed. “I didn't know she was going to take your sight! It's all my fault!”
“No, it isn't. Elaine, don't do that to yourself.” Bobby's hands searched for her lips. “I couldn't bear to leave you, no matter what Malade says.”
“This is sickening.” Malade held out her hand. “I should take all of your energy right here!”
Charles dropped into the room as silently as possible, then yanked out his lute and strummed the first notes of “Elegance.” “Which,” he snapped, “you have none, Malade. You're a vicious old witch, and I don't care how much power you have!”
“Who are you?” Malade might have been gorgeous, even stunning, with her glossy ebony hair under a black crystal crown and delicately featured face, but her blood-red lips were pursed in anger, and her brow wrinkled as she threw her hands over her ears. “Stop that! I order you! Such music is banned from this land for a reason! I can't stand it!”
An arrow cut straight and true in the Queen's direction. “Oh, lay out!” Richard snarled. “You're in Robin Hood's territory, Your Majesty. My men and I don't approve of you abusing maidens and usurping power. As long as you cling to a throne that isn't yours, we will continue to rob any of your court who passes through on the road.”
“Ri...Robin, come on!” Charles wailed as he scrambled down the braid. “Less gloating, more moving!”
Richard was the last one down. He took his own sword and cut the braid too short to climb. They darted into the woods with their packs before Malade could free herself and find a way to escape.
“Thank you!” Elaine squealed gratefully after they'd fled into Sherwood Forest. “Without you, I could never have gotten out of there.” Her fingers sadly went to her choppy strands. “Even if I did have to give up this.”
“Elaine,” Bobby stumbled, falling to his knees, “I...I'm sorry I couldn't get past Malade. Her magic...” He lay his head on her stomach. “If only I could see you...”
She dropped next to him, her own eyes filling with tears. “There is a way.” Charles gently played a slow “I Believe In You” as they sobbed onto each other. Even Richard wiped his face furiously and grumbled about the sun getting in his eyes.
It was the strangest thing. As Elaine cried, golden light dropped from her tears like glowing rain down a window lit from within. Water gathered around Bobby's dark eyes, washing the shadows clean like a field after a storm. His eyes blinked, and he gave Elaine a huge grin before gathering her into his arms and swinging her around.
“Honey...I can see you!” She giggled as he let her down. “I can see you, and you're a literal sight for sore eyes, I can tell you that!”
She swatted his nose playfully. “Oh, you're terrible!”
Richard shoved between them, before their cutesy flirting made his stomach turn. “If you don't mind my asking, what just happened there? How did you do that?”
“Oh!” Elaine blushed as her fingers went to her hair. “My powers involve healing. I can heal most things by crying or with my hair. Or,” her pretty pink lips went down, “I used to be able to. Malade cut off that part of my magic. She said she needed my hair for some spell...”
“I don't want to know what she's up to.” Richard turned to Bobby. “Can you see the princess safely back to the Fairy Realm? We'll join the others at Andersen Bay.”
The nimble dancer only had eyes for the lovely blonde in his arms. “I'll guard her with my life.”
They all quickly hurried off before Malade could come after them. Bobby lead Elaine into the forest, while Richard and Charles took the path alongside the Grimm Cliffs towards the seaside town of Andersen Bay. They arrived in town just as darkness fell. Charles asked several shopkeepers if they'd seen anyone by the description of Gene, Nipsey, Brett, Bill, and Donald. Richard kept his hood up and tried to look insignificant.
An apple seller with a full cart finally directed them to a little inn on the edge of Andersen Bay. Their friends huddled around the fire in the Inn's common area, with Bill napping on a pillow by fireplace. Charles slid next to Brett on the couch.
“Charles!” She enveloped him in a tight hug. “There you are! I wondered what took you slow-pokes so long. Did you find Elaine? Is she all right? Where's Bobby?”
“Well,” Charles began slowly, “yes and no.” He explained the whole thing, including Elaine's amazing abilities and Malade's threats.
“I knew she was up to something,” Brett grumbled. “She wanted something from each of us, a piece of our magic, so to speak. Been after my looks for years.”
The minstrel burst into laughter. “Why?” His snorts carried over the crackle of the flames. “I mean, you're not ugly, but...”
“Because that's how she survives. She feeds on magic and beauty.” She picked at a loose thread on her tunic. “She doesn't like anyone being more powerful or more beautiful than she is.”
“So I noticed with Elaine.” He chuckled. “It'll be all right. We sent Elaine and Bobby back to the Fairy Realm. Bobby's nuts about her. They'll take care of each other.”
“Good.” She gave him a wicked grin. “Elaine's heart is usually in the right place, but I have no clue where her brain wanders off to. If she actually has one. Bobby will make sure no one else tries to spirit her away.”
He smirked. “The way she wielded that frying pan, I'd be more worried about her doing damage to anyone who tried to touch them!”
Nipsey put his thick palms up to the fire to warm them. “What about Malade? You think she could catch up with us? I can't imagine she's too happy right now. We swiped her tax money and two Legendary Princesses under her nose.”
“I don't think she even knows we're here,” Richard assured them. “As long as we leave tomorrow, we should be able to escape her wrath.”
Gene tugged his ragged orange cloak around his shoulders and put his hands up to the fire. “Brett is earth magic, and Elaine is the healer. I don't know how we're going to find the Princess of Water. Merfolk aren't the friendliest of creatures. They try not to be seen, unless they're singing for passing ships. Even then, most humans can barely catch a glimpse of them.”
Donald leaned dreamily on his rough stool, staring into the fire. “I've heard of mermaids. They're said to be gorgeous creatures with voices like angels who lead men to their doom. I don't think I'd mind being lead to my doom so much if it were with a mermaid!”
“We'll find out tomorrow.” Gene waved his hand at a sailing ship floating at anchor, just a short walk from the Inn. “I booked us passage on the SS Goodman-Tobman first thing in the morning. It'll take us to Hans-by-the-Sea, where we'll ask about the other Princesses and the King.”
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