Chapter One

 

 

My name is Princess Adelysia. My kingdom has long been forgotten, and my story has been altered so many times over the years that it's no longer mine. It has become a fairy tale; a story told to children to distract them into sleep. And it isn't even a popular tale. You've probably never heard it. Which I suppose is even better. You won't be biased. The original fairy tale, told by the Brothers Grimm, was about another set of brothers. Four brothers to be exact. I was barely mentioned in it, except as a goal for them to achieve. But it was my story, and now I will rectify matters. Though to recount the events accurately, I must first tell you about them. The brothers. Clever, was what the Grimms called them. But they were so much more than that.

They were magic.

The fairy tale did get a lot of things right, but ironically, it left out the most wondrous parts of my story. The most evil, the most gruesome, and the most romantic. You'd think those would be the truths which survived. But no, it was just the bones of my life that made it into the pages of the Grimm book. It was a time when magic still ran rampant over the world, and I suppose there were a lot of stories like mine. A lot of tales collected by the story tellers. Yet I cannot forgive the injustice, the sheer heartbreak of not accurately sharing the truth.

So I will start with the brothers. No, wait. I will start even further back than that, with their father. His name was Bayard, and he was a fisherman by trade.

One day, Bayard was out in his little boat, fishing contentedly, when he saw a great splashing in the water. He steered his boat closer and saw it was a woman being attacked by strange sea creatures. He lifted his fishing spear and cast it at the nearest creature, mortally wounding it. The others shrieked and swam away.

The woman was not, in fact, a woman. She was a mermaid, and she felt indebted to the young fisherman. The mermaid offered him a gift, anything he desired. She swore she had the magic to fulfill his wish, whatever it may be. But Bayard was a simple man, and he wanted little for himself. The only thing he could think to ask for was a happy family. He was newly married and, like every man of his time, desired sons. He asked the mermaid for strong sons that would live long, happy lives.

The mermaid thought his request so sweet, so humble, that she improved upon it. She granted his wish for sturdy sons, promising him four of them. Then she added that not only would they live long, but they would also live forever. The man was shocked by this and tried to refuse. Living forever didn't sound, in his opinion, like a gift. But the mermaid continued. What is forever without love? Without companionship? So the mermaid wove another thread into her spell. Whomever Bayard's sons fell in love with would share in the immortality. This eased Bayard's mind a little, but still, he was uncertain, and the mermaid saw this. So, in her generosity, she added even more. Upon adulthood, Bayard's sons would each be presented with a magical tutor, who would teach them talents they could use to improve their long lives. His sons would never know lack.

Satisfied that his sons would not only live long and happily, but would also thrive, the fisherman thanked the mermaid sincerely. She disappeared beneath the sea, and Bayard went back to his fishing. As I said, he was a simple man, and saving a mermaid was hardly a reason for heading home without his haul of fish.

At first, Bayard's wife, Orella, didn't believe his tall tale of a wish-granting mermaid. But eventually, she bore four healthy sons. After the last birth, she finally accepted that her husband was telling the truth. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Orella. She died when her eldest boy was sixteen. Life was much shorter back then, despite all the wild magic in the world. Bayard was heartbroken, and his work suffered for a few years. By the time his sons were of age, Bayard knew he could no longer care for them. He told them they would have to go out into the world and find work for themselves.

The boys had just reached manhood, but they had been raised by good parents, and they were more than ready to earn their own living. They hated leaving their father, and so promised to return to him in four years. To each other, they made a pact to meet at the local crossroads when those four years were up. And it was at those very crossroads that the brothers went their separate ways.

The eldest brother was called Robyn. He had barely traveled a mile when he came across an old man in dark robes and a hood. The man stopped him and asked where Robyn was headed. Robyn told the man that he was off to find work. The old man smiled and immediately offered him a position as his apprentice.

“What do you do?” Robyn asked him.

“I am a master thief,” the man replied.

“No, I cannot steal,” Robyn swore, his dark eyes full of honesty. “It would break my poor, dead mother's heart. And surely, I would end my life swinging like the clapper of a bell, at the end of a hangman's rope.”

“I will teach you to take only the things no one wants or knows how to get a hold of,” the old man swore. “And I will show you how to go undiscovered. Your mother will be proud of you. I swear it.”

So Robyn allowed himself to be persuaded. He became the man's apprentice, and after four years, he was such an expert thief that nothing was safe from him. Anything he wanted, anything he set his mind to acquiring, became his.

The second brother was named Hugin. He also met a man on the road, who posed to him the same question that was given to Robyn. Hugin replied in the same way, that he was off to make a living for himself. This man offered Hugin an apprenticeship as a stargazer. He told Hugin that it was the grandest job in the world. The heavens would open up to him, and the secrets of the world would be revealed.

Hugin needed no further convincing. He had always been curious, always listening and watching everyone around him avidly. He gladly accepted the position as the man's apprentice and went to learn his secrets. After four years had passed, Hugin became an expert stargazer, and his master could teach him no more. So the master set him off on his own, to be his own master, and gave him a gift upon parting. It was a telescope.

“Through this telescope, you will be able to see everything that happens in the sky and on the earth,” the old man told him. “Nothing will be hidden from you.”

The third brother was Arnet, and just like his older siblings, he met an old man on the road. The old man posed the same question to him, and Arnet answered the same as his brothers. This man offered to train Arnet to be a huntsman. Arnet accepted and became the finest huntsman who ever lived.

Upon leaving his old master, he was given a gun. The old man said to him that the gun would never miss its mark. It would hit anything Arnet aimed it at, without fail. (Yes, a gun. Guns have been around since the 13th century, you realize.) Arnet thanked the old man and headed back to the crossroads.

Finally, there was the youngest son who was called Barret. Barret met a man, just like the other three. This man offered to teach Barret the art of tailoring, with which he could make a fine living. Barret accepted and became an expert tailor. When he finally left, after the four-year apprenticeship was up, Barret's master gave him a silver sewing needle as a parting gift. The old man swore to Barret that the needle could sew anything together, be it soft as an egg or hard as steel. And whatever he stitched would be sewn together without a seam, to be as one whole.

The brothers met up at the crossroads, embraced, and went to find their father. Their father had done well without the extra mouths to feed (four large men could eat a lot), but was delighted to see his sons. They had a warm reunion, during which Bayard told his sons of the recent tragedy in the kingdom. The Princess had been abducted by a dragon, and the king was offering a reward for her safe return. The reward was the Princess' hand in marriage.

And this is where I come in.