A Tale That Never Was

Riding atop the huge wolf through the valley was surprisingly relaxing and uneventful. Selvina had expected screams of terror and farmers and travellers running for their lives but instead they offered curt nods and a few waves. The horses of those riding on the road were skittish and frightful but Red would guide Bigbad off to the side so the riders didn’t get thrown off by their terrified mounts. The oxen pulling carts didn’t seem to care.

“Why is no one afraid of Bigbad?” Selvina asked. “Have you been here before?”

“I sometimes head into Lydian for supply runs,” Red replied. “Bigbad follows me up to the wall and then he’ll head back into the forest to go hunt. The people on the countryside know about him and don’t care too much because he’s been trained not to eat their livestock but the people in the city would panic too much. Most of the folk from the city don’t like me much anyway.”

Selvina watched as a child sitting in front of a straw-roofed house eyed Bigbad with wide eyes full of wonder. “Why don’t people like you?”

Red shrugged. “Life wasn’t easy for me after my parents and grandmother passed away. I stayed in Lydian for a while, stealing to stay alive, and I made a few enemies. I was chased out of the city and I fled to the forest. That’s when I encountered Grandmother and her stupid sons. I would steal from them instead and somehow it felt right so I kept doing it. When they brought Bigbad to the house one day I stole him too. He took a liking to me right away and when he got old enough I was able to fend for myself and I didn’t need to steal as much.”

Selvina looked down as Red scratched behind one of Bigbad’s pointed ears. If Red’s story was true she had been through far more than anything Selvina had experienced. She doubted she could ever survive on the street, let alone live in a forest. She lived in a modest house in the suburbs of a large city, much larger than Lydian. Life to her was easy and after knowing what Red had lived through she had a newfound respect for the freckled redhead. She smiled and sat a little easier. She felt safe in Red’s presence.

They rode for what felt like a few hours with no issues. The sun was high in the sky when they finally reached the high walls of Lydian. Guards walked along the battlements and looked down on the travellers and merchants walking in and out of the massive city gates. Off to the side of the road and behind a stone windmill turning slowly in the wind, Red and Selvina climbed down from Bigbad’s back. Red held the large wolf’s head in her hands and rubbed her cheek against his muzzle. He nuzzled into her like a huge puppy and licked her face. Red pulled away and looked into the big blue eyes of her greatest friend.

“I’ll call for you when we’re done here,” Red said to Bigbad. “Go ahead and go catch yourself a nice juicy deer.” She raised her finger in warning and furrowed her brow. “No cows, goats, horses or sheep, remember?”

Bigbad cocked his head to the side, his long tongue hanging out of his mouth in a most comical fashion.

“Bigbad, you heard me, didn’t you?”

The wolf groaned and licked Red one more time, leaving behind a bubbly trail of saliva all over her face, before tearing away from the two women and charging off toward the trees. He leapt over vineyards, plowed through fields, and hurried across the open plain faster than any of the horses grazing or working around him. Within minutes he had slipped into the dark embrace of the green forest and was gone from sight.

“Does he understand you?” Selvina asked as she stared at the forest, hoping to catch one more glimpse of the black canine.

Red smiled and nodded, wiping the last of the wolf’s drool from her face. “Of course he does. He’s quite intelligent.” She grabbed Selvina’s dress and gave it a tug. “Hurry up if you want to see King Midas on time.”

Selvina followed Red on to the road and walked alongside the many riders, travellers, merchants and farmers heading into the city. A row of people on the other side of the road flowed out of the city though it was much less populated. A few minutes of walking brought them up to the gates and Selvina craned her neck as she examined the gatehouse. Flecks of gold dotted the rough stone of the wall and gatehouse, shimmering in the sunlight like yellow diamonds.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered to herself.

Once inside the walls she gasped at the sight before her. Beyond the homes, shops, warehouses and workshops of the city of Lydian, standing tall and majestic, was the golden castle of King Midas. Tall towers rose up to the sky along the battlements that surrounded the main keep. The keep itself was blocky but topped with coned peaks and huge flags that waved proudly in the wind, depicting the golden lute of Midae. Everything from the keep to the walls around it was made of shining gold. The sun made it glow and shine brightly, as if it had settled down in the middle of the city.

“I didn’t believe it when we looked at the city earlier but the castle really is made of gold,” Selvina said, awestruck. “This king must be the richest one in your world.”

Red nodded. “He probably is. I don’t think any other king can match his wealth.”

After walking down the crowded streets for many long minutes, Red purchasing some bread and fruit for them to eat, they eventually found themselves in front of the walls of the golden castle. Two guards stood beside the closed double doors and eyed the two women cautiously.

“We wish an audience with the king,” Red told them, standing in front of Selvina as straight and proper as she could.

The guards had a look at her ragged clothes beneath the red cloak and laughed heartily. “You wish an audience with the richest of kings? Your filth would stain the golden floors of our majesty. We could never allow such insolence around the wealthiest of the wealthy.”

The other guard nudged the first with an elbow and chuckled. “I wouldn’t let that one around my pig pen back home.”

The first guard laughed loudly and Red turned a dark shade of her namesake. Her hands were curled into fists at her side but she restrained herself. She was already barely liked in the city and didn’t wish to be chased out again. She eventually lowered her head and slumped her shoulders.

Selvina saw the defeated look come across her guide and pushed herself ahead of her, frowning angrily. Standing before the two guards she pointed at them with a stiff finger. “Now you two listen here! I have come a long way to see your king and I will not be denied an audience with him because my friend here isn’t dressed for the part! She has protected me out of the goodness of her soul and brought me here without ever asking for payment or recompense! Now if that doesn’t show you that her heart is more golden than this castle will ever be then you need to open your eyes and realize how idiotic and blind you two are! I demand to see King Midas and I will not be denied!” She stomped her foot for good measure.

The guards, their eyes wide with shock, exchanged glances. The one on the left looked down at Selvina and cleared his throat. “Where did you say you were from, milady?”

“I didn’t,” Selvina hissed, her frown making her green eyes flare with intensity. “It is none of your business in any case. Will you let me pass or will I have to force my way through?”

Knowing the consequences of upsetting nobility the guards hurried out of the way and pushed the double doors wide open. When Selvina and Red had walked through they shut them quickly and wiped the sweat from their brows, sighing in relief.

Selvina found herself leading Red down the cobblestone road through the green bailey. The bailey was decorated with hedges in the shapes of various animals and the road was lined with bushes of fruit and berries. They were led to the keep where another pair of guards stood before another set of double doors. They offered no resistance and opened one of the doors, gesturing for them to enter.

Selvina and Red walked into the keep and immediately lowered their gaze to the shining floor of gold. Their reflections stared back at them and both of the women finger-combed their hair and readjusted their attire before looking up. The room they stood in was grand, with a high ceiling, a dozen columns along the walls to their right and left and a large empty throne upon a pedestal at the far end of the room. Doors along the walls between the columns opened up to other rooms and windows above them let radiant sunbeams shone down on the shimmering floor.

It took them a moment to realize that a thin, balding, hawk-nosed man stood to their left, eyeing them curiously.

“King Midas was not expecting company this day,” the man said in a nasal voice. “Who might you two be and what brings you to his castle?”

Selvina glanced at Red and then cleared her throat. “I…I am Princess Selvina of the kingdom of…Canadia, from Castle…Taranto.” She stood straight and crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her chin up slightly, striking a regal pose.

The man narrowed his eyes. “I have never heard of this kingdom before. Where would it be located?”

“North…”

“North? There are only mountains, forests, and frozen wastelands to the north of us.”

“Yes, that is exactly where it is! My father has sent me here to speak with your king. He wishes to make contact with him after so many years of isolation. He would come here himself but…” Sweat beaded on Selvina’s forehead as she struggled to find an excuse. Noticing the eyebrow raising on the thin man’s face she hurriedly added, “He is ill. He…he has the flu.”

“The flu?” the man asked quizzically.

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“Y…yes.”

“In the middle of summer?”

Selvina gulped down her rising fear at being caught lying. “It is cold in Canadia even in summer. Flus are common…”

The man took a deep breath and curled a finger around his chin. He glanced aside, deep in thought, and Selvina used the wait to look at Red. The redhead offered her a hopeful grin. The man set his eyes on Selvina and nodded to Red.

“This one has been convicted of many crimes here in Lydian and Midae. She has served her time and paid her fines but she is not well respected. How do you, a princess, come before King Midas with only her as your company? Where are your guards? Where is your retinue?”

“Grandmother killed them!” Red blurted.

The man glared at her icily. “I was not speaking to you!”

Selvina took a step forward, asserting her dominance as a true princess would. “She is telling the truth, sir! My carriage was ambushed and I only survived by Re—this one’s quick and brave actions. I would be dead had she not intervened and King Midas would find himself at war with Canadia. It is one of the issues I wish to speak to your king about. I would also like to speak to him today!”

The man narrowed his eyes at the two women, judging them silently, before nodding once and hurrying away.

Selvina waited until she saw him retreat behind one of the doors along the wall before breathing a great sigh of relief. She wiped the sweat off her brow and groaned in exhaustion. “What the hell happened there? I never did anything like that before!”

Red laughed and gave Selvina a great hug. “You were amazing! Did you see the faces on those guards? They thought you were going to be off with their heads! You make a very convincing princess.”

Selvina blushed and slowly rolled her eyes. “Well, I’ve played as many princesses before. It felt natural. I’m glad my acting skills came in handy.”

Red opened her mouth to say something but the door opened again and she shut up, straightening herself and looking forward. A broad-shouldered man dressed in a regal gown of red and blue sporting a silver crown dotted with a rainbow of gems walked into the large room and up to the throne. He sat down and with a wave of his hand beckoned the two women forward. They hurried across the golden floor, Red’s leather boots thudding lightly and Selvina’s slippers occasionally squeaking awkwardly. Once they stood about ten feet from the king they looked up at him. A well-trimmed beard and moustache of brown covered the lower half of his face and wrinkles of weariness lined the man’s weathered but ruggedly handsome face. Dark bags hung under his grey eyes, as if he had not slept in many days.

“What brings you here unannounced?” he asked them in a deep voice drowning in fatigue.

Selvina glanced at the thin man standing off to the side. She gulped and looked up at the king. He met her gaze and she nodded slightly toward the man.

The king sighed. “Phrigia, leave us.”

The man furrowed his brow questioningly but obeyed and left the room but not before giving the young women one more skeptical stare. The door closed behind him and there was silence for a few moments.

“Now,” the king grumbled, “I, King Midas, wealthiest lord in all of Faeryum, wish to know why you two young women desire to disturb me when I had not requested any visitors and had denied all audiences for today?”

Her face pale and her spine cold, Selvina managed to scrape up enough strength and courage to speak. “Well, I know I told your friend Phrigia that I was a princess from Canadia but I’m really just a girl from another world.”

King Midas sighed in disappointment and pressed two large, gloved fingers against the bridge of his nose, shutting his eyes and shaking his head. “You come here to toy with me?” His voice lowered to a fearsome growl and his face reddened considerably. “You come here to waste my time?!”

Selvina’s eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets. She reached for Red’s hand and clenched it tightly. Red squeezed back, offering her what support she could. “I am not toying you, your majesty! I truly am not from around here at all! I…know how it sounds but Red said that if anyone could help me it would be you. I was told that you had travelled far and wide in your youth and might know of a way to get me home again. I don’t belong here, my lord, and I just want to go back to my world before I cause you any more trouble.”

The king shook his head again and sat back in his throne, tapping his gloved fingers together as he pondered on Selvina’s words. “If you come from another world, prove it to me.”

Selvina glanced at Red, her mouth agape, as she struggled to think of something to show the king to prove her story’s legitimacy. She gazed at her attire and found nothing that appeared out of place and completely unique to her world. She spread her arms wide in defeat. “I have no way of showing you, my lord, but I truly am not mad. I am not from here…”

The king sighed and lifted his hand as he readied to beckon Phrigia back into the room.

“Wait!” Selvina cried out, halting the king’s hand. “I know how I can prove it to you!”

King Midas raised an eyebrow. “Show me.”

“I can’t show you but I can tell you!” King Midas said nothing so she continued. “You, King Midas, can turn anything into gold with your hands. We have a myth back where I’m from where you received your ability from a satyr after returning him to his master from a night of drunkenness. Grateful for your aid the master granted you a wish and you chose the ability to turn anything you touch into gold. You loved your gift at first but eventually food turned into gold and you couldn’t eat and you started to hate it.”

“All of this is already known in my kingdom, girl,” King Midas said in a bored voice. “This is common knowledge to even the lowliest of peasants. It is why I wear enchanted gloves as it is the only way I can touch something without turning it to gold. If this is all you know then you are wasting my time and my patience.” He began to rise from his throne and glanced at the door Phrigia had walked through. He clapped his hands once, calling him back in.

“Your daughter!” Selvina shouted, her voice echoing across the massive room, bouncing off the walls, floor and ceiling. “You accidentally turned your daughter to gold!”

The ensuing silence was deafening. The three figures stood as still as statues, their collective breaths held. King Midas stared at Selvina with wide eyes and a pale face. Selvina stared back, her lips pursed and her eyes round. Red stood silently, her eyes on the shocked expression of King Midas, uncertain of how to act in the situation.

The creak of a door off to the side shattered the silence and Phrigia poked his head into the room. “Did you call me, your highness?”

“No,” King Midas said curtly, waving a hand at him in dismissal. “Close the door.”

With a grumble Phrigia disappeared, the door closing soundly behind him.

King Midas put a hand to his head and sat down on the throne. He regained color in his face and gazed at Selvina again. “No one knows of my dear Mary. How did you discover what happened?”

“I told you,” Selvina stated, “I am not from here. Back in my world this world and all of you inside of it are just tales and myths that we learn as children.”

King Midas shook his head, shock still stretching his features. “You must be a seer or an oracle. No one else would know…I told no one, not even the guards that watch her room.”

“I am neither of those things, King Midas. I am Selvina Whitier from a suburb in Toronto in the country of Canada back on planet Earth. I am not from here and never have been. I just want to go back home. Can you help me?”

King Midas studied her for many long minutes, his grey eyes piercing through her dress, skin, flesh, bone, and her very soul. He rubbed his beard with his gloved fingers and narrowed his eyes as he thought deeper. Finally, after a long and silent wait, he said, “If you know of my tale you must know if my daughter is ever saved.”

Selvina nodded. “She is.”

King Midas shifted in his seat, leaning forward expectantly, his eyes wide once more. “Tell me! How can I save my daughter? I have searched throughout the castle and read every book I could find and have found nothing! How can I return her back to her normal, happy and bouncing self?”

Selvina noticed the moisture creeping into the king’s eyes. He loved his daughter, it was plain to see. He loved her more than all the gold around him. His weathered face was brightened and he appeared years younger, as if only hearing about hope to save his daughter was bringing life back into him. “You surrender your power and wash her with water from the river Pac…Pac…” Selvina could not remember the name.

“Pactolus?” King Midas asked eagerly.

“Yes!” Selvina said, pointing at him victoriously. “Yes! You wash her body in the waters from the river Pactolus and she loses her gold form.”

A great smile of joy spread across King Midas’s face and he clapped once loudly. He then laughed with glee and leaned back in his throne. “You are certain this will bring her back to me?”

“It is what you did in the myth I was told. Anything you turned to gold could be washed by those waters and be returned to its original form. Is the river nearby?”

That’s when King Midas’s smile vanished. “No, unfortunately it is not in my kingdom. It lies across the Cerulean Sea in the Empire of Noyr, ruled by Empress Rhiannon. She is a cold woman but may allow my men passage to fill a flask of water from the River Pactolus. Our nations have not been at war for many decades and I think she may be willing to allow me this one grace…”

“Well, I hope she doesn’t give you any trouble,” Selvina said sincerely. “Now…since I helped you can you help me?”

King Midas stood up and walked down the pedestal to stand before Selvina. He placed a gloved hand on her shoulder and offered her a sincere smile. “I want to thank you, Selvina Whitier of Canada. You have brought warmth and hope to a heart that I thought would remain frozen forever. I feared my dear Mary was gone from me for all eternity and that I would live the rest of my days with the guilt of knowing that it was because of my greed that she became that way. I cannot tell you how to return home for I do not know the means but I do know someone who can.” He watched Selvina’s face light up much like his had upon hearing of the means to his daughter’s salvation and added, “He is an old wizard on an island to the northwest of us, across the Cerulean Sea and in the Ocean of Ice Peaks. He resides in a cavern upon one of the floating mountains of ice and is rumoured to have travelled to different worlds and brought back many strange artifacts with him. If I was searching for a way to a different world it would be him that I would seek.”

Selvina smiled, hope burning in her chest. “What is his name?”

“Oz, I believe. It is a very strange name but he is a strange little man, from what I remember of him.”

“Can you give us a ship and a crew?” Selvina asked, her smile fading as she hoped she wasn’t asking too much.

The king made a doubtful expression. “I will be sending my best ships and men across the sea to fetch water from the river Pactolus. The waters of the Ocean of Ice Peaks are treacherous and unpredictable and I do not think any of the sailors or captains in my kingdom will risk a trip there. Well…except one, and I believe he is docked at port at this very moment. If you hurry down the western road to the port town of Tortug you may catch him before he leaves.”

“Excellent!” Selvina cried out, her smile returning. “What is his name?”

King Midas replied with a strange smirk on his face.

“Captain Hook.”