Macster - The Last Dragon

Virginia could still think of nothing else intelligent or coherent to say as she stalked and stormed about the withered garden campsite, gesticulating wildly and glaring at the Piper where he sat morose and miserable, holding to his throbbing skull a folded strip of her shirt that had been soaked in the frigid waters of the nearest stream.

Finally finding the words she sought, she whirled on him and pointed accusingly. "How could you do this? How could you let her get away like that? You were supposed to be watching her!"

Groggy and weary, Colin looked up at her with a mixture of contrition and indignation. "That is exactly what I was doing, milady...until Her Majesty elected to crown me with a rock! At that point I became rather beyond the concerns of the world. I should like to see you restrain a prisoner while unconscious..." He winced as his raised voice aggravated his pounding headache, then fell silent.

She stared at him in suspicion and fury. Several times since she and Wolf had awoken him, he had related this exact same story, and each time she heard it she became more angry. It might well be the truth, but it did not answer all of her questions or ease her mind. "Maybe, Colin, but that doesn't explain why she was able to catch you so vulnerable in the first place! You should have known better than to trust her, and you shouldn't have let your guard down around her. Why, exactly, have you avoided telling us what led up to this? What aren't you saying?" Virginia glared at the prince.

For the briefest moment, she thought she saw his eyes flick to the side guiltily--though precisely what the reason was for the slipping of his mask remained unspoken. Then the Piper's look of innocent injury reasserted itself. "Do you think I enjoy this ignominy, Lady Virginia? It is not a moment I wish to relive. Suffice it to say that after Wolf left to rescue you, we conversed for a while and then she prevailed upon me to help her escape. I refused. You see before you the result of my moral choice. End of discussion." He sniffed disdainfully.

Even before Virginia could retort a reply, Wolf was leaping into the conversation gap. Turning from the edge of the clearing where he had been examining the ground for footprints, scents, or other traces of Red's passing, he rose and snarled. "I don't think so, Piper-boy! That doesn't suffice, and that's not the end! You're hiding something, and I want to know what it is. If you know what's good for you, you'll tell us every last detail about what went on here...and I mean everything."

Colin's eyes hardened to agates as he stiffened. "What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm not implying nothing!" Wolf snapped. "I'm coming right out and saying it. I think you're lying. I think you helped her escape from us. I don't know if you being knocked out was part of the plan to make it look convincing, or if she double-crossed you, but either way, you're responsible."

"How dare you!!!" The Piper wrenched himself to his feet, forgetting his injury in his ire, but being reminded almost immediately as he tottered about, dazed by the pain. With a groan he collapsed back against the wall, but the anger did not leave his eyes. "You go too far this time, Wolf! I have never been anything but loyal to you and your cause since I joined your company!"

"Yeah, but what about before that?" Wolf growled. "I seem to remember a little enchanted pipe music that almost robbed me of my mate!"

"Pipe music that saved you from execution by Carmine, and granted us entry to this kingdom!"

"Boys, boys, boys!" Virginia firmly inserted herself between the bickering men, one hand planted on each others' chests as she gave them warning looks. She could not blame Wolf for his accusations, she herself was only marginally less distrustful of Colin. Unlike her mate, she was certain the prince was a good and noble man at heart, but she also knew that he had been drawing quite close to the queen with every mile they traveled. In the forefront of her mind was an image of the two of them cradled in each other's embrace at the campfire the previous night, seeming much more comfortable and friendly than they had been the night before that. And Carmine was devious and clever. Even assuming Red had been affected by all the pleas she and Wolf had made, Virginia would put nothing past her when it came to her freedom.

Sighing, she rubbed her forehead and then waited until Wolf backed away, lip curled menacingly, before she faced the Piper. "I have to apologize for Wolf, he's a bit overwrought at the moment." She silenced his expected objection with one hand. "But his point is valid. We really don't know what happened here unless you tell us. Red Riding Hood can be very persuasive, and I wouldn't blame you if you started to help her before refusing."

Colin stared at her, aghast. "You too, milady?" His tone was quite dejected and sad. But at last he sighed and sat back down on his rock, gazing at the ground. "All right...I'll tell you. You probably will not believe me, but I must make the attempt. We talked for a very long time, about Wolf's love for you and how his determination to rescue you exhibited it. I was able to show Carmine that Duncan and Cerise truly loved each other as well...that she was wrong about wolves and needed to make amends. That was when she decided the only way she could help the wolves was if she escaped to her palace."

Watching from a few feet away, Wolf snorted. "Oh, really? You did all that, princey? With no help from anyone else? Now why do I not believe you..."

Virginia glared at him, then gestured to the Piper to continue. "I do believe you. If she'd listen to any of us three, it'd be you. What happened then?"

"She wouldn't take no for an answer," the young man replied in a desperate and despairing voice. "She kept inventing new excuses, new reasons for me to let her go. I countered every one of them, but it did no good. And then...then she..." He paused, swallowed, and flushed. "She tempted me...I won't embarrass myself by saying how. But still I refused. And that is when she struck me and fled."

Frowning thoughtfully, Virginia eyed him speculatively. Somehow she had an inkling what the form of that temptation might have been; coming fresh off of her romantic interlude with Wolf colored her thinking, perhaps, but then again perhaps not. Still, the story was plausible and showed no wrongdoing on his part. "I see...so why didn't she take your pipe? Can you tell us that?" She indicated the satchel where it lay at the side of the garden wall, beside where Colin had been crumpled earlier.

The Piper managed a small smile at this question. "Why, that is easy, milady. Because she could not have used it, and I told her so myself. The pipe has been in my family for generations, and its magic can only be activated by our native talent. It would have done her no good."

Wolf grunted noncommittally. "So you say. But at least you did one thing right then, princey. Without the pipe, she can't get back through the thorns. We can catch up with her easily."

Virginia wheeled on him in disbelief. "What? Wolf, are you crazy? After we've come all this way, after we're so close to the dragon, you want to backtrack and lose even more time?" She threw up her hands in disgust. "I'm upset she's gone too, I really thought we had a chance to change her mind. But we have more important things to do now than chase after a spoiled queen."

From the look of distress on Wolf's face, she might as well have been swiping a plate of succulent lambchops from in front of his slavering mouth. "No no no! You don't understand, if we let her go she'll return with her soldiers and capture us again!"

The Piper snorted. "Hardly. Even assuming she can find a gap in the thorns and return to her kingdom, how do you expect her guards to penetrate the barrier? Plus, by the time she could return, we should already have found the dragon and be long gone." The haughty demeanor left his countenance and his tone became soft, gentle. "Besides...she promised she would not send them."

"And you believed her." It was not a question, nor was it said with scathing sarcasm as Virginia had expected. Glancing at Wolf, she saw instead a pitying expression, as if he truly felt sorry for Colin at being so naive.

"Yes I did." The Piper drew himself up proudly, then dabbed at the lump on his head with the cold cloth. "I think I know when someone is sincere. You weren't here to hear her, to see her. She broke down completely, she realized the true magnitude of her actions. And she seemed most determined to atone for her sins."

Wolf sighed, scratching at the back of his neck, before looking to Virginia for her guidance. "I hope you're right... Well, creampuff...I guess it's up to you. Do we go back, or do we go on to the castle?"

Virginia hesitated, glancing from the Piper's pleading face, to Wolf's hopeful one, to the sunlit path back to the road where Red had vanished. She knew what they wanted, and she knew what Snow White would want, for her to continue helping Carmine crack open the vaults of her heart, to let in the light of reason and tolerance, and to let out her pain and suffering. But she also knew that time was critical, that at any moment the Ice Queen could finish her conquest and become bolder, casting her shroud of ice across all the lands until nothing living remained, only a frozen wasteland populated by cowering, shivering slaves, a land even more desolate than Narnia. Only this perpetual winter would be real, not in a fictional land. That could not be allowed at any cost. And with the pressures of the quest mounting, there was not time for both alternatives. It had to be one or the other. And according to Colin, going after Carmine was not even necessary because their campfire colloquy and his further entreaties had already set in motion the desired changes in the queen.

Finally she sighed and decided. "Well...the way I see it is, we absolutely have to find the dragon. After the quest is over, there should be plenty of time to approach Carmine again. And if destiny really does tie us together, our paths should cross again soon. So...let's go on, Wolf. We haven't a moment to lose."

The expression Wolf gave her was inscrutable--she couldn't tell if he was disappointed in her, proud of her, or some emotion in between, if he planned to sneak off on his own after Red or if he saw the wisdom in her words. After a moment he nodded and leaned down to pick up the rucksack. "You're right, cupcake. You're always right. And in any case, we haven't any food, courtesy of Orrin the ogre, so the castle is the only logical place to go."

As he stuffed the Troll King's shoes back in the rucksack, the Piper rose to his feet again and sighed in relief. "How very practical of you, Wolf. And look on the bright side--at least you had the magic shoes with you, so Carmine could not steal them."

Wolf looked up at him and smirked mirthlessly. "I almost wish she had, Piper-boy. Then she could just disappear from our lives and not trouble us anymore. Ever."

Colin met his stony gaze with one of deep disquiet, turning quickly to agitation and anxiety as Wolf's earnestness bored into him, the serious thought that he might do something to hasten Red's disappearance becoming more and more of a certainty. At last the Piper turned away. Virginia watched all of this uneasily, understanding intuitively that this was Wolf's way of reclaiming his dominant role of packleader and alpha male. She understood why it was needed, or rather why Wolf felt it was needed, but it didn't make her like it any more. The dissension in their ranks had to be resolved, but she could think of much more peaceable and friendly ways to do it.

The company took a short time to rest and recuperate, with Virginia tightening Wolf's ankle-wrap more securely while Colin leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes until he felt ready enough to travel again. Then all of them took the opportunity to stop at the stream and drink deeply, since they didn't know when they would find fresh water again. Subdued and uncertain, of each other as much as the quest, they finally returned to the road and set off for the north.

Virginia soon found her mind wandering, as the landscape remained unchanged and unchangeable, the same monotonous expanse of thorns and brambles, bare roadway and crumbled stonework. She found herself stealing glances at Wolf often. She wasn't sure why, her motivation changed from one glance to the next. One moment it was to check and see if he was behaving himself toward Colin--as if he hadn't had enough reason to hate the prince, now he had Carmine's escape to contend with. The next it was to gauge his emotions, to see if he really had forgiven her for her indiscretion as he had said, if he were not secretly studying her with that hurt puppy-dog expression that broke her heart. Then she was looking to see if he were frustrated or upset over their chosen route; she knew she had made the right decision, after all of the delays in the quest, from the Trolls all the way up to the ogre, no more time could be spared. Yet she still felt guilty. And finally she found herself looking at Wolf slyly every now and then, grinning as she recalled the hours of passion they had spent together. It may have kept them from preventing Carmine's escape, but she would not trade it for anything.

So many thoughts and emotions churned inside her. And all of them centered on Wolf. He was the bulk of her world now, of course, and she had every right and prerogative to look at him and think of him, even for no reason at all, but at the same time, she felt burdened by so much. The words they had exchanged, though muted and dulled somewhat by the passage of time, still echoed in her mind, some making her want to shake some sense into Wolf, and some making her cringe inwardly in remorse. Why did things have to be so complicated?

She realized now that she had bungled her confession badly. Perhaps she should never have made it in the first place, they had made up, the wall was gone, and Wolf had even delivered a heart-stirring testimonial to his undying love for her. And she had gone and ruined it for what had felt like an eternity, spanning the gorge between when the fateful words had passed through her lips and the moment he had clasped her in his arms and told her it was all right. But she'd had to tell him...hadn't she? Her conscience wouldn't have let her keep it hidden. It didn't matter that the kiss was so meaningless, it would have grown and grown inside her until it engulfed their love. And she could not have withstood that. In any case, she couldn't doubt herself anymore, not since the loss of her insecurity to the May Queen. Instead she felt only a firm resolve inside. Whatever the consequences, she had made her choice and her peace with herself.

But she could have done a hell of a lot better job of it.

Hours passed. The sun rose high in the noonday sky, following a course as ancient as time, its heat warm and inviting even at this northern latitude, burning away the last of the morning mist that had permeated the forest. It also melted the frost that had crystallized on the thorns and brambles, to Virginia's regret. She had found the effect rather pretty, adding luster and light to the shadowed arches of woody trunks and branches, making them shine and shimmer as if they were coated with cascades of diamonds. Without the frost the Sixth Kingdom lost its mysterious magical quality and returned to drab mundanity.

Into the afternoon they traveled, angling toward the center of the kingdom, beginning to scale the immense hill that unequivocally dominated the valley. As they did so, Virginia began to press the pace, more and more eager to reach the abandoned castle so that the next leg of the journey would be completed. She now had a new and compelling reason to wish the quest over...her promise to Wolf to marry him afterwards. Nothing could keep her from that now, it was her rock, and her way of assuring herself that in the end love would triumph over adversity. She even began to fantasize about what her wedding dress would look like. A gown to rival even Queen Cinderella's, if she knew Lord Rupert's tastes and extravagance. She smiled slightly, but then her good humor faded as she recalled the undetermined status of the protocol master. Had the ice demons captured him? Had he been frozen, kept alive as a spy...or even killed?

Shaking aside that morbid thought, she focused on Wolf and Colin, realizing that they were speaking and had been for some time. Listening closely, she began to chuckle softly as she understood what was being said. Wolf was regaling the Piper with the tale of how he had defeated the ogre, with the expected embellishments, until it became barely recognizable as the events that had transpired. Colin seemed appropriately impressed, if a trifle incredulous now and then, and Wolf, who had most likely started the story in order to frighten the prince into respecting him, was now enjoying himself quite animatedly. It was a good sign, and it prompted her to join in on what aspects of the story she could contribute to.

But then, as they rounded a bend in the road, they suddenly emerged from beneath the canopy of the thorns and stood in the open at the base of a vine-choked hillside, standing unprotected from the elements. Surprised by the change in scenery, they all went silent and came to a halt in the middle of the road.

Out of a mass of leaves and vines as thick and impenetrable as the brambles rose the walls and towers of Queen Rapunzel's long-lost castle, still standing the test of time atop the crest of the hill. The citadel was aged, the weathered stones crumbling and patched with lichen and moss, a dull and uniform gray but still sturdy. There was no sign of life anywhere atop its battlements or at its arrow slits; no flags flew, no soldiers stood on guard. The only sound was the moaning of the wind between the spires and bridges, the clinking of empty chains against poles somewhere within the ponderous structure, and the creaking of timbers. At the base of the hill lay clustered a small medieval town, but although its buildings seemed in better repair, there was no sound there either, and no movement.

Wordlessly, of one accord, the three of them approached the town, drifting like wraiths toward the yawning gates in the outer wall, disturbed by the eerie quiet and completely ignorant of what they might find inside. But once they passed through the gates, Virginia's mouth dropped. The town wasn't empty after all...it was asleep. Every single person who had lived there eighty years ago remained frozen where they had been when the curse had been cast, arranged like badly-posed mannequins, caught out of time in an endless now, as if figures in a medieval still life.

Just inside the gates, on either side of the gatehouses, stood soldiers on watch, leaning awkwardly on their pikes, chins ducked into their breastplates. Beyond them, in the yard of a neat and tidy house, a housewife had been preparing to beat the dust out of her rugs and slumped over her clothesline. Along the road, people sat on stoops, hung onto each other, or even drooped in mid-step. Farther ahead, the road opened into a marketplace where vendors and buyers lay asleep over the wares in the midst of haggling.

Everywhere it was the same, and Virginia began to take an almost childish delight in seeking out these windows into private lives, as if the display were for her benefit alone. She peered into stores, inns, restaurants, homes. She saw a blacksmith asleep over the bellows of his forge, its fire long since burned out into cold ashes. In a bar she saw the patrons in all sorts of contorted positions, some lying drunk on the floor, others leaning back in their chairs to take a drink, still others collapsed against each other in the middle of a brawl. In an alleyway she spied a thief leaning over the man he had mugged, his coinpurse dangling from his limp hand to spill its contents across the stones. In a butcher's the proprietor lay facefirst in the perfectly preserved meat he had been chopping with a cleaver while a dog stood with his front paws on the counter, a sausage hanging from his mouth. At an inn a carriage stood unmoving, the horses still in their traces and asleep on their hooves. The coachman was propped up by his whip; the footman half-sat on the step with one hand on the open door; and the lord and lady inside hung out of the windows. In a square beyond the carriage, several boys with sticks and hoops sat on the edge of a fountain whose waters remained eternally frozen in their trickling fall, while at the base of a building a cat lay in the act of pouncing on a mouse.

After a while the novelty wore off, and Virginia began to feel the return of her discomfort. "This is just too weird," she said in a hushed whisper as they stood below an eavespout where a mother bird had just alighted and now slumbered over the upturned beaks of her babies. She glanced then into the next square and saw a gibbet erected, with a condemned man sleeping as he stood on the trapdoor with his neck in the noose. The hangman slept at his post, hand about to pull the lever. She shivered.

"I didn't realize it would be like this," Wolf agreed just as softly. "Huff-puff!"

Not wishing to remain in this ghostly yet somehow still living town any longer than necessary, the three of them hurried on until at last they found the road leading to the castle gates. There the drawbridge remained lowered and unguarded, admitting them entrance. In the bailey an ostler stood with his arms draped around the neck of the horse he had been bridling. Passing on to the keep, they found scenes of court life stilled for their inspection. Cooks in the kitchens had nodded off over their pots and pans. A host of laundrywomen stood with their hands plunged into the water as they clutched sheets over washboards. The royal doctor dozed over his mortar and pestle while a woman and her baby waited in slumber at his door. In the great hall, minstrels slumped over the balcony of their gallery, their instruments still to their lips. A page held a long scroll before his unseeing eyes, while countless courtiers lined the walls in various states of repose. The king and queen themselves sat in state on their thrones, the latter's gorgeous locks of golden hair cascading in whorls and waterfalls of silkiness to completely cover her lap and drape over the arms of the throne to nearly conceal the dais.

Wolf stood transfixed as he stared at her, his finger trembling before him. "That...is Queen Rapunzel herself...the only one of the Five Women Who Changed History that still lives, besides Cinderella. And that is her husband, King Arundel...the prince who rescued her from the witch. We are in the presence of living legends, Virginia."

She nodded mutely, unable to take her eyes from the exquisitely beautiful face of Rapunzel and her handsome husband, somnolent though they might be. The Piper, however, looked around in confusion. "But where is the Sleeping Beauty?"

Snapped out of his daze, Wolf eyed Colin curiously, then assessingly. "She is most likely in one of the towers. Princesses seem to adore towers for some reason."

The Piper fingered his satchel absently, his eyes tracing the details of the queen's face, as if he were envisioning how beautiful her daughter must be. "Take me to her then..." From the tone of his voice, Virginia wondered if he even knew he had spoken aloud.

Wolf hesitated, then nodded again, giving Virginia a quick and pointed look. Then he led the way on a search of the castle.

They found more courtiers on benches and chairs, secretaries asleep with quills still in hand, maids leaning against bedposts as they prepared to strip the sheets, ladies asleep over their sewing and knitting. In a magistrate's court there was even a lawyer in powdered wig propped up against his table, while the magistrate himself sat with his chin in one palm, the other resting on his gavel. Finally, after several hours of climbing and searching, they found her in the highest tower.

Virginia stopped in the doorway, gazing into the gloomy attic room, listening to the rafters moan. After a moment she led the way inside, but before she reached the low divan where the princess lay, she paused and looked out the embrasure. As far as her eye could see, the Sixth Kingdom was covered with the wretched thorns and brambles she hated by now. Only to the southwest could she see a change in the landscape--a rocky expanse of cliffs riddled with caves, lining a seacoast where water glinted either gray, blue, or silver depending on the light. Her heart sank as she realized how long it would take to search every one of those caves for the dragon.

Turning away, she looked back into the attic and let her eyes adjust. The room was crammed full of old junk: painting frames, swivel chairs, desks, cast-iron stoves, pottery, mirrors, trunks and wardrobes, the collection of generations. It seemed to match fairly well the appearance of the cellar of the Snow White Memorial Prison, where she and Tony had first emerged into the Nine Kingdoms after following Wendell the dog through the Traveling mirror, way back when. As more details filed in for her to examine, she noticed Wolf sitting on a small footstool, his ankle unwrapped so he could apply a bitter-smelling salve he had found in the doctor's cabinet during their survey. Then she saw the Piper. Oblivious to everything and everyone else in the room, he stood over the dusty divan, drinking in every feature of the sleeping maiden.

She had to admit he had good reason to. The princess certainly seemed to have stepped out of a fairy tale, her rose brocade robes folded and pleated neatly around her petite and shapely form. Her long lustrous hair, a breathtaking ebony, blanketed her to her hips, a golden crown of amethysts and topazes nestled atop her head in its locks. Her skin was a creamy white, like the richest milk, with the faintest hint of a blush at her fine cheekbones. Her forehead was broad and unlined, her nose tiny and delicate, her lips narrow and slightly pursed. Her hands were slim and rested beside her body; one was lying there quite naturally, but the other was turned palm-up, the fingers spread wide. Peering closer, Virginia saw something long, black, and shiny stabbed into the tip of a finger. At first she thought it was a poison thorn, but then she realized it was the sharp tip of the spindle of a spinning wheel, broken free of the machine. Abruptly searching the darkness, she found the spinning wheel just under an overhanging rafter, and to her shock it was familiar to her--she had seen it once before, in the dream of Snow White's cottage...

A soft sound interrupted her reverie, and she turned back to see Colin gently stroking the princess's cheek, another sigh escaping his lips. The devotion and naked longing in his eyes was something she had never seen there before. After a long, meaningful moment, he half-glanced over his shoulder at Wolf, still keeping one eye on the sleeper. "What is her name?"

Knotting the wrap back around his ankle, Wolf looked up in time to catch the Piper's eye, and he blinked at the fervent desire burning there. "Briar Rose," he answered simply, his tone as marveling and awed as his expression.

"Briar Rose," the Piper echoed, breathing the name as if it were a prayer. Slowly, ever so slowly, he knelt beside the divan, sweeping his hat off of his head. He took the princess's free hand and stroked it before looking to Virginia in expectation. "I wish there was some way I could help her...I wish there was a chance in the fairying forest that I was he who could break the spell."

"What makes you think you aren't?" Wolf cleared his throat uncertainly and smiled lopsidedly. "You are the only unattached prince here, after all, Piper-boy."

Colin blinked, then looked from Wolf to Virginia. "Do...do you really think...it's possible?"

Virginia took a slow step toward the divan, her hands clasped and wringing nervously. In the stress and confusion and intense emotions of the journey, the ogre's attack, the rescue, and Carmine's disappearance, she had almost forgotten what the Piper had done to enter the kingdom...how it had seemed a signal that he was the prince meant to free the Sleeping Beauty. She still did not know if that were so...but now it seemed even more likely. The way Colin looked at her, the utter worship and radiant emotion, all pointed toward love at first sight. He seemed in a trance, as if controlled by destiny instead of his own choices. Every part of her being told her he was the one. And even if she had not been certain, what harm could there be in trying?

Of course if he was not the one, nothing would happen, and Colin would be extremely disappointed...his heart might even be broken. And no matter how much trouble he had been on the quest, no matter the arguments his presence had caused, no matter the suspicions she still held about his part in Red Riding Hood's escape--suspicions that faded when she witnessed how uncomplicated and pure and true the love shining in his eyes was, a love that denied any falsehood or guile lay in his soul--no matter all of this, she did not wish to be the instrument of any pain to Colin.

And yet...

Forcing a cheery smile, she nodded to the Piper. "Yes, Colin...I think it is. Why don't you try it?"

Swallowing hard, the particolored prince sat down on the edge of the divan beside the princess. He looked once more to Virginia for encouragement, then received it. She in turn watched with her heart in her throat as Colin leaned down, lips parted to let excited and rapid breaths flow in and out over the maiden's skin. His eyes half-closed and he took one last breath. Then, slowly, he kissed Briar Rose.

It was tentative at first, barely a touch at all. But then it gradually became more earnest, lips pressing and working firmly, feverishly, hungrily. And as Virginia gazed in amazement and hope, the greatest gift imaginable happened. The air over the divan, indeed throughout the whole room, shimmered, sparkling as with fairy dust, and then a ripple burst out from the center of the attic, as if a stone had been cast into a placid lake. As it passed over her Virginia felt an incomparable joy and delight, growing stronger and stronger. Then before her startled eyes the spindle tip fell from Beauty's finger and dissolved into dust.

She whirled to face Wolf, grinning like an idiot, and saw a similar expression on his face, a mixture of disbelief, giddiness, and profound rapture. She longed to run to him, to embrace him, as if the expression of true love that had just splashed outward had inspired her to renew her own vows of love. But instead she turned back once more to face the divan.

What she saw made her throat catch. The Piper had broken the kiss and hovered only a few inches above Briar Rose, gazing down at her as if all the magic and mystery and glory in the Kingdoms were contained in her face. And slowly, very slowly, in response to his smile, the Sleeping Beauty, sleeping no more, opened her hazel eyes to return his gaze...