Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer: Expanded Edition by Tanith Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

he had few belongings: a lamp, a pallet and a little wooden chest. The chest caught the prince’s eye at once, for it was intricately carved and would have needed sharper tools than stone. A few pine branches burned on the hearth.
    “You said you waited for me,” the prince said, “yet how could you know me?”
    “You are of no importance except that you are Royal Born. This I could see, having a gift for such things. One who is Royal Born was expected.”
    “Why? And for what?”
    “To enter the place you saw, and to go in to what lies beyond the briars.”
    “What, then, lies there?”
    “Ah,” The Oldest One smiled, and his wrinkled skin moved on his face like sea waves. “I know only what was said, this being what my father told me. If you would care to listen, I’ll tell you as much.
    “Well then. I was born at sunset on a strange day. It was the day the curse fell upon the valley. The nature of the curse is vague—it had to do with the Thirteenth Lady, the dark sorceress, and with a needle. For some sixteen years before my birth the king had allowed no sharp object into the valley—not an axe or a knife, not even a pin. And he had made a great bonfire and burned every spinning wheel in his kingdom on it. After which anyone who defied the law was put to death. I know nothing of the curse beyond this, except that on the day of my birth, at the very same moment that I arrived in the world, the curse came about, despite every precaution. Immediately a wall of thorns sprang up about the palace. My father and his neighbours saw it happen. The thorns twisted and turned and threaded together until the topmost towers of the palace could no longer be seen. No one could get in, and no one out. The city sent for help. Kings’ sons came, for it was said that only one Royal Born could cleave through the thorn wall. But the thorns impaled them and they died horribly. As you have seen, their bones hang there yet. After a few years the people abandoned the city. It was a place full of ghosts and fear. The walls cracked and the roofs fell in until it was as you find it now. Only my father and mother remained, and I, their child. I have outlived them, and I have known no other life than waiting for the last Royal Born.”
    “But how can you know who will be the last?” the prince asked, very low.
    “That was the softening of the curse. After a hundred years it might be broken if there were any man here to dare it.”
    “You stayed my hand,” the prince said.
    “Yes, for it was not the time. When the sun sinks tonight beyond the hills, that will be as at the hour of my birth and the hour of the curse. I shall be a hundred years old at sunset.”
    * * * *
    All through the afternoon the rain darted and rang on the stones of the city. But at last the sky cleared and turned golden, and the sun rested like a great red lamp on the crown of the hills.
    “Now it is the time,” said the Oldest One, and the prince rose. It was very chill and his arm burned coldly where the dark woman had touched it.
    “What shall I find?” he asked, as he stood in the doorway. “Suppose I should only turn away, and leave the valley by the quickest route?”
    “You know you can never do that till you’ve seen. As to what you will find, they said something beautiful lies asleep there, but it was seldom spoken of. I scarcely know.”
    It was very silent when he walked back up the slanting street. He paused at the rusty gate, and the bones rattled on the briars. He drew his knife, as before, and took a step inside.
    The great thorn stems writhed and twisted, though there was then no wind, and the barbs clashed together with a sound of battle.
    He raised his blade and struck at them.
    He’d come to expect, by that time, almost anything, and so was not surprised. The thorn wall broke apart before him and curled aside, forming a long avenue stretching away and away into a dim gloomy distance. He hesitated a moment. If he went up the path