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There was no better motivator for Eleonore than being told she couldn’t do something.
Women can’t train with swords? Fine, she’d practice in the dead of the night and under the tutelage of the retired, half-blind man who she convinced she was a boy by modulating her voice and binding her chest.
Women can’t become knights? Fine, she’ll cut her blood-red hair to her chin, keep binding her chest and train with weights to be able to carry the armor of the squires and knights.
Women can’t serve the king? Fine, she’ll ask for a mission so hard to fulfill the king would have no other choice but to keep her as part of retinue, even once she reveals her gender.
“Fucking hell,” Eleonore cursed fluidly as she hacked away at the snarled mess of the thorny vines. “Oy, Michael, how’s that fire coming along?”
“Not good, Leon,” the man shouted right back, deep bass still soothing despite the audible annoyance in his voice. “Everything here is far too wet to support the level of flames we need to get through.”
Michael had joined her as her witness on the most difficult mission the king could’ve given her: liberating the tower of Haldagard from its curse. Several centuries ago, a now forgotten king employed a court magician to place the curse on it so the tower would be inaccessible to any man. The rumors of what the tower hid ranged from sleeping princesses to lost gold of hero Siegfried, but Eleonore didn’t care a whit about what was inside - just the fact that the current king wanted it accessible again.
“We have to think about it in a different way,” Eleonore said, finally giving up on hacking her way through the thick and thorny vines and returned to Michael’s side. “Fire’s a definite no-go?”
“No-go,” Michael confirmed, frown marring his otherwise perfectly sculpted face. “And digging underneath all of these vines will be far too complicated. Who knows how deep the roots go.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Eleonore agreed with a sigh, and sat down next to the firepit and the pot of soup Michael had prepared for them. “Any ideas beyond the obvious?”
“Repeat the story for me,” Michael requested of her, and Eleonore obliged, repeating everything she had been told and overheard about the tower of Haldagard and its curse.
“Magician’s curse… those usually have some sort of key for breaking,” Michael said, deep in thought, his soup bowl forgotten next to him. “Some kind of worthiness test.”
“The stories and reality are not the same thing,” Eleonore snorted and ladled out the soup into her bowl. “We’re not in a fairytale.”
“Do you sincerely believe that, Leon?” Michael’s voice was strange, and Eleonore paused. “Do you honestly think this could not be solved like the fairytales make it out?”
“Well…” Eleonore had to admit, the place was giving her creeps. The tower, despite being untouched for over two centuries, was gleaming and pristine, and none of the vines sported any sign of natural death and birth - it was like the whole place frozen in time.
Michael didn’t press her further, but the point had been well and truly made, and the two continued eating their soup in tense silence. Afterward, Michael ambled back into the woods to gather the wood for the fire to last well into the night, and Eleonore went back to hacking at the vines.
“Stupid things,” she muttered to herself, hissing as one of the thorns tore a gash in her sword arm. “Why are there so many - what the actual fuck?”
The moment she let go of the thorny branch that scratched, the vines immediately parted way and revealed the bolted door of the castle behind them.
“This has to be a joke,” Eleonore muttered to herself, but nonetheless carefully made a step forward. “What kind of magical bullshit is this?”
The vines didn’t retreat; on the contrary, they danced a little as if to invite her inside. Biting down more curses, Eleonore strode forward to the door and pulled at the shiny, un-rusted bolt back to open the door.
The door opened with no squeaking, no noise - the lack of noise far more eerie than Eleonore thought it’d be - and revealed a spiral staircase.
“This is a joke,” Eleonore mumbled, but there was no denying it at this point: she was in a fairytale, cast as the unwitting knight. What would she find at the top? Well, it would either be a sleeping princess or a chest full of gold, if the script was to be obeyed.
Pushing the depressing thoughts to the side, Eleonore climbed up the tight, dizzying spirals, making sure to constantly watch down or up, never to the side as to not get dizzy and fall down to her death. Before she was ready, she arrived at the second door, this one without any type of bolt or lock on it.
Strange. The front gates were bolted shut from the outside . That bolt was meant to keep whatever was in the tower inside… but why not lock the door that led into the top of the tower then? Why was the person securing the tower so sure the thing or person in the tower would not go down, or that the person entering would not be able to get whatever was inside?
Opening the door gave Eleonore all the answers she needed.
“Oh fucking hell…”
The ring of pure fire lit up the entire room in the tower, obviously not allowing anyone in or out. It was just like the story of Brynhildr and Siegfried -
Wait. Was this the test? That same test Siegfried has passed? If so, Eleonore was fresh out of luck - she had no immortal stallion on her side to help her jump over the flames, and she wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to simply walk through the flames.
As she stared at the dancing flames, the fiery tongues suddenly started moving in strange patterns; they eerily resembled symbols and pictures of things Eleonore had seen before. First it formed a rose, completed with thorns, then it formed an arrow pointing upward, then a zig-zag lightning-like symbol, and finally a sword that had some kind of lines surrounding it - stylized fire, maybe?
“What are you telling me?” Eleonore asked, throwing all the logic to the wind. If she was in the fairytale, the rules of the normal world wouldn’t work anyway.
In response, the tongues parted ways for a moment, and Eleonore finally caught the glimpse of the center of the ring.
The center of the ring was taken up entirely by the richly decorated, marble altar, on which laid a distinctly human-shaped figure. The rivers of silk and brocade decorated the altar, and violet Sweet Williams flowers and thorny vines like the ones outside were scattered everywhere.
“Gallantry, and defensiveness,” Eleonore said to herself, and the tongues fused together, again barring Eleonore from entering. “Well, I can’t leave you there, whoever you are. What kind of knight would I be?”
Taking a deep breath, Eleonore closed her eyes, and prayed to whatever deity that happened to be listening to her.
Please, let me pass. Let me pass, and release that poor person from their cage. Even if they’re dead, let me pass to get them and give them a proper burial. Please.
The prayer said, Eleonore took a running start, and threw herself straight at the mercy of the fire -
- and came out on the other side uninterrupted.
“Huh?”
Not a single singed hair on her.
“This is weird…”
Ignoring that for now, Eleonore walked up to the altar to check on the person laying there.
The girl, or a young woman - Eleonore had never been good with judging ages - had blonde hair and an angelic face, was dressed in a fancy white dress, and held a sharp blade in her hands, which were tightly crossed over her chest.
“A knight?” Eleonore was stunned. A woman that was a knight? How come Eleonore never heard of her?
Now she had to know more. Approaching her with all the reverence she could muster, Eleonore kneeled at the altar and placed her hand on the girl’s wrist to feel for the pulse. The steady thudding of a heartbeat beneath her fingers made her cheer out loud - the girl was still alive!
“You’re alive…” Eleonore breathed, and placed her palm over the girl’s nose. The warm tickle only confirmed her conclusion: the girl was alive and breathing. “But how do I wake you up?”
Kiss her , her mind, still admiring the girl’s pretty features, suggested mischievously. Be her knight in shining armor.
Shut up, mind!
But now that the idea was suggested, Eleonore couldn’t stop looking at the girl’s full, plush pink lips. She’d never kissed anyone before… but it wasn’t like the girl would care, right? It’s not like Eleonore had to snog her: a light peck on the lips should be enough to wake her up.
Eleonore gulped, still a little uncertain. She didn’t like girls or boys; in fact, she found most of humanity annoying - but this girl… was it because she was a knight?
Just kiss her, you dummy!
Spurred on by her mind’s egging, Eleonore sat on the altar and leaned over the girl’s serene face. Up close, Eleonore could see small spots of discoloration on the girl’s cheeks, the chappiness of her lips - all reassurances that Eleonore was not going to kiss a goddess, or a mannequin. Emboldened, Eleonore leaned in and let her lips touch the girl’s.
At first, Eleonore thought nothing happened. The press of the lips could barely be called a kiss; it also didn’t feel like anything special, confirming Eleonore’s hypothesis that kissing was overrated. Then, the girl’s eyes opened, and Eleonore’s eyes met the brightest pair of green eyes she had ever seen in her life. They were as bright as polished jade, and stars and lightning danced in them as their owner smiled from ear to ear.
“ You’ve come back for me. ”
“W-what?” Eleonore stuttered, still spellbound by the eyes and the honey voice. “I -”
“ You kept our promise. ”
The next thing Eleonore knew, the girl was kissing her passionately, mashing their lips together, pulling her over her body. A leg dug into Eleonore’s side, making her gasp; the girl used that as the opportunity to wriggle her tongue in Eleonore’s tongue, and her arms deftly unlatched Eleonore’s armor.
Somehow, Eleonore managed to pull herself away from the girl, panting and slightly lightheaded.
“Who - who are you?”
The girl smiled brightly, and something nagged Eleonore at the back of her mind. Where had she seen that smile before?
“Your sweetheart, of course.”
And fast as lightning, the girl grabbed one of the thorny vines and cut Eleonore’s hand - one of the places where her skin wasn’t protected by the clothes.
Immediately, strength deserted Eleonore; she collapsed on top of the girl with a loud whuff, eliciting a giggle from the girl.
“There we go. Now we can sleep together forever.”
“What -”
Eleonore was still struggling to connect -
Oh.
A flash of a smile, a bright laughter, a golden castle, fire, love .
“We knew each other… before.”
“M-hm,” the girl hummed, petting Eleonore’s head as she slowly sank into the darkness. “We did. Do you remember my name now?”
“Yes… Beatrice. ”
“ Eleonore ,” Beatrice breathed, and Eleonore felt the swish of movement, followed by the iron smell of blood - Beatrice had cut herself with the same thorns that she cut Eleonore with. “ Finally you’re with me, my prince, my knight. I won’t ever let you go. ”
And Eleonore surrendered to the darkness of eternal sleep, laying on top of Beatrice, their swords having rolled off and falling in front of the altar.
Once upon a time, a warrior princess met a stalwart knight, whom she loved very much. However, her father forbade such a union, and sent the knight to her death in a pointless war.
Desolate, the princess asked three favors from her father’s magician: to put the princess to sleep in her tower, place magical vines around the tower that would not yield to anyone but her knight’s reincarnation, and to stop the time for all eternity.
Moved by the princess’ pure love and willingness to wait, the magician did as she asked. However, he added one more layer of precaution: he spelled the ring of flame around the princess so that no one would ever be able to leave the tower.
The king was furious with his magician, but there was nothing he could do - the princess could not be reached by anyone but her knight. So, he made it a rule; since his darling girl had been a warrior and her lover a knight, no woman was to be given training as a knight, made a squire, or promoted into the court knight.
It was to be the king’s revenge on his daughter’s insolence, but love always finds the way, and the knight’s reincarnation found the princess again in her tower. Now they sleep together in the enchanted tower, together forever, inseparable, with their blades crossed at the foot of the altar to speak of their love.
How do I know what happened after the knight went into the tower, you might ask? Well, I got this story from my grandfather, who heard it from his grandfather, who was told by his uncle, the knight who accompanied the princess's knight. He managed to get into the tower while the vines were still open, and had peered through the ring of flames before the magic tossed him out.
You don’t believe me? Well, they say that every year, for an hour, on the same day that the princess’s knight arrived at the tower, the pair wakes up and dances under the moonlight, and they can be seen through the tower’s window. If you want to, go and check for yourself.
Now, go to sleep, little one. It's late, and you know that monsters like to eat little ones that stay up late.