She was so dirty and tired from walking, that she reached back and undid the many pearl buttons on her once beautiful dress. The hem was now hopelessly stained with mud and moss. She allowed the dress to drop from her shoulders and pool at her bare feet. Walking to the edge of the creek, she dipped her toes into the water, and found it delightfully cool and invigorating. Without hesitation she entered, allowing the coolness to envelop her tired, aching muscles, and wash away the accumulated dirt and mud from her long journey. Holding her breath, she sank beneath the water level, allowing her hair to become completely drenched in the cleansing waters.
When she rose for a breath, she was completely taken aback from the sight she witnessed.
Standing in the deadly nightshade was the most stunning, gorgeous creature even her imagination could not conjure. The size and shape of a slender, fully grown man, the being bore skin the color of lilac, with long wavy hair, black as night and streaked with purple. Thick tendrils of nightshade framed his head, and curled down his arms. Even from Princess’s position in the creek, she could see his eyes were silvery grey.
A low vibrational hum from the secret womanly place between her thighs caught her off guard. In all her years, she never felt such a unique energy from her own root. It was as though her body possessed some primal power she was never aware of. It was simultaneously glorious and wondersome. Her fingers ached to explore the area from where the feeling pulsed.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The deeply male voice broke her from her new found thoughts and feelings, and snapped her back to the present.
“I’ve come for your help, Sir.”
“I cannot help you. Now you must leave this area, and never return. When I turn around, you will be gone, and never return here if you value your life.”
He turned away, and she saw his well-defined back and shoulders. Loose fitting trousers of a gauzy material covered his lower half. He was so fascinating; she could barely keep focused on her task. He said he would not help her.
He must help her.
She had to change his mind.
She rose from the creek, and stepped on to the dry land. Tentatively, she took a few steps towards him. Her fingers ached to touch his unique skin, his hair, but she resisted.
“Sir, please, if you will only hear me out.”
He whipped around with such force it startled her to where she almost lost her footing and stumbled.
“Good gracious girl, put on some clothing!” He barked, and tossed her dress to her. “Don’t you know what presenting yourself naked to a man is asking for?”
Did he not find her pleasing? A heat filled her cheeks. For the first time in her life she felt a strange, new emotion she did not like.
Shame.
Quickly, she held up the dress to cover her ample breasts and nether regions. She didn’t have enough material to cover her bottom. Surely, he couldn’t be put off by the sight of her naked rear, could he?
“I’m…I’m sorry my body offends you, Sir,” she stammered, and looked at her feet, no longer able to make eye contact with the man creature. “That was not my intention.”
“You are a peculiar little girl,” he commented.
“I am not a little girl, Sir. I am a woman, and I need your help. I am told you are the only one who can help.”
“Who told you such nonsense? I cannot help you. I cannot even help myself. I am naught but a cursed huntsman.”
His words saddened her, and two tears escaped from her eyes, and fell upon pale cheeks. If he could not help her, then her brothers’ fates would be sealed. Forever enslaved to Valentina, doomed to remain vile, mutant, gangrenous swan creatures.
The world became a little darker to her. If she could not save her brothers, what would become of her? Alone in a world she did not know or understand, she considered that she might as well fill her pockets with stones, and walk into the deepest part of the creek.
“I asked you, who told you such nonsense?”
“My brothers, Sir. They have been captured by my father’s new wife. An evil witch of a woman named Valentina.”
The man being visibly shuddered at the mention of Valentina’s name. Was he also a victim of her charms and evil ways?
“Go on,” he encouraged.
“My father came home with his bride after a time away. He wore a look of terror on his face I’ve never seen before. He banished us from our home, into the desolate forest. Days ago, she arrived with my father’s entourage, and I hid myself. From my position, I saw six swans fly away. When all was quiet, I took shelter in a hollowed out tree trunk until I was fairly sure of my safety. It was then I followed the trail of feathers.”
Princess stopped speaking, and clutched her dress tighter against her now shivering body.
“And then?” he prodded.
“And then, I came upon a little shack in which were six beds in a row. I crawled beneath, and fell into a sleep. I awoke to six mutant beings entering the shack. They had bodies of a man, but with green skin and the black eyes, beaks, feathers and wings of a swan.”
Her brown eyes lifted to connect to his silvery grey. “In the next instant, the hideous skins dropped from their bodies, and left behind my brothers intact. They had but one hour to explain to me their capture and enslavement by Valentina, in a social club, where she is proprietress. They sent me to you before they once again returned to their mutant form.”
Dark clouds closed over above, and Princess shivered harder as a coldness settled on the land.
The man being before
