In Exchange for Magic

"Can we stop here?" I begged between the chattering of my teeth.
"No," Ezekiel huffed as we continued trekking.
"Ez, it's cold!" I protested.

He stopped in his tracks and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Rose, we're never going to get to the Palace by my birthday if we stop every time you're cold!"
I sighed. "I know why you don't want to stop."
He scowled.
"In your dream, what time was it?"
The scowl deepened. I could see a crease form between his eyebrows.
"Ez, what time was it?"

"It was night," he grumbled.

"I knew it," I spat. "You want to keep walking through the night so that you won't be afraid of your little dream!"
"It wasn't a dream!"
"How do you know?"
"I... I..."
"Huh?" I demanded. "You've never had a vision of the future in your life. How do you know this one wasn't a dream?"
"I don't," he muttered.

I sighed, satisfied. "Good. We'll camp here!"

Gratefully, I dropped my heavy back pack onto the earthen floor.

"Rose, please-"
"Ez," I said firmly. "You are never going to get over this. I know you. You're going to keep insisting that we walk through the night until, eventually, we become nocturnal."
He sighed. "I do not have a good feeling about this, Sweet."
"Well, you don't have a good feeling about anything," I sniffed and began to yank my sleeping bag out from my pack.

"I have good feelings about some things," he grumbled. "You don't see me in the corner being an elmo kid."
"Emo kid, Ez," I corrected. "Elmo is the crazy red puppet."
"Oh, that's right."

He began to unroll his sleeping bag as well.

"I'm proud of you for using a pop culture reference, though," I teased.
He snorted in laughter. "Yes! I'm a regular comedian, huh?"
"Suuure," I told him sarcastically. "You're a riot, Ezekiel."

He shrugged and continued to set up his bed.

I stepped back to admire my perfectly unrolled sleeping bag. Okay, maybe it wasn't that great of an achievement. The wind crawled up my back and I shivered.

"Hey, let's go get some firewood or something," I suggested. "I'm about to freeze to death."
"Oh," he said, clucking his tongue in mock disapproval. "We can't have that now!"
"Yeah! Where would you get your blood-fix from?"
He scowled and gave me a little shove.

"I'll chop and you carry, deal?" he asked, withdrawing a small axe from his belt.
"Deal."

We had to walk a bit to find some dry wood. It must have rained in these parts recently, and the trees were damp. Eventually, we came upon a dry clearing and, a few minutes later, Ez was hacking up a fallen tree. I was gathering armloads of dried wood.

"Hey... Hey, Ez?" I called over the tall stack of lumber in my hands. "I'm going to go drop this off at the campsite, okay?"
He hesitated. "I'll go with you."
"No, no," I insisted. "Keep chopping. I'll go drop this off and then hurry back for a second load, okay?"
"Rose-"
"I'll be fine! I promise!"

I scurried away, rushed back to the campsite, and dumped my load of firewood onto the ground. I laughed, imagining Ez and his worried mother-like ways. He was probably giving himself an ulcer right now!

On my way back, I heard a small noise coming from behind me. I paused, my heart lurching around in my chest. Slowly, I turned around.

"Is anyone there?" I asked timidly, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"Hello?" another voice responded. "Hello?"

I froze. Fear grasped me like a giant shiver, and my hands instinctively clenched into tight fists.

"Whoever you are," I called, snarling. "Go away!"

Then, quite suddenly, a man burst through the bushes. I gasped involuntarily as I saw his face...

I had seen his face in storybooks when I was little. My favorite one was called Attannia: The Magical Kingdom. On the cover was a picture of a large stone castle, encased in clouds. A beautiful Princess was sighing wistfully, clutched in the arms of a giant black monster, and her Prince was riding a chestnut colored horse - determined to save her.

I stumbled back a few steps.

"P-Prince..." I muttered.
His handsome face broke out into a smile. "Ah! So I am recognized!"
"Prince Jude..." I breathed. "Jude Silver, Prince of the Cyans!."
"That would be me," he mused, picking a twig from his long hair.

"You... You exist!"

He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes... Yes, I think we've established that..."

His dark hair fell in choppy layers to his chin, and his overgrown bangs kept falling into his eyes - which happened to be a warm shade of chocolate. His mouth was somber, yet it held a hint of a smile.

Prince Jude was a Cyan. The books had captured it perfectly. The tanned skin... The almond eyes... The pointed ears - slightly larger than Ez's. All distinct characteristics of his kind.

As a young girl, I'd stare at the pictures of him in my fairy tale books. He was always depicted the same, tall, strong, and incredibly good looking. The artists hadn't done him justice, though. There he stood, the man who I wanted to marry as a child. The man who I'd dreamt would crash through my window and carry me off from the arms of my monster of a life.

Needless to say, I was shocked.

He approached me.

"I was hoping you could help me out with something..." he said, cocking his head to the side.
"Yes!" I cried, a little too eagerly. "Anything... Uh, Your Highness!"
He chuckled. "Call me Jude."
"J-Jude..."

He surveyed me casually, his eyes lingering on my face.

"I've got something of a fairy tale complex..." he mused, taking a step closer.
"Tell me about it," I replied breathlessly.
"No doubt you've heard of spells broken by a kiss?"

My heart squirmed.

"I've got all the ingredients," he said, reaching out and taking my small hand in his large ones.
"Like what?" I flirted.

Okay, don't tell me you wouldn't try to hit on Prince Charming a little! Jeez!

"Well," he pretended to think. "I've got the curse."
"That's vital," I nodded.
He placed a soft hand on my hip and leaned down to say quietly, "I've got a pair of lips."
I laughed airily.
"And all that's left," he whispered directly into my ear, causing me to shiver. "Is a beautiful maiden..."

I turned my head to say something back, but Prince Jude caught my lips in a gentle kiss. It hit me like a shovel to the back of the head.

"Wait!" I cried, pulling away sharply.

I looked at the ground, trying to process something.

"What is it?" he asked, impatient.
I scowled slightly, thinking. "You've got the scar on your eyebrow..."
"Yes," he replied, confused. He touched the pale white line running through his brow.
"Well, didn't you get that scar while you were rescuing Princess Elaine from the King of Beasts?"

Oh, yeah. I knew my fairy tales.

"W-Well, yes... But-"
"And don't you marry her underneath the Waterfall of Stars the second you get back to Attannia?"
"I... I..."
"And isn't it true that, not only did you wed her, but you pledged your everlasting love to her?"

"I... I..." he huffed. "What are you trying to say?"
"Who are you?" I asked, stepping away from him and folding my arms in front of my chest. "Who the hell are you?"
"Why, I'm Prince Jude Silver! Soon-to-be King of the Cyans!" he protested earnestly.

"No you're not!" I accused. "Because if you were, you'd be kissing Princess Elaine instead of me!"

His eyes widened in surprise.

"Who are you?" I repeated. "What are you?"
"I've told you! I'm Prince Ju-"
"No you are not!" I shrieked. "You are not Prince Jude!"

Suddenly, the wannabe Prince straightened up. His face crumpled and melted away... He began twisting and shrinking to a height of about four feet. His beautiful tanned skin dulled into a yellowed color. His hair shrunk back up into his skull until he was completely bald, and he began losing weight rapidly.

Finally, what had once been a handsome man, was now a tall alien-like creature with long fingers that curled into claws. Dark brown spots tainted the uneven coloring in its already sickeningly splotchy skin. It was skinny, with arms the circumference of one of my fingers. Its legs were long and its knees were knobby.

I let out a strangled scream.

Softly, the thing chuckled in a metal voice. I backed up against a tree, prepared to run... But I didn't have to. The creature no longer spent any time with me, and decided to sprint away into the trees.

I fell to the ground, my heart swollen and beating dully against my chest.