The air in Once-upon-a Time was beginning to nip and bite. It was not an overwhelming chill but every once and awhile the wind would strike a shiver into the citizens going about their business out of doors. The farmers noticed it first, out in the fields checking the summer produce for ripeness. It would be harvest time any day now. The ladies of the land were looking forward to all the pumpkin concoctions they would soon be able to whip up.
Along with the slight change in weather came a change in colors. Things once deep green were yellowing, oranging and reddening. A new crispness was shriveling the plants, even in the greenhouses. Flexible things were becoming brittle. This was not a common event in Once-upon-a Time. The seasons did not bring death in this province. Autumn was not associated with falling leaves. The sun did not sink out of a rosy sky, surrendering to night earlier than other times in the year. Yet the days were growing a few minutes darker in a subtle progression.
The citizens of Once-upon-a Time were slowly noticing a shadow creeping over their daily lives.
Prince Darrik tromped along the main road out of the capitol city. He held Knightley's reigns in one gloved hand, though a hard push of wind could have brushed it from his grasp. Darrik wouldn't have noticed. Knightley knew things were pretty serious the first time the prince chose to walk instead of ride. This dreary trudging had never before been part of Darrik's regimen. Now, drudgery was all he had time for. While Knightley saw the benefit of slowing one's pace for philosophical brooding, the habit was getting old. He wanted to race off over the hills, his molars rattling, his mane blustering, his heart thumping. But Darrik had lost his hunger for vitality. Once or twice Knightley's eye caught what seemed to be the faint glimmer of a graying hair upon his master's head.
Prince Darrik inhaled up to his neck and then heaved a sigh that endured for ages.
"Sire?" Knightley inquired.
"Huh? What?" the young man looked around, as if he had forgotten his noble steed's existence. Finally, he saw Knightley and said, "Oh, Knightley. Did you say something to me?"
Knightley shook his head, long lashes mournful over his brown eyes. "Merely making an observation, Your Majesty."
"Oh, really?" Prince Darrik reverted back into his dreamy trance of solitary guilt.
"Yes, sire. It occurs to me that your exuberance for Once-upon-a Time has soured slightly. Ever since the Ball you've been...hm, the right word eludes me. I only wonder why, under the sad circumstances, we linger on?"
Prince Darrik passed a hand through his mass of bangs. The gesture was not to accentuate his vanity and confidence. His fingers remained atop his head as his eyes stared ahead, a touch of gloom blinding his sight of the future.
"I don't have anywhere else to go, Knightley."
The white stallion snorted a gust from his giant nostrils. "Whatever do you mean, Prince Darrik? We can always go home to Happily, Ever After. Your parents will be wondering."
Darrik's mind careened down a tangent with the mere mention of his parents. His stomach washed its juices upside down. Oh golly, he thought, my parents! What are they going to say and do? Dad's going to be furious, though hardly surprised. And Mother, she'll be heartbroken. All she wants is a daughter to plan gowns and diplomatic tea parties with – and I've dashed that chance completely. I'm going to return home even more hopeless than when I left. I can hear the lectures already. Fabulous.
"No, Knightley," Darrik said with decision. "I can't go back there. Not yet anyways."
"Yet, sire? You have something still to do here, or so I gather from your phraseology. Is that correct?"
Darrik nodded. Odd as it sounded, he felt there was still something waiting for him in Once-upon-a Time. He came all the way across Fairy Tale for a purpose. He had to believe that. He had to hold on to a promised happy ending. His job couldn't just be the cruel breaking of Princess Adeline's heart. It just couldn't be. There must be some miracle more.
For Darrik was one hundred and ten percent sure that he had been falling in love all those misty days ago. Yet it was crystal clear the lady was not Adeline. She was wonderful, but she was not the "One" - the woman that inspired his soul to strive for greatness, for him to be the best man he could be.
Knightley's ears perked to pointy attention. "I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but is that weeping I hear?"
Prince Darrik had to consciously check his own cheeks to be sure the noise had not come from his own overflowing heart. There was no moisture rolling from his eyelids, no sloppy mucus in his throat. Phew, he relaxed, you're good. At least you've maintained the manly exterior. Crying in public, that would get you dethroned before you even rose to power. Imagine what the Prince Charming Selection Committee would say! Would they just consider him adorably sensitive? Or...In his imagination, Darrik saw dozens of disgusted, young women ripping their copies of Creature Magazine in two, splitting his face apart right down the middle. Darrik blinked three or four times to wipe out the mental picture.
Instead, he chose to listen for the noise Knightley had deciphered. There was a whimpering woman somewhere nearby. Darrik heard the composed crying and felt an affinity to the poor victim. The world was looking a meaner place by the minute. The pain in his own heart was both soothed and distressed by this sound of woe. It reached out to the stranger close by, yearning to find and give consolation to another being losing the battle against the tyrant, Anguish.
"I think it's coming from the meadow, the one right around this bend."
Prince Darrik rushed off in the mourner's direction. He ran, his cape riding the wind he created, with a determined speed Knightley missed. The milky stallion whinnied in delight. This was not the old Darrik, true enough. The old Darrik would hardly recognize the private suffering of others. Sadness would have repulsed him, but now he was throwing himself towards it. This transformation almost verified the proverb that trials build character and often prove to be for our good. Knightley liked this thought and galloped after his royal master.
Prince Darrik throttled his willowy frame around the corner of a wooded hill. At the edge of the meadow of wildflowers, he screeched to a halt. His boot heels skidded a few inches forward, trying to stop without crashing onto his handsome face. The weeping woman could easily be spotted. Her back was turned to any passerby. She sat with her legs beneath her, her face bent into her hands. Her brown hair cascaded down her back, the tips curling in the breeze. Her green dress looked out of place in the terrain of wildflowers, though Darrik couldn't put his finger on the reason for the contrast. He felt a little embarrassed to witness her woe, but that had to be got over. He needed to help this girl out of his newfound compassion.
"Excuse me, miss," he coughed, "But may I be of service to you, in any small way?"
The young woman's head flew up. Her spine straightened, tension visible. She breathed hard for awhile, trying to calm herself down enough for discernable communication. She wiped the salty trails from her face and replied,
"No, Your Majesty, there is nothing you can do. Nothing anyone can do."
Prince Darrik's eyes grew and he fumbled forward. "Eudora?"
He ran to her and, once beside her, fell to his knees. His left hand grabbed her shoulder. Eudora's emerald eyes were swamped with redness and moisture. Her beauty appeared puffy and swollen. Her bottom lip quivered as she gripped her weak emotions into control. Prince Darrik instantly filled with fear.
"Eudora, what is it? Tell me, please," the prince begged the handmaiden.
"Look," Eudora said, lifting something from her lap. Prince Darrik stared at the wildflowers laying limply in her nimble hands. They were all floppy like a rag doll. Some were missing petals, others were losing their vivid colors. Darrik did not understand what it meant, not that it mattered. Eudora's sorrow was enough to envelop his interest.
"It's happening again," she whispered. Eudora gasped as her tears rushed up against her will's prison gates. "I can't bear it another time! I can't!"
"Bear what, Eudora? What's happening again?" Darrik asked. "Help me understand so I can try to stop it."
"Stop it?!" she half mocked, half screamed, "You can't stop it. It's already too late. I've seen it all before and it cannot be stopped. Thinking you have the ability to take action only makes it worse."
"But what is it, Eudora? What is killing the flowers?"
She looked him right in the eye and stated, "The darkness. It's taking over Once-upon-a Time."
Knightley plodded up behind them, kicking a few dead flowers as a sort of test. Every one drooped against his light touch. He threw his head up and sideways, taking a couple of nervous strides backwards.
"Sire," he said, "I believe this is a serious situation."
"The most serious," Eudora burst out, taking hold of Prince Darrik's hand. "The darkness means the end of Once-upon-a Time. It conquers in stages. The air gets colder, then the nights get longer, things start to freeze and die. Eventually all plant life blows away as dust; grass, trees, everything. The sun and stars stop shining through the clouds. Nothing warm and bright survives. It all ends in darkness of the land and of the citizens' spirits."
Knightley reared onto his back legs and fought the breeze. Prince Darrik could not pull his gaze away from Eudora's face. His throat went dry and scratchy. A cold chill swept across from his head to his toes.
"Where did you see this before," he managed to ask despite his fear.
Eudora inhaled sharply. She studied his face in a pause that seemed to last hours. Could she tell him? She desperately wanted to, but was it wise? Would it do any good? Was it worth the danger of her unmasking? A seed of need was trying to bud through the solid clay of her heart. She needed him to know her secret, and him alone. But...Eudora was too frightened of the many reactions which might pose a threat to their relationship. So, Eudora turned her face away and ripped her hand back to its companion in her lap.
"I used to live in Rainbow's End," she told the horse and rider.
"Dark and Stormy?!" Prince Darrik and Knightley said together.
"Don't call it that," Eudora bit back. "It was my home, and now...it's gone. The darkness crawled in and all the good slinked out. Refugees fled to escape the vermin that came as children of muck and shadows. It used to be a beautiful, joyful place...and the same thing is happening to Once-upon-a Time. Darrik, Princess Adeline isn't even here to see the danger! The people...they're all going to be lost without a leader. Why has she abandoned them? What did you do?"
Darrik jolted back, sticking his pointer finger at his chest. "Me? What are you implying?"
"She was perfect, their perfectly dedicated, responsible princess...until you came. She would never contemplate taking a morning off from her duties before. Now she has left the kingdom with only vague, political reasons. The only change is you, Darrik. You couldn't live up to her royal example so you chose to corrupt her," Eudora stood up, the dead wildflowers falling from her lap. She swung her skirt out for cleanliness, then crossed her arms over her chest. "I can hardly look at you."
Prince Darrik marveled from the ground. How did she do this – this odd reversal of emotions? Why was he still unprepared for her mood swings? Why didn't he loathe her for her honesty and judgment? He lifted his arms outward, palms facing the veiling sun.
"I never meant for things to turn out so badly. You think I enjoy watching Adeline's world fall apart? I don't; I hate it. It is tearing me to pieces. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't even take a ride. You think your princess has experienced a character change, then look at me. I hardly recognize that fool they worship as Prince Charming of the Year," Darrik rose to his feet. "I would have thought a refugee who has lost everything and everyone that defined her identity would have been more compassionate."
The two young people glared at one another, their noses almost touching. The emerald ferocity blazed in opposition to Darrik's chestnut, iron ego. Knightley would not have been shocked if fire suddenly jumped from their eyes and beat against one another. It was easier to fight than to open up secrets kept under lock and key. And yet, the obvious effect of fire is smoke. The flame of anger burned itself out as they felt the magnetism of their proximity. There was some nerve in their bodies, some intuition that knew they were a pair and needed to be drawn together.
Eudora's anger escaped in a single sigh. Darrik's hands reached out to gently enfold her arms.
The doubts of a moment before flashed out of existence. Prince Darrik and Eudora finally knew why they had been brought to Once-upon-a Time. They were in love, though they barely comprehended how to handle this situation.
There was no time to think about romance now. The sound of beating hooves resonated in their ears. Knightley neighed as he recognized Dark Journey and Gillroy, flying at them. The dirt and dead flowers thrown up from the ground were falling jaggedly. Gillroy was leaning forward with a violent handling of the reigns to press his horse on faster and faster. He had to get back to the castle. The news he carried was too important for any delay.
Gill and Dark Journey were moving so fast that they almost missed the sight of the familiar threesome in the meadow. At the last minute, Dark Journey skidded to a stop, practically causing Gill to zip out of the saddle, head first. But this horseman was too skilled for accidents and his mission too critical for injury to delay him.
Eudora and Prince Darrik stepped closer to Dark Journey and his rider. Both new arrivals were soaked with sweat and foam, driven by exhaustion and duty. Gillroy's dirty-blonde hair was matted to his forehead. The occasional dead bug could be seen on the horse's coat. A ripple of concern went through the three observers.
"It's Adeline," Gill said, trying to catch the breath he'd thrown aside sixty miles back. "Lady Jacqueline, she's captured her."
"What?!" Darrik cried.
"No!" Eudora gasped. She pressed herself against Dark Journey and took hold of the dust coated saddle. "How did she know..."
"I don't know," Gill interrupted, "But I'm going after her. You can come if you want, but I'm going no matter what."
"Into Distress?" Knightley asked. Gill nodded with a blank face, a curt nod.
"What about the kingdom?" Darrik asked. "How are you going to tell..."
"Oh no, you mustn't," Eudora said. "They can't hear a word. It would only hasten the end. Chaos, suspicion, they're exactly what Lady Jacqueline depends on in her grand scheme. No, there's no reason anyone has to find out."
"Uh Eudora, the folks of Once-upon-a Time aren't dumb. They're going to miss her eventually," Darrik reasoned. "She's so devoted and visible while fulfilling her job requirements that creatures are going to notice her absence."
"I was thinking we'd leave the government issues to Prewitt," Gill suggested. "He'll take care of the adoring public and snobbish officials."
"Are you sure the pug can handle an entire cover up?" Darrik asked.
Eudora and Gillroy exchanged a look and then said, "Oh yes."
Prince Darrik shrugged his shoulders. "Okay then. Count us in."
"All of you?" Gill questioned them each in turn.
"Where my prince leads I shall always gallop," Knightley professed. "It shall be a bittersweet honour to join your rescue party."
"Thank you," Dark Journey said to his fellow. Knightley bowed his head nobly.
"Adeline's horse, Avory, will join us too. We sort of outpaced her, but I'm sure she'll be here in no time. She'll want to do whatever she can to help her mistress," Dark Journey continued.
"As any noble steed would," Knightley agreed.
"I'm coming as well," Eudora said. "Princess Adeline is the dearest friend I've ever had. I won't leave her to cower in her hour of need. And I have business with Lady Jacqueline. I can't let her destroy all I love again without a fight. I have to do whatever I can. Adeline would."
Gill nodded. If only Adeline was here to see these outpourings of love and loyalty. He did not want to blame her for this disaster, still it would have done her confidence good. That didn't matter, not while she was trapped in the dungeon of Lady Jacqueline's vile residence. His whole purpose was now wrapped up in the rumblings of Distress.
"There's no time to lose," Gill said, pulling on Dark Journey's reigns. "The sooner we get to Distress, the better."