The wicked witch cackled like a villain as the first victim of the day approached her abode alone on a majestic horse, unconcerned of the dangers.
She gazed smiling at the mirror that relayed his advances while the princess continued to watch with a sense of growing dread, interrupted as the magic user clapped loudly her hands together.
“I know exactly what to do with him! Oh, this will be so much fun!”
With a wave of her hands the room they were transformed before the incredulous eyes of the trapped maiden, including a cage like hers placed on the floor and a wooden stall along the wall, prefect for a horse. The witch left for a few minutes and returned with a harnessed young filly, that she led inside the stall and lovingly patted on the back.
“Says hi to the trapped girl Star! And now off you go” The magic relocated the cage of the royal captive in the dungeons of the tower, in a soundproof cell with a wide mirror along one of the wall.
“Now princess, I can’t have you ruin my fun, so be a little good hostage and enjoy the show. This mirror will allow you to view the main room as you were still there! Wish the knight good luck, because he will need it, hehehe”
Through the mirror the girl saw as the sorceress appeared inside the cage and changed completely into a maid, with all the fitting clothes, and with another wave of the hand closed the stall door and made a table with a basket of tasty looking apples on it. After the preparation were complete she started to wait for the rescuer, schooling her expression into one of misery and resignation.
After only a handful of minutes the main door of the room was shattered by a dashing prince in armor, that immediately lifted his sword to intercept the expected enemies but found only silence.
“Come here and fight, foul wretch! The days of your wicked wrongdoing ends today by my hands!”
“Oh my, our savior arrived at last! Over here fair prince!” Armando noticed the maid inside the cage and approached, still wary for traps or sudden assaults.
“Who are you young girl, where is my expected enemy, the sorceress? And most importantly, where is the beautiful princess?”
“Alas my prince, it’s terrible! Tragedy befell the young princess at the hands of the vile sorceress, that turned the maiden into a mare! I am but a humble handmaid captured in the kidnapping of her royal highness”
Armando approached the grieving handmaid with a comforting smile and shattered the lock on the cage with his sword, freeing the captive “Never fear my lady, now that i am here a solution can be discovered. What did the witch say about the curse? And where did she escape to?”
The witch inwardly smirked as the clueless man gazed at the harnessed filly “The wicked wretch chained her will and memories so that the princess would seem a common beast to the uninformed, but after she changed her she could not stop herself from gloating! The apples you see before you are imbued with her powers, and transform every person who takes a bite into a horse. We were both lucky because the witch was ready to change me to an animal as well to seal my lips forever, while you arrived in the exact moment someone else challenged her to a magical duel”
“How can someone be so selfish and heartless? No matter, can we do something to save our fair princess?”
“Ah my prince, we can! The wench was foolish to divulge such details” The disguised sorceress felt as she deserved an award for this performance! “The cur wanted to deny this knowledge to her enemies, so she told me the woods would be my home for the foreseeable future as soon as she twisted my form to one of the denizens inside, but your fortuitous arrival prevented that fate! To break the spell you need an act of pure love, so great to erode the chains around her soul and to banish the sorceress’s influence on her”
“Quite fortunate indeed. Still, an act of love? You mean the traditional kiss?”
“If only, my hero, if only! No, to free her of the curse the valiant knight must prove his resolve, willingly turning himself into a horse like the cursed maiden and then and only then the enchantment can be lifted by true love” The disguised woman continued her act as she stroked his ego and chivalry a bit “The harpy herself told me how the previous knights that made the journey to claim the hand of the princess refused to belittle themselves and assume a bestial form, proving themselves unworthy of her and mere cowards. In the words of the magic user a prince so selfless and daring has yet to come”
Armando mulled the information obtained by the girl “And then what, loyal handmaiden, we just kiss? Can horses kiss?” Sometimes the witch wondered if all the knights were such simple minded buffoons like him or were only pretending to be so naive to enhance their images as paragons.
“No my prince, you must love her with the intensity of a thousand suns and mate with the princess, so that the power of your love and desire to see her restored to her natural form can work” She almost threw up for the amount of saccharine nonsense she spewed “But you must make haste, she will probably be engaged for an hour at best, and an enchantment prevent transformed humans to leave her domain without her permission” And now to dispel all the doubts of the handmaiden’s sincerity “But are you sure your highness? The sorceress is very cunning, and has undoubtedly made the term of the curse strict for a reason, there could be countless consequences if the stallion don’t love enough the princess. I can understand if the notion of negative outcomes push you to leave like the others…”
As if the words themselves were an affront to his ideals Armando gained new determination, commanding imperiously the disguised girl to fetch him one of the apples.
‘All according to plan, it’s so easy to play with their so called honor and chivalry…’
Edit: I will move the story and chapter in another section shortly