Fairytale | Fantasy | Mini Series

The Princess’ Favour Puts the Blacksmith on the Back Foot

It’s not without risk to be friends with a vampire.

Thoraminta’s previous adventures can be found in this list:

Darkness was drawing in, and Roberto’s muscles were screeching for him to sit and take a break. As he doused the embers of the fire and untied his leather apron, the blacksmith wondered what Rochelle had cooking on the stove.

But when he stepped outside and blinked in the gathering gloom, the hairs on the nape of his neck prickled to attention.

“Who’s there?” he was hoarse with tension.

“It’s me, Thoraminta” came a soft voice above his head.

“Thoraminta? Where? — come closer.”

The princess swung silently down from the roof of the smithy, landing right in front of him so Robeto started.

“What’s happened to you?” he asked. “Where’s Grant?”

The princess looked different, milky pale with huge, dilated pupils which made her expression fierce. As she gazed at him steadily and did not reply, a soft tickle of dread tiptoed up Roberto’s spine. Thoraminta stood as still as a statue.

“Grant is dead,” she said flatly.

“And you’re … undead?” The blacksmith hoped he was wrong, but his instincts clamored for him to run.

“That was the choice I made, yes. Calm down Roberto, I will not harm you — or Rochelle.”

She had seen his eyes dart uneasily toward the stone building.

“You chose to be a blood-sucker? I don’t understand.”

Roberto rubbed at his close-cropped hair and sank back against the smithy wall, not trusting his legs to hold him.

“Armande — that is the name of the vampire who made me — killed Grant. My life was not worth living without my beloved. But Armande offered me the chance to die or to live eternally, in a new form. I chose the latter. He would have drunk my blood either way.” Thoraminta shrugged.

“But it’s been two years! We thought you and Grant had settled somewhere new.”

“Alas no, I’ve been learning to live as a vampire. Armande taught me how to harness my hunger and use my powers. I can see for miles and hear a mouse fart.”

Roberto chuckled. “And can you turn into a bat?”

“Not yet, but I am trying.”

Thoraminta broke into a smile. Roberto struggled not to wince at the sight of her sharp incisors.

“So this is a social visit, to catch me up with your news?”

He couldn’t help being flippant when he was nervous.

“I came to ask a favour,” Thoraminta had the grace to look uncertain. “You may not like it.”

“I’ll help if I can,” he answered.

“Build something that will get me into the castle. I must sleep by day and my body cannot withstand daylight, but I had an idea you could craft a large gift for my father, the King.”

When Roberto still looked puzzled, she said.

“An item big enough that I can conceal myself inside.”

The cogs were turning in the blacksmith’s understanding; with a twinkle in his eye he nodded his assent.

“I think I know just the thing to fool the King,” he grinned widely. “Come back in a month.”

“Roberto, you’re a true friend.”

She clasped his work-roughened, warm hand in her chilly one, then in a flicker of movement she was gone.

“It’s magnificent Roberto!” Thoraminta enthused, admiring the beautiful cabinet.

Its construction was of solid oak but with intricate inserted panels of ironwork that made it fit for a king.

“The dragon gave me some jewels from his trove,” Roberto clarified.

The princess ran her fingers appreciatively over the opals and pearls he had trapped within silver claws and set in the panels to form an astrological pattern of stars and constellations.

“He was sorry to hear about Grant’s demise.”

The princess faltered infinitesimally.

“This will appeal to my father.”

She walked around it, touching the silky smooth surface and the curli queued handles.

“May I try it for size?”

“Be my guest.”

The house behind Roberto was empty, he’d sent Rochelle to visit her sister for added secrecy. But perhaps he didn’t totally trust that Thoraminta had her feeding urges under control. She opened the cabinet door to reveal drawers, arranged with the deepest at the bottom and the most shallow at the top.

“Press here and here simultaneously.”

Roberto showed Thoraminta a catch hidden in an opal comet and another in the sparkles of its tail. Now the drawer section swung towards her, revealing a space behind it, just deep and wide enough for her to stand concealed.

“It is so cunning,” she grinned, briefly flashing her razor-sharp teeth.

“It’ll need to be,” the blacksmith grumbled. “King Thoragriff hasn’t forgiven me for siding with the dragon at the time of your kidnap.”

Thoraminta had overlooked the fact that Roberto’s choices might have got him into hot water.

“Then this cabinet will seem like the perfect peace offering,” she smirked.

Roberto wasn’t sure that the King would still feel forgiving after whatever ambush Thoraminta had in store for him.

[To be Continued …]

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