This 'Fairest' freebie story was the result. Or perhaps it's a freebie story for a tale yet to be told about your favorite dwarf, P.T. Wyant? :)
The sun was just coming over the horizon, making every leaf on the tree and every blade of glass glisten and sparkle.
Tears could be beautiful. Especially in this forest.
He hummed to himself, kicking up his spindly legs, allowing the bells on his toes to ring.
One could almost imagine a muffled curse in the crystal coffin below his bum, attempting to blister his delicate, pointed ears.
“Manners, Quartz!” he murmured. “You should not be waking! Not a stubborn dwarf sleeping like the dead!”
He chuckled at his own joke, lifting an evergreen branch to his nose.
“Nothing withers and dies here.” He shook his head, flipping the dangling red tip of his cape over his shoulder. “Don’t you see what I’ve done for you? I’ve saved your life from your foolish witchling, who almost scared you to death.”
He leaped off the coffin to regard its surface. “Not that I expect you to appreciate all the trouble I took, leading you and your brothers to this cottage.” He sniffed, wiping a tear from his eye with the branch, grinning all the while. “See what I suffer for People of Interest! Speaking of interest, there’s an intriguing recipe I’ve learned of, thanks to your Fairest.”
The tiny little man tapped his branch against the coffin. “Extract a bitter heart, add it to an ordinary object. Mix the two together. Offer it to a potential victim to touch or taste. Victim will sleep like the dead for a hundred years, dying at the end, unless someone who truly loves the victim kisses her.”
He laid his withered cheek against the crystal. “Only how will you awaken, Quartz? You’re not under a sleeping curse. No, you’ve been enchanted by something else all together.”
He let out a cackle which was half a sob. The strange little man lifted his head and leaped away the coffin. He kicked up his heels and began to dance.
If he didn’t know better, he would have certain he’d heard an exasperated growl coming from its crystal interior.
Wow! Excellent use of those prompts.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I can't say enough wonderful things about Paula Wyant's prompts, they really tickle my particular muse's fancy! (Not to mention she's part of growing Bring Quartz Back movement. :))
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