Part Seventeen
 

The proud Princess and the youth, whom she had arbitrarily designated to be the King of this barren and enslaved  land through which she was passing,  walked together, both as naked as on the day of their respective births,  up the steep down that led to the lair of the monster.  The newly naked young man winced with pain as the sharp stones cut into his tender  feet, drawing blood,  and the tough Princess glared angrily at his weakness.

"You must be a true and valiant man, a man of steel,  my young friend!  It is imperative that you face without fear the many dangers that this day will bring.  Only such a  man as that  can be King of this unfortunate land.  You are he, oh handsome youth, although you may not know it yet!  Do not forget the maiden whose life will soon be entwined with yours and for whom you walk side by side with me to rescue from a hideous fate." The young man said nothing in reply to this strange girl whose mysterious and arrogant coming and contemptuous condemnation of the people's craven cowardice had given hope, at last,  to a doomed and dying land.

 Together they continued their long climb to the top of the hill where the monster had his lair. Her Serene Highness the Princess  Sara looked sideways at the fair youth's manly form.  Gosh! What an absolutely gorgeous and dishy guy he was, she thought! What a fantastically handsome genitalia he had,  reaching way down between his thighs and swinging about as he walked! And what muscularity and grace he had been endowed with!   She  could almost have wished that she herself could be the bride of this King in waiting.  However she was,  as ever, conscious of her duty to her own land and of her continuing and absolute love for the Prince Adalbert.

"Do you know what kind of a monster it is that we must both face and fight to the death?"

The youth replied "No,  Princess.  No one has ever set eyes upon the ogre and lived to tell the tale.  The maidens are left outside his stockade  and  their bones are later thrown out to whiten on the hillside in the sun.  You will see them when we get near.  He made his home here  five years ago and we have known no peace and no joy in all that time."

The Princess said no more and the pair continued to walk quickly up the slope towards the wooden stockade.  When they reached the site of their ordeal, they stood still outside and waited for the creature to emerge.  A roaring could be heard within and after some minutes, during which the young man grew pale with fear and anticipation of a horrible death, the doors flew open and the monster was revealed  in all his gross and ugly malevolence.

The low-browed, ape-like figure was a good five inches taller than the young man,  squat and thick, where was was athletic and lean.  His arms were long and almost brushed the ground, and instead of five fingers, his hands terminated in three scaly claws, like those of a bird or reptile.  The diminutive Princess was dwarfed by this mighty beast, but, of the two, she was the one who showed no fear.  She led her companion in the assault, first urging him to remember that to be a King, he must first prove himself to be a man.

He fought down his fear,  overtook the Princess and launched himself upon the monstrous, slavering beast, being immediately thrown back, bleeding from a cut to his side.  The Princess urged him not to heed his wounds, but to throw himself again into the fray, and this he did, time and again, being wounded a hundred times, the blood glistening all over his  lithe muscularity.  Despite his wounds, which were deep and terrible,  he was gradually wearing down the clumsy and cumbersome giant.

It became obvious,  after two long and weary hours,  that both adversaries were tiring and the poor youth was now tiring faster.  Just as it appeared that he was about to succumb after a mighty slashing blow from the creature's lethal talons had sent him staggering back, with a horrible gash opened up across his chest from which gushed out a veritable fountain of blood , the Princess was transformed from being a mere spectator and dashed towards the ogre, jumping at him and hitting him a glancing blow on the face with the hand on which her ring had been fixed all those months ago.

As the ring came into contact with that foul face,  a horrible scream came from the monster's ugly mouth and he clutched at his eyes, which had already begun to show the same awful melting disintegration as had afflicted the hand of the youth at the well.

"He is blind.  Now is your chance.  Finish him!" she cried to the young man, who had staggered weakly to his feet after the last and most fearful of the many terrible blows the monster had dealt him.  He gathered up what remained of his strength and jumped for the monster's neck, applying a stanglehold.  Despite the giant's attempts to shake him off, he held his grip on the thick, muscular neck.  Gradually the struggles became weaker and then ceased altogether.  The pair had triumphed!

With the monster dead before them, the triumphant couple stood regarding their handiwork.  The man asked the Princess if he might lean on her for support on the way back to the town, as he was very weak by this time, with so much of his blood shed upon the battleground.   She scornfully told him that he was a King now and must look for no support save his own strength from now on.  He had a job to do, now that the curse was lifted from his people.  From now onwards, rest was a thing he would never know until death released him from the burdens of kingship.  She wished him well and took the reins of her horse, which had followed them up the hillside, walking off in one direction, towards her own land and future,  and allowing the new King to go back to his people.

She turned just once and saw him walking down the hill, summoning up all his will and strength to walk firmly and confidently.  She smiled.  She could easily have despatched the creature herself with no blood shed, but the young man had needed this battle and all his awful wounds, which had transformed him into a hero in the eyes of his people.

"I wonder what more excitement lies in store for us, my darling companion," she murmured into the horse's ear.  The animal neighed and shook his head.  He was saying he could not wait to see the fine stable which the Princess had promised him when they finally returned to the Royal Palace.