Sleeping Beauty
An Erotic Gay Fairy Tale
Copyright © 2018 by Kelex
“Shhh,” Rainier said as he ran a hand down his horse’s neck. After it was apparent the animal wouldn’t calm easily, he slid from his spooked horse and continued soothing the stallion. “It’s okay, boy. According to the map, we’re almost to the village.”
There was good reason for the horse to be spooked. He cast a look to the side. Off in the distance, stood the huge ruined castle. It was hard to see, between the moon’s glow and the dense overgrowth surrounding it. A shiver raced down his spine. Something evil resided inside that place, he sensed it in his gut.
Memories of his father’s story came to mind. Thick brambles covering the whole of the castle… and here it was before him.
Steeling himself, he refused to let his instincts show. He’d never get Bailey to calm if he let his concern show. He ran a hand along the horse’s strong neck. “Not much farther, boy.” He led the horse away from the brambles that grew from the structure, and almost to the road. Noises sounded behind him… noises that didn’t sound natural…
The dragon…He chuckled mirthlessly. There is no such thing as dragons. It’s merely an animal of some sort.
He kept walking, leading Bailey through the dark stretch of road.
Once they rounded a corner, the moon came out from behind a cloud. Brighter, the horse seemed to calm. Rainier climbed astride and urged his steed forward. It wasn’t long before they came across an inn at the crossroads.
“I think we’ll call it a night,” he murmured to his horse, which whinnied its approval.
After leading his horse to the stables and paying the stable master a florin to get the animal cared for, he bid his horse adieu for the night and ambled into the inn. A rowdy bunch was well into their cups as he edged through the crowd. Over a drunken chorus, he paid for a room, ale, and dinner before moving to a seat close to the fire.
Rainier scanned the room, searching for any signs of danger. Traveling alone was never wise, but he had no choice. He couldn’t take anyone away from the fight.
His uncle would be furious, as it was, that he’d slipped out into the night on a fool’s errand. The note he’d left behind hadn’t left many clues as to where he’d gone, only that he would return in about two fortnights, one way or the other.
Hopefully he’d return with an army at his back.
The innkeeper brought over his ale and trencher filled with mutton stew. “I’ve got a room being tidied up fer ya now,” the robust man said. “Should be ready by the time ye’ve eaten.”
“Many thanks,” Rainier said before nodding to the man and taking a long drink from the pint.
The food didn’t last long. He hadn’t eaten all day. It was too salty and a bit too overcooked, but he was starving. He ignored all that and cleared it all in record time. After a refill of his pint to wash down the salt, he again scanned the room.
It had grown a bit quieter as he’d eaten. A group of men had begun their journey home, leaving the tavern half empty compared to what it had been. He searched over the faces of the men inside, looking for someone to prod for information, only to have a plump woman land in his lap.
“Need someone ta warm that bed o’yers?” she asked with a coy smile.
“I doubt you’d like my bed,” he muttered before pushing her to her feet.
“A handsome chap like you? I think I’d like that verramuch.” She tilted her head a little and eyed him. “You’re from far, far away, I take it?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Those dark eyes… the tanned skin. Yer from south of the sea, ain’t ya?”
“Perhaps I am.”
She grinned widely before pushing up her ample breasts. “I hear men from south of the sea know a thing or two about keepin’ their women happy in bed.”
Rainier lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, do we now?”
“So, what do ya say? Show me a thing or two this eve?”
He had more important things to do than argue with her. A fuck wasn’t the reason he’d come this far, alone. But then, maybe she could answer his questions. “How much?” he asked.
Her smile widened. “One of them florins ye’ve got should do.”
Well, wasn’t she an observant one.“How about I pay you one of those—if you have some news to share with me?”
A frown crossed her pretty face. “News?”
“That fortress I passed on the way here—the one covered in vines—can you tell me about it?” She wasn’t the first he’d asked about the tale on his way there. As his father had always said there might be a pearl of truth inside the story, he looked for the parallels in each retold tale.
Her eyes grew wide. “Yer not thinking of going in there, are ya?”
He shrugged. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
“Issa dark, dark place, that. Ya don’t wanna go there.”
He held up a coin. “I just want you to tell me all you know…” He dropped his hand away, covering the coin. “Unless you don’t know anything.”
The woman flopped down across from him. “O’course I do.” She eyed him before lifting her chin arrogantly. “Dinner, ale, and that coin, and I’ll tell ya whatever ya want.”
Rainier sighed. “Dinner and the ale.” He leaned forward. “And if your information is strong, then I’ll pay you the coin.”
She considered him a moment before nodding. He lifted a hand and called over the innkeeper. Once he’d paid for the woman’s food, he turned to her, the old man muttering as he walked away.
“The story goes that there’s a princess inside that place,” she said. “Some call her Sleeping Beauty. Say she’s the fairest lass the land’s ever seen. But I say there’s no way anyone’s alive in there, asleep or not. It’s been a good five hundred years now. All’s in that place is cobwebs and bones. ‘Cept for—” She paused as the innkeeper delivered her food. Immediately, she took the ale and drained what had to be half.
“Except for?”
The woman lowered her tankard. “‘Cept for the dragon. He’s been in there, guarding the Sleeping Beauty for all these years. I’ve heard him myself, I have. Roaring in the middle of the night.”
Rainier averted and rolled his eyes. The woman sounded like his father with stories of dragons.“They say the whole castle fell asleep when she did… the king, the queen… his court… his army… and his guards and knights.” He’d asked others along the way here. The myths that surrounded the king’s elite guard and those knights were stuff of legend. He hoped that wasn’t the case. They’d been powerful… unstoppable… and all brought down by a girl who couldn’t remain away from a spindle.
“That’s what I hear. A kiss from her true love will awaken the entire castle. Whoever does it will get rewarded in gold, lots of it.”
A smile crossed his face. His country was in ruins… his armies nearly destroyed. An evil tried to claim his lands. Reawakening that sleeping army, the guards, and the knights was his last chance. The gold reward could help buy his troops the supplies they desperately needed.
He couldn’t let his people down.
If he had to kiss some girl, so be it.
“Wait a minute? True love? The one to kiss her must be her true love?”
“So I hear.”
Rainier frowned. “The tales I’ve heard said anyone who could get past the brambles, the mighty dragon, and awake the princess with a kiss would receive a grand reward.”
“No telling,” the woman said. “The story’s older than I am. Either of us could be right.”
Rainier smiled ruefully, irritated at a new wrinkle in the tale. But it was the first time he’d heard it—so perhaps it was nothing.
“No reason to smile,” the woman said between bites of the stew. “Yer never gettin’ in.”
“You think so little of me, hmm?”
“Ya think yer the first who’s tried? There are bones of great knights in those brambles, even more inside with that dragon. Many a man has died trying to get the princess. None did. And they alldied trying.”
He was different. Rainier didn’t want the princess. He wanted something far greater.
Reaching into his pocket, he caressed the map he held there. After much review, he’d figured out the markings for the secret passage into the castle. If he could bypass the bramble and sneak in to see whatever guarded that castle, perhaps he’d have a better chance.
He withdrew the map and showed the woman a portion of it. Pointing near the spot where the tunnel began, he looked across the table.
“Know where this is?”
She cocked her head, the fork stuck between her full lips. Staring as she chewed, she finally slid the implement out before gazing at him wide-eyed. “That’s near the old mill.” She pointed to a small spot. “That’s it, I’m sure.”
“You can direct me there?”
“Follow the road to Iveyville. Sign is right out at the crossroads. Ya will see the mill’s blades through the trees after a few miles or so down that road.”
Rainier smiled and handed her the coin. “Thank you.”
The woman winked at him as she shoved the coin between her breasts. “I can still keep ya comp’ny tonight, if ya want. No additional charge.”
Rainier shook his head, rising from his seat. “Not tonight. I have a big, big day tomorrow.”
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