Read Online Charming, Volume 2 by Jack Heckel - Free Book Online Page B

it day or night?” he wondered aloud. “How long have I wandered in these wretched woods? Does it matter? Is this where I will find my end?”
    Don’t be absurd , his mind rebuked. It has only been a few days since your former father, the King, cast you away like a common piece of refuse .
    Charming reflected that, though this might be true, in his heart (and legs) it felt like weeks had passed since he had known the comforts of companionship and camaraderie (and saddle) that had marked his previous life.
    â€œPerhaps my body has been slain by heartbreak and fatigue, and has fallen somewhere in this dark forest . . . and I am naught but a specter, an accursed wraith, left behind to struggle on through this hell for all eternity.”
    Let’s think about that for a moment , he suggested to himself . If your body has fallen, then death has not been the cure for mortal pains that the priests always claimed it would be.
    True, he ached all over with weariness. And, based on the throbbing of his feet, he could only imagine the blisters that must be forming. Wraiths don’t get blisters. “This is the worst,” he groused. “I was intended for jousting, fighting, leaping. But endless walking over and over . . . no. Now walking is my fate, my doom, to walk and walk and walk in never-­ending . . .” As he realized that he had stopped walking, he pursed his lips and reconsidered his words: “hardly ever-­ending . . . penance . Why am I so cursed?”
    Then his mind’s eye conjured up the face of his father, the King, and again that last look of loathing. A deep melancholy drove him and his inner monologue to silence. He stood and shuffled away from his tree.
    This is why we keep moving , his thoughts ventured after a time.
    They were right. Every time he had tried resting since beginning this pointless pilgrimage, his mind eventually wandered to some dark place and he would force himself to stagger on.
    â€œBut to what end?” he asked. “I have fallen. I am doomed to live this miserable existence—­wandering aimlessly, an unknown, dirty vagabond, suffering righ­teously, as a moral lesson for all who would let pride lead them down the path of wickedness and deceit.”
    Say, there’s a good ­couplet in there , he suggested to himself.
    The monstrous nature of the thought caught Charming off guard. He paused midstride and, clenching his fist, shouted, “No!” The now-­dark forest echoed the word back at him. Suddenly, aware of the stillness of the trees, he muttered quietly, “I am unworthy of ­couplet . . .”
    â€œPerhaps I should take a vow of silence,” he considered aloud. “Then there would be no temptation to break into verse.” He paused and raised both arms to the sky. “I swear by the moon above that if I am redeemed, I will put things to right—­”
    That’s a stupid oath , he interrupted himself silently. Am I really this ridiculous? Why do I need to keep turning everything into melodrama?
    Of course, he had only ever been Prince Charming, and Prince Charming only existed for drama’s sake. Everybody he’d ever known had turned even the most commonplace moments of his life into epic events, such as the weeklong festival that had been declared to commemorate his first steps. He sighed again and looked up at the heavens to try to find the moon upon which he had been about to swear.
    I don’t even think there is a moon tonight. Is it even night? It seems awfully dark. How can I swear on something that isn’t there?
    He shook his head to clear his thoughts and wondered if he was growing delirious from hunger. Out loud, he said, “That’s just semantics—­”
    His silent thoughts cut him off again. Am I resorting to semantics? If there is no moon, then I can’t possibly have sworn on the ‘moon above.’ And, beyond that,