PART 9
 

The approaching citizen, when he had come near enough to talk to the red-faced and still breathless girl,  sweating profusely from her recent exertions, spoke in a voice whose gruff kindliness immediately reassured her.

"Antoine is a cruel brute and not fit to own a horse.  I am the mayor of this small community and I heartily congratulate you on your courage and compassion.  Would you care to keep the animal as your own?  You seem to have travelled far and I could see that your speech is not of this land.  You would be welcome to him and to food and drink to sustain you.  The region you are headed for is bleak and desolate and you would fare badly on foot.  You are on a pilgrimage as an act of penance, I take it, since you are naked as the day you were born and yet so obviously a lady of the highest estate."

She replied in the mayor's own language "I am  undergoing a test of endurance to prove my worthiness as the life's partner of the man I love.  I am denied all shelter and so  I must go to warmer lands where the cold of winter, when it comes,  will not kill me.  I am uncertain that I can accept your offer of this noble and ill-used steed.  May I have a day or so to decide?"

The mayor agreed and Princess Sara   made for the seclusion of the surrounding countryside, after first being regaled with fine wine and food by the mayor and his wife, who, since she could not come indoors,  set up,  in the town square, a table for her, covered with a fair white  linen cloth such as she had not seen in months.  As she made herself as comfortable as possible on the hard ground, before sleeping, she spoke out loud.

"I so want to take the horse which my own efforts have saved from a life of brutality from its worthless owner.  May I please accept the mayor's offer?"

The by now familiar mist, solidifying by the second, that has appeared in this story before,  appeared now to the King's proud and lovely daughter.  When the spectral vision finally took shape, it was not the same fairy as previously, but an altogether more amiable figure, with a smile that warmed the Princess to her very core.

"I am Francine, the Queen of the Fairies in this region.  You are under my jurisdiction now and I grant your request.   You have pleased us in the Fairy realms by your behaviour these past months.  You are haughty and proud,  as is only to be expected in one of your exalted rank, but there is much love and kindness in you, which grows by the day,  and we all salute the uncomplaining bravery  which you have shown in demonstrating your love for the good Prince. But you may not mount the horse until I appear to you again. You must walk beside it, though it may carry   food and water on its back for the two of you.  I know that those poor tired feet of yours are crying out for rest, but they must bear your weight and take you on your travels, treading unshod over many rough surfaces, for a great while yet.

"I will tell the horse where to take you to spend the winter.  You must follow where it leads.   There is a lake there and many springs as well as caves in which you may shelter  at night if you wish.  The people will give you work and food and you will  not perish from cold, not with the love of the whole animal kingdom to smother you with their furry warmth every night.  Goodbye, my dear - and good fortune!"

The Princess thanked the Fairy Queen with tears in her eyes and the supernatural creature faded away until she had disappeared from view, a few wisps of vapour hanging about for some seconds before the air became clear again.  She did not complain at having to keep on walking, in fact she almost welcomed the continuing hardship that this entailed, but she had fallen deeply in love with the white horse.  From a practical point of view, the fact that she could have supplies of food and water    would speed up her progress immeasurably, now that most of her time would no longer be taken up in a constant search for refreshment at the increasingly fewer springs and wells she was coming across in these arid, sun-drenched regions.

She slept soundly and happily that night and,  in the morning,  collected the horse, laden with several days' supply of provisions, generously given to her by  the mayoral couple,  and took her affectionate leave of the mayor and his stout and motherly wife.  She washed herself thoroughly under the village pump, the first time for many days that she had been able to cleanse her body from sweat and dust, and left, promising to call on them on her way back home in the Spring.

The path from the village  led upwards into the hills which she had seen in the distance the day before.  Beyond these hills were the snow-capped peaks of the most enormous mountains that Princess Sara had seen in her entire life.  Her own kingdom was comparatively low-lying, with only a few rolling downs, which could be climbed in a couple of hours.  The air became colder as she climbed higher and higher and the stones under foot became sharper and sharper, testing the toughness of her hardened soles to the limit.  She cried   out in pain several times, and she was not one to cry as a rule.

The ascent into the mountains went on for hour after exhausting hour.  Even with the effort of climbing the steep slopes, the Princess was becoming colder and colder, her breath hanging in the air in thick clouds before dispersing as she gasped her way ever upwards.  It was beginning to become dark,  and still no place where she might spend the night had shown itself to her.  Perhaps she would have to toil on through the darkness, she began to think in growing desperation.

At last, she saw a spot where the slope had become less pronounced and where there was a slight dip in the ground, just yards away from the path.   Here she decided to rest for the night.  There was no need to tether the horse, which had already shown its devotion to the fair young woman who had so gallantly come to its rescue.

The stones cut into her flesh as she sank to the ground and rubbed her ring - tonight she must have cover or by morning she would be a frozen cadaver.  This time it was not the two faithful white dogs, but a pair of snow leopards, which came and covered her with their softness and warmth.   Her horse seemed nervous at first, but soon calmed down as the cats indicated that they were not particularly hungry, and didn't care for horse-meat in any case, preferring tender young lamb as a delicacy!