Beasts and Maidens Read online

Beasts and Maidens

  By M.E. Timmons

  Copyright 2012 M.E. Timmons

  Beasts and Maidens

  Prologue

  The air was hot and humid, and a faint smell of alcohol lingered. It was night, and only two candles burned in the room, casting a pale glow that flickered over the wood-paneled walls. There were four people in the room, three of whom were gathered around the woman lying in the roughly-hewn wooden bed. The off-white sheets appeared brown in the dim light.

  Sweat beaded on the woman’s forehead, and her young daughter mopped it away with a dry white cloth. The little girl cringed back when the woman moaned, moving to sit in the chair at the bedside. She hated seeing her mother like that, and it scared her.

  “Just one more push,” the midwife encouraged her. “You’re almost there. Just one more.”

  The woman gripped her husband’s hand hard enough to turn his fingers purple, but he knew better than to complain. His wife was in far more pain than he was.

  The woman pushed. Her face turned red from the effort, but she was determined. Then the midwife was busy, and the woman drew in a shuddering breath of relief. She looked down, still clenching her husband’s hand, though not quite as hard as before. She couldn’t see anything, but she heard her husband’s sharp intake of breath, and her daughter got up from her chair to take a look. The woman could tell by the girl’s expression that she wasn’t going to get good news. Indeed, the midwife confirmed her fear a moment later.

  “It’s a boy,” she said softly, as if trying to lighten her words.

  The woman nodded. A single tear escaped from her right eye, but she wiped it away before it could be noticed. Even though it was the third time, it still hurt to get such news.

  The midwife finally lifted the baby so she could see him, though she didn’t offer to hand him over. He wouldn’t be staying there for much longer anyway.

  The baby was small. Instead of the shining pink face of a daughter she had been hoping to see, the boy had red skin that was covered over on his abdomen with tufts of black fur. His eyes were large and deep purple in colour, and his face was slightly elongated and almost bat-like. The woman cringed involuntarily and looked away. She told the midwife what she wanted the boy to be named without looking at him again.

  “Don’t worry,” the midwife said, wrapping the baby up in a blanket. “He’ll be well taken care of in the forest, just like the others.”

  The woman nodded again, hoping that was the truth. She didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to her son before he was taken out of the room, never to be seen by her again.

  Chapter 1

  Dahlia spun around so she could see the back of her white gown in the mirror. Her lips puckered as she stared intently at her reflection over her shoulder. “Do you think this will do?” she asked Selene, her younger sister.

  Selene was sitting a few feet away on the rough wooden bench near the entrance hall of the small house. She had her legs tucked underneath her in an unladylike fashion, but Dahlia was too used to such behaviour to bother scolding her for it.

  “I think the sleeves are a little too poufy and the neckline a little too high, but it’s suitable otherwise,” Selene commented, shifting her position slightly. Her foot was starting to fall asleep.

  Dahlia couldn’t help but grin. “That’s what happens whenever mother makes dresses. I suppose I could have tried making one myself, but I’ve never really had a talent for sewing.”

  Selene had to agree with that. While her sister was beautiful, with her shining dark brown hair and wide brown eyes, she had yet to find something that she was particularly good at. She was especially bad at performing magic spells, despite the witch’s blood that ran through her and her sister’s veins. She was a sweet young woman though, and much liked in their village of Spring Meadow.

  Selene sighed. “I can’t believe you’re eighteen already. Promise me you’ll tell me what happens during the ceremony. It’s really annoying growing up knowing you’re going to do it, and yet not having a clue what actually occurs.”

  Dahlia moved away from the small, cracked mirror and sat next to her sister on the bench. She leaned back against the peeling peach-coloured wallpaper, resting her hands on either side of her legs, feeling the bumpy texture of the wood with her fingers. “You know I can’t tell you,” she said, smiling slightly. “You aren’t supposed to know what happens until you go through it yourself. I hate not knowing too, though. It makes me nervous. They’re all going to be hideous, and yet I’m supposed to somehow fall in love and take one as my husband. A week doesn’t seem like enough time for such a thing to happen.”

  “Maybe that’s why only two or three women walk out of the forest with men every year,” Selene suggested. “Who knows, maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones. You’re certainly beautiful enough to catch their attention, though I’m not sure that any will catch yours.”

  “I hope I do find someone,” Dahlia said, her eyes taking on a dreamy quality. “It would be ever so nice. I’d have someone to share my life with, and I could even have children. I think I’d like to have children.”

  “I’m sure you’d be a great mother, but wouldn’t you be worried about having a boy? You know how hard it was for Mother, and she had four. Four boys, four brothers, who we’ll never know unless they fall in love and join the rest of us. Do you think you could handle that?”

  Dahlia frowned. She tried to imagine what it would be like to have her own boy. She remembered being there for two of her brother’s births, and she remembered how hideous they had been. The thought of such beasts coming from her own womb made her feel slightly nauseous. “I wish there had never been a curse. It really isn’t fair to anyone. I wish we could grow up with boys who look like human beings, and be able to know our brothers.”

  “Don’t you think that things would at least be better if the beasts lived with us instead of in the forest? Surely they’re no different than us on the inside.”

  Dahlia crinkled her nose and gave her sister a funny look. “They’re beasts, Selene. They have no place here. Who would want to look at them anyway? There’s a reason why things are as they are.”

  Selene sighed. Unfortunately everyone seemed to share her sister’s opinion. Even though the beasts were really just boys and men with a different exterior, they weren’t allowed anywhere near the villages. They were forced to live in the forest, away from the rest of the population, which mostly consisted of girls and women. There were some men though, but just the ones who had become normal again, which only happened when they fell in love. That was the reason for the week-long ceremony that was held at the beginning of every summer. Selene thought it was all ridiculous, but she usually had to keep that opinion to herself, since it wasn’t one that was commonly shared.

  The girls’ mother and father entered the front room together, both in their best clothes. Their mother, Frieda, walked over to the girls and reached down to clasp Dahlia’s hands in her own, which were rough from years of hard work.

  “It’s time,” she said, smiling. The skin at the corners of her brown eyes crinkled. “I remember when I was your age. I was terrified before the ceremony, and yet I got your father out of it. Let’s hope that you’ll be as lucky, and Selene when her time comes next year.”

  Velkan, their father, stood aside and watched. He was a quiet man, and he tended to keep to himself, though there was no question that he loved his daughters very much, especially Selene. While Dahlia took after their mother with her darker colouring, Selene looked and generally acted more like her father. She had the same dark red hair and grey eyes, and she was more thoughtful and serious than her mother and sister.
/>   “Our house is awfully crowded as it is,” Selene pointed out to her mother, trying to imagine having an extra person living there.

  “I know that, but your father has agreed with me that if Dahlia brings a man home we will make an addition to the house. It will be expensive, but we could certainly use the extra space.”

  Velkan nodded. “It will undoubtedly be necessary.”

  “Yes, yes,” Frieda said, releasing Dahlia’s hands. “Anyway, if we don’t leave now we’ll be late. Come on girls. Selene, what did I tell you about sitting like that?”

  Selene resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and she stood up, wincing as the foot that had been falling asleep came back to life with an onslaught of sharp tingling.

  They all left the house together and walked toward the edge of the forest where the other families were gathering. Dahlia walked ahead with her arm linked through her mother’s, prattling on nervously as she had a habit of doing. Selene walked behind them with her father, though they were both silent.

  Most of the village was gathered in the meadow by the edge of the forest. It was the meadow that had given the town its name, and it was a place frequented by wildflower pickers. They were always careful to keep a safe distance from the woods, since entering the forest was forbidden, except during the ceremony. Selene spent a lot of time in the meadow herself, often collecting plants with which she and her mother made potions.

  There had to be almost two hundred people there, but there were only around twenty standing in a line closest to the edge. Dahlia went up to join the line after giving her mother’s hand a parting squeeze. Selene watched as Martin, the village’s oldest man, walked up to the group. He turned to look back at the rest of the villagers who had gone to see their loved ones off and he raised his hands in a command for silence.

  “I do believe everyone is here by now,” he started. “You all know why we are gathered here today. These twenty two women are about to go into the forest. Some have been through this before, but there are a few new faces this year as well. In the forest they will meet the beasts who are also eighteen years and older, and I should caution you all that they won’t be a pleasant sight. The women will meet with them to try to find a beast among them who could become a man they’ll love. It is a ceremony that must be completed in order to continue our population. We must all wish these women good luck, and hope that they will be successful.”

  A few people in the crowd murmured to each other, while others shouted out to the women with their best wishes. Selene just silently squeezed her father’s hand, and he gave her a light press in return.

  With that part of his duty done, Martin headed into the forest, waving for the women to follow. Many looked back at their families for a last wave or smile, and a few hesitated before turning around and walking into the woods. One by one they disappeared into the shadows of the trees until they were all out of sight, not to be seen again for an entire week.

  “Oh, I do hope she finds herself a husband this year,” Frieda said, clasping her hands to her chest. “It would be wonderful for our family to be able to grow.”

  Velkan rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure she will,” he reassured her.

  She gave him a smile and patted his hand, and then they turned to go home, since they both had plenty to do. Selene was about to follow, but she heard her name being called so she stopped to see who wanted her. Jill Springdale, a fourteen year old girl from the village, was waving to her. She went over to see what she wanted.

  Jill was an energetic girl, which was great for her mother, who was a widow and needed all the help she could get. She was short and wiry, but she had bright blue eyes and a smile that was contagious, making her seem bigger than she was. Selene liked her, but she could only stand to be around her for short periods of time because she found her a little exhausting.

  “Mom’s been having some bad luck with her garden this year,” Jill said as soon as Selene was within hearing distance. She didn’t even bother with a greeting, and she shifted her weight continuously from foot to foot. “She was wondering if you could make a potion or something to keep the slugs out, or maybe cast a spell to help with growth. I heard you did that for the Sunfields last year and they had the biggest harvest in the whole village.”

  “I think that had more to do with their hard work than my spell,” Selene admitted. Her, her mother, and her sister were the only witches in the village, so they were often doing things for the other villagers. Frieda got paid for her magic, but Selene wouldn’t get paid for it until she was eighteen, which wouldn’t be for almost another year. Until then she would just have practice, and she was in higher demand than her mother because her services were free. The villagers weren’t looking forward to the day she turned eighteen.

  “I think it was the spell,” Jill said. “Anyway, do you think you could help us out?”

  “Yeah. I’ll come by tomorrow afternoon to see what I can do,” Selene told her.

  “Great!” Jill said, smiling brightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” With that she ran off toward her house, which was at the bottom of a hill closer to the other side of the village. Selene turned and started walking home, far behind her parents.

  She stopped suddenly when she was about to turn away from the forest and head to the road. She looked around cautiously. Her parents were a distance away; already well on their way home and almost out of sight. Most of the villagers had already dispersed, but a few remained to talk with other people. Selene knew she had to wait until they were gone, so she started picking wildflowers as a way to keep busy. No one paid any attention to her.

  It took another five minutes before they were all gone. Selene looked around one last time, and then she slunk into the forest. There was a small path that started behind a large grey rock that had been created by her frequent trips. She followed it carefully, keeping a sharp eye out for dangers. In a few minutes she found herself in a small, mossy clearing that was dotted with rocks and surrounded by tall trees whose canopies provided a measure of shade. Even after being in the forest so many times, which was a forbidden act in itself, the sound of the rustling leaves still made her anxious. It drowned out the sound of anyone approaching. She sat down on her favourite rock, which was at the edge of the clearing.

  She relaxed after a minute, as she always did. She looked up at the leaves above, where the bright sunlight filtered through only in spots. One spot hit her eye, and she had to blink a few times before her vision cleared. She closed her eyes anyway and sat with her head back, listening to the sounds of the forest and enjoying the fresh earthy air. A small rustle of leaves that sounded close caused her to open her eyes and look around.

  A large brown rabbit appeared in the clearing. It came out from behind a rock and started slowly hopping around, looking for food. Its small nose twitched continuously as it sniffed around, completely ignoring Selene’s presence. She watched the animal with fascination.

  Suddenly, without the slightest bit of warning, an arrow appeared in the rabbit’s side. It made a small, desperate squeaking sound as it tumbled over. Selene stared at the small creature with horrified shock.

  A beast stepped out of the forest and into the clearing, a sheepish look on his face as he noticed Selene’s expression. “Sorry you had to see that, but we’ve got to eat. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

  Selene glared at him. “You know how I feel about killing,” she snapped.

  The beast raised his clawed hands in a gesture of peace and the quiver of arrows behind his shoulder shifted slightly. “I know, Selene. Just give me a second and I’ll get it out of your sight.”

  He set his bow and arrows down on the moss and took a canvas sac out of his belt. He pulled the arrow out of the rabbit, and Selene flinched at the sound. He put the rabbit in the sac and left it by his bow while he went over to where Selene was and sat down on the fallen log that was next to her rock.
He had to make sure his tail didn’t get in the way.

  “Did your sister go into the forest for the ceremony?” the beast, whose name was Tornado, asked.

  “Yes, only a few minutes ago. She was nervous, but I’m betting she’ll come out with a man. Hopefully more of the women will this year. With the number of people who died this year from the flu, our village has been shrinking instead of growing. The farms have been suffering, and we could use all the help we can get.”

  Tornado nodded. He couldn’t wait until it was his turn to go to the ceremony. He was used to being a beast, but even the beasts didn’t like looking at each other. They had a few books with pictures in them of how normal people looked, and he wished he could be like them. He was covered from head to toe with long tan fur that tended to get in his eyes, and he had a wide head, two noses, and teeth that were short and blunt that went all the way across his wide, lipless mouth. His ears were no more than holes on the sides of his head, and he had to keep the hair around them trimmed in order to hear anything. His tail was three feet long, and it tended to get in the way when he wasn’t using it to climb trees.

  “Did you find anything new?” Tornado asked, changing the subject.

  Selene frowned and shook her head. She hated giving Tornado bad news. “I’ve been through Varla’s entire spell book, and I’m telling you there’s nothing there. I don’t think she wrote down how to break the curse. Of course, there are some pages in the book that I can’t read, and some have even been reduced to dust. It’s a very old book; almost a thousand years, I think.”

  Varla was the witch who had started the curse that turned the men into beasts almost a thousand years before. She had meant it to be temporary to get back at the men in her village who tended to be drunken slobs who preferred whores to their wives. It ended up being permanent, however, when Varla was killed in a duel with Wicesla, who was the most powerful witch at the time. Wicesla, being the evil witch that she was, left the curse in place even though she had the power to end it. There were rumours that she had taken the Draught of Eternal Life and was still alive somewhere, but no one had seen her for hundreds of years.

  Selene, who was a descendant of Varla’s, had her spell book and had been trying for months to find a spell to break the curse, but she couldn’t even find the original curse in the book.

  “Well, maybe there’s some potion you could make to give to us that would make us normal again,” Tornado suggested, and not for the first time. They had had this conversation many times and it always seemed to continue, ever since Selene first broke the rules three years before and ventured into the forest, where she found Tornado.

  “I told you already, I don’t think there is such a potion. We’ve already tried all the ones I could find,” Selene said, looking down at her hands. She looked up suddenly at Tornado and grinned. “I did come up with another idea, though. I know they’re forbidden, but what about a love potion? If you just need to fall in love to break the curse, then shouldn’t that work?”

  Tornado brightened, and his tail started dancing around behind him, which often happened when he was excited. “That’s a really good idea. It would have to be given to a woman too though because she needs to love the beast in return. If we do that it just might work.”

  “We’d need test subjects, though,” Selene pointed out, her smile fading. She felt something crawling on her hand, and looked down to see a small black spider. Instead of flicking it away she picked it up by its leg and set it in a small glass jar she always carried in the pocket of her dress. Spider webs were a common ingredient in love potions.

  “True. We could always try it ourselves, I suppose,” Tornado said, though he didn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea.

  Selene didn’t like it either. “If we were supposed to be in love you would be human by now. I don’t want to ruin our friendship. Besides, neither of us are old enough, and we’d both get in trouble if it worked.”

  “What if you had someone’s backing? You could talk to the mayor about your idea, and maybe she would help you find people to try it. Surely there are desperate older women who have been going to the forest for years during the ceremony in hopes of finding someone. I know there are plenty of frustrated old beasts.”

  “Mayor Thornbrook wouldn’t go for it. I think she likes things the way they are. If the plan worked it could put her seat as mayor in jeopardy, and she’s far too power-hungry to let that happen.”

  “You could always try, Selene. Do it for me?” Tornado begged. He even pouted as best as he could.

  Selene laughed. “Oh, alright. I’ll ask her, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

  “Good. Anyway, I’ve got to go clean out that rabbit. Come visit me tomorrow?”

  “If I have time,” Selene said. “I’ve got to help Jill with her mother’s garden, and I promised Mom I’d help her with the laundry.” She bit her lip. The word ‘mom’ was kind of a soft spot for Tornado. He had never known his mother. She saw a hint of some emotion play in his eyes, but it passed quickly, almost like it was never there in the first place.

  Selene wished that she had met his mother herself so she could tell him about her, but she didn’t live in Spring Meadow. The forest in which the beasts lived bordered three villages, and the beasts came from all three to live in the forest together. Tornado was actually born in Three Lakes.

  “Maybe the day after, then,” he said, shrugging. He stood up and brushed off the little splinters of wood that stuck to his shorts from the log. They were the only clothing he ever wore, even in the winter. He picked up his bow and quiver and the sac that contained the rabbit, and with one quick wave he was gone.

  Selene sighed and stood up. She didn’t want to have to talk to the mayor, but she knew it was her best option, and she really wanted to be able to help Tornado and all the other beasts who had done nothing wrong except have the misfortune of being cursed. It wasn’t fair for them to be punished because of something that wasn’t their fault. That was the way things had been for hundreds of years, however.

  Selene thought about the prophesy. It had been made by the seer Gilda five years after Varla’s death. She had been sitting by a fire with her needlework when it came to her, and it was her third one. One of her prophesies had already come true by that time, and the second since then, so the third was widely believed in despite the amount of time that had passed since its making. Gilda had nothing to write with at the time when it came to her, so she sewed it into the cloth she was holding. The cloth had long since ended up in the Queen’s office, but there were written copies all over the lands of the kingdom.

  Selene couldn’t remember the exact words. It had been many years since she had seen a copy. It said something about a witch breaking the curse. She knew there were other witches in other villages in the kingdom, but she hoped to be the one in the prophesy. She was a descendant of its creator, after all, and she had plenty of reasons to break the curse. Still, she wasn’t powerful enough, and she knew it.

  She walked along her worn path to the edge of the forest. She peered around the rock at the end of the path and, satisfied that there was no one nearby, stepped into the meadow. The sun was rising higher into the sky and it left Selene’s skin feeling warm and almost stiff. She looked around her.

  From the meadow, which was at the top of a tall slope, she could see the whole village spread out below her. Spring Meadow was actually a valley, which made it isolated from the rest of the kingdom. There were mountains on three sides and the forest on the other, and the only road leading to and from the village was squeezed between two mountains. The valley had many hills, and one small river ran through the village from one of the mountains. The hills of the village were grassy, with very few trees dotting around the landscape. There was an area in the shade of a mountain near the road where there was a concentration of buildings that included the village hall, courthouse, church, and some small shops, all
of which were tall wooden structures. There was no school, since in the village it was considered the parents’ responsibility to teach their children. Elsewhere there were small houses spread out around the valley, most with barns and fields that were just sprouting new crops. The only large houses in the village belonged to the mayor, the judge, and Harold Greenwood, who owned most of the shops.

  Selene looked over at her own home, which was at the top of one of the hills. It looked small, and she could swear it leaned a little to one side. They had no crops, but they had a small field for the cow, June. Selene could see June by the edge of the fence, her head down as she munched on the long grass. Her parents appeared as specks from the distance, but she could see her mother outside picking a few herbs from their small garden, and her father was waving goodbye as he headed off to work at a neighbour’s farm.

  Selene smiled at the scene of the valley below. It was her home, and the only place she’d ever known. She stayed for a few minutes to collect some plants, and then she headed down the hill and to the small dirt road that led into the rest of the village.