Doodlerella

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Doodle who lived happily with his mother in a small cottage. The cottage contained every color imaginable both inside and out, where a garden flourished with many flowers. The pair were happy together, every day spent drawing and painting and enjoying the beauty of life and art, needing no one’s company save each other’s.

Until the boy’s mother died.

Doodle had no living relatives and was sent to live with a family nearby of barely higher status. The couple had two daughters, only older than Doodle by about two years, and all of the family was wicked. Although they had accepted their neighbor’s only son as a family member they instead treated him as a slave.

Instead of the simple yet beautiful clothes Doodle had worn while living with his mother the boy was dressed in rags, drab and filthy and uncomfortable and a bit too small for the growing lad. He was made to sleep in the ashes of the fireplace and do all the chores around the house. It was a terrible life and his family only made it worse by not even allowing him a creative outlet (not that he had much creativity left with all they put him through), but art had always been a passion for Doodle and with his mother’s death it was all he had left of her; yet it seemed the only way he could draw was to lay out a smooth layer of ash and draw in it with his finger or a stick.

In fact, Doodle was running down incredibly low on creativity the longer he lived with them. He had dwindled to a point of drawing nothing but mice and birds and clouds when one day two handsome young men appeared at the front door to speak with the master of the house.

“Good day, sir,” the two said in unison, shooting one another nasty looks of disgust. Their was an odd similarity between the two, appearing almost identical except that one had black hair and dressed in darker shades while the other had white hair and dressed in lighter shades. The lighter one seemed a bit less threatening, Doodle thought.

“Good day to you, as well,” greeted Doodle’s foster father. “To what do we owe this pleasure, sirs? You are the king’s men, are you not?”

“We are,” the lighter of the two answered. “We have been sent by the King and Queen to personally deliver invitations to your whole family for the ball that will be held a fortnight from now at the palace. We’re to ascertain how many unwed maidens may attend the ball, so His Majesty will know which of the ballrooms is suitable. The prince is to choose his bride at this ball, you see, so everything must be perfect.” While he spoke the man beside him let his eyes roam past the master of the house, gaze scouring over everything he could see. Doodle met his gaze for a moment before the boy had the thought to hop around the corner. He was afraid of what might happen to him if the man commented on his presence. It wouldn’t do for someone like him, scrawny and covered in ashes and just a right mess, to be seen by men from the palace. Had Doodle lingered a moment longer he might have seen the small smirk that crossed the darker man’s face for a brief second.

“I’ve two daughters who will surely attend,” the master replied with a proud smile. His daughters were beautiful and truly charming ladies, he thought. Surely they could win the heart of the prince if he were finally giving it away; and were he not willing to give his heart to any, at least they would be the most suiting for a position as such lacking love. Who needed love when you could have money, after all?

The darker of the two scribbled something on a parchment he held before tucking it away from where he had withdrawn it.

“Thank you, sir,” the lighter one said. The master thanked them in return, sending his regards to the king and queen and prince as he bowed. The pair left and the master closed the door, disappearing into the house to find his wife and daughters. They were to begin preparing right away.


“Elony,” the darker of the two addressed his other. “Did you see that small boy they had in there?”

“No, Hibas,” the lighter responded with a roll of his eyes as he mounted his horse. “Some of us actually focus on our work. You’d do well to try to do so yourself. If you put forth some effort you’d be capable of more than just fine penmanship, brother.”

Hibas snorted indignantly, started off at a trot as his brother struggled to right himself. He had never been particularly good with animals in any case. “He looked terrible,” he said as Elony finally caught up, the two allowing their horses to gallop off to the next house. “Covered in soot and wearing rags and just standing there gawking at us!”

“Was he now?” Elony gasped in shock.”How awful. Slaves really shouldn’t be allowed to wander about like that! It’s a right disgrace. I hope the prince won’t choose anyone from that household. To have such uncivilized people in the court--”

“Ha!” Hibas threw back his head to laugh at that. “I would rather have someone who lets a slave wander about than someone like the prince. He’s a terror and certainly doesn’t deserve anything but the worst.”

“Yes, but he will be king one day and I dread to see what it would be like were he to marry someone just as vile as he . . . “

“We’re doomed either way,” remarked the darker brother pessimistically. “The prince will never change. When he comes to reign the kingdom will fall to destruction, I am sure.”


Doodle leaned breathlessly against the stone wall. He had never seen such beautiful men, dressed so extravagantly! And they spoke of a ball . . . Oh, he longed to go to that ball, how magnificent it surely would be. He could already imagine all the beautiful people that would attend, well-dressed and charming, civilized people.

For a moment Doodle thought he might ask to attend -- the men from the palace had said, after all, that the whole family was invited. It was a fleeting thought, however, as Doodle plummeted back to reality. Of course they would never allow him along. He wasn’t thought of as family in the slightest.

“Doodle!” called his foster mother sharply from the parlor and the boy was tripping over himself in his hurry to attend her needs.

“Yes, Madame?”

The mistress of the house stood with her two daughters at either side of her, looking at Doodle in a scrutinizing way. “You draw, don’t you, boy?” Doodle nodded once. “What about clothing?” Doodle had no idea where she was going with this, but nodded uncertainly. His mother and he had pined over the clothing they couldn’t afford and he still dreamed of someday wearing such nice things. “I’d like you to make outfits for the king’s ball for us all, then.”

“For myself as well?!” Doodle asked, excitement overcoming him.

His foster mother seemed to consider this for a moment, much to the boy’s surprise. He had expected to be slapped, told that it was foolish to think he would ever be allowed to attend such an event.

“If you can, dear,” she said with a sudden affection. “You will be designing dresses for your sisters and I, then you’ll be making them and helping your sisters get ready for the ball on the day of. But, if you can make your own outfits and finish your chores, then I suppose you may go.”

Doodle stared. “R-really?”

“Of course.” His sister’s looked none too happy with this idea, but after a moment snickered wickedly, as if they knew something he didn’t.

“Thank you, Madame!” Doodle chirped happily as he was given pen and ink and parchment to draw upon. Finished with his chores for the day already Doodle was situated at a small wooden table in a corner to work, happier than he could remember being in years.

By the day of the ball Doodle had finished all the ordered tasks just in time. Just the night before, in fact, had he finished his own outfit. It wasn’t as intricate and marvelous as the dresses he had created for his sisters, but it would do. After all, he doubted he’d be allowed to participate in the event. He was happy just to attend and observe.

“Gorgeous!” squealed the oldest of the sisters when Doodle had finished his chores and brought the dresses to his sisters. For a moment he felt proud of his work, but it lessened as she twirled with the dress in front of a mirror, declaring, “I make this dress so gorgeous!”

“I wear my dress much better,” declared the other sister, shoving her sister out of the way to smile at her reflection. “The prince will surely choose me.”

The older sister laughed as she undressed from her attire that day to change into her dress. “You’d be lucky to have him spare you a second glance.”

The second sister glared, huffing angrily, “I’m young, though, and youth is always chosen first!”

“Oh, so what! You’re barely two years younger than me, and anyways beauty trumps youth!” The older sister sighed dreamily as she slipped into her dress. “The prince will take one look at me and will fall in love on the spot.”

“And when you open that big trap of yours he’ll realize his error,” was her sister’s biting reply as she stepped into her own dress. Doodle made no comments and tried not to giggle at their bickering as he rushed between the two to help them into their dresses.

Once the girls were dressed and their hair had been fixed they set to applying their make-up, Doodle taking this as a chance to dress himself. His clothes were a bit more shoddily put together, as they had been last-minute after all the work he had put into his sister’s dresses, and he took great care in dressing. He would be standing around all evening aside from the carriage ride so the clothes would work fine, he thought.

On return to his sisters Doodle found the two of them arguing once more.

“My hair is curlier,” said one.

“My hair is silkier.”

“My skin is smoother.”

“My skin is paler.”

“You have freckles!”

A gasp. “You dirty liar! You have -- you have-- you have a pig nose!”

“I never!”

A small tussle ensued, leaving the girls and the room a mess. A vase of flowers had crashed to the floor and broken, a perfume bottle had fallen and broken, and powder was everywhere.

“Whoops,” the girls giggled as they set to fixing themselves up again. “You’d best clean this up, Doodle. You don’t have much time.”

“Girls!” called their mother. “The carriage is waiting!”

“Doodle isn’t ready, mother!” called the younger of the sisters. “There’s a frightful mess in here and he has yet to clean it up!”

“Then he won’t be able to attend! The driver won’t wait a moment longer so hurry out here!”

“Yes Mother!” the girls answered. They glanced back at Doodle from the doorway to sneer before setting out to the carriage in a fit of giggles.

Doodle would have been angry, but he was past that point with them. He had lived with this family long enough not to expect any less from the girls. He was a little surprised that they would go so far as to destroy their own possessions to keep him from the ball, but it shouldn't have come as such a surprise. He wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find out that one of their parents had set them up to it. Such was his life.

Changing back into his rags (for he didn’t want to get the only nice clothes he had dirty) Doodle set to cleaning up the mess. The flowers were picked up and set aside first, then the glass. He was setting to washing the floor when someone coughed.

“Who’s there?!” he exclaimed with a start, turning around to find himself facing a most bizarrely dressed young man. He looked about as old as Doodle (although, admittedly, Doodle did look a few years younger than he truly was), with blond hair and blue eyes and freckles. Normally Doodle could guess a person’s profession and class by their clothing but he had no idea with this person. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“I,” began the stranger with an bright smile. He held in his hand a slim black stick with a rainbow star at the end -- a wand? “- am Noel, your fairy godmother.”

“ . . . aren’t you male?”

“Fine, fairy godfather, what-ever. I’m your fairy godperson. I’m magic. See, look, I can fly.” He floated a few feet off the ground for example, lazily drifting around the room. “I have a magic wand that can do wonderful things.” He flicked the wand and the room was in perfect order, the vase and perfume bottle fixed and the powder all gone. “See? Believe me now?”

Doodle stared in wonder, nodding. A fairy godmother -- father -- person! A fairy godperson?! His?!

“So, kid, what can I do for you?” asked Noel.

“I want out of this house!”

“Stick to the script.”

Doodle grumbled begrudgingly, “I want to attend the ball at the palace, but I don’t have a way to get there.”

Noel thought this over for a moment before sending Doodle off to get dressed. When Doodle returned Noel held up a paper with an extravagant coach drawn on it. Two horses led out front with an androgynous driver. “What do you think?” he asked with a proud little smile.

“Uh, well,” Doodle began slowly. “It’s a very nice drawing . . .”

“Isn’t it?!” Noel laughed.

“But how is that going to help me?” demanded Doodle.

“Hey! I’m the magic one, I know what I’m doing,” Noel huffed. “Have some faith in your fairy godmo- fa- person, okay?”

Doodle nodded slightly and Noel gave him a harsh look. “Those clothes are nice, but they look about like they’re going to fall off you any moment now.”

“Well, I didn’t have as much time to spend on my own clothes . . .”

A smile lit up Noel’s face again. “Okay, imagine what you want to look like for this ball. Get a clear image of it in your head. Do you have it?” Doodle, eyes closed as he imagined himself, nodded. When he opened his eyes he glanced at the mirror and could hardly believe it. He had never looked so . . . so . . . attractive. He even looked his age for once!

Noel was smiling brightly, quite proud of his work, as he shepherded Doodle out the front door. “Can’t keep your carriage waiting,” he sang, the boy looking at him confusedly. His carriage? As they stepped outside, however, he saw it. It was the same carriage Noel had drawn minutes ago but it was real and in color, sitting in splendid glory outside the house awaiting him. He glanced at the paper which the carriage had been on that he still carried but it was blink.

“Wow!” he said, running up to touch the carriage. It was real! The horses were real, the coach driver was real...! Was this really not a dream?

Something began to beep.

“What’s that?” Doodle asked in alarm, looking around. He had never heard such a strange noise before.

Noel pulled a strange device out of his pocket, sighing heavily. “Crap, I’m late to my next appointment. Get off to the ball, kid.” He started to fly off and then paused. “Oh, by the way, the magic wears out at midnight, so be careful, okay?”

“What?! Midnight?! What a gyp!”

“Hey, them’s the rules. I don’t make ‘em and I can’t change ‘em.” Noel shrugged and began to fly off. “See you, Doodlerella,” he called with a laugh.

“Doodlerella...” Doodle repeated. It sounded really stupid.


Rilineskel wasn’t just bored at the ball, he was annoyed beyond belief. He didn’t see why he couldn’t be the king without a proper bride. Honestly, what were his parents thinking? Rilineskel couldn’t stand the people of the kingdom, why would he ever want to marry one of them?

“That’s the whole point,” his father had sighed in exasperation. “A ruler can’t hate his people, but obviously you’re not going to change. So --”

“So,” his mother interrupted, “you must fall in love, because if you have someone you love at your side then perhaps you’ll be able to find--” His mother collapsed into his father’s arms, sound asleep.

“-- some good in this world, if not at least this kingdom,” he finished for his queen. Then, under his breath, he grumbled,“If not then maybe they would at least keep you from running the place to destruction.”

Rilineskel greeted beautiful woman after beautiful woman, finding no interest in them. Although each one in turn looked hopeful he never invited a single one to dance, instead just watching them from his throne.

“You should give them a chance,” Elony urged gently. “I’ve spoken with a number of them. I could introduce you to some of the more honest of them . . .”

“I could introduce you to the ones that will show you a good time,” Hibas piped up, grinning. “There are some truly wild women here tonight.”

“Go dance with your honest and wild ladies, then,” Rilineskel growled, glaring at the two men. “I have no desire to take part in this frivolous event and I won’t have more people harassing me over it.”

“Yes, sir,” both men said obediently, drifting back into the crowd to dance with the maidens the prince had spurned.



Doodle didn’t know where to look when he entered the ball room. Everything was so much more grandiose than even his own imagination had made it out to be (and it was entrancing enough just in his mind). There was all so much to take in for the little while he seemed to have. He wanted to see more of the palace, of the grounds, of the people, of the orchestra. He wanted to soak in the atmosphere and feel like he was one of these beautiful people, that he wasn’t just a pretender. He wanted to belong here.

He was still wandering about aimlessly, just drinking everything in as quickly as he could, when his eyes fell on the “centerpiece” of the whole thing. Even had he not been seated in a throne Doodle would have known right away that this was the prince. There was no way that this man could be anything but the prince. It was rude to stare but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

And then the prince met his gaze.

Doodle blushed brightly, squeaking and turning his head away, scurrying into a crowd of people to hide. He had been spotted drooling over the prince! What an embarrassment. It would have been bad enough to have anyone notice, but to have the prince himself see . . .

Rilineskel summoned the brothers suddenly from their revelry. Hibas was obviously a little tipsy and Elony looked like he may have had a drink or two, as well.

“I want you to bring someone to me,” Rilineskel said slowly and thoughtfully. Elony and Hibas exchanged surprised looks. The prince had taken an interest in someone? They couldn’t wait to meet this person.

Rilineskel scanned the ballroom briefly, easily finding the one that had caught his attention. Bright orange hair was easy to find, even in a crowd like that. “There,” he said, pointing. “The maiden I want is right there.”

Hibas and Elony blanched. “Um, sire, that’s . . .”

“A lovely maiden,” Rilineskel said sternly and the two men got his drift.

“Oh, right, her . . .”

“Bring her to the balcony when she’s ready,” Rilineskel said with a hint of a smile, standing from his throne to make his way to the balcony; of course, he didn’t have much of a hard time with this as everyone cleared out of his way as he strolled amongst them.


“Please come with us, sir,” Elony said politely. Doodle gasped as Elony and Hibas seized one of his arms each. These were the men who had been delivering the invitations to the ball! They worked at the palace! What did they want with him? Had they found out the truth?

Doodle didn’t fight as he was led out of the ballroom, expecting the worst. He didn’t know how he would ever apologize for such a thing.

“Put this on,” ordered Hibas.

Doodle opened his eyes, which he had been squeezing shut in fear.

“ . . . a dress?”

“It’s the prince’s orders.”

Doodle stared.

“Please put it on, sir.”

Doodle gawked.

“C’mon kid, put the stupid thing on!” Hibas made a move as if to begin stripping Doodle and the boy started, slipping past the two men to dash past them. Great, he was running from the king’s men. If he hadn’t been in trouble then he certainly was. But, honestly, what were they thinking, trying to make him wear a gown like that! He wasn’t a girl. Oh, the nerve of --

“The prince!” squeaked Doodle as he tried to come to a stop in time but failed, tripping over his own feet into the prince as he turned at the title. The boy expected to fall but instead felt two hands lightly grasping his shoulders, steadying him.

“I see you escaped from Elony and Hibas,” murmured the prince, looking amused.

Doodle took a moment to realize that the prince was talking to him. The prince, who had been ignoring everyone all night long (or so he had heard), was talking to him!

“Why were you trying to put me in a dress?” he asked, looking more than a little confused.

Rilineskel smirked, leaning against the balcony railing. “It seemed like fun.”

“Fun?!”

“I was right, too. You’re quite the spirited little thing, aren’t you?”

Doodle’s cheeks burned. Of course the prince was just using him for his own entertainment. He shouldn’t have expected any less. Turning on his heels, Doodle began on his way back inside before his dignity or what little pride he had was wounded further.

“Wait,” commanded Rilineskel, seizing Doodle’s arm when he didn’t stop. He was rather sure his arm was going to bruise if people kept grabbing him by the arm like this. “Stay out here and speak with me.”

“Why?” Doodle asked a bit rudely, blushing again when he realized his error.

A small smile slipped onto Rilineskel’s face as he led Doodle over to the balcony railing. “It’s a nice night out,” the prince said as he leaned on the rail again. “A nice cool breeze and clear sky . . .”

“So many stars,” sighed Doodle, copying the prince’s position. It worked much better for him than it did for the prince, who had to crouch over slightly to comfortably rest his arms on the railing. “A crescent moon . . .”

The two stood silent for a while, enjoying the night and the music that streamed out of the ballroom. It felt like an eternity to the prince before he turned to Doodle.

“May I have this dance?”

Doodle looked at the prince in disbelief. “You want to dance . . . with me?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t wish to,” Rilineskel said with another small smile, offering his hand to Doodle. After another moment’s hesitation the boy accepted the hand and the prince drew him closer, position his hands and then leading him.

“I, um, I’ve never danced before,” Doodle said embarrassedly as he stumbled a bit to follow Rilineskel’s lead.

“That’s alright,” Rilineskel said with a strange warmth. “You’re doing just fine.”

“Thank you.” Doodle felt another blush creep to his face.

If Doodle had been happy up to this point then he was absolutely blissful now. For as long as he lived he was certain nothing would ever be able to top dancing with the prince. It was beyond his imagination that things could get any better than they were. He was wrong, of course . . . but things must always get worse before they get better.

And so it was that as the prince and he were happily snuggling on the balcony that the church bells rang to signify that it was midnight.

“Midnight,” Rilineskel murmured, glancing at Doodle. “I would like to ask you something, Doodlerella.” (It had been a slip of tongue on Doodle’s part to answer ‘Doodlerella’ as his name, but he had been flustered and didn’t want to give his real name, and so he ended up using a name even more ridiculous than his own.)

“Yes?” he asked, looking into the prince’s eyes. He had a feeling there was something he was forgetting, but what . . . the bell rang again and Rilineskel leaned down closer to ask when Doodle’s eyes widened.

“Midnight!” he shrieked. “I have to go!” He tore out of the prince’s arms. “I’m sorry, I have to go!” He looked sincerely sorry as he raced back through the ballroom and out of the palace to practically dive into his waiting coach. Rilineskel had chased after him but was too late. As he reached the bottom of the grand staircase he saw the coach pulling away, a sad face looking out the back of the coach at him.

Rilineskel sighed. He didn’t blame Doodlerella. Who wouldn’t want to get away from a prince like him as quickly as possible? He had been entirely too overbearing and taken advantage of the boy’s innocence; not that he felt guilty. Rilineskel just didn’t want their evening to end as quickly as it had.

“What was that about?” asked Elony, gracefully descending the steps to the prince’s side. Hibas joined them on the other side of him.

“He left.”

“Did you try to seduce him?” asked Hibas seriously.

“No,” Rilineskel replied, glaring at the dark man.

“Well, there’s your problem,” Hibas said with a roll of his eyes. “If you had tried to seduce him then he would have been putty in your hands. He wouldn’t have gone anywhere you didn’t want him to.”

“You say as if you would know . . .”

“Prince, you’re totally a stud, okay? No one’s going to resist you if you’re trying to seduce them. You don’t try, you do.”

“ . . . Right . . .”

“What’s this?” Elony spoke up suddenly, kneeling down to pick up a shoe that lay in the stone lane. “Someone’s lost a shoe. It’s rather small, too . . .” He paused and stood, glancing up at the two on the stairs. “You don’t suppose it’s his, do you?”

Rilineskel’s expression brightened as he stepped down to snatch the shoe from Elony. “That’s it!” he said enthusiastically. “We’ll find him again using this!”

Elony and Hibas exchanged confused looks. They were going to use a shoe to find him? This was going to be interesting.


Doodle barely made it home in time before the magic faded away. He literally tumbled out of the coach, as it turned back into a drawing, ink markings on the ground, just as they were reaching his house. The horses turned into field mice, scurrying off into the grass, and the coach turned into . . . an alligator?! That wasn’t expected. And it was just a baby, too!

Scooping the alligator up in his arms, Doodle rushed into the house, sighing with relief that everything was in place still. At least the magic Noel had used to help him clean up hadn’t faded.

“The nerve of that prince!” raged his foster mother as she entered the house, slamming the front door open. “He’s such a stuck up ass!”

“Now, honey, you shouldn’t speak that way about the prince,” soothed her husband. “I think he’s just a bit shy of wom--”

“Shy of women!” cut in his oldest daughter. “He’s a right queer man, he is! He turned down everyone’s company at his own ball! I don’t think that was a dear old friend, at all, in fact. I think that boy was his lover!”

“I agree,” sniffed the younger girl. “The two of them were dancing and then I saw them holding one another. The two are surely lovers.”

Doodle curled up in his ashes under the sewn-together rags they called a “quilt” (a quilt suiting for him, at least), sighing silently with a small smile on his face at the rage of his so-called family. He felt superior and special. The prince had refused everyone’s company but then adamantly insisted on his. Sure, he thought, the prince wouldn’t want anything to do with him now, but he had wanted him for a few hours that night and it would sustain him. He would never get another chance like that, so he would just live off the memories, for he could surely never show his face to the prince in the state he was now in again.

Once the household had gone to sleep Doodle slipped out of the house and down a little ways into the backyard. There was a small swampy area with a few ponds spread around. He would release the baby alligator there and check up on it from time to time.


It had been a week since the ball and Doodle was a bit more content with life than he had been. At night he could creep outside to play with the alligator that had become his pet, of sorts, and during the day he could daydream about the night of the ball. Everything about it had him so mystified, from the magic to the dazzling palace to the stunning prince.

Then, one day, Doodle’s foster father ran in to the house excitedly, calling the women to him in the parlor. Doodle, supposedly napping in the fireplace after finishing his morning chores, pretended to remain asleep so he might eavesdrop on them.

”I just heard in town that the prince is looking for that young man he met at the ball,” explained their father. “He says he doesn’t remember so much of the boy now that it’s been so long since he saw him and he didn’t see him well in the lightning on the balcony, but he’s looking for him! Most people have turned him away, fearing he’s going to sentence the boy to death, but I heard from the grocer that he’s actually looking to take the boy as his . . . as his bride!”

“I knew it!” snapped the women at once.

“What does this matter to us?” asked his wife. “Did you just want to further hurt your darling daughters’ hearts?”

“No, no,” he answered and disappeared for a moment, before returning with two caps. “The boy was wearing a cap, remember? If we tuck your hair under these caps and dressed you in men’s wear then you could pass as a boy and we could claim you were dressed that evening as a boy!”

“Why would we ever dress as young men, though, father?” asked the younger sister, confused.

“Oh, for Heaven’s -- I don’t know. We’ll say we didn’t want you attending, but we attended, so you both dressed as young men so we wouldn’t recognize you.”

“Oh, how clever, Papa!” she cheered.

“One problem,” the older sister said suddenly. “The boy was much shorter than the prince and even a bit shorter than Sister and I.”

Their father though this over, looking a bit distressed. He had felt clever for a moment. His wife interjected before he could think of anything, “We can fix that. Papa, get the ax.”

Doodle shifted slightly. The axe? What were they going to do with that?

“Girls, go out back,” order their mother and the girls, looking a bit worried, did as they were told.

When Doodle heard the back door close he crept to a window, peeking out to see his sisters sitting on a stone bench with their skirts hiked up, legs out. They both looked absolutely terrified. Doodle’s foster mother was giving out orders in her usual authoritarian way, even her husband looking a bit uneasy about this plan; still, he lifted the axe and began sharpening it when there was a loud knock at the door.

Doodle hurried back to the fire place to continue his facade of sleep as his foster mother hurried to the front door.

“Good day, Madame,” greeted a voice familiar to Doodle. It wasn’t his prince, but . . .

“O-oh! Good day!” returned the woman in a surprised, polite-as-possible tone.

“We’re sorry to disturb you,” Elony said sincerely. “However, we are looking for the owner of his shoe.” Rilineskel, behind him, held up the shoe in question. “Would you happen to have any young men in the house who attended the ball?”

“Oh, no, we don’t . . .” she began, only to look shocked. “Oh, but, my daughters!”

“That’s all well and good, but we don’t care about them,” Hibas replied haughtily.

“No, no,” she laughed nervously, inviting them in to the parlor. “They dressed as young men to sneak out to the ball when we forbid they go.”

“Why did you forbid their attendance, pray tell?”

“They had a horrendous fight the morning of and their father and I would just have none of it,” she explained convincingly. “But, they spoke of the prince fondly, especially the one.” A twinkle set into her eye and she set them in the parlor. “Excuse me while I fetch them.”

“Why don’t you have the slave do it?” Hibas suggested sensibly.

Doodle tensed up when his foster mother glanced his way. “Oh, well . . .” she hesitated. “The poor dear has worked so hard this morning that I just thought he deserved a break. I wish he’d sleep in his quarters, but I daren’t wake him.” Smiling pleasantly she excused herself and raced out to the backyard where one daughter was gagged as she screamed and writhed in pain, tears streaming down her face and bloody pools at her knees where her father had chopped her lower legs off to shorten her.

“Hurry up!” ordered their mother as she bandaged her oldest daughter’s legs quickly. Her husband was tying the younger daughter down so he might chop her legs shorter, as well.

Inside, Rilineskel had been watching the “slave” closely. There was something familiar about him . . .

“Hibas.”

“Yeah?” was the rather bored reply.

“Don’t take that tone with me. Wake the slave.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Must I touch him? He’s filthy.”

“If that’s what it takes, yes. Now wake him. That is an order!”

“Yeah yeah,” grumbled Hibas, rising to shuffle to Doodle. “Wake up, kid,” he said gruffly, poking the boy in the ribs with the toe of his shoes. Doodle squealed, eyes popping wide open as he squirmed away from the foot. He hadn’t expected that!

“He’s awake,” Hibas informed Rilineskel as he shuffled back to his seat.

“I couldn’t tell.” Rilineskel rose, crossing the room to stand before Doodle, who refused to look up at him. He hoped that the prince wouldn’t recognize him. As much as he longed to be swept away by the prince he knew that could never happen, not if the prince saw him as he really was.

“Lift your head,” ordered Rilineskel and Doodle didn’t. “Lift your head, boy. Why do you not listen? Should a slave not know his place and listen when he is given an order, especially by the prince of the kingdom?” When he received no response he bent slightly, just enough to place his arms around the boy’s waist, and lifted him carefully, holding him up.

“I thought it was you,” he said, a smirk playing at his lips. “You can’t disguise yourself from me in all that soot.”

Doodle felt like he might cry. It was humiliating to be seen like this. “I’m not trying to disguise myself,” he said with a pre-weeping sniffle. “This is who I am.”

“You’re a slave?”

“No!” Doodle answered without thinking. Then, more calmly, “No . . . they just . . . treat me that way . . .”

“Then I’ll take you away.” It wasn’t an offer or a suggestion. It was obviously something the prince had decided to do. “You’ll come live with me in the palace!”

Doodle’s eyes widened. “A-are you serious?”

“Of course!” the prince answered with a smile, drawing Doodle into his arms so he wasn’t dangling in the air any longer. “I will make sure you are happy and healthy and spoiled as you should be. You will be loved.”

Doodle clung to the prince in return (although, happy as he was, he did feel a bit guilty for covering his beloved in ashes), the tears spilling out. “Will you love me, as well?” he whispered.

“I’ll love you more than anyone,” Rilineskel replied softly, brushing his lips lightly over his lover’s cheek.

That was when they heard a shriek of pain from the back yard. Elony flew to the window and blanched; Hibas followed and looked like he might be sick.

“Don’t come over here!” warned Elony in a more commanding tone than he usually used. “Get the boy out of here. Hibas and I will take care of these four . . .” He turned from the window, draping a hand over his eyes. He was pale as could be.

Rilineskel nodded once and changed the position he was holding Doodle in once again, carrying him bridal style to the horse that awaited them outside. The two rode together on the back of Rilineskel’s black stallion, disappearing into the sunset on the horizon for their happily ever after.