‘Til the Stroke of Midnight
“When the moon starts to rise in the big black sky
We’ll remember all the stories until we die
Never gonna need to stop and cry,
Just gotta hold your head up really high
Cause the moon will always rise in the big black sky.”
With the melodic voice of his mother lulling him to sleep, the young prince took one final glance at the moon before drifting off into a peaceful, dream-filled sleep. He knew that with his mother by his side nothing bad could ever touch him, and a small smile grew upon his sleeping face.
***
Unkempt golden hair flew precariously in the early morning breeze. Lilting green eyes pinned their target clearly as the muscles of the young man’s right arm stretched back, preparing to take out the doe in one fell strike. Slowly, the bow’s string stretched further and further back until the arrow was in the perfect position to be released and claim the deer’s life.
Just as his green eyes grew more determined, a rustling in the bushes caused his prey to look up, and spotting him, the doe fled, fear piercing her heart.
Through gritted teeth, the young man whispered: “Who’s there?” His keen ears picked up no further sound until it was nearly too late, and with his arm still stretched to its full potential, Harri whirled around until he came face to face with the princess of Thoron.
Her swamp-like eyes glared into his before she gently shoved Harri’s bow aside, smiling all the while. “Loosen up, Harri! You couldn’t have possibly taken and killed that doe, she was far too beautiful to become a meal. And besides, what if she had little children? Even you aren’t that dense!”
Harri glared at her, slowly lowering his bow. He merely said in his calmest voice: “Thora, I don’t think you understand,” before taking off through the trees with grace- something he lacked most times except for when among the forest’s beauty.
After a bit of trekking, Harri found himself back in the safety of his home- the castle of Hallas. The young prince smirked when he recalled Thora’s words. Usually she didn’t mind killing for food, but apparently something had been nagging at her, causing her to act uncharacteristically. Harri wondered what could be troubling the princess, but quickly discarded the thought and lay down upon his featherbed, relishing in the morning sunlight.
For a few minutes, Harri lay on his bed, content to do nothing but allow his mind to wander aimlessly, but his peace could not last long enough when a slight rapping came upon his bedroom door.
“Who is it?” Harri’s voice asked calmly. He wasn’t sure what anyone might possibly want with him today- hadn’t his father given him the freedom to roam today?
A young female servant slightly opened the door. She appeared extremely nervous, and looked at the ground as she spoke to the young prince: “Your father has requested an audience with you.”
“What is his reasoning?” Harri’s voice peaked with curiosity. What happened to his freedom?
At his words, the girl began to squirm: “He refused to say… Should I tell him you won’t come without a reason?” With these words the girl’s eyes came up to look Harri in the face. They were the most beautiful eyes Harri had ever seen- violet with silver specks.
“It’s okay, I’ll just go. It’s not like I was doing anything anyway,” and he got off of his bed and slipped past the servant girl who bowed to him as she held the door open for him.
Before Harri had gone very far, he turned around, embarrassment warming his face to a crimson color: “Where shall I be meeting my father?”
The girl let out a small giggle: “The throne room, my prince.”
“Thanks,” Harri quietly replied to her directions. He was looking at the tiles on the floor- green tiles with symbols of the sun etched upon them- but before walking away, he looked up to see the girl’s back to him, walking off to perform her other duties. He wondered if she had even heard him, but realized he was being ridiculous, and furthermore, he was making his father wait- something his father loathed doing and was likely to make a comment about his tardiness.
Without further contemplation, Harri hastened to the throne room, where he met with a closed door. Closed doors irked Harri, but in the name of good manners, he gently knocked upon the door’s fine oak while staring at the silver handles awaiting an invitation to enter the room.
Not long after his knocking had begun, Harri was cut off as one of the many servants crawling around the castle opened the door and bowed to him: “My prince, your father awaits you.”
Harri slipped past the servant much as he had done earlier with the bashful servant girl and briefly bowed to his father in respect: “My lord.”
“Harri, my son, stop with that nonsense. It is only you and I present aside from Cleven who was just leaving. Rise and join your father,” the strong booming voice of the king rang out within the empty hall while the servant left. Harri obeyed his father and stood directly in front of him, awaiting further instructions.
The king frowned for a brief moment before saying: “Sit down my boy, grab a bite to eat… We have much to discuss.”
Harri slowly took his seat next to his father on what had once been his mother’s throne. The jewels shone still as a reminder of the beautiful and precious life she had lived, and a simple peasant’s tune began to ring through Harri’s mind as he examined the plates of food set before himself and his father:
“When the moon starts to rise in the big black sky
We’ll remember all the stories until we die
Never gonna need to stop and cry,
Just gotta hold your head up really high
Cause the moon will always rise in the big black sky.”
“Come now, Harri, have some beef stew! Or maybe some roasted turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes! How about some apple pie? Harri, haven’t you had your breakfast yet?” Harri’s father began to pester his son jovially. Food seemed to make him happiest, and Harri had to suppress a grin as he grabbed a small plate and filled it with deep fried chicken and some strawberries and cantaloupe.
As he nibbled at his meal, Harri turned to look at his father, speaking quietly, his voice filled with curiosity: “What did you call me here for, father?”
The king glanced at his son, and Harri could tell that he seemed rather nervous. What would a king be nervous about? Harri allowed his thoughts to ponder his father’s subtle motions.
Suddenly, Harri’s father stopped eating and he allowed his full attention to be placed upon his son who had likewise stopped eating. “Harri… As you are seventeen now, I think it’s time for you to find a wife. We need heirs to the throne, and you are the only chance we have at receiving any… So, we need to prepare for you to get married!”
Harri stopped chewing his meal suddenly. Fear stirred deep within his heart. Though he had always known this day would come, he never realized that it would come so suddenly. Gulping the remainder of the food within his mouth, Harri stared intensely at his father. After a moment of silence, he spoke without any pretense: “Dad… I don’t think I can find a wife… I’m not interested in women like that… I’m gay.”
The king started choking upon his meal at his son’s words. Harri jumped up, knocking his plate to the ground before beginning to attempt to help his father. A handful of servants rushed into the room at the sudden increase in noise, each one helping Harri to rescue his father.
After a while, Harri’s father had returned to normal, but the servants refused to leave, and for a few minutes the silence stretched on awkwardly before the king started shouting: “YOU ARE NOT GAY! NO CHILD OF MINE IS GAY! YOU WILL MARRY A WOMAN AND CONTINUE THE FAMILY LINE! YOU WILL NOT MARRY A MAN!!!”
Harri shirked away from his father, but said bravely: “I won’t marry a woman. Mom always understood, and she knew that you would have to take a while to understand as well.”
“What did you just say?” The king’s voice had become suddenly cold at the mention of Harri’s mother.
“I said that Mom understood!” Harri shouted. He was already tired of his father’s tantrum, and didn’t want to be forced to marry a woman when he could never be happy with a woman.
The servants in the room slowly, discreetly made their way out of the room. They knew that it was not their place to hear what was being said, but they refused to go very far and instead lurked in the hallway outside the throne room door, in case they were needed once more.
Harri’s father glared angrily at his son. His temper was steadily rising, and he didn’t know how to respond when suddenly an idea came to him: “Thirty days,” was all he said at first, but when Harri merely looked at him with confusion, he elaborated: “Thirty days, I will give you thirty days before I choose a bride for you. If in thirty days you can come to love a woman, then you may marry that woman, but if you do not find a woman who can make you love her and renounce you homosexuality, then I shall choose a bride for you, and you will be married immediately without your consent.”
Without a word, Harri rose once more from his seat and began to walk towards the door of the throne room. He couldn’t stand for his father’s cruel behavior, and instead would choose to escape from the tyranny of his father’s rule.
Just as he reached out his hand to turn the handle of the throne room, Harri heard his father say in his coldest voice- the one that meant he was being serious and chilled Harri to the pit of his stomach: “Thirty days, Harri. Or it’s my choice. Thirty days.”
Harri quickly left the throne room, tears threatening to stream down his face, and he ran out the doors of the castle and into the heart of the forest. It didn’t matter, though because Harri could still hear his father’s words ringing plainly in his ears as he sat by the peaceful river, skipping stones and trying to forget the words that had ended his childhood indefinitely.
For hours Harri just sat there, allowing the tears to caress his face as he awaited calm to overcome him enough so that he might return to the castle and attempt to lull himself to sleep with the memory of his mother’s soft and tender voice. While Harri sat, his keen ears became too distracted to pay attention to the noises of the forest. He wasn’t afraid of being attacked, but he also wasn’t aware that someone was coming near him.
Soft footsteps slowly approached Harri, and finally a familiar voice spoke: “What’s wrong, Harri?”
The voice belonged to the princess from earlier, and Harri turned his face away from her. He couldn’t stand the idea of being seen so vulnerable, but before he knew it, Thora was sitting next to him, staring at the peaceful river.
“You don’t have to tell me… I’ll just sit here with you until you figure whatever it is that’s got you like this out,” and with that silence ensued. Neither spoke for the longest time. Thora just sat by Harri’s side peacefully, watching the river flow, and counting the leaves that would get stuck in the current.
Suddenly, Harri spoke: “It’s my father… He’s told me that I have to marry a woman. I told him that I was gay, but he wouldn’t stand for it, and now I have to find a woman I can be happy with in thirty days and marry her or my father will choose someone for me to marry. And all because there needs to be a future heir to the throne.”
Thora didn’t look at Harri for a while, but she whispered: “I know… Remember earlier? I was going to tell you that your father and my father had been discussing having the two of us marry, but I’m in love with Arora. I’m surprised your father decided to give you at least somewhat of a choice…”
“So that’s why you were a bit off this morning…” Harri let the realization slowly sink in. It seemed that both he and Thora were at a loss. “Thora, what can we do?”
“I don’t know… I’ve been thinking about it all day… We should talk tomorrow. Maybe by then I’ll have a plan that’ll help us get out of this.”
“You’re right, maybe we need to let it sink in further before we decide anything,” Harri replied, getting up and helping Thora get up. “Are you staying here in Hallas?”
“Yeah, I’m in one of the guest rooms in the castle. We can walk together. Anyway, I was here on orders from my father to find out your father’s answer about our betrothal…” Thora’s voice slowly drifted off as they walked back towards the castle. Neither one spoke much on their journey back, and before Harri knew it, he was walking alone to his room having dropped Thora off at the room that had been prepared for her.
As Harri got into bed, he stared up at the moon, and his mother’s voice drifted into his ears, lulling him into a calm and peaceful sleep, allowing him to evade the day’s nightmare.
“When the moon starts to rise in the big black sky
We’ll remember all the stories until we die
Never gonna need to stop and cry,
Just gotta hold your head up really high
Cause the moon will always rise in the big black sky.”
***
“Harri! Harri! Wake up! I’ve just had the most brilliant idea! Well… Actually I have two, but you get to choose your favorite!” Thora eagerly exclaimed, shaking the sleeping prince awake. The sun had yet to rise, and Harri had a strong feeling that it wasn’t much later than midnight, but he slowly forced himself to get out of bed and listen to Thora’s insane plots.
Grumpily, Harri glared at Thora who had yet to speak. Though Harri was a morning person, he hated being up late at night.
Noticing the intimidating glare she was receiving from Harri, Thora began, her face lit up vibrantly as she spoke: “Now, you have two choices where you’re soon-to-be wedding is concerned. First off, you could marry me and be only partially content. Of course, I’d give you freedom to be with whoever you wanted so long as I would be granted the same rights, and your father would receive the next heir to the throne.” Thora paused for a moment, letting her option sink in, and after a while, she finally began once more looking even more excited than before: “Ooooor… And here’s the really good idea if we can get it to work…” She quickly cleared her throat before speaking once more in such a flurry of words that Harri had to struggle to keep up: “Whoever you like that’s not a woman could dress up as a girl long enough to impress your father and marry you then you’d be free to do as you pleased because you’d already be married and your father wouldn’t be able to do anything about!”
Harri sat there for a moment stunned, trying to soak it all in and make sense of Thora’s insane plan. Suddenly, it dawned on him: “So what you’re saying is… And correct me if I’m wrong… The guy I like just has to dress up like a woman and play the role of a woman? And then we get married while he’s dressed and looks like a woman? And then I can show my father that he couldn’t take away my freedom to marry whomever I wanted regardless of whatever rules and stipulations he sets up for me?”
“Exactly.”
Harri frowned for a moment. “But, Thora… What if the guy I like doesn’t know I like him? And what if he doesn’t feel the same way about me? What if he plays for the other team?”
Thora looked closely at Harri, determined to solve his problem, but unsure how to go about it. She eventually settled with asking him the simplest question of all: “Who do you like, Harri?”
Gulping, Harri turned to look into Thora’s eyes. He wasn’t sure how to tell her. Fear of looking like a fool ate away at him, but he finally resolved that acting like a wimp wouldn’t solve anything: “Luka…”
“That’s it! You’re worried about Luka liking you? And I thought this was going to be way more difficult than that!” Thora started to laugh like a madwoman, and Harri couldn’t help but become extremely irritated with her. He didn’t understand why she was laughing at him when she had said she would help him.
“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you even understand what I’m going through?”
Thora slowly calmed down, her giggling fit coming to a close, when she responded: “Luka’s bisexual.”
Harri couldn’t even muster up the words to ask what she was talking about. Wasn’t he gay? Shouldn’t he be able to tell who was gay, bi or straight? Wasn’t he supposed to have that special ability?
Thora sighed and began to explain: “He’s the reason we didn’t all freak out on you when you told us that you were gay… He just never said anything to you because he assumed you knew just like he knew about you…”
Mouth gaping wide open, Harri couldn’t find the words to speak, and merely stared blankly at Thora. However, Thora didn’t oblige to give any further information. When she did speak once more it was more to herself than to Harri: “We’re going to have to train Luka… He already isn’t that bad at acting womanly, but we’ll have to make sure he won’t screw up… We’ll have to enlist the help of Arora and maybe even Abanor… I know Abanor doesn’t care too much for us, but he’ll come if we ask him… He’s probably going to be able to help us the most… After all, he does know an awful lot about being sneaky…” Her voice was distant to Harri, but he eagerly listened to her every word.
After a few minutes of Thora’s incessantly distanced droning, however, Harri crawled towards his bed eagerly. He was missing out on precious hours of sleep while Thora talked her way into a coma.
Slowly, to the drawling tones of Thora’s voice, Harri returned once more to his peaceful sleep.
***
The next few days went by in fast forward mode to Harri. His father was making him meet with woman after woman, each more dull then the previous. Thora had seemingly dropped off the face of ROTH without a trace. Harri’s father said that she had left to tell her father that she would most likely be marrying Harri within a month, though it wasn’t certain yet because something had come up that Harri had to ‘deal with’ according to Harri’s father. Harri knew that Thora had most likely left to work on molding her precious plan for evading marriage with him and protecting him from marrying someone he could never fully love instead of undergoing the false pretenses she had laid for his father.
Slowly but surely the days dragged on and each day was filled with strangers for Harri. No woman ever neared his heart while he waited for Thora to arrive with a feminized Luka. He worried about whether or not Luka would be chaperoned by Thora or one of his other friends so that he might recognize him. However, he was never given any word from Thora as to whether this would be held true, so he would study each woman’s face through to every detail, worried that he might turn Luka away by accident.
Suddenly, as the days began to dwindle more quickly, Harri began to worry that perhaps Luka had refused to come for Harri and in Thora’s embarrassment she had abandoned him to his own tragic ending. Harri’s fears slowly grew more refined as three days stood between him and an arranged marriage. He refused to breathe a sigh of relief even when Thora finally returned. Much to his dismay, she came alone, and Harri began to lose sight of all hope and mentally prepared himself for marriage to a woman.
The night that Thora arrived, though, she did nothing to alleviate his worries. Rather, she refused to speak to him, and with only two days remaining until Harri would be doomed to abide by his father’s wishes, Harri spent most of his time outside of the castle and in the depths of the forest.
It was on the final day before Harri would be pushed into an arranged marriage that he was joined by a foreigner in the forest. Not only was this person someone Harri didn’t recognize, but it was- to make matters worse- a woman.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Harri said sadly to the stranger. He didn’t like it when strangers discovered his peaceful glen in the heart of the forest.
The girl, however didn’t say a word, but came up and sat next to Harri. Her hair blew everywhere, a mess in the wind, and finally, she spoke, but her voice was unlike any other girl’s. Instead it was a notch deeper than most female voices, but it still had a feminine tinge to it. “You sure are an idiot.”
Insulted, Harri looked at the woman, about to speak back, but realizing that he couldn’t insult her no matter how rude she had been.
The woman snorted before speaking further: “I’m surprised you don’t recognize me, you dumbass… Then again, you never were the sharpest sword in the weapon’s room. I guess Thora, Arora and Abanor really did a good job… I don’t even know why I agreed to this.”
Harri had to take a moment before the words fully made sense to him. “Luka! I can’t believe you came!”
“You think I’m dense? I didn’t want you marrying some whore. And I couldn’t stand to see you unhappy… Unless of course I’m the one making you that way!” Luka’s smile made Harri’s heart do a back flip. How could he have ever doubted Luka?
“Thank you,” Harri whispered, bringing his eyes to meet Luka’s.
Luka grinned: “Anything to have those sex eyes on me!”
The passion in the air was strong, and before Harri was even aware of it, he was being passionately kissed on the lips by the man of his dreams. In that moment, full love bloomed, and Harri could have stayed in Luka’s arms forever, kissing him to his heart’s content, but the sun was rapidly sinking beneath the horizon, and Harri still had to profess his love for a woman in front of his father before his time ran out.
“Luka,” Harri said, breaking himself away from the loving kisses he craved so much, “we have to get back to my father before time runs out.”
“Damn it… You’re right! I can’t have had all these lessons in being a woman for nothing!” And as the moon began its perilous journey towards the middle of the sky, Luka and Harri ran as quickly as they could back to the castle of Hallas.
They arrived back one minute before midnight, and Harri had to rouse several servants, demanding they collect his father immediately. He told them his news was urgent and couldn’t wait a minute longer for fear of losing his freedom to choose whom he would marry.
The king arrived in front of Harri just as the clock began its perilous twelve strikes signifying midnight. Luka stood nervously next to Harri, trying to remember every lesson he had been taught about being a woman.
Before Harri’s father could speak, Harri said in a rush of words: “I’m in love with this woman!”
The clock completed its wretched chiming, and it was finally midnight. Harri’s time was at an end, but he had beaten the clock and managed to tell his father the white lie that would make him happy for the rest of his life.
“Good,” was the only word the king said after a few moments of silence had started to put Harri and Luka on edge.
Harri turned his back on his father for a moment as he got down on one knee and proposed to Luka, purposefully stumbling over his name in the presence of his father: “L-Luk-ka… I would be honored if you would make me your husband. Will you do me the pleasure of becoming my wife?”
Luka started to cry, the tears streaming freely as he replied joyfully: “Harri, I would like nothing better than to spend the rest of my days with you as your wife!”
As the newly engaged couple kissed, Harri’s father put his hand on his son’s shoulder: “Son, I’m glad you found someone that you can be happy with, and I’m glad that I’ll be able to know that there will be an heir to the throne for when you are no longer able to rule the kingdom… The wedding shall be tomorrow. Please, get some rest… In fact, why don’t you and your bride-to-be spend the night in the honeymoon suite?”
Shock filled Harri as he happily accepted his father’s wishes. He knew that even when his father discovered the trick that had been played on him, in that moment he had been happy that his son had found someone to love. He also knew that his mother would be looking down on him with a smile on her face, glad that he hadn’t compromised his true self to make his father happy.
***
When Harri awoke the next morning it was to find that he was alone. He began to worry that sometime during the night Luka had changed his mind and ran off, leaving Harri to deal with his father on his own. However, when he headed towards the bathroom to take a shower in order to prepare for the wedding, he found it to be occupied by Luka.
Shyly, Harri began to undress himself, and soon Harri and Luka were sharing the shower as a couple. The kisses began as soft and gentle, but quickly hastened to become much more passionate.
Once the two were clean, they began to dress- Luka as a woman and Harri as himself- before heading down to breakfast in order to discover the plans of the wedding.
Not long after they arrived in the dining hall, Luka was taken by several servants to get changed into his wedding dress for the ceremonies that were to take place within the next few hours. Harri was likewise dragged off and thrown into a room full of several tuxes, each of which he was forced to try on for a full hour until the perfect one was discovered.
Suddenly, Harri was facing his father and being given meaningless advice about the whims of a woman. Harri started to get extremely nervous, but before he was even aware of it, he was standing at the head of the altar, awaiting the arrival of Luka while a crowd of strangers as well as familiar faces stared at him.
Among those in the assembled throng, Harri recognized Abanor and Arora. He assumed that perhaps Thora was busy preparing Luka.
A few more heart pounding moments passed, and Harri began to grow more and more worried, but suddenly the music began and he found himself looking over his shoulder as first Thora entered as the maid of honor and then Luka arrived, looking more like a woman than ever before. Harri was shocked with the greater transformation, but loved the way in which Luka looked in the amazing bridal dress that he had been forced to wear. Pearls dangled from the dress, which shown like the sun and cut straight across at the top in order to hide the fact that Luka wasn’t actually female, but he was still granted something that gave him the appearance of being a woman through and through.
Suddenly, Luka was standing by Harri’s side, and the rest of the wedding passed without consequence. However, upon the final “I do” by Luka, after the love of Harri and Luka was sealed with a kiss, Luka turned to face the crowd.
“Before we end this wedding, I have to say something. Harri is gay,” the crowd gasped and the king stood, beginning to move towards Luka, but before he could reach Luka, Luka was saying: “and furthermore, I am not a woman. I am actually a man, and I Luka of the country Rorax love Harri of the country Hallas more than any man alive, and I would be honored if I could receive the blessing of Harri’s father, King of Hallas.”
Harri’s father paused. He felt as though he had become trapped in a tight corner with nowhere to turn. With such a large crowd he could hardly say he refused, and so, through gritted teeth he said: “Whatever will make my son happy. You have my undying blessing.”
In his joy, Harri kissed Luka once more, glad to know that he was safe from his father’s refusal to allow him to live as he chose.
***
And so the young prince smiled as his mother sang him to sleep once more, glad to know that she was watching over him, making sure that nothing bad could ever touch him. He smiled more broadly in the arms of his newfound husband, glad that his rights couldn’t be taken from him and that all hope had been returned to him in the end.
“When the moon starts to rise in the big black sky
We’ll remember all the stories until we die
Never gonna need to stop and cry,
Just gotta hold your head up really high
Cause the moon will always rise in the big black sky.”
No comments:
Post a Comment