The Merchant's Daughters

Chapter Two

The lack of pain was the first thing Louis noticed when he awoke. The second thing was that he was not in his own bed, nor in an inn. He awoke instead in a gigantic bed that could fit his entire family in it at once and still have room for a few more. The head board and posts were carved with intricate swirls and embellishments. It was all of course gilded gold. The room itself was as large as his dining hall back at home. The walls were made up of cream colored panels, lined with moldings of gold leaflets. Solid gold furnishings filled the room and an absurd chandelier hung over head. The overall impression was that he had woken up in the King of France's palace in Versailles.

"Where in heaven am I?" He wondered aloud as he gingerly slipped from the bed. It was taller than he thought. When he landed on the hard wood floors, a shock wave shook through his bones. He found his clothing, now spotlessly clean, mended and pressed, laid out for him across a velvet lounge. He quickly dressed so that he may find and thank his host, whoever or whatever he may be.

Limping somewhat from his leap, he ventured out the room, into a long hallway. He was thankful for the plainness of it, though it seemed he had traded gaudy decoration for pure impenetrable darkness. The walls and floor seemed to have been painted black and there were no sconces on the walls. He tried to hold onto the wall next to him to help find his way, but his hands found only empty air. Frightened, he turned back to flee back into the bedroom, but the door was gone as well, just as the road had disappeared behind him the night before.

"Hello!" He called out in a quivering voice for the house's owner, but got no reply. He continued down the hall, running faster than he had in years.

The black hallway finally opened up to a foyer with another chandelier-this one seemingly made of deer antlers- precariously hanging overhead. The walls were lit a gruesome red by its light. Paintings of nude goddesses and Greek heroes hung on its walls in gold frames. The foyer led straight into a dining hall it seemed. He could just see the end of a long table laden with good smelling food and a warm hearth aglow with a roaring fire. "Hello! Is anyone home!" He called again and this time was rewarded with a reply.

"Good morning!" replied a man's voice in a cheerful tone from the dining hall. "Or should I say good afternoon." The man laughed pleasantly. "I was just sitting down to dinner. Please, come dine with me. You had such a trying night. I'm sure you must be starving."

"Thank you, My Lord. I cannot thank you enough." Louis' spirits instantly lifted. Perhaps those children had gotten him to safety outside of Fay territory. He walked swiftly towards the dining hall's doorway, only to be stopped at the threshold. His foot hung in the air mid-step and try as he might, he could not move it any further.

"Before you enter, I must ask you to prepare yourself, sir." The lord of the house began cautiously. Louis could still hear the sound of laughter in his voice, as if he found everything very amusing. "You are still in the land of the Fay and I will be a troubling sight to be sure. Tread carefully sir."

Panic seized him anew. The old crone on the road had warned him, hadn't she? If he wandered from the straight path, the Fay would lure him to an unpleasant end. Those children, his mind raced with fright, were they even human? Was this the place that the Fay lead those poor, doomed travelers?

Louis took a deep breath and took the final step into the room.

He shrieked like a girl at the first sight of it, the man -no creature- he'd been speaking to. Screaming, he tripped over his own feet and fell onto his backside. He scrambled into the corner and huddled there, terrified beyond words. The lord of this palace was no man at all, but a monster! It was dressed in men's clothing: navy breeches with gold embroidery down the leg and a billowy sleeved undershirt. A lace cravat was knotted around his throat. It had a very broad face with a flat nose and hazel eyes that twinkled with mischief. It was covered in shaggy brown fur and its wide smiling mouth showed the long fangs of a bear. It was very much like a bear it even had the long black nails on each thick finger. However, its proportions were still relatively manlike. Its face did not protrude into a snout. Rather, the bear's features had been mushed inward to fit a man's face. It was tall and broad shouldered with powerful musculature beneath the fabric of its clothes, but it was all still within human limits.