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Nameless: A Fairy Tale
by A Very Tall Oak Tree in City Park
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“The unfortunate daughter, I am afraid to say, was me.
I have lived in exile from my mother’s house since three years of age,
and have learned to fend for myself in the woods. I have never been
strong, yet being here in this house has taken the last of whatever
strength I may have possessed. My mother’s arts do reside within me,
although they are of little use to me. They do allow me, however, to
have considerable insight into the future—for instance I have known
about this marriage for many years. I noticed from an early age that I
had a certain knack for predictions. They were small things at
first—weather, births, deaths…then larger things, growing in relevance
and importance. For some time I thought that perhaps I was wrong,
maybe my dreams and visions were some cruel trick of the mind.
Unluckily, no. The day you arrived I knew that you had come to create
for me my final destruction, and it saddened me greatly, for I knew
you so well from dreaming of you for so long that I had begun to feel
as though we were old friends.
“As I had feared, three weeks was all it took for Bowen to gain his
strength; Mildred sent him here as soon as she felt he was able and
gave him instructions on how to act, what to say. Although may be as
strong as you, he is not nearly as clever. Mildred has had to
intervene many times since we have arrived. Bowen came to collect me
and found me waiting for him on the edge of the forest. I spoke to
him, trying to convince him that in a situation touched by Mildred, no
one could possibly benefit, yet I should have known better than to
waste my breath on such ridiculous pleas. Mildred has fed him lies of
ascension to power, perhaps even to kingship. She will stop at nothing
to see me dead; then she will begin to work on the city herself,
bringing it down about your ears swiftly and silently. The end of the
Great Wars is near, Morgan. I am the only one conscious of Mildred’s
scheme, and she has finally decided to kill me off, even though I am
no longer a threat to her. However, politics mean nothing to me—my
mother has wed me to my own half-brother; do you not think that is an
unclean thing?”
Here Nameless stopped for breath, then put out her hand and brought
Morgan’s face close to hers.
“I do not want to tell you this, but it is my only hope…You are the
only one who can wrench my name from Mildred. She will try to dissuade
you from believing it, but you are stronger than she. Your heart does
more than keep you alive; it loves and hates, it feels. I will not ask
you to seek my mother out a fourth time, yet…you asked on my wedding
night if there was anything you could do to help me…this is the only
thing which can save me now. I must have my name, or I shall meet
death.”
Morgan stared at her for a moment, then straightened.
“In that case, I know what I must do,” He said, his face set.
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