Prince charming's Arc

Chapter 1 of 30

Prince Charming knelt at the edge of the forest with empty hands, and the sparrows would not come down. He had walked out from his house at dawn, past the porch and the pruned garden, carrying nothing. For months his people had begged him to send soldiers up the mountain, where a dragon with layered scales and sweeping wings circled the peaks. He had watched that dragon through a spyglass instead. He had seen it curl around a boulder and rest its chin on its own tail. He decided it was lonely, not cruel. Now he meant to earn the trust of every creature in the forest, from the sparrows at his feet to the dragon on the mountain. He could not walk up to a dragon if a wren would not sit near him first. He tried what he had planned. He held out his hand and stayed still. A sparrow dropped one branch closer, then bolted when he breathed. A squirrel watched him from a root, saw nothing in his fingers, and ran. A rabbit crossed the path behind him without slowing. He understood then that patience was not enough. The small creatures expected an offering. He had come with none. He stood up, brushed dirt from his knees, and walked back to the house. Inside, he opened every cupboard from the top floor to the cellar. He passed the silver and the coins. In the kitchen he found a sack of sunflower seeds, a jar of honey, and a wedge of soft cheese. In the pantry below he found dried apples and a tin of shelled walnuts. He tore an old linen shirt into squares and tied each food into its own bundle. He filled a shallow dish with water and set it in a basket. Then he walked back to the same spot at the edge of the trees. He laid the bundles open on a flat stone. He poured the water into the dish and stepped six paces back. He sat on the ground and waited. A sparrow came first and took a seed. A second sparrow came. A squirrel crept to the walnuts and ate one where it stood. The rabbit drank from the dish and did not run when he shifted his weight. By midday, small creatures moved around him without fear. The forest had let him in at the lowest step. Above the treeline, the dragon lifted from a ridge and circled once, watching. Prince Charming watched back. A sparrow eating from a stone would not impress a creature that size. He would need something else before he climbed the mountain.