Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales Paperback

She was provided with trousers and shirt, highly polished leather boots, and a worsted wool cloak, all in varying shades of black. Emer ignored the cloak, keeping instead her mother’s fur and hood. When she was washed and dressed, her guide took her to the stables and pointed out her steed.

The Black Bride had been right—so many princes had left many, many horses—but this one stood out. At least twenty hands high and with a burnished hide, he wore no shoes for his hooves were of spiked bronze. When Emer knelt before him, his golden gaze was measured. She held out the apple she’d kept back from her own quick meal and he deigned to sink his sharp teeth in its firm flesh. The dog, noting the beastie’s compliance, swiftly—and with palpable relief— saddled him, while Emer explored some of the stalls, patted the more biddable animals.

“Ahem. Excuse me, miss?” came a voice from the shadows.

At first, Emer couldn’t find the source, but when her eyes adjusted to the gloomy corners she saw a withy cage hanging from one of the rafters. Inside was a defeated-looking raven. His eyes were dull until Emer approached. Then, a flare of recognition and something else: a fire within, a swirling conflagration of green and red and gold, orange and azure and magenta.

“You!” she’d screamed, rage rushing through her, and strode forward, intent upon throttling the bird. The raven flapped wildly, shouting, “Now, don’t be hasty, I can explain!”

“This is all your fault, with your lying in wait and your pecking.

Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t wring your scrawny neck.”

“Well, strictly speaking, you need to shoulder some of the blame— ? 206 ?

? Angela Slatter ?

you were alone, wandering about outside. Well-behaved princesses—”

he broke off as Emer began to shake the cage. “I’m sorry! Don’t hurt me, I can help you.”

The bird’s terror broke through her fury and Emer suspected that the anger she felt was the sort of ire her aunt gave in to every day. She stepped back, shuddering with shame.

“No, I’m sorry I scared you.” She reached for the latch and lifted it.

“How is that I can understand you?”

“You were one of us for an age, it’s bound to stick,” he said, tentatively climbing out onto her proffered forearm. “If you’re going where I think you’re going, I really can help. Please let me come along.”

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now Emer’s head was fit to burst.

“When the old bat finds out what he’s done he’ll be a pair of slippers in the blink of an eye. Mind you, might come in handy,”

wittered Bertók.

“Why were you in that cage again?”

“Injustice! As always. ‘Bertók, you talk too much. Bertók, you ate all the wild cherries. Bertók, you didn’t bring me back that crown.

Bertók, you’re snoring too loudly.’ It’s getting so a bird can’t fart let alone express an opinion without getting locked up.”

In the brief respite while he took a breath, Emer used the chance to change track. “You mentioned a giant?”

“Giantess. Always hungry—I don’t know if they’re all like that. I wonder—”

“So, this giantess lives atop the glass mountain and has the mysterious crown and eats everyone who comes to visit?”

“Well, except us—except the ravens—not enough meat. But it doesn’t stop her using us for target practice.”

“And the crown can only be gained by someone with pure intent?

I don’t imagine that would include you.” The bird didn’t answer.

“Raven?”

He gave a shrug of sorts. “Well, that’s what we told her—the part about pure intent.”

? 207 ?

? Flight ?

“You lied?” Emer was less scandalized than delighted by this breathtaking bit of avian bravery. “You lied to her?”

“She doesn’t know everything, you know,” the raven squawked.

“She’s just so . . . We couldn’t bear the idea of losing more of our number every time she sent us off on one of those quests. She’s crippled but she’s got everything and it’s never enough. Imagine her with that crown, whatever it does, still demanding more, more, more!