THE PRINCESS OF THE CATS: A FAERY TALE

By Violet Winter

Long ago, in a kingdom nestled between rolling green hills and the edge of the sea, there lived a young king and queen. They were loved by all of their subjects, because they ruled with gentleness, and were fair in all of their laws. The land was rich, fertile, blessed with an abundance of crops. No one went hungry, everyone prospered, and everywhere, there were smiles and songs.

The king and queen should have lived happily ever after. But there was one blight upon their nearly perfect lives, one despair that shadowed their joy. Year after year, as seasons passed from icy winter to the gold of summer, they waited to have a child. But to no avail. The queen remained barren. There was no heir to their throne.

Though the king struggled with despair, the queen was ever patient. One fateful day, she took his hand and said, "Don't weep, my beloved. On the morrow, I'll make a pilgirmage to the eastern mountains, to visit the old sorceress who dwells there. Her wisdom has been my guide many times before. Perhaps she can tell me how we might have a child."

The next morning, the queen and her ladies-in-waiting saddled their fastest horses, and galloped towards the dawn. They travelled all day long. And just as the sun was disappearing in the west, they arrived at the rickety old shack where the sorceress dwelled. But the sorceress didn't come out to greet them. Her shack was empty, cold ashes on the hearth, and many things scattered and broken on the floor. There was a huge gilded book on the table, with an ink-stained quill still resting on the page. It seemed the sorceress had abandoned her writing in a hurry.

"This is very peculiar," the queen told her ladies. "The sorceress is always here when I call."

And then a mangy old tabby cat emerged from the shadows and limped towards her. As it stared with its one good eye, the queen was alarmed. The sorceress only had one eye. Could it be?

"Ma'am, is that you?" Her voice trembled with astonishment.

The cat answered clearly. "That it is."

"What has happened to you?"

Sadly, the sorceress shook her head. "What will soon happen to you, and your ladies as well, your Majesty. The people of our kingdom are being changed into cats, one by one, even as we speak."

The queen gasped. Her ladies began to sob.

"An evil spell, wrought by a magician king from beyond the eastern mountains," the sorceress explained. "He is jealous of our land, hungry for it. And through a power more dark and ancient than you know, he has brought this curse upon us."

Anger colored the queen's cheeks and flared in her eyes. "Surely something can be done. Do you know how to counter this devilry?"

"I am sorry. But the spell has already been cast. And I know no magic that can alter the course. Nonetheless, I have seen a vision of the years ahead. And I believe there may be some hope."

"Anything, tell me. I will do whatever it takes."

The sorceress smiled, as best a cat could smile. "You are brave, Majesty. But it's too late for you, and for the rest of us now living, to stop this. Our fate rests in the hands of your daughter. The unborn child you carry within you. She may have the abilities that will one day set us free."

The queen was glad a moment, to know that she was with child. But the reality of the cats overwhelmed her. She rushed past her weeping ladies and headed towards the door.

"We must return home immediately," she said.

The sorceress meowed urgently. "Wait! Take me with you. For when the time comes, I can help your daughter to break the spell."

Hastily, the queen wrapped the sorceress in her cloak. They rode long into the night, the horses' hooves thundering along the road. The ladies cried all the way, but the queen was quiet, strangely calm. She thought about the new life she would bear, and hoped that all would be well for the little one, born into a world of cats. What a strange tale had been woven this day.

They reached the castle at daybreak, racing across the drawbridge in a panic. The queen noticed that there were no guards at the post. Only two large cats where they had once been, watching attentively as they passed. She leaped off her horse and ran to the throne room, calling desperately to her husband. Too late. She flung open the door and found him, sitting in the middle of the crown that was now too big for him, a black tomcat pleading to her with frightened eyes.

"No!" she cried. Tears blinding her, the queen ran to him, arms outstretched. But all in vain. At that very moment, she began to change too. She stumbled to all fours, and watched in horror as her hands turned into small furry paws. Claws grew from her fingertips, whiskers upon her face, and a long tail behind her. Her cry becoame an anguished feline howl. Behind her the ladies-in-waiting bounded in the door, all cats, confused and terrified.

The spell was complete. The sun rose on a kingdom robbed of its people. It's very life. And elsewhere, beyond the eastern mountains, the perpetrator laughed as he watched the results of his deed through a crystal orb. The magician king rubbed his fat hands together, his enormous jewelled rings clinking. "Mine, all mine now," he said to himself, gloating in his victory. He stood and looked out his window. All of the land he could see, and now even the land beyond the mountains, belonged to him. And there was no one who could stop him.

Countless cycles of the moon dragged their way across the night sky. Vines and weeds soon swallowed the castle, and choked the unharvested crops in the fields. Neglect blanketed everything with cobwebs and dust. And the wind carried only the sound of lonely, heartborken meows. Of all the cats, only the sorceress was able to maintain her human mind and speech. She watched and waited, hoping that the vision she'd seen about the queen's unborn daughter might come to pass. Only then could salvation arrive.

It was a quiet fall afternoon when the miracle finally happened. In a warm, dark corner of the castle kitchen, atop a pile of empty grain sacks, the queen gave birth. It was a strong, healthy girl, just as the sorceress had prophesied. And it proved that the queen was not yet entirely a cat, for the child was human. Almost. In some ways the baby had still been affected by the magician king's spell. She had furry, pointed ears, a tail, tiny claws on her fingers and toes, and eyes so luminously green that they rivalled those of her feline mother. But her cry was entirely human, containing a hungry urgency that the sorceress knew would soon need attention. Eager as the queen was to care for her strange kitten, she would never be able to raise the princess as a cat. The baby needed human hands to nurse her, human arms to keep her safe from harm. She'd have to be taken from this place and raised by others, whether the king and queen liked it or not.

As fate would have it, two days later, a familiar caravan rolled it's way towards the castle. It was the gypsies, a kind man and woman who visited the castle often in their travels. Surely, the sorceress thought, as the caravan came to rest in the courtyard, these two would make acceptable guardians for the princess. She had to fight her way past the king and queen, much growling and hissing, a few tufts of fur missing after a fierce spat with the king. But she managed to drag the princess out into the courtyard, wrapped sloppily in one of the grain sacks. The baby's cries caught the attention of the gypsies. They hurried over to see what the one-eyed cat left them.

"Poor little one," said the gypsy woman. She took the princess into her arms. "But look what an odd child this is! And where is Her Majesty? She's not here to welcome us as usual."

The old man looked around the courtyard. He noticed two cats sitting in an upper window, a large black tom and a smaller one beside it. Both staring coldly, sadly. He shuddered, and made a gesture to ward off curses. "Let us leave this place now," he said. "Our friends are no longer here. And it seems there's naught but evil afoot."

The woman agreed, and wrapped the little cat princess into her soft, embroidered shawl. The baby hushed, and soon fell asleep, rocked by the gentle sway of the cart, as the caravan slowly rolled away. They travelled over the eastern mountains. And after many moons, they entered a new land, far from the kingdom of cats.

The gypsies loved the princess, and raised her as their own. She was kind, bright in mind and spirit, and always laughing. They decided to named her Catrina. She grew quickly, became tall and lithe, and astoundingly agiile. Her dark hair was long and abundant around the etched beauty of her face, falling in waves around her peculiar feline ears. Everywhere the gypsies went, people remarked on Catrina's strange appearance. But she paid it no mind, and as she was well-loved, and otherwise a pretty child, it didn't matter. She learned all the gypsy ways--how to survive in the wild places, to hunt, swim, and defend herself with a dagger. How to dance with fire in her blood. How to make a fiddle sing in the moonlight. And how to charm people with only a mysterious smile, and a flash of her brilliant green eyes. Rumors said her eyes actually glowed at night, just like a cat's. It only made people more fascinated with her endearing ways.

Catrina knew nothing of her past, for the gypsies had vowed never to speak of the cursed kingdom again. However, on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, a tattered cat with one cloudy old eye jumped into the window of her cart, and sat lazily licking its paw. She was about to shoo it away and close the shutters. But then, it spoke.

"Hail to you, maid of royal birth!" The cat leapt to the floor, and bowed.

Catrina giggled. "Who are you, kitty? Is it you or I who are losing their wits, that you are addressing me so?"

"I am but a humble sorceress, from the land of your family, princess. I've journeyed long and far to find you. Your true mother and father, and all in their kingdom, are trapped beneath a terrible spell If you listen, I'll tell you the sad tale."

Though incredulous at first, Catrina listened to the sorceress. And she learned who she truly was at last, and about the tragic fate of her people. It was enough to change a heart, to consume a soul with the need to seek justice. Catrina vowed then, to the sorceress, to herself, and to all the cats of her homeland, that she would defeat the magician king and his curse.

"In the years since, I've made a thorough study of the magician king and his power," the sorceress revealed. "I know his weaknesses now. And how to stop him. But I cannot do it, nor any other but you, Catrina. Listen to these words, and you'll learn what you must do...To smite the power so unjust, the daughter caught in between must: conquer the pinnacle of her fear, pass through the gate of eyes unseen, and shatter the idol of her suffering. These are the three tests you now face. Only then will cats awaken, and hearts be made one."

Resolutely, Catrina accepted the challenge. Her eyes glittered with excitement as they crept away into the night, on their quest to seek the magician king's realm. Catrina left a note for the gypsies, telling them she had left to seek her fortune, and not to worry. The road to destiny now lay at her feet. She carried only her dagger, her woolen cloak, and her most cherished possession--the fiddle the gypsies had given her as a child.

Together, the princess and her feline companion scaled mountains and deserts, crossed many rivers and a vast sapphire lake, and saw many strange lands on their way. Then, on a stormy afternoon, they reached their destination. A few miles ahead, its dark turreted structure silhouetted now and then against the lightning, was the castle of the magician king. Catrina's heart skipped a beat. Not long now. The magician king would pay for his crime. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her dagger, as she headed down the road to the castle, the sorceress trotting faithfully at her side.

The rain fell in torrents, turning the road to a river of mud. The castle loomed closer and closer. And at last, they arrived. There was no drawbridge, no visible entrance. The castle was atop an impossibly tall hill, a pedestal of steep cliff faces. Catrina looked up and swallowed the lump in her throat. It was so high, so dizzyingly high. She was terrified of altitudes. Her head spun as she judged the distance she would have to climb, if she was to reach her goal. And in this rain, it would be treacherous.

The sorceress rubbed her head against Catrina's leg, a feline gesture of encouragement. "Don't give up, princess. You have all the gifts that you need to defeat him. Follow, and I will show you the way."

And with that, the sorceress jumped onto the cliff, using her sharp claws to gain a foothold in the damp, mossy surface. She began to climb, and looked back to Catrina. Catrina pulled off her boots, barefoot so that her hind claws could be of use. And then, vowing not to look down lest she scream, she followed the sorceress up the cliff. A few times, she thought her heart would pound right out of her chest from fright. And once, her foot slipped, and she nearly lost hold. It was almost too much for her. But she thought about the people of her kingdom, and the king and queen, the parents she would so love to meet. It gave her fresh courage, to think that she was their only hope. Strength filled her limbs, and she began to climb faster, her fear of heights fading. She reached the top of the cliff even before the sorceress did.

"Congratulations, Catrina," the sorceress said, once they reached the top. "You've conquered the pinnacle of your fear."

Catrina's ears pricked up. "That was the first test, wasn't it?"

"Aye. And the worst is just ahead. Now, we must pass through the gate of eyes unseen," said the sorceress, shuddering. "Come, now. We must hurry. Once night falls, the magician king's power will multiply ten-fold."

A huge, cavernous black entrance led them into the castle. Nothing, no rooms, no people. It was as if they'd entered a nightmare world of thick, endless shadows. Catrina pulled her cloak about her, shivered from both cold and fear.

"Where is this gate of eyes?" She entreated the sorceress. "Can one find anything in this emptiness?"

It seemed they walked for an eternity, heading nowhere. The sorceress explained that all of it--.the cliff, the darkness, the gate of eyes--all were a part of the magician king's spell. "Only the truth in your heart is real. These weak attempts at magic are an illusion. Now, you must learn to see with other eyes."

Just then, Catrina and the sorceress found themselves in a spacious chamber. And there was the gate of eyes. It was like nothing Catrina had ever seen, or even imagined. A huge, iron gate, open and beckoning to any who might want to pass. Any who dared to approach. For chained beside it was an enormous, growling beast, a hideous head with dozens of eyes bobbing on a long, serpentine neck. It snapped it's massive jaws, straining to break the chain that held it to the gate, talons as thick as Catrina's waist digging gouges into the floor.

Catrina froze in her tracks. "I have to get past that creature?"

The sorceress nodded. "A task so simple, and yet so dreadful. I cannot help you here, princess. Remember what I've told you. And you may see the answer with other eyes."

Catrina toyed with the idea of tackling the monster with her dagger. She was an expert huntress, accustomed to large prey. But, this was no deer or rabbit. One look at those teeth, and all those terrible eyes, and her confidence crumbled. She paced back and forth, storming her brain for a solution. All the while, the beast went berserk trying to break its chain and attack her, snarling and drooling in frustration. It howled like a wolf, a long pitiful wail. And suddenly, the princess felt sorry for it. Poor thing, chained to a gate in this lonely chamber, and with only the cruel magician king to care for it.

It was then that an idea struck her. Maybe, just maybe, the creature with a hundred eyes would like music. She took up her fiddle, tightened her bow. And she began to play. A lively, furious gypsy song, quickening the pulse and lifting the spirits of all who could hear. She danced while she played, entranced by the sound herself. The beast sat very still, watching her. It wasn't struggling to attack anymore. All of its glossy yellow eyes stared, following her every move. Catrina smiled, amused by what was now to her a game. She played to a slower rhythm now. Soothing. Enchanting. Hypnotic. A lullaby, swirling through the beast's ears, the caress of song soon overcoming it. Catrina watched as its eyes began to close, its head started to droop, and it laid down before her. Before long, it was snoring. Catrina was even able to approach it, as it lay asleep, and petted its enormous furry head.

"Well done! Well done! You may now pass through the gate unseen, as the eyes are deep in slumber," said the sorceress. "You are truly clever, Catrina. I'm honored to be at your side this day."

They walked through the gate together. And suddenly, it closed behind them. They were locked in. Gleeful laughter filled the air, surrounding them, mocking them. The magician king sat in the middle of the room, on a large jewelled throne. He was the fattest, most brutish man Catrina had ever seen, oozing layers of velvets, furs, gold and jewels. Covered in the spoils of my kingdom, Catrina thought. A low growl emerged from her throat.

"Give us the idol, deciever!" The sorceress hissed. "Your power is finished!"

The magician king laughed again. He pulled something out of the folds of his robe, and held it up for Catrina to see. It was a carved, blue stone figurine of a cat with its back arched and teeth bared, as if ready to fight. "Is this what you desire? Come and take it then, you pathetic old witch!"

"Get the statue from him, Catrina," the sorceress whispered. "Don't be afraid. His power is all illusion. Remember how you tamed the beast at the gate?"

The princess smirked, and winked at the old cat. She strolled towards the magician king, using her eyes and the sway of her figure to catch him off guard. His jaw dropped when he saw her beauty.

"So, you are the one who has caused such awesome magical forces to work in this land," she said, smiling alluringly. He didn't move when she came closer to his throne. "I simply had to meet you..." As she neared, her fingers tightened on her dagger. "...had to meet the greatest mage in the world." So close, she could hear his breathing, could smell his foul, sweaty fear. He's powerless, she realized.

And that was her signal to strike.

She saw the magician king's eyes widen in terror, his fleshy mouth agape, as she sprang onto him with claws extended for the kill, dagger bared and shining. But before Catrina could catch him, he vanished. She landed onto the empty throne, a putrid, sulfurous smoke lingering where he had been. The maddening laughter continued, seeming to come from all sides. And then the magician king reappeared, still clutching the idol.

"You'll never win if you play the game like that, little princess ot the cats. You'll have to try much harder."

And with that, two more magician kings appeared. Then three, then five, seven, then ten, all identical. They all held a cat idol, all laughing in the same annoying manner. Catrina attacked one of them, and fell right through the apparition. It vanished and she turned to face another, only to face the same results.

The magician king continued to taunt her.

Catrina paused, listening. Her ears pricked forward. There, beyond the laughter, was a voice more solid. The real magician king. She pretended to fight with the apparitions again, but listened to hear from what direction the real voice was coming. She heard it again. And then, looking up, she saw him, standing at the top of a narrow stairwell. She waited until he was laughing again, lost in his mirth. When he wasn't paying attention, she leaped onto the railing. And then, silent and quick, she pounced, pinning him to the floor. He shouted, swearing and spitting at her, trying to force her off. But he was so obese that, once on the ground, he was helpless. The cat idol fell from his stubby, grasping hands, and Catrina took it. Though tempted to end his life then and there, she sheathed her dagger. He moaned, rolling pitifully on the floor, made heavy by too many jewels and robes.

"You laugh too much, you fool," she told him scornfully. Then she turned to the sorceress. "It's finished. The idol is mine. What must I do with it, to end the curse of cats?"

The sorceress smiled. "As the final test, you must shatter the idol of your suffering. Take the statue to the castle where you were born, where your father and mother and all of your people await their deliverance. Break the idol at the first light of dawn, in the courtyard, and the spell will be broken with it."

And so, they left the castle of the magician king, left him weeping and defeated in his own misery. His power spent, he never troubled anyone again. It was said that he disappeared into the eastern mountains, and was never heard from after that. His castle crumbled to the ground, all of his illusions finally brought to an end.

After a long and taxing journey, Catrina and the sorceress arrived in the kingdom of the cats. The sorceress was sad to see how tumbled down and forgotten the castle still was. She couldn't wait to see it restored to it's former beauty. And all of the cats were yet alive, the king and queen, and many others that she had dearly missed. She was overjoyed knowing that soon, all of them would be free.

Catrina carried the cat idol to the top of the highest tower, to a window overlooking the courtyard. And just as the sky began to lighten, she dropped it. It plummeted, spinning in the air, and crashed onto the stones below. The sound of its shattering echoed, rang off every turret and rooftop in the castle, carried on the wind across the kingdom. A great sigh filled the air, and suddenly, cats all over the land started to change. Paws became hands and feet, claws disappeared, along with tails. Legs straightened, people stretched and stood up. In the royal chambers, the king and queen awoke to find themselves restored. They embraced each other and rejoiced. And for the first time in years, they could share a kiss.

The kingdom recovered quickly after that. Everyone worked hard to build and plant and bring their world back into order. The king and queen were beyond joy to finally be with their beautiful daughter Catrina. She soon won the hearts of everyone in the land, as was her way. Even the gypsies returned to settle in the kingdom, now that the evil curse was lifted. And as time passed yet again, the land prospered more than ever. Catrina was happy, ever after, encircled in the warmth of those she loved.