The Count's Tale Epilogue: An Eye For An Eye

I've been playing with the idea of doing another fiction series in my blog for the past few days now. Some of my old readers can probably recall the eight-volume exploration into the fantasy world of "The Count's Tale", a fairy tale in true essence which I've written fresh after the breakup. And some may recall other shorts like the controversial "The Bus", the sexualized Harry Potter in "AloHOMOra!", the futuristic "To Be A Father", or the more recent student-teacher affair in "Sir".

It's probably the pleaser in me which keeps on pushing me to do my best when I'm writing something in here. I want to keep you, my reader, glued and entertained. I want my readers to respond and communicate, be affected by my thoughts. Writing has always been a passion for me so forgive me if I keep on filling your emails with notices that I've posted yet another entry.

At present I only have a couple of ideas for a "blogaserye":

1. A Harry Potter fan fiction! However, I'd focus more on Harry's relationships which aren't really discussed much in the books in my opinion, and I'll just borrow bits and pieces of magical stuff from my good friend J. K. Rowling. Haha! The idea of a Harry-Draco tandem intrigues me much. Or maybe you'd prefer a Harry-Ron story? A Hermione-Lavender one what you think?



2. Or I can choose to write just another fiction story. I'd think of a believable lead character, a guy of course, who will fall in love with another guy! Haha that would be something I think. I have to draw from my own experiences so there's a big chance the lead guy will also be a teacher of sorts. A love instructor perhaps? A student-teacher relationship discussed in detail? Romance in the laboratory? In a deserted classroom? Think of the possibilities!

Haha enough for now I think. I got too excited with planning myself. Post a comment if you have any ideas to share. For now, I'd like to share the much-delayed epilogue of The Count's Tale. Here it is...

***

The Prince strode up the stone stairs circling around the silver tower which is the Temple two steps at a time, ignoring the strong wind which was making his green cape billow behind him. Some gusts were particularly strong enough to make him pause to keep his balance but on he went, climbing towards his destination. He came all the way from the castle.

Priests and wizards on the way down from the altars above did not halt him for breaking the Temple's rules - each stone step of the stairs was made for the seeker to climb in contemplation, not for skipping nor for stamping. The residents of the Temple recognized who the mad seeker was, and who wouldn't know him? The Prince, because of a still untraceable curse, has been transformed into a green-skinned Ogre wearing royal clothes. That fact made the already furious Prince's thoughts still darker and he climbed the damned stairs three steps at a time.

Breathing hard and cursing, he finally reached his destination, the topmost altar in the Temple - the altar of Apollo.

"Apollo!" the Prince intoned, raising his arms. "I beseech thee! Answer the summons of the Prince of this land whom you are bound to serve!"

Greenish-blue smoke appeared out of nowhere on the middle of the platform, and materialized into a single eye with an iris the same color as that of the smoke from which it came from. A voice issued from the eye, though the Prince was sure it was speaking directly to his head and not through sound.

"What is it in particular, your Highness?" it asked in a faraway-sounding voice.

"The Count of the enchanted forest," the Prince spoke. "Kill him!"

It took a few moments before Apollo was able to reply, small puffs of smoke puffing from the eye.

"What for?" it asked.

"For the Princess! He took her away, killed her, and went to associate - to fuck! - a common hunter. Such deeds cannot be left unpunished! I had him jailed with the hunter whom he adores but he escaped! Surely, the Gods will favor my cause. The princess - !"

"Enough!" Apollo cut in. "You do not have enough reason for your wish. The Princess loved the Count. She did love you, in the beginning, but she found another - "

"Lies!" the Prince suddenly shouted, his hands clenched in fists, as if he could fight the God he summoned.

"I am the God of Truth, and it is the truth you shall hear and no other," Apollo continued. "The Princess found a new love in the Count and you should have accepted that if you really did love her! It's your pride which brought you the ruin that you are now. You didn't come here to ask justice for the Princess, but out of spite because you cannot accept that a low being, as how you consider the Count, was able to beat you for the Princess' heart. You should learn to accept things as they are."

The Prince was taken aback but he recovered himself quickly. "I am the Prince of this land," he said coldly. "And I have the right to see justice done when it is needed! No matter what you say, The Princess' life was taken!"

The eye blinked. One slow blink, and it said, "The Princess killed herself for the Count. That's how much she loved him."

The Prince's eyes smarted with unshed tears but he held himself under tight control. "Still," he continued in a rather unsteady voice, "the Count should have had enough sense not to steal who isn't his. He should've have had enough will not to let the Princess... feel... what she shouldn't have!" Bitterness took primacy in the Prince's feelings.

The eye remained motionless, as if it was thinking over what the Prince has just said. Slowly, it blinked, and as if announcing someone's death in a dreadful voice, it said, "It's done."

A slow smile formed on the Prince's lips and it was all he could do to keep himself from doing a caper on the spot. "So..." he said gleefully, "Justice is mine after all. Where can I find his corpse so I can give a burial suitable for his... ummm... station."

"The Count is not dead," Apollo replied, and before the Prince could continue his haranguing again, it quickly added, "As with what it seemed he did to you, I took away the one he loves the most. I took the hunter's life."

The Prince frowned, mulling over the God's decision. He was about to open his mouth to complain, but after a while, he simply shrugged and said, "That should suffice, I guess," realizing that the Count must be in deep misery at that moment.

Contented, he was about to turn and leave the God of Truth without further ceremony when he suddenly remembered something else.

"Apollo," he asked casually. "Can I have the Princess back?"

The eye blinked once more, as if surprised.

"No," it said, as blue-green smoke enveloped it one last time. "An eye for an eye," and the eye disappeared with the magical smoke, leaving the Prince feeling more empty-handed and alone.

The wind blew.

***

Check out the other chapters of the Count's Tale!

Prologue "The Princess and the Count" (Chiyo wrote this)

Chapter 1 "The Last Flower"

Chapter 2 "The Flight of the Crow"

Chapter 3 "The Count and the Hunter"

Chapter 4 "A Black Feather"

Chapter 5 "The Prisoners"

Chapter 6 "An Arrow Through the Heart"

Chapter 7 "Tears and Shadows"

Chapter 8 "The Cliff"