Another man said, “To the safety of our cattle and our children!”
The rest of the crowd raised their glasses and cheered, one by one adding in their toasts. I sat by the hearth and shivered.
Where was Tristan? Unless he killed the cyclops tonight, it might be too late. It didn’t look like he’d even come today. The sun was nearly across the sky.
Perhaps Princess Margaret was detaining him.
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I watched the fire crackling and felt nothing but cold and miserable. I’d come to help Tristan, hadn’t I? And I was invincible now, so who had a better chance to kill the cyclops? Then I could just hide the thing until Tristan could come and take credit for slaying it.
But helping him meant helping him marry Margaret, and I didn’t like her. She was conceited and mean and she’d tried to shut me up in her room for who knows how long.
My mind wandered away from Princess Margaret and back to Tristan. Tristan, who looked so good rugged and mussed and wearing a tunic. He had a new confidence about him, a sense of purpose, as though here in the past he’d found himself.
Margaret didn’t appreciate how smart he was or the way his blue eyes seemed to look right into you. She would only ever see him as a page, a servant. So why should I do anything that made their wedding possible?
I sat there for a while longer, but I didn’t see another way. I’d come to help Tristan. I had to face the cyclops tonight.
• • •
I traded the thief ’s horse for a sword. I wasn’t sure if it was a good trade or not, but since I hadn’t paid for the 271/431
horse I figured it didn’t matter. Being invincible could prove to be profitable.
I got directions to the caves from the innkeeper’s wife, who didn’t seem to think it was odd that I was asking.
Perhaps she thought I was asking in order to avoid the place. Instead, I rode out of the village and directly up into the hills where the cyclops lived. The sun had begun to dip down in the sky, and I pushed my horse to a gallop in an attempt to outrace it.
We rode to where the forest grew dense. The caves were somewhere beyond these trees—cold, dark mouths in the landscape. My horse whinnied nervously and twitched her head from side to side as though trying to shake off the bridle. I wondered if she could smell the cyclops from here.
I left her tethered to a tree by the main path. I may be invincible, but she wasn’t. It was safer to leave her here until I’d finished my business. I didn’t worry about her being stolen. I doubted any thieves hung out in the cyclops-infested part of the forest.
I made my way on a path that had already been over-taken by clumps of grass. It had been a while since people willingly rode through this part of the forest.
The night air pressed against my face and neck, and when I approached the caves my back tingled as though someone was watching me. I wished my senses would 272/431
sharpen the way they did when the thieves had come so I wouldn’t have to worry about tripping over tree roots and rocks, but all my senses remained normal. Apparently it only worked when I was in danger.
I gripped the sword in one hand, nearly using it as a walking stick. My feet made scuffing sounds against the dirt and fallen leaves. I could make out the opening to one cave in front of me and another farther off. Should I go inside and search them?
I heard a sound slithering through the trees to my side. I turned, searching the forest. It grew louder. What at first seemed like a strange wind was actually a voice.
“Mmmaaaiiidddeeennn. I smell mai . . . den . . .” I held the sword up and looked over its tip into the shadowy darkness. Any moment the world would grow slow. My eyes darted between the trees looking for movement.
Nothing. Nothing. And then a large shape, slinking toward me, hunched over as though he were about to pounce.
“Perfumey,” he said in a nasally voice. “Stinking perfume filling my forest.”
The cyclops came closer. I could make out his misshapen head. His greasy black hair looked human, but the similarities ended there. The top half of his face was a gigantic bulging eyeball that stared, unblinking, at me.
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The bottom half was a mouth so filled with teeth that it didn’t look like he could close it. His lumpish brown nose wiggled up and down like a rabbit’s.
He swayed his head as he walked toward me, and I realized why his stare was so intense. He had no eyelid over his eye. I clasped the sword harder, waiting for my senses to sharpen.
The cyclops circled around me. “Methinks she isn’t lost. A maiden with a sword. Why does she come, the tasty maiden?”
I held out my sword more as a shield than as a weapon. “I’ve come to kill you. Sorry, but it has to be done.”
The cyclops tilted his head back and laughed. Then he snorted. Then he laughed again. His bulging eyeball jiggled in his head.
I held the sword steady. “I know I don’t look dangerous, but that doesn’t matter. I’m enchanted and no weapon will hurt me, nor any man defeat me in battle.” Apparently he didn’t believe in enchantments, because this made him laugh even harder.
“I’m sorry to have to kill you,” I said, trying to dampen his humor. “Perhaps you could just surrender and beg for the king’s mercy . . .” 274/431
Where his fingers should have been he had claws, which he tapped together menacingly. “The maiden can’t kill me.”
“I will.”
“Foolish, foolish maiden,” he snickered. “Your magic is nothing. I have no weapons and I’m not a man.” I took a step back from him. My heart knocked against my ribs. Could he be right? Is that why my senses hadn’t sharpened yet? Why hadn’t that occurred to me before?
The cyclops ran toward me. I screamed and held the sword out, hoping that the cyclops would impale himself as he jumped on me. Instead, he batted away my sword with one hand and knocked me aside with the other. I flew through the air and smacked into something hard, probably a tree. The breath went from my lungs, and everything went black.
Chapter 19
My ribs hurt when I awoke, which didn’t make sense until I realized the cyclops was carrying me under one arm.
His grip was painfully tight around my torso. I pushed against his arm, trying to get free, but he held me fast.
“Stupid two eyes,” he hissed. “Squinty little two eyes never pay attention to magic. Only see the part they want to see. Bad vision, they have. Very bad vision.”
“Let me go!” I yelled. I tried to scratch his arm, but his skin was like plastic. I didn’t even leave a mark.
“Shall I eat her, the stinky maiden?” He shook his head and grunted. “She’ll likely taste perfumey bad.”
“Very bad,” I said. “You should let me go.”
“Maybe I should just break her pesky bones and save her for later. I might get very hungry later.” I gave up trying to loosen his grip on me and just tried to twist so that my ribs weren’t quite as compressed.
“I’m sure something better will come along. A pig or a deer . . .”
“Unicorn would be tasty,” he said, and he dropped me on the ground.
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I tried to crawl away but he stomped a foot onto my dress, pinning me in position.
“Maiden will sing,” he hissed.
“Sing?” Then I remembered the legend that maidens could tame unicorns by singing to them.
“Sing now!” he yelled so loudly that he probably scared away any animal within a mile radius.
I couldn’t think of a single song. The words all fled my mind. I couldn’t even think of a tune to hum while he was leaning over me, clicking his claws together.
He sniffed at my face. “Perhaps if I rub her with leaves she will taste better.”
“Happy birthday to you,” I sang with a trembling voice. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, awful cyclops monster thing. Happy birthday to you.”
“Louder,” he said.
So I sang louder. My voice wavered and cracked and mostly went off-key, but I yelled out the birthday song, then moved on to “La Cucaracha” and the alphabet song. When I’d reached LMNOP, the Cyclops straightened and sniffed the air.