Chapter 18

Anaeth forgot about her fear as rage swept through her.

"That witch!" she hissed. "It is as if there is someone watching over her."

"There is, there is," crooned the voice, "but there is something you can do to distract them from their work."

"What might that be?" asked Anaeth. She no longer felt cold, she didn't care that the little clearing was deep in shadow. All that mattered was the voice that whispered in her ear.

She found herself back on the path with her ladies and only the foggiest memory of what she had seen in the woods. The other girls were laughing and talking as if she had only been gone a moment. Anaeth shook her head, and the last cobwebs of memory floated away. They finished their stroll in time for tea then Anaeth was whisked off to be fitted for her dress for the grand ball.

The night of the ball, the princess was out of sorts. There was something wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She took her frustration out on her maids and attendants. More than one was banished in tears by the sharp edge of Anaeth's tongue. The ball began, and she was the center of attention, but their flattery just got on her nerves. She wanted to scream. She wanted to escape. The more the people around her tried to help the worse she felt. The breaking point was when her dance partner stepped on her foot. He even dared to hint that it was her own clumsiness. Anaeth raged at him in white faced fury. He finally fled in fear of his reputation, if not his life.

Anaeth looked around at the circle of shocked royalty and forced a tremulous smile.

"Please accept my apologies for my unseemly outburst," she said, "I am going to ask my maid for something for my head. Please continue without me." The music started up again as she stalked from the ballroom. Anaeth found herself facing the door to the tallest tower in the castle. It was the door she would go through on her sixteenth birthday. She pushed the door open and began the long climb up the winding stairs. She knew that she wasn't supposed to be there. She didn't care. Her feet carried her up the stairs to the tiny landing at the top. The door stood open, and she could see the canopy bed waiting for her. Anaeth walked through the door and it shut behind her. Now she saw the spinning wheel sitting in the corner. It glowed with an eerie gold light. Anaeth found herself walking toward the wheel. A voice in the back of her head was screaming that this wasn't the way it should be. It was too soon, too soon. The voice was drowned out by the laughter that erupted from all the shadows in the room.

Anaeth pricked her finger on the spindle and felt the sleep taking over. Hands helped her to the huge bed and arranged her on the covers.

"A prince's kiss may waken you, but only a royal heir named for me will wake your kingdom," whispered a cold voice in her ear. Then she slept.

The sleep traveled down the stairs into the castle. Dancers dropped in their tracks, musicians slept over their instruments. It moved into the town and the commoners slept. Birds and animals fell asleep where they lay. A lone horseman galloped toward the border. The humiliated prince had decided to leave early and had seen people fall to the ground. He knew what it meant. The sleep followed him, sucking up the sound of his horse. Just paces from the border the horse succumbed to the sleep. The fleeing prince was thrown from the saddle and rolled to the other side of the border. He picked himself up and wearily began the long walk to let the world know what had happened.