Ruby-Red Slavegirl

Once upon a time in a far-away kingdom, a new-made slavegirl stood upon the round auction stone in the maiden-barn, wearing a slave collar forged of never-rusting dwarf-steel, and nothing else besides. Before her enslavement, people had called her Ruby-Red Riding-Hood, for she was a third daughter, and it was the custom in that kingdom for third daughters to always wear something red.

Now she was simply Ruby-Red, for on her twentieth birthday, her grandmother had sold her to the slave dealer Blackbeard. It was the law of the kingdom that third daughters were always collared and chained and sold as slavegirls, lest their parents suffer from the need to pay too many dowries for too many daughters.

That had been a fortnight ago, and today Ruby-Red blushed crimson as the auctioneer greatly exaggerated her skills, her beauty, and her passion. Despite her blush she stood straight and proud, preening and displaying herself as she’d been taught, while rich men walked around and around the auction stone, inspecting every inch of her.

“Yet this is much better than being devoured by a wolf,” Ruby-Red told herself. For on the path to her grandmother’s cottage, a wolf had indeed offered to devour her, as an escape from becoming a slavegirl.

The bidding was brief, as it always was, yet hotter than any there had expected. The heat of the bidding pleased the auctioneer, who called “Sold!” with a glad cry, and Ruby-Red found herself pulled quickly away, so that the next slavegirl could be placed on the auction stone.

They locked chains on Ruby-Red’s wrists, and on her ankles, and left her in a stall in the maiden-barn. There she saw a pair of straw sandals, a cloak of plain warm wool, and a red slave-hood. And then her purchaser stepped into the stall, short and lean and dressed to travel, with gray in his hair and a coil of slavers-rope in his hands.

“I am Sir Henry,” he said, “and that is what you will call me. For I did not purchase you for myself, but for my liege lord, Prince Anures, in the hope that he might become infatuated with you. Until I deliver you into his hands, you will obey me, and afterwards you will obey and please him as a proper slavegirl should. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir Henry,” Ruby-Red said.

“Very good!” Sir Henry said with an approving nod. “Now I will unlock your chains, and you will put on those straw sandals you see here. For you have pretty feet, and I will not have them injured by the stones of the road. Then you will put on the red slave-hood you see here, for it amuses me to have you wear it. Then I will tie your arms behind you with this slavers-rope, for it is proper that a slavegirl be so bound. And lastly I will cover you with this cloak of plain warm wool, for we have far to travel in the cool autumn air.”

Thus Ruby-Red made that day’s journey, as helpless as the slavegirl she was. The straw sandals protected her pretty feet from the stones of the road, and the warm cloak of plain wool protected her skin from the cool autumn air. The slavers rope bound her arms behind her, and the red slave-hood blindfolded her so that she couldn’t see at all. Sometimes Sir Henry led Ruby-Red on a leash, and sometimes he set her before him on his great gray horse. And so they traveled all that day and past the setting of the sun.

When Sir Henry removed the red slave-hood and Ruby-Red could see again, she found herself in a clean little cottage with a round little wooden table set for three and a bright fire burning in the fireplace. Beside the table stood an old goblin-woman, as green as a new pea and as wrinkled as a dried pea, who watched with merry eyes as Sir Henry untied the slavers rope that had bound Ruby-Red’s arms.

“Throw the straw sandals you are wearing into the fire and watch them burn.” Sir Henry commanded.

“Yes, Sir Henry,” Ruby-Red said. She took off her sandals and threw them into fire, watching them burn until they were completely consumed. And as Ruby-Red watched the straw sandals burn, Sir Henry spoke.

“A barefoot slavegirl you are and will remain, Ruby-Red. Shoes and slippers and sandals will be a rare indulgence, and you must never expect them.”

“That is true,” the goblin-woman said. She stepped forward, and Ruby-Red could now see that she too had bare feet and a slave collar of the dwarf-steel, and her bright eyes said that she was still a young slavegirl in her heart. “Welcome, Ruby-Red. You may call me Aunt Onicee, and here you will spend the night, before Sir Henry delivers you into the hands of Master Anures.”

Sir Henry said, “Now sit and we shall sup. I see bread and cheese, and soup that is not too thin, and a pitcher of small-beer. I am sure that you are hungry after your long day of travel with a red slave-hood tied over your head.”

So Ruby-Red sat at the small round table and supped with Sir Henry and Aunt Onicee, eating the bread and cheese, and the soup that was not too thin, and drinking the small-beer. For she was indeed hungry after the long day of travel. And as they all ate, Aunt Onicee spoke of the kindness of the King’s father, and of the King, and of Master Anures who was the Prince of the Tower.

When supper was finished, Sir Henry nodded to set the two slave women to work, clearing away the supper-things. Another nod, and Aunt Onicee brought out a blanket.

“You may sleep in that corner tonight, Ruby-Red,” the goblin woman said. “Cover yourself with this blanket for warmth, and with the cloak of plain wool besides.” And Sir Henry nodded a third time.

“Yes, Sir Henry,” Ruby-Red said. “Thank you, Aunt Onicee.”

Ruby-Red went obediently to the corner and covered herself with the cloak and the blanket. But before she fell asleep, she heard Aunt Onicee say, “Will you show mercy to an old slave woman, Sir Henry?”

“It would amuse me to do so,” Sir Henry answered. “Turn around and cross your wrists behind you.”

Ruby-Red opened an eye to see Aunt Onicee’s grin as Sir Henry tied her wrists with the coil of slavers-rope. And that was the last thing Ruby-Red remembered that night.

The next morning, Ruby-Red woke with the first light of dawn showing in the cottage’s one window. Sir Henry smiled and pointed at a breakfast of bread and butter set on the small round table. And as she broke her fast, Sir Henry said, “Eat well, for when you have broken your fast, I shall carry you outside and bind you to the whipping post.”

At those words Ruby-Red felt her heart go pit-a-pat, and she asked, “Am I to be whipped then, Sir Henry? For Aunt Onicee spoke last night of the kindness of Master Anures, and you, Sir Henry, do not have the look of one who would be amused by whipping a slavegirl.”

“Indeed I would not be amused, Ruby-Red, and the hook on the side of this whipping post does not have a whip hanging there. Instead, a long-handled bath-brush awaits you, and green Onicee is now heating bath-water in a great iron cauldron. For you are grimy and grubby after your journey from the maiden-barn, and I would have you clean and polished and beautiful when I deliver you into the hands of my Prince. Also,” he added with a twinkle in his eye, “in later years you can say ‘I was bound to the whipping post as a new-made slavegirl, and yet I did not break.’”

And so Ruby-Red finished her breakfast with good appetite, and stepped out onto the porch of the cottage. From there Sir Henry carried her to the whipping post, setting her on her feet on the cedar platform, and securing her wrists to the oaken post at just the right height. For that post had been made to secure slavegirls of all heights, from as tall as high-elven ladies to as short as goblin wenches.

Then Sir Henry poured buckets of bath-hot water over Ruby-Red, from the great iron cauldron that Aunt Onicee tended. He took the long-handled bath brush from the hook on the side of the post, where a cruel post would have had a whip, and with it he scrubbed every inch of Ruby-Red’s grimy and grubby skin. Ruby-Red almost giggled, for the bath brush almost tickled, especially when it scrubbed each of her feet in turn.

After a last bucket of bath-hot water, Sir Henry released Ruby-Red from the post and carried her back inside the cottage. There Aunt Onicee waited with drying towels and with a comb that she pressed into Ruby-Red’s hand. Sir Henry left the cottage, and as Ruby-Red combed out her hair, Aunt Onicee stood on a stool and whispered in her ear.

“Sir Henry will not tell you this, and Master Anures will not tell you this, and I am only speaking to the comb,” she said. “Remember this: The curse may only be lifted by a true love who cannot be undressed, with a pair of shoes that cannot be worn, and with a book that cannot be read.”

Ruby-Red opened her mouth to ask what this meant, but before she could speak, Sir Henry returned, and she chose to watch in silence as he set a bundle of goods on the small round table. There was a plain barrette of leather and wood. There was an exotic top and skirt of goblin-silk (the making of which is a goblin secret) dyed red and yellow. And there was a mess of chains, with shackles and fetters.

Sir Henry pointed, and Ruby-Red pinned her hair with the plain barrette of leather and wood. He pointed again, and she dressed herself in the top and skirt of goblin-silk. And then Sir Henry spoke, instructing her to lock on the shackles and fetters.

“Attach that end of the chain to your slave collar, Ruby-Red.”

And Ruby-Red locked the chain-end to her collar with the padlock.

“Now lock those fetters onto your wrists.”

And Ruby-Red locked the fetters onto her wrists.

“Now lock those shackles onto your ankles.”

And Ruby-Red locked the shackles onto her ankles. Then she stood, straight and proud, displaying herself as a chained slavegirl.

“Very good!” Sir Henry said with his approving nod. “I now will gag you with this cloth-of-silence, and will slip you into this slave-sack.” And so he did.

Gagged and chained in the slave sack, Ruby-Red could not see and could not speak. Indeed, she could not make any noise at all. She felt Sir Henry carry her from the cottage and sling her over the back of his great gray horse.

“It is less than two furlongs to the Tower of the Prince,” Sir Henry said, “but more than one, and while I could carry you all that way, it does not amuse me to do so.”

Gagged with the cloth-of-silence as she was, Ruby-Red could not answer.

After the time it took a horse to walk more than a furlong (but less than two), Ruby-Red heard an armsman say “Welcome back, Sir Henry!” She felt Sir Henry lift her down from the back of his great gray horse and carry her a very short way. He then released her from the sack and removed her gag (but not her chains) and Ruby-Red found herself standing in a chamber built of great stone blocks.

Before her rose a stair, made of the same stone as the walls. Sir Henry said, “Climb the stairs using care, Ruby-Red. Chained as you are you will need the care and as a new-made slavegirl you will need the practice. For this is the ground-level of the Tower of the Prince, and your new master awaits you on the first level, or above.”

“Yes, Sir Henry,” Ruby-Red answered, glad to be able to speak again after having been gagged with the cloth-of-silence. Thus chained and collared and barefoot, with her hair held back with a plain barrette of wood and leather, and wearing an exotic top and skirt of red and yellow goblin-silk, Ruby-Red carefully climbed up the stone stairs before her.

Now the ground-level of the Tower of the Prince had chambers like the chambers of a castle, while the higher levels had rooms like the rooms of a palace. So at the top of the stairs, Ruby-Red found herself in a room where the floor was covered by mat-rugs woven in intricate patterns from reeds of the East, where the walls were covered with colorful tapestries embroidered with cotton and with goblin-silk, and where gleaming lamps of pierced and ornate brass hung from the high ceiling. A window was glazed with the finest, clearest glass that Ruby-Red had ever seen, and on an oak-and-leather couch near that window sat Prince Anures. He wore slippers and pyjames, as if it were still too early for him to go out hunting or hawking or simply riding ‘round the country in the bright autumn sunshine.

Ruby-Red stepped forward, with the small slow steps demanded by her chains, and knelt before her new master. Sir Henry stood behind her and announced, “My Prince, I deliver into your hands this new-made slavegirl, Ruby-Red, a third daughter collared on her twentieth birthday and sold from the round auction stone of the maiden-barn in Litharbor-town. I hope that she will please you.” But Ruby-Red was looking down at the slippered feet of Prince Anures, her new master, for she felt suddenly shy.

“Look up, Ruby-Red, that I may inspect you,” said Prince Anures.

Ruby-Red looked up, and saw her master smile as he studied her face.

“Stand up, Ruby-Red, that I may inspect you more thoroughly,” Prince Anures now said.

Ruby-Red stood up, struggling a little because of the chains on her hands and feet. And the Prince stood and kissed her, taking her into his arms. Ruby-Red could not embrace him in return, for her hands were chained together, but she tried to press closer, and he hugged her firmly enough for them both.

The kiss was long and princely, and ended with a whisper in Ruby-Red’s ear. “I am now your Master Anures, and you will never again speak of me as merely your prince.”

“Yes master,” Ruby-Red whispered back.

Speaking aloud, Master Anures now said, “I am greatly pleased, Sir Henry. You have done well, very well indeed.” And Sir Henry smiled and bowed silently, and he and all the other courtiers and servants withdrew from the room.

“And now,” Master Anures told Ruby-Red, “I will unchain you with this key to the locks that secure you. For I wish to carry you off to my bedchamber, and tie you helplessly with my own ropes and my own knots. And then I shall have my way and my whims with you.”

“As master wishes,” Ruby-Red answered with a smile. For she was now eager for this to happen.

So Master Anures unchained Ruby-Red with his key to the locks and carried her off to his bedchamber. There he tied her helpless with his own ropes and his own knots, and then he indeed did have his way and his whims with her.

Over the next weeks, Master Anures studied every inch of Ruby-Red, for he desired to know his new female property better than she knew herself. And Ruby-Red practiced the ways and wiles of a slavegirl, for the two weeks prior to her sale had barely been enough for her to learn the basics.

Ruby-Red learned what pleased Master Anures and what didn’t. She grew skilled in using her fingers, her toes, and all the rest of her body to both excite and soothe him. She studied the tricks of wearing slave chains with grace and panache, and discovered the joys of being tightly bound with leather belts and with slavers’ ropes. She let her long dark hair grow even longer, wearing it loose as befitted a slavegirl. And always she went barefoot, often with hobbling shackles locked on her ankles, but never with any covering beneath them.

Ruby-Red would sigh on occasion, missing her lost shoes, and wishing for slippers or sandals or even stockings. She never begged for footwear, however, nor did she ever speak a single word about her wishes. It was a barefoot slavegirl that Master Anures wanted, and so his barefoot slavegirl Ruby-Red would be.

Every now and again, Master Anures would set Ruby-Red to humble tasks: Dusting furniture, scrubbing floors, mending clothing, or working in the scullery. On occasion this was to chastise her for minor faults, but far more often it was simply to amuse him.

While scrubbing pots in the scullery Ruby-Red met and befriended Genna, the cutest and cleverest of the goblin slave wenches in the Tower. Ruby-Red had already learned that goblins were three parts of four of the Tower’s servants, and that all the female servants, both goblin and human, were slave-collared. This, Genna explained, was for the sake of Aunt Onicee. Free servant-women would be cruel and rude to her and to the other slave-wench goblins, and so Master Anures, like his father before him, had forbidden free servant-women from entering the Tower.

It was Genna who introduced Ruby-Red to Kati Dorothea, the collared human cook; to Master Maglevet, the goblin butler who owned Genna; to Traylag and Bluknot, the two goblin lads who assisted Sir Henry in valeting Master Anures, and to the other servants and armsmen of the Tower. But it was the collared cook Dorothea who told Ruby-Red about the naming-day curse.

“On the naming-day of His Highness, the King and the Queen invited three Benevolent Fairies to the naming-day feast, and they were Betula, Castana, and Dirodonna,” Dorothea said. “And they invited the Malicious Fairy Toxicoda as well, intending that she eat well and dance merrily and become drunk on old brandy, and so forego placing a curse on young Prince Anures.

“And Betula gave her blessing, that Prince Anures be healthy and strong. And Castana gave her blessing, that Prince Anures be gentle and wise. But then Toxicoda staggered to the fore.

“She said, ‘I have eaten well and danced merrily at this naming-day feast, and I am now drunk on old brandy. Yet that will not keep me from placing my curse on Prince Anures: Should ever he step on the ground, he will hop like a hop-toad. For a hop-toad he shall then become, and no kiss will ever restore him.’ And then she cackled and departed.

“But then the Benevolent Fairy Dirodonna stepped forward to say, ‘Toxicoda must renew her curse each year, returning on the day of the last storm in April to do so. Should she ever fail in this, her curse will lapse and be ended forever.’ Then she clapped her hands once, and smiled and curtseyed, and departed with Betula and Castana following her.

“Ever since that day, Prince Anures has lived here in the Tower,” Dorothea finished.

And Genna added, “And that is why His Highness so seldom puts on day-clothes, but instead wears pyjames all day long. The armsmen of the Tower, and we servants of the Tower, all have it as our charge to keep the Prince in his upper chambers, lest he should touch the ground and be transformed into a hop-toad.”

“Then I shall do so as well,” Ruby-Red said. “For Master Anures is my owner and master, and I am finding myself falling in love with him.”

As autumn passed into winter, Ruby-Red was clad less and less in her slave-collar alone, and more and more in the clothing that Master Anures provided. For although the upper chambers of the Tower were those of a fine and splendid palace, rather than of a dank and chilly castle, the colder weather outside could not be denied.

The clothing Ruby-Red wore were sometimes fine goblin-silks and sumptuous velvets, sometimes austere linen and wool, and on occasion humble rags, with the choice being what amused Master Anures on any given day. And the varied skirts and dresses and costumes were all scarlet and pink and red, for that was what Master Anures insisted on.

Master Anures told Ruby-Red, “You were born a third-daughter, and so were fated from birth to wear a slave-collar of dwarf-steel. And even though you now have been sold from the round auction stone, I will have you continue to wear red. After all, it is the custom for third-daughters to wear red, and I will not have you forget that. Besides,” he added with a smile, “dressing in red brings forth your beauty. It makes you look like the gem of a slavegirl that you are.”

“Thank you, master,” Ruby-Red said. “I shall never forget the first time a collar was locked around my neck. Or my being placed in this slave collar of never-rusting dwarf-steel. Or my being sold from the round auction-stone in the maiden barn. I shall never forget that you are my owner and master; you need but command, and I will obey.”

“Yet you do not believe me, my sweet, when I say how desirable you are when wearing red. Come and see!” With that Master Anures led Ruby-Red before a long mirror of elf-glass and silver.

Ruby-Red looked at her reflection. Below her collar she wore a blouse of deep pink that she had embroidered herself, and below that a red peasant skirt that managed to look both humble and elegant. Her dark hair was long and loose, as befitted a slavegirl, and her ankles wore hobbling fetters above her bare feet – and that too, as Master Anures had told her many times, was fitting for a slavegirl.

Master Anures’ reflection was looking at her from the mirror, with a comforting desire in his eyes. Ruby-Red was aware of the beating of her heart, and of her master’s hand reaching to toy with her slave collar. And she had to confess that Master Anures was right: She did look ravishingly desirable in red.

“Kiss,” Master Anures commanded, and Ruby-Red submitted eagerly to another of her owner’s long and princely kisses. “Come now,” he said when the kiss ended. “You will show me that you’ve learned to undress as a slavegirl should. Then I will tie you tightly with slavers’ ropes, to show you again just how much of a slavegirl you are. And after that I will partly untie you – only partly – and take you to bed, and there make you display your newest bed-skills as well as your more practiced ones.”

“Yes master!” Ruby-Red squealed. “Yes please master! Thank you very much!”

Then Master Anures led Ruby-Red away, and to her delight he did all the things he said he would do to her. And when he had finished, Ruby-Red knew that she truly had fallen in love with her master.

The Year’s-End Holiday came, with feasting and music and dancing and games in the Round Room of the Tower. Master Anures dressed in day-clothing to mark the occasion. Ruby-Red sat beside him and ate from his hand, with her own hands tied securely behind her.

Aunt Onicee came to the feast from her cottage, escorted by Sir Henry. She wore green goblin-silk, and heavy fetters and chains, and she looked even more smug about the latter than the former. Genna was there as well, and Master Maglevet the goblin butler who owned her, and all the guards and servants of the Tower: The female goblin and human slave wenches, and the goblin and human lads who owned them.

When the time came for gift-giving, Master Anures said, “I know of your sighing over your lost shoes, Ruby-Red, even though you did you best to hide it. And I know you have not spoken one word about your wish for footwear. For my desire is to own a barefoot slavegirl, and you have been diligent about fulfilling my desires. Yet today I have procured footwear for you – of a sort,” he added with a grin. And taking a box from Sir Henry, he brought out a single-buskin. “Tonight you will wear this, even though it is not the footwear that you have wished for.”

And so Master Anures tied together the two large toes of Ruby-Red’s feet, and slipped the single-buskin over those feet, and laced it in place on her legs. Ruby-Red would have had difficulty in removing it even if her hands were free, and as her hands were still bound behind her, the single-buskin kept her legs helplessly secured.

“Thank you, master!” Ruby-Red said, laying her head on his chest. For with her hands tied, she could not embrace him.

“You are quite welcome, my sweet,” Master Anures answered.

He could and did embrace Ruby-Red, and she felt his confident masculine hands taking familiar advantage of her bound female body. And that was as it should be, for Ruby-Red was now even more deeply in love with her master and owner than she had been before.

After the feast, and away from the noise and bawdy songs of the Round Room, Master Anures gave Ruby-Red another gift: A blank book, bound in fine leather, with gilt ornamentation on the cover and spine, but no title at all. It was to be her diary.

“For I would know every part of you, my pretty gem,” Master Anures said, “Not just every strand of your pretty hair, and every inch of your naked body, but your thoughts and hidden fantasies as well.”

On the next day, however, Ruby-Red spoke with Genna and Aunt Onicee, saying, “I do not begrudge that Master Anures should know my thoughts and hidden fantasies, along with every strand of my hair and every inch of my naked body. For I am a third-daughter, born to wear red and to be sold as a slavegirl, and he is my beloved master and owner. It was his purse that purchased me when I stood on the round auction-block in the maiden barn, and it is his collar of dwarf-steel that encircles my neck. And even when I obey his command to strip to my skin, I still remain a slavegirl in his collar. Yet this is such a beautiful blank book, with pages so white and a cover so fine, that I cannot bring myself to spoil it with my poor writing.”

“Then you must set it aside and keep your diary in some other book,” Aunt Onicee said, and that is all there is to it.”

And Genna said, “I can find you another blank book. Its binding will not be nearly so fine, and its pages will not be nearly so white, yet it will serve well enough as the diary of a slavegirl.”

More weeks went by with Ruby-Red continuing to practice the skills of a cheerful and affectionate slavegirl. She practiced wearing chains and slave-fetters with grace and panache. She practiced the seven lustful dances. She practiced dressing prettily and undressing prettily, both with fancy clothing and with plain. She practiced the servant-skills of the Tower’s servants, for at any time it might amuse Master Anures to set her to those humble tasks. And she practiced the bed-skills that she had scarcely known to exist, in the days before her collaring.

During all that time, Ruby-Red continued to go barefoot, save when Master Anures choose to bind her legs in the single-buskin. Master Anures continued to tell her, “A barefoot slavegirl is what I sent Sir Henry to purchase, and a barefoot slavegirl you shall be,” and Ruby-Red continued to set aside her sighs and her wistful longings. For she remembered the shoes she had worn on her last walk to her grandmother’s cottage, and she still felt a pang at their loss. That the other collared women of the Tower also went barefoot did much to reconcile Ruby-Red, but it did not completely end her wish for footwear. Even for a pair of glass slippers – which would be utterly impractical, no matter what the stories said.

The last week of March came and went, and April arrived. On the second of April fell the Water-Holiday, with the ending of the snows and the start of the rains. It was the day of the Soup-Feast and a celebration of the coming spring, yet for the denizens of the Tower it was also a time of foreboding. By the end of April would come the last storm of April, and with it Toxicoda would come to renew her curse. And after the end of April would come May Day, which the Tower could not celebrate. For the Maypole dance and the Picnic of May Day could only be held outdoors, on the green grass – and there Master Anures could not go because of Toxicoda’s curse.

In the morning before the Soup-Feast, Master Anures tied Ruby-Red tightly, because it amused him and pleased her, and she squirmed prettily in the ropes because it excited her and pleased him. During the Soup-Feast, Ruby-Red remembered those ropes and the delicious way the expertly masculine hands of Master Anures had plundered her helpless body. And in the evening after the Soup-Feast, Master Anures secured Ruby-Red’s ankles with a pair of leather cuffs and tied her large toes together with a leather thong before presenting her with a gift.

“For you have done your obedient best to hide your sighs and your longing for a pair of shoes or sandals or slippers,” he said, “yet I have read the secret thoughts you have written in the diary I have commanded you to keep. You still regret the loss of the shoes you wore during your last walk to your grandmother’s cottage, and although you will never get them back, it does please me to give you this pair of glass slippers, instead.”

With those words, Master Anures set a wooden box before Ruby-Red, a box of carved dark oak and bright maple. And when Ruby-Red opened the box, she saw a pair of glass slippers. They were fixed to the box so that they could not removed, and were of solid glass so that they could not be worn, even if it were possible to remove them.

On seeing the slippers, Ruby-Red found that she loved her master more than ever, for with that gift he had completely cured her longing and pining for the shoes she would never wear again. She was his barefoot slavegirl, and a barefoot slavegirl she would forever be.

After the Water-Holiday and the Soup-Feast came the rains and storms of April, and the last storm of April arrived on the very last day of that month. With that storm came the evil fairy Toxicoda, to renew the curse she had cast years ago, on the naming-day of Master Anures.

As the rain poured down, Toxicoda came to the Tower with a crash of thunder and a burst of lightning. She spoke a malediction, and the armsmen at the entrance fell to the ground, weeping. Stepping past them, she spoke another malediction, and the denizens within were made unable to move: Sir Henry, Master Maglevet, Kati Dorothea the cook, Genna the scullery maid, and all the others; male and female, goblin and human, and even Master Anures himself. But not Ruby-Red, for Toxicoda was unaware of Ruby-Red having been purchased and brought to the Tower. So the malediction did not include her, and of all those in the Tower, she was the only one who could move.

Into the master bedroom strode Toxicoda. There Master Anures stood frozen in place, with Ruby-Red squirming at his feet. She was scantily dressed in red dancing silks, bound tightly hand and foot, and gagged with a scarf of cloth-of-silence. On seeing Ruby-Red and her struggles, Toxicoda frowned and muttered something nasty. The cloth-of-silence fell away, the ropes broke, and the silks were shredded into rags. But Ruby-Red’s slave collar of dwarf-steel remained securely in place.

“And who might you be, my petty pretty?” Toxicoda asked. “Be still and answer politely, or I will put a horrid curse on you as well!”

Aunt Onicee now spoke from the bedroom door, having come from her cottage to follow Toxicoda into the Tower. “Her name is Ruby-Red, and she will break your attempt to renew the naming-day curse you have placed on the Prince. For she has a pair of shoes that will not be worn, a book that cannot be read, and she herself is the loving and beloved slavegirl of her Master Anures.”

“So you say,” Toxicoda spat. “Give me proof! If you can.” She pointed at Ruby-Red. “You are naked!”

It was then that Ruby-Red remembered the words Aunt Onicee had spoken to her comb, back when Sir Henry had first brought her here. “No, Mistress Toxicoda,” Ruby-Red said. “I am wearing my master’s collar of dwarf-steel, and will do so for the rest of my life. So I never will be entirely unclad.”

At that Toxicoda gave Ruby-Red a sour look.

Ignoring this, Ruby-Red reached under the bed and pulled out the finely-carved box of dark oak and bright maple. Opening it, she said, “Here are my shoes, a pair of glass slippers that have never been worn and never will be.”

In response, Toxicoda glared at Ruby-Red with an expression that could curdle milk at a furlong’s distance.

Now Ruby-Red stood and brought down a book from high on the shelf; the beautiful blank book bound in fine leather with gilt ornamentation. “And here is a book that cannot be read, for it has no title on the cover or spine, nor any writing on its white pages.”

“Curse you!” Toxicoda screamed. “May a huge and wicked wolf appear rxdrovurv!”

With that last word, a look of horror replaced the fury on Toxicoda’s face. For a huge and wicked wolf had appeared in the room. “Jot! Frbpit jot!” Toxicoda cried, pointing desperately at Ruby-Red.

The wolf looked back at Toxicoda with a wolfish grin full of sharp teeth. “O fod odd upi!” Toxicoda screamed.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Toxicoda turned and ran, all her maledictions having utterly failed. She ran from the room, down the stairs, and out of the Tower with the wolf bounding after her. And if the wolf hasn’t caught her, she is running still.

On the morning after the storm came a bright and sunny May Day. For the first time in many years the denizens of the Tower celebrated the Picnic of May Day, with the slavegirls dancing the Maypole dance on the green grass. Ruby-Red was among the barefoot dancers, for Master Anures, dressed in day-clothes, had come as well. He now stood on the ground without becoming a hop-toad, for the curse of his naming-day had been broken forever. And he is still the owner and master of Ruby-Red to this day, and she remains his loving and beloved slavegirl.

The End