THE WOMAN DOWN THE HALL _ Lily Hoang

He reached to open the
palace door. He knew that
she was lethal and
yet he desired nothing
more than to see the
face that had killed
more than a thousand
men. He dropped
the thick blanket covering
his eyes and saw
the most majestic
woman. It was then
that he
began to weep
until there was
nothing left
to him
but bone.

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The princess was very beautiful. This much cannot be disputed. She was so beautiful that her lips were veiled and her eyes shaded and every inch of her skin shrouded with death. It is said that this princess was so beautiful that any being that saw her would weep until they were sick with dehydration and even then, they could not stop crying.

Now this was a time before medical sophistications like diagnosis and needles so these people and goats and rabbits and lice were doomed to die. For a while, the
king’s cavalry tried to transport the
more important people, like dukes
and dames, to nearby sources of
water, but submersion did little
other than iron out wrinkled skin,
but the discovery of the Fountain
of Youth is an entirely different
tale. Of course, even this
mystical, magical fountain could
not save these dukes and dames,
but they were certainly the most
attractive and youthful dead
dukes and dames ever recorded.

Only no one suspected the
princess for quite a while, at least
not publicly. Even after the King
and Queen and all the princes and
princesses and dukes and dames
and ladies and sires where dead,
no one wanted to implicate the
baby princess. That, they
figured, would practically be
sacrimonarchal, which was
practically sacrilegious, and no
one wanted God’s scorning.

So the young princess continued to kill all the people who came to
care for her, for simply looking at her was a death sentence, and it
was only after she had unknowingly caused the death of her entire
kingdom and adjacent kingdoms that a young knight suggested that perhaps she was to blame.

So this young knight, being the bravest of young men,
volunteered to care for the princess, and after he traveled
for weeks to reach her, he knocked on the palace
door and used a thick blanket to
cover his eyes.
He begged the princess to drape
a curtain or several curtains over her
head until not a single bit
of skin was exposed.
The princess complained
of the excessive heat
under all the cloth, but
the young knight would
hear nothing of it. He said,
“Lovely princess, I am immune to
your sweet words, but I am
not strong enough to survive
your beauty, and so I beg
you. If you wish to eat
today and tomorrow and
for the remainder of
your life, please,
cover your entire body.
Do not let even the
slightest amount of skin
reach my eyes.”

    She responded with
a sweet song promising him
that she would remain
under layers and layers
of curtains if only
he would care for her.