The Poddington Project: Christine DeWinter

Two Queens

Two queens looked down. An arena below
Held opponents two for a fair hand.
Assembled were glittering wee fairy folk
In every high-backed stand.
Two queens--one black, one bonny and gay
Contrasted as day and as night--
Like moon and like sun holding court in the sky
Both straining to see the strange sight.

The bonny queen whispered, soft, in my ear
For I was her kith and her kin,
"Fair warning, my townsman, to be on your guard
We know not what danger we're in.
The Black Queen, she watches the Firedrake this day
Her old defender and guide
He's talked with the Devil, and there's some who say
This new master's now at his side."

My cousin laughed lightly, belying her words
With a gentle and soft-hearted smile.
Her sweet pretty nature was matched in her face,
And my eyes lingered there for a while
Admiring her childlike expressions of joy,
Her innocence, and then her fear
When the Black Queen's eyes rested full dark on us twain
Regarding us: Eyes deep and clear.

Like moonlight, her skin glowed. Her eyelids were pale.
Paler still were her hands and her breast.
Her wings, they did shimmer with some elfin light
Casting shadows where they came to rest.
But dark was her gown, darker still was her heart--
Obsidian black--but I'll stop.
Her hair fountained down, raven tresses ashine
Pale shoulders--a weird wiry mop.

Expressionless, wan, she did look on below
With a calm face and measured breath.
"My lady," breathed I to my kinsman, the Queen,
"You rival, she looks much like Death."
"The fairy folk, they're not much like you and I,"
Said my kin. "We're but guests in their land,
Though usually they are beyond my poor ken
The Black Queen I today understand.

"The Firedrake, her lover, accused by that man,
The Contender (he's Trysalt by name),
Must fight to the death, for his honour's at stake.
The Queen fears his death and his shame."
Her words stopped. The Black Queen raised up a grim hand--
All hushed at the sight of her face.
Her veil she withdrew with pale fingers, and then
From the balcony, she loosed a lace.

Down it did flutter, and down it did drop
'Til at last it lay spread on the floor.
At the sight of the veil came a hue and a cry
And the Firedrake, he let out a roar.
His cloak was all black, but it seemed right aflame
When it whipped 'round his form as he leapt
From his vantage full high, drawing sword as he jumped.
Towards him Trysalt slowly crept.

The Bonny Queen shivered, beside her I quailed
At the ire in the dread Firedrake's eye.
As opponents they circled, their swords interlocked
While the Black Queen, she watched from on high.
The fairy court gasped when the Firedrake took aim
And struck near his accuser's heart
But Trysalt, he parried, and began once again
The circling dance of the start.

Swords clanged. My kinsman, she closed her eyes
And whimpered to think of the pain.
But I, and the court, seemed to be mesmerized
As the steel's song rang out once again.
A cry--'twas the Firedrake!--his arm cut! I gasped
To see fairy blood spill on the floor
Exultant was Trysalt. The Black Queen, she turned
At the sight--she could take but no more.

"Foul fiend!" cried mad Trysalt, his foil pointed straight
At the Firedrake's now-traitorous heart.
"Our Queen you've betrayed! Your death you deserve!"
And my kin, she did cry with a start.
"Fair fight's never win," snarled the Firedrake. He seemed not
To notice the insidious sting;
"I'll see you in Hell! And your Queen there as well!"
With a terrible leap, he took wing.

The court parted quickly. Around the Black Queen
A circle of space quickly formed.
There leapt the Firedrake, a knife in his hand,
And then his dark lover he stormed.
"She'll die if towards me one foul step you take."
The Firedrake drew his Queen in
And to her fair neck put his dagger so bright.
The point dented that pale skin.

"Unhand her!" My Bonny Queen summoned her voice.
The fairy court murmured as one.
Then Trysalt did leap for the murderer's side
And the Firedrake, he knew he was done.
He vanished at once. Without word, without sound
He was gone in the blink of an eye.
As the dagger did fall to the balcony floor
The Black Queen, she said, "He must die."

Onto our fairy steeds did we alight,
I with those elfin men brave,
Riding through forests full golden and green
The hide of the Firedrake to have.
We chased him cross hill and we chased him cross dale
The mounts' hoofbeats ringing pell-mell,
We never lost sight of the Firedrake that day
'Til at last we did chase him to Hell.

There we stood on the banks of the river that night
As he waved to us from the far bank.
Contemptuous, mocking, he called "Fare thee well!
For the sport you've the Black Queen to thank.
The Devil's my master. We'll bring you all down
One by one, till for mercy you cry.
The King of all Faerie forever I'll be
Though it mayhap you all soon must die."

Then with a jaunty tip of his cap
A nod and a wink, he was gone.
The river swelled; our band retreated at once
And started back as it turned dawn.
The sights that I saw, crossing o'er fairy land!
Why, whole books of verse could I roam
With my dim recollections. But on that fair morn
My friends thought of nothing but home.

Two queens looked down from a parapet high
When our fairy steeds trudged back that day.
Heads bowed, we approached, with our hats on our breasts.
There we found we had nothing to say
To the pale Black Queen with a pallour of death.
Disappointment weighed full in my heart.
I felt her eyes on me, a stranger withall,
Then I woke in my bed, with a start.

Awoke hearing echos: My Bonnie Queen's voice
Lingered, saying "Now cousin, be brave!"
Yet my fear still remained for the Firedrake's revenge--
Surely strong fairy magic could save
All the wild fairy lands from the Firedrake's dire curse?
"Let kin care for kin!" --came faint cry.
Yet whether from Black or from Bonnie Queen, which?
So I'll wonder until I do die.

(Vance Briceland)