Swan Obsession

Bow in one hand, and arrows strapped in a quiver around his back, Prince Derek dashed through the unfamiliar woods, checking for markings on trees, or tracks in the soft loamy ground. Birds chirped distantly overhead, and there was the occasional rustling of leaves and cracking of twigs as a startled rodent ran away in fear.

The trees around him were massive and old, golden brown trunks thick and majestic, covered in a soft smattering of moss. The sunlight here shone in, in sharp golden shafts, like angelic blades striking the earth. His leather boots barely made a sound as he walked. Derek was searching for something. He just wasn't entirely sure of what.

He thought back to that long ago day when the betrothal between he and Odette was broken. To this day, he still didn't understand why it did not work out. He remembered back to the summer when she was sixteen, in her lavender gown, and the first stirrings of desire grew within him. He wanted her since that day, and when she was looking away, he would steal secret glances at her, imagining what lay beneath the velvet material.

It was that very year that he took his first maiden; one of the scullery girls from the kitchen, and as she panted and writhed under him, like a common whore, he imagined it was Odette. Odette wouldn't moan and writhe though. She would probably lie under him, stiff as a corpse, and Derek felt a rush of pleasure at the idea of crushing that irritating pride of hers. He wanted to look into her violet eyes, and see defeat. The very idea drove him onwards, and he crept, deeper into the woods, searching.

Still finding no clues, his mind returned back to the past. It was nearly a fortnight after Odette had left, when a knight stumbled into his mother's castle, bloodied, and weak with exertion. He was pale, a step away from death, and his armour was dotted with gaping holes and tears. Still, the crest upon his breast plate could be seen, denoting him as the captain of the guard of princess Odette's father.

"We.... We were attacked," The captain stuttered with his dying breath, barely more than a whisper. "A Great... Animal."

Great Animal. Weeks, no months perhaps, it took him to figure out what that phrase meant. He had spoken to all the wisemen of his kingdom, searched through books upon books, when finally, he found the answer. A Great animal meant a creature that could transform, from something as innocuous as a mouse to a terrifying dragon. He relished the thought of destroying such a thing. It would be a remarkable trophy for his hunting collection. That in itself almost made the search for Odette worth it.

As for Odette, it wasn't as though he loved her, he thought to himself. He knew he was not the brightest man in the land, but love was for pansies. Odette was more about attaining the unattainable. She was so unlike the other princesses that his mother paraded before him, their eyes downcast, hoping to please him. If he found her, she would be more than just a wife. She would be a trophy, as fantastical as anything else in his collection.

Thinking of other princesses, he was reminded of another unpleasant detail. His mother, in an excited flurry, was planning on throwing him a ball. He shuddered in disgust, wishing it wasn't his princely obligation to attend. Instead, he decided to focus on his hunt.