The princess and the puppeteer

                                      The princess and the puppeteer
                                                    By Furycutter
                  Inspired by The Marionette and The Manipulator by Broken Teapot

Once upon a time in a far away kingdom there lived a beautiful princess named Belle who lived in a big castle that was located on an island in the middle of a lake.
She was an only child and sadly both her mother and father, the king and queen, had died the many winters ago and now her cousin, Montague, was now ruler of the kingdom.

On the surface her cousin was a handsome and charming man however in privet he was cold and manipulative. He cared nothing for Belle and planned to marry her off to a man named Kinnok who was warlord from a distant land and known for his temper and his cruelty.

Belle's favourite things in the whole world were dolls and puppets, her whole room was filled with them decorating the shelves hanging from her wall and covering almost every inch of her floor. She considered them her only true friends and whenever she was upset she would turn them to bring her joy. She could not help but marvel at them and regarded them as things of beauty and, unlike those of mortals; their beauty was eternal and had no fear of the ravages of age or time.

In fact she often had dreamed that she herself was a beautiful puppet, owned by a person always hidden by shadow who would operate her strings and allow her to perform her elegant dance.

One day after having to endure a rather unpleasant meeting with her cousin Belle retreated to the west wing in which the castles library was located which contained one of the finest collection of books in all the land. She spent hours in there sitting next to the fire that was burning in the hearth with a book sitting in her lap and some more in a small pile beside her.

The book she was reading was an account of all the different monsters that was said to roam the land. She read page after page when a particular entry caught her eye.

Pinco Cordes, It read, a devil who is also know by many different names such as "Blasphemy of Geppetto" and "The string doll". This unholy fiend is known and feared for his use of puppets against those who cross his path. It is said that he is skilled in art of making puppets as well turn living brings into puppets and controls them. Few have ever escaped this creature but those who have all said that he has a horn sticking out of his forehead and his movements are often jerky and slightly spastic, like a puppet on broken strings.

Intrigued by what she read Belle set about learning all she could about Pinco Cordes and came across a passage in an old book that said he lived in a large house atop a high mountain in a land many days travel from her home. Despite the books warnings Belle knew with all her heart that she had to seek out this Pinco Cordes if there was a chance he could make her dream of becoming a beautiful puppet come true.

With her resolve set Belle sneaked out of the castle under the dead of night, taking what she would need for her journey, and made her way across the lake to freedom. She spent many days travelling to where her heart was telling her to go, through the wind the rain and the cold until she came to the mountain where Pinco lived. Climbing the mountain was difficult and took several days to ascend It but eventually she found herself at the top and low and behold before her was a big house just like the book had said.

Feeling slightly nervous Belle approached the front door, and taking a hold of the cast iron door knocker struck the door several times. At first there was nothing but the echo of the knock that resonated, then as if by magic the door creaked open. Hesitantly Belle entered and found herself in a grand entrance hall however the place that lad a long staircase near the back that lead up the second floor, the whole place was caked thick with dust and cobwebs.

Slowly she ascended the staircase and she found herself in a corridors with had several doors; she tried to open each door however she discovered them to be locked. That is until she came across the door at the end of the hall and opening she found in a large room that was filled with puppets.

Mesmerized by the vast numbers of the wooden figures she walked over to the closed figure and reached out to touch it when clacking sound was heard. Belle looked around the room trying to catch a glimpse of what had made the noise however she could see nothing but the puppets in the room.

It was then one of the puppets caught her eye for it was different from the others. Unlike the others this one didn't look at all human, this one had an inhuman looking head with a horn sticking out of its forehead and cloven hands connected to thin wooden arms, it was clad in a blue and purple striped shirt and a dark purple cloak wrapped its body.

Intrigued Belle reached out to touch the puppet when its arm shot up and grabbed her arm.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?" The creature demanded.

Belle stared wide eyed at the creature, her body frozen in shock, "My name is Belle. Tell me, are you Pinco Cordes?"

"What is it to you."

"I need to find him, I fled my old life because it became unbearable and only he can help me"

The creature stared at Belle before rising into the air until it was only slightly taller than she was, it was then Belle noticed that the creature had no legs and seemed to float before her. The wooded creature stared at the young woman, his eyes filled with sadness.

"Leave this place, there is nothing that you could possibly gain by coming here besides sorrow." He told her, with that he began to rise into the air his cloak wrapping around him and seemed to disappear into the shadows leaving Belle alone in the room with all the puppets.

Belle however did not leave, after all where could she go? She had fled her home and travelled all the way to this house in hopes that this strange creature could make her life better. It was not long before winter arrived bring snow and ice that made leaving next to impossible. Belle would spend her time with Pinco where she would talk to him, she told him all about her life, her mother and father, her love dolls and puppets and the reason why she had abandoned her life and come to him, he never gave her the impression that he was listening to her but she didn't mind.

The months rolled by and winter gave way to spring and with a change came upon the house, time rolled by and it was by late spring did Pinco begin to respond the young woman’s company, at first it was merely a grunt or a motion of his head however Belle was patient and given time Pinco began to speak to her.

Slowly the young woman was able to get the demon to lower his defensive barriers and as he grew more comfortable around her he began to tell her things, things both wondrous and terrible. It was the on a warm evening in early summer did he tell her of his most guarded secret.

He told her that he wasn't always the way he was now, once he'd been a man of flesh and blood. He'd been the son of a carpenter with a great talent for creating wooden toys, when he was young he'd met a girl and fallen deeply in love with her. Then one day the lord of village where he lived came and he took the woman he loved and tried to force himself upon her, when she resisted he became enraged and proceeded to beat her to death.

The death of his love drove Pinco to despair, and then, just as he seemed to be at his lowest there was a burst of flame and from it emerged a large red demon creature with black horns and wings, the creature then offered Pinco an offer to give him the power to avenge his departed lover, the demon agreed on the condition that Pinco would have to sacrifice his mortal existence and never know the embrace of the world beyond.

Driven by thoughts of revenge and despair Pinco agreed and the demon changed him into the wooden creature he now was. His transformation over Pinco tracked down the lord and with his new found abilities tortured and tormented him before finally ending his life.

It was only then he realized what he had become, that he'd given up on his humanity to become something who was just as vile as the man he'd just killed. With that he fled from his home and took refuge in the house that stood atop the mountain far from the eyes of humans.

Pinco had expected Belle to flee from him upon the revelation of his past but to his surprise she instead embraced him, not out of pity but because for what was taken from him and the life he had been forced to leave. Yes she was shocked at what Pinco had told her, how he'd killed a man in cold blood, however his love for the woman that lord killed so deeply if he'd been if drove him to do it.

From that day onwards Pinco began to feel things he had not felt in decades. However he would not be given time to dwell on these feelings. One day in mid spring the peaceful atmosphere that surrounded the house was shattered, Belle's cousin Montague had found them and along with Kinnok and his arm attacked the house.

When the two men found Belle she pleaded with them to leave the house but they would not heed her, realizing that her soft words would do nothing to dissuade these two Belle dug in her heels and her words of pleading became ones of defiance and hit both the men who wished to take away her freedom. Shocked at this action, Kinnok drew his sword as it quickly turned to anger and plunged the blade deep with Belle's body.

What the two tyrants did not know was that Pinco had seen what had happened and the sight of Kinnok impaling Belle sent the wooden demon into a rage. Pinco let out a cry of anguish and from every corner of the house tens of thousands of puppets emerged, following their master's orders they engaged Kinnok's army and slaughtered it dying the ground red with blood. Every man fell until only Montague and Kinnok remained as Pinco wanted the pleasure of killing them himself.

Watching the two men who had entered his home full of pride and harshness now reduced to a pair of cowering children, Pinco swooped down upon them, the two men shocked by his appearance. Recovering the two men drew their weapons and went to engage Pinco however before they could make their first strike the wooden demon vanished from view.

Seconds later dozens of red strings appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the two men, the string went tight and the two of them were ripped to shreds.

The deed done Pinco lowered himself from the rafters, the rush he'd gotten from killing both Montague and Kinnok still filling him. This feeling however quickly dissipated and was replaced with one of dread as she remembered Belle.  

Hurrying to where her body was Pinco fell to the ground, wrapped his arms around her and pressed her head against his chest. He felt so helpless and he hated it. The instant Kinnok's blade had pierced Belle's body did Pinco realise what his feelings towards the young maiden.

Pinco's eyes hardened as he looked away from Belle's body, he lost one girl that he loved once, he would not do so again.

Belle found herself in what appeared to be a long dark passage way and at the end was a speck of light at the end. She did not know where she was or how she had got there, the last thing she could recall was her cousin and his warlord friend arriving at Pinco's home and Kinnok stabbing her in the stomach with his sword.

Pinco the wooden creature she had come to know and befriend. No it was more than that. Since he had told her of how he had become the wooden demon she had begun to develop a great admiration towards Pinco and it ran far deeper than simple friendship. And now she would never see him again. The light at the end of the passage way began to slowly grow brighter until it bathed the entire area in it glow, becoming so bright Belle couldn't stand to look at it.

Opening her eyes again Belle found herself in a room lying on a bed. Was it all a dream? It was then she realised something was wrong, she couldn't feel her body. Panicked she brought a hand up to her face and saw it was made of wood.
A noise caught her attention and looking round saw Pincostanding in the corner of the room. He explained to her what happened, how he killed her cousin and Kinnok and what he did to save her life. Belle stared at the wooden demon taking in what he had told her, to save her life he had transformed her body from flesh and blood to wood, he had transformed her into one of his puppets however she still retained her free will and the ability to move on her own.

Pinco tried to apologize for what he had done to her but she cut him off by embracing and thanking him, telling him that he had made her dream come true, to be a beautiful puppet to be operated by someone that she loved deeply.

That evening Pinco brought Belle to a large room that would have been used to host events such as parties and gatherings. Disappearing up into the rafters Pinco released several red strings that attached themselves to Belles body and music appeared from seemingly nowhere, tugging on her strings Pinco directed Belle across the floor in a graceful dance that could rival even the most beloved ballet.

What became of these two oddly matched lovers, no one knows. Nothing last however as time forever moves forward and eventually empires crumble, dynasties fall and stories become legend and legend into myth and knowledge of the two lovers eventually faded from memory, however to those who have heard the story like to believe the pair are still together and he still leads her in her graceful dance.

                                                           Fini