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The Fourth Quest
"Dr Crane, come in. What are you doing here?"
"Hi Daphne. I was hoping I might catch Frasier. Is he home?" Niles seemed nervous, leaning into the room without crossing the threshold. A bit nonplussed, she managed to keep her cheerful demeanor.
"I'm sorry, you just missed him. He went out with a friend of Roz's. It's just me in this evening. But hey," Daphne had a nice idea to try and lift his spirits. "I have a movie on and some popcorn if you'd like to stay."
Niles was about to say no, but one look at her, softly lit by the TV's blue glow, and his heart melted. "Well, ok." He took off his coat and sat down on one end of the suede couch. "What are we watching?"
She thumbed the start button and sat at the other end of the couch. "It's called Dragonheart. Sean Connory's in it. I think he's so good."
Niles went a little pale. A story about questing knights wasn't quite what he needed right now. But when Daphne curled up her toes brushed lightly against his leg. He sighed.
The film started and for all of 15 minutes they were both engrossed in the action and special effects. Then the hypnotic lights of the television took it's toll on both of them. Lying like bookends on the comfortable couch they faded out of the waking world, their shared consciousness drawing them back to the realm they were now all too familiar with.
The journey to Castle Douglas seemed to take forever. Niles was drained in mind, body and spirit. As he crossed the threshold, he began to feel he might have no reserve left for the final quest. There were but two days left to prevent the wedding. If he failed her, he could never forgive himself such a dreadful defeat. Donny met him in the grand entrance hall of Castle Douglas. He tore at a gristly leg or poultry in one hand and took generous gulps from a pitcher of ale in the other. Niles thought of how long it had been since his last, poor meal, and would have gladly given his left leg to suck the marrow from the bone.
"You survived the Snow Queen's tasks," the Prince snuffled. He followed Niles's gaze to his food, and tossed the unfinished leg over his shoulder to the dogs. "The crystal, Sir?"
Niles was too exhausted to bandy words with the man. He opened his hand, revealing the icy depths of the green crystal. The torches on the walls reflected in it's heart and shafts of green light bounced of the walls.
"You continue to astound me," The Prince murmured, wiping his hands on his robes and snatching the crystal. He stared at it intently, and it slipped from view, spirited to whatever dank hideyhole the sorcerer kept the Crystals. "Now, Sir," he continued "I believe you require a night's rest before continuing. I shall appraise you of the nature of your next and final quest at dawn's light. For the nonce, I have a guest for dinner. Perhaps you would care to join us in our simple repast?"
Although he wanted to be on his way at once, hunger and exhaustion pressed hard on Niles's will power. The greasily delicious smell of well-done meat, heavily spiced and dripping with fat, hung thick in the room. After a bit of agonized wrestling with his conscience, he decided that if he was to right by the Lady, he did indeed need to refresh both his body and his mind. "I will take advantage of your generous offer" Niles said, the words sticking in his throat. "Is there perhaps a chamber where I may freshen up before dining ?"
"Of course, let me guide you there." A look of smug satisfaction kindled in Prince Donny's eyes, an expression similar to a snake which has just succeeded in swallowing a whole goat. "When you are ready, we may be found in the large banqueting hall. You know were it is." The sorcerer waved his hand. Niles was overcome by a sudden disorientation as if he'd been going down a staircase in the darkness and missed a step. He found himself in an opulent washroom. The center of the floor sported a sunken bath, filled to the brim with water steaming in the chill castle air. A shelf by it was well-stocked with bottles of scented oils and bundles of herbs. A fresh suit of clothes was laid out on the bench.
Niles took his time bathing, letting his aching muscles soak and his battered mind drift. Reluctantly, remembering he was awaited, he clambered out and dressed. The suit his host provided was in the current style but ridiculously overdone, in gaudy, almost harlequinesque, material, but of such poor make he was sure to have dye-stained skin by the end of the dinner. He was certain the outfit was yet another little jab in the Prince's torment of him. When he was dressed he sat on the bench. He mustn't lose sight of why he endured such hardships. The Lady's face shimmered in his mind, but it was not the beatific smile or sunny grin he desired. Instead, her face contorted in derisive laughter.
Niles shook himself, and swiftly left the room and the image As he drew near the banqueting hall he heard the mumbling voices of the Prince and his visitor, distorted by distance. he frowned. Something about the guest's tugged hard at his recall. Only as he approached the door did it strike him who the dulcet tones belonged to. He stood for a moment outside the door in an attempt to choke down his horror. After all, it was not at all unusual for a bride to dine with her future husband in the week prior to the wedding. So this was why the Prince had been so anxious Niles stay the night.
Niles gritted his teeth until his jaws ached, and entered the room. It was warm, the fire roaring, and well but subtly lit by innumerable votive candles. If it wasn't for the sight of the Prince seated by the Lady at the end of the table, it might almost have been homey and inviting.
"Sir Niles!" Lady Daphne cried as she rose to greet him. The Prince put a restraining hand on hers, but she did not seem to notice. "It is so very good to see you! We have missed your presence at the court. What has kept you away for so long? I could get no satisfactory answers from you father or brother."
Niles bowed to her and sat quickly, hoping to disguise the weakness in his knees. He may have not forgotten her beauty and her virtue, but he had somehow blocked out the crippling effect a kind word from her could have on him. "Thank you for your concern, my Lady but I assure you I am fine. I shall return home in a matter of days."
"Wonderful," she said, seating with a billow of fine silks. "I would have been devastated should you miss my nuptials."
Niles had been sniffing and sipping his cup of wine - awfully okay for a Burgundy, with a texture more cottony than the traditional Burgundy velvet, pleasant enough hints of cinnamon and cloves, but altogether insipid, diluted and generally blasé. He swallowed it in a gulp.
"Sir Niles, my bride is concerned for you welfare. I have assured her you are in good health and good spirits. Now, let us a eat and drink." Donny grinned, showing scraps of food caught in the rotting stumps of his teeth. Niles was left in no doubt about the course his mind was on.
As the evening progressed Niles watched as Donny stuffed his "If you'll excuse me, Prince, my Lady, I will take my leave and retire for the evening."
"Good night, Sir Niles" Donny snaked an arm around the Lady's waist and lurched to his feet, hauling her with him. She giggled. Niles felt ill.
"Yes indeed. Good night, Sir." She curtseyed clumsily from within the Prince's grip.
As Niles dragged himself back through the corridors to his chamber, the Snow Queen's picture show of the Prince leading Daphne down these very corridors on their wedding night haunted him. he collapsed, still dressed in his fool's garb. If only he could erase it from his memory altogether. perversely, the more he wished the image gone, the more powerfully it loomed in his mind. A soft knock at the door roused him from wallowing in his sorrows. he rose from the bed and opened the door, prepared to confront the prince. Instead, there stood a vision of flowing silk and ribbons.
"My Lady, what service can I be at this late hour ?"
"My I enter, my Lord? I must speak with you on a matter of great urgency."
"Yes! I mean to say, please, enter." Niles stood back from the entrance, allowing her to drift into the room and settle gracefully on the divan. "What has so upset you?"
The Lady turned her face away as if shamed. She whispered, "It is the Prince my Lord. I fear I have no favor toward him, that my heart belongs to another."
Niles's mind raced as he tried to comprehend her words.
"I know not if he would have similar feelings for me. I see no reason for him to desire me, as I am below his station. Well I feel that I must tell him, but ere he rejects me I will know that I do not enter a loveless marriage without the knowledge of his feelings."
Niles wavered. Could it be possible she referred to him? he dared not dream so. Carefully, he said, "I feel if you believe you heart belongs to this man, you must tell him. It is unfair both to him and to yourself to enter a marriage without first giving him a chance to love you."
In his private chamber, the Prince surveyed the scene from the still waters of his reflecting pool. With a stubby finger, he stirred the water. When it settled again he saw the library of the Court of Crane. Everything was working according to plan.
Niles stared intently at the Lady as she fidgeted, knotting her fingers up uneasily in her silks. Finally, she looked up to him and extended her hand. Wonderingly, he took it and let her pull him down next to her.
"My Lord," she said in a low voice. "I believe my heart belongs to you."
"This is music to my ears" he said returning her stare "You have long since had possession of my heart I have adored you since our first meeting"
The Lady Daphne melted into his arms, and for Niles horror and degradation of the past days were evaporated by her touch. She kissed his cheek, the press of her lips like a dewy rose petal. He felt an awakening of passion he'd kept buried for so many years. Returning her caress, he nuzzled the juncture of her neck and shoulder, inhaling the fragrance of her skin. Slowly, he began kissing up the curve of her swanlike neck. Then, remembering her circumstances, he reluctantly pulled away.
"I'm so sorry, my Lady," he cringed away from her embrace. "I should not have allowed myself to be overcome." He tried desperately to control his ardor as she twined, catlike, about him and brought her face close to his.
"Please do not deny me now, my love. I have waited so long for this moment, as have you. Why should we be further tormented?" Her hands pressed gently on his chest as her eyes pierced him to his soul.
He thought of the times he watched her in the court, of telling his brother he could take it no more. That his love for the Lady was deep and everlasting. But he'd never told her. His family were against their relationship, he knew that, not so much because of her lower station but because he had never found the courage to openly declare his love for her, a love she had never given more than a passing friendliness in return. But here she was now, lying in his arms, telling him she had ached for him with a secret longing that matched his own. He felt he surely had perished at the hands of the Snow Queen, for this was his idea of Heaven.
He held her close, feeling the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest, thinking all the times he'd envisioned this moment.
His heart was torn in two. Regardless of their mutual passion, she remained betrothed to the Prince. Still, his love had been buried so deep for so long it took all his fortitude not to act on it.
She reached her hand to his cheek and gently stroked it as he ran his fingers through the dark richness of her hair. Her beauty was unparalleled, breathtaking. When she pulled his face toward hers to kiss, he offered no resistance. it was a long, deep soul-kiss, and as they pulled apart Niles was struck with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.
This wasn't the Lady Daphne. Niles knew it to the depths of his being. He raged at himself for being blinded by his own hopes and euphoria at the thought she may share his feelings. He knew the kiss of his true love. Once before, he had tasted it . At the Winter Ball, after a futile attempt to finally tell her of his feelings as they danced together. It was of no consequence to her, merely a friendly gesture at the end of a pleasant evening. But he never forgot how it felt.
Now he looked at the figure before him, feeling his visage harden. While she had all the physical characteristics of the Lady, there was nothing else to her. No inner self, no soul, no spark. This was merely a prank on the part of the Prince.
"Leave. Now," Niles said, his voice harsh with grief.
"But what have I done? Do you not feel for me as you said?" She begged. Her countenance was so achingly compelling. Niles steeled himself.
"I feel for the Lady as deeply as I ever have. But you are not she. I know that now beyond a shadow of doubt."
"But my Lord . . ."
"I want no further discussion on the matter. Leave my bed chamber forthwith." Niles raised his voice and made to strike the deceptive harpy. As if in reaction to his ill manners there was a thundering crash and a blinding puff of purple smoke. When it cleared there was no sign of the creature. Lying on the floor in a pile of dust, was the shimmering brilliance of the fourth and final Crystal of the Moon. Niles stared at with a mixture of joy and anger. How dare the Prince test him without his knowledge? He stormed out of the room and headed for the Castle's great hall.
In his chambers, Donny threw back his head and vented a bestial roar. He flung his goblet against the wall and smacked at the water of the font like an enraged bear. With a tremendous force of will, he gathered his seething anger deep inside himself. He must think, must use his innate devious cunning to get control of the situation. Lurching to his feet, Donny hissed at the fragments of Niles's image in the disturbed water. A gobbet of spit dropped from his lower lip, ruining the image. "This is not over !"
The jangling of keys in the lock disturbed the two sleepers. Niles woke to a sensation of warmth, softness, contentedness. This was definitely not normal. His eyes snapped open. Daphne wasn't at the far end of the couch. Her head rested on his chest, and his arms wrapped tightly around her. At the same time he opened his eyes, she lifted her head and looked deeply into the. For a split second she saw the besotted admirer holding her so tenderly in her dream.
Then the door swung open. In the instant before the light switched on, Daphne jumped up to switch off the TV. Niles, feeling completely gobsmacked, brushed down the front of his shirt and tried not to blush. Donny and Frasier came in.
"Well, if it isn't the love of my life and my favorite client!" he bubbled, sweeping the still-logy Daphne into a hug, "I managed to get an earlier flight home and your boss has graciously agreed to give you the evening off," he punctuated this with a peck on her cheek, "So go get ready! I plan to take you to the best restaurant in town."
Daphne and Niles exchanged guilty glances. Each assumed it was their dream that caused them to embrace the other. Both wished the ground would open up and swallow them. Neither dreamer realized the extraordinary connection their minds made. |
hursday was Martin's poker night and Frasier was out on another Roz-plotted blind date, so Daphne was alone in the apartment when the door bell rang. She saw Niles through the peephole opened it happily.
he'd conjured up. He forced himself to concentrate on the here and now and be aware of any sleight of hand the Prince might try to pull. Who, he wondered, could Donny's other dinner companion be? He tried to imagine someone who would voluntarily dine with the man, and failed. The corridors he wound through, the dark tapestries so encrusted with filth it was impossible to discern their images, the bronze and black marble monsters that seemed to claw and leap from unbidden niches, all filled him with the bone-devouring chill he'd come to associate with Castle Douglas in general and the Prince's presence in particular.
bloated face with an alarming amount of rich, rare foodstuffs washed down by a river of inferior wine. More nauseating by far, he watched helpless as the prince continually stroked and touched the Lady in a way only a future husband would be allowed. The sight left him unable to do more than pick at the selection of meats, cheeses, fruits, soups and pastries before him. As the fire began to die in the grate, even the Prince reached his limit of food intake and turned his attention more fully to the Lady's person. Niles could take no more.