I think I stayed here forever as the sun began to sink and the sky became red. Until piercing screams startled me. I stood, and the bird held my brother in the sky from the torso and the shoulders, only wearing a white chemise. He looked down at me.

"Brother, help me!"

I trembled in anger.

"What goes around comes around!" I yelled.

The bird threw my brother on the ground next to me, turned to me and grabbed me, lifting me out of the rock and up the ledge. It then dropped me, and we left the cliff face, leaving my brother there.

"Thank you for saving me, my brother had left me for dead. Where's all my stuff?" I asked her.

"It's back on the willow tree. I will lead you there. You did well, Bratko. But I had thought your brother was you. Perhaps because he wore your fur coat and red hat. But then I realized a trick had been played. I squeezed the truth from him and left him to the same fate he left you. Now let us go. I only want the water from you."

The bird led me back to the willow tree, where my stuff sat in its trunk. I put on my clothes, hat and pouch as the bird drank the water.

A fire began in the bird's head. My jaw dropped and I stepped back. The fire spread fast, consuming the whole bird and burning bright.

The fire burned the bird into a pile of ashes before extinguishing. From the ashes emerged a beautiful young woman. She had coffee-brown almond eyes, sharp yet innocent, smooth silky chocolate brown hair, large breasts, and wore a long cloth yellow dress with golden designs of flowers and vines. and a V-neck opening. Her sleeves were rolled back.

I lost my heart to the woman. But upon closer inspection I saw her wearing a necklace. It had an attached oval chestnut piece with a rune. The full picture suddenly came back to me...

My mother Mirella had given the necklace to my father before she had passed away. The rune  ᚼᛒ represented the unity of my father's physical strength and intelligence. My brother inherited his skills, making him my father's preferred sibling.

I saw myself lockpicking the chest in my father's bedroom, with my brother beside me. It stood at the foot of the red velvet bed where my father slept snoring loudly. The room was filled with bookshelves, tapestries, and a fireplace below the coat of arms of my family, a howling wolf in a green and blue triangular shield. I successfully picked the lock and took the necklace.

The image shifted to me and my brother standing close to a fast-flowing river, in an opening between reeds where I was holding the necklace to admire it. But I got distracted and the necklace fell from my hands down to the river and flowed out of my reach.

Next, I stood in my father's throne room, a long rectangular room with an elegant carved oak roof and stained glass rose windows. He screamed at us and then stomped as we lowered our heads.

"You lost my treasured chestnut necklace?!?! This is horrible! You are the wickedest sons ever! Neither of you will ever get your inheritance if it is not found! You will be thrown in the dungeons! And that isn't even punishment enough for what you both have done!"

...that image dissolved, and I returned to the present. Now, here was this woman wearing my father's treasured necklace.

"Uhm, what's your name?" I asked.

"I am Lada" she replied.

"Can I have the necklace please?" I explained everything to her.

She giggled and smiled, revealing clean white teeth.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had discovered the necklace flowing far in a river and did not know that it was yours. It is gracefully crafted. But first I ask that you return me to my castle. My husband, Duke Gniewko is waiting for me, and has missed me very much. If you escort me back the rewards will be rich", she replied.

My horse returned and I mounted it. She set off, and I followed her. By this time, the sun had set, and the sky darkened, but enough light remained for us to see our path, and Lada knew the way. We headed to and followed a stone paved road. During that time, it began to rain and thunder.

We reached a wide rocky clearing with a castle. The castle, set high on a rock, was made of gray stone, and had towers with conical tops. It had one large and thick central keep at its center, beside a smaller tower. To the left sat a rectangular building with a triangular roof, the great hall. To the right of the small tower sat another keep its height.

A rod of thunder struck the very top of the keep. Crows flew by and landed on the towers, calling stridently. A chill slithered down my spine, and my horse whinnied as well. But I dismounted and we walked up some stone steps over the rock before reaching the triangular entrance arch of the castle with a gargoyle perched on top.

Another crash of lightning revealed its ghoulish eyes looking down at me. Lada took out a key from her dress, and we entered a passageway lit with torches.

We travelled down, but I heard a piercing loud moan, and we passed a room with a sitting black cat. As it moaned again, a chilling wind blew out all the torches in the room, and I shivered and crossed my arms. I had a hunch that something was not right.

"What's going on?" I asked Lada.

Lada grabbed my hands. She panted before speaking.

"It's all right."

However, her reassurance did not console me. We continued, before reaching a tall room with a spiraling staircase going up the tower and passages to the left and right.

A chandelier lit the room, and two tapestries hung on either side of the staircase, one of them showing the coat of arms of a black raven fighting a green snake, another tapestry showing a hand holding a silver scythe. There were also zig-zag designs carved on the stone wall.

A man with strong black eyes, short black hair with a bald front, a beaked nose and wearing an all-black buttoned cloak that failed to hide his fat weight, walked down the staircase. He raised his hand towards Lada.

"My wife has returned! Duchess Lada, I am glad to see you again. I feared you would never come back, that the witch had taken you from me. But you are safe!"

Duke Gniewko and Lada hugged each other and exchanged a kiss. But Lada pushed the duke back and broke away from him. The duke's constricted his eyebrows for a bit, but his expression returned to normal. Lada cleared her throat and pointed towards me.

"This brave man, Bratko, was the one who saved me by crossing the broken bridge to the Pool of Many Colours and grabbing its water for me" she said.

The duke turned to me. He shook my hand, but his skin felt cold.

"Welcome, young one. I cannot thank you enough for this deed. I am Duke Gniewko of Ranvig. You shall gain rich rewards for this. Just ask, and it shall be given."

I bowed down to the duke. "My pleasure, Duke Gniewko. I am honored. As for what I would like, maybe a meal to begin with? And some gold too"

My stomach groaned.

"Well, I can hear your hunger. Very well, dinner shall be prepared for you in the great hall. Just you wait! The food will be delicious!" said the duke.

An hour later, I entered the great hall with Lada. It had two long tables, rectangular windows, and brazier lamps held by gargoyles projecting from the walls. Above our heads was a carved oak roof. The room was empty, but at its very front sat the king, with two silver plates in front of him holding two portions of meat: one of them was an unattractive red cow stomach, while the other had shining light brown fat.

"These are two portions of meat. Choose the one you would like. I shall eat the remaining one" he said.

He stared at me and smirked slowly. I scanned the two portions again. I knew which one I would take. The plate with the shining fat appeared to be the delicious portion. I anticipated the juice and flavor of the fat and the meat together.

I reached my hands towards it, but a breath escaped Lada beside me. Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. At that point I turned again to the portion of fat. Was it really the best one to take? I had a hunch that taking it would not be a good idea. Maybe I should try the stomach? Who knows, but it may yet surprise me.

I extended my hand towards the stomach plate and pulled it to myself, then I took my knife and fork, and cut the portion. Inside, I could see the texture of cooked brown beef with the shiny fat on it. I immediately took a bite.

At seeing this, the smirk in the duke's face immediately disappeared. I chewed the savory, delicious meat and hummed in delight. The duke's jaw dropped, and he looked mortified and staggered back. I wondered what had occurred. Lada stepped forward and pointed a finger at the duke.

"He cursed me, Bratko! He turned me into the bird! He is a terrible, abusive husband, and this is but his latest maltreatment!"

The duke yelled loudly, ran towards me, and grabbed me in the neck.

"You will not stop me!"

I struggled for air. Thinking of nothing else, I grabbed his wrist, which began to steam. The duke screamed and looked at his hand in horror as it melted into blood.

"What is this magic?!?!" he shrieked.

He threw himself at me, extending his other hand, but I covered his face with both of my hands, and it began to burn as well. He staggered back and melted slowly into a pool of blood, giving loud horrible screams along the way.

After this was complete, the room brightened, and the bad feeling in my gut disappeared. Lada smiled and grabbed my hand. Her touch warmed and soothed me.

"Thank you so much, Bratko. You ended my bondage to him, to that bastard duke. I am truly free now. You see, I had originally not meant to marry Duke Gniewko. He was such a vain, greedy, and cruel man. If he wanted something, nothing would stop him from getting it. He would use his dark magic to get it. Least of all me. As Duke, he had been cruel to his subjects, forced them to pay far more than they had, and punished every insult with a dark curse. Some men lost their flocks or crops to pestilences, others simply had their wealth stolen. He hoarded wealth and spent all day in his throne room drinking or indulging in vices. I had to marry him: he bound me through a blood pact to him, meaning that if I left him, I would surely die. He always forced me to do whatever he wanted, to engage in love with him, and anything that I did not do for him he punished through beating. But nothing compared with what came after I returned with the necklace: the duke recognized it as a symbol of your father Lord Vlad, and he burned with hatred. He and the lord had a bitter feud, as both competed for the love of the same woman. But the woman chose the latter, and the Duke wanted nothing to do with him since then. So, he demanded that I give the necklace to him so he could destroy it, but I refused. At this point, nothing could satiate his anger."

"So, he cursed you to the form of the bird." I replied.

"Exactly, and he also banished me from the castle. Even after you had cured my curse, I was not safe while the duke was alive, so I had to bring you here. The duke's courteous conduct towards you was simply a ploy, as he had intended to curse you by trying to trick you into eating the wrong meat. The fat was in fact covering bones. By biting into the bones, you would be trapped in the castle forever along with me, a prisoner of the duke."

"But I evaded the curse. Why did my touch melt the king though? What power did I have?"

Lada gave a slight smile as she stared into my eyes. She then walked up to my ear.

"Love, Bratko. The power of love. Both that we have for each other, and the one your mother and father had, which produced the necklace. The duke did not understand love because he was such a bitter man. But nothing beats love in the end. It freed me and you along with everyone in the castle" she said in a soft voice.

Lada took off the necklace and put it on my neck. She extended her hands and we embraced each other; my head buried in her silky, smooth hair. I could have stayed in this warm, safe embrace forever. We then gazed at each other, still holding shoulders, before going in for a kiss.