The Adventures of Rössman Konig I
Amazed, he crossed the threshold of the fortress, passing among the bodies of the castle’s former inhabitants, which seemed surprisingly well-preserved for how long their attire from another era suggested they had been dead. He wandered through the courtyard until he finally managed to find the entrance to the keep, ascending the winding stairs, having to navigate through the cobweb-covered bodies of the servants on a couple of occasions until he reached the door described in their tale by the innkeepers. With great reverence, he pushed it open and allowed himself to be marvelously drawn inside. The evening light streamed in through the window from the opposite side of the room, gently illuminating the canopy of the bed and bathing the sleeper in a sacred aura, as if he had entered not a bedroom but the temple of a forgotten and ancient divinity. With the solemnity the situation demanded, the Prince approached the bed and was captivated by the face he found there. She wasn’t as beautiful as he had come to imagine when they told him her story, but her face held such a supernaturally peaceful expression that his intrepid heart was instantly subdued. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he leaned down over the lady and gently placed a kiss on her lips.
There was no movement, and the scene didn’t change in the slightest, so the Prince decided to kiss her a second and a third time. “Well, I must have done it with too much force because my lips are stinging…” he thought. Not knowing exactly what wasn’t working, he straightened up and reflected, his gaze lost in the twilight landscape outside the window as he rubbed his mouth. “I refuse to believe that I’m not really her true love. Even if she’s not as pretty and doesn’t smell as good. I guess if I had been asleep for a hundred years, I’d look like this too,” he said aloud. But then, his gaze casually fell to the bed’s skirts, where an insignificant crease ruined the perfection of the scene. He leaned over to smooth it out and prevent it from disturbing his peace of mind while he thought about what to do next, but as he bent down, he felt that there was something hidden there underneath. He began to feel around, and out of curiosity, he even started to cough. He found out what was hidden under the bed. It was an unconscious, completely naked woman. He would have laid her down to get her out of there, but the cough that gripped his chest became stronger, and he needed to sit on the bed to recover. As he did so, the other woman who was lying on it rolled toward him. Between coughs, the young man tried to position her as she was, but when he approached his hand to her body, he realized that she was surprisingly cold and not even breathing. Alarmed, he jumped up, but his strength failed him, and he fell to the floor, where he continued to struggle to breathe between coughs. He discovered with alarm that the hand he used to cover his mouth was stained with blood, and then he understood that he had been poisoned. That’s more or less what must have happened because I only entered when I imagined she would already be dead.
“And was she?” asked the fairy.
“Oh, yes, of course she was. Almost colder than the harlot I left in place of the Princess.”
“Please, spare me those kinds of details, Master Konig. They make me feel guilty for everything I’ve forced you to endure. I wish I could have taken care of this unpleasant matter myself, but I’m afraid the sleeping spell those foolish ones cast on the detestable girl prevents me from interfering with my magic in any way.”
“My dear, there’s no need for you to apologize. I am more than pleased with the terms of our contract – said the man with a smug smile as he rose from the comfortable wingback chair he had been sitting in until then –. No Charming Prince will pass by there for a long time. And now, if everything is clear and you are satisfied with the work, I’ll take my leave. If you could be so kind as to pay what’s left…”
“Are you leaving now? It’s about to get dark! And these woods are so dangerous…”
“I know, my lady. But I’m afraid I have another job a few leagues from here, and one has to earn a living.”
“Oh, please! If that’s the problem, I offer to provide you with accommodation and include in your fees whatever you might lose from that job. What do you say?”
Konig remained silent for a moment, as if considering, but soon replied:
“I say it’s a very tempting offer, and you almost convinced me, my lady, but if I were to break a commitment, my reputation would suffer. And you understand that in my profession, that’s quite important.”
The fairy settled back into her own armchair, probably unaware that in doing so, her ethereal skirt left less of her legs to the imagination.
“So there’s nothing I can do to keep you? I’m worried something might happen to you after nightfall!”
“I’m sure it would be convenient for me to spend the night in your castle, but duty calls. However, I’m also confident that we will meet again”, he replied with the most seductive smile in his repertoire.
“I hope so too, Master Konig. I truly do.”
The woman escorted him to the gloomy fortress’s main hall, handed him a black leather bag with the money inside, and bid him farewell, allowing him to kiss her hand—a kiss that lasted slightly longer than courtesy dictated. He turned around, covering himself with his fur coat, and walked out through the enormous doors to where his horse was tethered. As he mounted with a single leap, he looked one last time at the entrance and bid farewell once more, raising his hand. Finally, he was alone with the steed in front of the bridge that connected the rocky pinnacle on which the sorceress’s castle stood with the mainland.
“Phew! Let’s get out of here as soon as possible, Sandokan”, he said somewhat discreetly to the horse, as if indiscreet ears could hear his comment from the battlements. “Before that witch changes her mind and decides not to let us leave. I smell black magic from miles away, and I won’t let anyone use it against me again. Gods, how I hate her!”
The horse shook his head a bit, tossing its long mane, before setting off at a pace and beginning to walk.
“Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind. The truth is, despite appearances, I’ve never spent the night with a fairy, and she’s undoubtedly alluring. But believe me when I say we’re better off this way.”
The horse swayed as its hooves clattered on the stone bridge, moving away from the ominous castle. The rider replied:
“Well, honestly, because I don’t think it’s wise to have a longer relationship than strictly necessary with a sorceress capable of cursing a newborn just because she wasn’t invited to her birthday. The fact that a disturbed person like her needs the services of a guy like me… well, what times we live in!” With that said, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his satchel, glancing at it while stroking his goatee. “For now, what we should worry about is finding the nearest village before nightfall. And if we can spend some money along the way, so much the better.”
He then urged the horse to gallop into the forest that stretched before them. By the time night fell, in the tavern of the nearest village, Konig was cheerfully drinking in the company of a couple of friendly young women, recounting his improbable adventures aloud. As he did so, a boy who had barely started to get acne approached timidly, and after standing silently by his side like a tree for a few minutes, Konig eventually grew annoyed at his untimely presence:
“Kid, just because you’re too young to understand how much you’re annoying, I’m going to let you off the hook. But if I take another sip and you haven’t disappeared yet, I’m going to have to get really angry.”
“Excuse me, sir, but you wouldn’t happen to be the famous Rössman Konig, would you?”
“Maybe I am,” he said after taking a sip from the tankard and giving a mocking smile to the girls on each side. The boy’s intervention had conveniently added credibility to his ramblings. “Who’s asking?”
He then noticed that the boy had a very tan complexion and spoke with an exotic foreign accent.
“My name is Sassim, sir. My master asked me to find you to help us catch a thief. His name is Ali Baba, and he has stolen a great fortune from us.”
“Has your master told you that I am a law enforcement agent, boy? Such jobs are not free, and besides, can’t you see that I am a bit busy now?”
“My master told me that if you reacted like this, I should show you this letter,” he said, after which he handed him an envelope.
Rössman Konig began to read it, and before reaching the last zero, he was already getting up from his seat and leaving a couple of coins for the girls, who groaned in disappointment at seeing him do so.
“A thousand apologies, princesses, but as I’ve already mentioned, in my line of work, reputation is everything. Don’t be sad, I’ll make sure we meet again. A couple of times each if necessary. And you, young man,” he said, turning to his new friend, “I hope the travel expenses are included in that price. Judging by your appearance, I deduce it will be a long one.”
Having said that, he left the tavern, covered his head with the hood of his leather coat, and headed to the stables. He departed minutes later, accompanied by young Sassim, into the darkness of night.
