When the Princess Rescued the Prince - fantasyREADERS

EXCERPT FROM
Queen-of-the-May and the Vampires
Once there was a pretty country girl whom everyone
called Queen-of-the-May, because she seemed to have an
almost-perfect life. She had charming manners, and
everything she tried turned out well. She won all the
village honors, whether for playing or dancing or crafts,
and was chosen Queen of the May every single year; so
that became her name.
She and the Prince fall in love, but her jealous
sisters poison him. May travels through the
woods to visit him, and in the middle of the
woods she stops at a strange house.
When she drew closer to the house, she saw that its
fence was made of bones and the lanterns on the gateposts
were human skulls. “Woops, not a safe place to get
water!” she murmured, patting the horse. “Vampires must
live here.… But didn't my sister say something about
vampires having an antidote that might help the prince?”
May tethered her horse in a thicket out of sight, then
tiptoed back and circled the gloomy mansion. At the back
she found a giant oak tree whose limbs overspread the
bony fence and grew close to a lighted upstairs window.
Stealthily she climbed the tree and peered in the
window. Inside was a dining room with a wall hung with
trophies: stuffed animal heads, human heads, elf heads …
swords, lances, maces … suits of armor and the like. A fat
vampire was sitting at the table with a red napkin tied
around his neck, and his wife was setting down a big