14. Sleep
Abear found the sleeping princess first. She was barely breathing but warm and flushed. An ever-living, frozen rose. When two fairies arrived, led by a pulsing light, the princess was surrounded by forest animals. The fairies carried her to the castle, using their magic.
There, the princess was placed in the tallest tower, in a bed with silken sheets.
The kings and queen and all the people fell into deep mourning. The beloved princess had finally returned only to be trapped in endless sleep, with no hope of awakening. So painful was their grief, the rulers begged the fairies to let them sleep too.
Heads low, the fairies obliged, wishing they, too, could sleep to escape their grief. Sleep to numb the pain. Sleep to pretend it was all a bad dream. But they had already hidden away for too long, so they stayed awake and wept.
The whole city slept.
All but two.
A man and wolf who had escaped the sleeping magic by hiding in the Forbidden Forest now raced toward the storming Spires.