The bulky thing she had been leaning her forehead on was soon drenched in her tears.
She continued to cry.
The object her forehead was leaning against moved.
She threw herself back in surprise. Her tears stopped.
A giant fish was flailing in the sands.
The princess was so shocked, she started stumbling backwards before falling on her behind.
The thing protruding from the sand was the head of a fish. Even in the dim light of the moon, she could clearly make out the milky film clouding over a single eye.
“When the rains fall on the desert, release a blind fish into the sea.”
The princess came to her senses. She immediately began to dig out the flailing fish from the sands.
Just a moment ago she had been exhausted and crying, but a strength she had not known she possessed now flowed through her. She furiously attacked the sand, first exposing the gills, then the backfin, and soon the body. After she had excavated the tail, the princess cautiously touched the fish’s eye. With the gentlest brush of her fingertips, the thin, hard film over the eye shattered into flakes.
The fish swung its tail widely. It launched itself from the sands into the cold night sky. The moment it leaped for the sprinkling of stars against deep indigo, the princess heard a sound as if the night sky, clear as glass, was shattering.
Rain began to fall.
Water poured from the cracks in the sky. The princess got to her feet as cold, fresh water drenched her whole body. She opened her mouth to the rain and drank it all in. Even when her thirst was quenched many times over, she spread her arms to the sky and kept drinking in the rain, dancing with joy.
The blind fish had returned to the vast sea, and rain fell from the desert sky.
The princess was elated. Her fear of death, her homesickness, it was all forgotten. Who she was, why she was in the middle of the desert—she was so overjoyed that she forgot it all.
And the princess woke from her sleep.
Far away, she saw the gates of the palace.
13
The palace was bustling by the time the princess had returned. There was a festival going on in the courtyard, and soldiers gathered before the gate.
“The curse has been lifted! The prince can see!” shouted the soldiers as they ate and drank to their hearts’ content. “God has willed for the curse to be lifted; this is a sign that we should kill the sorcerer!”
This alarmed the princess. As she jostled through the feasting soldiers and made her way toward the main palace building, she saw that the king was giving a speech from one of the balconies.
“… and when the sorcerer is slain, the golden ship will be ours! All the gold and jewels in the ship will belong to us, and with this flying vessel, we shall conquer even greater lands beyond the horizon!”
The prince, who was standing next to the king, opened his now-seeing eyes wide and shouted, “The gold is ours! All the world is ours!”
The soldiers, aristocrats, and servants roared in unison. It was enough to make the walls of the palace shake.
Fear gripped the princess.
“Was the master of the golden ship telling the truth?” she shouted up at the prince high above her. “That the war wasn’t because of the land beyond the horizon but started because you were blinded by greed for gold?”
Silence fell upon the palace. All the people gathered beneath the balcony turned and stared at the princess.
The prince was the first to speak.
“Seize her!” he shouted, pointing to her. “She’s a whore of the sorcerer! Seize her!”
At his command, the soldiers threw their wine goblets aside and dashed toward the princess.
She tried to run. But she was soon surrounded by the king’s men. Before she had taken even two paces, she was caught.
“A witch! A traitor! A whore of the sorcerer, slandering the king to bring him down!” shouted the prince as he stared down at the princess struggling against the soldiers. “Kill her!”
At the prince’s command, more soldiers appeared with their swords and spears.
The princess, held back by the soldiers, looked up at the prince on the balcony. The moment their eyes met, she became speechless. There was no recourse for objection or mercy in his gaze.
He was expressionless. The light that had found its way into his eyes was cold and lifeless. This strange man staring down at her and cruelly ordering her death was not the same prince who had shed tears on her shoulder.
The soldiers’ swords came for her throat. Petrified, the princess shut her eyes tight.
In that moment, the wind began to blow.
14
Sandstorms swept the palace. No one could open their eyes or even breathe because of the flying dust, sand, and earth. The sand dug into the people’s noses, ears, and mouths. Without realizing it, the soldiers surrounding the princess dropped their weapons. Everyone frantically attempted to shield their faces, screwing their eyes shut and coughing.