This ONC Entry is finally complete! I want to thank you for reading this far and as a bonus, I have a short story for you below.

Glittering Gold is not only written for the prompts from ONC 2024. It is also a retelling of a short story I wrote some years ago, which is a retelling of one of Aesop's Fables, The Horse, Hunter, and Stag.

I hope you'll enjoy this one too.

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Untitled, Retelling of The Horse, Hunter, and Stag from Aesop's Fable 

"I have given you everything!" The king looked down upon her wife, who had been disobedient. She had been frolicking outside the palace without an escort.

She had done this several times, and the people in their kingdom began to whisper. Their rumors told of her unfitting to be queen, but she didn't care. She never wanted to be queen.

"Not my freedom," the queen said, glaring back at the ferocious king.

He raised his arm and slapped her cheek with the back of his hand, and she fell to the floor on impact. When she touched the pain, her finger came away with blood. There was a gash on her face.

The queen's nostrils flared. She dared to look back at him even when she was down on the ground, and he could hit her again. "You will never have my respect nor my love," she said through gritted teeth.

The king growled at her, and she thought he would hit her again. But he did not do such a thing. He turned away, and before he left her, he commanded his guards, "Take her to her chambers, and don't let her out unless I say so."

The guards dragged her to her room. She tried to escape their grasp, but the men were too strong for her. And soon, she found herself in her chamber. But she wouldn't call it a chamber, not a room, but a prison.

She cried herself that night until she was able to sleep. In the morning, the doors open to let in a chambermaid who had brought her food.

"Help me," the queen said to the maid.

The chambermaid looked at her with pity, but then she nodded. "I know a witch who might be able to help you."

"Where can I find her?" The queen asked.

"The witch has a cottage in the northern woods."

The queen then plotted her escape to meet this witch in the cottage in the woods. After days of being locked up, she was finally permitted to leave her room. She roamed the palace obediently like a real lady that the king expected of her. And after a few more days, he had agreed to loosen her bonds. The king allowed her to go out, but she would always have an escort. That was the condition, and she agreed.

The day came when she came out through the gates of the palace. A chambermaid at her side. The same chambermaid who wanted to help her that first night that she was locked away. When they reached the far side of town, the queen turned to the maid. "I will leave now to meet the witch. I will return before the end of the day. You will wait for me here."

The maid nodded to her, and she raised her hood over her head, hurrying into the northern woods.

It was late afternoon when she came upon a hut with a smoking chimney. She walked up to the door and gave a light knock. The door opened for her into a dark space inside. Only the light from a fire in the hearth lit the hut.

"Why have you come, Your Majesty?" A voice asked.

The queen entered and looked around, but she could find no one inside. The door shut behind her, but she wasn't afraid. "You know me?" she asked, pushing the hood off her head.

"Why, of course, I do." A smoke swirled by the fire formed into a woman wearing a black dress. A wicked smile curved on her lips.

"And do you know why I am here?" the queen asked, stepping forward into the light.

"I can only guess. I see that you do not like your life, and I see that you have hate in your heart, but I cannot tell you what you want. So, what do you want, Your Majesty?" the witch said, standing very still. Her eyes bore into the queen.

"I do not want to be queen. I hate my husband, and I want to exact revenge on him." Anger bloomed in the queen's heart as she said the words.

"Are you sure that is what you want?" the witch asked. Something changed in her eyes, and she smiled with delight.

"Yes," the queen said determinedly.

"I can give that to you, but you will have to pay a price," the witch said. "I want your blood, and you will give it to me in exchange for the revenge that you seek."

"What will you do with my blood?" the queen asked.

"There is power in the blood of royalty," the witch said. "I am an enchantress, and I seek more power."

The queen regarded the woman for a moment. She looked over her smile, her skin so white and youthful. She knew she didn't have much time and needed to make a choice now. She needed to make her decision. "Alright. I will give you my blood."

The witch grinned, and she snatched a knife from a table nearby. The queen stepped back in surprise, but she didn't run.

"Don't worry. It will only hurt a little," the witch told her. "Give me your hand."

The queen stepped closer to the witch and raised her hand. The witch took it, palm up, and she dragged the sharp end of the blade over her skin. She winced, but the pain was gone after a moment, and the witch pressed a cloth over the wound. The knife came away with her blood, and the witch whispered an enchantment to it, her grin never leaving her face.

"Is it done?" the queen asked.

The witch turned to her, but she did not speak. She turned to smoke, and she was gone.

The queen turned and looked around the empty room. Only the fire in the hearth moved. She rushed to the door and opened it. It wasn't locked, but when she tried to pass the threshold, an invisible barrier kept her from getting out.

She panicked and tried the windows, but they had the same barrier and would not let her leave. She worried she might not get back to town to the poor chambermaid who waited for her. The girl would get in trouble if the king found out she went into the woods alone.

It turned dark outside when something stirred the air. Smoke filled the hut and transformed into the witch.

"Where have you gone?" the queen demanded.

"I have done what you wanted. Your husband is dead," the witch grinned at her.

The queen was stunned, but she smiled. "He's dead," she said more to herself. "Then I'm free." She looked up at the witch and turned to try to leave through the door again, but the same thing happened. A barrier kept her inside the hut.

The queen turned back to the witch. "Our contract is finished. Release me," she commanded.

"Oh no, Your Majesty. Our contract says that you will supply me with your blood." The grin lingered on her lips.

The queen then realized what she had done. She had bound herself, her life, to the witch. "No, this is not what I wanted. I wanted freedom."

"But you were so sure when I asked you, Your Majesty. You said that you wanted revenge."

The queen turned back once more to the outside, longing to run. When she did, the chambermaid from the palace stood outside. "You," the queen said. "Help me!"

The chambermaid smiled a beautiful smile. "I already did, Your Majesty. But I should thank you for taking my place, and now I am free."

And then the girl was gone, and the door closed before the queen.

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