Big Brother Rupert

Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there lived a poor King and Queen. They lived in a magnificent castle, but the interior was barren of all decorations and other signs of wealth, for they had none. As their kingdom struggled, the benevolent rulers did everything they could to keep their people alive and afloat. In doing so, they began to run out of money, eventually having to sell their possessions just to keep their kingdom afloat. As time went by, though, even that wasn’t enough, and the penniless King and Queen found themselves desperate for help.

Seeing no other choice, the impoverished rulers turned to a neighbouring kingdom for help. While their people suffered, this other kingdom flourished. The people were wealthy, fat, and happy, and the King seemed to sit upon a mountain of gold. Casting aside what remained of their dignity, the poverty-striken King and Queen knelt before their neighbour and begged him to help their kingdom, promising they would give him anything he wanted.

“Please, your Majesty,” they begged him. “We are but your humble servants. Anything you ask of us shall be yours, we ask only that you help our people.”

The other King scoffed as he saw them kneeling before him. They had nothing that he wanted. Or… did they?

The King and Queen had borne into this world two children. The first was a prince, a fine young man by the name of Rupert. At only fifteen years of age, he was still a long way from being able to take up his father’s mantle. The second was a princess, a little girl called Regina who’d not yet seen her first year. The neighbouring King, however, was unable to have children; though he and his wife had tried, they had so far been unsuccessful.

And, so, the neighbouring King agreed to make a deal with his struggling neighbours. In exchange for their baby girl, a child he could raise as his own and one day marry off to a prince capable of filling his shoes, he would provide their kingdom with all the aid needed to help it recover.

***

“Peekaboo!”

Rupert laughed at the sound of his baby sister’s childish giggles. Each time he uncovered his face and called out to her, she would erupt into the sweetest laughter, and seeing the way her pretty brown eyes lit up caused Rupert’s own heart to nearly burst with delight.

The young prince had been smitten with his baby sister since the day of her birth. Upon gazing into her eyes for the first time, he had sworn that he would protect her always, and that nothing would ever come to harm her so long as he still lived. He knew that he ought to be studying right now, but he couldn’t bear to be apart from his little sister for too long. He doted on her, playing with her and even helping the nanny to care for her. She wouldn’t be a baby forever, after all. He would have plenty of time to study when she reached that age where playing with her big brother was an embarrassment.

The doors opened, and Rupert smiled as he looked up at his parents. “Mother! Father!” he greeted them, rising to his feet and bowing. “Welcome home. How… how did things go?”

He faltered only slightly in questioning them. He knew that they took no pride in the measures to which they’d been forced to resort, but he also knew that they loved their kingdom deeply and would do anything it took to provide for their people.

He should have known by the looks on their faces that the matter had gone poorly, but Prince Rupert was an optimist. He wanted to hear good news, even if every fiber of his being was trying to tell him that the news was bad.

When his mother started to speak, her voice quivered. She barely managed four words before she broke entirely. She collapsed into a heap on the floor, her body racked with sobs as she clutched her heart. She, too, loved little Regina. Though she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, she knew that it was a sacrifice necessary to secure the future of their kingdom.

And, so, it fell upon the King to tell his son about the deal they had made. As he described the arrangement, Prince Rupert felt his heart sinking into the very pit of his stomach. His innards flip-flopped around, wretchedly turning themselves inside-out at the thought of handing Regina off to some other family. He understood why his mother had been reduced to a wailing mess on the floor of the nursery, and while he understood why they had made this deal, he knew that he could not let it be.

“You cannot take her,” Rupert said, but his voice was barely more than a whisper. It was all he could manage.

“We must, Rupert,” the King answered. “We will pack up her things this evening, and a carriage will arrive in the morning to take her away.”

Rupert’s hands started to shake at the very thought of letting his sister be taken. As tears welled up in his dark eyes, he turned to face little Regina as she lay in her cradle. Her chubby face was so full of admiration and innocence. She didn’t understand what was happening, didn’t understand the fate that had been assigned to her. How could their parents have agreed to be rid of her like this?

“Say your goodbyes, my son.” The King helped his sobbing wife to her feet and led her from the room, leaving Rupert alone at the side of the cradle. Gazing down into the big brown eyes of his baby sister as she stared back up at him, Rupert knew that it was time to uphold his promise to her.

“Regina,” he whispered, reaching down and giving her the gentlest of boops upon the tip of her nose, “I promise I won’t let them take you.”

***

Night fell over the castle, and this night was one of tension and discomfort. Nobody in the castle was happy. Everybody loved baby Regina, and neither her family nor the staff was happy about what was to come. There was a heavy air in the castle, and as Rupert slipped soundlessly from his bed, he could feel a dull aching in his heart.

He crept to the nursery, ducking occasionally behind a wall to avoid the watchful gaze of the guards patrolling the halls. When he got there, he was rather pleased to find the door unguarded. Careful not to make a sound, he opened the door and slipped inside, making his way to the cradle where she slept.

She looked so beautiful and peaceful, her tiny lips pursed and her tiny chest rising and falling with each breath she took. She was a perfect little angel as far as Rupert was concerned, and he felt an ire building up in his chest at the idea that his parents would so readily give her away. He grabbed a soft pink blanket from the dressing table and bundled her up as gently as he could, trying his hardest not to wake her. If she awoke, and if she cried, then his entire plan would be foiled by the nanny rushing to help.

He clutched the swaddled princess to his chest, and he started towards the door. He wasn’t yet sure where he intended to go from here, but he would run as fast and as far as he needed to save her. When he opened the nursery door, though…

The nanny.

She stood, tall and imposing, on the other side of the door. She wore a heavy grey overcoat above her nightdress, and a candlestick was carefully nested between her fingers. Her lips were a thin line as her beady grey eyes peered down at the trembling prince.

“Going somewhere, my prince?” she asked.

“I…”

Rupert hesitated for only a few moments. He couldn’t stand down, though. He straightened his back, lifted his chin, and stared the nanny down.

“I won’t let them take her away.”

The nanny nodded, an approving look in her eyes. “Good,” she answered. “Follow me.”

Rupert blinked in surprise, staring at her for a moment as she turned and started to walk away. She paused after taking a few steps, turning to face him once more.

“Well?”

“Ah – right, yes, okay.”

Rupert followed the nanny, who led him carefully through the halls to an empty guest room. The bed was barren, stripped of its silken sheets and velvet drapes many moons ago by his desperate parents, and Rupert saw a peculiar sigil painted on the floor in front of the window. It appeared to be a circle, with varying swirls and scribbles forming an ornate pattern within its confines. It was drawn in white chalk, from what he could tell.

The nanny shut the door and flicked the locking mechanism closed, turning to face Rupert now that they were safe and alone. “You’ll do anything to protect your sister, right?” she asked.

“I will,” Rupert answered, giving a firm nod in response.

“If you flee from this castle, there is nowhere you can go that they cannot find you,” the nanny said. She walked over, pulling back the blanket slightly to reveal Regina’s little face. She slept still, her brown eyes shut and her little lips pursed. She had no idea of anything that was going on around her. She had no idea that her big brother was engaged in a battle for her very future.

“Then I will keep on running as long as it takes,” Rupert said.

“I have a better idea,” the nanny said. “I want her to be safe, too, and I think you and I both know that leaving her with this other King will not secure her safety. She’ll likely be married off to some pompous man twice her age, someone who will never care for her or make her as happy as she deserves. Your parents would never condemn her to such a fate if they had a choice, but this other King? He will not think twice of it when the time comes.”

Rupert’s stomach turned at the idea of his little sister walking down the aisle to meet a man twice her age. Repugnant.

“Then, what do we do?” Rupert asked.

“You must leave not just this kingdom, but this land. This world,” the nanny said. “There are ways to cross from one world to the next, and if you wish, I can help you to travel to another world.”

“The next world… do you mean the land of the dead?” Rupert asked hesitantly. Was she proposing that he and Regina had to die to be safe?

The nanny looked taken aback by his words, though. “No! Oh, heavens, no,” she said. “There are other worlds like ours. Worlds where people can live the lives they want, worlds where people are not shackled by the circumstances of their birth. If I can send you to one of these worlds, then they will never find her. You can raise your little sister free, and you will be safe.”

Rupert nodded. This all sounded ideal. It sounded perfect. He felt his heart momentarily stop, though. There had to be a catch, right?

“What is the catch?” Rupert asked.

The nanny had a sad smile on her face as she gazed down at little Regina. She was beginning to stir, her dark lashes fluttering slightly and her arms starting to wiggle within the confines of her blanket.

“You already know what the catch is, my prince,” said the nanny. “If you leave, your kingdom will fall. Everything that your parents have sacrificed, everything they have worked for… it will all be for naught. You must make a choice, my prince. Will you stay here, lose your sister, and see your kingdom flourish once more? Or will you leave the kingdom behind to fall while you and your sister live a life of freedom?”

Rupert fell silent. There was a heaviness in his chest. The nanny was right. His parents had given up everything for their kingdom. They were even going so far as to give up their beloved daughter, all to save the people of their nation. And, yet…

Regina was awake. Her dark eyes finally fluttered open, and she gazed up at Rupert. He looked down at her, and when their eyes met, a wide smile spread across the baby’s chubby little face. She cooed slightly, wriggling even more within her swaddle as she tried to free one of her little arms, wanting to reach up and pat her brother on the face. Her eyes sparkled even in the dim candlelight. Rupert knew that he could make only one choice, and he looked up at the nanny once more, his expression one of determination.

“Let it fall.”