Book Three in the Traditional Stories series

Heat Rating: Zero Fire

Content Warning: Twisted fairy tale, GLBT theme

Prince Charming comes to the rescue of the Most Beautiful Princess Phillia.

From within the confines of his helm Prince Charming stared at the Tower of Black Glass.

"So this is the lair of the Beast Most Foul, and the prison of the Most Beautiful Princess Phillia."

He girded his loins and did other Princely Things and rode forward on his courageous steed, Percival, the prize from one of his previous Quests, just as the armor and sword he carried were also from Prior Challenges. It was traditional for the Rescuing Prince to brave three Challenges of Courage before braving the Challenge of Rescuing a Princess from the Beast Most Foul and, if nothing else could be said about the handsome Prince, he was a stickler for detail when dealing with All Things Traditional.

He arrived at the Tower and paused to stare at the slime scummed moat which was spanned by a rather rickety bridge. After a moment's pause to consider the situation, Prince Charming dismounted, stripped the heavy armor from his body and, muscles sliding impressively beneath his close-fitting tunic, began the swim across the moat.

A ripple of motion caught his eye and he drew a dagger from his boot, quickly dispatching the moat-monster with a few quick, well-practiced thrusts of the sharp blade.

A few powerful strokes of his arms and a couple kicks of his perfectly formed legs carried him to shore. He easily scaled the roughly hewn walls, using his strong fingers and the clinging vines, reaching the top of the wall in short order.

With a scream several hideously deformed men attacked him, to be dispatched in quick succession by the Prince who wielded his sword with the skill of a master swordsman, which Tradition demanded he be.

He made his way down a dimly lit stairwell that passed through the wall and down into the courtyard below. Cracked bones, rusted armor and broken weapons were all that remained of the Princes who had come before him. But none of them had carried Beastreaver, the sword he wielded. With it no Beast, however foul, could defeat him.

With a roar, the Beast Most Foul rushed from the darkness and leapt at this, his latest foe.