The Longest Three Days

March twenty-sixth, eleven-fifty p.m.

Ten minutes before the birthday of Princess Vera, sole heir to the throne of the Crystalline Lake.

The same Princess closed the door on her private chamber, listening to the electronic melody of the guard locking her in from the outside. She turned around, her gown hissing as she softly walked across the chapel floor. The mechanoid ministers had prepared everything to her liking; she sat down in her favorite armchair, picked up the nearby teapot and poured a cup. She closed her eyes as she took a slow, contented sip, opening them again to look around the tower room.

It was about two minutes until her curse would begin.

#

Tik

She set down the cup, swapping it for a remote that lay a few inches over.

Click

The replay activated. Holographic ghosts rose out of the floor, making the tower room glow faintly from their presence. Princess Vera leaned forward towards the vision even though she’d seen it countless times before. So many years ago…she’d been there, but she couldn’t remember. She was that ghost in the middle, the babe lying in the royal cradle. This was the same place, the same tower chapel in which it all happened. There were the king and queen! They were old now, but here they looked so youthful that a giggle nearly rose in Vera’s chest. A minute and a half until the curse.

The phantom images of nobility and prominent villagers filed past the cradle, bowing, paying their respects, offering trifle gifts and tokens to honor the firstborn of the crown. Tom the baker, ruthless General Bluebell, Mazy Clare the Good-ish Tech-Witch…they passed uneventfully enough. Then he came. Not on the invite list, of course—a desperate junior guard still clung to the base of the crasher’s staff. With a snort and a careless flick, Wizard Vathrornstoe sent the lad flying out of the projection, bringing his rod back down with a boom. The chapel fell silent. Taking a step forward, the outraged king opened his mouth—but Vathrornstoe silenced him with a raised finger.

“I have watched this kingdom for eons,” his recorded voice rumbled off the rafters. “My skills have kept me alive for ten generations, and for these last seven I have watched your kingdom, warning your fathers and your grandsires. I come to witness the christening of each firstborn, and six times have I given your family the same caution: forsake your barbaric ways, renounce your violence, expand your kingdom no further. Your armies now build sea-bridges to conquer the lands behind the sunrise—and my words remain unheeded. And so, to this first child of the seventh generation, my warning changes.”

Ten seconds to go.

Princess Vera stood up. Taking a calculated half-pace away from her chair, she raised her right hand in front of her face. “Your expansion and conquest of the wilderness cannot continue,” the Wizard declared. “You must feel your violence upon your own backs.”

Five seconds until midnight. The room began to smell like ozone.

“Upon this Princess, I place…a curse.”

#

With a swift jerk of her arm, Princess Vera blocked the incoming fist across as she spun—ducking under the backhanded hammerfist that roared by overhead. She rolled backward as the first fist came down, cracking the tile with a smash that resonated with the chapel bells. The humanoid attacker, a plasteel-armored six-foot-five lump of autonomous anima-clay, straightened up as the projection of his master raised his hands.

“On her fifteenth birthday, into this very room, I shall release my servant the G0-LM!”

The creature charged—Vera slid under the altar, but the G0-LM vaulted over it, aiming its feet to crush her head.

“It knows no fear, feels no pain, and yields no mercy. The princess cannot escape!”

The feet came down, but the Princess had stopped her slide just short. Even so, the attacker quickly crouched and punched her in the midriff; she cannoned out from her shelter, flying through the projections of her mother and father, the crib, and the wizard before hitting the door. Vera’s next breath was a bark of pain.

“If she flees this room, the G0-LM will follow, destroying all between itself and her. Anyone who tries to help the princess will instantly perish, not allowed the dignity of battle.”

Obeying the command of his master, the G0-LM jumped and sprinted over towards the prostrate Princess…who grabbed a nearby candlestick and dealt a blow to the thing’s ankle before it came down. The armored beast crashed into the door horizontally—Vera had to roll out of the way again as it came down where she’d lain. The G0-LM leaped up and began swinging its fists, the target warding off blows with her dented golden rod.

“The G0-LM will always find her. Its spirit of war shall hate her with the fury of a mad animal, a wild spirit, a spurned lover! In reparation for your house’s violence, your princess must fight my servant for three days—or until she dies.”

Three days! It hadn’t even been a minute yet…Princess Vera’s arms slacked for a moment, which was all her curse needed. The G0-LM hook-punched close to her hands, knocking the candlestick spinning out of reach. The same arm elbowed her to the ground, right through the holographic baby in the cradle. The G0-LM stood in the middle of Wizard Vathrornstoe’s projection—his recorded voice seemed to be coming from the belly of the creature itself:

“That is the final message I leave your family and your kingdom. Expect to see me no more, I will neither help you nor warn you nor comfort you. The G0-LM is my final gift!”

Arcing overhead, a final fist sped towards the cursed Princess.

The clock struck.

12:01 a.m.

#

The smell of ozone.

Princess Vera released a rattling breath, slouching onto her hands and knees as she sobbed for air. The G0-LM had vanished, but the projection still ran—spinning on his heel, the ghost of Vathrornstoe slid out of the scene.

Pushing herself upright, Vera stood on her feet.

“Happy…birthday…to me.”

She staggered over to the miraculously undamaged table, swiping the teacup to empty it down her throat. The G0-LM had been coming in for a punch from above…she would have to remember to bring a silver tray or something tomorrow. Maybe that would deflect the blow. Guh, eight more years until she could live a normal life.

Wait! This was her favorite part…Mazy Clare faded back into the scene, hovering her wand over the cradle as she ran diagnostics. Finally she brought her instrument back. She shook her head, but there was a faint hope in her eyes—a hope she extended to the royal couple and, years later, to the princess herself. On her nineteenth birthday.

“Vathrornstoe has done it, your majesties. The curse is irreversible. When her time comes, the Princess Vera will have to fight the G0-LM for three days.

“However, she might not have to do it all at once…”

Author Notes

I forgot why I wrote this one again…

Okay, according to the document’s file properties, this story was begun not long after my 2015-16 school year. Therefore I’m pretty sure I wrote it for my stream of magazine submissions. However, it didn’t end up going in that way—since it looked a little bit too long for Daily Science Fiction’s tastes, and as my college was requesting submissions for the annual arts magazine again, I launched “The Longest Three Days” in their direction. Considering my successes with that magazine—twice published in 2015 and 2016, as long as I’d been there—I’ll admit, part of me was just testing my luck.

Well. My luck held out and then some. “The Longest Three Days” was published in the 2017 edition—and it won for me a second fiction writing award from the college. I didn’t even think that was possible; witnesses can attest that my acceptance speech was “Huh?” Nobody’s trying to take the award away, though, so I’m happy with the honor. If a little bit confused.

About the story itself: I do know that it came from the concept that, when advanced far enough, science fiction nearly becomes fantasy (especially when you don’t explain how the technology works). Couple that to a popular fairy tale, subtract the unnecessary prince, and abracadabra—sci-fi, fantasy, and a healthy amount of action. I can understand why people like it.