Once upon a time, in a faraway castle in a faraway land, there lived an old Duke. This Duke had a young daughter. Her name was Adel, and all her beauty rested in her eyes. But she was timid and shy, and kept her gaze down, thus her beauty was so well hidden that no man could see it. Only when she lifted her head the radiance of her eyes could stun any man, for she had bright, emerald eyes, eyes that sparkled like twin stars. But most of the time she kept her eyelids lowered so nobody even imagined her power.

One day the King of the land gave a grand celebration in his castle in honour of his son, the Prince, and he bid all the young noblemen and noblewomen to attend. Thus Adel found herself at the King’s palace, all dressed up in a gown of soft blue velvet. She was not feeling comfortable with this crowd around her so she kept her eyes downcast... and nobody paid any attention to her, which was just as well.

Then the trumpets rang and all the guests had to present themselves to the Prince before the great Feast could begin. Adel waited patiently for her turn and when she arrived before the Prince she curtsied deeply and then finally lifted her eyes up... and her gaze fell upon Sword Master Demetrius.

Lord Demetrius was the Prince’s general. He was a very hard man. He had been in many wars, had fought many battles, had slept on the bare ground for so long, that the night cold had crept into his bones and had turned his heart into a lump of ice. It was whispered that Demetrius had never cared for a woman and no woman had ever cared for him. The only thing he craved for was power, and for that he married an evil witch who matched his ruthlessness and his desires.

The Sword Master turned his head and looked deep into her emerald eyes, and the fire of her sparkling twin stars fell upon his frozen heart and it began to melt. For the first time in his life Demetrius felt the heat of true love kindling in his breast. He couldn’t take his eyes off hers even if he had wanted to. Adel looked at him and felt a bond being woven between them, a chain of fire and ice.

They sat side by side at the grand Feast, their hands touching underneath the table, and Adel felt her heart swelling, for she knew that he and no other was her one true love. After the Feast they sat together on a garden bench and they talked and talked, and when they had said everything there was to be said they started all over from the beginning, and each time all seemed new.

The time came when they had to part, so Demetrius bent down and kissed her once on her soft, red lips. Alas! This was the only thing he could do. The evil witch had tied him to her with magic, in bonds stronger than steel, and he could not break them, no matter how hard he tried. So he turned and left Adel, and the grass and the leaves turned wet by his tears and the water of his melting heart.

Adel watched him go when suddenly she heard a great ripping sound. It was her heart that was being torn apart in grief. Then Adel knew, deep inside her, that the only thing which could mend her heart again was another kiss from his lips, so she mounted her horse and ran behind him. But the bonds of the evil witch were very strong and kept pushing him onwards. No matter how hard she tried, how much she pressed her horse, in a while she lost him. But she kept going because her torn heart was aching and wouldn’t let her rest. Her horse got exhausted, and then died, but she pressed on, on foot, without food or water, for her broken heart would not be at ease until she saw him again.

Tattered and torn, she arrived at last at the edge of a dark forest. There, at the far side of a black-watered lake, she saw looming a castle of black stone. At the shore of the lake she stumbled and fell on her knees. She could move no more. Her torn heart had betrayed her and she could sense her doom approaching.

Meanwhile, the evil witch had discovered her husband’s treachery. She was so angry that she imprisoned him on the castle’s highest tower. There she went every day to tease and taunt him and he could not resist because his heart was not a lump of ice anymore. But the witch knew a secret way that would make his heart freeze again, if only he never saw Adel’s eyes again.

She was following Adel’s progress in her magic mirror, and when Adel finally collapsed on the shore of the lake, she bid her men to tie her on a pole and burn her, so that her emerald eyes would be lost to this world and Demetrius would belong to her forever. Then she went up to the tower and forced Demetrius to watch the burning. She believed that the distance between them was too great to cause any harm.

But true love knows no limits and no boundaries. As the flames begun to engulf her, Adel lifted her head and her gaze locked with Demetrius’. And, as the evil witch’s fire consumed her body, so the fires of her emerald eyes melted Demetrius’ heart.

When the witch went to where she had been laid, she found nothing but ashes, scattered away by the wind. And when she went up to the tower, she found only damp stone where Demetrius had stood. Furious, she began to descend to the depths of the castle, trying to locate the water that had once been Demetrius. But if she had looked up, she would have seen two swans circling free above the castle. One had a flaming sword tattooed on his breast and the other had bright, emerald eyes, eyes that sparkled like twin stars.

The End