The Story of the Little Princess.

Once upon a time, there was a little princess. Her name was Emby.

Her parents, the King and Queen, ruled over a vast nation of people. Farmers, warriors, magicians and all sorts of other kin lived within the kingdom.

Emby was well known and loved in the town - and not because she was a princess. She was kind, honest, and sweet. She often walked around the town - always the same way each time. She went out of the palace, into the marketplace, through the fields of the farmers, into the magical woods, past the mage towers, back into town through the barracks and home in time for tea. She loved her walks, and the people loved to see her walk.

One day, while sleeping, the princess had a bad dream. She was under a dark sky, on a high cliff. All she could see was the abyss over the side. A ship sailed down from the sky, glowing like starlight. As she went to climb aboard, she awoke to silence.

In the kingdom, silence was NOT nornal.

She went for a walk.

In the marketplace, the people were stony and silent. They had been turned to marble! As they stood there, something moved in the darkness. Emby moved to see what it was. As she looked under a table, a small, feline shape looked back at her with big green eyes.

"Princess!" It said, and Emby was taken aback. She had never heard a cat speak before. "My name is Harman, I'm the fisherman's son, surely you know me?". And she did - She knew Harman, son of Franklyn the fisherman. He often walked with her to the river by the forest, in search of magical fish to catch.

"Harman! How did you end up in this manner?" She asked the cat. "I do not know! I went to sleep last night and... Now I'm this!" He replied. "Well." She said, "We must do something about that! Come with me!".

And the little black cat walked alongside her.

They walked into the fields of barley and rye. They were dark. As they walked up to a crossroads, a man stood looking at a huge set of signposts. He looked confused and kept going on way along the road, only to return to the signposts again.

"Hello?" Said the little princess. Surprised, the man turn to them. "How did you get here?" He barked at them, "I've been here for hours now!". "My name is Dum, I'm a farmer.".

"Calm down, Gentle Dum." The princess said, "I know of you. Always getting lost. Which way did you come in?". "I came in from here." Dum said, walking down the road, and appearing in the opposite road. "See?".

Emby stood a while and then said; "Then maybe there's a way you haven't considered." and she took Dum by the hand, and Harman under the other. And they walked up the huge signpost. Straight up it. Into the dark sky.

And they emerged in the magical woods. Outside of a stone temple.

Seeing no way out of the clearing, due to a huge wall of thorns around them, they went inside. Chained to a huge stone altar was a Centaur. He was bleeding and breathing heavily. The group quickly unchained him, and attended to his injuries. After a while, he awoke.

"Princess? I am Alos, one of the hidden-kin of the forest. I got caught here by... A dark cloud. It felt like razorweed and then... Nothing."

Dum stood up. "It must be at the mage towers. That sounds like magick to me!". He was right, it was Magick - Dark Magick. Emby still didn't know why anyone would do this to the kingdom. But she knew she had to undo their work.

She stood up and walked out of the temple, and stood in front of the thornwall. She walked into the wall. It hurt, but she heard the others follow. As she went through the thorns, she felt them dig into her skin. She felt them touch her and draw blood. She stifled her tears and pushed on through.

Her skin stopped hurting. She stood in front of a tower. One of the mage towers. They, as she looked back, were free and unharmed. Odd, she thought.

As they looked at the towers, she knew something was wrong. One of the towers was missing. The stones of it's foundations stood broken in it's place. Though in the middle of the circle, as a crystal ball. Red like blood.

As Emby picked it up, words appeared in it's mists, stark white like bone. "DORRIN IS MY NAME". She knew Dorrin, the high mage. He was smart enough to contain his power, evidently. "TAKE ME WITH YOU, I SHALL ASSIST YOU HOW I CAN.". "Do you know who is behind this?" Emby asked the ball. "I DO. IT IS VIOTOLA, THE WITCH WOMAN.". Emby did not know of her, and that made her angry. For someone to come into the kingdom and do all of this for no reason was just all wrong!

In a huff, she threw the mage to Dum, who almost dropped him. She walked to the barracks, the group in tow.

The warriors, like the marchants, were frozen in stone. As stone. The stood at arms. And in the middle of them was a beautiful woman. She was tall, shaped like a goddess and had eyes to match that lofty appearance. Her skin was pale and her smile was chilling.

"I have been waiting for you, little girl." The witch, Viotola said. "Yours is a great heart and mind for one so young.". "I want them. Both of them."

"Well! As powerful as you are..." The princess said, with bile. "...I WON'T let you have them!".

As she walked towards the witch woman, she got further away. As she thought to walk away, she got no closer. The witch laughed at her attempts.

Emby didn't know what to do. she looked to Alos, who said; "Believe in yourself!"

She looked to Harman, who said; "Face it head on! Face your fears!"

She looked to Dorrin, in the hands of Dum; "THINK!"

And Dum said; "There's another way!"

And then she knew.

She pinched herself.

And she awoke in a dark tower. The witch woman, now old and ugly, stood screaming at her; "HOW?! How did you escape?!!".

And Emby, without thinking, threw herself out into the only light in the darkness - the window.

She fell, for what seemed like forever. Into the arms of Dum and Harman. They, along with the rest of the villagers, the high mages and the king himself.

The villagers stormed the tower, and the witch herself jumped out of the window.

But no-one caught her.

And now, hand in hand with her friends. Queen Emby walks the roads of the kingdom every day. Hand in hand with Dum the unlucky, explorer of lost worlds - for he never knew how he found them. And hand in hand with her king, Harman - Proved worthy by the kings past for catching the glowtrout of the razorback river.

And she tells her children her dreams.

And sometimes they go with her.