The Castle Princess

Once upon a time in a far off land there was a prospering kingdom ruled by a benevolent king and his wife. The kingdom was a beautiful place and everyone was happy. Well, not everyone. There was a witch, an ancient witch named Bagwilda to be more specific.

Bagwilda lived in the darkest forest of the kingdom, aptly named The Dark Forest. She had been living in this land for one hundred years and did not approve of the king’s rule. You see, before the king’s family took power the kingdom had been ruled by Bagwilda’s equally as evil brother named Drakeovich. 

She was his advisor and they relished tormenting their citizens together. But then one day the king’s grandfather stormed their castle with his rebel army and managed to defeat them. Her brother was slain, Bagwilda was banished to The Dark Forest, and the king’s grandfather took the throne. 

Bagwilda wanted things to go back to the way they had been before, dark and miserable, so Bagwilda concocted a plan. She would kill the king’s bloodline and take power again for herself when the king became old and weak. So, under the cover of night Bagwilda snuck into the king’s castle. 

Just a year prior the king had a baby girl. He named her Lyra and the people of the kingdom adored their little princess. Bagwilda hated children, especially babies, and she harbored a special hatred for the little princess who had done nothing to her except be born. 

First Bagwilda, using invisibility and silence spells on herself, snuck into the king’s chambers and cursed his wife. She would no longer be able to have children due to the curse. Then she went to the nursery and with a wicked gleam in her eyes stole the little princess from her cradle and escaped under the cover of the nighttime’s darkness. 

Later, deep in The Dark Forest, Bagwilda used her magic to construct a small castle. She furnished the castle with everything a human would need to survive and be entertained. She then placed enchantments on the kitchen objects so that they would never run out of food or clean water. Lastly, she created an elfin servant and gave the little princess to her. She named the elf Asherah and instructed her to raise the child and never let her leave the castle. The elf nodded and swore she would do so to the best of her ability as the witch was her creator and she had to obey her commands. 

After situating the elf and baby in the castle, Bagwilda used her magic to remove all the doors and first floor windows, just to make it that much harder for the princess to escape if she ever became rebellious. Rebelliousness does run in her family after all. The princess’s great grandfather’s rebelliousness had cost Bagwilda her brother and her kingdom. She did not want the little princess to spoil her revenge with the same rebellious nature.

Meanwhile the king and queen had realized that their precious little one had been stolen away from them in the dead of night. The kingdom began searching far and wide for the princess. They even searched The Dark Forest for her, but they didn’t find her because Bagwilda had hidden the castle with a powerful concealment spell. Years passed, nineteen of them to be exact, but the lost princess was never found. And every year on her day of birth her parents send out search parties to continue looking for their daughter. They never stop looking for their little girl, and they never stop hoping that they would find her. 

Meanwhile in her castle, young Lyra grew up blissfully unaware of her family and their history or royal heritage. While Lyra grew Asherah taught her many things: how to read, write, bake, sew, dance and sing. But Lyra’s favorite activity was playing music with one of the several instruments in the castle. Her favorites being the harp and the violin. 

Lyra grew into a beautiful young woman inheriting her father’s ebony hair color and her mother’s jade colored eyes. Asherah had told her that she had adopted Lyra after her real family abandoned her in the forest, literally leaving her to the wolves. And even though she loved Asherah greatly, Lyra was still lonely. 

She had read every book in the castle ten times over and longed for the same adventures and the same large groups of friends and families as the heroes in her books had. She hoped beyond all hopes that one day Asherah would let her leave the castle and see the world. She often daydreamed about what it would be like out there. Whenever Asherah would ask her what she was thinking, Lyra would reply with, “I’m hoping to see the world.” Asherah would shake her head and tell her she couldn’t leave the castle because the world is too dangerous and cruel. But those sentiments never dulled Lyra’s hopes. 

Lyra knew that if she stopped hoping for adventure and freedom that it would never happen. So Lyra never gave up. She promised herself that she would keep on hoping until she reached old age. 

And Lyra did keep up that sentiment. She kept hoping and one day her hopes were answered. A young traveler named Eric and his sister Isabell from outside the kingdom managed to stumble upon Lyra and Asherah in their castle. Now it’s up to fate to see what happens next, to see if Lyra will get the adventure and the large social circle that she craves.