Prologue

Part 1: Castle

Chapter 1

She wasn't very old, or very tall. Her head would only come up to a grown man’s thigh--for the moment, at least. Her hair was a pleasing, ordinary shade of brown, like her mother before her and her mother’s father before that. Her skin was no different from any other child of seven summer--tanned, freckled, and scabbed. For the most part, she was an ordinary little girl.

But.

Her eyes were a startling, clear shade of blue that reminded one of diamonds and shadows on snow and crisp, cold lakes.

However, if one was around this girl enough, you eventually got used to her eyes. At this moment, what one would focus on was exactly how long she could keep annoying her mother until she was locked in her room again.

“Please, mother, please, please, please! I’ll do anything you ask, only please let me go to school with the other children! Please!”

As you can see, she was rather fond of italics.

Her mother passed a hand over her eyes and sighed. “Darling, I’ve told you. I would like nothing more than for you to be happy, but for now, we have to stay in this castle. When you’re older, perhaps fifteen summers or so, I’ll take you out with me. But until then, you will have to discover what you can within the castle walls. And don’t tell me you don’t like Lisette, for I will not believe you.”

“Oh, Mother"” scornfully, “"of course I like Lisette. I love her! But"”

Her mother scooped her up. “But you feel like there’s ever so much more out there, and you just know you have to explore it. You can’t not explore it"it’s destiny.”

“Exactly!” the girl crowed. “Like Jason and Odysseus and all the bedtime tales you tell me.”

“Oh, they’re not just bedtime tales, my dear. They all happened, once upon a time.”

“Well, of course I know that! But, Mother"”

“Listen, darling. It’s too dark to go now, but tomorrow, we’ll go exploring in the forest.”

“Beyond the wall?” The little girl’s strange eyes quivered with excitement.

“Beyond the wall,” her mother confirmed. “And you can be the trail guide.”

“YES!” The girl leapt off her mother’s lap and onto the carpet. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou, Mother!”

“Now, I take it you want to invite Lisette along?”

“Oh, may I?”

“Of course! Go ask her if she’d like to come. I’ll see you at supper, darling.”

“All right! Thank you, mother!” And within five seconds, the girl was up and running again.

The mother smiled to herself, but her smile was tinged with sadness. It was because of her, and a fatal mistake she had made while still young, that her daughter could not go into town. Instead, she played with Lisette--the agreeable, but rather boring, daughter of the housekeeper. It was her fault that her daughter, so full of energy, was forced to live like a hermit.

She shook her head briskly. Nonsense, she told herself. Once she’s fifteen, I can take her into town. Perhaps even…

But she banished that thought from her head immediately. No. She would not ‘live out her dream’ through her daughter. She would not force the girl to rescue the man she loved above all. Except for her beautiful, vivacious daughter, of course. But then again, the man and girl were part of each other.

She sighed, miserably. Raden…wherever you are, do you know you have a daughter? Do you know that her eyes are just like yours? That she has the best in you and me, and that you would love her to pieces if you were here?

At bedtime, after Lisette and the housekeeper had gone home, the mother came into her daughter’s room.

“Hello, darling,” she said. “How was your day?”

The girl beamed at her, showing that yet another of her front teeth had come out. The mother sighed in amused exasperation. “Darling daughter and light of my life, I did tell you not to slide down the banister.”

The little girl pouted. “But it was fun!”

“I know it was. But if you do it again, make sure that either I or the housekeeper am watching you, and put a pillow at the bottom, all right?”

“Fine. Can I have a story now?”

The mother smiled, about to tell her the favorite of Beauty and the Beast, when she paused. “May I tell a new story tonight?”

The girl’s eyes widened. “You’ll make one up?”

“In a way.”

“Yes!” The girl sat up against her pillow, clutching her doll.

“All right. Now, long ago, there lived a farmer with seven children, named for all the compass directions except for East. (She had died young, but she is not very important to the story.) He loved them and his wife dearly, but seven children eat a good bit"and he wasn’t the most prosperous farmer, either.

 “The youngest of the farmer’s children was a girl named North. Now, North was true to her name, and was a great explorer. She’d wander up and down, forwards and backwards and sideways until one of her siblings would shout, “North! Stop bothering me and go do something!” So North would go explore somewhere else.

“Time passed, and North grew up. Her father got poorer, and most of her siblings went to the big city in the south to get married and get proper jobs. North helped her family whenever she could, but it seemed like they were going downhill, and nothing--nothing--could stop them.”

The little girl’s eyes widened. “Is North gonna be okay?”

“You’ll find out in due time. Just when it seemed things had hit rock-bottom, North’s elder sister by a year sickened. She shivered and chattered, and nothing could be done to help her. North wanted to take their horse to the southern city and beg her eldest brother for help, but her father told her it was too dangerous. Her mother agreed.

“Then, one night, when it seemed as if all hope was lost, there was a scratching at the door. North jumped up and opened it"and in came an ice bear.”

The girl gasped. “No! He’ll eat them all!”

“Not this one, dearest. Instead of attacking them, he began to speak.

“ ‘Good evening,’ he said. ‘I apologize for the intrusion, but I can heal your daughter…in exchange for another. His eyes, not black and beady as one would expect, but lovely and blue, swung to North. ‘I will heal your sick and assure that you live in comfort if I may take this one with me to be my bride. I promise that she will live comfortably all her life, and that you need not fear for her safety.’

“North’s father was about to grab a red-hot poker and drive the beast out when a quiet, assured voice spoke up. It came from North.

“ ‘I will go,’ she stated. ‘Bear--whatever your name may be--I go with you gladly.

“Her family thought she was quite mad. But before they could do anything, North was riding the ice bear off to other lands of freedom.”

The mother yawned. “It’s getting quite late. Perhaps you should go to bed.”

“No!” cried the girl. “I have to know the end!

“Another time, dearest. The moon is showing her pretty face again, chasing the sun, and the stars will help her on her way. And you, my dear, must go to bed.” She blew out the oil lamp"she would never have a candle in her castle again.

The girl sighed with disappointment and snuggled in under the covers. “Good night, Mother.”

“Good night, Sophie.” She closed the door.

Reviews

[Jamal]

nice opening, i sense a great plot coming on. and so cool of you to throw in a bear, I happen to love bears alot.. update me when the rest is posted.

and if you don't mind, could you check out my work it's called Children of the Comet, I've recently had it edited and revised... thanks and all the best with your story