Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away there lived a young maid by the name of….. "Wait, hold on here; you're starting this story off all wrong. I, the aforesaid young maiden, am being made out to be a useless ninny. I guess it's just up to me to tell everyone what really happened." Everyone always makes out the Prince to be the brave, dashing hero… My prince…..though certainly handsome in his own way, is nothing of the sort. He was raised by two doddering old women, in a clearing within the Dark Woods. He didn't know he was a prince until he turned of age, when his guardians whipped off their disguises and began to be practicing fairies once more. By then we had met and destiny, perverse in its pleasure, took us in hand soon after.
Prince Branneck, who knew naught of swordplay, or horses; Branneck, who knows nothing of politics and being royal. Though lacking in princely know-how, he certainly knew plenty about things of a magical nature. His elderly guardians had made sure of his education.
We met one day, as he searched the woods for a special tree. The Perindens Tree. A tree inhabited by doves, and harboring dragons in between the roots. A tree of peace and violence. A tree of knowledge. I knew only of this tree from talk in the village. Some poor soul had once wandered too close, and came back a gibbering idiot. Just goes to show that not everyone is made to know everything.
I was not the least inclined to search for this tree, and had been in fact looking for herbs to transplant to my healing garden. I was the only villager who would go into the Dark Woods alone. I was deemed either foolish or crazy by the gossip-mongers in town, but what do they know? As I wandered through the forest, looking for the pale knobby stems of cruxweed, (good for what ails you), I heard a faint sighing sound, followed by a curse, and few more unintelligible words. Something, something stupid tree, stupid forest… mumble, mumble.. Curious, I walked towards the sound , moving as quietly as I could. As I got closer, I could see what appeared to be a young man, hanging upside down from the branches of an immense oak tree. He twisted and turned, struggling to remove himself from the uncomfortable position he had been placed in.
When he saw me he stopped struggling long enough to gasp out an order to get him down.. Not really impressed by his manners, I decided to let him hang there while I asked how he had gotten so high into the branches of the tree, and why he proceeded to arrange himself like an overlarge apple. He was able to bluster out a response "Blasted dragons, laughed at my questions, picked me up and threw me into the spring of confusion. The water got me so mixed up, I think I began walking on the air instead of the ground and got snagged by these very branches. By this time, I was halfway up the tree, and just close enough to grab onto his arms and release him from his lofty perch. We slowly slid down the tree trunk, to the forest floor. Upon reaching the bottom, he turned to face me, saying "My name is Branneck. Thank you for getting me down from there. I was beginning to feel a little faint." " I am Maythe, apprentice to the village healer. You're lucky I just happened to need a few herbs today."
We began to walk on the path that led out of the woods, talking as we went. I learned that he lived on the outskirts of the northern side of the woods, near the Roving Mountains., with his two elderly and slightly dotty aunts. I told him about our village, which to my amazement he had never visited. In fact, I was the first person other than his aunts that he had ever seen. In his whole life. He talked about the funny things his aunts said, and the odd things the little cottage they lived in did every once in awhile. I decided that I had better walk him home, to keep him out of trouble, and we began the journey around the edge of the woods, finally coming in sight of the Roving Mountains, which vanish and reappear in a slightly different spot every couple of days or so. There in the shadows of the woods, a small cheery cottage sat, the door open and smoke curling from the chimney, a warm welcome home if I ever saw one.
His aunts rushed out the door at the same time, sticking slightly in the door frame, but soon pulling free and almost smothering Branneck in their attempts to make sure he was in one piece. Branneck gasped out a few words to the effect of introducing me and the aunts turned their now suspicious eyes on me.
Branneck, seeing their reactions, spoke, "Aunt Orendia, Aunt Breena she's a friend.. She helped me. Be nice." Suddenly they were all smiles again. They turned as one, babbling words of hospitality, excitedly asking me to stay for the evening meal and thanking me for helping Branneck. I smiled slightly as the two women rushed off, one tall and thin, the other short and stout. An odd, but entertaining pair. I politely declined their invitations, and began the trek back to the village.
After my first meeting with Branneck, we saw each other more and more often, as I roamed the forest for healing herbs, and followed the trails around the Dark Woods to treat sick villagers. He would catch up with me, as if he had planned it that way, often asking questions about the healing arts.
After one such encounter, I asked him how he always seemed to find me. Guiltily he looked at my face, turned bright red, and muttered something under his breath as fast he possibly could. Unluckily for him, I understood the gist of it. He had a simple spell of direction that was centered around me. He spoke a few words of power, then lo and behold my whereabouts became clear when a colored trail appeared in the air following me wherever I went, but visible only to Branneck. I was unwilling to think about what this meant, so we continued on, eventually reaching the now familiar path to his cottage.
The cottage was empty except for the funny little bird that was pet to the household. A mimic, it often could repeat whatever you said, and had a rather large vocabulary of rather foul language as well. Branneck said it was a Coot, and could answer any question you put to it. I thought perhaps Branneck was confused, and needed something soothing and cool to drink. He smiled at me, and said " Bird tell answers, Bird tell no lies; Where are my aunts, and no surprise." The little bird cocked his head, thought a bit, and squawked out this reply. "Boy who knows little, Girl who does not believe; The aunts are at the Palace, and soon will leave."
Branneck looking puzzled, wondered to himself "Why are my aunts at the palace? Hmm…" The bird, with a devilish gleam in its eyes, sweetly sang out an answer "Be not confused, all will be clear in due time, Boy who is Prince and Girl for whom he pines.
I started at this. What did that little wretch of a dirty bird just say? Branneck looked a bit shocked, and quite pale. Before he could even stutter out a response to what the little feathered fiend had dropped on us, a loud crash from the entryway grabbed our attention. Violet colored smoke filled the air, causing us to cough and our eyes to tear.. From within the puff of smoke voices could be heard. Waving our hands about, the smoke slowly began to disappear.. And four figures emerged from the purple gloom. Two of them seemed to be Branneck's aunts… except they had accidentally fallen into the closet of really bad taste and chosen some really puffy, glittery, pastel clothing (in complimentary colors, no less!) and somehow sprouted wings while they were at it… hmm.. come to think of it…they kind of looked like what the common folk in my village thought fairies were supposed to look like. The other two people, a gorgeous blonde woman and a quite handsome fellow, were a mystery to me. They were dressed in rich robes , and carried themselves as if they were noble. I began to get a little sick to my stomach… The little voice in my head told me… "Hey… I think these are the…." "Branneck, m'dear," said the aunt-fairy Orendia…. "These are your parents, the King and Queen of Trylia." There was a loud thud to the side of me as Branneck fainted. The Queen shook her head. The King sighed, and grumbled to Breena.. "I knew you two would make a pansy of the boy… I just knew it." Breena smiled smugly. "Better a pansy than pushing up daisies." The King paled a little.. At that time, I began to feel a little out of the loop, and calmly let them know that. By yelling it at the top of my lungs. "What in the world is going on here? Who are you people really? Is Branneck ok? Why was he raised by fairies? And why…WHY, are you two wearing colors that would drive a blind man insane?
Four pairs of eyes slowly turned in my direction. I could feel the amazement. I even woke Branneck from his faint. He was trying manfully to hide his smirk. I felt like kicking him. See if I ask after his well-being any more. Orendia and Breena looked at each other, and with a grin, proceeded to explain that they wore these clothes because the villagers expected them to. If they went around saying they were fairies in normal clothes, no one would believe them, or worse, they would have them thrown in jail. Not that they couldn't get out. Just bad idea all around. The wings were real though. The King and Queen, were really Branneck's parents, and were really, truly the king and queen of Trylia, the neighboring kingdom. Branneck was being raised by fairies to try and escape a prophecy that had been foretold when he was a babe. It sort of went something like this.
Heir of Trylia
Walk the path
Choose which one is right
Heir of Trylia
Take up thy sword
Do not hesitate to fight
Heir of Trylia
Save thy people
Hear their plight
Heir of Trylia
The saviour of the land is not living but alive
Heir of Trylia, Do not be afraid to die.
Branneck's parents had been afraid that the prophecy would fulfill itself and Branneck would be unprepared.. So they had wanted to give him a chance to grow up a little first. So they called in a favor from the fairies, and the rest is history. Now, the prophecy was starting to come true… Branneck was needed. First, there were the harpies that roamed the borders of Trylia. No hero could vanquish them, nor could any weapon even pierce their leathery hide, which seemed to be as tough as armor. Then there was the sickness. People were dying. Lots of people. So Branneck's parents knew it was time for him to come and save the kingdom. Or die trying.