On one day of late midsummer's evening a group of girls were hiking on English moors at Yorkshire. The four girls have walked the entire day looking a good place to set up a camp.
Although they all were different in looks however they were sisters in spirit.
Their names were: Fredrika Nickoi, Maddie Lennox, Jade "JJ" James and Crystal Bell.
The girls had met one another at Glengrove's college of literature and language arts or "GLL" for sort; they were all members of the school's English history club and were pretty much interested in the same eras.
Crystal was the tallest and oldest one of the girls and she had long blond hair which she was very proud of. She always looked gorgeous what ever she wore and if she wouldn't have been a student of GLL she would have been a professional model. She was stylish but bit distant among strangers but with her friends she was warm and caring. Besides of her burning passion for different languages she loved stones and especially crystals. She always wore around of her neck a pendant which was a beautiful piece of rock crystal which her parents had gave to her long time ago.
Jade or JJ was a British Asian half blooded whose mother was from Tokyo and father from London.
She had inherited her mother's think black hair and her father's European looks which both mixed in her in most beautiful way. Her skin was so pale that her father used to call her as "royal Japanese". JJ's most distinctive feature were her eyes, they were so deep green, like jade and every boy who happened to look her into her eyes was mesmerised immediately.
JJ wasn't aware of the power of her eyes and sometimes she felt little bit confused when older boys wanted to have her attention.
Maddie was an energetic girl whose red hair was like cherub's. She was the youngest one of the girls but she was also the bravest. She wasn't afraid of anything and she was a realist, ghost stories only made her laugh and when she smiled a small crack between her upper front teeth was visible to everyone to see. She was greatly ashamed of it and she had begged her dentist father to fix her smile and her father had promised her braces, which had only made it worse.
A crack was ugly already but braces would only increase the mockery which she had to hear when she was walking in the school's corridors.
Nevertheless she would wear those cursed braces and then everything would turn out good.
Fredrika was the tomboy of the gang. She kept her hair very short and she liked to dress up in loose clothes which always gave her little boyish look. Mostly because of her poor judgement of good clothing she was often mistaken as a boy. However she didn't care about it and she always made jokes about it. Her sense of humour was sometimes too sarcastic which really irritated some but her friends had already used to that and mostly they all had good laughs when Fredrika was around.
"How much further we have to walk", asked Maddie when they reached the final top before small woods.
"I think we have reached our destination for today", replied Crystal and studied a little map which she had bought from a train station.
"Good, my legs are killing me", complained JJ and sat on a near by rock, letting her backpack to fall down from her back.
"Now, girls a little exercise will not kill you", Crystal pointed out and hide her little map back into her pocket.
"A little exercise, you say? We have walked nearly six miles and you call that a little", JJ cried out but she was interrupted by Fredrika who tossed a bottle of water on her lap.
"Here JJ take this, I hate to hear your voice when your throat is dry."
Soon the girls had put up their tents and a cheerful campfire lightened the darkness around them.
The night was warm although soft wind blew from the north and it brought a slight scent of northern wilderness within it. Deserted moors of the north had long memory and under the lush carpets of heater laid untold stories of the men who had lived and died on those fields long ago.
Girls took their late night supper sandwiches and gathered around the fire to hear a story.
Fredrika knew always some good stories and every night when they were on camping or having a slumber party, Fredrika was their storyteller.
Tonight she entertained them with one of her numerous stories of King Richard's adventures.
"And there was the brave king Richard surrounded by the vast army of Midnight Serpents, the brutal lizard people whose scales are as black as their hearts. They were about to enslave the rich nation of Mubats. Now Mubats are tiny white haired creatures which love peace and harmony and they have no fighting abilities, so they were easy pickings for the Serpents.
King Richard wanted to help Mubats but it was too late, the Serpents like to use paralyzing poisons which will make their victim immobile", Fredrika told her story while the fire casted its shadows at her.
"Now you are making that up", pointed Maddie.
"So what if I am", asked Fredrika slightly irritated that she was so brutally irrupted.
Sometimes Maddie just couldn't keep her big mouth shut.
"I just prefer the facts over fiction."
"Don't be so boring Maddie, let Fredrika to finish the story before we'll go to sleep", Crystal reproached her.
"I think we all are quite tried already so lets go to bed", Fredrika suggested.
"But I want to know the ending", Crystal insisted.
"Tomorrow, okay?"
JJ put out the fire and all the girls crawled into their sleeping bags after saying good nights to each other.
The night was silent and the air stood still, thick clouds covered the beams of the moon and soon it was pitch black.
Crystal had really enjoyed about Fredrika's tale and she tried to imagine the scenery with her mind's eye. Soon she was able to see the ugly looking lizard creatures whose eyes burned with rage.
She was able to feel the helplessness of the poor Mubats and to see how the intruders tortured and robbed them. Crystal was able to hear the shouts and screams which those poor creatures made before falling into dark nightmare of the poison.
Then she saw the King Richard himself attacking against the enemy.
Many of the lizards fell down by the touch of his sword but there were far too many of them.
He fell down on the snowy field and his eyes were fixed only to Crystal.
"Please help us", he whispered.
His voice was full of agony and terror and it was like he had said it directly into her ear.
This made Crystal to open her eyes in fear but her vision was not yet over.
The tent was bathing in light blue glow and when she lifted up her head to see the source of this unnatural light she saw him.
King Richard was sitting right next to her feet and the expression on his pale face was told about a heavy sorrow.
He looked exactly like how Crystal had imagined him to be.
He was dressed from head to toe in black and long dark hair framed his face which was hardened by the rough life of medieval times.
This sight almost made Crystal to jump out from her skin and she looked at Fredrika who was sleeping right next to her. Fredrika was in deep sleep and she had no clue what was happening in their tent.
Crystal wanted to wake her up but King Richard lifted up his index finger gently pushing it against his lips.
Then he made a long "shush" which sounded more like a snake's hissing.
Cold sweat covered Crystal's skin and she didn't dare to more nor made a sound.
Her stomach was in a knot for pure fear and her heart was banning inside of her ribs like possessed.
"Help us", he repeated.
Crystal wasn't able to speak so she shaped with her lips the word "how?"
"Just beyond the woods lies an old ruin of a chapel, there is a doorway which the four sisters in spirit are supposed to walk though", King Richard whispered.
Okay, Crystal thought a chapel and then what?
"And then enter the doorway", he advised with gentle voice.
Then Crystal felt a strong energy to push her to lie down and a gentle wave of warmth flooded through her entire body. It felt so good and the fear vanished from her heart.
The warmth also brought back the sleep and her eyes started to feel so heavy.
He was there with her, protecting her and calming her down.
Crystal could even smell the light scent of musk around her and feel his weight over her.
"Sleep now but come to help us, please", he whispered.
Crystal drifted back to restful sleep a little smile on her face.
The King of England was asking her to help, how flattering.