I had always thought I was a little different. Not in a bad way, but
Jessica, my older sister, would have said otherwise. I was just different.
I never did what people told me to do. I was a rebel at heart. I hated living in royalty and needed to get out. It seems I still am, although I am older. I still disagree with everything I must do. It sometimes leaves me with the feeling that I'm as bad as my brothers and sisters used to be.
My brothers and sisters thought I was different, too. I was always being picked on because I always wore rags and played with the kids in town. None of the people at the kingdom were aware of my doings. They were to busy with the other spoiled brats in my family.
I was one of twelve children in the royal family of Kyrria. Five boys and seven girls. This was a lot of children to be born in Frell. Not many royal families consisted of more than three children. We had twelve children in ours. Thirteen if you count they one that was supposed to be born before mother and father disappeared. I was the youngest of twelve. It was worse than being eaten by five ogres at one time.
I wasn't horribly deformed or anything, but my hair was an unusual color. My hair was black. It was weird because my brothers and sisters all had light colored hair. My hair is straight and jet black like the color of a black raven. My favorite color was and still is red. That's how I got the nickname Red Raven. Other children in the castle picked me on because they all had light, fair hair.
My eyes are purple. Purple eyes were also not a common color, which made it even worse.
Plus, my brothers blame me for making the amount of girls and boys uneven. They blame me for everything that happens. And I usually get in trouble for it.
I started to think I was cursed and no one could touch me because I would contaminate them. When I cried, the only people who would hug me was Mandy and the other chefs and servants, but they was usually out in the kitchen or cleaning. I was always stuck in the library or study, needlepointing or being taught manners.
I never cared for manners to people who did not deserve it. I was usually scolded, hit, thrown in the dungeon, or all three if I messed up on needlepointing or told my siblings to shut up because they were making fun of me.
I was never allowed to read books or go to school. I was taught to not waste my pretty head on philosophy or other forms of learning. They hit me for trying to take a book as well, though Mandy secretly taught me to read and write in the kitchen after dinner when everyone went to take short rests. She was pretty much my only friend.
Except for George, of course. George was fourteen at the time. He was the only sibling I had that did not deserve to be thrown in a group of hungry ogres. Over that period of my life, he became the only person of royalty who I did not dislike tremendously. He had a kind heart and helped me a lot to get through the time when our parents went missing. He became like a parent to me, even when I knew he was just my silly older brother.
"Why do you always grumble and slump during needlepoint, Miss Hailey? Queen Ella wouldn't have liked it," said Madame Shanodad one afternoon. She seemed to be in a very bad mood that day, though her good mood was like someone else's bad mood. She always mentioned the missing king and queen's names when she was mad. It had started to become a habit that no one liked, especially the young princes and princesses. Including me.
When mother and father left, we were taken care of by my grandparents. They had let go of the throne when mother and father got married, but came back to help when they disappear.
A hole in my heart was torn deeper every time my mother or father's name was mentioned. It was too hard to handle. So I never talked about it. I had not said my mother or father's name in five months since they disappeared.
Of course, people talked. They spread gossip. They mocked the kingdom for its stupidity on letting both the king and queen go into the forest to fight a group of ogres. I for one think it was stupid of them to go at all. They should have left it for the knights to handle. Plus, mother was pregnant with her thirteenth child. She always wanted to have a large family.
I can't blame them, though. After my father got married and stopped hunting ogres for about a month, he got bored. The knights desperately needed him, so they asked him back. He accepted and told my mother to come too, since she had experience with ogres and spoke the language. Her nickname was Court Linguist. I admire her spirit and individuality. She would have understood my tortured heart if she was with me at the castle.
I didn't blame them for leaving and getting some excitement in this boring life. I blamed them for disappearing in the forest and never coming back. I blamed them for getting into danger and not being able to get out. They were better than that. They should have been able to get back to the castle.
"If you slump one more time, I am going to personally put you in the dungeon. Do not move one inch!" shouted Madame Shanodad as she stared though my face.
I was afraid at that point. If she was in a bad mood, she would leave me in the dungeon for more than a week. She would even leave me in a cell with a prisoner that killed someone. And do all of that just to prove she was evil.
After about an hour in one position, I slumped. I didn't mean too. It sort of just happened. I thought she didn't notice, but she did.
She stared at me with angry flames in her eyes. She shouted, "Come with me, Hailey, to the dungeon."
I was terrified, I was terrified of them all, so I did what any normal nine- year-old girl would do, and I ran away. I ran so fast that my eldest brother John, who was seventeen at the time, could not even catch me.
I shouted goodbye to George and I ran through the halls to the kitchen where I asked Mandy for anything that would help me survive alone in the woods. I told her how horrible it would be like if I stayed and that I wanted to find my parents. She gladly answered yes and snapped her fingers as a tiny box appeared in my hand and a backpack on my back.
"This box was a present to your parents from another fairy at their wedding. It grows and shrinks to carry anything. The backpack holds everything you might need on your trip and I made it. I hope you find your parents, Hailey. I trust you. Bring them back to everyone here in Frell. Get on your horse and ride until you reach the forest. Hurry now, I think I hear someone coming," said Mandy as she said goodbye and wished me luck.
I ran to the stables, found the two horses my parents had given me for my eighth birthday and that had been the best. I rode into the darkening forest ahead. I had no clue what I was looking for, just that I needed to find it.
Five years passed and I still could not find anyone. I travel for miles and miles on horseback and never gave up. I knew I would find them. I could not turn back.
I lived by myself and with my horses, which were fairy horses and never got old or got sick. I lived off of the backpack that never ran out of supplies.
I wrote frequently to Mandy who told me all about the backpack she had given me. It created everything I needed. It could even make a house if I wanted. All I had to do was hold it and think of a house and it appeared when I opened the bag. I never did ask for a house or any type of large luxury. I enjoyed roughing it in the forest day after day.
One day I saw some smoke through the trees in the forest while I was sitting next to my tent. I went over to investigate and what I saw amazed me.
I never did what people told me to do. I was a rebel at heart. I hated living in royalty and needed to get out. It seems I still am, although I am older. I still disagree with everything I must do. It sometimes leaves me with the feeling that I'm as bad as my brothers and sisters used to be.
My brothers and sisters thought I was different, too. I was always being picked on because I always wore rags and played with the kids in town. None of the people at the kingdom were aware of my doings. They were to busy with the other spoiled brats in my family.
I was one of twelve children in the royal family of Kyrria. Five boys and seven girls. This was a lot of children to be born in Frell. Not many royal families consisted of more than three children. We had twelve children in ours. Thirteen if you count they one that was supposed to be born before mother and father disappeared. I was the youngest of twelve. It was worse than being eaten by five ogres at one time.
I wasn't horribly deformed or anything, but my hair was an unusual color. My hair was black. It was weird because my brothers and sisters all had light colored hair. My hair is straight and jet black like the color of a black raven. My favorite color was and still is red. That's how I got the nickname Red Raven. Other children in the castle picked me on because they all had light, fair hair.
My eyes are purple. Purple eyes were also not a common color, which made it even worse.
Plus, my brothers blame me for making the amount of girls and boys uneven. They blame me for everything that happens. And I usually get in trouble for it.
I started to think I was cursed and no one could touch me because I would contaminate them. When I cried, the only people who would hug me was Mandy and the other chefs and servants, but they was usually out in the kitchen or cleaning. I was always stuck in the library or study, needlepointing or being taught manners.
I never cared for manners to people who did not deserve it. I was usually scolded, hit, thrown in the dungeon, or all three if I messed up on needlepointing or told my siblings to shut up because they were making fun of me.
I was never allowed to read books or go to school. I was taught to not waste my pretty head on philosophy or other forms of learning. They hit me for trying to take a book as well, though Mandy secretly taught me to read and write in the kitchen after dinner when everyone went to take short rests. She was pretty much my only friend.
Except for George, of course. George was fourteen at the time. He was the only sibling I had that did not deserve to be thrown in a group of hungry ogres. Over that period of my life, he became the only person of royalty who I did not dislike tremendously. He had a kind heart and helped me a lot to get through the time when our parents went missing. He became like a parent to me, even when I knew he was just my silly older brother.
"Why do you always grumble and slump during needlepoint, Miss Hailey? Queen Ella wouldn't have liked it," said Madame Shanodad one afternoon. She seemed to be in a very bad mood that day, though her good mood was like someone else's bad mood. She always mentioned the missing king and queen's names when she was mad. It had started to become a habit that no one liked, especially the young princes and princesses. Including me.
When mother and father left, we were taken care of by my grandparents. They had let go of the throne when mother and father got married, but came back to help when they disappear.
A hole in my heart was torn deeper every time my mother or father's name was mentioned. It was too hard to handle. So I never talked about it. I had not said my mother or father's name in five months since they disappeared.
Of course, people talked. They spread gossip. They mocked the kingdom for its stupidity on letting both the king and queen go into the forest to fight a group of ogres. I for one think it was stupid of them to go at all. They should have left it for the knights to handle. Plus, mother was pregnant with her thirteenth child. She always wanted to have a large family.
I can't blame them, though. After my father got married and stopped hunting ogres for about a month, he got bored. The knights desperately needed him, so they asked him back. He accepted and told my mother to come too, since she had experience with ogres and spoke the language. Her nickname was Court Linguist. I admire her spirit and individuality. She would have understood my tortured heart if she was with me at the castle.
I didn't blame them for leaving and getting some excitement in this boring life. I blamed them for disappearing in the forest and never coming back. I blamed them for getting into danger and not being able to get out. They were better than that. They should have been able to get back to the castle.
"If you slump one more time, I am going to personally put you in the dungeon. Do not move one inch!" shouted Madame Shanodad as she stared though my face.
I was afraid at that point. If she was in a bad mood, she would leave me in the dungeon for more than a week. She would even leave me in a cell with a prisoner that killed someone. And do all of that just to prove she was evil.
After about an hour in one position, I slumped. I didn't mean too. It sort of just happened. I thought she didn't notice, but she did.
She stared at me with angry flames in her eyes. She shouted, "Come with me, Hailey, to the dungeon."
I was terrified, I was terrified of them all, so I did what any normal nine- year-old girl would do, and I ran away. I ran so fast that my eldest brother John, who was seventeen at the time, could not even catch me.
I shouted goodbye to George and I ran through the halls to the kitchen where I asked Mandy for anything that would help me survive alone in the woods. I told her how horrible it would be like if I stayed and that I wanted to find my parents. She gladly answered yes and snapped her fingers as a tiny box appeared in my hand and a backpack on my back.
"This box was a present to your parents from another fairy at their wedding. It grows and shrinks to carry anything. The backpack holds everything you might need on your trip and I made it. I hope you find your parents, Hailey. I trust you. Bring them back to everyone here in Frell. Get on your horse and ride until you reach the forest. Hurry now, I think I hear someone coming," said Mandy as she said goodbye and wished me luck.
I ran to the stables, found the two horses my parents had given me for my eighth birthday and that had been the best. I rode into the darkening forest ahead. I had no clue what I was looking for, just that I needed to find it.
Five years passed and I still could not find anyone. I travel for miles and miles on horseback and never gave up. I knew I would find them. I could not turn back.
I lived by myself and with my horses, which were fairy horses and never got old or got sick. I lived off of the backpack that never ran out of supplies.
I wrote frequently to Mandy who told me all about the backpack she had given me. It created everything I needed. It could even make a house if I wanted. All I had to do was hold it and think of a house and it appeared when I opened the bag. I never did ask for a house or any type of large luxury. I enjoyed roughing it in the forest day after day.
One day I saw some smoke through the trees in the forest while I was sitting next to my tent. I went over to investigate and what I saw amazed me.