Chapter One: The Starting Point
Aurora's kindness had been the main source of ire for the King. A weakness unfit for one who shared his blood and named as his successor. She treated everyone alike, whether they were nobility or lowly rabbles. She mingled among the filthy commoners and acted like she was one of them; playing in dirt and even letting their grimy hands touched her. Make peace with the fairies, she said. Take a common girl as a squire, she proposed. Listen to the wisdom of an uneducated boy, she suggested. What came out from her mouth was always nothing but hubris and folly.
Fortunately, she was blessed with both beauty and a lovely singing voice. And at the very least, she understood and practiced the mannerism befitting of a royalty. With those combined, she could charm anyone she met easily, without even having the need to try. That was her saving grace. He deemed those pixies to be not completely useless after all.
The King, in his boundless love, turned his eyes away from her daughter more… rambunctious nature, knowing when she come of age, it would not be hard to find a worthwhile husband for her to marry.
The Princess was seven years old when she first heard of the word 'Moors'. She did not know what the word meant; just that her father would have a very scary look on his face at the mere mention of it. One day, she decided to ask her nanny. But alas, Aurora failed to fully understand the old woman's story. Since for some reason, she would do so with hushed voice and used the kind of words that a child would not yet possess.
She tried asking others too, the cook, the stable boy, her tutor, other kids in the castle, captain of the guards. Their answers differed; for example, her tutor would open the map and showed her where it was, about how many had ventured there and never return; the captain would tell her not to be afraid of their dark creatures since he would protect her with his life; the other kids, she suspected, didn't really know much about it too, they mostly just tried to scare her with made up stories.
At the end, she still didn't quite understand what Moors was, except that it was located right outside of the Kingdom's border. But one thing was clear to her; the fact that everyone, in various degree, held some sort of fear toward the magical forest. Also, that in truth, they didn't know that much more about it than her either.
Aurora remembered that she dreamed the night the word Moors became a part of her. Not much of it was left in her memory when morning came, but her young mind knew that it was not an ordinary dream. Whisper of a song she never heard of, and a hazy form of a figure. She could not make out its face, yet somehow she knew it was smiling. At her. And she couldn't help but to smile back.
When a blurry arm was stretched out, beckoning for her to take it, she was rooted in place. Whether in awe or in fright, she did not know. For the figure in front of her had wings on its back and a pair of horns adorning its head.
The vision was rare and it would come when she least expected it. Appearing when she started to forget, as if as it served as a reminder.
Unfortunately, Aurora would not grasp its meaning until many more years to come.
She started sneaking out of the castle when she was ten. Winter had come early that year and the Kingdom was blanketed in white. Aurora had planned the escape for some time. She had always wondered what the world beyond the massive wall surrounding the castle was like. She knew her father would not allow the act if she was to ask, he didn't even approve of her interacting with people outside those he deemed worthy, which only included the nobility and the gentry. Thus, sneaking out was the best way to go, she long decided.
She 'borrowed' one of the kitchen boy's cloak to disguise herself and boarded the merchant's wagon that was parked in the stable. She sat in the corner, making room for herself among the trade goods and kept her heads low, hood covering her head.
She felt her breath hitched when she heard the merchant came approaching with a soldier.
"That's the last of it?" the soldier asked, his armor clanking noisily as he walked.
"Y-yes, sire. As per the K-King's order." The merchant stammered nervously.
"Yeah? Well, don't forget to bring in more next week. You do know what happen to those who disobey the King, hm?"
More stammering, "Yes, o-of course sire. I would not even d-dream of it."
"Good. Go then, be on your way."
The merchant muttered some more pleasantries before getting on the wagon. Shouts ordering the gate to be opened echoed, and Aurora felt both tremendous nervousness and excitement.
When she sneaked back into the castle as the sun started to set, the young Princess had already hatched a new plan in the back of her mind for the next time she wished to travel outside again.
It was on the third outing that a few people accidentally found out who she was. After her successful first try, Aurora decided that the best time to go out for the second time was the week after (it went as flawless as the first one.) And the next followed not far behind it.
On that seemingly normal day, the young Princess was just walking around, admiring the bustling market and its various goods, when she was suddenly struck by a cold soft object on the head.
She yelped and turned around to find a group of kids, staring tauntingly at her with snowballs on their hands. "Hey there." A boy with a cheeky smirk greeted somewhat smugly.
Aurora stared at him in disbelief. Did he just do what she thought he did? "Did you just him me with a snowball?" she expressed her thought.
"What do you think?" the girl beside him answered, wearing the same mischievous expression as the boy.
The Princess' jaw hanged open for a short moment before it broke into a large grin. She had only ever read about the game in books, and after throwing a snowball at her unsuspecting father to imitate what she had read (she knew now how foolish that was) the King made sure that she would never do it again.
Her heart beat fast in giddiness and it became harder to stand still, "I think," she crouched, picking up a handful of the white powder, "You're going to regret it."
The war lasted for a while, until the children fell down to the ground while panting in exhaustion and an unsaid ceasefire was agreed.
Her hood was down, her golden hair spilled wildly on the ground and she was cold all over, but Aurora never felt happier. She stared at the grey sky with a big smile on her face. A tug on her sleeve made her turned her head sideways. The same girl was lying near, with the boy sitting up on her side. "We've never seen you around before, I'm Emma. And this is my brother, Erik." She said pointing at the boy. He waved at her with a big smile.
Still flooding with exhilaration and the eagerness to make friends, the Princess smiled widely and blurted out without thinking, "I'm Aurora!"
At first, they just nodded at her and were about to introduce the 'new girl' to the others when the familiarity of the name hit them. They instantly snapped their heads towards her and stared disbelievingly. Aurora's eye went wide as she realized what she'd just said. Before she managed to make some kind of explanation or excuse, Emma gasped and shouted out, "You're the Princess!"
Everything went silent immediately. The chattering of the kids died down; they had obviously heard the girl's declaration. Erik was still staring at Aurora like he still couldn't believe what was happening. Aurora looked at both of them with pleading eyes, and with a low voice begged them, "Please, no one else can know. Please."
After what it felt like hours of staring and gaping mouth, Emma was the first one to recover. She reached out for the disguised Princess' hand and gave it a light squeeze while smiling apologetically. "Hey everyone, gather around!" she called out. Aurora turned pale and felt as if she was just doused with cold water. But then Erik stood beside her and patted her shoulder reassuringly.
The other kids slowly approached them. Every one of them openly stared at Aurora, as if she was some sort of an unknown creature. Emma ignored them and helped her to stand up instead, "This is…" she looked at her for a while before nodding to herself, "…Rose. She just came from out of town. Help her out if you see her in trouble will you?"
They all still looked uncertain and somewhat nervous, feet shuffling anxiously. Some even looked like they were ready to bolt.
Erik mouthed to her what seemed to be the word 'sorry' before looping his arm around her shoulder. The Princess staggered slightly, but was quickly steadied by the boy's strong grip, "Yeah, her name is Rose." He glanced at his sister who smiled and winked at him conspiratorially, "We'll see her around, won't we?"
Aurora gave a shy nod, while Emma tangled their arm together and gave her a small nudge.
The casual way the sibling treated the Princess seemed to encourage the other kids a little bit. The youngest boy stepped forward with a tentative smile, "You have a really bad aim."
This prompted some chuckling, and a giggle from Aurora. Emma grinned, "Well, but she got Henry good, didn't she?"
An answer from another girl, "Everyone did."
There was an indignant huff by said boy, but everyone was laughing in agreement. Just like that, the heavy atmosphere was lifted. Some of the bolder ones approached the Princess, and began to talk to her simultaneously, "Welcome to town!" "My name's Roy!" "My Ma and Pa are the best bakers in town!" "Hope we can be the best of friends!" Soon every one of them was circling her, introducing themselves excitedly and telling her about the places where they would usually meet; promises to take her to all the special spots in the city were also made.
Aurora happily agreed with every one of them, smiling brightly all the while. The cold didn't touch her after that.
When she was thirteen, Aurora already knew all the best way to get out of the castle unnoticed. The guards' patrol time and path. Their habit; which ones were vigilant and which ones were more likely to have a hangover or fall asleep on duty. Which part of the walls were lightly guarded, and where all the watchtower's blind spot were. When would a wagon come and when would it leave. Her favorite path was climbing down the vines that had growth so thick along the eastern part of the wall, it could support her weight.
She wrote them all down in detail in a notebook which she took from her father's study. Strangely, of all the beautiful dresses and expensive toys that she had, the small plain book was her most prized possession.
Spreading her Kingdom map in front of her, she circled the place that was right at the edge of the sketch. Her finger traced the rough drawing of a forest, eyes shining in exhilaration.
This was the time when the Princess decided to finally venture to the mythical forest of Moors.
A/N: That's all for chapter one, hope you guys liked it! Any feedback is welcomed!