Hi everyone! Welcome to my newest story Basilwood. This one has been brewing in my head for a while now, and its my first ever shot at fairytales. Please R&R, if you'd like it to continue. Thanks! :D

Chapter One: Maiku Gets a Mission

It was the stroke of midnight, a few days into December, many, many years ago. In the faraway country of Basilwood the capital city of Hustleville was dark and cold, the usually murky river Mawg a frozen ice rink sparkling beneath the ethereal wreaths of moonlight, the air biting as it whistled through the snow-covered chimney tops. All shimmering and magical it should have looked, like the perfect scene of a Christmas card. But it didn't.

All was not well. There was a bitterness on the breeze and a shiver tremoring down to the bone marrow that had nay to do with the winter weather.

The wizard Sagely Feyton rubbed his calloused, wrinkled hands together slowly in front of the fire as he looked out of his window. He could see the shadow of The Tower in the distance over the rim of his glasses, a long, stony silhouette against the stars that mother nature had woven into the sky like celestial lanterns on her nightly loom, imposing its dread and threat over the townspeople as they slept in their beds.

Somewhere in the dank, dingy confines, a little girl who'd done nothing wrong wasn't sleeping in her bed tonight. She was sleeping in a jail cell.

Sagely's dry lips formed words beneath the bushy, tangled grey nest of a moustache where they claimed residence.

'This isn't right,' he said, his breath a severe sigh that was visible in the chilly room. 'Something has to be done to help her.'

Sagely, a thoughtful, grandfatherly figure in his long purple dressing gown and fluffy olive slippers, shuffled over to a large bookstack and retrieved from it one dusty volume, the title of which shall never be known. He flicked through it with difficulty; his old fingers cramped with arthritis like gnarled tree limbs bent against the forces of nature and his vision difficult and squinty in only the fire and candlelight flickering in the room, but he eventually found what he was looking for. He murmured a few words in a foreign tongue that, admittedly, sounding more like he was hacking up a particularly thick phlegm ball than speaking, and following these words a whisper of an otherworldly nature scurried through the tangible silence of the room on translucent wings.

There was a second where the mice squeaking in the skirting boards stopped squeaking, the tiny candle stopped its burning, and Sagely held his breath.

Then the window blew open and the winter winds rushed in, howling and inviting in many snowflakes that fluttered past a surprised Sagely. They settled in his braid of fine silvery hair, danced around him all excited like children at a party and then came to melt on his wooden floorboards like very ungracious house guests.

The candle, not finding this rude behaviour at all appropriate, snuffed itself out in a jiffy and stood looking dark and smoky and faintly insulted.

'Oh bugger,' said Sagely Feyton in firm vehemence, nearly blown away in all the commotion.

The elderly wizard slammed the book shut in his hands and crossed the room one foot at a time, muttering more oaths under his breath that were not otherworldly in any way but were quite rude, and pushed shut the window with difficulty. The wind screamed and howled its protest, but was shut out, and Sagely gathered himself.

He straightened his floppy purple nightcap with the pompom on the end, pushed his glasses up his roman nose so that his gentle, pale blue eyes could better serve him, and took a deep breath. He was far too old for this nonsense.

'Alright guvna?' greeted a voice from the gloom behind him. It was the voice of the youthful; rippling with mockery and cheek and indulgent charm. 'Getting a bit old for this lark, aintcha?'

Sagely drew himself up to his full, hunched height of five foot, and turned around to look at his visitor. 'Really, Maiku. Must we go over this every time I summon you? That is no way to talk to your Lord, to whom you have sworn loyalty.'

Maiku, currently helping himself to Sagely's cup of tea, grinned. 'Every time? If I've told you once I've told you a zillion times, guvna, don't exaggerate.' He sipped the tea, grimaced, and then spat it back into the tea cup. Sagely sniffed in dignified, silent outrage. 'Ugh,' said Maiku, 'Disgusting, this is.'

'It's finest Darjeeling,' said Sagely from behind gritted teeth, always willing to defend the honour of a good old cup of tea. He leaned over and relit the indignant candle, flooding every surface with that orangey glow that feels like a big warm hug on winter days. 'No-one is asking you to drink it or, for that matter, offering you a cup.'

Maiku wasn't listening; he was picking up Sagely's mince pie. 'Get a better drink from wringing out one of the stiffs floating down the Mawg I would,' he said, popping the pastry parcel into his mouth and nodding in approval. 'That's more like it,' he approved with a satisfied grin, spraying crumbs. 'Nuthin beats food from the human realm. What can I do you for, guvna?'

Sagely raised his white eyebrows, taking in the less than awe inspiring sight before him. Maiku was a skinny lad, a good six foot when he wasn't bent over nicking your food or pinching a dame's bum, with a pale complexion hidden by an opulent red and gold venetian mask that settled upon his high cheekbones and rimmed his twinkling, discerning mauve eyes. The single teardrop etched upon the mask on the left side was at odds with the eerie humour in Maiku's timeless eyes and on the curl of his lips as he smiled. He smiled constantly like a clown, even when there was little to smile about, and his wild, flyaway curly jet black hair made him look slightly mad.

From Sagely's experience, this appearance wasn't misleading.

Maiku was Sagely's least favourite subject, but with all the foul play going on in the country's dark ages every other magical being was tied up for months. Basilwood's genies, fairy godmothers, ghostly ancestors and yes, even the pixies (heaven forbid. Sagely didn't like them, the noisy, thieving little rotters were as bad as leprechauns) were either taking a holiday break or were worked off their feet trying to kiss this princess or help this prince pluck a sword out of a stone or wave a wand and help this servant girl find the man of her dreams by turning fruit into vehicles (another thing Sagely didn't approve of; a waste of perfectly good food, in his opinion, was never an acceptable thing when people on the street were dying of starvation).

With no-one else on hand to do the job, the bottom of the proverbial barrel had to be scraped. Desperate times called for desperate measures. His thoughts going out to that innocent little girl locked up in her lonely cell, the wizard Sagely Feyton fixed Maiku with his most authoritative stare.

'Look here, demon,' he said softly. 'I don't like you, and you've made it clear that you don't like me…'

'You don't like me?' Maiku protested with a wounded little grin, flopping down on Sagely's armchair in a nonchalant manner and resting his boots on the furnishings. 'Ah stop it guv. You'll break me art.'

'But,' Sagely continued, ignoring him, 'I summoned you for a reason. Tonight, a terrible miscarriage of justice occurred within the royal family.' Feeling older and wearier than he had in a long time, Sagely took the seat across from Maiku, sinking into the cushions and pulling his robes around his wizened form. 'Our good and gracious King Richard has been slain by his brother Prince Victor so that he might claim the throne. There will be a cover-up, and they will claim an unknown intruder murdered the king. Prince Victor, or Vic the Viper as he is affectionately known by all who know of his vicious temper, will be the new sovereign of Basilwood. Do kindly remove your feet from my table, demon, you're getting brimstone on the varnished birch finish.'

Maiku yawned and tucked in his legs. 'So what?' he said as he did so, shrugging exaggeratedly. 'It happens every day. Bad things happen to good people. Swines rule empires and dominate the masses, their heads swelling so large that eventually their crown pop right off their noggins and send rubies and sapphires flying all around like missiles, peeoing, peeoing, knocking out bystanders. You must've seen this before, right guv? I mean, you're so old you must've seen it all.' Maiku paused. 'Any chance of another mince pie?'

'If you could kindly take a moment to think of something other than your stomach, the death of King Richard isn't what spurred me into action. Though he was a good, wise and fair king, battles between men is not something I involve myself in.'

'Then what got you leaping out of your rocking chair?' asked Maiku, not sound very interested. He was picking at lint on the arm of the chair. 'A good dose of prune juice?'

'Insolent demon,' Sagely retorted. 'The fate of an innocent is what spurred me into action. The code of chivalry prevents me looking the other way when I know of what will become of the princess now that Vic's evil plot is in motion. Young Princess Conchata, first daughter of Richard, is in line for the throne and is therefore in the line of fire. Victor will make certain that something terrible befalls her…if we don't act.'

A faint glimmer of intrigue was now reflected in the murky depths of Maiku's eyes, shadows diminishing, yet the wavering light peering out from between the slits of his crimson mask seeming just as terrible. 'You want me to off Vic the Viper so girly gets the crown?'

'You'll do no such thing,' said Sagely, his pompom swinging as he shook his head in earnest.

Maiku tilted his head to one side. 'Then what do you want, guvna?'

'You're to save the princess, Maiku.'

The second moment of stillness overtook the small room, followed by Maiku's derisive barking laughter.

'Don't laugh, demon.'

'Sorry guv, pardon me, I thought you was serious for a minute.'

'I am serious.'

Maiku grinned, flashing white teeth. 'I can't save any damsel in distress,' he exclaimed, with a flourishing, dismissive hand gesture. 'Not without ravishing the wee lass' soul in the bargain.' He enunciated 'ravishing' with glee, rolling the r.

'I don't think you appreciate this poor little girl's current situation. Promising away her soul might seem an attractive prospect when she learns what her Uncle is planning for her.'

'I get it,' Maiku smiled, 'the slim white column of our princess' throat has a date with ol Mr Chopping Block.'

'Crudely put, but precisely right. Whether or not she chooses to accept your help is up to her, but we have to give her this chance. It's the only chance she'd got.' Sagely laced his old, weary fingers together, feeling his bones creaking. He peered glumly over the table at Maiku, at the barmy hair, haunted eyes and black, vagabond clothes with all their silver buckles attached and gleaming like dewdrops on a spider's web after the rain. What was it coming to? What was the world coming to, he wondered, when little girls were treated like this by their own family, and good citizens had to turn to demons for help in saving them? What was it coming to when a princess had to choose between her life…and her afterlife?

'In this case,' Sagely summed up gravely, heaving a great and mournful sigh, 'you may be the lesser of two evils, Maiku.'