Chapter 1

Darkness encompassed the land surrounding the kingdom completely. Except for one little spot of light, that is. This light eminated from a lantern carried by a lone figure draped in a cloak as dark as the night. The figure hobbled along slowly, but with purpose. To anybody else, they seemed to be heading towards the middle of nowhere. But the form soon found what they were looking for as they stopped and fell to their knees near the edge of a cliff.

The figure then lifted the hood of their cloak away from their face, revealing an old face with eyes staring greedily at the prize only she knew the location of. Gothel, as the woman was called, reached forwards and grabbed at what appears to be darkness and pulled. It was only then that the prize, a golden flower, was revealed.

Upon setting her eyes on it, the greed that shone in her grey steely eyes grew stronger and a pleased smile spread across her face. Most people had heard of the flower and its magical healing abilities - it could return anyone to their healthiest state with a touch and a song. According to myths, centuries ago the flowers used to grow in fields all over the kingdom. That was, until the locals found out about the properties of the flowers and attempted to harvest them, for their own use and to sell. By the time they realised that the flower lost the healing properties after only a few days of being harvested they had exhausted most of the crop and couldn't seem to successfully grow more. Knowledge of the flower had spread to other kingdoms, which resulted in only one flower being left, hidden away from most. That was until Gothel found it 50 years ago.

"Flower gleam and glow

Let your powers shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine

Heal what has been hurt

Change the fates design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was mine

What once was mine"

Gothels voice started the song old and worn out, but by the 5th line it had changed. It was young and bold. Her physical features had also changed at the same time as her voice. Her thin grey hair had thickened and become a deep black. The wrinkles that had once decorated her features harshly were now gone and her pale skin had smoothed out. The only feature that remained the same were her eyes - the greedy gleam to them remained as she put the cover that hid the flower from the world back in place before turning to leave.

What she never realised was that her cloak had caught the woven cover, causing it to topple and fall into the sea below the cliff.

The queen lay in her bed, tired and weak. However, her illness did not wipe the smile of joy off her face at the knowledge of her pregnancy. She was weeks from birth and the pregnancy paired with her unknown ailment had rendered her bed-ridden for the last two months. She rubbed her distended stomach, imagining the children - for she knew there were two - within.

It was then that the king rushed in to the room, heading immediately for the bed to sit next to his wife. Entering behind him was the court physician, a strict but kind elderly man with whispy white hair and slightly shaky hands. He examined her quickly, as he had done every week for the past month, before declaring:

"The sickness is worsening, your Highnesses. At this point, with the state you are in with the pregnancy, there is only one option. However, it is merely a legend. Once, long ago, the land was blessed with a gift of health. It was always said to be down to a flower that glows a golden colour - it could be seen from miles off at night. This flower, if ingested, could cure any illness - it returns a person to the healthiest possible with just a song."

He paused and took a breath, his slight optimism fading, " However, they haven't been seen in this kingdom for years. Although rumours suggest that there is one left, hidden in the forest facing the sea."

Hearing this, the King glanced at the head of the guard, who caught his gaze and nodded subtley before slipping out of the room.

The sound of hooves thundering against the floor of the woods was soothing to William. He knew that the Queen's life was dependent upon the small troop of men that had been sent out in search of the flower.

He had been riding for about half an hour before he spotted it - a flash of gold from the corner of his eye. He pulled at his horse, Maximus', reins and jumped off him. Signalling for Max to stay where he was stood, William strode purposefully towards the glowing object. He knew that there was nothing to fear - it was just a flower. He wandered through the trees, finally breaking out into clear grass. The grass lead to a cliff edge that had a shallow fall before giving way to a larger ledge.

However William was not paying attention to the clearing, but what the clearing contained. A few feet in front of him lay a golden flower. It glowed in the darkness, lighting up the surrounding area with surprising strength. He vaguely noticed a basket-like object on the ground next to the flower, but bore it no mind. Instead, he grabbed the box he had retreived from his room to put the flower in and cut it from the ground. Upon placing the delicate treasure into the box, he stowed it away in his armour and whistled the rest of his team.

He then proceeded to mount Maximus and speed off to the castle, his men following him and a feeling of hope welling up in his chest.

Gordon was tired. That wasn't an uncommon occurance, especially with the Queen's illness and pregnancy. Ever since her illness had renderred her bed-ridden, he was used to being awakened in the dead of night with news of new symptoms or scares. So when there was a round of insistent knocking on the door of his quarters, he just sighed and heaved his old body out of bed and shuffled over to stop the noise.

Opening the door, he saw the Head of the Guards cradling a small wooden box against his middle protectively. Gordon gave the younger man a look that suggested he wanted this interaction to be over-with. I response, the guard passed the wooden box to Gordon, opening it as he did so. In doing that he revealed the golden glowing flower that he had been describing to the Rulers earlier that day.

The sight of it seemed to give Gordon a blast of energy that sent him hurrying back into his rooms to grab his medical equipment before running out of the door and towards the royal chambers, grabbing the box off the startled guard on the way and ordering him to fetch the King from his rooms.

Ignoring his old and tired joints, he jogged to the Queen's chambers, only pausing to knock speedily before entering despite receiving no immediate answer. Once inside he started setting up his equipment on the dressing table, placing the flower delicately on the side next to his cauldron. He started mixing, not paying attention as the Queen awoke and attempted to find out what he was doing. In fact, he only responded to her questions when the King pulled gently on his shoulder and demanded he listen to his Queen.

It was then that he responded to the Queen's questions - "The flower, the one I described earlier, has been found by your guards. I am able to make an elixir out of it that will save you, Your Majesty!"

In a very similar way to Gordon's own response earlier, the King suddenly got a lease of energy and a light of hope and happiness entered his eyes.

"Well, we better leave you to it then!" The king pronounced happily before joining his wife on the bed and whispering to her sweetly, happy smiles spreading on their tired faces.