The Curse

The palace was silent, the flickering of the guard's torches illuminated a dim glow outside the kingdom gates but the new born princess was asleep and her mother; the Queen soon to be.

Princess Maura had only been born a week ago and she was silent so Queen Constance took this as an opportunity to get some well earned rest. The doors to the balcony of her bedroom were left open allowing the cool breeze to come in, and the Queen felt safe knowing the guards would protect them from any danger as she got ready for bed and climbed into the sheets, allowing the warmth to pull her into a slumber.

There was a noise outside the doors coming from the balcony and a woman stepped into the room. It was physically impossible for somebody to scale the palace walls to get to her bedroom, which meant they must have used some kind of teleportation spell.

She slowly crept into the room, her black gown trailing onto the floor, she had a serious look on her face and slowly approached the crib in which Maura slept. Her hand began to glow with a mysterious purple aura and she reached down into the crib. The brightness of the magic was enough to awaken the baby who began to wail loudly.

Constance heard her daughter and awoke immediately, she sleepily opened her eyes and saw a woman she thought was long gone and threw herself out of bed. Grabbing the dagger off of the cabinet next to her she approached the figure. "Get away from my daughter. GUARDS!" Her voice was filled with poison at the women standing in front of her.

The sound of armour clinking and heavy footsteps echoed up the staircase as the guards rushed to their superiors command. "Too late Constance, on her sixteenth birthday she will fall and that will be the end of her chances of being queen." She smiled and then in a blink of an eye had disappeared.

Constance rushed to her daughter with tear filled eyes. That was when she woke from the dream; she threw herself upwards in a cold sweat and was breathing heavily. She got out of bed and stepped across the stone floor towards the bathroom.

Turning the tap the water poured out into the marble bowl and she looked at herself in the mirror. Her bed robes were crinkled and the red velvet reminded her of blood. She thought about the date and with horror realised Maura's final birthday was soon approaching.

Sitting in her throne Constance listened to her royal informant; Vince an older man with grey hair and was always friendly to everyone. "Your Majesty someone is here to see you, they say they can find somebody to remove the curse from Maura." For years she had been looking for somebody to remove it, witches, knights and wizards. But all had failed, Constance sighed "let them in." Vince nodded and walked down the stairs and made his way down to the entrance of the throne room.

Constance watched him leave and wasn't expecting this to be any different from any other person; she readjusted the extravagant crown on her head and watched as Vince escorted a knight in silver armour towards the throne.

When they got close, the knight knelt down and Vince went back to the Queen's side. "Please may I ask of you to remove your helmet?" The knight nodded and removed the helmet. Her long black hair fell out and fell onto the shining silver that rested on her shoulders. "You may rise." The knight stood and spoke; "your Majesty, I am Jane Rizzoli and I believe I know somebody with the ability to remove the curse." Her voice was deep and raspy.

Jane despite only being eighteen was a good knight and was strong, she wanted to find a way to lift the curse to prove herself to everyone that a woman can be a knight as well as a man. Her mother; Angela just wanted her daughter to be happy and supported her in any way she could.

So here she stood asking to be allowed to complete the quest. "Why should I give you permission?" Constance was a fair ruler and if she believed this Jane girl could be competent then she would allow her but only if she could prove herself.

"Remember the ogre by Shawdar Rock?" The Queen nodded she was very familiar with that and the memory of it made her head hurt. "I was the one who defeated it." She wasn't trying to sound cocky just trying to prove herself. "That was a very difficult fight, I give you permission to help her, you have 30 days. Fix the curse in that time or I will find somebody else. Don't let me down." Jane nodded; she knew this would be her only chance to prove herself.

Vince walked back down and escorted Jane out of the room but just before she left the room Constance shouted out; "Introduce Jane to Maura." Vince nodded and left the room with Jane.

A/N: Let me know what you thought in the reviews!