CHAPTER 1: MASKED PRINCESS
It was a joyous year for Camelot and Ealdor. The King of Camelot, Uther Pendragon was expecting his first child with his Queen, Ygraine. And the King of Ealdor, Balinor Emrys, was also expecting his first child with his Queen, Hunith.
It was a rainy night when both queens went into labor. In fact, it was the same night.
"Ah!" both queen screamed.
"Hang in there, my love." Balinor paced back and forth outside of the room.
"How is she?" Uther, on the other hand, was more worried about the child than his own wife. He wanted an heir for his dynasty.
Moments later, thunder and lightning struck the flagpole carrying the Emrys crest.
"A princess." The midwife informed the queen. The midwife hurriedly gave the baby to the queen, so she can get the king.
"My beautiful princess." Hunith sat up the bed, not minding the pain. She wiped the baby's face with a cloth and when she saw the baby's eyes, she immediately froze in spot.
"My queen." Balinor reached out his arms when he entered the room.
"Sire, close the door." She pleaded with her eyes. "Please."
The King did what he was told and it was only she and he left in the room.
"My queen, what is the matter?"
"Our daughter." She began to whisper. "She possesses magic."
20 years later…
"Your Highness?" a handmaiden shouted. "Your father will have my head hanged. Where are you?"
Meryln, on the other hand, slyly smiled to herself when she looked at herself in the mirror. She tightened the gauze around her bosom, careful not to reveal any cleavage. She, then, went on and wore her younger brother's breeches and blue tunic.
"It's not enough." She complained to herself. She put her hair in a bun and hid her beautiful raven hair inside the red knitted hat, which her mother had given her before. "Now, I need to hide my face." She looked around her brother's room and mischievously smiled to herself when she found a red scarf that she converted into a neckerchief.
Meanwhile in Camelot…
"Arthur is at a marrying age, sire." Geoffrey commented.
"He is indeed." Uther nodded to him as acknowledgement. "Leave me." Uther ordered the council and they obliged.
He felt his heart aching at the mention of marriage. He felt great sorrow once again when he remembered his late wife, Queen Ygraine. She had died moments after naming their son, Arthur.
Arthur was his only son. He loved him dearly and whoever becomes his wife should be worthy of his son's status.
Meryln, on the other hand, successfully escaped the castle. She was not allowed to go out of the palace because her father was afraid that she would be in danger, especially because of her gifts.
Ever since her parents' discovery of her magic, she was always told to be careful. She was always told to practice magic only when she was alone. The only people in the world who knew about her magic was herself, her mother, her father, and her younger brother, Xalvador, the next in line to the throne.
"Sir!" Meryln whirled around unsure if she was the person called.
"Are you talking to me?" she asked while pointing at herself.
"Yes, sir." The merchant nodded. "How would you like a new dress for your lady?"
She smirked. Her disguise worked.
"You are very kind sir, but I must go now." She bowed courteously.
The merchant was bewildered by her actions. She looked like commoner, but she acted royal almost.
Meryln was enjoying her stroll in the lower town when she saw soldiers being dispatched from a distance.
"Oh no." she bit her lower lip and hid her face using her neckerchief.
"Find her." Other than her father's knights, only the highest ranked soldiers knew of her face. Everybody else was forbidden to look at her face.
FLASHBACK SIX YEARS AGO…
Meryln and her brother were playing in the courtyard one day.
"Meryln, why do you look different?" a thirteen-year-old Xalvador curiously asked her.
"What ever do you mean? I resemble both mother and father." She giggled.
"No, that is not what I mean."
"Then what?"
"You just look royal, that's all."
"You are very strange Xavy. I look like a royalty because I am one. Besides, I read in books that boys grow strangely during your age. You should give yourself more years to grow. If you still look like a disaster, then I will gladly change your face for you." They both shared laughter and began their sword training.
It was not until her fifteenth birthday that they figured out what Xalvador was referring to.
Meryln have bloomed into the most beautiful creature in the world. Her hair was of raven color—long, soft, and thick. Her pale skin only highlighted her symmetrical features. Her eyes were the deepest blue shade—almost like sapphires, her lips, almost as red as the roses. In other words, she possessed a goddess-like face. Perhaps it was her magic that made her look that way.
A drunken soldier almost took advantage of her one night and it was that night that her father ordered her to wear a mask. She was not to take it off around company. Ever since then, she became known as the masked princess.