Chapter 1

GREAT, A STORY, ZURA!

CLANG! CLANG! BANG! CLANG!

Uzura was wandering around her room, banging her little drum and shouting out random things. She was bored stiff and had no idea what she was going to do for the weekend, seeing as she was too young to go play with her friends.

"I'm bored, zura!" she cried and hit her drum again. "I'm tired of this, zura! I want something to do, zura!"

The door opened and an old man whose hair and beard were whiter than toilet paper and the dumbest looking hat that the young, green haired child ever saw.

"Who are you, zura? Why do you look like some Hawaiian tiki god, zura?" she asked as she stared at the tall man.

"I am Drosselmeyer. You can call me Sugar-daddy or Big-Daddy-Home dog-D!" he said as he walked in.

"You're weird, zura. What do you want, zura?" she asked.

"I'm actually your great grandfather's nephew's cousin's younger brother, so I'm going to read you a story about him and just how tragic his life almost was," Drosselmeyer said and sat on the chair next to the bed.

"Are you sure, zura? You could be a creepy old perv, zura," she said and crawled onto her bed.

"Now this story is called The Princess Duck, it has been in my extended family for generations and since you are so bored today I'm going to read it to you," Drosselmeyer said and opened the book.

"How did you know I was bored, zura?"

"Once upon a time, there was a small country called Gold Crown," Drosselmeyer began.

"You didn't answer my damn question, zura!" she hollered, banging on her drum.

"Where there was a small horse ranch with a sweet young girl named Duck who lived quite peacefully with her always strangely absent parents," Drosselmeyer ignored the small child and continued reading. "She loved the horses that they owned but what she loved most was telling the stable boy, Fakir, what to do. She never called him Fakir because she never took the time to find out his name and she thought it was better for her not to even try to learn it because she was weird like that."

"Stable boy!" she called from one of the horse's stalls.

The taller, older boy walked silently to the stall where Duck had called. She somehow always knew when he would be behind her even though he never made any attempt to announce his presence and she turned around.

"This horse needs more water," she said crossing her arms. "Got get him some more water."

"Of course Miss Duck," he said and left.

"'Of course Miss Duck' was all he would ever say to her. She had no idea that through those words he was trying to convey how he felt about her," Drosselmeyer read. "He did every task she gave him to a hundred and ten percent and never faltered."

"This is lame, zura," Uzura complained. "Is this a romance, zura?"

"In a way, yes. However, if you're patient you will hear about the sword fighting, the dangers escapes from death, evil, and yes even some true love. Now let me continue Uzura," he said.

"It better get good soon, zura, or I'll go ape-sh^# on you're a*$," she said and sat down.

"Dear me, watch you language. Children will be reading this, Uzura. Where was I? Oh yes," Drosselmeyer said and continued. "For many months Duck ordered Fakir around, trying to see just how far he would go. It wasn't a good idea on her part but luckily her morality kicked in and she stopped."

"Dang it, zura!" Uzura cried in disappointment.

"One day she was out riding her horse when she accidently fell off, only a couple hundred yards from the ranch."

Fakir had seen Duck's horse rear up and the small red head fall to the ground. It was a good thing fields were relatively flat or he would have never seen it. He grabbed one of his horses and raced out to help her, still not saying a word. He finally reached her and knelt next to her. She seemed to have hit her head and she had no idea the stable boy was next to her.

He gently slid his arms under her and picked her up, also grabbing the reins of both horses and walking back to the stable. When he got back, there were several people on horseback waiting for them, one was a young woman with thick dark brown hair with deep red eyes. (That's kind of a creepy description, I know.)

"Young man, who owns this stable?" she asked, her nose in the air as if even speaking with this low-life was an insult.

"Her parents," he said, staring without expression at the lady.

"Where are they?"

He shrugged.

"How do you not know?" she asked, annoyed.

"They are just always conveniently absent," he said and began to leave.

"I did not give you permission to leave. What's wrong with her?" she asked, finally noticing the girl.

"She fell."

"How old is she?"

"Sixteen," he said, not turning around.

"I would like to know, how do you keep such fine horses?"

What? Does she have ADHD or something? She keeps changing the subject, he thought then answered the question. "I just feed them and give them exercise."

"Well, you were no help at all. Men let's return, Prince Mytho is awaiting us," she said and road off, the entourage in tow.

Prince Mytho, huh? What does he want with horses? He's got plenty of them.

Fakir shook his head and carried Duck into her room. He laid her down on her bed and got a damp towel for her head. He stayed with her for the rest of the day and through the night until she woke up later the next morning.

"Huh? What happened? How did I get here?" she grumbled as she looked around her room. She saw Fakir walk in with a cup of water or something and she bolted up, making her head spin. "Stable boy? What are you doing in my room?"

He glanced at her but still didn't say a word. He put the cup on the table next to her bed and began to leave when Duck stopped him.

"Stable boy, make…make sure the horses are okay," she said softly, slowly remembering what had happened the day before.

"Of course Miss Duck," he said, just as softly and left the room.