I run straight to the stables. It was beginning to cloud over, but who cared about a little rain? I'd love to see the look on our guests faces if I rolled in the mud and then returned to the ball looking like a swine. Ha! Oh, that would be a sweet victory over my father. But I can't waste anytime. My new life is starting now. I go over to my horse, Cornmeal, and untie him. I don't bother to grab a saddle. I just mount him and kick hard into his ribs. He rears his giant white head back in a whinny and then we're off. He charges the barn door and bursts it open. We gallop into the rainstorm, the cold water pelting our eyes. I hold onto his mane hair tightly and make him turn left, into the forest. This was the quickest way to the next town. My legs start to feel like ice. When I mounted Cornmeal, I didn't perturb in side saddling. I just hopped on like any boy would. That is how I always loved to ride. With my legs spread. So my dress was bunched up past my knees and my pale legs welcoming the falling rain. I'll do exactly what father didn't want me to do. I'll be raised by wolves. I will be a savage woman, fearless and strong. All I can hear is my hard breathing, the falling rain, and Cornmeal's hard hoof beats against the dirt road. He snorts every once in a while as well as throw is head to his side to shake the rain from his eyes. Good boy, I whisper in his ear. I don't know how long we rode into the forest. My mind was too busy buzzing about, and deciding which way to turn. I suddenly hear the crack of leather and a flash of light. Cornmeal goes wild and bucks up on his back legs. I try with all my might to hold on but it was no use. His back was wet from the rain and I slide off his rump. I hit the ground hard with a yelp. Cornmeal runs off into the forest. I whistle, which was his call to come back. But he doesn't listen to me. I'm stuck in the middle of the wood, in a soaking wet ball gown. I wipe my drenched hair from my face to see where I was. Trees, on each side of the road, as thick as ever. I haven't been this far before. Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?

"Princess…" I hear a snarl from the trees. Where was it coming from? I couldn't see anyone, it was too dark. I continue to whistle for my horse.

My dress was torn. My legs were bloody. I brush debris off my front and peel leaves from my arms. I remove sticks that have imbedded themselves into my thighs and calves. I try to rub the dirt from my face, but my hands are already filthy so it only makes my cheeks worse. Most girls I know would be crying out from the grossness, but me, I enjoy it. I love the feel of the mud against my cold skin. I feel like chewing up the leaves as if to say, I'm tougher then you think, to mother nature. But now, I'm scared. I'm not only trembling from the cold, but from the mysterious horror that was that whisper. Maybe I was just hearing things. But still, I cower.

"Princess…" It comes again.

"S-show yourself!" I stammer. "W-who are y-you?"

"You question my name?" I finally see a shadow moving throughout the trees. "Very well, if it is your wish." Man, I get better service from a stranger then I do from my own father.

The shadow gets bigger and bigger. Finally, I can make out the figure of a man. He finally comes into the light of the path and I want to scream. I inhaled too much dirt, so I can't. He is pretty bulky, wearing an old amber and brown suit. A black and maroon cape covers his shoulders and a bushy mustache sits under his nose, upon his upper lip. He has a bald head, but just above his ears he has a ring of fluffy hair that is the color of rust. He lips appear to be black and he smiles at me with one gold tooth. He wears thick leather gloves and dull brown boots. He looks to be a little shorter then my father and wears a gigantic bronze ring on the middle finger of his right hand. His eyebrows are as bushy as his mustache and his eyes are like blood. Shiny, yes, but a very dead red. His throat is thick and his voice very deep. His grin is nasty as he approaches me. I still sit on the ground, slowly scooting back with every step he makes.

"Don't be frightened." He said. He reaches out a gloved hand. I only retreat even more. "I mean no harm, Princess."

"W-who are you?" I ask once more.

"Me? Well, if you must know," He starts. "I am Lord Altrogge. I'm sure you've heard of me."

"No," I answer hesitantly. "I've never heard of you."

He seems outraged. "That pathetic kingdom or yours doesn't have taste! I knew your father ever since he was a little kid. I was his best friend. A prince and a servant boy, wasn't that atrocious. He should have kept me in! I could have been the king's apprentice! I could have been royalty, loved by all! But no. He had to be greedy, just like he is today." I had to agree with that one. "He kicked me out like a starved and misbehaved dog. Oh, a wife and a kingdom require more attendance then an old buddy. I have to go now, make love to my wife, and produce a rotten heir before I die!" He certainly had an odd way of putting things. "But now, I will take up my revenge."

"What does this have to do with me?" I ask in a more shaky voice then I had hoped.

"I'm very glad you asked that question Princess." Lord Altrogge replies. "For you are of a great deal of importance on my part." He helps me to my feet and starts to walk down the path. "You see, I need royalty to become a royal. So, since you are royalty, all I need to do is to marry you and I will be able to take over your father's kingdom."

"No way!" I protest and try to free myself from his grasp. "You are not going to take that away! I wont' let you!"

"Princess Misty, darling, surely you must reconsider. I would be a fine husband, a fine one indeed!"

I growl. "You're forgetting one important thing! I'm sixteen, you are about thirty seven! I'm not going to marry an old twit!"

"Old twit, am I?" He wasn't pleased.

"Plus," I blurt unexpectedly. "I'm already engaged and to be married tomorrow morning." Why did I say that just after I rejected Ash only an hour ago?

"Well, then…" He glares at me. "We'll just make it so you don't see tomorrow morning!"

What…? And with that, I am hit over the head with his iron fist. I don't know exactly what had happened after that, but I was taken somewhere. I know that only because I woke up somewhere completely different from where I was. The scary part was, I woke up to the face of an old wart- covered woman. Her huge nose pointing at me and smiling with no teeth what so ever. There might have been a few in her wrinkled mouth, but I didn't bother to look, it was too disgusting. She had a gray mop head and looked to be in her seventies. I puff out my cheeks trying to hold in my breath. I couldn't stand to breathe the fowl air around me, which seemed to be protruding out of this woman's mouth. What did she just eat? Rats?

"Beryl, please." I hear Lord Altrogge. The woman grunts and moves away from my face. So, this woman was named after a precious green gem, huh? Well, if you ask me, she wasn't too precious and she made me turn green from repugnance.

I take a look around the room in which I lay. I was seated on a burgundy couch. The walls were made of a pale greenish-gray stone and a large spiral staircase spun itself around a golden pole ahead of me. Behind the stair were some complex instruments and little trinkets. The old woman hobbled over to the side of Lord Altrogge who's back was to me. He was facing one of the large tools that was connected to some glass tubes and beakers that sat next to an odd chair with chains. I hate to see what that thing did. But sad to say, I will very soon.

"I'm glad to see that you are awake." Lord Altrogge said without turning around to face me. "For I still have some questions to ask you."

"Yes?" I say trembling.

"I wanted to give you yet another chance to accept my offer. Be my bride, and I won't have to take drastic measures. Please Misty, I do hate doing this." The Lord pleads. "You are so beautiful and if I took some time to learn more about you, I bet you'd be really kind and sweet. You'd find me to be nothing more then charming, I assure you." Those words boiled up inside me. I heard the same words from my father about Ash and now I'm hearing him brag about himself using the same phrase. Well, I certainly find nothing charming about him. He beat me and took me here against my will. Oh, my hate is building.

"Never." I reply in a low tone. "You had no right to take me here. I demand you let me go at once or I'll…"

"Or you'll what, Princess?" Lord Altrogge laughs. "Go running back to your widdle daddy?"

I'm not going to return to my kingdom ever again. "No."

"Then I suggest you rephrase you last statement before I turn it against you." Lord Altrogge smiles suavely.

I just repeat. "Never." He is officially incensed. "I will never marry you!"

"Then please, have a seat." He starts to walk towards me. I don't get it, I'm already sitting down. He grabs my arms and twists them so hard I can't move. I am forced to follow him to that chair next to the pipes and test tubes. He throws me down into it and his assistant Beryl chains me down.

I am forced to drink this purple infusion that tasted absolutely ghastly. It made my stomach feel like it was on fire and as it flowed through my veins my body twitched uncontrollably. I felt so intoxicated. My mind was boggled and my senses were erased. All I could do is lie there and wait for something to happen. The Lord pushed buttons and pulled levers and bent knobs of all shapes and colors on his special instruments. Beryl who stood next to me cackled under her breath and rubbed her hands together greedily. Abruptly, I am surrounded by a flash of green light and my body screams. My throat flares in the heat of the tragic excitement. My mouth finally opens and I allow a wretched shriek to erupt from it. This goes on and on and on! I don't know how long I can stand this abuse, this torture. The pain running through my arms, my legs. The surging sting that pulses in my head that is never-ending. I hear my shrill scream in an endless long tone of 'Ash'. I caused this. I'm paying the price. It is only my fate. If this will lead to good, only the future knows. Is this going to kill me? Are these machines created by that evil lord capable of destroying life? That is what it is doing. The life is slowly being sucked from my flesh. My body cries for freedom; for help. But, secretly, my mind cries for Ash. I feel a sinking sensation. I'm falling from reality only to enter a world of sheer fantasy, terror, and mystery. A bright flash quiets my throat and my body finally crashes in its flight through discovery.

"Please, don't scowl at me like that." Pleads Lord Altrogge. "It only makes me feel worse." I still look away. It is early morning. The sun hasn't risen yet. It has been at least two hours since I was cursed. Lord Altrogge has explained the rules of my new life many times by now. I'm bored with it. I want to cry. My eyes won't listen to me. I want to cry because I am forced to stay at his castle, by this lake which sustains my life.

"Now, the sun is to come up within minutes." Lord Altrogge reminds me for the millionth time. "You must enter the water, past your head height, in the morning. Same at night before the sun sets. If you fail at that task, you will only suffer and die. I'm sorry, but that's the way it works, Princess Misty. Please understand it is only for your own good. If I just let you free, you'd report my plan to your father and we can't have that can we?" His assistant, Beryl, laughs. I swish my now bare foot through the water. "Oh! Here comes the sun, quickly deer, into the water!" The Lord urges.

I stand and straighten my mistletoe green dress (that has been torn drastically short). I enter the lake and writher my toes through the mucky bottom. I hold my breath and submerge. I wait. I finally feel the sun's rays warm the water and suddenly, I choke. I throw my head out into the air and gasp for breathe. What! I have four legs! I stomp out of the lake and look myself over, or at least as much as I could see. I was a doe. A deer! A female deer. I glance over at Lord Altrogge who smiles at me with that one gold tooth. He only nods and leaves me to dry on the pond's shore of mud, grasses, and little sticks. I fold my legs underneath myself and rest my head down. So, this is how I will live. I, Misty Waterflower, am a doe. This is where I am now. This is how I got here. My life is going to be different. I want to go home. I want Ash. My eye finally allows a tear to fall down my cheek.