Disclaimer: I do not own anything written by the fantastic Gail Carson Levine. The only things that are mine are anything that you do not recognise – i.e – most characters and the plot.

Summary: Sarah, Ella's daughter, is kidnapped on the night of her debutante ball. At first she does not know what her captors want from her, but when she does her life is changed forever. What follows is an adventure featuring magic, mayhem, romance, elves, balls and a prince in disguise!

A/N: I am so pleased about the amount of reviews that I have been given. Special thanks go to carebare-jaininey, babyjayy, shima and tempis, les, elfie and naughty little munchkin. I would list all my reviewers but I am too lazy.

Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 8:

The Curse

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Sarah took a deep breath. "It is a long story. Basically, there once was a fairy called Lucinda. She was an extremely foolish fairy and used to constantly practice big magic. This was unlike other fairies, who were wiser than Lucinda. Most fairies hid the truth about powers but Lucinda constantly loved to show them off. She would attend any celebration of any kind. From weddings to seeing newly born babies."

Sarah looked at Christian, trying to see his reaction. Fairies were incredibly rare and she wondered whether the Prince believed her. His face gave no clue to what he actually thought and Sarah decided to pursue with her story.

"At these celebrations Lucinda liked to constantly bestow 'gifts'. It was when my mother was born that she gave one of her worst. She gave my mother the 'gift of obedience'. My mother, whose name was Ella, had to obey any command given to her- she would have to chop off her own head if she was told to! My mother was free to ignore requests such as 'I wish that you would put on your shawl', but against an order she was powerless."

"That is just pure madness! How can anybody possibly be that clueless?"

"Well, Lucinda was. She always thought that she was doing the right thing. Never realized that her gifts were more like curses. She gave quite a few other curses. At a wedding, she said to the wedded couple that her gift was that they would always be together. At my grandfather's wedding to his second wife, the gift she gave was that they would always love each other.

"I do not know whether it was because of her gift but anyhow, my mother was somewhat of a rebel. She absolutely hated having to be obedient and whenever she was issued a command, she naturally tried to find someway of messing it up. Lucinda eventually learnt her lesson, thanks to my fairy godmother. Ella then begged Lucinda to undo the spell, but Lucinda ironically said that it would be big magic to undo it."

"But that is so unfair! If it was not for Lucinda, you mother would not be under that curse." The Prince cried indignantly.

"I know. My mother did eventually break the curse though. My father, the Prince of Kyrria had told my mother to marry him. He had no idea about her condition and had not realized that he had given her a command. My mother understood the dangers that could happen if she were to marry him. She could be ordered to give away deadly secrets or to kill her husband. It took a lot of will but my mother used her strength to break the curse. She ended up marrying my father and they lived happily ever after. Have you heard any legends about them?"

"No. I have heard brief of your parents, but in Linnarch it is hard to find out what is happening in other kingdoms because we have to keep to ourselves so much. You are the first foreign visitor here in centuries."

Sarah gaped. How isolated the people of Linnarch must be? Sarah cleared her thoughts and decided to continue with her story.

"Now Lucinda may have learnt her lesson, but that did not mean that there were not any other foolish fairies who were not like her. Lucinda had a daughter. Her daughter, whose name was Katrina, did not have her full powers until soon after my parents were married, and so had not been able to do much magic beforehand. You see, it is only when a fairy turns eighteen that they get all their magic.

"Katrina had been under the tutoring and guidance of her mother for so long, that she too thought that it was a good idea to give 'gifts' to other people. Like Lucinda, she did not listen to anybody when they said that what she was doing was horrible, Katrina did not even listen to her own mother.

"I was one of Katrina's first victims."

The Prince's jaw dropped open. He looked at her in wonder, yet he seemed to believe Sarah.

"I had only been born just an hour before when she came to see me. My mother tried to prevent her from doing anything, as did her friend, Mandy, but despite their efforts, Katrina managed to give me a gift.

"She looked into my eyes and apparently whispered,

'Your blue eyes are so big and large, it is as if you know something that we do not.'

This was the inspiration for what she said next,

'I shall give you the gift of being able to see into the future.' "

Prince Christian looked relieved. "But that is not so bad."

"Not so bad! I am cursed with having terrible dreams and visions. I may see something that occurs hundreds of years later yet I have no idea when it will happen. Or I may see something happen in other land but I can do nothing to stop it. Worst of all is that what I see is not necessarily what may happen. It is just a possible future. You see, it is up to us whether something happens or not. It is so annoying that I have to live with such uncertainty. I never also see the whole of what happens. For instance, I had had a dream the night before you kidnapped me but it just showed my parents' faces filled with horror and worry. That was how I suspected that something unusual was going to happen."

"I guess I can see how you hate it so much. But you do not always dream of the future, do you?"

"No, not all my dreams are of the future, but a lot are. Sometimes my visions come in the middle of the day but that has not happened to me in a while."

"That must be bad. But at least this time your 'gift' saved your life."

"Yeah, luckily." Sarah was tired and she briefly closed her eyes.

"We had better go back to bed."

"To bed!"

"Yes, it is still very early in the morning. It cannot be any later than four o'clock. We can still bet a bit more rest."

Sarah smiled happily. She could do with a lot more sleep.

"By the way, what happened to Katrina?"

"Like her mother, she learnt her lesson. Also like her mother, she insisted that it would be 'big' magic to undo the curse."

Christian snorted, incredulous.

He grabbed Sarah's arm.

Sarah was startled at this sudden movement and was even more startled to find that she was scared. There was still a lot she did not know about Christian and the thought that he would be around her all the time for the next few months was even more frightening. But really, what was more frightening to Sarah: the fact that she did not know him that well, or her feelings about him?

Sarah just put that down to loneliness. She did not know anybody here so she must be just feeling grateful that she had at least somebody to talk to.

Prince Christian led her up a set of stairs and down a few corridors. Sarah had assumed that he would be taking her back to her chambers but soon found that she did not know where she was.

"Uh, Prince Christian, where are we going?"

"To my chambers, of course."

"But none of my stuff is there! You do not even have another bed."

"Shh. Just have faith."

Sarah helplessly followed him, hoping that they did not have to share a bed together.

Now that would be awkward...

They finally came to a large set of double doors. Outside them, were two heavily armed guards.

"I am guessing that this is your room."

"You guessed right."

They stepped up to the doors and as they did so, the guards stepped away from the doors and let them pass.

Sarah compared Christian's life to her own. Sure, the royal family had their own guards around the palace, but nowhere near as much as the palace at Linnarch. Sarah assumed that this was because Linnarch at the moment was under threat.

This led Sarah into thinking about what she was supposed to be doing. She was meant to start training soon. Sarah could not believe that she was "the one" or something like that. She always thought that she was a normal teenager, aside from the whole princess thing as well as the whole curse thing. Other than that, Sarah thought that she led quite a normal life. She was honoured that she was chosen to go such a perilous quest and that they thought that she would be suitable for the job, but she could still not get used to the idea of having the whole weight of a country on her shoulders.

"I guess I better get used to it. When I am queen I will have the same responsibilities too." she muttered under her breath.

When they came into the Prince's room, Sarah's jaw dropped. All of her belongings had been brought up and a bed had been set up as well. The room was also huge, it was at least ten times the size of her old one and five times the size of the one she had at home.

Sarah guess that the larger bed was Christian's and therefore the one at the other side of the room was hers.

"I see you like it."

"H-how did you manage to bring all my belongings up here so quickly?"

"Servants can be used for many uses." the Prince shrugged.

Sarah ran over to her bed and jumped onto it. She pulled the blankets over her, not even bothering to take off her slippers. She did not care what the Prince thought about her actions, she just desperately needed to get some sleep.

"Good night, or should I say good morning." Prince Christian called from the other side of the room.

"Good mornin'." Sarah mumbled, eagerly giving in to the sleep that was trying to claim her. Her last thought was of the blonde girl who had given her the wrong directions and who she saw talking with the Prince. Sarah had a feeling that they would meet again very soon...

In another section of the palace, the King was holding a gold orb in his hands. He was throwing it from hand to hand, nervously clutching the orb whenever he caught it.

He was not alone though.

"Malcolm, what are we to do?" spoke the other person to the King.

"I have no idea. We cannot keep her locked up. She will grow insane. I have sent Christian to guard her, I hope it will be enough. We will have to be extra careful."

"Are you sure that she is 'the one'?" the other person looked doubtful.

"I am having my doubts. It is possible that she is not. But we will soon find out." The King answered truthfully.

"All of Linnarch knows of her arrival. It is no use trying to hide that from everybody."

"I know, what do you suppose we do?"

"Well, they know of her arrival, but they do not know why she is here. I suggest you make some excuse. Actually, I have a plan."

"And what might that be?"

The figure leaned forward and whispered into the King's ear. His worried face soon turned from worry to relief.

"Why, you are a genius! I love it."

"I knew you would." The person smiled.

Things were going to get very interesting indeed.

When Sarah woke up, her first thought was, "Where am I?" She noticed that her room was different from the one that she usually slept in during her stay here.

Sarah tried to think clearly. She had just had the strangest dream. She remembered that in her dream, an intruder had attacked her and that Prince Christian had been named her bodyguard. She also remembered how they had to share a room with him.

"That was not just a dream." Sarah looked around in wonder. "It actually happened."

She was sharing a room with Prince-I'm-so-cool-Christian. There was something about him that irritated her. He always seemed to be able to climb in under her skin.

Sarah could hear somebody snoring.

She fell out of bed and hobbled over to Christian. He seemed so young, lying in the bed with the sheets curled up around him. He seemed so much more peaceful and calm than he did in real life.

Sarah could not help but feel that something made him the way that he was. Something made him clam up and try to hide his emotions. Something terrible.

Sarah was also confused about her feelings for him. He could irritate her so much sometimes. She could not possibly fancy him! They barely knew each other. "Rather," Sarah thought, "I have never really met any males my age that treat me like a normal person. So naturally, the first one that actually does I become attracted to." The Prince was just a smarmy arrogant pig who was extremely conceited. And now he was her bodyguard!

What on earth had he meant when he said last night, "Why do you plague me?"

Was he trying to insult her by suggesting that she was like a disease? Sarah was fueled with righteous anger at the thought. She had been so startled when he said that to her.

Sarah reluctantly walked out of the room and to go and eat breakfast but before she could do so, she felt somebody clutch her arm and pull her away from the door.

"Where do you think you are going?" Christian boomed.

"I am going to have breakfast!" Sarah cried indignantly. Surely there was nothing wrong with that?

"Not without me you aren't. I am your bodyguard now. Wait a second for me."

Sarah waited impatiently whilst he got up and put on some slippers and a dressing gown. She noticed that his pyjamas had little ducks on them.

"Aw, how sweet! Those little duckies are so cute." She teased.

"Shut up."

"You are certainly not a morning person."

"How did you know?" he asked sarcastically.

They walked out of the chamber with Sarah thinking, "This is going to be a long day."

Sarah was in the middle of eating her third bowl of porridge (which many people commented on - they could not believe that a princess could eat so much) that she was told to see the King.

Christian led Sarah to a room that she had never been in before. It had a tropical theme with fake palm trees, sand and even a pool. There were deck chairs surrounding the pool and in one of them was the King. Sarah blanched at seeing the King with no top on and with just a pair of pants. It was definitely NOT a good look. His stomach was all wrinkly, but a huge thatch of dark hair hid most of the wrinkles - this man had more hair on his chest than all the men of Kyrria put together.

Sarah averted her gaze back to the King's face.

"Good morning, your majesty. You called for me."

"Yes, it seems we must start our training soon. All of Linnarch knows of your arrival. I have concocted a plan, but I think I will tell you about it later. It is in the process of being developed. In the meantime, I would like to introduce you to your tutor - Mr. Lastrange."

A man stepped into the room and Sarah saw that it was the man that she had seen before, Tom.

"Tom! I never knew that you were going to be my tutor. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did not think that it was suitable at the time. If I remember correctly, you were more preoccupied with other matters."

Tom raised an eyebrow and Sarah hoped that she was not blushing. She was not exactly thrilled about the way she had acted that day, but she knew that she had every right to be angry. She had been lied to, for goodness sakes!

"Yes, so it would seem. Tom, I am so glad that it is you who is going to be teaching me. When do we start?"

"You will start this afternoon after lunch." interrupted the King. "I also think that it is advisable that you refrain from calling your teacher Tom, I think Mr. Lastrange would be much more appropriate." Though the King smiled kindly when he said this, Sarah still blushed.

It seems that the next few months were going to be very slow indeed.

Sarah still dearly missed her parents and she really wanted to see them again. She knew that they would be worried about her, but Sarah was sure that they knew that she was in the right hands.

The King bowed his head as a signal that Sarah was dismissed. She, in turn, gladly walked out of the room, away from His Majesty's offending chest.

Sarah looked down at herself and noticed that she was still in her night and dressing gowns! Sarah allowed herself to blush now. Who knows what Tom, rather Mr. Lastrange, and the King thought? Who knows what Prince Christian thought?

Sarah returned to the breakfast parlour and helped herself to some toast. She slathered on a heap of honey and gladly bit into it.

"Still eating are we?" Christian joked.

"Yes, your highness." Sarah knew that since he was the Prince of Linnarch, they could not go on acting as they had before. She sadly realized that what he had said before about people changing when they found out that he was a Prince he was right.

"You can call me Christian, you know."

"Yes – Christian."

They both sat down in silence. "Um, I guess I better get changed."

Sarah announced and stood up. She noticed that Christian was following her wherever she went.

"What are you doing?"

"I am your bodyguard now. I am supposed to be with you all the time."

Sarah nodded. Of course! She just had to get used to the idea of having somebody follow her all the time.

Sarah suddenly remembered something.

"Your high - I mean Christian, who was that blonde girl that you were talking to last night?"

"Blonde girl? I do not know what you are talking about? Maybe you mistook me for somebody else? It was dark by then, you know."

"Yes it was, but there was enough lighting for me to be able to tell that it was you. Are you sure that it was not you?"

"Positive."

Sarah grunted in response. There was something very strange and she was certain that soon she would find out just what was happening.

For now, she had to deal with Prince Christian. How was she going to live with THAT annoying prat as her bodyguard?

When they finally reached the Prince's quarters, Christian pushed past her and opened the doors for her. The guards looked on in amusement.

"Ladies first." He smirked.

Sarah looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. "Why did this have to happen to me?"

"Don't you think that I am charming?"

"Yeah, you are a great Prince Charming." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"You are so sincere."

Sarah stared at Christian. For all his jokes and suave, his face still bore a mask. His eyes never had much expression in them, they always seemed to be shielding something.

Sarah was determined to find out the reason for it.

Maybe her "gift" would come in handy and she might see something…

A/N: That chapter was kinda plotless but I promise that the next one will be better. (I swear! ). Again, I just want to say a huge thank for all my reviewers. You guys are the greatest! Please review this chapter as well. Any advice is welcome and thanks to any advice that you have given to me so far.

Also, there are a few more twists to come, so if this "romance" or whatever you call it still seems to run smoothly, well it will not be for much longer.

Anyway, I will try to update soon!

Luv,

marina eyes.