Phoenix's Legacy

By Mistress Dawnstar

Summary: A kingdom where magic is outlawed, a young sorceress struggling to step up to her mother's shoes, a young girl forced to walk the thin line between life and death, expediency and love. Cinderella with a whole new twist. Please R and R.

Author's Note: I know the prologue was really short, so here's a bit more.


Chapter One – Enter theFairy Court

I don't think there's anyone who doesn't remember my mother. She was so vibrant, so beautiful, and so talented that a single meeting would impress her so deeply into your brain that you'd never forget her.

Words cannot do her justice, but I will do the best I can. I've said that she was beautiful, and so she was, in a way that transcends that description. Lush waves of fiery red hair framed an angular face, graceful brows extended over a pair of impossibly green eyes, and sensuous lips curled always in a smile. Oh, she was not beautiful in the classical sense – one of those delicate and petite court butterflies. Their fragile beauty would fade with the passing of time until a mere shadow remained, but not so my mother. Hers was not a beauty of the face but of the spirit – the spirit of a truly alive woman. The type of beauty would burn for eternalty

Her skin was burnished by hours spent out doors, not like the alabaster tones the ladies at court favored, but no less perfect. The light of laughter and life were never absent from those stunning eyes. I would be stating the obvious to say that she had many suitors in her youth.

It was my father whom she chose. I think it was because he loved her, ardently and fervently, unlike others who only sought her fortune and title – that of Countess of Siriana – and because he was a bit more tolerant, a little less quick to judge than the others. That trait is very important those of our kind.

I'd like to say that she loved my father, but that would be an untruth. I know that she cared for him deeply in her own way, but she never loved him. Hers was a spirit that couldn't be dominated by any man. My father loved her all the more for it.

But she did love me, the daughter of her heritage, the one who carried her gift for magic.

Did I not tell you? She was the Lady, the leader of Aelair's Circle of Magic. Her mage name was, unsurprisingly, Phoenix.

What? You don't know about the Circle of Magic? Well, I suppose not. It was one of the best-kept secrets of this realm. It would be folly to relate the Circle's entire history, but I'll give you a brief overview so that you'll be able to follow the rest of my tale.

The circle was first formed during the Dark Interregnum - a period of time about five hundred years ago when a group of wizards seized the throne of Aelair and initiated a reign of terror. The circle's purpose was to dispose the usurpers and to restore the rightful monarch to the throne.

With their help, the rightful birthline was restored.

Ha! I bet you didn't know the King Hethic the Great was aided by witches, now did you.

But I hesitate again. Witch is still a term with dark connotation. We of the Circle prefer to dubbed ourselves sorcerers.

The members of the Circle expected everything to return to its former prosperity, but that was not to be. The dark wizards had breed the fear of magic. The first thing the monarch did upon his return to the throne was to pass a string of brutal and oppressive anti-magic laws. These laws were aimed at those who practice dark magic, but ordinary peasant could hardly tell the difference. A witch hunting frenzy set the countryside aflame. I can not tell you many hundreds, more than 90 innocent, were burnt that year.

The bloodlust of the people would not distinguish between friend and foe. Members of the circle were hunt down by the men and women they risked their lives to protect, trapped by the confinement spells they had crafted. The few lucky ones went into hiding. The Circle took on a new purpose - to protect and educate young children born with the gift of magic. Over time it became an intricate network that included people of every class.

Of course, for the sake of survival no member knew the true names of all the other members. We used mage names, names that we chose for ourselves. Only the Lady, the leader of the circle knew the true identity of each member.

Overtime, the witch-hunting epidemic came to an end. Aside from the occasional drought (after which the village or towns folk would drag out the oldest and ugliest member of their community to burn) things were quiet.

The Circle toiled to keep it that way. Though few non-magicians knew, the Circle took upon itself the task of regulating the misuse of magic. The sorcerers and sorceresses of the Circle thought that if no further cases of magical misuse shows up, the public might revise its opinion of magic users and repeal the oppressive anti-magic legislation – vain hope, that.

But, the Circle has undeniably protected Aelair innumerable times from hostile magic in the last five hundred years. In fact, many of the members jokingly referred to themselves as the Fairy Court.

Ah! I can see from your startled glance that you didn't know that this was where the tales of good fairies originated.

Thank goodness that's done. Now, let us move onward with my story.


Author's Note: Well, what do you think? Okay so far?

Revised - so hopefully no more gramatical errors. If there are, please tell me.