Chapter 1 ~An Heir Is Born!~

*Castle Hallway - near the balcony*

King William slowly paced the hallway back and forth worried about his wife in the room across the hall. She was in labor and seemed to be having some pain in the process. His head was full of thoughts about the- soon-to-be-his child.

{A few minutes later...}

A maid clothed in maid clothes came out of the room holding the newly born child wrapped in a light blue blanket in her arms went to King William.

"It's a boy your Highness" she happily told him

He smiled thinking "Ahhhh I have a child now. Alas, what name shall I give her? {TING a thought came in} I shall call him Derek." He thought happily while smiling at his son. Precisely at that moment Derek seemed to smile back at him. Afterwards King William announced the wonderful news to the people and they cheered, happy to have a prince...

*Rothbart's Lair*

"Humph. So King William finally has an heir to the throne, and it's a prince at that...Well there goes my plan of replacing him after he dies...Well now I'll resort to plan using the Forbidden Arts to take over the kingdom! Bwahahaha!" Rothbart laughed while mixing a bunch of potions.

His assistant; a short old lady with a crooked pointed nose and white hair; laughed along with him.

Little did these two know that one of King William's knights had passed by and heard the whole thing.

*King William's Study*

Inside, King William was busy preparing invitations for Derek's birthday, which was coming up soon. On his desk were a heap of white letter envelopes, a pen and a bottle of ink, and his sealing stamp.

A paper read,

Dear_,

I am pleased to invite you to my son's party, to celebrate our kingdom's great fortune for finally having a prince for an heir to the throne. I hope you can come.

My Regards,

King William

"This will do, I guess." King William thought while putting away his sealing stamp.

A knock came from the door.

"King William, may I have a word with you?"

"Yes, you may, come in"

A knight came in; holding his helmet in his left arm; bowed before King William and said

"Your Majesty, I have urgent news. It's about Rothbart."

"Rothbart! That guy?"

"Um, yes, that guy."

clears throat "Well then, please tell me"

"While on my way back from my quest, I coincidentally passed by his lair and heard sounds, so I decided to see what he was up to. It seems that he is up to no good, and it has something to do with Prince Derek."

"My son?"

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Hmmm. I can't carelessly attack yet. I should wait a while longer." King William thought. " Let's wait a bit longer. Just to be sure. I'll send him an invitation to the party, and if he leaves early follow him to his lair and catch him."

"Yes, your Majesty" The knight answers before he leaves the room.

"Now to finish the invitations..."