Chapter the first:

Surprising Events

Gerard woke up on his twenty first birthday feeling exactly the same as he had yesterday. Bone-numbingly tired. His daily routine consisted of getting up at the crack of dawn to make his sister's breakfast from the ingredients the maidservants had left at the door the night before; getting the lessons ready for the day; waking up a nine year old girl who did not want to get up; getting her to eat her breakfast (one of the most difficult tasks) and make her bed; sitting down to read her her favourite fairy story, 'Beauty and the Beast'; trying to teach a stubborn girl, who insisted she "didn't need to know how to weed and white to be a princess," to read and write; reading her another fairy story of her choice; getting lunch ready and hoping she would eat it; reading yet another fairy story of her choice; showing her the kingdom from the window and pointing out all of the details that the Queen had pointed out to him and getting her to memorise them; getting dinner ready and hoping she would eat it; reading another fairy story of her choice; and finally tucking her into bed when she doesn't want to go to sleep.

Many mothers will know how he felt having been through the same experience, with variations. For those who don't or can't imagine I will explain. He felt as though his head would explode every time she tried to convince him that he should try and find Cinderella to marry her because she "just doesn't trust that prince." When he caught himself rubbing the bridge of his nose he knew he was in trouble. He found himself wishing that she would just disappear and then berated himself severely for even thinking that traitorous thought.

Birthdays were never special as they had been with his mother. In fact they weren't like those ones at all since it seemed that his mother had been the only to remember that he had a birthday. His sister always remember a week or two after the fact and tried her best, which was actually very good for a nine year old, to make that day a special one for him, i.e. she woke up even earlier than he did and made him breakfast; she didn't talk back and tried her best to learn what he was teaching her; she cooked both lunch and dinner, although not very well; and she tucked herself into bed.

His father never remembered his birthdays. Sometimes Gerard thought that the King had forgotten he even had children. He heard from the maidservant's gossip of his father's activities and recalled the face of the woman who had brought Jessica to him five years and four months ago. He wondered if she was the one they called Madame Undine in such derogatory tones. He did not hate his father, thanks to the Queen and if someone had asked him what he thought of Madame Undine he would have vaguely recollected that woman who had brought Jessica to him and said she was "sort of nice."

Thus he knew that his twenty first birthday would be exactly as the day before had been. And it was…until lunch. When he went to collect the food beside the door an old woman stood with the food in a large basket. Unlike the maidservants this woman did not run. Although her face was harsh and lined with mile upon mile of dark crevasses he felt safe in her presence.

The old woman handed him the basket of food and said, "I knew your mother, boy. She would not want you to be cooped up here."

She then turned and left. Gerard heard the key turn in the lock as it did every day. He shook the encounter off and placed the basket on the table. Peering under the white and black chequered cloth he saw bushels of food, far too much for just one meal. Taking the entire cloth off, he spied, underneath a whole chicken, a bundle of papers.

Curious he took them out and read:

My dear son,

If you are reading this letter then it is your twenty first birthday and I am no longer with you. Do not stay in that place a moment longer. It is not safe for you. I wish that I could be there with you and show you the way. But I can't. The old woman who gave you this letter will also give you food that should last you and your sister awhile. I also had a key made if this would ever come to be. And if you are reading this then it has.

Know that I love you and your sister very much. Take care of her.

Love,

Your mother, Queen Margaret

Gerard, upon closer inspection, found a small key hidden under the bananas. He thought for a moment and tried to process what had just happened. He couldn't. But there was one thing that he was sure of: they were leaving.

He went to fetch his sister. She didn't like getting up earlier than she was used to, and hid under her duvet.

"Come on, Jesse. You have to get up!" He pulled at her legs and she held onto the bedpost with two surprisingly strong hands.

"Why?" Her voice was strained from the exertion it took to hold on.

"We have to leave as soon as possible, before the maidservant comes with lunch."

Jesse let go of the bedpost and Gerard hit the floor with a loud thump. She turned around to face him, a completely astonished look on her angelic face.

"What?!"

Gerard pushed his hair out of the way and looked up at her. "We have to leave as soon as possible, before the maidservant comes with lunch. I think I made myself perfectly clear—"

Jesse grabbed his face in both her hands and brought it up until he was eye to eye with her. "Don't you go being sarcastic with me, Gerard. You give me the plain truth."

Gerard sighed and took his face out of her hands. "I am telling the truth. Now, you're always going on and on about wanting to see the world and have adventures like in the fairy stories so this is your chance. Grab it."

Jesse scrunched her face up. "But I've…we've never been outside these rooms. What will we do? Where will we go?" Her voice was so quiet he had to bend down to hear it.

He was silent for a minute. After all he didn't know where they would go. Forget about what they were going to do. That wasn't even a topic for discussion, although it probably would benefit from some. He decided to ask her where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. It was the best idea he could come up with.

"Well, what do you want to do? Where do you want to go? I'm letting you choose."

Her green eyes lit up with excitement; she'd never been asked about what she wanted to do before. Her face acquired a serious look. She rummaged under her bed until she pulled out a large piece of paper, gone yellow with age. Handing it to him she waited in expectant silence.

He perused the paper and raised his eyebrows in surprise. It detailed a path leading through the nearby Laken Forest, which was supposed to be filled with all manners of enchanted beasts and powerful sorcerers. The path twisted through the forest, coming out on the far south side, and making its way into Barbaria, abruptly ending at the edge of the paper.

He whistled. It was a better idea than any he had come up with. "Laken Forest it is. Now you get ready. We're going on an adventure."

After that getting Jesse out of bed was easy.

About a half hour later Gerard and Jesse emerged from a door near the bottom of the western most tower and made their way quickly across the dew covered lawn and over the cracked stone wall. It was still dark and Jesse frequently tripped over potholes made by the gardener on his quest for the gophers he was sure resided on the grounds. Once over the wall the walk through the deserted town was a piece of cake.

As soon as they had reached the outskirts of the forest Gerard glanced back at what had been, for twenty one years, his home. He wouldn't miss it.