I was pleasantly thrilled with the amount of reviews from the last chapter. By the way, is anyone else curious as to why the White Queen has vows that keep her from harming anything? Hmm…. It is short, but chapter 5 is here!

Chapter 5: Tragedy in Marmoreal

It was Mirana's fourteenth birthday, and the King and Queen had promised to take her anywhere she wished. It didn't take long for Mirana to decide: Marmoreal, a place not too far from Crims; a place full of wildlife, waterfalls and laughter; the place where the royal family often stayed in a lovely white castle. She planned to stay in Marmoreal for two weeks, but she wished to stay there forever. It was such a lovely place. Mirana invited everyone she knew, including all those she had given baskets to on her walks. Mirana figured that everyone else should be as happy as she was on her birthday. The only person that wouldn't be happy was her sister, she thought sadly to herself.

Iracebeth was now a sullen and depressed twenty-year-old. When a princess turned sixteen in Underland, it was the appropriate age for suitors and princes to come and ask for her hand in marriage. But Iracebeth had received only one proposal, and it was from one of the ugliest men she had ever seen. Besides, she had her eye on someone: a young new servant, who had arrived at the castle a few months ago. He had showed up to the castle orphaned, starving, and wearing rags. The Queen took pity on him and allowed him to become a servant at the castle.

Iracebeth found him very handsome. He was very tall, one of the tallest men she had ever seen. He had black thick hair that framed his face nearly perfectly. But Iracebeth didn't know his name-she had been too nervous to ask him. Perhaps that would change in Marmoreal, she thought as they arrived at the white castle. Today, I shall ask his name!

Meanwhile, Mirana was busy preparing for the ball that would take place in her honor later that night. She looked in the mirror one last time before heading down to the grand ballroom. Mirana wore a snow-colored sparkling dress with flowing long sleeves and tresses. Around her waist was a belt of white roses. Her hat, which had been made by Tarrant, was white also, covered in sparkles with a rose on the side. A ribbon that read her name hung off the side. Mirana was amazed that this was Tarrant's first hat he had made by himself.

The ballroom had been split into two halves. One was for people that wanted to sit, chat, or eat; the other was for dancers. After a several course meal, Mirana danced with many people and animals she knew, including her father, Tarrant (who was blushing furiously the whole time), Nivens, Chessur, a strange hare named Thackery Earwicket, and other young men and animals. The dancing, music and singing put everyone into a cheerful, happy mood. Even Iracebeth was happy-she had asked the servant to dance with her, and he had said yes!

"I belwieve I have seen you before," began Iracebeth. "What is your name?"

"Ilosovic Stayne, your Highness," he responded quietly. He seemed to be thinking about other things.

"It is wonderful to finalwy know your name, Stayne." And so they talked about themselves for a while, getting to know each other. Iracebeth was immediately smitten with his personality. He wanted to be a soldier, not a servant. Stayne hated living in the shadow of someone else; he wanted to be better than where he was now. Iracebeth felt the same way; she felt like her parents loved her sister better than her. Why couldn't she be as good as her sister?

But, she thought delightfully to herself, that would change.

A few nights ago, Iracebeth had stolen Mirana's Botany book that listed all the types of plants in Underland. She had looked for the chapter labeled "Poisoned Plants." After scanning a list, she decided to take a "walk." On her little walk, Iracebeth gathered several different poisoned plants and flowers: Steel Smile, Death's Envy, Poisongrass, the roots of the Youngsoul-highly poisonous-and lastly, the bark of the Howling Tree. She then proceeded to mix the roots of all the plants together with water. But to disguise the odd mixture, she added some vanilla drops to it, so then it would look like any ordinary drink.

And now, the time was coming up to do a toast for Mirana on her birthday.

"Excuse me," Iracebeth called after a while. "I would wike to do a toast for my fourteen-year-old sista. Mirwana, may you live a long wife." Idiot.

"To Mirana," everyone chanted while raising his or her goblet. Iracebeth held back a delightful scream as she watched her sister drank the poison. Five…four…three…two…one… now!

But, it was not Mirana that began to choke and foam at the mouth, then collapse on the floor. It was King Caleb of Crims.

They had accidentally switched goblets.

Underland mourned for a week. Almost everyone in Underland came to the burial and the release ceremony. At a funeral in Underland, you would bury the body in a coffin underground, and then you would put a candle, in front of their gravestone. A spirit of the deceased would shoot many feet up into the air, a sign that they had moved on.

Mirana cried the whole time. She knew someone had poisoned her father's goblet. She had taken a few drops back to Crims in a vial to be inspected. She recognized the plants at once, but to confirm them, she went to check her Botany book.

Mirana finally found it in her sister's room.

She couldn't believe it at first. Not Iracey. Not her sister. But it had to be…

"A special cup for you, Mirwana. It's your favorwite dwink."

"Thank you, Iracey."

And then… her cup had tasted funny… was it wine, not the vanilla milk?

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY WOOM?"

Mirana saw Iracebeth standing in the doorway. "I was going to ask you if you'd seen my Botany book-"

"You are never allwoed in herwe again, you idiotic brat!" the woman screamed at the young teenager, and suddenly, a hand struck out.

Mirana collapsed on the floor, reeling from the slap.

"Leave. Now." There was nothing but icy coldness in Iracebeth's voice.

Mirana fled, holding her reddening cheek. Once she got to her room, she fell on her bed, sobbing. And she made a small vow that day: she would never harm anything or anyone, regardless of what they did or how she felt. No one deserved to feel such pain as she felt right now.

Her father, her brilliant, smiling, laughing father was dead, and her sister, her evil, awful, uncaring sister had killed him.

It couldn't be true…

I hate to end it on a sad note, but hopefully things will look ahead for poor Mirana. I figured Stayne would be attractive to the Red Queen through looks and personality. This may be my last upload for a while; I have a big project to work on in school and a Winterguard competition.

Until then, fairfarren…

*Becca*