Abigail sneered and walked into the farmhouse, while Judith cuddled her father, sobbed, and apologized to him for causing this mess. Nala overheard everything that was happening, so she knew that the princesses were in danger. She ran into Karen's room and woke her up. "Get up!" shouted Nala, pulling away the bed sheets. "Get up now and run!" Abigail was not far from where Karen was, so Karen didn't even have time to change out of her nightgown. "What is going on?" asked Karen, who was utterly confused regarding why Nala appeared so stressed out. Abigail appeared behind Nala and pushed Nala to the ground. Karen reached for her sword, which she kept with her at all times. Abigail took out a wand and muttered some mystic words. She pointed the wand at Karen. Karen screamed for help.
Elisa heard these screams because she was not far from the area. She happened to have a basket filled with biscuits and a bottle of milk with her, for she had just been out milking one of the cows in one of the pastures. She ran towards the sound, but she stopped once she saw the farmhouse, which was dozens of meters away from her. Elisa hid behind a tree because the situation felt intense, and she had a terrible feeling about the situation. By the doorway of the farmhouse sat a certain sad teenage girl, who held a sword in one hand. That girl was Judith, and she appeared to be holding a turtle. Judith was sobbing as she held the turtle in her hands. Elisa looked up at the window of the farmhouse after hearing the sound of a bird, for she thought the screaming sound she heard earlier came from that window. Suddenly, she saw a black swan flying out of the open window. It had a wounded wing, so the swan did not get far. It fell from the sky right beside Elisa's feet. Drops of blood fell from one of its wings. Elisa looked into the eyes of the swan and somehow felt that she had seen the swan before. The swan picked up a broken twig with its beak and dipped the twig into the blood. The swan used the twig to write on the ground. "I am Karen," wrote the swan.
Karen didn't want to believe that the swan was her sister, yet she had seen what she had seen with her own eyes. "Run from this place!" the swan seemed to try to say to her. Even though the swan couldn't speak, Elisa still understood what the swan was trying to say to her. Elisa did not want to listen to her sister because she wanted to take a closer look at what Judith was doing. What was Judith doing armed with a sword? Elisa suspected that Judith may have been involved with what had happened with her sister. "No, I'm not running from this place, dear sister," replied Elisa. "I need to find out what really happened to you. I need to protect my godparents." The swan screeched with disappointment. Then it began to run away from the farmhouse. Elisa picked up Karen and put her inside her basket. She changed her mind and decided to run deep into the forest. She ran deep into the woods as fast as her legs would allow.
Meanwhile, the King stumbled around lost in the forest because a fog had mysteriously formed. His royal sorcerer happened to be stalking him. The sorcerer appeared out of the bushes, with a mischievous toothy grin on his face. The King turned and smiled at the sorcerer. "Hello, Spindleshanks my friend," he exclaimed joyfully. "I don't know what you're doing here, but-" He was interrupted by Spindleshanks the sorcerer, who replied, "I was woken up by the sound of a horse. I saw your horse, and I followed it by leaping onto my own horse." "Can you perform a magic spell that would clear this fog?" he asked his sorcerer. "I think I can, but the magic will only work if you close your eyes." said the sorcerer. The King was perplexed by this statement, but he obeyed the sorcerer and closed his eyes.
The sorcerer took out a serpent from his pocket and allowed that serpent to bite the king on the right hand. "A snake bite is the easiest way to kill someone, and make it look like an accident," sneered the sorcerer with glee. The poison from the snake bite burnt like molten rock and acid. The King collapsed onto the ground with a look of sadness on his face. "Why, Spindleshanks?" gasped the King sadly. "I was your King, and I treated you like a friend."
"Did you really?
"Of course I did."
"It was not my will to do this to you, but my master's will," claimed the sorcerer sadly. "All I wanted was for you to be locked away.""Who is your master?" asked the King. The sorcerer did not reply. He straightened up and left the scene. The King felt the poison of the snake burn like lava, so he cried out in a loud voice.
Elisa and Karen were not far away when they heard their father crying out in a loud voice. Elisa soon arrived by her father's side and saw that he was dying. She reached out her hand and squeezed her father's face. "Please, dad, don't die!" gasped Elisa, pressing down on the King's face. "First mom, and now you. How can this be happening?" The father opened his eyes slowly and saw his daughter's beautiful face. "Where is your sister, Elisa?" he asked. "My sister is the swan inside my basket," answered Elisa. The King believed his daughter with ease because he knew things about magic. He saw his daughter inside the black swan's eyes. "Father, you need help and-" shouted Elisa. But, before Elisa could finish speaking, he interrupted her. "Now, listen to me Elisa," warned the King. "Right now you need help, not me! Right now I am beyond help! Beware of your stepmother and beware of the castle staff. Don't trust anyone!" He could have told her that Spindleshankswas responsible for poisoning him, but he didn't. He knew that he'd be endangering her if he told her that piece of information. She'd want to kill Spindleshanks and endanger her own life in the process.
"But father, I can't leave you," yelled Elisa. She knew that her father was dying, but she refused to let her father die alone. "Leave this land!" explained the King. "One of the castle staff used a snake to poison me. You can't go back! It's too dangerous! Listen, Elisa because this might be the most important information you will ever hear from me. There is a way for you to return your sister to normal! You must stay silent for three years. You must not speak a word." "Can I at least write a note to tell others about my sister's curse?" asked Elisa. "No," answered the King, who tried desperately to make his daughter understand what she must do. "If you tell a single soul, then your sister will be a swan forever." The King began to cough, and clutch his throat in great agony. He cried out in a loud voice, closed his eyes and never opened them again.
Elisa placed her hand on the King's heart, but she felt no heartbeat. She wanted to cry out to her father, even though she knew he was dead. She did not do this because she vowed not to speak or write for three years. Suddenly Elisa heard a horrifyingly familiar voice. "Elisa, please come over here and I will give you candy!" cried the voice of her stepmother. "We can play games, like tag and dodge ball. I'm sure there are many fun things we can do in these parts of the forest." Elisa heard the voice of her stepmother calling for her because the voice that was calling out to her was the voice of her stepmother. Elisa did not respond to her stepmother. How dare her stepmother speak to her like that, after all the pain her stepmother had inflicted on her family. She kissed her dead father on the forehead, got up, and ran for her life.
Queen Abigail was not far away from Elisa so she saw her running in the distance. Elisa also saw her stepmother, and she saw Judith standing next to her stepmother with a fearful expression on her face. She was still holding that turtle in her hands. Judith was clearly regretting what she had done. Queen Abigail took out her wand and waved it. A fireball flew out of the wand and almost struck Elisa. Elisa managed to dodge that fireball, but that fireball hit a tree and incinerated it. The tree burst into flames as if it was struck by lightning. Elisa kept on running and only stopped when she saw a horse. It must have been her father's horse, and she knew it was her father horse. She would recognize that horse anywhere. She jumped on it and rode away at high speed. Queen Abigail could not keep up with them.
Elisa rode the horse all the way to a small faraway port. There was a ship that was about to head to Australia, but that ship did not come from her kingdom. It appeared to be a ship from one of the northern countries. That ship must have stopped here because it was running low on supplies. Elisa got off the horse and carried her basket all the way to the ship, via the ship's boarding ramp.
Elisa wore ordinary clothing so no one recognized her as a princess. The people on the ship weren't even from Elisa's kingdom, so it's unlikely that they would have recognized her even if she had been wearing a royal gown. She could hear the sounds of loud shouting, crying, and swearing coming from the hold of the ship. Elisa was worried because she feared that her stepmother was not far behind her. She saw a hoist that had a chain, and part of the chain went over the side of the ship into the water. There must have been an anchor at the end of the chain. She ran over to the hoist and hoisted the anchor out of the water. Immediately that ship started to move away from the jetty. One of the sailors on the ship saw her lift up the anchor. That sailor considered locking Elisa up because she had hoisted up the ship's anchor, but he decided against that because all the people who were supposed to be on the ship were already on the ship. He also saw the swan inside her basket, so he said to Elisa, "What are you doing here? Did you know that you were not allowed to hoist up the anchor?" She did not answer him, for she had taken a vow of silence.
Then the sailor, who was also the Captain of the ship, asked her for money, saying, "What will you pay me if I let you stay aboard this ship?" Since Elisa had no money with her, she emptied out her pockets to indicate that she had no money. "Then give me that swan of yours, if you want to stay aboard this ship," said the Captain, reaching over to Elisa's basket in order to grab the swan that was inside the basket. Elisa would not permit him to do this. She punched the Captain on the face when he attempted to take her sister. The Captain saw that she began stoking the swan's neck as if she was calming her sister. Seeing this, the Captain quickly gave up when he noticed her resolve to stay on the ship.
He was touched by her kindness and protective nature towards her pet swan. "You will have to work on this ship," said the Captain, handing her a mop that had been left on the deck. "If you won't give me that swan, then fine. Scrub the decks, and I will drop you off somewhere in Australia. This ship is filled with convicts, so I'll doubt you'll enjoy this journey should you go on it. But you'd better keep that swan of yours safe." Elisa went to work scrubbing the decks as the ship sailed away. She was so relieved that the Captain did not kick her off the ship. She picked up the mop and began to scrub the decks. While she was scrubbing, she saw the shadowy silhouette of a certain woman standing at the harbor. Was it her stepmother? Elisa suspected that it might be. All this was in the past.