The Fighter

 

Bells were ringing in the Kingdom of Flora and Nightingale. The princess was turning sixteen! In the garden, the gardeners tended to the lilies, the princess’s favorite flower. In the castle’s ballroom, people were getting diamond chandeliers fixed upon the walls, the classical band was practicing for their debut, and people were decorating the stairs. Twenty plates of the Queen’s best china set with her teacups, teapot, and fancy silverware were on the dining table. The cooks were making macarons and flaky butter croissants.

“Princess? We’re ready,” said the princess’s castle steward.

“Coming!” said the princess.

As the princess stepped out of her room, the castle steward smiled, and the princess’s beauty shone. She walked down in a gorgeous velvet dress, covered with pearls and silk ribbon.  The maid however was not as impressed and looked at the princess with her beady little eyes. She thought the princess had everything, was too spoiled, and acted very insincere, even though the princess had a kind heart.

“Are you all ready to go, Your Highness?” said the maid.

“Miranda, how many times have I told you, please address me as Cassandra.” said the princess.

Miranda, smiled and said, “All right, Cassandra, now let me adjust your dress and add a few touches.”

“That would be lovely,” said Cassandra.

What Cassandra didn’t know was the maid had an evil plan. Miranda stitched and opened all the weird parts of the dress until Cassandra felt comfy. Then, she pulled out a silk chiffon hat and tied it around Cassandra’s head. She applied glue to make it stay on and left. Cassandra put on her diamond-encrusted leather shoes and walked toward the door, but there was something holding her back. She felt an immense pain throughout her body and the feeling of it getting sucked away. She looked at her hands and they weren’t there! Invisible! She fell to the ground and writhing pain accompanied her. She cried out, but Miranda had distracted everyone else with decor. Finally, she was completely invisible.

“Ah! What’s happening?!” moaned the princess.

Miranda walked back into the princess’s room to “check on everything”. As she opened the door, she called out. No answer. She smiled and she pulled a wand out of her hand. She arrived in a dark cave deep beneath the kingdom, and there was the unconscious princess. Miranda switched the princess’s body with her own except the mind. She traveled back to the princess’s room and stepped out. Cassandra’s party was a lot of fun and Miranda spent the whole night dancing with the princes from the neighboring kingdoms.

A couple hours later, Cassandra woke up in the cave. “Hello? Anybody there?” She looked at herself and found herself in Miranda’s clothes! Wait, did Miranda do this to her? She heard a sound and from the shadows emerged many other maids. “Hi, who are you?” Cassandra asked again.

The tallest maid, who seemed to be their leader, spoke. “Hi, we are princesses from other lands. It is sad to say that you have fallen into a trap. A witch trapped you here, she acts like a maid, traps you here, has fun in your kingdom acting like you, and then possesses the kingdom’s magic making her more powerful. Many of us still remain here and if anyone tries to escape, the witch does something to them that we don’t know of. So, don’t put your toe out of line. My name is Charlotte and I used to be the princess of Sunlight. Is it still there?”

“Wait, the fall of Sunlight was over a century ago. I learned about it in school.” replied Cassandra.

Charlotte wiped her brow and said, “Wow, has it really been that long?”

“Yeah! I was fooled by Miranda in broad daylight!” Cassandra was shocked.

“You mean Sofena,” Charlotte answered. “No, Pippa,” another princess chimed in. “You both actually mean Clara”, “Lillian”, “Gemma”, “Ivy”, “Delilah”, the list went on and on! 

Cassandra cried out. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

“Hey, don’t sweat it! It’s the noobie shock, you’ll be over it soon.” Charlotte yelled over the cries. “Now, let’s bring you deeper into the cave and you can see our kingdom down here. Ember, can you take over?” she nodded toward another princess.

“Hi, Cassandra! I was the second to arrive in this place, which makes me second in command after Charlotte. I was the princess of Firefly, which burned down in a revolution a couple years after I was trapped. It had to do with me, and none of my family made it alive.” She paused, as a deep sorrowness washed over her body. She brightened up, “That’s all right now! Anyway, on Mondays, we build our entire kingdom bigger and stronger. Tuesdays are all about developing our system of life. Wednesdays are dedicated to discovering more of the cave because it never ends. Thursdays we make things easier. Fridays are free days to do whatever. Saturdays are for ceremonies if any of us discovered something cool, and finally Sundays are for plotting on how to get out. Beware though. Once a month, the witch will pop in at midnight on Sunday and if she finds anything weird, she destroys anything and leaves it for us to find on Monday. So, don’t get us killed.”

“So, how long does it take to get over this?” asked Cassandra.

“Our last girl, Luna, arrived a couple years ago. She hasn’t gotten over it yet. Usually, scientific studies made by our crew have shown it takes up to a decade or two.” Ember calmly replied.

“URGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” yelled Cassandra. “WHY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!!!!!!!!!!!”

Soon, Cassandra recollected herself, and said. “How can I help us getting out of here? How do I contribute to this team?”

Ember and Charlotte smiled and looked at each other, then they smiled and stared back at Cassandra. “What?” said Cassandra.

Charlotte said, “Nothing. We just got ourselves a fighter.”