The following day and as planned Loque Bella and Prince Callum went to the stream to have a picnic; sitting on a blanket and enjoying delicious treats whilst enjoying the lovely day. They spent hours out there and in those hours they talked and got to know more about each other, deepening the bond that came to life the first day they met.
They talked about how different they grew up and discovered that even though they lived two totally different lives they had so much in common. They talked about their lost parents; Loque Bella's mother and Prince Callum's father and shared wonderful memories about them.
Prince Callum shared all the beautiful places he had travelled to and promised to take her to see each one and even took the opportunity to give her a gift he specifically had made for her; a small white box nicely wrapped with a pink ribbon.
"What is this?" Loque Bella asked.
"Open it," Prince Callum said and she removed the ribbon and pulled the lid open and inside was a golden necklace.
"Oh my your highness, is this for me?"
"Yes it is."
"Oh my your highness it's beautiful," she said and pulled the necklace all the way out and hanging on it was a pendant that warmed her heart. "It's . . . It's the moon."
"Yes it is. You said you missed seeing the full moon and so I made one for you." It was a full moon aquamarine pendant that sparkled under the sunlight.
"Oh my goodness it's beautiful. This is nicest thing anyone has ever done to me."
"May I?" he asked.
"Yes please," she said and Prince Callum got the necklace from her and clipped it at the back of her neck.
"There we go."
"How does it look?"
"It looks perfect," Prince Callum said and sitting close to each other they were warmed by the feel of their souls reaching out; like two separated halves desperate to become one.
"Thank you your highness, I love it."
"You're welcome," he said and they just sat there for a good moment looking at each other; finding themselves drawn to so much more they didn't see before.
Days later the wedding came and everyone invited showed up at the church; a few royals from the surrounding kingdoms and a good number of the locals, sitting on the wooden seats waiting for the proceedings to begin. The aisle had a been lined with a long red carpet and rose petals and had golden stands with colourful bouquets on them.
Back at the palace, Loque Bella was in her quarters getting herself done up and ready for her big day with the help of her sisters who were wearing matching baby blue bridesmaid dresses. They did her hair and make-up, slid her dress onto her and put the veiled tiara on her head. She then walked up to the large three part mirror and when she saw how she looked, her face lit up; she was wearing a wedding dress to marry the prince, it was a dream come true and she could not believe that it was happening to her. This was what she had seen in his eyes the first day she met him and now it was actually happening.
"Oh goodness look at you. You look so beautiful," Ida said.
"You are the most beautiful bride in the whole wide world," Miro said.
"And once this wedding is done, you are going to be the most beautiful queen in the whole wide world," Kima said.
"Thank you girls. Thank you for all of this, I look like I just walked right out of a fairytale," Loque Bella said and they chuckled. Her wedding dress had a gold and white corset top and a wide balloon bottom.
"Yes and very soon you are going to be living that fairytale," Miro said.
"Am I dreaming? Because if I am now would be a terrible time to wake up," Loque Bella said and they chuckled. "I really do hope I don't mess this up."
"You are not. You are going to be wonderful at being his wife and even more wonderful at being queen," Ida said.
"You are the sweetest and most kindest person we know, how you put the needs of other's before your own and are always so keen to put a smile on everyone's face, you were made for this. If those are not the qualities of being a good queen then I don't know what are," Kima said.
"That's right. If anyone can succeed at this, it is you," Miro said.
"The faith you have in me girls is admirable. You make me feel like I can do anything in the world," Loque Bella said.
"And you can," Ida said. "You can do anything you set your mind to. And even if things get hard no worries, we're always going to be here for you."
"That's right. Always," Miro said.
"I love you girls," Loque Bella said.
"We love you too," they said and moved in to share a warm hug.
"O.k. that's enough no crying or you're going to ruin your make-up," Ida said.
"Right right sorry. I'm getting married for goodness sake I can't have my make-up smudged," Loque Bella said.
"That's right. And to a prince no less, you have to look perfect," Miro said.
"And you absolutely do," Kima said.
"Thank you," Loque Bella said smiling, fighting to hold her tears back.
"Goodness if mother could see you now, she would've been completely blown away," Ida said.
"And drenched in tears," Miro said.
"Deary she was always crying," Kima said.
"Always crying," Ida said and they chuckled.
"Gosh I can't believe you just brought her up, trying not to cry and smudge my make-up remember," Loque Bella said fanning her face with her hands.
"I'm sorry I just wanted you to know that even though mother is not here she is here, in our hearts and as long as we're still here . . . So is she. And I just know she is so proud of you."
"I didn't even do anything. I just stood there and said yes I would like to marry your son," Loque Bella said and they chuckled.
"Yes but that proposal would not have come to you had you not been the sweet heart you are. Had you not showed him the wonderful person you are that day by the stream. Had you not taken the time to see him not just as a prince but as the person, and for someone in his position that means more than you know. You took the time to hear him and know the real him, even if it was just for a day," Ida said.
"Exactly, which should show you even more how special you are and what you have is for it to only take a day to have you two feeling the way you felt for each other," Kima said and Loque Bella gave out a hearty sigh.
"That was such a special day," she said going back to the very day and how with the greatest of ease he managed to slip into her heart and deem it a place to call home.
"I bet, we couldn't get you to shut up about it," Kima said and they laughed.
Back in the snowy forest of Monteg, Prince Callum was sitting on the ground holding Loque Bella's cold and beginning to freeze corpse in his arms with both he and Mr. Braun were crying."Let her be your highness, she's gone," Mr. Braun said."No she's not. She can't be gone. I . . . I love her, she can't be gone," Prince Callum said."I am so sorry.""She was the one Mr. Braun. You how sometimes you know things just by looking at them?""I do yes," Mr. Braun said."When I looked at her I knew she was the one. I just knew it. Looking into her eyes I saw my whole future in it and now that future will never be.""Your highness I am so sorry.""There has to be something we can do," Prince Callum said. "There has to be a way for us to bring her back.""Your highness please you are making this very hard on yourself.""She can't be gone Mr. Braun. She can't. I love her and I need her," he said and looked down at Loque Be
The creature flew out of its nest and seeing its massive size, Loque Bella shrunk to the size of a pea. It was a giant pterodactyl with the feathers of a snowy owl; squawking and flapping its large wings."Oh my goodness oh no," Loque Bella said looking at it fly on. It then turned and began flying towards her and seeing it coming straight for her, her heart dropped right out of her chest.She screamed and began climbing, as fast as she could, as behind her the creature homed in on her.Its sharp beak was aimed at her and was going to stab her right through the back had she not let go and fallen a few vines down just in the nick of time.The creature like lightning turned its body to the side and flew on as Loque Bella saw it go and continued climbing."Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" she said as she climbed; Gorra had nothing but terrible words to say about the pterotus and it was out to get her. Not good.It turned in the air and flew d
It was a couple of hours after midnight and the full moon still shining its bright light, Loque Bella in her moon essence form flew through the night sky in the direction of the Harborage of Embellishment. She had left Marius behind and it was a decision that cut her up. It reminded her of the heart ache that came to her when she saw Prince Mangus dead and what he put himself through just to ensure her safety and that just made her leaving Marius behind even more painful. The desert was dangerous and he was out there by himself, what had she done? With what they had faced, she couldn't believe that she had left him but she had to. Leaving meant he could have her portion of food and water which would give him another day but still that was not good enough; hunger and thirst were not the only things that could kill him out there, there were the creatures also. And what if one of them attacked him? They barely survived going up against them the two of them what more by himself?
A new day came and Loque Bella and Marius continued making their way through hot bareness to the Harborage of Embellishment.Walking on suddenly Marius stopped and turned his head to the side."What?" Loque Bella asked."Did you hear that?" he asked."Hear what?""I think I just heard thunder.""Thunder," she said and looked up. "That's not possible there's not a single cloud in the sky.""It didn't come from the sky.""Then where did it come from?" she asked and Marius ran to his left and began climbing the large dune. "What are you doing?"He climbed on and when he reached the top his blood ran cold."Oh my goodness," he said."What? Marius what is it?" Loque Bella asked and ran up the very dune to see what he was looking at. She reached the top, with him just standing there with a blank expression on his face, and when she saw what had gotten him so spooked, the same expression came over her face.
The sun rose over the dunes and brought forth a new day and walking on across the hotness Loque Bella and Marius carried on; now with only one bag with the things they needed to survive.There was a large dune in front of them and when they climbed it hoping to see something in the distance that would give them relief, it gave them the opposite feeling; they both gave out heavy sighs and threw their heads down, there was nothing out there but dunes, dunes and more dunes."Goodness gracious, I don't know how much more of this I can take. I am so tired," Loque Bella said heavily breathing, with her fur cloak stained with dried up blood and washed in dirt to keep the blood from being smelled by any nearby predators."We'll get there don't worry," Marius said with his bag on his back."Get where? We don't even know where we're going.""Yes we do. The Harborage of Embellishment.""Yes but we don't even know if it's out here," she said."Of
Marius crouched on through the tunnel following the bloody drag marks and finally came to the end of it. The tunnel came out into a large open area and standing up straight he then took off his bag and secured it in a secluded corner and began looking around for Loque Bella.He was about to shout out her name when just then he heard a squeal coming from the darkness; a squeal that made him hide the oil lamp under his cloak and hit the ground.There were large rocks and bolders scattered across the area and these were what Marius used to hide himself from the creature; popping his oil lamp in and out from underneath his cloak to see where he was going and not lose track of the bloody drag marks."Loque Bella," he whispered out to her but the only thing that responded was the creature that gave out another squeal. Quickly he hid the oil lamp and sat quiet as somewhere in the area the creature ran around; with the sound of its many legs hitting the ground like a sm
The following day came and Loque Bella and Marius carried on. From walking across the hard ground of the desert they found themselves entering the loose sand portion of it with dunes of different shapes and sizes scattered across the area, as far as the eye could see."Goodness and now the real hard part comes," Marius said."We have to get across all that?" Loque Bella asked."Yes we do. And there's no sign of trees anywhere so I'm guessing we have double this ground to cover.""Great.""Come on let's go. Let's see if we can cover a good amount of ground before the overhead sun comes upon us and makes our day.""Alright," she said and they began making their way across the loose sands of the desert; continuing with their journey through the bare hotness to the Harborage of Embellishment where Loque Bella's last chance to return to her lover and family lied.Hours later the sun was directly overhead and was at its meanest; as below it
The sun rose bringing forth a new day and Loque Bella and Marius were off. They had bags on their backs filled with the things they needed, their skin painted with thick white paint, their faces too, fur cloaks over their clothes to shield them from the sun, fur boots to protect them from the hot sand and their weapons on their belts; a sword and knives.The sun blazed on and on they walked on the hard bare desert ground; making sure to build their tent and rest every three hours to quench their thirst, rest their feet and paint on a fresh coat of white paint."Goodness no wonder the people who venture into here are never seen again, the sun is brutal," Loque Bella said; with the both of them breathing in and out heavily trying to catch their breaths."Yes. Either the sun got them or other things did," Marius said."Right.""Scared?""Of course I'm scared. There are creatures out here that are going to attack us and we have no idea what they
Night fell and outside the hut they had rented for the night, Loque Bella and Marius sat on the ground around a fire; both with blankets over them and taking in the quiet of the night, with distance looks on both their faces."How are you doing over there?" Marius asked."I certainly could be better," Loque Bella responded. "I knew what she was going to tell me I had to do was going to be hard but I didn't think it was going to be this hard. Journeying through a hot desert against the blazing sun to reach an oasis that no living soul has ever been to sounds like one of the hardest things I'll probably ever have to do.""It is. The desert is so hot and vast that people who have attempted to cross it and come out the other end . . . Have never been seen again. Goodness I didn't even think there was anything alive in there, an oasis for that matter, if I hadn't heard everything else it would have easily been the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. An oasis in