The kingdom was called Hampshen and it was in a time similar to that of the Victorian Era. It was night time and opening her eyes Loque Bella found herself lying down on a bed in a bedroom. There were four beds, including the one she was on, with a chest of drawers against the bare wall and burning oil lamps on the walls. She sat up; wearing a simple dress with her long dark hair flowing down her back and onto the bed.
Downstairs, her family sat; father, Mr. Braun, and her three sisters. He was sitting on his sofa by the fire place as the girls set the dining table; singing a song they loved with their voices blending together like angels singing. The first born was Ida, the second was Kima, the third Miro and the last was Loque Bella. Listening in and watching them, Mr. Braun smiled, his daughters were quite a sight, all of them spitting images of their late mother. They lived in a secluded farm house in the outskirts of the village and were a lower middle class family. He was one of the palace guards and had been working there pretty much his whole life.
Just then a knock came to the front door and the singing came to an abrupt stop; with a wondered look coming over each one's face, it was a little too late for visitors, who could it be?
"I'll get it," father said standing up and went to answer the door. Upon seeing who was on the other side, he gasped and immediately bowed. "Your majesty."
"Majesty," the girls said to themselves and as father opened the door for her and she walked in, with four guards standing outside, the girls bowed to her. "Your majesty," they then said.
"Good evening girls, Mr. Braun," Queen Roselyn said; forty five years old and as always well put together, wearing a blue dress with a red cloak over and her golden crown on her head.
"Your wonderfulness, to what does a lowly man such as I have this pleasure," father said.
"Oh Mr. Braun stop, you're too modest; you have served the crown so well you're practically family."
"Thank you your majesty. Please forgive our home, we were not expecting company."
"It's alright," Queen Roselyn said and sat down on one of the sofas as Kima handed her a cup of tea. "Thank you darling."
"You're most welcome," Kima said curtsying and walked to join her sisters sitting down by the dining table.
"Mm good tea." Kima smiled. "Right, it is rather late so why don't I get straight to the reason why I'm here."
"Of course," father said, sitting on his sofa.
"As you know, my time as queen is about to come to an end and that only when my son Prince Callum finds himself a suitable wife, supportive, of good manners and background, will I be able to do so, so having that said, I have been out these past few days with him searching for a suitable woman to take up the responsibility of the crown with him and though we did find some rather good candidates, none of them came close to just what I was looking for which is why I have decided to pick one of your girls to be the next queen," she said and the girls quietly gasped.
"Oh my goodness, your majesty, we are nothing but peasants."
"Please Mr. Braun do not refer to yourself using such terms. You have served me and the entire royal family very well for many years and are as deserving of this as anyone else."
"But . . . But we are not worthy," father said.
"Yes you are. You are a good man and if your girls exhibit the same dedication to life as you have to your work over the many years then either one of them will make a perfect partner to my son and a fine queen to my people."
"I don’t know what to say."
"Just say you’ll think about it and have an answer for me in two days," Queen Roselyn said and father looked to his girls and they quickly nodded their heads, each one with a wide smile on their face.
"I will think about and have an answer for you in two days."
"Lovely, we shall wait till then," she said standing up, and they all did.
"Right. But you know your majesty I do have four girls, so which one exactly did you have in mind?" he asked and the girls immediately fixed their postures.
"Oh right of course, my apologies, I got so caught up in the moment I forgot to say oh dear, I guess old age is catching up with me," she said and they chuckled. "Um," she then said looking at the girls. "You do have four girls don't you Mr. Braun?"
"Yes I do, forgive me, the other got a little tired and decided to have a lie down."
"Oh right Loque Bella is it?"
"Yes Loque Bella," father answered.
"Uh that's the one."
"Pardon?"
"Loque . . . She's the one I want my son to grace with a hand in marriage," Queen Roselyn said and the girls subtly passed looks at each other.
"Loque Bella?"
"Yes, Mr. Braun is there something wrong?"
"Um not really but Loque your majesty is still a child, being the youngest and all, she doesn’t quite know as much as these do and so I’m not quite sure she’ll be suitable for the task at hand, I think either one of these will be a much better choice for his majesty. Loque Bella is still growing and so fragile, humble, naïve, she’d bring nothing to the crown."
"True but she is innocent and there is nothing people find more appealing in a queen than innocence, she’s perfect." They just stood there looking at her with wondered looks on their faces, did she just say she wanted their sister Loque Bella to marry Prince Callum? "Right so in two days you will come to the palace with your answer, and we will be waiting, hoping that it'll be good news."
"I assure you it will be."
"Wonderful," she said and Mr. Braun walked her to the door. "Thank you for sparing this time Mr. Braun and I look forward to seeing you and your lovely girls on Wednesday."
"We'll be there," father said and opening the door for her she walked out and was guided to her carriage by her guards. Closing the door, father then turned to his girls and they screamed in excitement; one of them set to marry the prince, what a dream come true.
Just then Loque Bella walked down the stairs and found them still jumping around, with father just standing there looking at him and faintly shaking his head.
"Goodness what is all this about?" Loque Bella asked and they turned to her immediately going quiet, but still with smiles on their faces. "What? What's going on?"
"We just had a visit from someone," father said.
"Right I heard the door, who was it?"
"It was her majesty."
"What? Her majesty was in our house?" Loque Bella asked.
"Yes she was. And she wasn't just in our house, she came bearing word."
"Good word," Miro said.
"Wonderful word," Kima said.
"Spectacular word," Ida said and they giggled.
"Goodness what has gotten into them?" Loque Bella asked.
"Don't worry, you'll be joining them soon enough," father said.
"What did she say?"
"Well, her reign of queen-ship is soon coming to an end and as a requirement of the prince to become king, he must find a suitable woman to marry."
"Oh right, yes I’ve heard of that, but what does that have to do with her coming here?" she asked and her sisters grinned at her.
"Well what is has to do with her coming here is that she has decided that one of you will be that woman to marry the prince," father said and Loque Bella gave out short scream and her sisters laughed.
"You lie. Father you lie. One of us? One of us marrying Prince Callum like actually marrying him? Like husband and wife you may kiss the bride actually marrying him?"
"Yes."
"Oh my gosh!" Loque Bella shouted and she along with her sisters screamed. "Who is it? Who is it? Huh wait it’s Ida isn’t it?" She turned to her. "It’s you isn’t it?"
"No," Ida answered shaking her head.
"Huh it’s Miro, she’s always had a certain poise-ness about her that is annoyingly always on point."
"I do have a poise-ness about me that is annoyingly always on point but it is not me," Miro said and Loque gasped.
"Kima!"
"No! You!" her sisters said together and Loque Bella immediately froze; like a mannequin in a store window. She pointed to herself. "Yes!"
Loque Bella screamed to the roof and her sisters once more joined her, jumping around and hugging each other like children at a playground. She had just gotten to Hamsphen and she was already set to marry someone, a prince for that matter, it was like she had just walked right into a fairy tale. The daughter of a palace guard becoming queen, Loque Bella was over the moon. But little did she know that it was a happiness that would not last and that her life was about to take a series of dreadful turns that would test her more than anything else in her life ever did.
An hour later, they were done with dinner and the sisters were in their room sitting on their beds. They were changed into their night dresses and could bring themselves to stop talking about the news the queen just brought. Loque Bella was marrying Prince Callum.“Goodness gracious I can’t believe I’m going to be a princess,” Loque Bella said.“Princess darling you’re going to be a queen, queen of Hampshen,” Miro said.“Queen Loque Bella,” Kima said and they chuckled.“Oh gosh I am so nervous, I can’t believe I’m actually going to marry the prince. Me, oh dear, what if I muck it up?” Loque Bella asked.“You are not going to muck it up,” Ida said.“I know nothing about being queen. I can't even handle you lot what more an entire kingdom of all sorts of people.”“You’re going to learn,” Miro said.“What i
"And just like that I never stepped another foot into the night ever again," Loque Bella said."Oh my Loque Bella I am so sorry," Prince Callum said."I don't even like to look into the night through the window. My family knows it too. We close the curtains and lock the doors just when the sun is going down and then we all stay in until the sun comes back up again.""Wow, what happened that night really changed your life.""It did. Now just that the mere sight of the sun setting in the sky brings a coldness to my skin," she said."Have you ever tried to face your fear?""Go out into the night? No. The thought of it shrinks me back to that little girl and I get scared all over again. I know I should do something about it, I'm a big girl for goodness sake, I can't be afraid of the dark. I wake up every morning feeling brave to take on anything but when the sun begins to go down, I become that little girl and all the bravery I had leaves me and
Two days later, father and his daughters went to the palace to meet with Queen Roselyn and Prince Callum for lunch. They were sitting down by the large table in the dining hall enjoying a wide variety of foods laid out on the table, as the guards stood spread out against the walls and at the door. “Thank you for having us your majesty,” father said. “Oh please the pleasure is all mine,” Queen Roselyn said. “And I must say you all look so wonderful,” she then said. “Yes you do,” Prince Callum said, with his eyes glued on Loque Bella. He knew of her beauty but with her hair bundled up opening her face and her navy blue dress complimenting how her skin shined underneath the light of the chandeliers, he was completely taken. “Thank you,” the girls said slightly bowing their heads. Loque Bella looked at Prince Callum and finding him looking at her, butterflies flooded her tummy and she looked down smiling to herself. He too smiled to himself and they carri
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 li
Minutes later Loque Bella and her sister bridesmaids were ready to leave for the church. Covered with the veil falling over her face, she was helped into her white and flower decorated wedding carriage by her sisters and together they rode down the road to the church; with the village people, men, women and even children, standing in the sides of the road waving to the carriage and throwing petals into the air and Loque Bella inside the closed carriage waving back at them. A moment later they arrived at the church and Loque Bella's sisters helped her out of the carriage and up the steps of the church where father was standing nicely put together in a brown suit waiting for her. He saw her and his eyes immediately began to water. "My love," father said. "Hello father," Loque Bella said and they shared a warm hug. "Oh my goodness, it's like looking at an angel. My love, you look so beautiful." "Thank you father." "You are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen," he said looking
The fayagan breathed out a black flames to the people and seeing the flames coming straight for them they ducked and the flames passed above them. It breathed on and the heat of the flames caused them to scream even louder as the walls, the ceiling and the double door caught fire and the windows burst; scattering the broken pieces into the streets and immediately startling the people that were waiting outside to see the married couple. Inside, the people had their heads down as just then the fayagan stopped breathing fire and looked down at Loque Bella; also on the floor and with her head low. It then gave out another spine chilling squeal and grabbed Loque Bella. It held her firm in its huge clawed hand that almost completely covered her and then leaped off the floor and flew out, flapping its massive wings and creating winds that raised the dust and debris of the broken wall off the floor and into the air, blinding their sight as the fagayan flew off further into the distance. "Loqu
Back in Hampshen, Prince Callum, Queen Roselyn, Mr. Braun and his daughters were in the queen's throne room talking about what just happened. Queen Roselyn was sitting on her throne with Prince Callum standing next to her and Mr. Braun and his daughters were standing before them. The throne room had two thrones all the way at the end of the large room; a throne for him and a bigger one for her, portraits on the walls of the queen and prince as well as the many kings and queens that had ruled Hampshen in the previous years, decorative pillars holding up ornaments and a red carpet that ran from the double door all the way to the two thrones that were sitting on a slightly elevated platform. "What is going on Mr. Braun?" Prince Callum asked. "What just happened?" Mr. Braun looked to his daughters and them at him and then back at the prince with his heart the heaviest it had ever been; whatever it was that had him looking like that it wasn't good. "Loque Bella is very special," Mr. Br
"I must protect her from the night, what does that mean?" Mr. Braun asked. "Fayagans. The fayagans of Monteg. Ever since they sensed that I was carrying the moon essence inside of me they have been coming after me. They fly the night searching for me and have burnt down so many villages just to get me but I have been escaping. This time I escaped barely but I had to keep moving, for her. I had to survive for her. And when she comes to be you must protect her from them," Hralda said. "They must not get their hands on her." "What are fayagans?" Kima asked. "They are vicious large winged creatures that are after her power. They want her because of her power." "What is she?" Miro asked. "She's a moon essence. A healing spirit that gets its power from the full moon. And they want that power. They will do anything and kill anyone to get it, you must protect her from them. Please. If they get their hands on her they will kill her." "Do not wo