Once upon a time...part 7

Guards surrounded Maxim who lay unconscious on the luscious grass bed of the wood.  Queen Candice and the commander in chief arrived from nowhere. Commander in chief asked one of guard to wake Maxim up.

Maxim woke up from imaginary nightmare to reality. The guards! Queen Candice! Where was Princess Adele?  “ This is a dream. Princess Adele is with me here.” , he spoke to himself and closed his eyes.  He opened his eyes again to see they were still there. He stumbled while getting up. His eyes turned moist when he saw Princess Adele missing. “Where is Princess Adele?” he asked in disbelief. “ You should be knowing that!  She was with you whole day.”, commander in chief smirked at him.

“ What! This can’t be true. ( he looks down and up at commander in chief) Arcus… He disappeared with her , leaving me unconscious.” , he said softly. Queen Candice was in distraught state. Her nightmare had .. Alas! became true.  She fell slowly on her knees.  She couldn’t bear to lose her precious daughter to the horrid sorcerer. 

“ Do you know Arcus?”, commander in chief interrogated with young lad. Maxim nodded in agreement to his statement.  The commander in chief didn’t react and simply ordered his men to chain him as prisoner. “ Please, Queen Candice! I have no hand in this. Yes, I know Arcus. He was my teacher. But I could help you. I know his plans very well.”, he said.

Queen Candice was about to leave. However his words influenced her mind. She instructed the commander in chief to release Maxim.  Maxim bent himself in front of Queen as token of his gratitude. “If I find you messing up with me , next time I will not blink my eye while giving execution orders.”, she warned him.“I won’t give you such opportunity.”, he promised.  

Arcus prepared himself for great human sacrifice. He had all the resources with him except the right time. There was few hours left for his dream to become reality-to become most powerful all over the world.

Princess Adele sat quietly in the dark room where she was confined. She was hopelessly worried. “Ma must have sent the troops to find me. Where are you, ma? Ma was right! I shouldn’t have stepped out of the palace.”, she cried silently.

(To be continued)

Once upon a time ... Part 6

In midst of enjoyment, Maxim remembered the protocol. More than two hours had passed. He pushed past the crowd and found Princess Adele with her new found happiness. He grabbed her hand and took her away from the crowd. “ Princess, we need to go to the palace. Two hours are already over.  Let’s go.”, he said. 

Princess Adele had to rebound herself back to reality. She was princess who had run away from her royal home to have fun.  She had bribed one of her loyal guards and had promised them that she will be back on time. 

“Oh lord!! More than two hours! Mother will be crossed if she got to know. The guards!! They would be in trouble. Lets go!!”, she said as they ran as fast they could.

It was already dark. It was getting difficulty to walk in the woods. The sounds of wild animals that were melody during daylight had now become eerie to ears. 

They had crossed half the woods when they heard strange hustle near bushes behind them. They turned behind. “ Who is it?” Maxim asked loudly with all courage. The hustle stopped. A peculiar silence followed. They turned towards the path they were walked.

All of sudden, they felt something crept out of the bushes. “ Where are you going, beautiful one?” a familiar voice spoke. They looked back at direction where the voice came. It was Arcus. “ Arcus! What was he doing here?”, Maxim wondered.  “ Who are you?” Princess Adele asked anxiously. “ Didn’t your mother say anything about me? I am the one from whom your mother has been hiding you.”, Arcus replied.

Princess Adele didn’t understand a word Arcus said. “Maxim, won’t you explain your friend about our small agreement? Don’t tell me, you have forgotten your ultimate dream – to be a powerful sorcerer. That’s the reason I had sent you to the palace.”Arcus said with evil grin.  The ultimate goal! Maxim had forgotten about it. His aim of being a sorcerer was replaced by the love he wanted from princess.

Princess Adele looked confused at Maxim. She stared deeply into his eyes for answers.  “ Master, I have forgone that dream. I would rather be nothing than be a sorcerer. I love her. Nothing matters to me than her.”, he said. “ You are a fool! Is this one of your tricks? Are you involved with Queen Candice? You know that she is important for my power gratification plan.”, Arcus said.

“ I am not in anyone side. Please leave her, master. You could replace her with me.”, Maxim pleaded for mercy. “ Ha ha ha(he gave evil laugh)!  You have only half knowledge of sorcery, useless boy.” Arcus said firmly. In few seconds, he vanished from the sight with Princess Adele and left Maxim dumbfounded.

(To be continued)

Once upon a time... -part 5 d

The fair was month long affair. People had gathered around many stalls. These stalls catered the interests of various people.  Princess Adele was awe of people of the town. They seemed so happy with little things unlike her. 

She looked into each and every stall. The town merchants had so much to offer- dresses, jewels, precious stones and craft works pleased her eyes. The smell of homemade food served by the women of the town tempted her. The laughter of children playing and chasing each other made her smile. A group of dancers dancing to the old folk song attracted few people with their beats and movements. This made her join them in their dance. 

Maxim simply looked at the transformation of soft spoken princess into fun spirited girl. He was mesmerized to see her so happy and excited. He wanted her to be always cheerful.

Everything was seemingly perfect. They were having time of their life. They played games like cross bow target shoot where they got three chances to shoot arrow on target. However Princess Adele won the challenge while Maxim deliberately lost it. 

The fun distracted their mind away from time. More than two hours were passed. At the palace, the news of princess’s disappearance had spread to Queen Candice. “ Where is my daughter? How could you be so careless in your duty? I hereby dismiss you from your service.” Queen Candice said furiously. 

“Queen Candice, I have given orders to the our topmost guards. They are on their way to look out princess.” Commander in chief said. “ I hope she is fine wherever she is. Oh lord! Please bring her back to me.” she prayed.

(To be continued)

Once upon a time ... Part 5 c

It was gloomy morning. The routine work had taken toll on Maxim. He was in no mood to work. But he forced himself on to the work. Tigger’s grumpiness added to his so called bad day. 

As per schedule, he took Tigger for walk. However Tigger wasn’t in his best behaviour. Maxim had to force the lazy tiger with meatball treats. The walk was in one word … tiring for Maxim.

He had dropped Tigger to his safe abode. He was ready to leave for the day after completing other odd jobs. “ Stop!” someone shouted. He turned to see who it was. A lady in a red cloak stood. She carefully took out the hood from her head. He froze as he realised the identity of lady. “ Princess! What are you doing here?” he said with shocked expression. “ Take me to the fair. Fast! I don’t want anyone to see me here. I have only two hours with me.”, she said hurriedly. “ What about the rule that princess cannot go out?” he asked . “ Well, I am breaking that rule. Now stop talking….”,she said and grabbed his hand. They walked past the main palace entrance.

“ Who is that lady in the cloak?” one of the guard at the entrance asked Maxim. “ Oh! She is my cousin.”, Maxim replied. The guard smiled and let them go.

Princess was in cloud nine as her dainty feet touched the green path of the ‘outside world’. She took her out hood  when they were far away from the palace. “ Yippee!!  I feel so free!  I can’t believe I am out!” she screamed with excitement. Maxim was surprised and wondered, “ How anyone could be so happy and relieved with just being out?” 

The journey to the town of faraway land wasn’t too long. They had to cross the woods to reach the town.  Princess loved the beautiful sounds of chirping birds, the sight of innocent herd of deer running across them and gentle wind swinging the branches of trees. Maxim could see the excitement twinkling in her eyes.

At last they reached the town. The town was decorated by the celebration and joy among the people. It was fest in name of Princess Adele’s forefather who had founded the town. There was so much energy among the people. Princess Adele looked at people around her and thought, “ The outside world doesn’t look so horrifying like what mother said. It’s so beautiful.” 

(To be continued)

Once upon a time...Part 5b

Maxim was exited to meet her today. He had thought about the reward he was going to ask for. He took Tigger and her for a walk as routine. “ Princess, you were supposed to reward me.” , he said innocently.
“ Reward..Ummm…Oh ! I get it. When we complete our walk, you will be given bag of gold coins.”, she said.

“ I don’t need gold coins. Please join me today evening for the fest.”he said. She was shell shocked. This was impossible. How was she going to grant this wish? The word ‘outside’ was enough for her stepmother to say no.

“ I can’t grant you this wish, Maxim. Wish for something else! I am forbidden to go outside the palace.”, she said politely declining his offer. “ Please princess, it is just for few minutes. The feast happens only once in a year. I promise to get you back home safely.”, he said. “You don’t understand. I will be grounded for life if I break the code.” , she said, this time sounding more firm. “ Please, it will for an hour and I will make sure that no one gets to know.”, he begged.

Princess Adele simply ignored the plea and continued walking. “ As you wish, princess.”, he said. Silence engulfed their whole journey. They didn’t speak to each other. Maxim felt disappointed and guilty to ask her such a wish. Princess Adele felt tempted to take the offer. It was just for an hour. What could hurt? But she hated the thought of hurting her step mother. She suppressed all the emotions related to ‘sneaking out’.

She was not alone who was saddened due to rejecting the offer. Evil Arcus was too disappointed by the way things were going. He threw his close aide-his magic tools down. He raised both his hands as if he was going to salvage himself and screamed loudly in anger.

(To be continued)