It began with the joining of two trees. Tounela, a dark tree filled with malice and Valo a kind tree enriched with goodness. One day Tounela gave a gift to Valo, a drink from his roots, a dark sultry potion that was said to bestow the gift of immortality to all. Valo, who wanted to live forever, gladly accepted the gift and drank from Tounela’s roots. The moment Valo sipped from the midnight blue liquid oozing from Tounela’s roots, Valo’s bark began to ache, his limbs grew fail, the forest green leaves that once adorned his beautiful branches wept from them a dark magic. From Valo’s tears formed the night warders, Tounela’s evil servants who would poison the lands of Aisling, so when Tounela would garner human form one day he would be able take over the lands. Tounela then swarmed frail Valo into his deadly grasps and consumed him with his evil. Tounela grew even larger. His braches twisted and screamed as they jostled to the sky. His bark grew thicker and sharper. Tounela was invincible and had nothing to fear, only the Prince Eron of Lathringa. There is a prophecy that a young prince at the age of twelve will possess a magical blue stone that when in contact with the silvery horn of a unicorn, mixed with the complete goodness of the prince will release a good toxic that will kill all the night warders, thus halting Tounela’s veil of evil. It is the young unlikely prince, a mere child who would set the course of history for all.

Pip sat in the wooden canoe, his eyes still welded with dust. They had barely escaped the Shellthorin Forest before the night warders had ravished through. Pip’s bruised and dirty hands were still shaking as he nervously looked around at the stagnant water, trying to hid his uneasiness from the others. He felt a queasiness in his stomach that his whole life had been built up to this moment. Pip was raised in Lathringa, the capital of Aisling. He was brought up with the sole purpose of acting as the decoy prince once the prophecy was fulfilled. He had a similar liking to the Prince at a young age. His poor mother desperate to feed her child, swore that one day he would be a decoy and in return was given a home and food. However, Pip never met the Prince, for it was forbidden. He only heard from his mother how kind and generous the prince was. The thought of pretending to be the prince one day, acting royal and all-knowing frightened him. What if he failed distracting the night warders and his whole purpose in life was pointless. His quest now was to lead the night warders into following him so the Prince could escape and destroy them with the magical blue stone. Lathringa had already been over run and the Prince had to escape quickly. Pip was only but the distraction.

Pip was joined on this endless quest with Anuk, the luonto fairy, who had quick wit and a pair of light blue lace embellished wings. Also on this decoy distraction was Piper, the constant troublemaker of Shellthorin. She was a forest fairy, but the size of a human and without wings. Instead her body was covered in colorful strokes of magentas, calicos, canary reds, and blue pantones. It was like a painter had lost control of his brush. On her abstract face, thin dancing lines of berry blue and bright orange were sweetly scattered across her temple making her mossy eyes pop. And lastly the long-bearded and temperamental gnome Mr. Everline, a close friend of Malhiavo, the Lord of the Forest Fairies. All four had set out with the intention of luring the night warders far away from the prince. They paddled swiftly on Shellthorin river in hopes to reach Oiche forest, the forest of the night fairies, by night fall.

“Gnomy will you stop humming; you clearly don’t know how to keep a tune.” Piper, the forest fairy said as she rolled her eyes back.

“First of all Miss. Piper you will address me as Mr. Everline and I am humming…” his voice started to get angrier “so the trees around us don’t wake and spread the news that were here!” The banks of the river were quiet and the weeping willows snored and rocked with the rhythm of the wind as nightfall was soon approaching.

“Well isn’t that the point.” Piper sarcastically sung “We want them to find us, so they don’t go after the real Prince now do we?” Mr. Everline scratched his beard listening to this.

“But we don’t want to get caught! Because once they find out Pip’s not the real Prince and doesn’t have the blue stone then we’re all done for. We must continue to stay hidden, but by morning for sure the night warders will be back on our trail.” Piper then began to banter on about how she wished she could swim in the crisp water and play with the snipper snappers, a turtle looking creature with a turquoise shell covered in cerise pink moss. She glided her hand on the surface of the water, her arm changing colors to a ravishing blue with caressing strokes of lavender purple. Pip laughed to himself trying to ignore their constant bickering. He smiled at Anuk who was fluttering around. Pip looked at his reflection in the water as the canoe paddled along. Suddenly he saw a face appear from beneath the ripples. It was a white face with eyes black as night and lips a chill blue. Silvery hair appeared wrapping around the sea creature’s face. A porcelain hand emerged from the surface up to Pips face. A faint singing could then be heard. It was eerie and echoed throughout Pips ears. Strange but hypnotic, Pip felt drawn to it. Suddenly Anuk flew in front of him breaking the hypnotism. Mr. Everline looked around in worry, he quietly said. “The mermaids are here.” Pip quickly looked around in confusion.

“I thought mermaids are good.” Pip yelled frantically. Piper looked at him laughingly. “Not all mermaids are good Pippy. The mermaids of Shellthorin have a sour temper against us forest fairies because we took all their shells to decorate our tree houses with. In return they take any captives who travel upon their waters.”

“This is not good.” Mr. Everline said as he began to paddle faster.

“Obviously! Were in a terrible situation, thanks to you Mr. Everline, who decided to come this way.” Piper said while glaring at him.

“We are going this way because Lord Malhiavo told me so.” Mr. Everline strictly said. Suddenly the canoe hit something. Anuk who was flying above began to fly around in circles yelling.

“Don’t listen to their singing! Close your ears!” Pip looked to his left and saw a mermaid, her arms dangling over the edge of the canoe. She had a simple beautiful face but with no color. It was as if she was a living corpse, imprisoned in this lifeless river. This mermaid had hair black as night with strands of purple glued to her back. One after another, mermaids keep swarming the canoe while singing hushed tunes of a melody. Mr. Everline unable to stop it was as well being hypnotized by their beautiful singing. Then out of nowhere an arrow hit the water releasing a misty fog that caused the mermaids to flee from the canoe and back into their underwater palace. Pip shook his head trying to get their melody out of his mind. Piper looked quickly in the direction from where the arrow came. Standing on the banks of the river were two elves with long rolling locks of hair straightly pulled behind their ears. They both wore laurel crowns wrapped in their golden locks as they sat upon two majestic unicorns. Their snowy white mane cascaded down their stout shoulders, as vines softly tangled in their hair. One elf wore a long blue cape and had a bow still stretched in his hands. He slowly lowered and motioned for Mr. Everline to paddle to the banks. Piper sat up straight and looked at Anuk who was now sitting along with them in the canoe. Mr. Everline began to use his tiny little arms to steer the canoe towards the plush bank.

“Looks like we’re in the hands of the elves now.” He whispered to everyone. Pip looked at the elves’ face as he got closer. They showed no emotion. Their eyes were a piercing blue that reflected the coldness of the water. Pip knew he had to act like the Prince in order to convince the elves. It did help that he was wearing a blue satin shirt with a pin displaying the emblem of Lathringa. But inside he felt lost. He also had a feeling deep in his gut that they were not safe here.

The two elves led them into the woods. The towering trees guided them into Rundin Forest. The sun was gone now and all that was left was the moonlight pouring its incandescent rays onto the forest floor. They passed a large lake. The water was a dark blue, almost black. It twinkled in the moonlight. On the far end was a tree with a porch wrapped around it and a door lofted into the side.

“Who lives there?” Piper asked. The elves said nothing.

Anuk flew between Piper and Pip and said, “The Lady of the Lake lives there. She was an elf but was cast out after she was cursed by the kuolema for not showing kindness to a stranger.”

“What was the curse?” Pip asked.

“She was cursed with old age and ugliness, something elves are never capable of enduring. Because of that she left and took residence in this lake.” Pip walked by the edge while listening to this. It was ominously beautiful the way the still water reflected the starry sky above. The woods became denser and finally they reached their woodland realms. The two elves escorted them into a cave clothed in moss with a barred door. They hustled them in and closed the door. They grabbed Anuk and put her in a tiny cage also throwing her into the cave.

“Hey why are you locking us up?” Piper yelled at them as she grabbed the bars. The elf with the blue robe looked around at her. His scurrilous eyes struck a strict glance at her.

“You stay here till we find out what to do with you.”

“We have the Pince! Don’t we deserve some common curtsey?” The elf only stared at Piper and then looked at Pip, who was standing in the corner of the cave.

“I know who you are. My apologies your highness.” The elf said as he turned around and joined the other elf disappearing into their wooded domain.

“This is not good.” Mr. Everline began to pace back and forth in the cave, while scratching his beard and rubbing his empty tummy.

“What will they do with us.” Pip asked.

“With the Woodland elves you never know. They think you’re the Prince and aren’t happy about it, so we should be concerned.” Mr. Everline worriedly spoke.

“Do you think we can try to pick the lock?” Little Anuk said. Pip walked up to the barred door. He use to pick his door’s lock back in Lathringa in order to go play outside with the other kids, but this lock looked rather different.

“I don’t think I can pick it.”

“Oh please try!” Anuk pleaded. Pip locked at the bizarre lock again. It had a silver carving of horses wrapped around it. In the middle was the key hole surrounded by a serpentine sea creatures mouth.

“Ok. Give me a minute.” Pip took the pin on his shirt and removed the needle and started tattering with the lock.

“There’s no way in Aisling that you can pick that lock!” Piper said. “It has elven magic I bet.” After a few minutes, Pip heard a click, he slowly removed the needle and the door popped open. Mr. Eveline in surprise popped up, and laughed.

“Great job Pip! You may be no Prince, but you for sure a help.”

“What about Anuk?” Piper said.

“Just grab her and go we need to get out of here.” All four fled the cave. The elves were nowhere to be seen, which seemed strange. They were running by the lake back down to the river until Pip yelled stop. There was a lady in a black cloak crouched down by the lake. It looked like she was struggling to stand. Pip knew it must be the Lady of the Lake, so he ran over to help her up.

“Pip come on the canoe!” Piper yelled, but Pip didn’t listen. Pip grabbed her by the arm. He looked into her eyes. Her aged and weary face looked tired and sad. As Pip helped her up he smiled at her. All of a sudden her wrinkles flattened out from her face and a rosy coloring appeared on her cheeks. Her shriveled lips plumped out and her hair turned to a dark brown. She was young and beautiful. Pip was surprised at first. Piper, Mr. Everline, and Anuk just stood there, mouths gaped open. The Lady of the Lake rose and elegantly said “Follow me, hurry now.” She looked back at Pip and said, “You have cured me. The only way to break my curse was if someone helped me. Kindness was the release. You must listen these woodland elves are now working for the night warders; they are calling for them now to turn you in.” She briskly led them through a maze of trees wrapped in long white winding staircases that let high into the tree tops. They finally reached a tree where two of the unicorns were tied up.

“Take these with you to Drakonatas. The stone will be there. Use the unicorns to fulfill the prophecy.” Pip nodded and untied the unicorns. Pip and Piper both got a horse, and Mr. Eveline sat behind Piper.

“Follow the puu-tammi road alongside Shellthorin and up to Moriva. And good luck.” She glanced over at Mr. Eveline who softly smiled. It was as if they knew something that no one else did.

They rode swiftly through the woods. The unicorns, quick as lightning bugs, dove past the trembling trees as the night warders, shielded in their black rusted armor, could be heard screeching. Lights began to turn on up in the trees as the elves awoke and realized their prisoners were gone. The four rode throughout the night, till they reached the edge of Dragonscale mountains. Everyone was exhausted and starving.

“I know there’s an old castle where Sir Oscar and his family live, we can stay there and rest.” Mr. Everline said while trying to catch his breath.

They finally approached the old castle. The sun was beginning to rise now. The birds were chirping and the trees cast glittering shadows. The archaic castle was covered in a bundle of rose vines, encasing the old bricks and dilapidated walls from revealing themselves. The unicorn’s legs were weak and they carried their heads low. Anuk had gotten so tired from flying so fast she rested on Pip’s shoulder. They got off in front of a green velvety moat encircling the castle. An old man appeared from the castle. He had a long white beard itching the ground.

“Sir Oscar!” Mr. Eveline yelled waving his hand as Pip helped him off the unicorn.

“Welcome to my home or what’s left of it.” Sir Oscar said as a deep laugh roared out from him, which was surprising considering how frail and thin a man he was. They entered the castle which was built on the side of the mountain. It was framed by enormous trees that arched themselves over the castle and sinuously crept up the side of the mountain. As they walked into the entry hall which was not decorated as one would imagine a castle to be, Pip saw a girl, Sir Oscar’s granddaughter sitting next to a young man wearing the Drakonatas emblem on his shirt. He had brown hair and a mischievous smirk on his face.

“This is my granddaughter Anoa and her….” He paused and took a deep breath “her ‘friend’ Marcien. He is from Drakonatas, a warrior.” They both looked at Pip in confusion and looked back at Oscar. Oscar laughed to himself, “I know what you’re thinking but this is not the Prince,” Sir Oscar caught them in confusion as they looked at his fancy garments, “this is for sure the prince!” He waved his hand in front of a chair next to a stone fireplace from which rose a boy with similar stature and features to Pip. He gently smiled moving towards the guests.

“Let me introduce myself, I am Prince Eron of Lathringa, at your service.” He bowed majestically towards them. Pip then walked forward and knelt in front of him.

“Your highness, it is I the one who is at your service. I swore an oath at a young age to protect you and I will uphold to that.”

“For sure you will Mr. Pip,” said Sir Oscar. “Now I see you have brought unicorns. It is time to create the potion this early morning that will defeat the night warders.” Sir Oscar motioned for everyone to head back outside, as Prince Eron pulled out from his plain shirt a necklace that had the blue stone attached to it.

Everyone walked outside, gathering in front of the moat at the edge of the forest. Prince Eron stood in front of the unicorn his hand firmly stuck out holding the blue stone. It stood still in his hand. The unicorn bent his neck down so the tip of his horn could touch the stone. Everyone waited in anticipation. Nothing happened. Sir Oscar moved forward and told the Prince to try again. Still nothing. Pip was astonished it wasn’t working. Prince Eron looked depressed and dropped the stone to the ground and walked away from the unicorn. Pip walked over to the blue stone and picked it up. All of a sudden Pip felt a warmness soak into his scabby hand. Suddenly the unicorn was in front of him, looking deep into his eyes. The unicorn bent over its horn so it lightly touched the blue stone and a sudden light exploded from it. Blue liquid fumes began to ooze out from the stone. Then after a few seconds it was all sucked back into the stone, which now stood brighter and heavier than it did before. Everyone was stunned, except for Mr. Everline and “Prince Eron”. Sir Oscar looked at Eron in a lost state.

“What..I ..how…..wha???” Eron approached him. “Sorry I would have told you earlier, but I didn’t trust you once you decided to hide me. Spies are everywhere these days.” He then looked at young innocent Pip, who looked as stunned as everyone else.

“I am not the Prince, but you are Pip. We were switched at birth. I was the one born to a poor family, who was then raised in a palace, while the royal prince learned to live in the streets. Your whole life has been in danger since you were a child and the prophecy was declared. It was my job to keep you from harm. You see it is your kind and forgiving heart that will kill the night warders. I was just a mere distraction.” Marcien, after hearing this, stepped forward and bowed. Then followed Piper, Anoa, Anuk, and Mr. Everline.

“Please don’t bow for me. I do not consider any of you lesser than me.” Pip anxiously said as he begged them to stand up.

“I had a feeling you would say that.” Mr. Everline chuckled.

“Mr. Everline, you knew all along.” Pip said in astonishment.

“Why yes your highness. So, did Lord Malhiavo of the forest fairies. It was my job to keep a watchful eye on you.” M. Everline smiled.

“Well time is of the essence here.” Marcien said. “I will lead you to Drakonatas, the home of the dragons. There we will join my fellow warriors and you, Prince Pip, with the blue stone will bring an end to the night warders.” Anoa held Marcien’s hand much to Sir Oscars disliking. “But still for precaution, Eron will now be disguised as the prince.” With that everyone mounted horses and unicorns and rode deep into the Dragonscale Ravine. After a few hours in, they stopped at a river for a water break. They all stretched their legs, went off on their own to collect some food and gather other helpful trinkets.

“All back on the horses.” Marcien yelled.

“Where’s Mr. Everline?” Anuk said. Everyone looked around but couldn’t find him.

“He must have gone farther down the stream. I’ll get him!” Said Pip who gallantly began walking next to the stream. He knew he had a purpose in life, an even bigger role than the one before. He was the prince. Before he was lost but now he had found his way. He knew he was still young, but with the help of his friends he felt like he could do anything. When Pip reached the springs of the river a cold chill breezed up his skin and the wind changed direction. And then to Pip’s horror he saw Mr. Everline at the end of the river slumped against a tree sitting in a pile of blood. Pip ran over to him trying to conceal his stab wound. Pip started to cry repeating to himself “No, no, no!” Mr. Everline mumbled something “Aaaaa-eeeeee…”

“What? What are you saying!” Pip sobbingly spoke. Suddenly Mr. Eveline’s eyes grew wide and Pip knew someone was behind him. He turned around ready to face his foe and saw Eron looking at him with deep hatred.

“Aisling is mine and not yours. It will always be mine and I will always be the prince.” With that he kicked Pip into a deep hole shoved in between two rocks next to the spring. Pip feel flat on his back, gasping for air. Eron looked down at him. “Enjoy the snakes.” And disappeared.

“Eron what are you doing?” Pip screamed. It was evident to Pip that power had corrupted Eron’s mind. Suddenly snakes began to seep out from the rock crevices. They spat and hissed at Pip. One started to wrap itself around his leg and squeezed his calf as Pip screamed in pain. Pip began to hit it vigorously. He then remembered that he never gave Eron back the blue stone, he had put it in his pocket. Pip pulled it out. He held it in front of him and closed his eyes. Immediately all the snakes blew back in horror, for good in the end will always conquer evil. Pip, in relief then began to maneuver his way up the sides to the top of the hole. Once he reached the top he looked at Mr. Everline. When gnomes die, they turn to stone. All he saw was a stone statue of his dear friend rested by the tree. It was yet a beautiful spot under a romantic tree. Mr. Everline would have been pleased. Pip’s eyes filled with tears, but then quickly flooded out and were replaced with anger and revenge. His nostrils flared, his breath quickened. Pip knew what he had to do. He ran up the stream and back into the forest.

THE END