The Princess and the Mirror

Chapter 1

         One day, many years later, in the dark woods strolled a handsome Prince, dressed in golds, reds and whites with the royal crest of his kingdom and family on his heart. A long silver trailing pointed sword with jewels along the leather handle attached to his side. He took a deep breath.

"What business do I have out here? 'Look for something out of the ordinary' said father...

It's the dark forest! What isn't unusual?" grumbled the Prince, kicking a stone as if he were a child. His father, the King, is an odd man; always sending his heir on dangerous missions to Gods knows where, to do obscure things and the only reason the Prince was given is:

'you need to learn to fend for yourself and survive on your own and protect your own.'

The Prince understood but did he really have to come out here? The dark and disturbing forest to find something only the Gods knew. He was about to leave this ridiculous thing called an adventure when suddenly he heard a piercing scream, he ran towards it, his lungs burning from the cold crisp air. 

The Prince broke through the dense fern trees and into the open meadow, where seven little men were surrounding a maiden. Each one holding a weapon of sorts. One, is holding a sword with a big grin on his face; another with a bright red nose, is wielding an axe, if he can stop sneezing long enough. The third has an angry look on his face, and is swishing a mace above his head, the next one looks like he is going to fall asleep before he could even pick up his pickaxe; and hiding behind him is one with bright red cheeks and a tiny dagger. The sixth one pushes up his glasses while carrying a hammer and lastly, the final man was comical, he had this odd far away look on his face as he tugs a satchel back and forth with the maiden.

"Give it to us, you little thief!" grumbles the third dwarf.

"What on earth are you talking about? I haven't stolen anything!" The maiden tried to tug harder on the satchel, while the dwarf with the sneezing fit made his way behind the maiden, lifting up his axe. The Prince took out his sword and rushed up behind the sneezy dwarf.

"Let her go!" Time seemed to have frozen, as everyone stopped and stared at the Prince.

"what the bloody 'ell do you want?" ask the dwarf with the glasses

"I want you to let this beautiful maiden go, of course." smirked the Prince, the dwarves looked around at each other, and clutched their bellies laughing, the one with the far away look was rolling on the ground.

"Oh, what a princey thing to say." The dwarf's glasses moved a bit while he pretended to wipe away a tear, "Now bugger off, you princely bastard!" A glare replaced the Prince's smirk. He came in between the dwarves and the maiden with his sword pointed at the sneezing dwarf. Axe versus sword. 

Whilst he was watching him the other dwarves surrounded the Prince putting him in a difficult position, but he was trained for this, they clash weapons, the Prince uses his height to his advantage and pushes the dwarf to the ground. As he steps back to relish in his glory, he trips over the dwarf with the goofy look on his face, who had bent over to pick up a flower. The angry dwarf punches him in the nose making him bleed, his vision becomes blurry; He swings his sword in a crazy motion, just hoping to hit something. The Gods are on his side as he hits his target, slicing the arm off the closest dwarf. The other dwarves rush to their companion and quickly pick him up and carry him off. Shouts of "You'll pay for this!" and "Stupid princely bastard" follow as they disappear into the woods.

"I had it all under control.." sighed the maiden, crossing her arms over her chest

"A 'thank you' would suffice," the Prince puts away his sword, "after all, I did save your life. Now why were they calling you a thief?"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that, you know dwarves; a bunch of liars, the lot of them. They stole my mirror, I was just taking back what was mine."

They start to make their way through the dark woods and as they walk, they start to talk. The Prince tells her about his father and how he keeps sending him on seemingly random quests and he tells her that his name is Charming but everyone calls him Prince. She tells him her name is Lilith. Lilith tells him about her childhood and explains the situation between her and her glorious mother, the Queen, and how she was left in the woods to die. 

 Lilith told him about her time in the East Kingdom near the Crystal Ocean where she spent her time with the wise Sea Witch, the wise witch told her to find a couple of items that she could use in a spell to help her return to the Kingdom safely. The reddest apple from the tallest pine, rose petals from the Beast' garden, shells from the crystal ocean, which the sea witch graciously gave her, Rapunzel's hair and the magic mirror that had belonged to her; which the dwarves stole after she was left in the woods.

So now she's on a quest of her own to find items that will allow her to return to her rightful place as the next Queen. The Prince makes a brave declaration,

"I will come on the quest with you and be your protector." Lilith raises her eyebrows and sighs.

"Oh really, that would be so darling of you." The Prince's lips formed a boyish grin and he sets off walking in a random direction.

"Now. Where are we heading?"

"Wrong way." states Lilith, walking in the opposite direction.