The Princess of the Black Bear

Chapter 1: The Teddy Bear

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away... a little girl was soon to be born; her future fate however would not be as pleasant as the joy she brought to the Kingdom of Regnum.

Screams echoed out through the halls. It was a wretched sound, like that of a dying bird... then everything went silent for a second before the sound of a newborn baby's cries rang out. Laying there in her mother's arms, was the newborn princess of Regnum, covered in blood but surrounded by love. The doctors cleaned around Queen Regina and then took Princess Rubrum to clean and clothe her. King Rex had been quiet up until this point, he had hoped their firstborn to be a boy and didn't know how to react. He wanted an Heir to the throne, "Whatever shall I do now?" was all he could think, at least, until Queen Regina broke the silence.

"I'm sorry my Dear, I couldn't bear you a son." Tears rolled down her face while King Rex came nearer and looked down on her tear-ridden face.

"You shan't apologize, my Love, for our new princess will do what no other king has ever quite succeeded in, bringing hope." He then proceeded to gently wipe his hand across her cheeks drying her tears.

Leaning towards her ear slowly and whispering quietly to her "I love you, and my daughter, and would give my kingdom for either of you, I promise to give her the best life she could have and raise her to be a better ruler than even I." With a kiss on the forehead, he had successfully comforted his wife and continued to hold her hand until their princess returned.

When their newborn came back she was dressed in a beautiful yellow nightgown big enough to dress a doll. The doctor holding the princess handed her back to Queen Regina to feed, then asked the question that was on each of their minds. "What shall you name her, Your Majesties?"

King Rex requested for everyone to leave them to discuss this matter with the Queen. Both of them examined their child carefully, noting her delicate features, her beautiful lashes, her soft skin, but the most noticeable of all was her uniquely red hair. As if reading each other's minds the two of them softly said "Rubrum." They stared into each other's eyes and laughed for a minute before inviting the maids, cooks, servants, and of course doctors back to the room. In a deep authoritarian voice, King Rex spoke. "This here is your new princess and future Ruler, I, King Rex, declare her Princess Rubrum of Regnum."

After hearing her father's voice, Princess Rubrum relaxed and fell asleep. Everyone was silently ushered out to leave Queen Regina to hold her sleeping baby oh so gently.

King Rex started preparing a festival to celebrate the arrival of Regnum's new princess. The celebration would be held in 4 moons and have vendors, jesters, villagers, and royalty alike. Invitations were sent out to four of the eight kingdoms including The Kingdom of Dives, The Kingdom of Villam, The Kingdom of Pultra, and The Kingdom of Salus.

Each of the four Kingdoms was in alliance with The Kingdom of Regnum and all had eagerly waited for the arrival of the little one since they learned of Queen Regina's pregnancy. However, the remaining three kingdoms of Periculum and Malum, and Mortem had been more than disgusted by the thought of Regnum having a new potential Heir.

Assassination attempts had been planned since the news reached their Kingdoms. Botanists experimented with plants, chemists tried several different chemicals, and after months of experiments, the three kingdoms had concocted the perfect assassination plan for the innocent child. The Kingdom of Periculum had collected the object they would contaminate and give to the child, the Kingdom of Mortem had come up with the perfect toxin to kill the child in its sleep, and the Kingdom of Malum would be the one to deliver the object to the new heir.

A month before Princess Rubrum's birth it was decided amongst them that the gift would be a black teddy bear, one that resembled that of the insignia for protection. It was figured amongst the kingdoms it would be the least suspicious item for a baby to possess and proceeded to plan their assassination.

King Occissor had ordered his servants to gain information on the future heir of Regnum for the past few months from merchants traveling in and out of the Kingdoms. By the time the news of the festival arrived, it would be a three moon trip before they arrived in Regnum to which the festival would start a moon earlier. Having had prepped carts in case of such an event King Occissor sent his men and the stuffed bear away, hoping all these efforts would have been worth it.

It was a long tiring trip that was covered in mountains and lakes, making it difficult to arrive. Hardly any paths had been made that weren't dangerous due to each of the Kingdom's rivalries. When they arrived though the festivities had been far from over. Gifts for the precious baby had been piled up high into fifty carts.

Knowing that each of these gifts would not be looked at until a much later date and needing immediacy to kill the child without suspicion, four of the selected assassins set camp a few procels away from the castle. Guards would surround the castle of course, however, in the dead of night when all was still and quiet, was when these four worked their best.

Finally, when the time arrived, two of the assassins had knocked four guards unconscious in under a minute with little to no sound, while the other two started climbing the walls to the nursery window.

Within the hour all four of the assassins had managed to reach the nursery. Novus, one of the newer assassins, was picked to deliver the gift. He was the youngest of the four and had never killed a person yet. He took the bear while making sure not to directly touch it or breathe in the toxins, and quietly walked towards the sleeping child.

When he arrived at the crib all Novus could see was an innocent, sleeping, baby girl who had done no harm to the world. He hesitated before he heard footsteps coming towards the room. Then he hastily placed the bear beside her and ran out, without even a chance to comprehend what he had just done.

On their way down from the castle, all Novus thought was "Did I just kill a child?" Conflict rose inside him and he started worrying. He was ready to kill a man who deserved it, but a child who did nothing but breathe? How could he? The tension within him built on their way to the camp and when they arrived he started uncontrollably shaking. To his relief his companion pressed into behind his ear, allowing him to fall into a fast sleep and calm his body. Everyone else in the camp ignored the incident while the remaining three carried him to his cot.

By the time Novus finally awoke they were almost to their home kingdom of Malum. In his sleep, he had dreamt that their arrival would be followed by parades in their honor and celebration. Everyone would think of him as a hero, for saving his kingdom. But when he woke he remembered the life he had to take for that dream to come true. He sat up quietly for several minuta lost in his thoughts.

They would need to set camp one more night before finishing the last stretch of their journey. When they came to their designated spot he took that opportunity to distract himself. He wanted to forget about the sleeping child, and so he helped gather wood for a fire, pitched tents, and by the time he was laying in his bed he completely forgot about the baby.

Back in the castle, it had been a whole solis since the mysterious black bear appeared. When the maids had come to retrieve Princess Rubrum they noticed the stuffed animal and assumed it was a gift from the festival guests from the celebrations. Paying little attention to the gift they continued to prepare her for breakfast. They changed her diaper and dressed her in a soft teal-like dress with frills on the shoulders and at the hem of the skirt. She looked like a flower.

After the princess was dressed, Acilla, the princess's new head maid, tried to bring her to her parents. However something peculiar happened, she began to cry every time she stepped out of the room. She walked through the halls with Princess Rubrum crying her eyes out and brought her to Queen Regina hoping the child was just hungry. While she was hungry, not even being fed was enough. "Do you know why she is crying, Acilla?" Her majesty questioned. Acilla hardly knew what to do. She thought through the previous things that morning to possibly help her and realized she might want the stuffed bear.

Her eyes lit up at the thought and she frantically excused herself to look. "Please excuse me, your Majesty, I must go to the Princess's nursery." was all she said before running back to the nursery looking for the black bear. She looked around everywhere, in the crib, in the wardrobe, near the toys, on the mat, and even by her changing area with no luck. "It was here earlier..." Acilla looked around once more and started walking towards the door to leave before her eyes caught a glimpse of a little stuffed bear's ears by the crib. She walked towards the crib once more and looked under to find the princess's beloved bear.Acilla ran back with the bear in hand and gave it to Princess Rubrum. As if it was magic Princess Rubrum immediately stopped crying. "Where did this come from?" Queen Regina asked; all she knew was that neither her, her husband, or anyone for that matter had even begun to open the gifts. Not knowing what to say, Acilla explained how the bear had been in her arms when she was awakened and that she had some sort of attachment to it. It was certainly a mystery to be dealt with. After months of trying to learn how the bear appeared the King and Queen finally gave up and allowed their daughter to treasure the stuffed animal. Eventually, they even started dressing the bear to match Princess Rubrum. Portraits were painted of her in the nursery and garden holding her precious black bear. By the time she was 6 months of age and started babbling she decided on a name for the mysterious toy. Its new name became LeeBuh.