The Swan Princess

-10-

"Tell me you found her." Zephyra's eyes remained on the fire she had been watching intently for the last hour. She made no other efforts to acknowledge the guard who had just walked in, or the fact that he looked like he would drop to the floor any second.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. We've been looking for days. My men are exhausted. Please, we just need to rest." he breathed heavily. Finally she turned to him, and he saw why she had requested to be alone for so long. Her eyes were puffy and red from hours of crying, and she looked even more exhausted than he did. 

"Rest?" she sneered. At once, he stood up straight. "You think I'm going to let you rest when my daughter is out wandering around the Enchanted Forest? Who knows what could happen to her?"

"I do apologize. We will continue our search." The guard nodded and turned rather wearily on his heel before attempting to march out the door.

"No."

He stopped in his tracks. "Your Majesty?" 

"You said you needed rest, and I need a guard who is competent." The last word hit him like a blow in the chest.

"I don't need rest, Your Majesty. I'll go a--" 

Zephyra waved her hand lazily, and with a sickening crunch the guard's head turned 180 degrees. She wiped her eyes, removing all evidence of ever being sad in the first place, and began to walk out the door, stepping over the corpse of the guard she had once believed was a good enough person to get the job done. 

Anyone who saw her walking through the corridors knew well enough to stay out of her way. Nobody asked where she was going, or if she needed help, or why there was a dead body in the doorway of Eva's room. The stable master simply nodded and handed over the reins to the fastest horse they had.

Without a single word the dark sorceress rode into the night, mumbling over and over again.

"If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself."

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The morning was still and silent, save for the quiet breaths of three sleeping people. The smallest of the three, the young princess, stirred for a moment before finally opening her eyes.

She sat up slowly, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight. Henry and her father were still sleeping soundly, and she decided not to wake them. They had another long day of travelling ahead of them, if they were ever going to find her mother... Her mother. For days now, Eva had been beginning to lose hope. Even if her brother and father kept telling her that hope ran in the family and it was the greatest thing she could ever possess, growing up under Zephyra's care left little to no hope at all.

A bird's call was the first noise that brought Eva back to reality. She looked up and around the trees for the source, but she couldn't find it through the leaves. It suddenly occurred to Eva that she'd never really seen autumn from this angle. Sometimes, when Zephyra was off doing unspeakable things, Henry would take Eva out to her tree and look at the colors of the Enchanted Forest. But these days were few and far between. As she grew older, Eva was suddenly involved in all of Zephyra's nasty deeds, from torturing a soldier for getting lost on patrol to murdering the innocent creatures of the forest who somehow wandered through the protective barrier around the castle. It had been more than two years since Eva had had any time to see the colors she loved so much.

She looked back again to her sleeping family, and thought they wouldn't miss her if she just wandered off for one moment.

Stepping quietly so she didn't wake them, Eva walked away from their camp and through a maze of tall trees, decorated perfectly with orange, yellow, and red. Every so often she would pick up a couple of leaves and compare them. It astounded her that not a single pair of leaves were exactly the same color. Each leaf had a different unique characteristic. This, she thought, was what magic was all about. Bringing color into the world instead of darkness. Even if the only magic she was taught was all in the name of darkness.

After another minute of walking, Eva came to a large boulder, surrounded by small rocks. In front of it was a beautiful tree, and its leaves were the brightest orange she had seen yet. She stood for a moment, admiring how the rising sun seemed to peek its way from behind the trees, giving the already bright leaves an even brighter glow. Everything was just so beautiful, and Eva felt happiness that she hadn't felt in years. For once, she was looking at the colors because she wanted to, not because Henry was trying to distract her from the screams coming from the castle.

And then there were leaves everywhere. Flying off of the ground, they swirled through the trees and around the small child laughing in the light of the sunrise. They tumbled through the air, twirling in a tornado around her.

And she was oblivious to the world. Eva Swan danced through the leaves, laughing and feeling happier than she had ever felt in her life. She was so incredibly happy, she never even noticed her family, who had heard the laughter and come running. But there they stood, beaming at her and her autumn dance.