The Fairies of Crystal Castle

Chapter 4: The Plan!

The plan is to stay out of sight from Onyx and his army until nightfall. When they are all sitting down to their dinner, most of the soldiers will be gathered around the camp fire chatting and shouldn't notice Princess Harlequin sneaking into the camp. All she needs to do is get past the few guards that are scattered on the outside of the camp and she'll be safely inside... Well this is the plan, it is the best the Princess has come up with so it has to work, it just has to. Once she is in the camp she will have more time to figure out what to do next, she has until sunrise to decide which is hours away, besides surely by morning it would be too late for Onyx to send Princess Harlequin home?! That's what she hopes!

As the evening grew darker and colder Princess Harlequin made sure she had all of her belongings packed up before she sneaked up to the camp. A closer look is needed to find out where exactly the guards are positioned, that way she can go around them and get into the camp without being spotted. The best way in is going to be getting round to the back of the camp and sneak past the guard, who seems busy tending to the horses. As there is already one person near the horses it shouldn't be suspicious if any of them stir.

It is almost pitch black now, the only visible light is either coming from the bright moon above or the glow from the camp fire over in the woods. Now is the perfect opportunity to head for the camp, all the soldiers are laughing and talking in the distance, no doubt gathered around the fire. A sweet and familiar smell keeps wafting in the Princesses direction, it smells like a hog roast. The soldiers must be having dinner. Taking a last deep breath, Princess Harlequin quietly retraced her steps back to the far side of the camp; it seems far larger than she remembered just from a few hours ago. Maybe the soldiers have put some more tents up. A small bubble of doubt has quickly stirred through her, she knows how disappointed her father is going to be when he finds out where she is... if he hasn't already discovered she is missing. "No, I've got to do this, the Orb is important. Besides I'm not a child anymore, he can't expect me to live my whole life within the castle walls" the Princess thought as she continued walking. She pushed the thoughts about her fathers disappointment to the back of her mind and found a voice in its place saying "be quick, be silent, be brave, you can do it". This little piece of advise worked as a good distraction as before she knew it, she had reached the back of the camp where the horses were. There is still one knight, like before. "This has got to be a good sign", she thought.

On the right side of the horse pen, through some small bushes, is where the guard is stationed. On the left side is a brown tent which belongs to the soldiers, it looks like it could hold 8 soldiers or more. There are a couple of small gubble berry bushes scattered around the tent. The size of the tent means there is plenty of room for Princess Harlequin to sneak in, nobody would notice if there was an extra person lying asleep.

After tying Flint to a nearby tree and telling Topaz to stay up in the trees, out of sight, she made her way towards the tent. Now is the perfect opportunity to get in the camp. The night air is cold and there are very few stars in the sky. "I bet it's much warmer in those tents" Princess Harlequin quickly thought to herself. With her hood pulled up over her head and her back pack over one shoulder, she began creeping towards the closest tent. Gently tip toeing silently with every step, she kept her ears pricked for any sounds nearby. She made her way round the gubble berry bush and moved in close to the tent. Keeping completely still she listened for any sounds of people, just in case there was someone already in the tent... There was no sound. A small wave of relief rushed over her and her heart began to race. Slowly edging her way round to the front, she kept her back towards the tent. Just as she turned her head to look in the tent at her left she heard the rustling sound of foot steps. They sound like they are heading straight for her! Quickly looking for somewhere to hide she ran towards the nearest gubble berry bush, it's not very big but it will have to do. Crouching down behind the small plant she peered through the twigs. The foot steps were heading straight for her alright, they got louder and heavier with every step. A familiar rattling sound interrupted the Princess's panic... "I know that sound", she thought. Struggling in her mind to quickly identify this ever growing, habitual sound, she realized that it was the sound of the suits of armour all the guards wear.

Just as she came to identify the rattling sound, a shadow appeared and was soon followed by a large, grumpy looking guard. It was the man who had been watching over the horses. "Come on Hudson, there wont be any hogpole stew left soon", a voice shouted from in the distance. The grumpy guard fluttered his wings in frustration and headed towards the camp fire. "Great, this is perfect", the princess thought to herself. With no guards around, sneaking into the tent is going to be easier than she thought. As she slowly retraced her steps back towards the front of the tent, she noticed an even bigger tent not far over to her right. This puzzled Princess Harlequin as she has never seen such an elaborate shelter. Knowing that there were no guards around she found herself being drawn towards it to take a closer look. "What on Earth is such an extraordinary structure doing out here?" She thought to herself. Walking round towards the right of the tent she was completely amazed. The tent was much larger than the other tents in the camp, it had smoke coming out the top like a chimney, the pattern on the material looked very elegant against the other tents and the inside looks like it has some sort of light. Being completely unaware of her surrounding Princess Harlequin gingerly tip-toed inside. To her surprise the tent is decorated with candle lit lanterns all around the edge, there's a small fire in the middle (now she knows why there was smoke coming out of the top) rugs were laid out across the floor and scattered around were cushions and pillows of all sizes, it looks so cosy and warm; there's a bowl of water on the floor by the entrance. "That's a little odd", she mumbled to herself. On the far side of the tent was a stand with doors. "I wonder what is in that". Deciding to be brave she placed her back pack to one side and scrambled over to the mysterious closet. The moment she reached it, she snapped out of her inquisitive daydream by the sound of a mans voice "sleep well my brothers for tomorrow we continue our search". It was Onyx!! Panic stricken she quickly blew out a few of the lanterns nearest to her and quickly laid down in the shadows, amongst the pillows and cushions. "Oh no, oh no, this is not good" a little voice kept saying to her. Her heart was pounding so much it was deafening. All sorts of thoughts were dashing through her mind, "what will he do if he notices me?", "oh, why did i come in here?", "i'm such a fool, I'm going to be in so much trouble".

Trying to regain a sense of calmness, "the best thing to do is lay still", she thought.

It was only about 15 minutes until silence fell within the tent, along with darkness. All that was left of the light was the glow from the fire in the middle.

Still scared to move, Princess Harlequin has decided to wait a little longer until she surveys her surrounds for an escape route.

Time is seeming to drag and she is growing frustrated; with this fueling her bravery, she decides to quietly and slowly sit up. Onyx is just the other side of the camp fire. No doubt trying to keep warm. He is breathing deeply and his eyes are shut; "he must be asleep by now", she said to herself. The glow from the campfire has reduced while Princess Harlequin has patiently waited of the right moment to try and escape. Her heart is beginning to race with excitement as she carefully feels around for her belongings. "Its got to be around here somewhere", she scolded. "I know i put it around here".

Gently placing her hands on any object trying to identify her back pack, she managed to find it. That is a huge relief.

Making out the shape of the doorway she cautiously heads over to it. Just as she gets within a few feet of the door, she sees something move! Instantly freezing in her tracks, she stares in wonder. It looks like a rug is moving. Just as the anxiety rushed over her and her palms were starting to get all hot and clammy, it all fell into place... the water bowl by the door, the shape moving and it looking like it has fur...Onyx has a companion wolf called Apache. That has got to be him in the door way! Realising what a huge mistake she has made, her heart is rapidly sinking. There's a lump in her throat making it difficult to swallow and she can feel her knees starting to tremble. "There is no way I'm going to be able to get passed that massive wolf"

Feeling rather defeated and hopeless, Princess Harlequin decided that instead of causing a commotion by trying to get passed the sleeping wolf; she would silently go back to where she had been laying and try and get some rest.