The Tale of Two Fairies

Chapter 1

Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away lived three very different children who never imagined that the Μοῖραι sisters would intertwine their destinies . The first was a prince named Alexander with long golden hair, and bright blue eyes that held a glimmer of wonder in them. His destiny was to one day find his princess, take his father's spot on the throne, and rule over the kingdom like any other noble king would. The second was a young peasant boy named Max with jet black hair and emerald green eyes, who spent his days reading at the tavern his mother worked at to keep the two afloat. The third was a little witch girl with ivory skin, large black doe like eyes, and silky light brown hair that went by the name of Espen Blackwood. Her mother was considered the evilest of the kingdom and would do anything she could to take over the kingdom. Their tale began like any other day.

Prince Alex, at only eight years old, had a list of princely duties his father expected him to complete every day. Starting with his etiquette classes, then his ball room dance lesson, his horseback riding lesson, then his schooling and last "blessing his subjects with his presence" as his father would say. It was the only time Alex ever left the castle. "It's important the commoners know their future king," his father would say in a stern voice over and over again. It was a sentence poor Alex had drilled into his brain. That and, "You are not like other children Alexander, you are royalty and you must act as such. There is no time for childish nonsense." But Alex loved when he got to leave the castle; it was the only time he didn't feel like he was being trapped in a cage.

This "Blessing of the subjects" started just like any other. Prince Alex and his father rode through town in their royal carriage, waving and smiling to their loyal subjects, that was until their carriage broke down outside of the Mole Barry Tavern. The king, royally upset that his schedule was being thrown off by this inconvenience, had no other option but to take his son into the tavern and wait for their carriage to be fixed.

Upon entering the tavern the king noted two things: one it had never been truly clean for the floors where covered in dirt and the walls covered in grime and smoke. The second thing was it was no place for a child let alone a royal child, all around there were haggard old men way past their prime that were drinking there livers into comas. Most of the men smelt like a dirty old bar rag and looked like death. Seeing this the king chose a table for him and his son as far away from the smelly old drunks as possible.

Despite his father's disgust toward the tavern, Alex found himself fascinated with everything from the smelly old men, to the dirt on the floor, and the grime on the walls. He even took interest in their wench that looked at him like his own mother used to look at him, with soft mother-like eyes the once that told other 'yes this tiny, little, itty bitty(3) human is mine and yes he is my world'. Her name was Eleanor Clearwater and she mentioned to him that she had a son herself who was just a year younger than Alex; who came to work with her every day and informed him that if he got bored waiting she was sure Max would love some company.

Hearing that there was another child Alex could play with caused his little eight year old heart to thunder, and his face to light up as bright as the sun on a summer afternoon. He then proceeded to spend the next ten minutes trying to convince his father to let him play with another child for once in his life. The king grudgingly agreed after giving Alexander his usual speech of how he was royalty and how even in a dump like the Mole Barry Tavern he will act like the prince he is. Alex, only half listening, agreed just so he would no longer have to listen to his speech, then ran off to find the little boy named Max.