A Cold Red Winter

How it all began

It was early winter when the king decided to have a feast to look for a future king that would be worthy to rule the kingdom with his daughter, Winter. All royal families came to the feast with their first born son. As they all danced and sang songs, the princess looked at her father and said, "Father? Is it necessary for one to get married as young as I?" The king gave her a serious look and continued talking with the Squire. While no one was looking the princess sneaked away to the horse stall and rode her horse to a secret lake that only she and a friend knew about it.

Some time passed and Winter had came upon the magical lake. "I thought I shall look for you since your father will be mad if he found out you have snuck out again." Winter turned around and saw Jack, her childhood friend that had been working in the farm for the king with his parents since he was a small boy. Jack and Winter have grown up together and have come really close that they wish they can be something more but they can't or they will be in serious trouble.

Jack and Winter rode together until they made it to a quiet place near the castle. There, they could hear the king announce the purpose of the feast. A lot of laughter and shouting happened between the royal families. "It is a sad thing that I shall be married soon. Why does my father want me to be wed at a young age?" Jack felt sad when the princess said that. He then got an idea and took her into a secret passageway in the castle. "Where are you..?" Jack stopped the princess mid sentence with a kiss. Winter melted into the kiss and kissed back. It was a rough kiss but also passionate at the same time. They both kissed for a few minutes before moving away for air. Before Winter could open her eyes, Jack whispered something special into her ear and then ran off to work before the guards could see him and then punish him for not working.

Days have passed and the king had chosen the new king. He was from England, loved to spend time in the battle room. All the girls wanted him except for Winter who had eyes for a very special guy. She had to act as though she wanted to get to know Max more so she had more time before she accept the marriage proposal and more time to be with Jack. Sadly, the more time she spent with Jack, the more it showed that she loved him and not Prince Max.

One night, Jack and Winter were outside cuddling with one another, thinking that the darkness and horses would hide them from anyone's eyes. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that Max had followed Winter and hid behind the stable and watched them. "So this is where my future wife has been. Being around a dirty peasant. I'll make him pay for taking away my beloved." Max whispered to himself and quietly went into the castle. The next day, three royal guards barged into Jack's home and took him away. He was being charged for trying to murder the king by putting poison on in his cup. "Jack, how could you have done this?! We treated you like a son and this is how you repay us! " The king was sitting on his chair and glared at Jack. The Prince was holding Winter, knowing she couldn't say anything against this unless she were to confess her love for Jack and end up getting him killed. The king then stood and turned to the sergeant. "Take this boy somewhere cold so he would never be seen again in here and can never come back!"

Jack was taken away and Winter had to stay in the castle all alone with Max. When she had time, she tried leaving with her horse but the prince had sold her horse and had royal guards block the exits so she wouldn't get out and Jack couldn't come back into the castle. It was a really long and lonely winter. Around the time of Christmas, everyone gathered around to have a feast before the new king and queen got married and got to start with their royal duties. Lucky for Winter, she found a way to escape while no one was looking.

She ran to the village and bought her horse back. Before the villagers got to see who she was, she took off in a flash to look for her lover. "I hope my dear love is doing well." She worried for the worst but she knew he was somewhere looking for her. As the sun started setting, Winter had came upon a place where she heard stories off that Jack would be here. "I saw three guards taking a boy to the forest and into the ice caves." Winter remembered hearing a little girl tell her when she was looking for clues to find Jack. It took a lot of strength to get her horse, Beast, to calm down and then she entered the cave.

Inside the cave was a lot of ice and snow. It would be hard to find Jack but she didn't care. She had the strength of her love for him to keep going and find him. "Jack? Are you here? It's me, Winter. I know how you are and I'm terribly sorry for what my father did to you. I hope you will come back to me." For a while she waited but no one responded to her. As she was about to exit the cave, she heard footsteps and felt arms around her. Jack was hugging her really tight, feeling that if he let go of her, she will be gone forever. "I will always come back for you my love." And with that sentence, they kissed and stayed in the caves in a house Jack had made. There they could live happily ever after. Or so they thought.

The king was furious that his daughter had managed to escape before her wedding. He had sent his men to look for her but no one found her. Days have passed and the only person who knew where the princess was, was her mother but she wouldn't say anything to her husband. That same day, Winter and Jack came back to tell the king and queen about their love but the king was filled with rage that he wouldn't listen to anyone. Prince Max told the king about their location and little by little, the king was planning a sneak attack on Jack. "That boy Jack will be gone for good. It'll be a really cold winter so there won't be a lot of people to witness what will happen to him." The king turned to the guard and said, "After the attack is done, clean all the red snow and make sure no one sees what has happened. Understood?" All the guards responded with a nod and then went on with the plan.

Jack and Winter were in town buying food so they can have a small feast for New Years. They didn't know that they were being followed by the royal guards until Jack saw them. "Winter when I say run, you run" Winter looked confused but went with the plan. As one guard was going to attack, Jack turned around and tackled him to the floor. He screamed run and Winter hesitated but ran to get help. Minutes later, Jack was by her side running with her. They both ran so they wouldn't get caught by the guards.

At the woods, they had put on their hoods so that they can hide who they were. The guards had thought that another couple was Jack and Winter but they realized they had the wrong people. Jack and Winter planned to meet up at their special lake. As Winter was about to stop for air, a sword had caught her side and it had wounded her badly. Even though she was in pain, she ran with all that she had. In the lake, Jack saw Winter on the ice, trying to get away from a guard. Jack and the guard fought for a while and then five more guards had came with the king.

As the king saw his daughter on the ice, he ordered his squire to get her. "I'd rather be frozen than coming back home to be wed to the person I do not love." That made her father even more mad and he stabbed his sword onto the ice and was about to walk on it to get Winter until the ice broke and she fell in, only leaving small frozen drips of blood on the ice. "No! Look what you've done!" Jack leaped into the opening to get Winter out of the cold red water. Before any of the guards or the king can get them from the water, a voice was heard that came from the wind."Because of your selflessness and anger, you will not only lose your daughter but you will also lose your son!" A huge gush of wind lifted snow up and covered everyone's view of what was happening. When the wind calmed down, the only thing they could see was the lake frozen over with a symbol and writing under the symbol.

"To those who have witnessed this, will only know the true meaning of this tragedy. A king full of hatred and selflessness shall not have any more descendants for the rest of his life. He shall live forever so he shall remember what he did to his family."

Winter and Jack were frozen in the ice, covered by ice and snow that was red and white. By the end, a lot of stories were told of two guardians that lived in the forest. Stories that told people what had happened to the princess and the plowman and how they ended up being together for all eternity.

The End...

Or is it?