The Princess of Herbia

Chapter 2

We all sat at the old table with thin slices of the stale bread in our hands. Me and my brother's smiled and never forgot to thank our mama and papa for providing: no matter how little it may be. Before eating my mama sang the grace and I quickly joined in, for I always loved the sound of our voices singing out as one.

Before us now we call to you,

We praise to you,

For all and everything you ever do,

Beyond the gate and skyward,

Eternally we thank you.

A silence formed at the table, I could feel the stress in my papa's eyes and the upset in my mama's. They still fretted on how they were going to keep the food on the table, it was weighing them down as if they had a mountain forming on their shoulders. I could no longer bare the sadness in their eyes and I asked the question that never failed to cheer my mama up and bring a smile to my papa's face.

"Mama will you tell us of the Herbia Princess?" I sang sweetly. Dalion groaned and I heard Maliant's foot connect to his shin. Maliant knew what I was trying to do, he too was observant and could sense mama and papa's sadness.

Mama smiled, and her green eyes shone as she dived forth. "The Princess, a kind women, had everything she ever wished for inside the gate. There was food, the finest fruits in which never ran out and had the sweetness of no other. There were many animals within which spoke a strange tongue, but not a word was misinterpreted by the Princess. She made friends with many and often went on enticing adventures which filled her days with laughter, joy and fullness. But although she had never been more contempt in life she still felt as if she were missing something. Love. True, untainted and honest love. The princess cried out to the heavens like she had done before in the hopes of being answered, but the next day nobody came. The princess called out every night for months, and finally she got angry and questioned one of her animal friends. "Why most they not grant me this? Is it too much to ask to have love?" Her animal friends looked at her in puzzlement, for was not there love for her enough? But it seemed to the princess that it was not. She threatened to leave the safety of the gate, and when no one answered she marched away in anger. Once leaving the gate a guard seeing her emerge questioned her and when revealing her identity he called her a liar for the princess had disappeared over a hundred years ago. In the princesses horror she shook the man and screamed that it was not true, that he was the liar and in her frightened state she did not see him draw his sword. The princess bled out. The gate just out of reach. "