The Swan Princess

Chapter Two

Lucy skipped lightly down the bumpy dirt road, humming a joyous tune. Her skipping feet switched to dancing feet, and she spun in flaring circles as she walked. Her feet darted like wild animals, tracing a pattern in the thick dust that coated the ground. So far away was she that Lucy paid no attention to the others who passed on horseback or by carriage, sending her amused looks, some even chuckling into their palms as the sped by. A repertoire of different looks was thrown her way that day, and not one of them did she see.

Her mind was too far away, swimming in the clouds, dancing alongside memories of warm hands and pink hair.

Lucy didn't notice she was dancing in the wrong direction until she was halfway down the road. She stopped then, dragging her mind back to the earth where it needed to be as she did. She observed her surroundings, recognising where she was after a matter of minutes. It was the towering forest to her right that gave it away.

The forest had a notorious reputation. Some spun tales that it was a place of magic and mystery, darkness and light, of creatures unheard of and people oh so strange. Some said that those who entered, never left again.

Lucy had heard every tall tale spun by every storyteller crouched over flickering flames since she was little. Did she believe them? No.

Most of it was believed to be nonsense dreamed up by concerned parents trying to keep their children from harm's way. Everyone knew members of the royal family often used the forest as hunting grounds. Being mistaken for game and getting impaled by an arrow was a much greater worry than mystical beings from the land of who knows where.

Perhaps it was her high spirits from the encounter that still had her heart racing, but for whatever reason, Lucy was suddenly filled with adventurous spirit and decided to look. She had wanted to pick up some nice flowers that evening. Perhaps she could find some beautiful ones to pick and save herself some money.

So, Lucy gathered up her skirts and jumped the little stream that served as a barrier between the road and the forest.

Little did she know, a pair of dark eyes watched over her.

***

"These are gorgeous" Lucy murmured to herself as she bent to inhale the fragrance of the large pink blossoms. They smelt as good as they looked. Lucy dropped on her knees beside them and examined the stalks carefully for thorns. Finding none, she grasped a long green stem and snapped it sharply. The flower broke away cleanly, and she happily reached for another. Six more had joined the first in her basket, when she decided she'd taken enough. Standing upright, she hastily brushed dark dirt from her skirt, settled her basket in the crook of her arm and set off.

She was lost within minutes.

Lucy's heart began an awful thumping, eyes flitting nervously from each identical tree to the next as her stomach sank to her feet. She had no idea where she was.

Panic started to rise, bubbling through her blood. It was getting dark. Sunlight that filtered through the spread canopy was fading, little by little, but surely. Lucy did not want to be lost in this eerie forest when night fell.

She started to run in blind panic. Figured if she kept running in a straight line, she'd reach the end, eventually. Branches clutched at her legs, grabbing her ankles, pulling her down. Her basket was ripped free, cherry blossoms spilled across the forest floor. Lucy didn't turn back for them, legs shifting in a frightened rhythm, feet thudding harshly against sweet green grass. She felt like if she stopped, she wouldn't start again. As if the reaching shadows would drag her into the dark and leave her there to rot.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been running for. It could have been minutes, hours, seconds. Her lungs ached and her feet sang songs of painful abuse with every step. She saw it then.