The Queen's Guard (gxg)

r o y a l

"Princess Raven." The guard ran up to me and gripped my forearm tightly, almost fearfully, "You mustn't be out here so late! His majesty will have my head if I ever let you out of my sight."

I watched as he pulled me close to his warm body, "Why?" I spoke in a high voice, for I was only the young age of four, "I was only playing!"

"Playing or not, it's dangerous to be in this forest." He spoke gently as he pulled me back toward the castle, "We don't know what spirits lay within this place."

I groaned frustrated and stomped my foot in the soft grass, "It's not fair!" I pulled my guard to a stop and yanked myself out of his hold, "I want to go in!"

"Princess!" His big brown eyes pleaded me to come back to him, but my stubbornness got the better of me, "Please, come back with me."

"No!" I screamed and ran straight back into the forest that had been calling me in that day.

And it was that day, that I met the beautiful Queen of the Forest. Maia.

With her beautiful royal green dress flowing down past her feet and onto the ground behind her. The white hair I had witnessed at the time flew in the non-existent wind as my eyes feasted upon her fair glowing complexion that seemed to shimmer in the light beaming down through the tree tops. She smiled a beautiful smiled as she floated toward me, her slender hand met my chubby cheek as she examined me with her bluish steel eyes.

I was lost for words as I looked up to this floating woman. It was as if I were in a fairy-tale, I wondered if at the time, I was dreaming. But to this day, I still remember her caress as if it were yesterday.

Two years passed after I had first encountered the strange woman when I went back in again. This time however, I had completely forgotten about her kind smile. I was venturing into the forest simply because I felt drawn to it. Because I felt as though my name had been carried by the empty wind and into my ears. I had never heard it of course, but I had a sensation that I had to go in.

It was dusk, the sky was a fading crimson red when I entered. I passed the large wooden archway that looked a billion years old, and as an act of respect, I placed my hand of the wood, feeling the cracks beneath my fingertips as if I were caressing a horse's body.

When I took my first step my heart raced. I remembered because that was the day I shared my first conversation with the woman I had once forgotten.

It was almost as if time passed like a snap of a finger. The once red sky was now nothing but grey under the moonlight, and I knew my father was worried sick about me by now. But I didn't want to leave the forest I had been drawn to for two years. I felt as though I belonged there, like I was made to live in it.

I waded my way through the tree's, gently pushing the branches back, feeling as if I pushed too hard, I would hurt the forest.

It was when I approached a glowing pool that I reunited with the woman I had met so many years ago. I was six now, I could understand what people were saying, and how to properly say a sentence without stuttering. Suffice to say, I was a quiet person, I always kept to myself, never stepping one toe out of line. Such was expected from the King's daughter.

When she arose from the shimmering blue water, her dress was the colour of azure, not quite the typical shades of blue one would see in a tailor's shop, but much lighter. It reminded me of the way my scholars had described the ocean on a bright cloudless morning. If I had ever seen the body of water, I would agree. But leaving the confines of the palace was a lot harder than anticipated.

Her white hair was as I had once forgotten, flowing wildly in the air. Her blue eyes peered deep into my soul as her lips curved into a small smile. I remember her floating toward me and getting down on my level. She cocked her head and examined me from head to toe, "My, how you've grown!" She exclaimed grinning from ear to ear.