Chapter 1

“There it is again” I said to myself after hearing the distant howl, this was the 3^rd night in a row that this could be heard amongst the trees which surrounded my home. I stretched whilst debating whether I wanted to get up leaving my bed to head towards the window to see if I could finally see the animal that was making this sad sound outside.

Honestly, I don’t know why I bothered to look as I haven’t seen anything for the last 2 nights but for some reason my gut was telling me this was going to be different, upon reaching the large alcove I climbed onto the window seat, and I started to scan the area of deep forest that was directly opposite my room. This was the only part of the forest that was the closest to my home, this was understandable since I was currently in the East wing of the Royal castle.

The Royal castle is a stunning view when coming up the double driveway, as it slowly appears through the large pine trees, that have been there before the castle was even built. Upon the approach to the main entrance of the castle, past the little cottages that litter the driveway where the Royal advisors and their families live, you notice all the intricate details of the stonework and carvings that cover the entire building before reaching the giant front entrance. Once inside this beautiful, ornate vestibule the details go into further depth travelling all the way into the grand hallway, where the castle splits into the several different rooms in each wing.

The West wing is where the Royal family reside each having their own apartment section. King Julius and Queen Kitana have the large top section of the wing as this contains a vast living room, dining area and a separate kitchen where the Royal family sometimes entertain for the close visiting family members. The bottom section of the wing belongs to Prince Darius and Princess Poppy, who both have their own little apartments. There are 2 small guest suites, well they are smaller than the apartments, but they look like penthouse suites at a hotel, these are used for visiting family from the other Kingdoms.

The East wing is split into 4 different sections, the servants living quarters which house all the kitchen and laundry staff. The quarters are extremely large, there is a comfortable living room and large dining area, there is also only 2 members of staff per room rather than them all being in one bunk house. The kitchen was a magnificent sight as there was 3 large range cookers that were constantly on the go, cooking pies, cakes, and all sorts of wonderful things. Next to the ranges was a giant work bench that had at least 8 people working around it, with space to fit maybe another 2 or 3 more which happened around Christmas time when all the family was around. The laundry rooms are attached to the kitchen off to the rear, this is not as large as the kitchen but still houses 15 washing machines, 10 tumble dyers, a section to hang the washing indoors and another little section where the washing was ironed then stacked in neat little piles ready to be used.

The grand ballroom lives up to the name, the large double wooden doors keep the mystery of the splendour that is hidden behind. The 1^st thing the eyes are drawn to is the massive chandler that hangs in the centre of the room above the dance floor which spans the length of the room, this chandler has hundreds of tiny crystals that glisten casting out little rainbows when the lights hit them. All around the dance floor, apart from the far end where the stage stands, sits tables, and chairs that would be laden with a white tablecloth, beautiful cutlery, champagne glasses, vases holding the seasonal flowers for the dinners that occurred before the dancing commenced.

The last part of the East wing is a small, run down suite where Aurora lived, she wasn’t of Royal blood or really a servant but the daughter of one of the King’s favourite advisors who was killed during a Rouge War. The King took pity on Aurora being only 8 at the time and placed her in the East wing of the castle, in her own little sanctuary where she was free to come and go as she pleased. Aurora liked her little room as she had managed to arrange it over the years to be perfect, her small little double bed, that had previously belonged to Poppy, was against the far wall away from the door and window, there was little bedside table by the side of the bed that had a small lamp and an alarm clock on. There on the wall near the door was a small little bookshelf, this housed the small collection of books that have been read so many times they looked a little worse for wear, next to the bookshelf was a single wardrobe. On the opposite side of the room to her bed was a tatty little sofa with a tall standing lamp next to it, this was perfect to Aurora as she would sit and read for hours in the same spot next to the lamp.