CHAPTER TWO

Before he knew it, he was at the diamond river. He caught his breath and took three seconds to look around him, nothing to be seen, except grasses and the reflection of the moon on the freshwater. 

He wasn’t sure whether casting a spell so dangerous and complicated was a good idea. If he made a mistake or misspelled it, it might have some great consequences but for Prestoria and…the princess.

There was a tight smile on her face and it made him a little comforted. He took a second to sigh and placed the princess in a waterproof raffia-made-basket on the river. He waved his hands closing his eyes. Full concentration was all he needed but with what was going around. It would be almost impossible for such a thing. 

But still, he did the spell, waving his hands as purple light trickled down his fingers. His eyes turned pure black and his hair flew and surrounded him like rays of the sun. 

He repeated these words twice before losing balance and landing on the floor. Jade Salo Lo Se Ire! Pink light surrounded the princess and the whole of Prestoria. The baby in the basket began to flow down the river as he watched getting a little peace. 

It was a shame he didn’t take time to hear the sneaky footsteps behind him. All that was in his mind was a prayer, a prayer that the baby princess would land on safer ground.  

The spell he placed would put the kingdom on pause for as long as it takes. It will make the kingdom invisible and untouchable. No one would be able to move or speak or even be alive, but it was only the princess—if she survived—that could break the spell so they could rise back and the killed people will be restored to life and maybe just maybe, Prestoria would be at its peak once more. 

“The prophecy has come true, now it is only the princess that can restore Prestoria once more,” he said in a squeak. 

The two soldiers behind him stabbed him. He lay on the floor as blood gushed out of his mouth and chest. They didn’t waste time to watch the man die but looked for the princess. Where is she they thought? 

They didn’t bother finding her anymore because there was no way she would survive. If she was on land a wild animal would feast on her, and being on water would be worse. She would either be eaten by a crocodile or drowned to death. 

The evil King of Pintraid laughed loudly, looking at Prestoria that had turned into an abattoir for humans, a slaughterhouse. He laughed louder when he saw the only survivors left. The King and Queen of Prestoria were holding themselves tightly. 

They had tears in their eyes, full fear had gripped their hearts. They held each other tightly, expecting their death. 

“Sit on the throne, you cowards! You are royalty after all, are you not?!” They wasted no time in obeying as they sat on the throne keeping their eyes closed. The King wanted him to do it for once and for all. He wanted a fast death. “Where is your daughter?!”

The King bit his lip. “You killed her did you not?!”

The King of Pintraid got angry and shot an arrow at his head, ending his life there and then. The Queen screamed getting her arrow in her throat. 

The whole of Prestoria was wiped out in a few hours and that was when the spell took place, all the women, children, everybody in Prestoria disappeared to an unknown destination. 

The princess flowed on the river. She was protected because the sorcerer had also cast a spell to protect her on her journey. 

The waters had no mercy. The currents moved in high speed. The edges of the waters were as sharp as knives—in a flash—they could slash the baby into two but not a single drop of water touched her.  

The crocodiles in the water were hungry and looking for a meal, then they got the scent of human flesh. They swam over to the baby girl; all wanting to swallow her up in a single gulp but a big owl flew down to the river and carried the basket taking it away from the hungry mouths of the vicious crocodiles. 

The owl carried her, taking sharp turns making sure the basket wouldn’t slip from its claws but it failed when another owl tried to take the basket from it. They both failed as the baby escaped from their claws and landed on the top of a hut. 

The loud sound of the basket on the hut startled the owners of the small hut in the middle of a forest. 

“Darling, what do you think that is?” the wife asked in fear, her sleep had been disturbed just to be wakening in fear. 

“Could be a dangerous animal?” The man was worried. He did not want anything to happen to his wife or him. “Stay here okay.”

She was afraid. “Y-you want to go outside?” 

“I have to. Do not worry, I will be okay.”

She nodded as he stood up from the bed and carried his shotgun heading outside. What is out there? They had been blessed, after being barren and banned from their village. They started living in the middle of nowhere for five years but they were okay.  

Though they needed to fight some wolves, foxes, and other animals sometimes they made it out alright. They hadn’t been disturbed in six months but today this was happening. His heart became heavier and his anxiousness increased by a hundredfold.  

Taking the ladder to climb up the roof was not on his to-do-list but if there was something up there, it would need to leave or else their night would not be anywhere near peaceful. About to reach the top he heard something, something was up there. 

Why did something have to be there? He wished it would be nothing other than a nest dispatched from its place on the tree or a bird that had an injured wing and happened to land on their roof but it was none of those things? 

It was something he couldn’t recognize.

Still, he got himself up, and then it became clear, the sound, it wasn’t an animal it was…a baby?

“Holy mother of Christ.”

The last thing he was expecting to see in the entire world was a child? Who would have thought, a young healthy beautiful baby on the roof of his house? Unbelievable. Could it be a trap? But a trap for us why? Are there some human eating people in the forest? 

Couldn’t be? He was astonished on seeing the child. He was going to take the child and find out what was going on. The roof wasn’t steady so he wouldn’t be able to climb over, he could use his shotgun to drag the basket over to him but he rethought the idea. 

What if he mistakenly presses the trigger, that might get one of them hurt. 

He decided to make use of his staff instead. He used his staff to hook the handle of the basket to him and dragged it over. 

“What are you doing here little lad?” he asked in a soft tone as she let out a faint smile. 

He looked around him before carrying the girl in the basket and walking back to his wife in the hut. His wife meanwhile was curled up on the bed in worry, what if it was a wolf and he does not win the fight. But a wolf on the roof wouldn’t be reasonable.

Immediately the door of their room crept open, she leaped in joy but her joy turned to confusion when she saw her husband carrying a baby. Out of all the things that could be on a roof, it was a baby in a raffia-made basket they found. 

“Darling, what are you doing with a baby?”

“I found it on the roof.”

She frowned. “She is not an it…” she carried her from him and placed her on her chest, rubbing her head. “What are we going to do with her?”

“We cannot leave her outside to perish.”

“Then what?”

“I…I do not know…let us keep her.”

“Keep her?”

The husband looked down to the basket where they found the baby and saw something sticking out of it. It was wet, soft, and white. His wife was watching his reaction to the basket. 

“What do you see?” she asked as he walked towards the basket and brought something out. 

“It is a piece of paper.”

“What is written in it?”

He held the wet piece of paper gently, making sure it didn’t tear while he did.

“It is a letter.”

He read it, reading and assimilating all the words written inside carefully. 

“Let me see,” the wife said taking the wet piece of paper from him.

“Gently it will tear.”

Please accept her, she is the princess of Prestoria and the kingdom has just been wiped out, do not tell her this until her 15th birthday, take her as your own daughter and name her Angela, she has a greater destiny ahead of her.

The words were simple and quick, fast, and easily understandable. 

“What?” she asked as her husband shook his head in confusion. “This does not make any sense.”

“Yes, it does.”

“So what now, we keep her just like that. She is a princess.”

“Do we rather let her die?!” her husband said stroking his chin. 

The wife licked her lips and walked over to her husband, smiling at him. 

“No we cannot let her die…we should keep her.”

Her husband’s face lightened up as a smile lit upon his face.

“I remember back in the village, they sent us out because you were barren. Ten years without a child…”

“And I am grateful you stayed with me through it all…” she went closer to him, pecking his forehead. 

“…I do not know what I would have done without you.”

“But I am here and I will always be here and she…” he carried the little princess from her hand and caressed her cheek. She let out a small giggle as their smiles grew bigger. “…is ours now…”