PROLOGUE
The palace throne room of a far off kingdom
Heidi was lounging in the palace's throne room. She'd been here all day, and in fact, most of her life, or at least as much as she bothered to remember. Heidi was the crown Princess to her late parent's kingdom. Both of her parents were already dead. Her mother died when Heidi was still very young, and her Father never returned after the last war. Their deaths left her as the de facto errant-Princess of the realm. Of course, she had a slew of advisors and diplomats actually ruling the kingdom in their stead. So while she could shirk most of her responsibilities, she was still expected to occasionally listen to her people's mindless gripes.
"Um, your majesty?" A peasant hesitantly interjected.
She clearly had drifted off.
"Er, Yes. I do agree," Heidi fumbled with her words. Glancing quickly at her advisor who just stared expectantly at her. "Um, grant this dear man twice of...whatever he had asked of me."
At this the peasant perked up, stunned at the Princess's sudden interest in his plight. He stuttered and choked on with his words as he bowed multiple times, muttering what she assumed was some sort of thank you before the peasant quickly left the grand hall.
"Ehrmm, If I may, your highness, that was... quite generous of you," said the Royal Advisor, Vishal.
Heidi bit her lip, "Uh, what exactly did I grant him."
"Enough food for 2 winters, apparently," he jested.
"Oh gosh. I'm sorry," Heidi responded apologetically.
Vishal smiled at her, "Go on get out of here," as he waved his hand dismissing her. "Leave this old man to deal with the riff raff and you go enjoy yourself. Lest you give away half the kingdom."
Heidi flashed a smile back, mouthing the words 'thank you' to Vishal before prancing out of the throne room.
Vishal was an older man and had been an advisor in her kingdom longer than Heidi had been alive. He had been the acting ruler for a few years, ever since the death of the late King, Heidi's father. Vishal wasn't royalty, he was only an advisor, but Heidi wasn't old enough to rule the kingdom and it had been decided that he would hold the throne until Heidi was of age, and properly crowned.
Unfortunately that meant that Heidi had no real power in her own kingdom. As part of those traditions that Vishal vowed to uphold actively worked to keep Heidi out of her rightful rulership. It wasn't all bad. He used to be great friends with her father and so far the advisor hasn't steered her or the Kingdom wrong. As far as Heidi was concerned, he could continue to busy himself with the daily operations and those tedious traditions.
Heidi burst into her bedroom and flopped down onto the bed, sinking into its pillowed folds. She let out a deep sigh as she laid face first on her bed.
The Princess had been having a hard time staying focused lately. She is due to inherit her crown soon; she was already of age and her coronation was
only
two days away. But it wasn't her coronation ceremony or the festivities that preceded it that had her worked up, it was something slightly more stressful. Her crown came attached with an inconvenient clause, it required her to choose a suitor. The inevitable ordeal had her at a new level of terror.
Heidi had never attracted much attention from the available suitors in her early life. They always hailed from distant exotic lands, lavishing expensive gifts in their attempts to woo the Princess. Despite the wooing, none of the deals ever completed. In the past, she never worried herself over her bad luck with the suitors, but now that her crown was potentially on hold until she was wed, the pressure was increasing.
The failures of the past weren't always her fault. The problems typically started due to the business and treaty implications of marrying off the sole heir. Vishal and her many other advisors and miscellaneous nobles denied the mergers to avoid signing the Kingdom off to some unfit Prince. Unfortunately, the few that made it through the rigorous qualifications ended up backing out for other shallower reasons. Dozens of Princes had already passed her down time and time again and now that she was older, there weren't waves of eligible men pounding on the palace gates just to see her. She couldn't help but feel like she was to blame and just couldn't shake the feeling of inadequacy.
Heidi certainly wasn't bad looking, and she had some redeeming features, but she had not quite flourished into a woman yet. Heidi had a cute face with a button nose and soft cheeks. She was of a pretty average height, and had a light frame but her more alluring feminine aspects hadn't followed up at all. Her breasts sat completely flat on her chest, and the barely defined curve of her hips would have had her mistaken for a boy if not for all the frilly dresses she was wearing. She'd always fantasized about a different grown up version of herself, ruling the kingdom all on her own. Of course, she would be the most beautiful queen that ever ruled, and the most powerful in all the lands.
"Would be nice,"
she thought to herself.
"I'd have my pick of all the Princes. Hell, I could probably steal a few kings away from their queens," she laughed to herself.
The thought lingered in her mind,
"How great would it be if I really was the most sought after Princess in all the lands?"
She dreamt of hardened knights in each arm and a hall of servants tending to her every whim. She never considered herself the type to need a man, but the idea of having complete control over a harem of Princes certainly had its appeal. She was grinning at the idea.
There was a knock at the Princess's door that shook her from the fantasy.
"Uh, Who is it?" She called at the door. The Princess waited in anticipation of a response but, there was no answer.
Annoyed, Heidi shot a second call towards the silent door, "Hello? Anyone there?"
Sighing, the Princess bounced to her feet. She walked across to her bedroom door, unlocked the bolt and poked her head through the opening. To her surprise no one was outside her door.
"Hello??" Her voice rang out, echoing down the hallway, but still no answer. Heidi was a little frustrated that she had to repeat herself multiple times.
She fully peeked around the corners of the hall looking out for who was knocking on the door. She was about to give up her search when a bright shimmer caught her attention. A shiny silver paper was placed at the base of the door. She grabbed the slip and returned to her covers, closing the door behind her.
It felt like ordinary paper, but had a shiny metallic appearance to it. One side had writing inscribed into it, it simply read: "Follow me."
"That's a little cryptic,"
she thought to herself,
"How am I supposed to follow a piece of paper when it doesn't have a map on it?"
At that exact instant, the paper leapt from her hands. It had folded itself down the middle and began fluttering in the air, propelling itself effortlessly across the room. It looked a lot like a butterfly; some kind of silver paper butterfly.
"Magic?" Heidi tilted her head as she got up to investigate the living silver paper. It must be some joke played by the court wizards. It would seem to be the only reasonable conclusion she could draw.
The butterfly seemed to leave a trail of sparkling dust in its wake as it moved through the air. It was hovering just above the door knob, inviting Heidi to follow it. Curious where it was headed, she opened the door for the enchanted paper and it fluttered into the hallway, stopping just before it turned the corner.
Where was it trying to lead her? "Where are you going?" She sang out loud.
