• "I never thought things could get so bad, so quickly." I say, looking at my partner in crime. "Don't worry you were just trying help." He tells me. I look at the shrubery under us. "Shh, someone's coming." I pull my knees to my chest and hug the nearest branch. A twig snapped, and I notice someone coming in from the south. I hope they don't look up at the tree we are in. The person is wearing a brown cloak, and has the hood cover their head. As the person nears the tiny clearing below us. They take their hood off and reveal their long, brilliant red hair. The girl looks up, and I can clearly make out her face. "Robyn!" I whisper yell. I jump down from the tree and give her a giant hug. "Brooke!" We hug even more, for we haven't seen one another for a week. "Hey girls, I hate to break up your reunion, but we need to meet Skylar at Willow Lake before it gets dark." Aspen says looking at the sky. Robyn and I look up, too. "Okay, it's about 4." She says. "That gives us..." I have to stop and count the hours. "...3 hours." I never was all that great with math stuff. "All right, then we need to go." Aspen replies. It'll take us about 2 hours to get there, if the river isn't high. We all head west carrying the little amount of supplies with us. As we walk I think about what happened earlier that day, and replay it in my mind.
    I looked at the apples, I was going to buy them so we had some food for our trip later today. I saw a little boy looking at the apples ,too. Once I had bought them I gave the sac to Aspen, but I took out one and handed it to the boy. "Thanks, ma'am." He smiled and ran away. "That was nice of you." Aspen told me. I smiled at his comment. We walked through the market and looked for anything else we might need. I bumped into someone and knocked them over accidentally because I was talking with Aspen. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" I felt terrible, and held out my hand to help him up. "No need to worry." He smiled at me. His hood had fallen off his head and his golden blonde hair was exposed. Then my face turned red, I had touched the prince., the prince of Runaria. "I-I'm so very sorry!" I said as I curtsied. "N-no please don't make a big deal of it." He whispered as he looked around. "What's wrong, sir?" I asked, trying not to say anything royal. "I'm not supposed to leave the castle with out permission. My guards are afraid that I'll get kidnapped, or hurt." "I-I'm sorry." "No need to worry. What is your name, my dear?" I blushed, he said my dear! "I-its Cassie Brookes" "It's a pleasure running into you, Cassie." He chuckled, his voice like silk, I sighed. "It's an honor, your majesty." I smiled, but then my smile disappeared. I had said that a little too loud, and someone shouted. "There he his!" "I-I'm s-so sorry!" My eyes started to tear up. "No need to. I must go, Cassie. Thank you for your kindness." Then he was gone. Many people chased after him, they seemed to be ruffians. "I just put the prince in danger." I frowned, a tear falling from my face. "Let's get going." Aspen said taking my hand. I wiped my eyes and looked at the crowd of people running after the golden haired prince.
    "I hope Prince Helio is safe" I whisper to myself as I follow Aspen and Robyn through the forest. I still can't believe I met the Prince. I guess that I'm daydreaming cause Aspen yells, "Brooke! Get your head out of the clouds!" I ignore him. "Brooke! Watch out!" Robyn yelles at me. "Huh? Ahhhh!" I trip over a turtle. "Brookie, tell me, what is on your mind?" She asks as she holds out her hand. "Are you thinking about earlier today, Brooke?" Aspen asks. "Huh? What happened? Tell me!!" Robyn begs. I take her hand and we help me up. "I-I uhh..." I look around to make sure no one is around, she will definatley scream. "I ran into the prince today." "YOU MET THE PRINCE!!!!" Robyn screams with excitment. "Yes, but she literally ran into him." Aspen added. "It's your fault." "No it's not, you should've watched where you were going!" "If I did I wouldn't have met him." "Tell me what happend!!!" Robyn pleads. "We were buying apples." Aspen takes out an apple and eats it. "Once we were done we were going to go to the forest, where we had to meet you. I was looking at Aspen as he talked to me. I ran into the prince, and knocked him down. I help him up, because it's a nice thing to do. I hadn't realised it was the prince though." "Yea, when she found out her face got all red." Aspen snickers, I glare at him. "­I told him I was sorry, and then we started to talk a little. Nothing that wierd, he just asked for my name." When I came into this group of outlaws, my name had to be changed to something else so that no one would recall me when my name was said. Skylar called me Brooke since we met in a brook, and also since my last name is Brookes. "Before he asked my name he said he wasn't allowed to leave the castle because they wanted to protect him from danger. He said it was a pleasure running into me, and I replied with, 'I'm honored, your majesty' which was a big mistake." I start to tear up. Aspen takes over. "She said that a little too loud, and some bad guys hear. They notice the prince, who also notice him. He says, 'I must go' and left." Robyn looks like she doesn't know what to say. I wipe my eyes. "Let's take a break over here" She says. We all sit down on some logs which have fallen over. "Okay. The lake is just over those hills. We have to be on guard though. There is a hunter's camp right there" Robyn is pointing to a small light coming from the forest on the hill. "Do you think we could just jump through the trees? Over in that area." Aspen says pointing a ways from the camp. "Maybe, but if they are hunters over there they may shoot us." She says. "We just need to be really quiet, and if we climb high enough in the trees they won't be able to see us as well." I state looking at the forest. "The sun is about to set, and they don't call it Apollo's forest for nothing." Robyn says looking at the sky. "Oh, right. Then let's go before it does set!" I say as I jump up. My friends are standing up as I run and jump onto a tree stump. "Let's go!!!" I whisper yell.
    We are walking into the forest and find a tree that is easy to get up. "Ladies first." Aspen whispers while he looks around. Robyn is climbing up first so she can lead the way. I am following her up as Aspen is climbing up the tree. We all meet at the top, then Robyn begins to go from branch to branch and tree to tree gracfully. Aspen and I follow her. We are soon halfway through the forest when the miraculous thing happens. The leaves start to glow a faint golden color, the get brighter and brighter till they are shinning a vibrant yellow/gold color. "The sun is setting, we must hurry!" Robyn runs, jumps and climbs through the trees faster, and Aspen and I do, too. We hear dogs howl. "They can sense our presence! We need to get out of here." Robyn tells us. We get to the exit of the glistening forest and run. "I can see Willow Lake!" I huff, I'm starting to get out of breath. We run as hard and as fast as we can until we reach the lake. We hide ourselves in the drapes of the willow trees. "I'm gald you have made it." Skylar says as we find him. "Come with me please." He walks away from us and heads towards the Willow Fall. We follow him, still trying to catch our breath. Skylar stands on a patch of grass a shade of green darker than the rest. Somethign behind the falls happens. "How did you do that?" Robyn asks as the rock behind the falls disappears. "Magic." Skylar smiles as he walks into the shallow lake. We all follow him, Robyn cringes at the coldness of the water. We walk under and through the falls into the opening Skylar created.
    "We will stay here through the night. I need to tell you something." Skyalr tells us. "The kingdom is in great danger. As you all know, Prince Helio was the oldest of two. His brother, Macalla, was very jealous of this. Helio will be king one day since he is the oldest, but Macalla wishes greatly that he could be king , instead of his brother. Macalla has been plotting to kill his brother so that he may gain the throne. I was asked by the queen's maid that we protect her son. We have been given great honor to do this. We must to good to save Runaria." I gasp loudly the same time as Aspen. "That would be why he is not allowed to leave the castle, right?" I ask. "Yes, I guess that they would have asked him to stay inside the castle. H-how do you know that he is not allowed to leave?" "Oh.. Um.." "Brooke ran into the prince at the market this morning." Robyn blurts out. "Literally ran into him, she knocked him down." Aspen adds. Then the two of them explain the entrie story with out letting me have any say in it. "You didn't give him your name, did you?" Skylar asks. "No, sorta... I told him my old name." "Okay, your identity must remain a secret. As far as anyone knows, all of us disappeared mysteriously." He says. "Let's get some sleep." Robyn says walking to her cot. I, too went to bed. I fall asleep thinking about the prince and his fabulous golden hair. I sigh to myself as I think about it.
    It's the next day and we get ready and train. Robyn and I practice using a bow while Aspen picks a sword fight with Skylar. "I wonder what the prince's evil brother looks like." I ask Robyn. "Probably tall, dark and handsom." We giggle. "Ladies," Skylar says after pinning Aspen to the ground with his foot. He holds two sword, one of them must be Aspen's. "I hate to interupt your..." Skylar is trying to think of the word. "...business, but we must get going." Sky leaves the room, and Aspen on the ground. "But do you think that Macalla will be tall dark and handsome?" Robyn asks as she walk to get her arrows. "Robyn, we might have to put him in jail, so I don't think you'll be able to end up together." I say, following behind to get my arrows. "Well then." She says with a frown. We put our arrows on our back and get ready to go. "Um, can I get some help?" Aspen whines. "Aspen what are you still doing on the ground?" Robyn tells him. "Yea well, you know." He says as I walk over to help him. "Gosh Aspen, you are so lazy." I say jokingly as I lend my hand to him. We all get ready and depart for the castle to meet the queen's maid.
    "Here we are." Skylar said as we exit a part of the forest I am unfamiliar with. We are all dazed, we've never seen the castle up close before. "Wow." Robyn and I whisper in sync. "We are supposed to meet the maid in the garden at noon." Skylar says. We all follow Skylar to the spot where we are to meet the maid. Robyn and Skylar are in the front and Aspen and I lagging behind a bit. Aspen pulls me close and whispers into my ear, "Something is going on, Brooke. Don't you think it's a bit shady for us to meet with a maid? If the queen wanted to protect her son don't you think she would send for us herself?" "Um... I guess so?" "Yes, she would send for us herself. Stay on guard at all times. I'm telling you something is wrong." Aspen looks into my eyes. There is something about the way he looks at me that makes me believe him. "Okay." He takes my hand and puts something in it. Then he walks to catch up with our line leaders. "Oh, Aspen." What I'm looking at is a little charm in the shape of a flower that he gave me when we were young. I had lost it in the brook. I run to catch up with my friends, too.
    "Here goes nothing." Aspen whispered to me. He took my hand once again, but this time interlocking it with mine. I blushed, I have no idea what he is doing, and Aspen knows it. "I want you to know that if anything goes wrong, I will protect my best friend." He smiles as he squeezes my hand. "Thank you." "Alright we just need to wait for the all clear." Skylars says quietly. "Why do we need an all clear?" I ask Aspen. "Now you're thinking!" Aspen whispers to me. DING! DING! DING! DING! The bell tower dings twelve times to make clear that it is noon. "Let's go." Skylar heads toward the south east corner of the garden fence. There is a small opening, but the opening is covered by a box. Skylar pushes the box, which is empty, forward and crawls through the little window. We all follow him. Robyn is the last to go through so she pushes the box back in it's place. The mid-aged maid comes out of the bell tower and greets us. with a smile. "Welcome, heroes! I am very pleased to have you here." Her smile turns into a devious. "I want you to run, and take Robyn with you. If I dont' make it out with you two right away dont' worry. Meet me, and maybe Skylar in our place."Aspen whispers to me. I now understand what he was impling, and I know he meant to meet at the cave behind the waterfall. He was right, but how did he know all this? As I think this the maid steps towards us. "I will have you meet the queen now." She says. "Please follow me." She turns towards the castle, and we follow. "Aspen, maybe you thought wrong." I whisper. "No, I not. Just stay on guard at all times." He holds my hand not wanting to leave me. "It's not yet." He whispers. "That's grammatically wrong, my dear." I say in a prissy, high class voice. Aspen doesn't crack a smile. All he does is look around suspiciously.
    We enter a large room. It looks like a very big lounge. "Wow, very fancy." Robyn says, then laughs at what she's said. The queen is sitting in the middle, she rests elegantly on a sofa. "Madame, I have brought them." The maid says as she gestures towards us. We all bow or curtsy as she stands up to greet us. "I am very glad that you have accepted my offer. I am greatly sorry that Marie probably did not make it clear that I was the one to make the request." She looks at Marie with a conserning look."I ask that you watch my son, and keep him safe from my other. Macalla does not like that his older brother gets the throne, but all these years we've tried to explain to him that it is tradition." "We will do all that we can to protect our prince." Skylar says. "Thank you, now go and fufill your doings, brave heroes and protecters of the prince." She curtsies then walks towards the door. "Follow me so that I may escort you out." She says and we follow. "Aspen, I really do think that you are over thinking this." I whisper to him as he catches up to me. "There is nothing happening." "Just wait, lady." Did he just? "Excuse me?!" "Oh... sorry. I don't wanna use your name just in case." I glare at him. Just as we are about to exit the castle we hear a loud yell. "THEY"RE HEADING OUT THE DOO-" Before the guard could say door he was laying limp on the floor. His spear fell with him, but it made a loud clang. "Run. Run so far." Aspen tells me. "Not with out a fight!" Robyn and I take out our bows while the boys take out their swords. We fight the burglars who have a sack of jewels. There is about ten of them. Once they approach us we fight. They think they can beat us, and we think we can beat them. I recognize one of them as one of the ruffians who chased after the prince. I know relize who we are dealing with. I grab Robyn's hand and I run out the door. "What the-" "Shh!!" We make our escape to anywhere but here. Aspen sees me then smiles wearily. He stops fighting, and let's himself get kidnapped. I gasp. Robyn finally figures out whats happening. "NOOO-" I call after Aspen, but Robyn covers my mouth and drags me into a secluded area. My best friend is so stupid. How, no Why would he do this to me?! We escaped to Willow Lake. I looked at the charm I was given. My heart was broken, and I started to cry.