Fun Friday–“Princess Emerald”

A long time ago, there lived a beautiful princess. She had hair that was as golden as the morning sun. Her eyes were so green that she had received the name “Emerald.”

Princess Emerald was engaged to marry Prince Goodheart, from a neighboring kingdom. Prince Goodheart was a good and kind prince. He was tall and had hair the color of freshly harvested wheat. His sapphire colored eyes could look kindly on his people, but could also be stern with wrong-doers. He listened to his people and did all he could to make them happy.

Emerald and Goodheart were loved by all that lived in the forest, including the wood fairies. Sheba, the queen of the wood fairies, watched over Emerald and Goodheart to make sure that nothing bad ever happened to them.

One day, Emerald was picking flowers in the forest, waiting for Goodheart to meet her for a picnic. She wandered so far from where she had been supposed to wait for Goodheart, that she became lost. She wandered around in the forest for hours.

Emerald, frightened because she was lost, started to call out, “Help! Someone, please help me!” She kept wandering deeper and deeper into the forest. It was quite dark and cold.

When she woke up, there was light coming from the wall across from her. Emerald crawled over to the wall and discovered a door that was slightly opened. The door creaked open and Emerald was out in a hall.

The hallway was tall enough for her to be able to stand up, so she got up and started walking down the hall. There were doors lining the hall. Some of them were tall, and some of them were very short. They were all locked.

Emerald finally came to a door that was not locked. She went through the door and found herself in a room so richly decorated that it belonged in a castle.

“Come in my dear and make yourself comfortable,” a raspy voice sounded from somewhere in the room.

Emerald looked around and saw, seated in a throne, the ugliest creature she had ever seen. He was short and gnarled. His hair was black and fell tangled past his shoulders. His long, nest-like beard covered most of his face and was as long as he was tall.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come here for a long time, Emerald. Now you will never leave because I plan to make you my queen.”

“W-Who are you?” Emerald asked with a quivering voice.

“I am Nefar, King of the darkness. And you, Emerald will be my bride.” Nefar cackled an evil sounding laugh.

“Not if I can help it,” a voice came from a dark corner of the room. Emerald turned to see Sheba float from the corner.

“Sheba, what a surprise seeing you here,” Nefar said, his voice becoming venom.

“Nefar, I’ve come to take Emerald back where she belongs. You can either give her up freely or die; it is of no consequence to me.” Sheba walked forward to where Emerald was standing. “Come my dear, we must go.” Sheba and Emerald turned to go out the door, but stopped when they heard a crackling sound from behind them. They turned to see Nefar standing in the middle of the room. Then, before their very eyes, he started to turn black, blacker than the blackest midnight.

At that moment, Goodheart burst into the room. Sheba quickly armed him with the Shield of Faith and the Sword of Love, and he turned to confront Nefar. As Goodheart moved toward him, Nefar started to glow with a black light.

The light grew more and more intense, and then with all the forces of darkness, a bolt of black lightning flashed straight out for Goodheart.

Goodheart protected himself with the Shield and in one motion, he brought the Sword of Love down on Nefar. Sparks of every color flew in all directions. The light emanating from the contact was so bright that no one could look at it.

Then the light stopped. Emerald and Goodheart looked around and saw that they were no longer in the palace of Nefar, but they were in the woods, and the only sign of the battle was a black mark on the forest floor.

Sheba wished them happiness and went on her own way.

Princess Emerald and Prince Goodheart rode back to the kingdom and were married the very next day.