Prologue

�"PROLOGUE�"

One Year Ago


The Winter King bent over his table, his finger tracing the path the spell had formed, and smiled.
“What is so important that you dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night to discuss it?” The boy across from him asked warily. He was still in his night-clothes, but he had his sword strapped to his waist.
“I have found her,” the King told the boy, who was his son. “The spell worked. I found the White Lady, and I found the girl.”
The prince’s eyes widened, and he stared at the map and the gold dust from the spell, realizing at last what it was. “You found her,” the prince whispered.
“You will leave tomorrow,” the King said. “I have already begun to craft the Portal that will take you to the Outside World. You already have a place of lodging ready, not too far from her location.”
“Lodging? Why do I need a place of lodging?” The Prince asked. “It should be as simple as finding the girl and kidnapping her. I should not require lodging.”
“These things are not done in a day, Felix,” the King replied. “Besides, the spell was not exact. I do not know her precise location, only the area in which she will be found. Once you arrive in the Outside World, it could take a matter of days to find her, or it could take months. I also have no reason to think that Aleksandra wouldn’t have gone to extreme lengths to hide her from any tracking spells.”
“You realize that I am in the middle of planning my wedding,” Felix said. “If I leave now, I will have to put the wedding on hold until I return, and Addison will murder me for it. I have already made her wait as long as I could dare, Father. You cannot ask her to wait longer.”
“I can,” his father snapped. “I am the King, and you will do what I say. Your wedding can wait. Besides, this is more important. We have searched for sixteen years, Felix. Imagine the power we will hold if we find her. She is the key to Excalibur. Find her, and we might find Excalibur. Find her, and we will finally rule Avalon.”
Felix sighed. He could not resist the lure of power. Like his father, it was all he wanted in the world. He was drawn to it like a moth to flame. “Very well,” Felix said. “I will say my goodbyes tonight, and by tomorrow, I will be ready to leave.”
“There is one more thing,” his father said. “The place Aleksandra has hidden the girl�"it is very hot there. The temperatures will not be comfortable for you. You will have to deal with the sickness that comes with living in such a place, possibly for a couple of days. And your magic... it will be at its weakest, while you are there. Even simple spells will be exhausting to you. You will have to be careful with your magic, and keep your strength up. We cannot afford you to be weak. Understand this, my son. I would not ask this of you unless it were of utmost importance. If I could, I would ask someone else to do it, but I cannot trust anyone but you to do what I am asking you to do. You are the only one who can do it, the only one who can bring the Princess home and bring us the honor we deserve.”
“I understand,” Felix said. There was a glimmer of fear in his eyes, but it was gone in a heartbeat as he locked eyes with his father. “I will find her, Father. I will find her, and when I find her, all of the glory in the world will be ours to have.”
His father smiled. “And so it shall be,” he said, his eyes filled with greed.

~*~

Far away, in a warm bed in the Summer Kingdom, a boy called Puck bolted upright, covered in a cold sweat.
As he lie there, trying to slow his racing heart, he replayed the vision in his mind over again. Another vision, one that left fear squeezing his heart. In his minds eye, he could see the trail of gold dust on the map, a map of the Outside World.
The Winter Kingdom had just discovered the location of the Princess. And they were planning to use her, use her as a weapon. Against what, Puck didn’t know, but he wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
He got out of bed, and pulled on his robe and slippers, and went out into the corridor. There were guards placed in front of his corridor, and they looked surprised to see him.
“Master Avery,” the guard called Dylan said. “What are you doing awake at this hour? It is three hours past the moon rise.”
“I am aware,” Puck said. “I am going to see the King.”
Dylan and the other guard exchanged a look. “The King is asleep,” Dylan replied. “Can it not wait until morning?”
“No, it cannot,” Puck said. “Do not try and stop me, or I will see to it that when the King asks why I did not deliver this news to him at once, I will tell him you prevented me, and you will loose your position as a palace guard.”
“We will escort you, for safety,” Dylan said.
Puck nodded. The three made their way down the corridors as quietly as they could, so not to wake the other residents of the Summer Palace.
When they reached the King’s Chambers a few minutes later, the guards were unhappy to see them, but nevertheless, they went to go wake the King. Varick emerged from his room a few moments after, still in nightclothes, looking annoyed at being woken at this hour.
“We will talk privately in my study,” Varick grumbled, and led Puck down the corridor to his private study. He told the guards to go away, and then shut the door. “You had another vision, didn’t you?”
Varick was the only one who knew about Puck’s mysterious “gift”. It was the only reason that Puck, who had once been a simple farm boy, was allowed to stay in the Summer Palace. “Yes,” said Puck. “I saw the Winter King and I saw Felix, leaning over a table of maps. They were maps to the Outside World.”
Varick’s eyes widened. He sat down in a chair, and gestured for Puck to do the same. “The Outside World,” he said. He almost sounded as if he didn’t dare to hope. “You and I both know that only means one thing.”
“Yes,” Puck said. “Theodore used a tracking spell. I don’t know what kind. But he used it, and it formed a path to Aleksandra’s location in the Outside World. And in finding Aleksandra, that means they will also find the Princess.”
“They cannot be allowed to,” Varick said. “I will not allow them to get their filthy hands on my niece and sister.”
“I’m not sure there is anything you can do,” Puck said. “Theodore is sending Felix tomorrow. We will not have enough time to stop him.”
“Did you see the location, on the map? Did you see where Theodore is sending him?” Varick demanded.
“No,” Puck said, hanging his head in shame. “I only know that it is a place that will be unpleasant for Felix, meaning it is somewhere very warm. I don’t know where exactly. I do know it will take him a while to find her, though. Theodore said the spell didn’t give them their exact location, so Felix would be in the Outside World for a while, at least.”
“Well, that’s something. We can at least enjoy the thought that Felix will suffer,” Varick said, and then he sighed, running a hand over his face. “I may be able to get a message to Aleksandra. I have never asked the Elves for anything, but perhaps they will help me this once. The Elfin are all over the Outside World. One of them may know where she might be. We might be able to warn her, before Felix gets the chance to find her.”
“Why have you never asked the Elves for help before, if there was a possibility that they knew where she was? We could have stopped the war a long time ago,” Puck said. It wasn’t his place to say that, he knew. But he didn’t care anymore.
“I know that,” Varick snapped. “I don’t trust the Elves, that’s why. There’s always a price to pay. They don’t give favours for nothing.”
“But you think they’ll help now?” Puck asked.
Varick sighed again. “I don’t know, Puck,” he said. “It’s a chance I have to take, for the good of my people. If we allow Winter to take over, we will be dead within a fortnight. I cannot allow that to happen.”
“What will happen, if Aleksandra and her daughter return?” Puck asked. “So many people hate her. Aleksandra. Because she left. They blame her for the war. What will happen if she does return?”
“I don’t know,” Varick said again. “Let’s not worry about that now. I will send a message to the Elves. We are the closest we have ever been to finding the Princess. That’s what matters now, Puck. How close we are to finding her.”
He wanted to ask what would happen if Felix got her before they did. The Winter Kingdom wouldn’t use her to end the war. They would use her as a weapon. And Varick was right. Winter couldn’t be allowed to take over. If it did, they may as well just give up now. There would be no hope for them, if Winter took over.
The Princess was their hope. She was the only one that kept them fighting, that gave them a reason to live. She who was born of Summer and Winter, their only chance at unity. It didn’t matter that Aleksandra had betrayed them all when she took her daughter and disappeared into the Outside World. It only mattered that she could end the war, that she could bring them the peace that they had fought sixteen years for. Sixteen long, hard years of nothing but death and darkness. And the Princess was their only hope to end it all.

Author's Note

What do you think? What would you change/add? How do you like your first introduction to Avalon?