Chapter 1 - The First Attack

     Since the day she was born, Rosie was raised to be a ruler. Starting at the age of eight, Rosie's father had the young girl sit in on the court, and give her opinion to her father to help with decisions. Then when Rosie was only thirteen, her father died. Her mother had already died, so Rosie had to take control of the ice filled kingdom. Shortly after she took the throne, the young princess was attacked.

      One dark night, only a month after her father's death, it was cold, colder than it would normally be. Rosie thought it was the night mourning her father's death as she was. Rosie went to bed after dinner, for she had to be up with the sun to go to court. She had only been asleep for a few short hours when she was woken by screams of terror. She ran to her balcony and saw troops marching though the streets. They slammed into houses and pulled all the people in the houses out to the street and killed them. The streets were beginning to turn red with blood.

      Then Rosie's hand servant ran into her room and pulled Rosie away from the window. Rosie fought back. She wanted to see her people, she wanted to save them. Her hand servant begged her to come away from the window. When she still refused, her hand servant pulled the princess away from the window. The last thing Rosie saw were her troops launching a counter attack on the foreign intruders.

The two girls then ran down the hall to a secret passage that led to a safe place for Rosie to hide. Rosie removed the painting that hid the door and rushed inside. Her hand servant gave her a lantern and closed the door. She was all alone. As Rosie's eyes adjusted to the light, she saw before her a winding staircase that looked as if it never ended. Rosie began to descend the staircase to a small room her father had built to keep Rosie safe if anything like this was to happen. Rosie knew she was to stay in that room until she was gotten. There was a small bed in the room so Rosie once again went to sleep, where she was with her father and all the evil in the world was nonexistent.

      Several hours later a soldier came to Rosie telling her that everything was alright and she was safe to leave the damp, quiet, musty room. She allowed the young soldier to lead her away back to her room. She went straight for the window wanting to see for herself it was over. What she saw was red streets lined with bodies, building smoldering from recent flames, people crying over lost loved ones, all against a backdrop of a morning sky that looked as if someone had stabbed it and its blood was everywhere with patches of smoke in every direction. Rosie was horrified, but remembered her father's lessons and did not show any emotion. She dismissed the young soldier from her chambers, and ordered that troops be sent out to begin restoring order to her capital city. Then she closed her curtains and took off her sleeping gown. Her body shivered when she did; not because of the cold, but because of how ordinary her activity was. She then put on her green dress. It hugged her body and plunged deep into her cleavage. Her father had taught her to distract the court so decisions could be made easier. Rosie knew two things, one she was a distraction to her court, and two, this dark green dress added to this effect. She then did her hair and applied some color to her face. When she was satisfied in her appearance, she began to walk toward the court room that sat one story below her.

      As she walked to court, Rosie noticed that security around and within her palace was tighter than normal. Her hand servant had no answers for her. Her lady in waiting had no answers either. She would have to wait until court to find the answers she sought.