Leila groggily awoke to the sound of someone knocking
on her door. She slowly crawled out of bed and pulled on a tattered brown robe
and looked out the window. A low fog hung over the grassy fields outside. The
sun was hidden behind large amounts of grayish clouds. Leila slowly walked over
to the front door and yawned as she opened it. The heavy wooden door creaked
open and a large yellow Skeith in brown cloak greeted her.
"Is this the residence of a Miss Leila Shields?"
he asked in a phoney English accent.
"Yes, this is, and you happen to be talking to
her." Leila leaned against the door-frame with her front paws crossed in front
of her.
"The king has ordered a visit with you. I suggest
you arrive in something a little more ladylike, mistress," the Skeith announced,
flicking the collar of her robe.
"If Luke saw me in a dress he'd fall over and
have a stroke," Leila stated sarcastically and then gave another loud yawn.
"Perhaps you haven't heard, mistress. But our
dear King Lukas III passed away last night. No one quite knows why, yet," the
Skeith chuckled, making his large stomach shook. Leila gasped. The Skeith wiped
a tear from his eye and then straightened himself out. "Lukas's son, King Arnold
V requests an audience with you before noon."
Leila smirked. "Give me ten minutes," she said
closing the door.
Leila dressed in a blue smock, green tights,
her regular brown work shoes, and her navy cloak with the brass clip. She combed
her hair a little and straightened her tail, then went to her daughter, Argon's
room. Argon, the red Zafara, was sleeping lightly on top of the red quilt on
her bed with a book right beside her on the pillow.
Leila walked over to the bed and crooned, "Argon,
Argon darling. It's time to wake up. Your Mommy has to go meet the king."
Argon slowly opened her eyes and gave a small
yawn. "What's that, Mum? Are we going the meet the king?"
"Yes dear. Now hurry and get ready. A guard is
waiting outside to take us. I'll get you some bread and cheese for breakfast."
Leila left the room and went to the small kitchen.
She opened the cupboard and took out the last to slices of stale bread and the
last lump of cheese then sighed. At least they had a little gruel left for dinner.
She took a small wooden saucer off of a shelf and put a slice of bread and the
cheese on it. She thought twice and halved the other piece of bread and put
it back in the cupboard for Argon's lunch. She picked up the other half and
began to slowly devour it. She put the saucer on the wood table and went out
the back door to the well to get some water. She lowered the bucket down until
it couldn't be seen and until Leila heard a small splash. She then pulled it
back up and took the small bucket inside to see Argon dressed in a lavender
peasant dress, which Leila had made for her two years ago, and eating. Leila
went back to the cupboard and took out two small cups and filled them. She gave
one to Argon and kept the other for herself. As long as the well kept wet, they
would get by.
After another minute or so, the Skeith guard
rapped on the door and shouted, "Lady! We got to get going!" Leila ushered Argon
outside where the Skeith was impatiently waiting. "Your ten minutes was up five
minutes ago! Now get in the carriage!"
Leila and Argon ambled over to the carriage,
followed closely by the guard. Argon jumped up quickly and hopped a little on
her left foot, then whimpered slightly. Leila stopped abruptly. "Argon, what's
wrong dear?"
Argon began to cry. "I…I…stepped on…a…thorn,"
she said between sobs.
Leila picked her up and carried her over to the
black carriage. Once the guard closed the door, Leila sat Argon in her lap and
examined her injured foot.
"Hold still, honey. This may sting a little,"
Leila told her before pulling out the barb. Argon whimpered a little and buried
her face in her mother's smock. Leila ripped a small strip of fabric from her
cloak and bandaged Argon's wound.
It took almost an hour to reach the castle.
Argon had fallen asleep against her mother's chest a little less than half way
there. Leila would have fallen asleep too if the bumpy road would let her. The
large, gray turrets of the castle loomed higher than any building Leila had
seen before. In the silence of the fog, they gave off an eerie appearance. The
carriage slowed near a small village. It was quiet and empty looking. The only
forms of life were a Turtum and a Lupe boy fetching water from a small stream.
The carriage came to a full stop in front of the drawbridge. The guard hopped
out of the driver's seat and latched the horses to a nearby post before opening
the door for the mother and her daughter. Leila gently shook Argon awake and
then carried her across the drawbridge. Halfway across, rain began to pour.
"Ugh!" Leila groaned. She tucked Argon into her cloak and pulled her hood up.
At the other edge of the bridge, Leila turned around to notice the guard had
gone off somewhere and she was expected to find the king on her own.
A Draik, clad in armour, approached her. "Excuse
me, mistress. What is your business here?" he asked in a shrill voice.
"I am here to see King Arnold V. My name is Leila
Zafar."
"Oh good, the king has been expecting you! Follow
me!"
The Draik flew a few feet off the ground. Leila
was forced to run to keep up. Soon they reached a large wooden door. The Draik
opened it and led Leila through the castle until they reached an open arched
doorway that led into the throne room.
"Right this way!" the Draik stated.
Leila entered and walked along the red carpet
dropping splashes of water every so often as she was still quite wet from the
rain. When she was four feet away from the steps leading up to the throne, she
bowed with Argon still clutched on her arm.
"Ah! You must be Leila Zafar. How nice to meet
you. Father talked so much about you I couldn't help but call upon you," the
king said. Leila said nothing as she was not yet given permission. "I have actually
called upon you to complete a task for me. You see, Father always said you had
good fighting skills and that you were a leader in past wars. So, I intended
to ask you a rather large favor. Do you accept?" he asked.
Leila looked up at the green Blumaroo king. "It
depends on the task, majesty."
"Well, I need you to, well, how shall I put this?
Um, I need you to destroy the king of Dell*,
for me. He has been getting in the way of some of my expansion plans. Oh, by
the way, if you reject my task, I shall be forced to eliminate you. I just can't
have someone running about, telling others of my plans. I do hope you'll understand.
So what do you say?"
Leila was flabbergasted. How could the son of
Meri*'s greatest king
be so cruel? She quickly responded, "Of course not! I can't just go about offing
royalty, how could you expect me to say yes, you rotten pig?!" Leila stepped
back.
"Oh, how sad, one of Meri's greatest champions
of war is to be put to death for destroying the king! GUARDS!!!" the new king
shouted.
Almost instantly a large group of Skeith guards
marched through the door. "This Zafara has been found guilty of destroying my
father! She is sentenced to death!"
"I'm not afraid, you selfish coward," Leila
announced.
"Well, no matter. Take her to the dungeons!"
the Blumaroo shouted.
Two guards came forward and grabbed Leila, one
by each arm. Leila was forced to drop Argon who landed with a small thud on
the marble floor. The guards began to carry Leila away slowly as she screamed
and kicked. The new king came forward and grabbed Argon by the scruff of her
neck. "If you have half of the spirit of your mother, you'll make a great chief
of war when you're older," he said to the scared Zafara as he took her away.
"Argon! Argon!" Leila screamed as she was carried
through the door of the throne room.
The cell where they stored Leila was cold and
a musty. It smelled of mold and old straw. There was a small barred window near
the top of the wall. Leila could look out it and see for miles. There was a
small pile of straw in the corner for a bed and one wall was barred to block
the corridor of chambers. A cup of water and half a piece of beef jerky was
delivered each day. Leila neither slept drank. All she did was either stare
out the window into the vast plains or sit in the corner thinking of her daughter
and her past. They finally unlocked Leila's cell a year later when she was to
be executed. She was pale and was feeling weak from hunger and lack of sleep.
She had eaten little over the past twelve months. She ate maybe once or twice
a week and slept four nights out of seven . She was stuck in a perpetual melancholy
that nothing could bring her out of, although the yellow Scorchio in the cell
across from hers had tried to make her smile.
Three Skeith guards led the cart which she was
tied to. She didn't care about life anymore. She didn't want to live. They led
her out of a small gate to the centre of the village. A large crowd of people
were gathered around a raised square of wood. Some were cheering others were
jeering, someone even through a rotten marrow at her. She didn't care though.
Nothing mattered anymore. The cart soon made its way to a small set of stairs.
A green Skeith opened a small pegged door in the fence that surrounded her.
She quietly stepped off the platform and headed up the stairs. She looked out
at the crowd just for her last view of life. She searched faces. Maybe, just
maybe, no… Argon wasn't there. Or was she? Leila scanned the crowd again. She
saw a familiar red face on a familiar red body, which of course had matured
quickly. Leila took in the beauty of what her daughter had become.
"Argon?" Leila shouted into the crowd.
"Mum?" Argon shouted back.
"Argon!"
"Mum!" Leila smiled for the first time in months
as Argon clambered over many people to reach the wooden square. The crowd quieted
as Argon hoisted herself up. "Mum? Is it really you?" she asked in awe.
"Argon! Oh my darling! I thought I'd lost you
forever!" Leila began to cry as she slipped her tied paws up over her daughter
and brought them down in an embrace. Argon wept too.
After a few moments a red Skeith approached Argon.
"Majesty, this is a criminal you're hugging, didn't you notice that?" he said.
Leila stepped back. "Majesty?" she confusedly
said.
"This, Lieutenant, is my mother and she is no
criminal. All she's guilty of is being framed. Your last king framed her because
she wouldn't assassinate the King of Dell! I might have been only level four
back then but now I'm level eighteen and am queen of Meri! My newest decree
is that we release her from her charges and she lives with me in the palace!"
Argon informed the Lieutenant.
"Yes, Your Majesty," he replied backing away.
"You-you're queen?" Leila stuttered.
"Arnold V disappeared one day with his last request
that I be queen." Argon winked. She leaned in closer and whispered in her mother's
ear. "I'm no assassin in the mist. I led him into the forest and left him there
for all his evilness. Before I left him, he said you had died in prison. I was
heartbroken. But when I heard that there was a Leila Zafar to be put to trial
today I had to come down here and see."
By the time Argon pulled her head away Leila
was in tears again. "My darling daughter, you are everything I hoped you'd be!"
Leila wept. She hugged her daughter again.
Leila and Argon lived long and happy lives together.
Argon eventually married and the Zafar line is still running Meridell today.
Many rumours have encircled this medieval fable. Many say King Arnold V was
destroyed, some say he went insane. But the most convincing story to yet reach
my ears, dear Reader, was the one I just told you. As many, many fairy tales
end, and this one will too, I close with one simple phrase: They lived happily
ever after.
The End
For those of you who haven't figured it out yet put Meri and Dell together.
You'll find the answer on the Explore map! Until next time! Bye! | 
