______The darkened corridor of an ancient castle was oppressively silent, the air choked with dust. The atmosphere of the hall was almost smothering with a sense of long neglect. The thick layer of filth and grime on the floor betrayed the only creature to pass that way in many years. In the dust and dirt that laid at least an inch think on the floor, the dragging footprints of someone with large feet and a limp marred the dingy surface.

______The owner of the footprints crept through the inky blackness of the castle. He was clothed entirely in black and moved swiftly, despite his obvious limp. He slipped quickly through yawning doorways, edging down hushed corridors with his back pressed against the cold, damp, stone walls of the castle dungeon. He then hurried, stumbling once as he gripped the walls and hobbled up the stairs and into the upper levels of the castle.

______His name was Monaghan. His thinning black hair was pulled back from his face and fastened by a thin leather thong. His piercing green eyes could have looked kindly if he hadn’t been peering around himself so suspiciously as he entered the servants’ quarters. When he had ascertained that there was no immediate danger, he closed the door behind him. He straightened, stretching his stiff back, and then walked steadily, and without a trace of a limp, to a nearby cot.

______He sat down heavily on the dingy cot. He could smell the moldering straw of its mattress through the single thin sheet laid over it, and as he sat down, several small insects skittered quickly away. Monaghan stared around him at the dark, dingy walls, and he watched a large cockroach scurry into a hole in the west wall of the small chamber. He could remember days long past when the servants’ quarters were as clean as the king’s. A hollow feeling welled up inside him as he reflected over the changes of the last fifteen years.

______Alnwick was falling. The Elven kingdom that had stood for millennia under the ruling house of Cliodhna was collapsing. During the days when Guinnear, late of the house of Cliodhna, had ruled Alnwick, the country had prospered. Servants had lived in comfort nearly equaling that of the king. Alnwick was like a magical garden, beautiful beyond all imaginings. Impossibly tall trees had grown, supported by Elven magic, and fields had looked like magical fantasylands. Flowers of every imaginable type and size had grown everywhere. Of course, it wasn’t perfect. Alnwick had its share of troubles, but overall it was a peaceful, strong kingdom with a peaceful strong leader. Then, the king fell ill. He suffered horribly, clinging to life for months as he wasted away. Then, finally, mercifully, he had died.

______Immediately, his younger brother Derdrac took control. He was a ruthless, dictating ruler. He desired only power, and his soldiers began, on his orders, to seize the property of the citizens of Alnwick. People quickly learned to fear him and his soldiers, and Alnwick slowly became a gray, dismal place, full of Derdrac’s sullen guards.

______It was widely known that Derdrac had plotted for the throne since childhood. He had always been a cruel child and a bully, and most people were terribly frightened of him. He had fearsome black eyes that, when turned upon you, could chill you to your very marrow. His low-set brow cast a shadow across his already cold eyes that made them look frigid. He had a sharp-boned, severe face, a strong, square jaw, and a cruel, thin-lipped mouth, disinclined to smiling. His hair was jet black, very different from the more common Elven blonde, and hung in lank strands down his back. His eyes were black, as well, and were deep-set and sunken, giving him a sinister and frightening countenance.

______Derdrac was actually, if the truth be known, King Guinnear’s half-brother, and the bastard child of Guinnear’s father and a witch named Erennach. Erennach had bewitched the previous king, Guinnear’s father, when Guinnear was only three years old. The witch had thought to control the king through her son, but her crime was discovered. Actually, it had been Monaghan who had found her out in the end. Monaghan had been only sixteen years old at the time, and his discovery had earned him a place at the king’s side. The witch had been executed for the crime, as soon as her son had been delivered, for the Elven people refused to kill an innocent child. Unfortunately, though, the child appeared to have taken after his mother.

______As the Elven citizens grew more and more miserable, the power that had kept Alnwick strong began to fail. Powerful mages who had served Guinnear were exiled or killed, and those who weren’t, fled to avoid death. The poor souls of Alnwick were losing hope. The last real hope anyone had to cling to was the rumor of a true heir to the throne of Alnwick. Rumor had it that three days after Guinnear’s death, his wife, the queen of Alnwick, had given birth to a daughter. Coriana, the queen, had seemed perfectly healthy after her daughter’s birth, but had then, mysteriously, died. Many believed that Derdrac had killed her and the infant princess, but some... some believed that the princess had been hidden until she could contest her uncle’s claim to the throne.

______Monaghan sighed, “Lord Guinnear, what is to be done?” He murmured to himself, his eyes worried and sorrowful.

______Monaghan knew that if Guinnear’s daughter had survived, she would be one of the most powerful rulers Alnwick had ever known. Guinnear had been a full-blooded elf, but had fallen in love with a human. Coriana, human daughter of the druid Witrin, had been just as enamored of the blonde-haired, green-eyed Elven Prince, and they had been married. Coriana had been far from weak and defenseless, despite the fact that she was human. Coriana had music in her family going back generations. She had slight bardic powers, and had also been a sorceress. Given the Elven magic, the druid magic, the sorcery, and the music in her blood, Guinnear’s daughter had the potential of being the only bard with Elven blood in history.

______He thought about the rumors of Guinnear’s daughter. As a resident of the castle, he knew that the baby had not been killed.

______After skulking about the castle, he had also discovered that Derdrac was furious that the child could not be found. Monaghan knew that the child had been hidden and raised from infancy with full knowledge of her birthright, and he was certain that the child would need his help. She would be sixteen by now, and would soon be ready to challenge her uncle for her rightful place on the throne. It was well known that she would have the support of the kingdom, and Monaghan along with his fellow mages. He could sense the time ripening. He knew where his exiled brothers were hiding, and he knew a resistance was beginning to form, which would soon need a head in order to keep them in check. Monaghan knew he would have to be ready.

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