Lightning crackled over the mountainous kingdom of Distress. The ash that constantly suffocated the unfortunate occupants blew in fearsome circles as a brutal storm swirled on for all eternity. Grey clouds rose upon another to conceal the inky heavens. Thunder roared so loud that the dry, sandy earth quaked in waves.
Above the noise of wrath and nightmares, a cackle of dark enjoyment pierced the atmosphere. The strange laughter came from the grotesque castle that tortured the land. A single window was alight in the ebony palace that blended in to the jagged mountains surrounding it. The blood red, stained glass windows completed the aura of devilish doom.
"Ha, ha, ha," she laughed, their ill intentioned queen. She clacked her long, purple painted nails together in glee. "It is too much! Oh Lucius, you are a sneaky monster, my pet. No one brings me news of the hilarious, brighter parts of Fairy Tale as you do. And it is hilarious, isn't it?"
Her name was Lady Jacqueline and she was without a doubt the most evil being in all of Fairy Tale. Lady Jacqueline was the Johnny Raincloud of the land. Little children and furry animals shivered at the very mention of her name, not that she was mentioned often except to scare naughty kiddies into good behavior. Long ago she had been banished from all nice society for her malicious ways. Because she had ruined her chance of happiness as a young woman, she was determined that all citizens of Fairy Tale should be robbed of their chances as well.
The true story of her history was no longer known. People said she had betrayed a fine man that loved her when she was a young maiden and then punished him for the error of her own ways. Others said she had always been bad. Still others twisted the tale and claimed she was a scapegoat for the crimes of powerful people. Whatever Lady Jacqueline had been in the past was now a shadow, a superfluous series of events. Her present wicked existence was the only fact the inhabitants of Fairy Tale need concern themselves with and remember to live in caution.
Lady Jacqueline scratched the jet black feathers of her favourite spy's head. Lucius, the wily raven, shut one eye in uncomfortable distress. Those nails were razor sharp. This nasty affection was going to leave a mark. But a life with scars was better than death, as Lucius knew too well. Too many of his friends and siblings had failed and, shortly thereafter, fallen. Lady Jacqueline had no taste for mercy.
For now though, there was no reason for trepidation. The evil mistress of Distress was as giddy as a spider descending on its prey. Her hunger for cruel deeds and darkened dreams almost caused her to drool. Her indigo eyes blazed like meteors streaking through the atmosphere. Her heart of stone pounded with excited agility.
"Ah yes, this is exactly the sort of stuff I hoped for and it has finally come to fruition. Wishes do come true, after all. Ha, ha, ha!"
Lady Jacqueline lifted her scaly skirt of bat wing and alligator skin and moved across the stone floor to a nearby table. The piece of furniture was littered with maps, collected volumes of magical concoctions and blazing lamps. A cauldron bubbled a luminous green recipe of horror. Shrieks actually exhaled from its misty surface. Lady Jacqueline ignored the cries that truly were music to her ears. Her full attention was glued to a parchment map of the whole geography of Fairy Tale (a map so old that the heading still read the traditional Fairy Dale, long before time had altered its title). She spread her hands across its surface with a gargling giggle from within her throat. Lucius' skin crawled from his perch.
"Not long now the land shall be mine," she prophesied as she pieced together her plan. "It shall all fall into place. Once I have taken Once-upon-a Time in the Northwest and Ever After in the Southeast, the other kingdoms will have to crumble. The middle regions cannot survive without those nations on the outer limits. It will be just like well placed dominoes. One by one, from both corners of the map they will tumble into my lap, here in my central position of Distress."
She tapped Once-upon-a Time with one jagged fingernail, tearing a slit beneath the kingdom's name. "It will be too easy," she hissed. "The princess needs to find herself a prince. And what a prince she has chosen!"
Lady Jacqueline cackled once more, throwing her head back in delight. She pulled Creature Magazine's Prince Charming issue out from beneath her foul recipe books. Lady Jacqueline said she subscribed to the magazine to stay on top of current events, but really she enjoyed the guilty pleasure of the celebrity crosswords in the back of each issue. We all have our secrets, though few of us would kill those that exposed our hidden peculiarities. Lucius cowered in fear each month he was sent to steal a copy.
"Look at him, Lucius," Lady Jacqueline ordered, "He really is worthy of the honour. Poor Princess Adeline, she doesn't stand a chance against that smile. Little does she know that the relationship is doomed from the start. Let us never underestimate the power of parental upbringing and personality differences, plus a few other little surprises."
Poor girl indeed, Lucius thought to himself. He could guess where his ladyship was going with all this. Two birds with one stone – the raven could envision it clearly in his mind's eye. The forces of evil hardly ever missed, especially when they were a force such as Lady Jacqueline's. The pounding of massive wings in the wind and the smoky smell of foul breath haunted him. These two, royal young people were very poor creatures indeed.
"But never you fear, citizens of Once-upon-a Time," Lady Jacqueline voiced to the oxygen outside the tower and whatever specters lingering thereabouts. She gazed outside into the swirling mists of gloom. The sorceress drew strength from the bleakness of her immediate vicinity. All Fairy Tale could soon be like this – dark, dank and destitute of joy. That would make her joy complete, to see every last living thing in Fairy Tale plunged into the punishment long ago forced upon her. Lady Jacqueline's lips curled into a chilling smile.
"Princess Adeline will be married in short order," she promised. "I'll see to that."
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Fairy Tale Wedding (Book One: The Road to Ever After)
الخيال (فانتازيا)What happens when you meet Prince Charming and he isn't "the one" for you? Princess Adeline of Once-upon-a Time has ruled for four years, but cannot be a proper queen until she marries a prince. Unfortunately, this is a real deal breaker for the ci...
