Long ago, before the world was corrupt and devious, there was a kingdom. And in it, lived a young Queen. She had one brother, who was soon to marry a sweet woman, modest and thoughtful. This Queen was always alone in her castle, painting, writing stories, and studying the stars. She barely ever left there, spending most of her time in her quarters.
On the very night that the Queen’s brother was to be married, something very mysterious happened.
A penetrating beam of light broke through into her room. Slowly, a soft image came into the light and out of the shadows. This figure had hair as red as the dead sailor’s sun. The young lady was frightened.
“What are you? What do you want?” she asked, quickly hiding all her paintings and sketches. You see, this queen was no ordinary royal. She was almost never afraid. She thought it was impossible for her--until now. The shy, contemplative queen quickly realized that she never wanted anyone to ever see her paintings, or read her stories. For reasons possibly reasonable only to her. She thought that if someone read, or saw what works she had created, the worlds created in them would vanish—and all her make-believe places would be no more.
After the Queen finished stashing away her worlds, the creature that had appeared in the shadow finally spoke.
“In worlds of ink and oil you dwell, so your fortune, quite deadly, I tell.”
The young queen was so afraid, that all she could do was stand and listen. The voice from the figure came not from its lips, however much they moved in an unknown manner, but from the Queen’s very mind—the whispers resounding only in her thoughts.
“Two hearts united tonight, one full of evil—“, the figure whispered. The Queen was quickly reminded of her brother and his fiancé.
“How dare you accuse my brother?” asked the lady angrily. The glow of the figure’s hair dimmed, like a cold winter’s fire in the early morning.
“A woman,” it said with unmoving lips.
The Queen’s eyes lit up with the thought of the fiancé’s trickery.
“A world of hate and death is in the woman’s future, changeable only to you.” The long, crimson hair flowed as if underwater, the eyes shimmering like the depths of oceans. “Leave your unfinished works,” it said, the dark eyes trailing away from a half-colored canvas and brush, and reveal the evil woman’s sinister plans. Leave your brother unenlightened, and you will be forever stranded here, destined to paint your hearts desires, time no longer relevant.”
The young lady quickly took up her unused cloak, and opened her bedroom door. The wood creaked, and the light of the lanterns outside broke into her path. She ran down to the place of her brother’s wedding; the Garden of Lilies—a beautiful place surrounded by a dense forest.
About to call out to her brother, who stood with the lady in white at the feet of a wise man, the Queen let the words catch in her throat. They looked so happy together, repeating the vows. The soon-to-be wife finished repeating the words, and the two lovers sealed their unity with a kiss. As the husband and wife rushed down the aisle, off to their lives together, the Queen caught the eye of the new wife. They were in a face of love and happiness. But this queen saw right through that. She looked upon the eyes of a devious, hateful woman, who intended to steal, and lie and kill.
“It’s too late…” said the Queen to herself, as her eyes glistened with the tiniest of tears.



Years and years passed, and the Queen’s brother had been killed. A decade later, and the evil woman’s plan to rule had unfolded. No one was free anymore; leaves of the seasons fell sadly to the ground, only to the woman’s request. The flowers colored the ground, only to be cut down by her.
A hundred years past the dreadful wedding, and the Queen still lived; she had aged not one second past the kiss of that night.
So many worlds she had painted, so many stories created… they all faded with time, and the Queen threw them to the land out her window. Paintings landed in trees, and today, the leaves show the forgotten strokes. Stories’ pages hit the waters of streams, and now the rushing waters whisper the legends.
“I am sick with art!” cried the beautiful Queen. “How unjust! To try to keep my brother’s joy, and then have it all thrown away!”
All her beautiful gowns had been stained with ink on the sleeves, and paint on the waist. The servants of the years before the girl was cursed had died long ago, their descendants now keeping the castle. Not one of them knew what the Queen looked like, or how she had lived so long. They dared not look at her, for rumors had spread that the ‘unseen mistress’ was a cruel sorceress, and would kill all who looked at her. So, every night, they set out one day’s worth of food, and every night at midnight, the lonely, immortal girl came down and took the food to her quarters.
One night, at least one hundred and twenty years after the Queen stopped aging, a huge blast of wind and snow charged through her window. Her paintings shuddered in the wind and flew out the window. She was just reaching to secure the rest of them when the figure appeared in her room-- the figure that condemned the queen to an eternity of art, so long ago.
But the creature did not hide itself in the shadows this time. The Queen could clearly see it for what it was.
This horrible thing, was a woman. But she was not mortal, not at all. She hovered above the floor, wearing a black elegant dress with lace and ribbons everywhere. The sleeves were long, covering her hands. The woman’s eyes were as dark as ever, the color of a deep sea. Her hair was long, and glowed with the light of a faint fire.
The Queen grew so enraged at the horrible creature that she darted at it, crying with anger. But before the Queen could unleash her rage on the woman, the fire-haired figure simply lifted her hand, and the queen froze, the many years of condemnation and sorrow, shining on her face. She could not even blink. The eerie woman stared into the girl’s stilled eyes, and she saw the Queen’s heart.
“You have not fully learned from your troubles.” She said in that odd whisper. The Queen started to come to life again, with every word the creature spoke. Her glaring, teary eyes penetrated the horrible woman, and as soon as they could, they moved to catch a glimpse of the figure’s hand, still upraised. It was very pale, but with hints of a flaming gold at the fingertips.
“One chance again, you shall have, at saving one’s life. But you must also take on another task as well,” said the figure.
With the woman’s hand lowering, and the Queen finally moving freely again, the troubled Queen took hold of the creature’s hand, glaring at her palm.
“What kind of evil are you?” she asked, scared. The Queen threw down the hand, and slowly backed away as far from her as she could. The red-haired woman’s sleeve dropped slowly over her arm, and as it fell, covered the image that showed on her skin—an image of a young man and woman at an altar.
“Why,” asked the queen slowly, “do you have my drawing on your hand?” The creature just floated there for a while, with the tiniest hint of joy on her lips.
Finally, she spoke.
“A mark of the image you drew was placed upon my hand, long before you were born.”
The Queen looked slightly puzzled, the anger now gone from her face, the words “one chance again, you shall have…” still echoing in her mind.
“It was a message to me, to tell the only person that could, to put a stop to this world’s growing evil before it even began.”
“Me? How could I have stopped this evil?” responded the queen.
The fiery hair of the creature shined brighter than ever before, her eyes glazing over, and the odd whisper, gone. Now, only a soft, calm voice the room—and it came from the woman’s lips.
“By telling your dear brother, who trusted only you, that his days would end with that evil woman he called wife.”
The Queen’s eyes were filled with tears. She hated to be reminded that it was her fault her brother died.
“He was so happy with her! That night, at the Garden of Lilies... you should have seen his face. No such happiness could you possibly see again, not like that.”
“Then give that happiness back to a new person. Down in the village you keep watch over every night, is a young girl who is to be locked away for stealing. No child should be locked away. Free her, and you will give the happiness back to her.”
Silently, the queen wandered over to the window, and gazed out to the village. There were so many children there. How would she know which one was to be taken away?
“There is still another task to be done by you, quickly” said the eerie creature, “You must kill that evil woman who proclaims herself ‘queen’, who kills unjustly and rules selfishly.” The figure stared back into the Queen’s eyes, with her deep, fire hair flowing in unseen waters. “…that woman who killed your brother.”
The old girl turned away, quickly objecting. “That hateful woman has long been dead. Over a hundred years I sit up here, loathing the great-grandchildren she surely has, and whom you obviously speak of.”
Thy mysterious woman stared; her deep, oceanic eyes unblinking.
“She is not dead.”
“What?”
“She, too, is under a curse. Only she thinks it a gift from the sorcerers who roam her palace.”
“She is immortal, too then?”
The figure blinked.
“A few hours alone are left, to save the young girl’s destiny, and to kill the woman who is to ruin it.”
The figure drifted to the window, and pointed one long, gold-tinged finger at a stream down in the land.
“There is the young girl now.” She said. The Queen spotted her, a little blonde girl in a ratty green dress, sitting by the water’s edge and twirling a flower in her tiny hands.
“Oh, look!” said the creature, smiling. “She is listening to your stories!”

And then she was gone—out of the world we know.


For the first time in over a hundred years, the lonely queen left her castle. Even before the creature had come to her that night, the Queen had barely even gone outside. She only did adventurous things outside when she was a child.
But she had not forgotten how to ride, even after all those years. The horse’s feet could be heard thumping on the grass, running as if it knew that the rider was on the way to bring justice to the land. The Queen came to the stream where the little child had been seen, and sure enough, there she was about thirty yards away.
The Queen hopped off the horse, and walked up to the girl, who was lying on her back, with her ear tilted towards the stream as it trickled across the small mossy stones.
“Hello,” the girl said. She had a very sweet voice, and even though she was obviously poor, she was as happy as ever.
“Hello…” the Queen answered awkwardly. “What are you doing?”
The little girl answered sweetly, “I am listening to the stories.”
The lady sat down and bent towards the water, “I can’t hear anything…” she said.
“Oh you don’t?” replied the girl. “It’s saying, ‘then as the soldier climbed the hill, he saw a great ocean…all of his comrades had come, too. Eternity.’”
It was a passage from one of the Queen’s stories, just as the mysterious creature had said.
“Dear child, surely it is time for you to go back home, the sun will set soon.”
“Why, you’re right!”
“Could I possibly take you home? I’d much prefer if you were in a safer place.”
“I’m sure that would be perfectly lovely, but I’m told not to trust people that my father doesn’t know.” She looked up at the queen with the most innocent, blue eyes. “Do you know my father?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know many people these days.” answered the Queen truthfully.
All of the sudden, the sound of horses’ feet could be heard getting closer and closer.
Have they come already to take the girl away?
“Oh no…” said the girl, her face filled with fear. “They think I stole, and I’ll be killed for sure!”
She started to cry a little, as four soldiers with bows and arrows spotted the child. “There’s the little brat!” they yelled.
The Queen took hold of the girl’s hand, and quickly mounted the horse with her. The soldiers pulled back on their bows, the creaking wood breaking the intense silence. The Queen slowly pulled out her own bow, and stared deep into the eyes of the soldier closest to her.
“I am the rightful heir to this land that is rules so unjustly by the woman you serve,” she said, all the years of anger, resonating from her voice. “You shall not lay one finger on this child; she is mine to keep watch.”
The soldiers were so stunned to ever hear about the queen who had stayed in her castle, and to find her out in the land, that they just paused, and stared blankly.
The Queen rode of into the village, the little girl holding tightly to her waist.
“There’s a party at the Empress’ palace, tonight” called the child over the wind, “My father and my mother are there. It’s her 144th birthday.”
So the ghostly woman was telling the truth…thought the Queen.
Finally, they came to the palace, which had been built in the center of the village. It was lit up in all sorts of colors, and many people in elegant dresses of an odd fashion could be seen wandering around the courtyard, chatting and dancing.
“Do you see your father or mother?” asked the Queen to the little girl. They had come very close to the main gates.
“Oh they won’t be outside, or in the ballroom either. They’re servants of the Empress,” answered the child simply.
They approached the gate, which was blocked off with two guards with swords.
“Stand your ground, and you shall die,” called out the Queen to the soldiers. “I have come to reclaim the land that was overtaken by your ruler.”
Something in the Queen’s words made the soldiers remember a time that their ancestors spoke of, a time when there was no evil, and no ruthless lady ruler who killed and cheated. An era when one young and beautiful queen ruled peacefully, and wrote wonderful stories, that, if one was lucky enough, one could hear a passage of her tales from the waters that whispered them night and day.
The guards felt the good in the young woman’s presence, and they let her pass through on her horse, with the little child.
Through the small gardens and hedges they rode, straight into the heart of the palace.
And there she was; the condemned artist painfully took in the image of the evil woman who had fooled a good man, and killed him. It was almost unbearable, as the artist dismounted her horse with the child, to even walk into the vindictive woman’s presence. There she sat at the head of a very long table, seated with every wealthy person in the village. The woman smiled, as she sat in her outlandish gown, and wore a gold crown. But as a young lady with dark hair and an old green dress gazed at her, walking up to the table, our beloved Queen saw again the hate in the woman’s eyes, held in a wretched smile.
The lavish woman froze, halfway through commenting an old man’s witty jokes, and frowned at the young queen. “Who might you be?” she asked, rudely staring at the old-fashioned, stained gown.
“You know perfectly well who I am. Though, you have never seen me,” answered the Queen, “I am the sister of your husband.”
The lavish woman’s eyes widened, as she saw her late husband’s features quite similar to the young lady’s; bright eyes, fair skin, and dark hair.
“The land you claim to rule has had enough turmoil on your account-- enough imprisonment and murder. The time has come for me to leave my home, and lift a curse.”
“You are the old queen that everyone believes to exist only in legend?” replied the woman, “then you know that since you’ve failed to even show your face, I have declared myself Empress of this land.”
“Then, Empress,” answered the Queen respectfully, “I shall overthrow you.”
The young Queen took out her bow and arrow, and pulled back, aiming at the Empress’ heart.
“GUARDS!” cried the evil woman, “STOP HER!”
Not one soldier made any sort of movement to stall the ancient girl. They knew it had to be done. They knew in their hearts why everyone gossiped behind the Empress’ back, and why everyone hated her company, and her glaring eyes.
I can honestly say that the woman with the arrow calmly streaking through the air towards her, looked completely unkempt in all the jewelry and outlandish clothing. The small child, hiding timidly behind the Queen’s cloak, shut her eyes sweetly as the arrow hit the Empress, justly knocking the air out of her chest, and landing her on the ground.
No one spoke; they all just walked out of the palace quietly. The few people who had befriended the evil lady, took her and gave her a small burial.


As the sun began to set, The Queen could be seen walking slowly along the edge of a pond, her body growing weary.
The small blonde girl, all charges against her dropped, ran up to the Queen and walked with her.
“How did you know that I wasn’t guilty?” she asked, gleefully trapping fireflies in her tiny hands and letting them go.
The old girl stopped, and knelt down to the child.
“When I was almost exactly your size, my brother snuck out a piece of fruit from our mother’s plate, when she was at dinner with a King and Queen from across the sea. He was not even supposed to be in the room, but he took it because I said I was hungry. He was punished, only after confessing—my mother thought I had taken the food when she saw me with it.”
The child looked into they lady’s deep, weary eyes.
“That is what your brother did for you,” said the lady.
“I love him very much,” answered the child, nodding.

As the stars began to peek out of the little bit of sunlight that was still left, the villagers set fire to the palace that had belonged to the Empress. Everyone watched the glow of the fire from the corners of their eyes while they put their children to bed.
The curse was lifted from the old queen, life finally leaving her body, bit by bit. She was lying on the lush, mossy ground near the pond’s edge, too weak and with no desire to go to her castle. She new her life was ending, and as her last few breaths crept out from her body, she listened to the stories that the water’s edge told. Her bright eyes gazed at the blue and white flowers, moonlight gently touching their petals. Fireflies danced around her, up towards the trees as her eyes shut one last time, the words of her own stories hovering in her ears, and the glow of a winter’s morning fire at her back.