Princess Lily

In the Kingdom of Fortius, the prince and heir to the throne of was born. He had messy dark brown hair and deep chocolate eyes. "I shall name him Prince James II," said the Empress Sophia, laying eyes on her small son. The Emperor, James I, agreed whole-heartedly and celebrated the arrival of his heir with a grand party, inviting his nobles, allies and most trusted advisors to the event. It was at this event that the Duke of Wittlesbane from the allied country of Leal fell in love with Luci, the granddaughter of one of Fortius's most loyal General's. General Geoffrey, who was a noble in his own right, was more than happy to give away his only granddaughter to the Duke. One year afterwards, another son was born who had the same dark brown hair and brown eyes of his older brother, who his mother chose to name Carl. It was during the celebration of Prince Carl’s first birthday that the Duke Max and Duchess Luci, who was having her first baby were visiting from Leal. While visiting the Empress, Duchess Luci gave birth to a blue-eyed, blond-haired baby. "What will you name her?" asked the empress, looking with interest at the infant born in her castle. "Well we have decided to name her Lily-" "No Max. She is not a Lily. She is not the Lily I pictured on having. Think of another name." Interrupted the Duchess. "How about Rose?" asked The Duke. "No James, stop running around and come back." They heard the governess scolding the prince. The duchess realized that she needed a very regal name, as this child would one day be the Empress of Fortius. "Oh how about Helaine? Isn’t that a wonderful name?” asked the Duchess happily. Empress Helaine had a wonderful ring to it. The empress smiled. "She is a darling thing. James and her, when they grow up would look so wonderful together." Then after many discussions, it was set. Helaine and James were betrothed and when the girl turned 18, she would marry him. The empress insisted on her being 16 but Duke Max simply refused saying 16 is too young an age for her to marry. Then two years after Helaine, another daughter was born. She had porcelain smooth skin and emerald sparkling eyes with vibrant yellow hair the color of the sun’s rays first thing in the morning. "This." Said Luci happily. "Is my Lily." There was a huge party and the empress along with her two sons was invited. "My she is a beauty," commented Empress Sophia. After that, the empress and her sons never came to visit the house of Wittlesbane (the name of Duke Max’s estates). Lily grew up into a beautiful young lady and her beauty was known far throughout the land. She was loved by everyone and the apple of her father and mother’s eyes. Lily also had one younger brother, heir to her father’s legacy. He was only 12 and his name was Kyle. He had extremely dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Helaine grew to become haughty and proud. She was trained to act like royalty, and this made her think she was above everyone.  Lily on the other hand, grew to be kind and gentle. She studied hard and was extremely skilled in horse riding. She was a bit of a tomboy and her father let her do as she pleased, trying, in his own way, to compensate for the rigid rules poor Helaine had to follow.     Now Helaine was 18 and the royal family was coming to see if Helaine was now trained enough to come to the palace and marry Prince James. Lily was now 16 and the empress was curious to see the little beauty and maybe marry her to her younger son Carl. She had heard the rumors of Lily’s beauty which was matched by her kind heart. Lily was always nice to everyone and always determined to see the good in everyone. Villagers loved her because despite her noble birth, she was never proud and was always trying to help everyone. There was one person in the land though who hated Lily. That was the vile Baron Rothberg. He had asked for Lily’s hand in marriage, which Lily had refused in a heartbeat. Spurned by the girl he’d wanted to marry for her beauty, the Baron was bitter and had convinced himself she was a despicable, disrespectful heathen anyway. On this fine day, while Lily was gathering flowers for the table to decorate it for the visit from Austria’s royal family, the aforementioned Baron was the exact person she ran into. Lily sat gathering flowers when he rode by almost trampling her but he was not what caught Lily’s eye. It was the horse he was riding on. The horse he was whipping mercilessly. It was a deep grey horse who was currently frothing at the mouth from being treated so brutally. Lily gasped in outrage. "Stop!" Lily called. The count turned around. "What is it?" he spat, angry over the chit’s impudence. How dare she even address him? He was a Baron and she was a lowly female! "You cannot treat that horse so cruelly!" Lily exclaimed. The Baron laughed a cold twisted laugh. "And who are you to reprimand me?  Stay out of my way and keep yourself out of my business you silly girl!" and with that, he rode of beating the poor horse with his whip. "I have to do something!" Lily exclaimed. She stomped of to her grand estate that had been in her family for ages. It was a wonderful mansion, not as big as most nobles owned but big enough for their family. But what it lacked in stature, it made up in acres with ample woods and long fields, the property seemed almost never ending and Lily loved cavorting throughout her father’s lands getting into mischief. "Papa!" Lily called. "Papa I saw the Baron and-" "Not now honey." Said her father, he seemed to be looking over a book of estate accounts with a furrowed brow. Lily knew they had recently ended up tight on funds and her father seemed worried. But  she couldn’t let an innocent animal suffer! "But Papa his horse-" "Lily I doubt he'll let you buy it." Her father said assuming that she wanted to buy the horse. "I have a pouch of a thousand coins we could use to bargain with him if you like. Just let me finish up here," Said her father, still looking at his account books.  Even though they were having serious money problems her father would sacrifice anything to see a smile on Lily’s face. Lily stomped of in a huff, determined not to wait for her father. She changed into her riding clothes— emerald tight pants a sleeveless light green silk shirt and an emerald long coat. The coat stayed unbuttoned but gave a nice effect and the green shade went perfectly with her eyes. Tying her long thick blonde hair in a bun, she took her horse and rode off. Lily passed the guards that guarded the beginning of the Baron’s, property on the way. After quickly lying to them and saying she had business with the Baron (which was partly true.), they let her go on. It took Lily an unusually long time as the cruel Baron had recently put up traps for people who would try to poach on his land. There was already trouble with some villagers poaching, a  few ,who were definitely innocent, had already been thrown into jail due to accusations thrown on them by the Baron. Thus was the life of a villager in such times. A poor man’s word was worth nothing in front of a member of the nobility. Lily seethed over the injustice  when she thought about it. It made her even more determined to free the animal being treated cruelly. "Baron Rothberg, I have come to buy your horse!" said Lily, stepping into his huge castle. Even though Lily’s father was a Duke and of higher rank by title, Lily’s father did not have as much money as the Baron. Which is why the Baron’s estate was bigger and the Baron’s coffers were filled to the brim with money. So the idea of the Duke’s daughter coming to buy something from him was just laughable. She could never manage enough money to sway him in selling the horse. The Baron just laughed at her face. “You impoverished chit, as if you even have enough money to buy the horse!” he cackled evilly, a diabolical scheme entering his mind. It was around evening now and Lily knew that the royal family had probably already arrived but she didn't care. She held up the money she had taken from her father. “I have a thousand coins to give in exchange for-“ The Baron’s laughter drowned out the rest of her sentence. “A paltry sum in exchange for the horse I bought,” he finally managed to gasp outbetween laughs. In truth. It was a sufficient amount as the middle-aged Baron had deemed the horse un-tamable and wanted to get rid of it. But it pleased  him to upset Lily the way she had upset him by rejecting his suit not even 6 months ago.  "You treat that beautiful horse as if it is a thing!” Lily burst out sadly. "My dear-" he began in an oily voice that made the hairs on the back of Lily’s neck stand on end. “-I might be willing to let you have that horse under one condition.” “Anything!” Lily spoke fervently, eyes alight with happiness over the prospect of being able to save the anima. “Marry me.” Baron Rothberg said magnanimously. Lily gasped in outrage. “I’d never marry you, you’re cold-hearted, selfish and just-just-a malicious slimeball!” Lily burst  out angrily. “You opinionated wench!” Baron Rothberg burst out, and unable to contain his fury, he raised his hand as if to strike her. Because she was a female and had no business speaking to him like that!  Lily turned on her heel and ran before the Baron could strike. She started to blindly search for the location of the stables on the estate with the Baron thinking she'd run of to her home. He turned and took a shortcut to his stables just to make sure. *    *    *  Meanwhile back home…. "They're coming!" called a servant.  The Duke and Duchess in their best clothes stepped out to meet them. Guards accompanied two ornate carriages down the drive. When the carriages finally came to a halt and people began finally filing out, it was discovered that the empress hadn't even come. There were three 21-year-old boys and one 20-year-old. One young man had sandy brown hair and kind blue eyes, he introduced himself as Edison. The second had black hair and mischievous blue eyes. He was called Georg. They were both sons of prominent Austrian nobles and Prince James's best friends. The last one was, of course, Crown Prince James who still had messy brown hair and beautiful chocolate eyes. He had gotten taller and muscular. The 20-year-old was Carl, the young prince, who's build resembled his brothers except James was easily stronger even by looking at the both of them. "Prince James, Prince Carl and esteemed guests, we welcome you to-" "Lily’s missing!" came a shriek from the house. Everyone paled. A servant came out with tears in her eyes. "Ms. Lily! She's been missing ever since this afternoon! She said she was going to go bargain with that Baron! Oh that horrid man has done something to her! I just know it! I just found out she went alone!" Duke Max paled. "I told her to take me! Head strong that girl is," the worried Duke muttered. "Your highnesses, we profusely apologize for this...little incident. You and your friends may go in-" "Nonsense!" said Georg. "We'll help! Won't we James?" "Yes of course!" spoke up Franz. "We will help you! After-all wolves are very common here. She might be in trouble." "But-but-" sputtered Luci. "We couldn't possibly. No, you all must go in and sit. I'll call Helaine to escort you all inside." This got James’s attention, as he wanted to see his future bride. "Helaine!" called Luci. A skinny girl with dull lifeless hair and a long skinny neck came out. She was completely over-dressed in an elaborate frilly dress with a train that kept getting caught behind her. See Helaine had had it drilled into her that it was important to wear detailed get-ups at court. So, she’d opted for something she would wear once she was Prince James’s wife. It was a bad move. "Yes mother?" she asked sweetly.  She was wearing a ridiculous getup that included a pale green gown studded with diamonds and emeralds. It looked very gaudy and cheap. The boys looked as if they were trying not to laugh. Prince James paled at the sight of her.  "We insist on helping you find Ms. Lily," he stated, and within a few moments the boys each got on a horse and began the search.