Karylin was an ordinary princess. Well, that’s wrong to say, because to the unordinary, she might seem unordinary because they think that they are ordinary, so therefore anyone ordinary would seem unordinary. (If you read it real slow it makes sense.) Anyway, Karylin was a semi ordinary princess, and this is her story.
***
It all began on a spring day, in a world similar to ours in some ways, very different in others. For instance, it wasn’t uncommon to trip upon a golden egg, or to see a dragon run through town with a knight on its tail, swinging his sword wildly.
In this world, there was a town called Dansot, and in Dansot, there was a castle, Still Water Castle. It was set on a gently sloping hill, on the borders of The Forest of Wonders, which I’ll talk about later. Anyway, in this castle, there lives a King, Queen, and the Princess, Karylin. Our story starts out here.
***
Karylin sighed. It was no use. She could get no sense out of her parents. Her mother, Queen Mey, was attempting to scale the castle. She had put on some breeches and was climbing up the eastern wall. Her father, King Coren, was up in an old oak tree, squawking like a bird. He had said that he would feel better if he knew all of the subjects in his kingdom, which extended across a fair amount of land. Karylin took a last look at her father, his cloak flapping wildly in the breeze, before she went into the castle. She figured that if she went up to her room for a while, and came down when it got darker, it would be dinnertime and her parents would be acting a little more normal.
Karylin wandered down the dark hallway that led to her room. Maybe, she thought, she could go out and seek her fortune like all the princesses in all of her fairy tale books. Her mind on her thoughts, not on her feet, she tripped over something cold and furry.
"AHHHHHHH!!! HELP!!" she screamed, before she realized it was just the palace beaver. Why her mother had chosen a beaver to represent the palace, she had no idea. She had wanted a cat. Cats don’t gnaw on side tables or build dams in the moat. She looked down at it. It clucked a few times, then tried to gnaw on her leg.
"Stop that you! Naughty! Very naughty!" she told it as she kicked her leg and tried to get it off. It looked up at her and cocked its head. Karylin sighed, and it scurried off.
She continued down the dark hallway, now paying more attention to where she was going, and made it safely to her room. She re-read several of her favorite fairytales, and decided that, yes, that was what she wanted to do, seek her fortune. That night at dinner she would tell her parents her plan.
***
"That’s a wonderful idea Karylin!" said her mother. "Can I come with you?"
"Dear..." began the King, "I don’t think Karylin would like it if you came."
"Nonsense. She would love it! Wouldn’t you darling?" said Queen Mey, and she looked over at Karylin and smiled.
Karylin nervously twirled a ringlet of her long golden-brown hair on her finger. "Well, I guess..."
"No, Mey, you are not going. We need someone to stay and watch over the castle while I go and mingle with all of my faithful subjects."
The Queen sighed. "Fine. Maybe I’ll clean out the attic, it has been needing a good dusting." agreed the Queen, who was very easily persuaded.
"Good. Karylin, why don’t you leave tomorrow? That way, you will have time to get together all the things that you will need tonight."
Karylin nodded. She was kind of worried, she thought that that was a little too easy...
***
"Now Karylin, you must keep safe, and be sure to use that warthnal if any strange creature scares you even the slightest bit, you remember, just a squirt in the face and that creature, whatever it may be, will leave you alone."
"Yes, Mother. I know how to use the warthnal. Don’t worry."
"But it’s just so sad! My baby’s leaving me!"
Karylin sighed. "Mother, I’m not leaving you, just going of to seek my fortune. Now, I best be going, or the sun’ll come up, and I’ll have to stay here another day!" Karylin couldn’t handle that. Her parents were having a banquet tomorrow and she didn’t know what kinds of guests they had invited, and she didn’t want to know.
"Well, then, goodbye dear. Have fun! Remember the warthnal!"
Karylin nodded and started to walk into the Forest of Wonders.
***
As she walked deeper into the forest she saw her surroundings got darker, she noticed one thing she should’ve brought a lantern. She ruffled through the small bag she carried, and since she couldn’t see, didn’t find a thing. She sighed, and groped around to see if she could find something to sit on. She found what she thought was a log, and sat down on it.
"Ow." said the log.
Karylin shrieked and jumped up. She spun around to face the log, but didn’t know if she was for it was so dark.
"Over here, Princess." said the log.
She rotated a little more to her left and saw a fuzzy outline of what looked to be a log.
"I’m sorry for sitting on you." she told it.
"Quite alright. It’s my fault for making the sorcerer mad. She’s the one who turned me into this."
Sorcerer? Karylin thought. "Oh, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes. You can get a lantern so you don’t sit on anymore helpless creatures. Just go over to that lantern tree there, no, there. Yes, that one. Now just take one off, and press its beak to turn it on."
"I’m holding a bird, aren’t I?" asked Karylin.
"Yes, the very rare and beautiful Lantern Bird. Now, press it’s beak to turn it on."
Karylin did just that, and was soon surrounded by a ring of golden light. The little bird she was holding was a strange yellowish color, and very tiny. It had a crooked beak, and was smiling a crooked smile.
I don’t know about beautiful, Karylin thought to herself.
"Well, now that you have a light, you must be going." said the log.
"I must?" asked Karylin.
"Yes. As soon as possible."
"Whatever you say..." said Karylin as she started to walk away.
"Wait!!!!! Aren’t you even going to thank me??" screeched the log.
"Yes, thank you very much for the nice Lantern Bird." said Karylin, cringing at the logs loud voice.
She walked on, stepping carefully along the ground. It was very quiet, except for the occasional squawk of the Lantern Bird. She yawned, then realized she was very very tired. She glanced around to see if there were any nice moss beds she could sleep on for the rest of the night. Sure enough, the forest seeming to hear her wish, appeared a patch of moss a few feet away. She lay down and at once fell asleep.
***
When she woke up she could see patches of sunlight through the leaves of the trees. The forest was so much lighter and had a nicer feeling in the day than in the night. She stood up and stretched, then glanced back down at her pack and noticed that the Lantern Bird had flown away. She bent down and picked up her bag and walked towards the little path she had been walking on the night before. As she walked she thought she had never seen anything so beautiful. The forest was enchanting shades of gold, green, and purple. She looked back. Purple? No, couldn’t be. Wait, there was that streak of purple again. Karylin scratched her head, but could think of no creatures in the Forest of Wonders that was purple. She stepped towards the bush that had the purple in it to get a closer look. She saw the bush quiver a little. She parted the leaves and saw a little silver eye looking back at her. "Hello?" she said quietly to the quivering bush.
"Ahhh!!!" the bush screamed and the creature, still cloaked in leaves ran behind another bush.
"I won’t hurt you! Come back!" she said, and noticed how strange it felt talking to a bush.
Slowly the creature came out of the bush. It was a strange reptilian creature that was a brilliant purple color, and had bright silver eyes that were open very widely and looking at her. When it stood up it came to Karylins’ waist. "Hurt won’t you me?" it asked.
Karylin paused for a minute, then realized what it was asking. Then she tried to figure out whether to answer in riddle form as the animal spoke or to talk normal. She decided to try the riddle form. "I won’t you, no, me no you hurt, no, that’s not right!" Frustrated she gave up. "No, I won’t hurt you." She hoped it understood her.
"Promise you, yes?" it said, and cocked its’ head.
"Yes, I promise." She beckoned for it to come closer to her. When she got a better view of it she saw that it was a dragon, but a special kind. It was a Crystalline Portal Dragon, the kinds that live in the Isle of Wonders, near the Trefow Ocean. "Now how did you get here?" she asked it. She had heard about the Crystalline Dragons getting into the Forest, but she had no idea how to get it back. She knew that you could get to the Isle by way of a magical map, but she hadn’t seen one lately.
"I home get you can?" it asked her with pleading eyes, apparently not hearing the question she had just asked.
"I’ll try," she said, though she had no idea how she was going to go about it.
The Dragon nodded. "Nice is you. Much I thank." it smiled at her, a big toothy smile.
"Well, then, we best be going, come this way." She told it, and wondered what other creatures she was going to meet along her trip.
***
After a while Karylin and the Dragon reached a glade that had a pool in it. It was a soft golden color, and smelled like some kind of flower. There was but a little light piercing the trees, but seemingly enough the glade seemed very bright. She looked over at the little Dragon and saw it had busied itself in looking at the golden leaves on the trees. It seemed amazed at the fact that they were hard and it couldn’t bite through them. Karylin watched it attempt to get it’s teeth through the leaves, having no success. She looked back at the pool and saw some very unusual water lilies. They were a bluish color that would alternate between all the colors of the rainbow if you held still and watched them very carefully. Watching the lilies and the pool, she could not resist her self and had to take a drink. When she got down by the pool it took her a few tries to scoop up the water because her long hair kept getting in the way. When she tasted it, though, she thought it was the best water she had ever had. It was crystal clear, she couldn’t even see any mud at the bottom of it, just some beautifully polished rocks. When she looked up and wiped her mouth she saw a very dark brown cat with dark yellow almond shaped eyes sitting across the pool smirking at her. She could think of no reason for it to be smirking, but didn’t want to question it in case it was a shape shifter or an evil sorcerer or sorceress in disguise. She stood up slowly, noticing that the cat was still looking at her.
"Hello, Princess. What brings you to the Golden Glade?" the cat asked.
Karylin blinked a few times. She still wasn’t used to the animals being able to talk.
"I’m off to seek my fortune. I was very thirsty, also." she said.
The cat nodded. "Well, then. I should probably introduce myself, shouldn’t I? I am Rylin, keeper of the Golden Glade. I protect it and make sure that only Princesses drink out of it." the cat told her.
"Why only Princesses?" she asked.
"No special reason. It just is. Don’t ask to many questions, by the way, Princess." Rylin said.
Karylin nodded. She had never imagined that the forest she had grown up just right by could be so strange. "Any suggestions on where I should go next?" she said, looking around the glade for the little dragon, not seeing it.
"Well, you could always go out that way towards the I-Know-All-Bird, he knows all." said Rylin, matter-of-factly. He smiled a smile with the corner of his mouth.
She nodded, looking where the cat was gesturing. "Well, I don’t think I need to see him. I know enough, for now."
"Hm." the cat said sharply. Seeming kind of upset, at her answer. "You could go west a little, towards the mountains." he grinned at her. "There are always some giants that need a helping hand up in there."
Karylin shook her head. "No, they’d probably eat me." She shuddered at the fact.
"Oh really? They might. If you give them a salt cube they usually go away." said the cat, and started washing his tail.
"Ah...no thanks." she said, wondering, why salt? She watched the cat for a while, letting it finish cleaning itself. "I was thinking along the lines of a castle where I could work as a servant, somewhere in the Forest of Wonders." she told the cat.
"Ah, you should’ve said so in the first place!" the cat exclaimed. "As a matter of fact, I’m going to a castle just now, and you’re welcome to come along if you want."
"Really? That would be wonderful! I do have another companion, that you should meet." she looked around for the dragon again. "Dragon!" she shouted, realizing she should call it a name. It came bursting through the leaves almost at once and jumped on her head, the force of it almost knocking her down. "There you are!" she said to it, reaching up to pet it.
"Here am I," it cooed in response, closing its eyes and purring a dragon purr.
"Rylin, this is who I was talking about. I’m going to try to get him home, to the Isle of Wonder." she looked up at it, and scratched it under the chin.
"Good luck," the cat muttered.
"Why do you say that?" she asked the cat, looking at it sternly.
"You know the stories, no one had gotten to the Isle of Wonder and returned safely for the past century! You surely don’t think you’d be able to, do you?" the cat asked her, locking his eyes to hers.
"I can. I just need one of those maps, uh, the magic ones. Anyway, I promised the dragon." she looked over at the little purple reptile who had now jumped up to a branch to her left. It smiled trustingly at her.
"Good luck." the cat said again, laughing to itself. "We should be going, if you still want to go to the castle." it told her, and started walking to one of the paths that came out of the glade.
Karylin picked up her pack and beckoned for the dragon to jump on it, and followed after the cat, wondering what kind of castle the cat was talking about.
***
As they walked, Karylin began to have regrets in bringing the cat along. He was very contrary, disagreeing with everything she said. She had found that if she didn’t say anything the cat could have no chance of contradicting her. As she was looking overhead at some bird that was squawking very loudly she tripped over a yellow brick road. " Fiddlesticks!" she exclaimed.
"Fiddlesticks? What kind of word is Fiddlesticks?" the cat asked smugly.
"It is a nicer word for well brought up Princesses," she said, glaring at him.
"And you’re a well brought up Princess?" said the cat, trying to hide a smirk.
"Yes, for your information, I am." said Karylin, telling herself to lose the cat in the forest after they found out what in the world a yellow brick road was doing in the middle of the Forest of Wonders.
She got on the road and started to walk, the dragon flitting above her head, humming to itself and Rylin behind her grumbling to himself all the way, "Why did I have to come on this stupid trip, anyway?"
"Rylin, I can hear you, and you were the one who asked if we wanted to go with you." she told him with a sigh.
"Oh be quiet, I’m not talking to you." he said and continued grumbling.
They continued walking, and after a little while Karylin said, "Wait..."
‘Wait? Why would I want to wait?" snapped Rylin. "I have no wish at all to wait!"
Karylin looked back at him and narrowed her eyes.
"Wait why, yes?" said the dragon, who had landed next to her.
"I heard someone singing." she said.
Rylin looked at the dragon. "Or something," he said, smiling mencenally, showing his teeth.
The dragon yelped and ran over to Karylin and buried its head in her skirt. Karylin glared at the cat. "That was just mean." she told him.
"So?" he asked.
She sighed. "It’s no use talking to him, is it little dragon?" she said to it.
"Hey!" said the cat, clearly upset.
"Shh! I hear it again!" said Karylin. It sounded something like, ‘we’re off to see the....’ and she couldn't make out the rest. Soon it was louder and she saw a thing that looked like a fuzzy being about human size with a long tail, a walking aluminum can, a bag of hay with arms and legs, and a girl about Karylins’ age with a blue plaid dress and a little scottie dog walking by her side. "We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Hitel." they sang.
"Isn’t it supposed to be Oz?" Karylin asked, remembering the popular tale.
"Well, yes, but we’ve already been there, and he wasn’t that wonderful." said the bag of straw.
"Is there a wizard in Hitel?" inquired the cat.
"Hmm...well," the aluminum can raised it’s arm with a huge squeak and scratched it’s head. "No, I don’t, well, there might, no, definitely not, well maybe..."
As the tin man was talking, or blabbering, as you might say, Rylin had made his way over to the scottie and they were circling each other hissing and growling.
"Toto! Stop that!" cried the girl.
"Rylin! Naughty! Very naughty!" said Karylin as she stepped up to the cat. "You know better than to frighten animals you have just met!" she scooped him up into her arms, and as soon as she did he scratched her across the neck and jumped down, chasing the dog into the forest.
"Get him, I will!" said the dragon, and scurried off after Rylin.
"No! Come back!" said Karylin, then realized it was useless, you can’t get a dragon back once they have their mind set on something.
She turned to the girl. "I’m sorry about that."
"Oh, that’s alright." she said, smiling. "We should probably go get them though."
Karylin nodded, and started walking towards the way she saw them go. She walked a ways then heard a horribly loud scream that set her off on a run. She was running so fast that she forgot to look at her feet, again, and ran right off a cliff. Now, that would most likely scare you and me, but Karylin knew that every cliff in the Forest of Wonders had a keeper that watched over it to make sure Princesses who don’t watch their feet don’t fall off. Sure enough, a Pegasus showed up. Her fur was a pale shade of green, and her mane and tale were a dark green. She wore a golden necklace to signify that she was a cliff watcher.
"You’re falling, aren’t you?" the Pegasus asked Karylin.
"Yes, apparently. Now could you do your job and help me?" said Karylin, impatiently.
"I will help you if you do one thing." said the Pegasus.
"What is it?" said Karylin, wondering what the Pegasus could possibly want.
It cleared its throat. " You have to promise that you will come see,"she paused for emphasis and cleared her throat, "the CASTLE IN THE SKY!!!"
"Yes, yes, yes." said Karylin, wondering what the Pegasus was talking about. "Just please help me!" she thought for sure she was going to fall, the Forest usually doesn’t allow this much time for one to be rescued. The Pegasus, to Karylins’ relief, swooped under her and Karylin settled comfortably on her back. She sighed with relief.
***
After flying around a while the Pegasus found a place to land, by a waterfall at the foot of the cliff. Karylin climbed off of the Pegasus’ back and to the moss covered ground. She could hear birds twittering, and the faint sound of music. Off to the side she could see a gravel path leading off into the forest. There was a ring of maroon flowers a few feet in front of her, and had a tiny pool of water in it, that seemed to be very deep.
"Well, are you going to come to the Castle in the Sky?" asked the Pegasus, whom Karylin had completely forgotten was there.
"Um, I guess so. How would you go about getting there?" she asked, looking up at the Pegasus, who was gazing down her nose with emerald green eyes.
"You don’t know?" the Pegasus gave her a blank stare, it’s mouth partly open.
"No, I’m afraid I don’t." said Karylin, looking away from the striking emerald eyes.
The Pegasus sighed. "I guess I’ll have to give you directions, now, won’t I?"
Karylin nodded. "Yes, please, if you want me to go to the Castle in the Sky."
"Just go down this path," the Pegasus said, gesturing to the gravel path, "and follow that until you reach a lake. Clap five times, and a little boat will come. It will have oars, but do not touch them. Once you have gotten into the boat it will start moving on its own. It will cross the lake and a water path you cannot see unless you are in the boat will appear. The boat will go down that path, and now you need to pay close attention, for once you see a glimmer of a creature, I’m not sure what kind it will be, for I haven’t been there in so long…" It sighed, remembering, then continued. "You will need to jump out of the boat onto the left bank. Do not jump out onto the right bank, for there are evil beings on that side. Have you got that so far? You’d better have. I hate repeating myself." said the Pegasus, and lifted her nose up into the air and snuffed an impatient snuff.
Karylin nodded, still listening intently and trying to memorize the directions the Pegasus was giving her.
The Pegasus snorted then continued. "You must then follow the creature that met you from the boat to a forest trail, and he will leave you there. You follow the trail until you reach the palace. Have you got that? If you haven’t I could care less, because my voice is worn out."
"No, I’ve got it." Karylin wondered why she hadn’t met anyone nice except the dragon on her trip. The Pegasus seemed to complain about everything the more Karylin talked to her.
"Now I have to go, the Queen wants me for a meeting, and I need to tell her I’m coming." said the Pegasus and stared to walk away.
"Queen? What Queen?" said Karylin, and ran to catch up with the Pegasus.
The Pegasus sighed a sigh of disgust and said, "Don’t tell me you don’t know who the Queen is!"
"Um, I don’t know who the Queen is," said Karylin.
The Pegasus rolled her beautiful eyes. "The Queen of the Castle in the Sky. I have to bring one person up to the castle to get my rank moved up to Guard of Castle, instead of boring old Cliff Watcher."
"Oh, so you’re using me?" asked Karylin.
"Yes, for your information, I am. Don’t worry, the Queen is very nice and will be delighted to meet you. Unless she’s in a bad mood," said the Pegasus. "Now, I really must be going. I’ll see you there."
"Great. Just great." Karylin said to herself once the Pegasus had disappeared out of site. She looked around until she spotted the gravel path the Pegasus had pointed out earlier. As she walked over to it she saw a small bird hobbling around by the path.
"Excuse me, bird, but do you know anything about the Queen up at The Castle in the Sky?" she asked it, hoping that it, like all the other animals she had encountered so far, could talk.
It looked up at her, chirped a little, then said, "Yes, SQAWCK!!! I know the SQUAWK!!! Queen. Nasty SQUAWK!!! Little bugger if ya SQUAWK!!! Ask me. I met her SQUAWK!!! Once before, a while SQUAWK!!! Back."
"Oh? Thank you, bird."
"SQUAWK!!!" said the bird, one last time, then went about his business pecking the ground. Karylin carefully stepped around him and continued along the path.