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In a dreary, primitive realm lies a trading post. The village is simple and small, with wooden troughs for peddling wares and no particular source of wealth. But for these people, it is the best place to live.
Not far away is an imposing castle, made with massive stones. There is only one road that leads to the castle, and its well-guarded by the highest level guards. A spire rises high above the castle, and magical forces are said to protect it. This is the home of the old king, who has recently died.
Needless to say, the castle is busier than usual. Entering the castle are uninvited visitors in tattered furs, with dirty boots and bulging pouches hanging from their backs. They are entering the castle as beggars, led by a man in middle-age. Oddly, he is dressed as a nobleman. As the beggar beggars enter the castle, everyone hides, wary of the foul odor that follows them.
A guard approaches the beggar with hurried eyes and a disapproving glare, demanding to know what business the beggars might have. The beggar takes a breath and begins to speak, stopped when the guard snatches his insincere voice. The guard then calls a fellow guard and asks for the leader of the beggars to speak. The leader is thrown back, but his voice rings clear as a bell:
A prince has arisen, strong in arms and with a loving heart. He has come to pay his respects to the passing King, and hopes to learn how to be an even greater leader. There are many lessons that can be learned by paying respects to the passing King. To bury your dead is the purest and best way to show that you care.
The guard is abashed, and runs back to the king to tell the news. The old king sits with a twinkle in his eye, as if he'd anticipated this. He permits the new king to learn the ways of being a king, and allows the new king to have the title of prince.
So began the kingdom of Ashen.
The king invites the prince, as prince, to attend to the affairs of state, as the king cannot come to Ashen every day. He settles in, and begins to learn from his wondrous teachers. Lessons that a prince could not learn in his royal castle. Lessons such as how to worship the Lord of the Skies, who fought valiantly against the forces of darkness.
But that was not the only lesson. The king continued to mold the prince into a fine ruler. He taught him how to not be a supplicant. How to teach his people justice, as per his father's teachings. He taught his prince how to listen to the elders, how to reign peacefully, how to live an honorable life.
Well, that seemed to go well. Until one day, the prince was busy with his studies in the underground library, as he spent more time there as of late, when one of his teacher's private students came in, interrupting the prince.
"Your Highness, you need to hear what your mother has told me. You need to see this. What should I do?" the student, who had been a royal teacher before, asked. The prince was suspicious, as the one was supposed to be teaching people about military tactics and strategies. However, the one's tone seemed unsure. The prince followed the one, now teacher, to his hut, where he was given a white hooded cloak by the one's servants, which he was forced to wear.
The group entered a secret passage and the prince took off the cloak, feeling the chill of the air, now visible in the light of day. The group led the prince to a door and the one placed his hand on it, and it opened. The prince looked in, and was shocked.
The group turned and left, pulling back the silver door, leaving the prince alone. The prince looked around, looking for guards, but saw none. Tapping his foot in impatience, the prince started to look around again. Little did he know that he was still being watched…
Two stone statues watched the prince's every move. One was a man holding a staff and wearing a hat; the other was a woman in regal robes adorned with jewels, showing that she has been a queen. They looked down, facing the prince as he completely missed them (he was used to looking down when he was small). They had been waiting for centuries, but now they could wait no more.
The prince rushed to the one and grabbed his sleeve, as he began to cry out that he had never seen such people. The one didn't notice the prince's eyes blurring, and assumed that the prince was just excited that he had finally found a book. He slapped the prince lightly with the back of his hand, and watched as the prince crumpled to the floor, paralyzed.
The one then turned to the other, and murmured "Robe…sleeves." The other silently nodded, and quickly put the prince's robes on. There was a final tap on the door, and a click as the silver door closed. A man dressed in fine gold embroidered robes, carrying a staff, appeared in the hall.
"Yes sir?" the man asked, annoyed. The man was the man that had come to this building earlier; he was a royal guard to every royal family, and knew that nothing was important enough to warrant breaking the royal seal.
"We have discovered that a royal is missing from the castle. He must be returned to his father immediately. Send out word to the other kingdoms as well," the man called. The leader guards nodded, and wrote as he was told.
The princess was furious. The heirs were supposed to be protected, and he had been taken. Every legitimate heir is meant to be protected by the laws of law. Every royal, whether related by blood or not, is protected by the kingdom's laws, and rulers were supposed to be protected by all. So long as the ruler was a good king, then the kingdom would protect the shared interests of the kingdom, of the castle, and of the people.
The princess, whose husband had peacefully passed away one summer, was left as the sole ruler. She knew what to do. If a ruler has failed in his duty, then the succeeding heir has to succeed him, or the entire kingdom would suffer. But she didn't want to be the sole ruler; she wanted to be the queen, to reign peacefully with her husband. She had just turned 18, and her husband was 36 years old. From what the people have told her, he was a great man. Yet now he was gone, and she was here, alone. She saw no one, save guards and teachers. No one smiled at her, and no one paid respect.
Yet she didn't want to just give up, or kill her children. There had been a rumor, for years, that there were witches in the kingdom, and she didn't want them to get away with their crimes. She had to get her son back.