*This was posted 10/25/21. The date is different from the blog's post date, because this is a recycled blog page. -cb

Once upon a time (cliché, I know, but it's a union thing) there was a beautiful princess named Kelley. Kelley lived in the kingdom of Longwood, daughter of the king of Longwood and an evil sorceress who had tricked the king into fathering her child. Though Kelley lived in the royal castle, and was heir to the throne when her father bites it (sorry, the fairy tale stuff's gettin' to me) the evil sorceress wanted her daughter to be a sorceress, too.

To prevent this from happening, the king schooled Kelley in the castle itself, and had his court magicians cast a spell over the castle to keep the sorceress from ever entering. Unfortunately, this also meant that if Kelley was to be safe, then she could never leave either. To make up for this, the king lavished his daughter with gifts, and always brought friends into the castle for her to play with as she grew up. One friend in particular, named Christopher, Kelley liked very much, and they became very close over the years.

Christopher was a young man living in a village in Longwood Acres, the royal forest. Though not much to look at, he was very courageous, and over the years, he came to love the Princess Kelley very much. He believed that though she never said so, she loved him too, and when the Princess was approaching her twenty-first birthday, Christopher decided to proclaim his love, and ask for Kelley's hand in marriage. He sent a letter to the Princess by messenger, but the messenger was captured by the evil sorceress before he ever got out of Longwood Acres.

Reading the letter the messenger was carrying, the sorceress became bitterly enraged, because she did not wish for her daughter to be married. If she ever married, then she could not be a sorceress, for no sorceress has ever been married. Not being able to enter the castle herself, the sorceress turned the captured messenger into a huge dragon, and sent it to attack the castle, and bring back her daughter. The dragon succeeded, and the sorceress bound the Princess Kelley in chains, hidden in a cave on a mountain top, guarded by the dragon.

The king, knowing of Christopher's courage, sent a royal messenger to him, and asked him to rescue his daughter. Since he was greatly in love with Kelley, he agreed, and set out to battle the dragon. On his way, he passed the sorceress' castle (conveniently, yeh, but we gotta keep the story going) which was empty since the sorceress was in the cave with Kelley. When he entered, he found her cat which it was rumored she cherished more than anything in the world. Christopher took the cat to the mountain, and threatened to kill it if the sorceress didn't release the Princess Kelley, and turn the messenger back to normal. She eagerly did so, and pleaded with Christopher not to kill her cat.

However, after holding the cat hostage until Kelley, the messenger, and himself all reached the royal castle, Christopher did indeed kill the cat (it had made the mistake of biting him earlier). This greatly angered the evil sorceress, and to gain her revenge she cast a spell to take away what Christopher cherished most. She turned the Princess Kelley's heart to ice, preventing her from ever loving anyone, or from being loved in return. For if Christopher ever confessed his love to Kelley in any way, or if she ever confessed her love to him (if it ever truly existed) then the warm feelings of that love would melt her icy heart, and she would be lost to Christopher forever. Thus the sorceress had her revenge, and Christopher and Kelley were doomed to a mutual code of silence lest Kelley be lost forever to the people of Longwood. The grief of not being able to love his daughter was too much for the king, and he died. Kelley's succession to the throne was known as the saddest reign in Longwood.

Christopher courageously battled the evil sorceress for a number of years, vowing to make her lift the cold-hearted curse on Queen Kelley. Ironically, he succeeded the day the sorceress killed him. For when Queen Kelley heard the news of Christopher's death, she shed a tear for him, thereby confessing her love for him, and melting her icy heart, which killed her. Therefore, the kingdom of Longwood lost its queen that day as well as its greatest defender.

What happened to the sorceress? She stayed in Longwood, and tricked the new king into fathering her child; another daughter. After banishing the sorceress from it, the king kept the child in the castle to prevent the tragic events that befell Queen Kelley from ever being repeated. But that is another story.

THE END

(So the sorceress didn't die! Biggg deal! It may read like an old fairy tale, but this is the 1990's, and I've gotta set it up for the sequel. What were you expecting? "Happily ever after?")

Story and characters copyright Chris Bishop 1989, 2021, 2022.