The Emerald Throne

    In the land of kings and magic, there once lived a princess named Rowena.  She was bold and beautiful, with brown eyes and tawny hair, beloved by all.  Her father was the king of the land and he ruled kindly and fairly.  Everything was as it should be in this kingdom, and the princess had a happy childhood.

    Rowena's best friend was named Dimont.  He was a rather rascally young man, but the princess didn't mind.  He added excitement to her life, and they spent as much of their time as they could together.

    One bright summer day, Dimont, who was up to his usual tricks, decided to steal a spell book from the Royal Library.  This would not have been a problem except for one thing: no one younger than eighteen was allowed to study magic.  For Dimont and Rowena, who were both seventeen, this meant all spell books were off limits. With a winning smile and the promise that they wouldn't get caught, Dimont cajoled Rowena into joining the plot, and together they snuck into the library and stole the forbidden book.  Afraid of being found out, the two quickly retreated to the safety of a locked room.

    “Why don’t we try out a spell?” Dimont suggested.  Rowena, figuring that it might be exciting, agreed.  They picked a spell that would make any object turn into an emerald throne, for as Rowena put it, “We might as well make something useful.”  The old rickety rocking chair in the corner would be their object of focus.  Dimont said the charm, glancing up at Rowena with a smile as he did so.  Suddenly, a blinding flash filled the air, making him cry out and cover his eyes.  When he cautiously opened them, he saw, with much confusion, that the rocking chair was still a rocking chair.  He turned to say something to Rowena, but she had disappeared!    Dimont was left staring in horror at the emerald throne which had, only seconds ago, been his best friend. Out of his mind with shock at what had happened and panic that he would be thrown in the dungeon for his actions, he fled, leaving the princess.  He found a coach that agreed to take him to the nearest kingdom, for all he could think about was escaping what he had done.

         Meanwhile, at the castle, a search was going on for the missing princess and noble’s son.  No one had seen them since breakfast and the king was beside himself with worry.  The search party finally returned exhausted at the end of the day, with no results.  The next days passed slowly, and the hunt for the princess continued.  They didn’t find her, and no one bothered to look in the old storeroom where the princess had been transformed.  Even if they had, they would never have made the connection between Rowena and the elegant new emerald throne.  Months passed, and the king finally had to admit that the princess was not going to be found.

         Rowena knew nothing of the frantic searches of her father.  In fact, she was not aware of anything at all, not even her own existence.  From the moment she had been transformed into the emerald throne, it was as if time had completely stopped.  Years could pass (indeed, years did pass) and Rowena did not notice.

         Slowly, the king grew old, and perhaps the aging process was aided by the great grief the loss of his daughter caused him.  When he died, the crown was passed down to Stephero, the son of a royal advisor.  Before he passed away, the king had carefully watched Stephero, and saw that with his understanding and clear view of the world, he would make a fine ruler for the kingdom.  Since he no longer had a descendant and knew that he didn’t have much time left on this earth, he called a public gathering together to tell the world of his choice.  Despite some grumbling on the part of the nobles (who had rather fancied being king themselves), the king’s word was law, and Stephero became the new ruler.  A year went by, and Stephero slowly learned how to govern a land, growing in knowledge and wisdom.

    One day, Stephero noticed how grimy the castle had gotten, for it had been neglected since Rowena’s father had died.  He ordered that for the next week, all would give their time to cleaning out all the filthy unused rooms.  Old things were thrown out, new were brought in, and dust was attacked with ferocity.

         The maids made their way through the winding corridors, opening doors and letting the sun in.  The found all manner of strange objects: brilliant glowing feathers, a pair of beautifully embroidered dancing shoes, the diary of a former queen, and an emerald throne.  Stephero was intrigued by these objects and wondered how they could have gone unnoticed for all these years.  He ordered a magician to check them over to see whether any of them had magical properties.

         “Your Highness, I have looked over the feathers and diary, and neither of them are magical in any way.  The dancing shoes have a simple charm to enhance your dancing ability, which can be found on any common street corner.  I have not yet examined the last object,” the magician said.

         “Bring it in,” the king ordered, and the servants carried in the emerald throne.  The magician frowned.

         “There is something… different about this throne… it is almost as if it has been enchanted,” he said.

         “What sort of enchantment?” Stephero asked.

         “It seems to be a transformation spell.  Here- I know a simple reversal charm; it will return the throne to whatever it originally was.”  The magician said something under his breath and a sound of shattering glass filled the air.  The throne disappeared and in its place stood a beautiful, but perplexed-looking young lady.

         “Dimont?” She asked, looking around the room.  The magician stepped forward.

         “Whoever that is, he is not here now.  You were transformed into an emerald throne for who knows how long.  He could even be dead by now,” he said, rather unkindly.

         “No,” said a maid who had been watching the events, “I know who this young lady is, and any of her friends would still be alive.”  She stepped boldly forward.  “This is the Princess Rowena!  I was here when she first disappeared twenty years ago and no one could find her.  She was thought to be dead.”  The maid kneeled before her.  “This is the true ruler!”

         A council was called to debate this new issue: who would rule the kingdom?  The princess, still not quite recovered from her time spent under the enchantment, did not know what to think.  She knew that she was the rightful ruler, but if this young man had been crowned king, she also knew that her father had approved of him.  Her father! Where was he?
 
    Later, the council explained that her father had died. Thinking she was dead, he had appointed an heir to the throne.  If she wanted, they assured her, she would have the right to take the throne from Stephero.  Rowena contemplated this silently.  Finally she said she needed more time to decide what she would do and would return with her decision tomorrow.  The princess spent the rest of that day wandering the castle, and she saw that Stephero had made many improvements that allowed the little kingdom to prosper.  At the end of her allotted time, she had made her decision, and told the council.  She would allow Stephero to rule- with one exception.  All decisions concerning the kingdom had to be brought first to her for approval.  Stephero agreed, overjoyed to be able to keep his position, for he found that he enjoyed ruling.  And so, the kingdom remained with a king, and the princess was satisfied.  For she would be able to make sure that their land continued to thrive.  And so it did.

The End
                
General Note: Dimont was indeed still alive when Rowena was transformed back into herself again.  He heard the news, but was too ashamed of running away to go back.  He never dabbled in magic again and instead became a simple cobbler.

Word Count: 1386