1 THE NIGHT.

A long time ago, there was a kingdom named Sunhilla and it was known as the biggest island and kingdom of its time. The inhabitants of this island were so huge that the people of other kingdoms feared them. Despite being the largest island, they had a very generous king named Louis who was friends with every king around him. King Louis was always smiling but people never knew him much so they called him different names. But, through it all, he always stood firmly by his principles. On the other hand, there was another kingdom, an island away from Sunhilla and it was called Greenville. It was the second largest island and they always compared themselves to Sunhilla. The ruler of this kingdom, Darius, was close friends with King Louis. Louis had always known that he had more enemies around him but he never guessed that his best friend would turn against him in the quest for power. Everyone knew that he had a daughter for an heir and they thought the kingdom would become weak if the king died.

The night

The sound of the music echoes throughout the room, so many people are dancing and the laughter of the kings are booming as usual.

"Your Majesty, may I?" a female dancer picks his glass and pours wine into the cup.

King Louis nods his head, admiring her beauty.

"Here you go, your Majesty!" She gets up and leaves.

"Pretty?" King Darius says.

"She is," King Louis replies amidst laughter, downing the entire contents of the cup.

"Congrats!" another king says.

"Ye! drink up" King Louis reply.

A while later, King Louis starts feeling drowsy. He tries to get up but he is too weak to.

"Your Majesty!" The people around scream and rush to him.

"Your Majesty! what's wrong?"

The king falls into the hands of the female dancer that had poured him wine. He looks at her and he can see her smiling.

"You!" King Louis sputters and coughs out blood.

"Get the royal physician! The king has been poisoned!" another female dancer yells.

The other kings watch the scenario before them in confusion. The music stops and everybody is struck by the event happening. The king poisoned in the palace? How and where is that possible? The dancers, jugglers, magicians, girls, singers and everyone else stop what they are doing and finally the physician and his assistants arrive with a sheet to carry him out of the hall.

"Princess Luna?" A maid opens the door and moonlight streams into the room.

"Can't you see I am busy?" Her voice echos round the room.

"Your dad will soon… I mean the king… Ah! His Majesty will soon arrive" the maid, called Hiana says. Hiana is the daughter of the senior maid and she had been friends with Princess Luna since they were little girls.

"Okay, I will soon be done" Luna says.

"Your Highness!" another maid screams, rushing into the room and pushing Hiana away.

"How dare you!" she turns to the maid.

"Forgive me Your Highness!" she falls and buries her face into the floor.

"What? forgive you?" Luna asks, her voice rising with each syllable.

"Your Highness! I believe now is not the time," the maid says.

"What! how dare you give me time for your punishment?!"

"I think something is wrong," Hiana whispers in her ears.

"Okay, let's hear what you have to say!" Luna says, then she gets up and turns the light on.

"Forgive me Your Highness!" The maid cries for the second time.

"Why should I do that?"

"Your Highness! His Majesty!" she bursts into tears.

"What? What happened to my father?!" The princess at the top of her voice.

The bells of the palace start to ring.

"His Majesty is dead!" the terrified maid says and drops her head to the ground again.

"What?" What rubbish news do you bring here?" Luna asks, confused.

"Your Highness, His Majesty is dead and his body is lying in his room now," the maid says.

Princess Luna looks around, hoping to hear people laughing and telling her it's a prank, but the only thing she can hear are the bells of the palace ringing so loudly.

"Oh No!" Hiana screams and drops to the ground.

"Your Highness!" The other maid looks up at her, crying.

"No, it can't be!" Luna rushes out of the room shaking.

"My princess!" Hiana and the other maid shout, running after her.

"It can't be! My father can't be dead," she falls to the floor, still struggling to move.

"He said! Ahhh! he said he would come see me after his party," she bends her body and moves into a folded position, her knees almost touching her chin.

"Your Highness!" Hiana and the maid reach out for her simultaneously.

Her wailing becomes louder.

"You! bring him back I want to see him!" she grabs the maid's blouse, following each word with a weak punch.

"I'm sorry Your Highness!" the poor maid cries, not knowing what else to say, or do.

"No, I must see him!" She gets up and cleans her tears, then turns and starts walking boldly towards the king's chambers.

"Your Highness, you can't!" Hiana blocks her way and reaches out to hold her arms.

"Why? why can't I?!"

"You can't see the king until tomorrow!" Hiana cries.

"Let me go! It's an order!"

They both quickly step aside, watching the princess walk away.

"We have to stop her" Hiana says.

"We can't! Let her go, I understand her pain" The maid says.

The two women keep waiting for princess Luna, who still hasn't come back from seeing the king's body. They check the time and it is already past midnight.

"What do you think happened? I think we should go find her" The maid says.

"Huh? okay."

They get up and head for the king's chamber. On getting there, the doors of the tomb are shut and no one is around that area, except for a young man sweeping the floor.

"Excuse me," Hiana calls out.

"Yes?" he answers, then looks around to be sure he was the one been called.

"Have you seen the princess here?" Hiana asks.

"The princess? no!" he replies.

"What? the princess isn't here?" They both ask.

"Yes, I haven't seen her."

"She said she was coming here two hours ago" the maid says.

"Is that so? Well, she didn't come here."

"Does this mean…?" the other maid starts to ask.

"She ran away!" they both exclaim and cover their mouth in shame.

"It can't be. How could she?" Hiana says.

"Well, seeing how sad she looked…"

"Find her! Search the upper palace and I will search the other side" Hiana orders.

"I doubt she ran away. Maybe she needed sometime alone" The man says.

Hiana gives him a withering look and runs off to find her princess.

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