In a kingdom far away near the red sea was a kingdom called Macesa Kingdom. In this kingdom was a great king and queen who were very good rulers. They had a little princess who was named Lila. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes.
When Lila was about 8 years old the queen got sick and died. The whole kingdom went into mourning. The king and Lila were heartbroken. The king stopped spending so much time with Lila in his grief. Lila was given into the care of a nanny called Mary. Mary was a Christian woman who had no children and who loved and treated Lila as her own. She taught Lila all about God and taught Lila to live like a Christian.
Lila had a friend called Gabe who was two years older then her. He was the son of a Lord of the kingdom. He was being groomed to become a knight. They used to pay together and they discovered many secret passageways in the castle. They also found a small undiscovered gate at the far end of the castle. They would go out of this gate and go play near the forest that was nearby. Lila wanted to learn how to fight so Gabe would teach her how to swordfight.
When Lila was twelve years old the King married again. When traveling to another kingdom he had met a very beautiful, cunning lady called Mabel in waiting of the queen of that kingdom. She had impressed him and used her charms to enslave him. The king decided he could not live without her so he brought her and her son Brian to Macesa. He married her and installed her as his queen.
Mabel was an idol worshipper. She brought idols into the kingdom and ordered the people to worship her gods. She had enslaved the king with charms so he was unable to say no to anything she said. Lila, her nanny, Gabe and other practicing Christians had to worship in secret because Mabel said that she would not tolerate anyone worshipping any other gods apart from hers.
Brian was a very cruel boy. He was older then Lila by 3 years. He liked to play cruel pranks on people. He also liked to catch animals and torture them. He was a very bad boy but because his mother was queen no one could touch him lest they end up in the dungeons.
The only soft spot in Brian was that when he met Lila he fell in love with her. He was always trying to impress her and make her like him. But Lila didn’t because he was very cruel. When Brian found out that Gabe was Lila’s best friend he was jealous. He told his mother to send Gabe away so that Lila could not see him anymore. Gabe was sent to finish his knight training in another kingdom far away.
When Lila was 15 the King died. The traditions said that a prince or princess would ascend the throne when they were 18. In the meantime the council of Lords would run the kingdom and advice the prince or princess. Since Mabel was still the Queen she would be allowed to run the kingdom until Lila turned 18. Mabel had already been working behind the scenes to corrupt the Lords in the council. They would all do her bidding. The two or three lords who were against her were killed in “accidents” and replaced by others who would do the queen’s bidding.
2 years later.
The kingdom had gone dark. The queen and her son had turned the kingdom around and made it a very bad place to live. The palace was filled with mercenaries who the queen had hired. The queen was practicing black magic and there was an air of evil around the kingdom. Brian had appointed himself as the reining prince.
Brian and his mother had concocted a scheme to keep the throne. They were going to force Lila to marry Brian so that the throne would legitimately be theirs. Lila would be turning 18 years in a few months. They had told Lila and Lila refused. The queen put Lila under house arrest with some mercenaries to guard her door so that she could not escape.
One day they were talking. Brian said to his mother “what are we going to do about Lila? She is refusing to marry me.
The Queen said, “Don’t worry my son. We will convince her by all means. She will have to marry you. You have to marry her. We need to keep control of this kingdom.
Brian said, “what if she refuses. Mother I want to marry her. Can you put a spell on her like you put a spell on her father? She has to be my queen”
The queen said, “I have been making spells. But they don’t seem to work. I don’t know what charms she is using to protect herself. Don’t worry we will use force if we have to.”
Then she added, “I know that you love her and want her as your wife but no one will mess with my plans. In the end if she refuses I will have to kill her!”
Meanwhile.
Ken the pageboy crawled away from the hidden passage where he had been hiding. He had heard everything. They intended to kill the princess. He hurried across hidden passageways in the castle. Ever since the Queen and her son Brian had taken over the kingdom there were mercenary guards posted everywhere, all of them spies of the Queen.
Ken entered the chamber of Mary the nanny through a hidden passageway after knocking. She was not yet asleep. She was reading her bible and praying. Ken told her of the plot to kill the princess Lila. Mary thanked him and told him to get to bed she would think over the issue. She knew ken would not lie about such an issue and besides he was her nephew so he was loyal to her and the princess.
The next morning Mary went to see Lila the princess. The princess had virtually become a prisoner in the castle. Only her nanny and ladies in waiting were allowed into her chamber. And even some ladies in waiting had been changed so that some loyal to the evil Queen could spy on her.
Lila and Mary had breakfast together then bible study. The nanny told the princess what was going on.
“Princess we must leave this place. They will kill you if you refuse to marry Brian. And you know you can’t marry that evil man. He will still end up killing you if you stay and marry him and he will destroy your spirit.”
“Oh nanny what will we do?” asked the princess.
Mary said, “Listen I prayed about this the whole night. God showed me the way. This is what we will do.” Mary whispered the plan to Lila. The princess was not quite convinced it would work but after arguing about it with her nanny she decided to give it a try.
The next night.
The castle was quiet, well almost. In the wing where the princess had her chambers snores could be heard. Mary had ground some sleeping herbs into a powder, passed them to a loyal cook who had drugged the princess’s guards' food. They were now asleep dreaming of being knights rescuing fair damsels in distress.
At about 2 O’clock the door to the princess room was open. A hooded figure with a bag crept out and went to the Nanny’s chamber a few doors down. A gentle knock opened the door. The hooded figure slipped in and shut the door. Inside the hooded figure knocked back the hood it was the princess. Lila was wearing an old pair of boy’s trousers and shirt. She was also wearing some old boots. Ken had donated some old clothes of his to the princess. Her face was covered in soot as a disguise.
The nanny was also dressed in an old faded gown with patches. She also had soot and dirt on her clothes. They were planning to use the secret passages to get out of the castle but just in case something went wrong outside the castle they needed a disguise. The princess and nanny looked at each other and laughed. Finally there was a last thing to be done before they escaped. The nanny took a pair of scissors and cut off Lila’s beautiful long hair and left her with short hair which she then rubbed with soot and dirt to make her look more like a commoner. She gathered up the hair and put it in one of two sacks she was carrying.
Mary rapped on a wall and a secret passageway was opened from inside. Ken was inside and he motioned them to enter. The princess picked her small sack and entered followed by Mary. The corridor was very dark lit only by a small candle.
They travelled up and down hidden corridors until finally they were out of the castle. They had to put out the castle but there was a full moon so they had some light. There were guards so they had to wait in the shadows until the guards did their patrol then they sneaked out to the hidden gate what Lila and Gabe used to escape into the forest when they were young. The gate was overgrown with vegetation but they managed finally to open the gate and get out.
When they got out of the gate they were met by a guardsman who was loyal to the princess, another childhood friend. Mary had sent Ken with a message to him during the day so he knew what was happening and he had come to guide them through the forest. He took them into the forest. The forest was pitch black and alive with the sounds of the night. It was very spooky.
The guard led them through a path in the forest. When they had travelled about a mile he told them to stop. He went into the forest and returned with a young lamb in a sack which had been hidden. They light a lamp. The guard took the lamb out of the sack and killed it.
Mary gave him one of the sacks she was carrying. Inside was a beautiful gown of the princess, one of her favorites. It also contained a pair of the princess’s favorite slippers. The sack also contained an old gown of Mary. He smeared the blood on the clothes and slippers, letting the blood drip on the clothes. He then used a knife to tear holes in the clothes. Finally he threw some strands of the princess beautiful hair on the ground and he scattered the clothes. He let the blood of the lamb drip on the ground and near the clothes. Anybody who came across the clothes would think they had been attacked and killed.
The guard then took them off the main path and into a little used path in the forest. He led them deeper and deeper into the forest until they were about 3 miles from the place where he had killed the lamb.
“Princess,” the guard said, “I must go back. If I am discovered missing then our plot will be undone. It must look like it was you and your nanny who escaped by yourselves. Take a rest here and when it is light keep moving deeper into the forest. I have drawn Ken a map. Eventually you will reach a cottage that’s about 7 miles as the crow flies. It’s abandoned but since there was no time to prepare nothing could be done.”
The princess said, “I understand. Thank you for everything you have done for us. I will need to get a message to Gabe about where we are.”
The guard said, “For now it is not safe. Stay low and don’t contact anyone at the palace even me it will not be safe. When it is safe, when they are convinced you are dead and there is no suspicion, I will send word to Gabe. But there are spies everywhere. One must be careful”
Lila nodded, she couldn’t speak. She wanted to cry. The truth of the situation she was in was now becoming clear.
Matthew the guard knelt before Lila. “My princess, I will serve you until my dying breath. Stay safe, you are the only hope for our kingdom. Stay safe and may the kingdom be restored again through God’s deliverance of his people through your hands. May the lord keep you and be with you.” Matthew stood, saluted the princess and left.
Lila, Mary, and Ken were left in the forest. None of them could get comfortable enough to sleep in the strange forest surroundings. So they prayed and sung a few hymns as they prayed for God’s favor and protection. They knew that the danger was far from over and they needed to be alert. In the morning at first light they needed to move so that any search parties that might be sent into the forest could not find them.
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