Autumn’s Bedtime Story

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a beautiful, magical princess by the name of Lily. She lived in a great castle in the land of Speek, and though she was very young, she was beloved by all of the people in her land.

Her favorite way to pass the day was to use her magic to help the villagers throughout her country. She helped heal sick and injured people and stories of her magic traveled far across the land. Everywhere she went, villagers came out to see her, and everywhere she went, she was accompanied by her two best knights, Autumn and Mavis. The three were never far apart and they had many adventures together.

One day, while Lily was sitting in her throne room, she was visited by Queen Sheerie from a distant place. The queen was tall, with long and flowing black hair and robes of red and black.

“What can I do for you?” asked princess Lily. The queen gave a long bow and then looked up with a fake smile.

“Well, I come from the swamp lands to the East and I have heard that you are a gifted sorceress who uses magic to help people,” the queen said. Princess Lily nodded in agreement, and the queen kept talking. “In that case, I have a request to make.”

“How can I help you?” Lily asked. The queen didn’t reply. Instead, she stood up and walked closer, until she was standing just in front of Lily. Autumn and Mavis both stepped forward to stop the queen from getting too close. They didn’t trust the queen.

Lily wanted to hear her out, however, and let her approach. The queen reached out and handed Princess Lily an apple.

“I wanted your-” the queen started, and as Lily touched the apple, there was a blinding, bright light that erupted from it. “Magic!” The queen finished, with an evil smile. Princess Lily gasped and let go of the apple, but it was too late. All of her magic was gone.

“No!” Lily cried out. The queen laughed an evil laugh, and with the snap of her fingers, she disappeared. “My magic!”

“We’ll get it back!” Knight Autumn said, drawing her battle axe.

“She said she lives in the swamps, let’s check there first!” Mavis said. Princess Lily gave them a vial of enchanted water. All they had to do was dump the water on the queen and all of her stolen magic would return to the original owners. She wished them the best of luck and the two Knights left.

They rode their horses for a full day before finally making it to the swamps. From the edge of the swamp land, they could see a small castle in the distance.

“I’ll bet the evil queen lives there,” Mavis said, pointing to the castle with her sword. There was only one path through the dark swamp.

“Let’s get Lily’s magic back.” Autumn jumped down from her horse, splashing into the swamp water. Mavis followed her, and the two knights started making their way forward.

In the castle, the evil Queen Sheerie watched the two knights as they wound their way up the path. She recognized them from Princess Lily’s throne room, and knew that they meant trouble for her evil plans.

“Abra-ka-zabra!” the evil queen called out, waving her hands in the magical incantation. “Stop them!”

Down on the swamp path, Mavis and Autumn heard a splashing sound in the water and they stopped.

“Something’s out there!” Mavis said, drawing her sword. Autumn pulled the axe from her back and the two knights looked around them. All throughout the water, figures started standing up out of the swamp water.

“Zombies!” Autumn shouted as soon as she realized what was going on. There were way too many for them to stay and fight. “Run!”

Together, the two knights ran up the path and toward the castle, the huge army of zombies following close behind them. They ran as fast as they could, finally reaching the drawbridge to the castle. They ran across it, the zombies close in tow.

“How do we stop them?” Mavis asked, turning to face the approaching army. Autumn looked around. The drawbridge was being held up by a pair of chains. With one heavy swing from her battle axe, she chopped the chain closest to her in two.

Mavis did the same with her sword, and the bridge fell into the moat, trapping the zombies on the other side. “That was close,” Autumn said. “Let’s go get that magic.”

The two knights walked into the little castle. Standing on the balcony and watching them was the evil queen. “I see you’ve bested my army of zombies!”

“Give us back her magic, Evil Queen!” Mavis called out.

“That wasn’t my only trick!” the evil queen yelled, waving her hands around. “Abra-ka-zabra!”

Knight Autumn opened her mouth to challenge the evil queen to come down and face them, but a loud crashing sound from below them stopped her.

“What was that?” Mavis asked, looking around as another crash echoed through the castle, closer this time.

“That was my pet,” the evil queen cackled. Then, a whole wall exploded as a gigantic robotic triceratops burst through.

“That’s not good…” Knight Autumn said, twirling her battle axe. The triceratops gave a great, robotic roar, stomping its feet on the ground. It started them down with its glowing yellow eyes. Autumn and Mavis both met the challenge with a roar of their own, and the fight was on.

The triceratops charged at them, and both knights dove aside. The robot barely missed them. Autumn was up first. She swung the battle axe with all of her might, but the triceratops was fast. It blocked the blow with its horns and launched Autumn off of her feet.

Mavis, who was getting up from behind the great monstrosity, charged at the beast and caught it with her sword. The triceratops gave a robotic roar and swung its tail, catching Mavis and throwing her right into Autumn.

The two knights got up fast, ready this time for the triceratops to charge them. At the last second, they stepped aside. As the robotic beast charged past them, they both swung with all of their strength, catching it in its sides. The robot triceratops gave one last great roar and tumbled to the ground, the glowing lights of its eyes flickering off. They’d defeated it.

“You two are good fighters,” the evil queen said from the balcony, “but you’re no match for me!” She jumped down to the ground and raised her hands, and magical fireballs appeared in them.

“Uh oh,” Autumn said. The evil queen threw the fireballs and both knights jumped out of the way, barely escaping the blast.

“We need to find a way to finish this fight!” Mavis shouted, diving out of the way of another fireball. Autumn looked around the room for some way to defeat the queen. On the other side of the queen, she saw the rope on the wall that was tied to the chandelier.

“Keep her busy!” Autumn said, running along the edge of the room to get around the queen. Mavis shouted at their foe and swung her sword from side to side. The queen began launching fireball after fireball at Mavis, who had to swing as fast as she could to block the fireballs with her sword.

Across the room, Autumn made it to the rope. She swung the axe, chopping the rope and the chandelier came tumbling down. The queen heard the sound and dove forward, narrowly escaping the trap. The dive, however, left her at Mavis’ feet.

“Gotcha,” Mavis said, bringing the handle of the sword down on the evil queen’s head and knocking her out. Autumn opened the vial and poured the magical water on the evil queen and all of the stolen magic swirled away from her, leaving her without powers at all.

Mavis and Autumn rode their horses back to their kingdom, where a huge party was held to celebrate the defeat of the evil queen, and everyone lived happily ever after.