Sorceress in Solace

The Celestial Castle was said to have been overpowered by a particularly daunting witch, who has kept the fortress in her clutches.

Princess Laura Salvadian had been doing her daily reading in the East Tower when the evil enchantress had taken control. She had been deemed a DID: Damsel In Distress.

Sir Stavino was the twenty-seventh Knight to take the challenge of rescuing the Princess. At this point, the Kingdoms had resorted to the rookies to handle the problem, as the previous Knights had gone into the Celestial Castle and never gone out.

Stavino was not quite thrilled to hear this. His village was to be payed a fair share of rations if he were to succeed in his mission, only adding to the pressure.

The Knight had somehow gotten as far as the hilly clearing where the grand Castle appeared before him.

The Sorceress, oddly enough, was nowhere to be seen. Not glaring down at him from the tops of the towers, nor waiting for him at the gate.

Taking this with all the salt that the Kingdom owned, he went down into a crawl across the grassy field.

While he could have easily just run into the fortress, this unnecessary caution cost the Knight about an hour of sweating in his rusted armor. He gave up discretion after passing through the drawbridge, rushing to the endless stairs of the East Tower.

"Princess Salvadian!" Panting, he used the last of his energy to crash the door of the observation room open. "I have come to resc..."

With a dramatic clatter, his broadsword fell to the floor. Not from the exhaustion, but from shock.

There, surrounding the fair Princess, were some of the previous Knights, their glowing eyes seeming to stare at something beyond her. Her youthful dress had been covered by a star-embelished cloak, and in her hands and stretching along the walls of the room were piles of heretic books. On the one she held were several Alchemist symbols.

"You're her..." Sir Stavino tried to back away, but she already had an otherworldly hold upon him. The last part came out as barely a whisper as his mouth grew rigid under the spell. "You're the Sorceress."

"You're a smart one," she replied curtly. "coming to the right conclusions far quicker than the last lot. It's a shame that you still weren't fast enough to escape me."

She was now inches away from his face. Had it been like the stories his parents read to him as a child, he would have kissed her.

His fate, according to Sorceress Salvadian, was far from happily ever after: "It's time that I study more of the psyche. To figure out how some people are smarter than others, I will cut open your head and dissect your brain, comparing it to our dimwitted Sir Brom's. Consider this a compliment, Sir."