Storytime (Part 1)

Anette brought up one of her hands to wipe the sweat of her face. The sun was merciless and during the day, they had to stop quite often to prevent them from overheating. Anette gripped the reins firmly and looked back at her travelling companions. They all had the same miserable expression in their faces.

“We are almost there, just a few more minutes.”

“That is what you have been telling us all day! It is not really fair to give us false hopes like that.”

Anette gave Emppu an angered stare, but she could not keep the laughter in.

“I am supposed to be your queen; it is one of my duties to tell you little white lies now and then.”

“Yes, but you also have to keep your men satisfied. And I can assure you that we certainly are not!”

Now Marco, Jukka, Tuomas and Tarja joined in and started to bring forth their complaints. Jokingly, Anette put her index fingers in her ears and pretended not to listen to them.

But she knew what they would say, they were not the only ones who were suffering. The curse had changed everything. And before that, her father had been murdered. Anette searched for the sword on her side, and then gripped the handle firmly. She would have her revenge, as much as her travelling companions. Their fathers had gone to war, fighting against their king’s murderer. Sadly, they never came back to their families.

Suddenly, all of their horses stopped and huffed nervously. Anette felt how her horse, Stjärnan, wanted to turn away, but she remained the one in control and pulled the reins hard.

Soon the animals relaxed. Anette got of Stjärnan and stroked her head gently.

The rest of her companions also dismounted their horses.

“What is going on?”

All of a sudden, a thick, purple smoke clouded the sun. Anette watched how it swept down in the nearby valley and finally stopped. The smoke formed a big ball before it suddenly vanished.

Anette covered her mouth with her hand when she saw the sight that presented itself in front of her. Out of the purple smoke, a large group of people appeared.

Anette heard how several gasps came from her travelling companions. They were just as surprised as herself.

After the curse had ravaged through the realms, a little bit of land was spared. There had been many battles over who was going to be the ruler. Cora, the Evil Queen’s mother, stood out as the winner after her daughter had unleashed the curse and gone to another land.

According to rumor, Cora had later joined her daughter, leaving Anette to take the chance to claim her birthright as queen.

The reason for her expedition here was to be sure that Cora actually left.

This kingdom they now were standing in once belonged to Regina, the Evil Queen. Anette and the others expected only to find burned forests and infertile soil. But to their surprise, most of it had been growing back. For days, they had been searching for places where people could settle down and return to a normal life, far away from any war. Unfortunately, this was very hard to find. Dark and evil creatures lured behind every corner, and the knowledge of that Cora could return in any moment, made everyone nervous.

Anette never expected to find people here. But down there they were. She could not make out were they came from where she stood. There had to be a few hundred meters down to the valley.

A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. Anette turned around and met piercing green eyes, belonging to Tarja. Her black hair was flowing freely down her shoulders while her bow was firmly strapped on her back.

“What should we do, my queen?” she asked with concern in her voice.

“Let us spy on them, and then we will decide what to do.”

“If they are friendly?” Tuomas voice came from behind.

Anette bit her lower lip and let her thoughts wander.

“Then we will greet them and offer them our protection. We need people to rebuild the kingdoms.”

“But we do not have the resources!” Jukka’s protest reached the queen’s ears.

Anette realized that he was right. They had riches as in gold and jewelry, but the food would not last long unless they found fields that were suitable to grow crops on.

Anette eyed the strangers and came up with a plan.

“Grab your weapons and tie your horses, we are going to have a closer look at the newcomers.”

The men and woman did as they were told. Marco grabbed his axe, while Tuomas, Jukka and Emppu put their hand on the handle of their swords. Tarja checked that her bow and arrows were in place, as the unknown number of daggers that she kept on her body.

Anette felt the heat and eagerness of her sword. It had belonged to her father.

When he was young, he had pulled it out from an enchanted stone. He then used it to defeat many enemies until he became king. But not even this powerful sword could protect him against the person that murdered him. Almost every night, Anette had had the same nightmare.

“Are we going, your majesty?”

Anette snapped back from the memories and faced her loyal men.

“Let us go!”

“They cannot be from this world, look at how they are dressed. They must come from a place far, far away from here.”

Anette and the others had been spying on the strangers for quite some time. From what they could see, they had no weapons and no supplies. It was almost as if they were dragged out of bed and into this place. Anette could quickly point out the leaders of the group. A woman with short, black hair was shouting out orders while a blonde man stood by her side. Unfortunately, Anette was still too far away to hear what they were saying.

But one scene caught her attention more than everything else.

 A blonde woman sat on the ground and sobbed as she rocked what seemed to be a dead body in her arms. Next to her sat a brown haired boy, also in tears. Anette felt how her heart started to clench in her chest.

Marco cleared his throat before he spoke up.

“What do you want to do, your majesty?”

Anette felt a bit lost. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She knew what had to be done. She was not alone; her father was there with her. Anette had a goal in life, and the determination burned inside of her. She opened her eyes and faced her most loyal men and woman.

Anette smiled before she got up from her hiding place and started walking towards the strangers, with her companions following closely.

Anette saw their glances. They showed both fear and relief.

“Do not be afraid, we will not harm you!” Anette said with a calm and confident voice.

First there were no reactions from the strangers, but two of them seemed to snap out if and started to run towards the queen.

“Anette!” they shouted.

Anette felt slightly shocked when she heard someone from the group shouting her name. But when they came closer, she felt how tears started to form in her eyes.

“Snow! Charming!”

The queen hugged them both.

“I thought you were dead!”

“No, the curse took us away from this land. But now we are all back!” Snow exclaimed cheerfully.

Anette had known Snow a short while before the curse broke out. Charming and her father had been discussing an alliance between their two kingdoms. Anette would often spend time with Snow when they visited the castle. Anette was heartbroken when she found out that both Charming and Snow were missing. And now they were here, standing in front of her.

“Where have you been? You have to tell me everything!”

“Not now, we have to get all of these people to safety.”

Anette scanned the large group.

“Wow, there sure are a lot of you.”

“Yes, and now we are all home!”

Anette was confused and shook her head.

“Wait, do you mean that EVERYONE standing here was sent away by the Evil Queen?”

“Yes!”

Anette had a hard time believing in Snow’s words.

“Did you not hear about my arrival here a few weeks ago?” Snow asked.

The queen stared at her in disbelief.

“No, I was quite busy. We were fighting ogres, trying defeat Cora. The only news we have received is the one about Cora leaving this land.”

Snow sighed and looked down on the ground.

“She went to Storybrooke, trying to take control over us all.”

A soft whimper came from below. During the excitement, Anette had almost forgotten about the crying woman on the ground.

Anette was going to put a hand on the woman’s shoulder, when suddenly she heard an all too familiar voice.

“So the heir to King Arthur’s throne is here to greet me?”

Anette backed away quickly and drew her sword. The presumably dead body sat up and looked straight into Anette’s eyes. It was she Regina, the Evil Queen. The one who killed her father by ripping his heart out from his chest. Anette felt how anger welled up inside of her. Images of the smirk on Regina’s lips when she held her father’s heart in her hand assaulted Anette’s mind.

“You shall die for what you have done!” Anette shouted while she raised her sword and brought it down towards Regina’s body.

“NO!” the blonde woman screamed while she jerked up from the ground. A wave of energy emerged from her hands and knocked Anette down to the ground while her sword flew from her hands.

Tuomas and the rest of her companions raised their weapons.

“Excalibur!” Anette yelled and caused the sword to find its way back into her hand. She had always enjoyed that little trick. It had saved her life countless times before and now it would do it again. Anette got up from the ground before her eyes landed on the blonde woman. She was panting heavily while confusion was written all over her face.

“Stop it!” Snow said and intervened.

“You know what she did to me Snow! I will have my revenge!”

“Do not dare to touch her!” the blonde woman growled while she moved closer to Anette. But Snow stopped her by grabbing her shoulders.

“Emma, not now. We need Anette’s help if we are going to survive. Calm down.”

“If she lays a hand on Regina, I will kill her!”

Anette almost stepped back when she saw the intensity in Emma’s green eyes. In the corner of her eyes, Anette saw how her companions stood with their weapons, ready to strike. All they needed to hear was her order to move forward.

Anette diverted her eyes to the ground. Regina held the brown haired boy in her arms, and whispered softly to him. The scene touched Anette’s heart slightly.

“Lower your weapons!”

“But your majesty…”

“I said, put them down! I will not have any more blood on my hands!”

Immediately, they lowered their weapons. Tarja hesitated for a moment, but finally put the arrow and bow on her back. 

“Who are you?” Anette asked while her blue eyes scanned the woman named Emma.

Anette saw how the blonde woman shook all over and clenched her fists.

“She is my daughter” Snow said after a while.

“28 years?!”

Snow and Charming nodded.

“But…but…”

“We know it is a lot to take in.”

“Oh, you have no idea. I thought it was just a few months. Maybe a year at the most.”

Anette felt how tears started to form in the corner of her eye.

Snow and Charming had been telling her about the effects of the curse. That time had stopped for all those years, and started again almost a year ago. After the time had started to move again, they later regained their memories.

“But how did you get back? If your memories were restored, then why were you not able to get here sooner?”

“We tried and tried, but in the end, it was Emma who got us here. She is the Savior.”

At the mentioning of the word “Savior”, Anette felt how her stomach started to cramp up.

No, she cannot be…

Anette was familiar with the Savior legend. One day, the Savior would come and repair this world from what the curse had done. She would unite the kingdoms, bring peace and give everyone their happy endings.

Anette, Charming, and Snow had placed themselves far from the rest to talk in private. Anette turned around and when her eyes landed on Emma, she quickly got up from the ground. The woman had her back against a tree, with her head hanging low. The brown haired boy and Regina sat quite close to her, still not letting go of each other.

Anette suddenly stopped in front of the Savior. Without hesitation, she pulled out her sword and got down on her knees. Emma looked up in confusion.

“What the hell are you doing?!” the blonde woman said shockingly.

Anette placed her sword in front of the Savior before she spoke up.

“I pledge my allegiance to you, Savior. My sword is your sword!”

“Oh for the love of…get up!”

Anette did as she was told, and together they rose from the ground.

“Take back your sword…and allegiance.”

Anette eyes widened at her response.

“But you need fighters, and I would gladly die for you, Savior.”

“I do not want anyone to die for me!” Emma suddenly snapped.

“Just give me a moment to process all of this!”

And with that, the blonde woman walked away, with the brown haired boy following her.

Anette reached down and grabbed her sword before putting it back in her belt.

Her eyes locked with Regina. A sudden urge to pull out one of her daggers and shoving it into Regina’s chest emerged, but she quickly suppressed it and turned around, eager to discuss her newly formed plans with Snow. She would give Emma the time she needed. Anette was familiar with big changes. One day she dressed in extravagant dresses, ate with cutlery made of gold, and spent the night listening to music while she indulged herself in different kinds of sweets. And another day she slept outside, in the rain, with only her sword and a piece of moldy bread in her pocket.

Anette made a promise to herself that she would never return to that situation again.

She would have her kingdom back.