For the Kingdom

Hazel watched as the sun finished setting. Now was her time to act. She needed to get the magic glass, in all its glory, back to the princess and away from the evil prince. Prince Harold had been chasing her for three days, and she was beginning to tire. He wanted to make sure that the Princess would not have the power back, the power that he longed for, but could never use because of the evil in his heart.

Hazel never would have dared to think that she could actually pull off the heist, but Princess Elisabeth had finally convinced her that she could get into the palace as the maid and get out with the magic glass up her sleeve. She had gotten out undetected but the disappearance had been discovered rather quickly and the guards were sent out right after her. If she hadn't hidden in the tree trunk, they would have killed her for sure.

She had decided to run by night and sleep by day. It had been tricky trying to find a safe place to sleep, but somehow, she had pulled it off. Who knew, maybe this would win her a position in the Princesses court someday, she would love to be the maid to her or something of such distinction.

As the dark began to fully take over the night, Hazel pulled out the magic glass, she said the special words and it began to glow, lighting her way. Again, she was thankful that the Princess had trusted her enough to tell her the secret words. To think, only a few days before and she had been scrubbing floors, now she was running for her life. Risking everything to save the kingdom. A worthy cause on which she tried to keep her focus. The Princess had warned her about letting evil into her heart's desire. If she did, it would cause the magic to cease working. At this rate, it was beginning to feel like she would never be able to reach the Princess in the daylight.

The leaves crunching beneath her feet seemed to get louder the longer that she ran. She began to wonder if it was actually louder or if it was all in her mind. She paused. The crunching continued. The soldiers! Hazel realized that she needed to hide, and quick. She glanced around and decided to take cover in the shadow of a bent-over old oak tree. She sat down and quickly repeated the magic words. The air was engulfed in the dark and all went quiet. Why was it so quiet? Had the soldiers seen the light before she got it out and were now sneaking up on her? Or had they just taken a different turn in the path?

Presently she heard whispering.

"Is this where you saw that light?"

"Yes Sir, I'm sure of it. It was right here."

"Well, it's not here now... it was probably just your imagination after searching for days. Or that maid ran ahead already." The first voice barked, "Come on men, keep running! We're sure to overtake her soon."

Hazel remained frozen. She wouldn't dare move until there was no trace of footsteps or whispering.

She stayed put for what seemed like hours... but it was probably only a few minutes. Then she stood up and crept forward cautiously.

After a few moments, Hazel heard a snap. She froze. A bunny hopped out from under a bush next to her. Hazel heaved a sigh of relief and took a step forward, which caused the bunny to hop back into the brush.

She continued on in silence. Not going too fast for fear of catching up to the men. Sufficiently sure that she was safe, she said the magic words and had her path illuminated once again.

Hazel meandered along until she was finally relaxed enough to allow her mind to wander. Will I make it to the princess before I get caught? I hope so, but who knows. I could get trapped at any moment and then my new cause would be a loss. Huh, my cause, I didn't even know about this until a few days ago. How can I be so concerned? I guess that I always knew that something was wrong in our kingdom, but never knew what. I don't even know if the princess told me the truth or not. Maybe I should have asked more questions? Well, it's too late now…

The sun was beginning to show above the horizon. The soldiers had wasted much of her time, but at least she was still running free. And that in itself was something to be thankful for.

Overtaking a ravine, Hazel looked over the terrain in awe. How beautiful it was in the dusk!

"There you are."

Hazel jumped and reeled around.

"What?" She squealed.

Arrows pointed straight at Hazel from all directions. The prince's guards were all around.

Hazel was like a mouse cornered by a tabby cat in a dark alley. One wrong move and it would all be over. There was no way out.

"What do you want?" Hazel asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

"What do you think? Don't you think that we know what you stole? Where is the glass?" The head guard barked. His eyes were dark and his trigger finger began to twitch.

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about," Hazel said as innocently as she could possibly muster.

The guard took a threatening step forward.

"Okay. Okay. Give me a moment and I'll get it out," Hazel nervously stammered. She tried to move as slowly as possible to buy herself some time to think.

If I throw it over the edge I may not make it, but at least they won't have the magic. The princess will have a better chance without them having it. I love this strange magical glass. It was so full of mystery and intrigue.

Hazel knew what she should do and knew that this would be her only chance to do it.

By now the glass was out of her coat and the guard was coming closer. Hazel turned and threw the glass over the edge. There were various gasps and mutters behind her. She knew that there were probably going to be arrows flying soon…

Hazel looked down over the edge while all the guards were still in shock. There was a little outcropping eight feet down. In one moment, Hazel decided to jump and hope that the guards would think that she'd killed herself.

When she landed, all the air exited her lungs in one gust. She heaved in her efforts to get it back, then she saw a little nook and crawled inside.

"Where did she go?" Hazel barely heard the head guard ask.

"I don't know sir. Maybe she fell all the way down along with the magic glass?"

"The little coward."

"Sir, what will the Prince say?"

"I don't know and I don't want to find out."

Presently Hazel heard the men retreat.

Now how will I get out of here? The magic glass is gone and I really don't want to tell the princess... although I know that I should. If I can even get out of here that is.