February is for Fairy Tales! So, without further ado, I present to you a story that I wrote in High School (with a little tweaking done as I retype it) in three parts. To be posted today the 15th, next week on the 22nd and on the 28th.

*~*~*~*~*Crystal’s Quest*~*~*~*~*

Once upon a time, in a far off land, there lived a beautiful, but greedy Queen. She loved nothing in the world so much as wealth, which was obvious by her appearance. Each morning she would adorn herself with the finest of fabrics. Silks, velvet, satin, cloth woven from the very beams of the sun and moon themselves, only the most elegant and opulent clothes would do. As for jewels, she positively dripped with them each day. The biggest diamonds graced her fingers; the most glittering gems adorned her crown, the brightest cold made her necklaces. When she walked, the ground before her was sprinkled with chips of rubies instead of rose petals. Such was the greed of the Queen.

Many years ago she brought a child into the world. A little girl, a Princess with eyes like the finest sapphires in the world, and the Queen named her Crystal. For a crystal, the Queen thought, has no value. For many years the Queen coveted those eyes, for her own were black and hard and empty of joy. She watched her daughter grow up pure of heart, full of laughter and kindness and love for the people of the land. All the while the jewels of her eyes taunted the Queen, until one day, when Crystal was not yet 17, the Queen brought in the darkest of Sorcerers.

“Those eyes. I want them for my own.” She said from her throne, looking down at the cloaked and shadowy figure standing before her. It was late in the night and the palace was still and quiet around them, dark deeds are always plotted in the darkest hours,

“You risk penalties…” The Sorcerer said and his voice had all the chilling sounds of spiders’ steps, bat wings, snakes hissing and a wolf’s howl in it. “The Faeries have grown weary of your greed, your Majesty. Such a crime-“

She had risen to her feet and was glaring down at him, trying to look imposing and threatening. “I am Queen. My wish is law. I can commit no crimes for I make the laws.”

His eyes were nothing but two burning coals in the dark shadows his cloak’s hood cast over his face. For a long while he only stared at the woman before bending slowly in a slight bow. “As you wish, your Majesty.”

That night while Crystal slept soundly in her bed, the Sorcerer and the Queen stole her eyes away and replaced them with two diamonds.

Such was the greed of the Queen.