Categories > Original > Fantasy > The Silver Feather
Introduction
0 reviewsSummary: I had so much fun with my Cinderella story I decided to do another fairytale “retelling” This one is my version of the 7 swans and, who knows, another fairytale might cross over into i...
0Unrated
Authors note: While I am doing another fairytale, this one isn’t quite as ‘spoofy’ as my other story and while I still hope it is entertaining and has some parts I would hope would be considered amusing, this fic is a little more serious. However, that said, I’m probably still going to tweak a lot, especially since this may end up being a cross-over…
Also, I’ve decided to take a leaf from the books of some of my fellow fan-fic writers and have instigated a new policy concerning my writing: reviews = updates. If no one tells me what parts they like from the story an/or which parts/area need improving I’m going to think that no one’s interested and will stop wasting my time. Even if you think the story sucks, tell me and tell me why! I can take it! All I ask is advice on how to improve!
Preface
Smoke... Flames… fire… Time. She needed time! The task was so close to being finished! Too late though. They must arrive! She had to save them! Oh where were they?! If they did not come soon it would all have been for nothing! Then again, if they did not come soon, she would not be there to grieve…
Introduction: Meet the family.
It was a beautiful, tranquil sunny day at the lakeshore. Sitting along the bank was a large family of siblings. They laughed as they frolicked and splashed in the shallows, indeed as happy and care-free as the little family of sparrows in the trees nearby. There were eight in all: 7 boys and a girl. They were royalty but you would never tell by the way they interacted with their people, treating them as equals and friends instead of ‘commoners’ as most did. Each were similar in personality and appearance as each of the 8 lakes that surrounded their kingdom yet as dissimilar as the 8 different kinds of tree in the wood behind them.
The eldest were the twins Alrick and Eric, warriors both of them. Alrick was the bigger of the two and was buffed with muscle and spent most of his time in the training ground either practising himself or drilling some of the new pages ruthlessly. He was also the most skilled hunter in the group and loved hunting the great stags and swans on the grounds, despite some of his siblings’ protests at his attitude towards his prey.
Eric was also into the “art of war” as their father called it, but he was more interested in the planning area and was not as hands-on as his brother. His favourite past time was to play conquering games with wax soldiers on large maps with some of the generals.
Next came Cristophe, the artist in the family who was a sharp contrast to his elder brothers. He was NOT interested in battles or anything that involved blood since he was a bit squeamish and had terrible hand-eye coordination. He avoided the training grounds at all costs and chose instead to devote his time to his own extraordinary talent and went around painting anything and everything! While the king had initially been disappointed in his third son’s lack of ability on the battle field, Chris had made up for it with his ability to quickly and accurately sketch a landscape with incredible detail although nothing could make their father approve of his love for dancing and acrobatics!
After Christophe came the second set of twins: Ryan and Hans. Hans was a born story weaver who could make his tales come alive and also talk anyone into or out of anything! He was also the practical joker who’s fun-loving attitude and pranks were legendary. Ryan also had a way with words, but he was more of a diplomat and was more laid-back than his brother and spent most of his time in the menagerie making sure that the animals were cared for as best as possible though he petitioned his father constantly to release the ones who were not crippled or too old to survive in the wild.
Then there was Luke and Matthias. They were not twins, in fact their sister came in between them, but they were always together playing chess or catch. Luke was the elder one and desired to become a healer one day where as Matt just wanted to travel the world, have fun and fool around, however unfortunately for him there was almost as much pressure on the little boy as there was on Alrick, the heir, since the 7th son was supposed to be “special” according to legend.
And finally, there was Sophia, the only girl in the group. She was the scholar among them, immersing herself constantly in books and history as well as assisting the scribes with their record keeping. She also loved music and played the harp and the flute as well as singing. She was the second youngest and while she was only a around a year and a half older than Matthias, she often seemed much more mature. She was also very calm and diplomatic, though she had been known to have a stubborn streak.
It was these 8 that were frolicking in the water that beautiful day, splashing and laughing.
“Look at me!” Hans laughed as leapt into the air and spun around in an awkward way, landing clumsily on his feet in the sand. “I’m Christophe!” Suddenly his eyes widened and he yelped in pain, hopping on one foot while holding the other in his hands
“YEEOUCH! Crab on my foot! CRAB ON MY FOOT!”
“Great!” Alrick chuckled in his deep bass voice “Dinner!” he purred as he took out his hunting knife.
“No!” Ryan said firmly, inserting himself between his two brothers before turning around and prying the claws of the crab off his twin (who promptly fell over)and releasing the creature back into the water.
“Oh give me a break Ryan!” Alrick groaned “That tasty little morsel would have been a great appetizer for the cooks! Plus, it attacked your brother!”
“IT did not attack Hans, Hans stepped on IT and you are getting a little obsessive about this hunting business!”
“And YOU’RE getting obsessive about this ‘no hunting’ business!” Seeing the age old argument begin to spring up again the others quickly managed to change the subject to something they all mutually agreed on: Mainly that they detested the idea of their father marrying again. The older ones were more upset about this as she had died when Matt was born meaning that he had no memory of her and both Sophie and Luke had only the vaguest recollections of her.
‘I can’t believe he’s courting again.” Eric stated bitterly.
“To be fair, it has been 13 years.” Sophie reminded them.
“How could we forget little Owl?” Ryan asked her, fondly using the nick-name her brothers had for her.
“I don’t trust the one he’s acting so love-sick with.” Matt said quietly.
“Neither do I.” agreed his sister. Ryan and Luke didn’t like her either. However, Christophe, Eric and Alrick did and Hans seemed to have a crush on her or something.
“I think you guys are just jealous of her.” Alrick said dismissively. “I think she’s a charming woman.”
“Yeah, one that looks like she’s barely as old as you.” Luke retorted. The Warrior shrugged and ignored them.
They stayed by the lake a little longer before Eric finally looked at the setting son and sighed.
“It’s getting late. We should get back.” And with that the large family gathered up their things and started heading back to the palace, each deep in thought. Ryan in particular was very troubled. The Lady Fiona had been at court a scant fortnight and already she had accomplished much: The King was smitten with her and it was expected that he would propose to her any time now and she was already starting to push a wedge between king’s children. He had noticed her minor flirtations with Alrick when the King’s back was turned as well as her snooping into the lives of the others, in particular Matt and Sophie who made it clear they wanted nothing to do with her. Ryan was pretty sure she had her suspicions about his as well, but life in his father’s court had taught him not to rush into things even if it hadn’t taught his brothers that skill.
But what did they really know about her? She had shown up one day out of nowhere at Court yet no one seemed to question her origins or even where she had come from! He knew that his sister asked the same questions, but the two of them told none but each other of their suspicions and avoided the Lady Fiona when they could and were polite to her when they couldn’t yet she still seemed to sense that she had no allies with them.
*****
The news spread like a forest fire the following morning. The king had a new betrothed: The Lady Fiona.
Things would never be the same again, that much princes and princess knew, however they had no idea of the peril that awaited them………
Also, I’ve decided to take a leaf from the books of some of my fellow fan-fic writers and have instigated a new policy concerning my writing: reviews = updates. If no one tells me what parts they like from the story an/or which parts/area need improving I’m going to think that no one’s interested and will stop wasting my time. Even if you think the story sucks, tell me and tell me why! I can take it! All I ask is advice on how to improve!
Preface
Smoke... Flames… fire… Time. She needed time! The task was so close to being finished! Too late though. They must arrive! She had to save them! Oh where were they?! If they did not come soon it would all have been for nothing! Then again, if they did not come soon, she would not be there to grieve…
Introduction: Meet the family.
It was a beautiful, tranquil sunny day at the lakeshore. Sitting along the bank was a large family of siblings. They laughed as they frolicked and splashed in the shallows, indeed as happy and care-free as the little family of sparrows in the trees nearby. There were eight in all: 7 boys and a girl. They were royalty but you would never tell by the way they interacted with their people, treating them as equals and friends instead of ‘commoners’ as most did. Each were similar in personality and appearance as each of the 8 lakes that surrounded their kingdom yet as dissimilar as the 8 different kinds of tree in the wood behind them.
The eldest were the twins Alrick and Eric, warriors both of them. Alrick was the bigger of the two and was buffed with muscle and spent most of his time in the training ground either practising himself or drilling some of the new pages ruthlessly. He was also the most skilled hunter in the group and loved hunting the great stags and swans on the grounds, despite some of his siblings’ protests at his attitude towards his prey.
Eric was also into the “art of war” as their father called it, but he was more interested in the planning area and was not as hands-on as his brother. His favourite past time was to play conquering games with wax soldiers on large maps with some of the generals.
Next came Cristophe, the artist in the family who was a sharp contrast to his elder brothers. He was NOT interested in battles or anything that involved blood since he was a bit squeamish and had terrible hand-eye coordination. He avoided the training grounds at all costs and chose instead to devote his time to his own extraordinary talent and went around painting anything and everything! While the king had initially been disappointed in his third son’s lack of ability on the battle field, Chris had made up for it with his ability to quickly and accurately sketch a landscape with incredible detail although nothing could make their father approve of his love for dancing and acrobatics!
After Christophe came the second set of twins: Ryan and Hans. Hans was a born story weaver who could make his tales come alive and also talk anyone into or out of anything! He was also the practical joker who’s fun-loving attitude and pranks were legendary. Ryan also had a way with words, but he was more of a diplomat and was more laid-back than his brother and spent most of his time in the menagerie making sure that the animals were cared for as best as possible though he petitioned his father constantly to release the ones who were not crippled or too old to survive in the wild.
Then there was Luke and Matthias. They were not twins, in fact their sister came in between them, but they were always together playing chess or catch. Luke was the elder one and desired to become a healer one day where as Matt just wanted to travel the world, have fun and fool around, however unfortunately for him there was almost as much pressure on the little boy as there was on Alrick, the heir, since the 7th son was supposed to be “special” according to legend.
And finally, there was Sophia, the only girl in the group. She was the scholar among them, immersing herself constantly in books and history as well as assisting the scribes with their record keeping. She also loved music and played the harp and the flute as well as singing. She was the second youngest and while she was only a around a year and a half older than Matthias, she often seemed much more mature. She was also very calm and diplomatic, though she had been known to have a stubborn streak.
It was these 8 that were frolicking in the water that beautiful day, splashing and laughing.
“Look at me!” Hans laughed as leapt into the air and spun around in an awkward way, landing clumsily on his feet in the sand. “I’m Christophe!” Suddenly his eyes widened and he yelped in pain, hopping on one foot while holding the other in his hands
“YEEOUCH! Crab on my foot! CRAB ON MY FOOT!”
“Great!” Alrick chuckled in his deep bass voice “Dinner!” he purred as he took out his hunting knife.
“No!” Ryan said firmly, inserting himself between his two brothers before turning around and prying the claws of the crab off his twin (who promptly fell over)and releasing the creature back into the water.
“Oh give me a break Ryan!” Alrick groaned “That tasty little morsel would have been a great appetizer for the cooks! Plus, it attacked your brother!”
“IT did not attack Hans, Hans stepped on IT and you are getting a little obsessive about this hunting business!”
“And YOU’RE getting obsessive about this ‘no hunting’ business!” Seeing the age old argument begin to spring up again the others quickly managed to change the subject to something they all mutually agreed on: Mainly that they detested the idea of their father marrying again. The older ones were more upset about this as she had died when Matt was born meaning that he had no memory of her and both Sophie and Luke had only the vaguest recollections of her.
‘I can’t believe he’s courting again.” Eric stated bitterly.
“To be fair, it has been 13 years.” Sophie reminded them.
“How could we forget little Owl?” Ryan asked her, fondly using the nick-name her brothers had for her.
“I don’t trust the one he’s acting so love-sick with.” Matt said quietly.
“Neither do I.” agreed his sister. Ryan and Luke didn’t like her either. However, Christophe, Eric and Alrick did and Hans seemed to have a crush on her or something.
“I think you guys are just jealous of her.” Alrick said dismissively. “I think she’s a charming woman.”
“Yeah, one that looks like she’s barely as old as you.” Luke retorted. The Warrior shrugged and ignored them.
They stayed by the lake a little longer before Eric finally looked at the setting son and sighed.
“It’s getting late. We should get back.” And with that the large family gathered up their things and started heading back to the palace, each deep in thought. Ryan in particular was very troubled. The Lady Fiona had been at court a scant fortnight and already she had accomplished much: The King was smitten with her and it was expected that he would propose to her any time now and she was already starting to push a wedge between king’s children. He had noticed her minor flirtations with Alrick when the King’s back was turned as well as her snooping into the lives of the others, in particular Matt and Sophie who made it clear they wanted nothing to do with her. Ryan was pretty sure she had her suspicions about his as well, but life in his father’s court had taught him not to rush into things even if it hadn’t taught his brothers that skill.
But what did they really know about her? She had shown up one day out of nowhere at Court yet no one seemed to question her origins or even where she had come from! He knew that his sister asked the same questions, but the two of them told none but each other of their suspicions and avoided the Lady Fiona when they could and were polite to her when they couldn’t yet she still seemed to sense that she had no allies with them.
*****
The news spread like a forest fire the following morning. The king had a new betrothed: The Lady Fiona.
Things would never be the same again, that much princes and princess knew, however they had no idea of the peril that awaited them………
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