Essexeville

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Audrey. She had long, shining golden hair and soft, trusting brown eyes. As she grew, suitors came from far and wide to marvel at her beauty and try to win her hand, however none were successful. Sadly, when she turned seventeen, her kingdom fell on hard times, and her parents were forced to marry her off to a King in the far away land of Essexeville in order to pay off their debts.

Unbeknownst to Audrey's family, Essexeville was about to suffer great perils. Their King, the oldest of two children, was very weak-willed and easily swayed, and was only the King because he was first born, as tradition dictated. Tradition also mandated that a King find a wife before he was twenty-five, and the King had only one year left before he was forced to abdicate his throne. Thus, his cabinet arranged the marriage between him and Audrey. The Kingdom rejoiced at the match, for even though the King was weak, he was very kind and beloved. However some in the kingdom were not at all pleased by the match, and so a plot was hatched to oust the King.

The king's brother, James, was an evil man. He was the head conspirator in the plot to overthrow the King. His plan was simple. He scoured the neighboring kingdoms in search of a low income woman with questionable morals. His quest brought him to a woman named Adela. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with long, curly dark hair and coffee colored skin. She was very sensual, a woman well aware of her wiles, and certainly not afraid to use them. He told her of her role in his plot to oust the king, and he offered her a large sum of money to go along with it. She accepted, and the two returned to the palace.

When James and Adela arrived at the castle, the King was taken aback at the blatant sexuality of his brother's companion. She was everything he had ever fantasized about, as James well knew. Audrey, being the kind-hearted, naïve girl that she was, immediately befriended Adela and invited her to stay in the palace for as long as she'd like. Adela accepted, of course.

Night after night, Adela crept into the king's bedchamber. Every morning she'd awake in his arms, listening to the canaries sing. Soon, as James predicted, Adela was with child. It was the scandal of the century. The King immediately called a council with his brother, for he hadn't the faintest idea how to deal with the situation. The King knew very well that a bastard child would never be fit to rule their kingdom. He also knew that the penalty for such a crime was death by a jousting starter pistol. He had been that the precedent for such a situation was to drown the illegitimate child and his mother in the nearby servant's well. But he loved Adela, and he loved their child. He knew he could not stand by and watch them drown.

James, convinced of his brother's earnestness, advised him to steal away with Adela that very night to live as a woodcutter in the forests on the borders of the kingdom. He told the King that he would tell their subjects that the King had died in the night, a victim of the Avian flu. The King immediately agreed, then hurried away for a clandestine liaison with Adela and to pack his things.

After seeing his brother off with a promise that he'd never return to the castle again, James knew he was triumphant. Finally, the palace, the kingdom, the subjects, all his! He could instill the reign of terror he'd been dreaming of since his childhood. He licked his lips tantalizingly at the prospect of invading and conquering all the neighboring kingdoms, pillaging their houses, enslaving the men, his soldiers taking the women at their leisure. He couldn't wait for the morning when he made the announcement to the kingdom of their beloved king's “death.”

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the chamber on his left. Audrey's chamber. He opened the door and there, sitting on the window sill, were Audrey and a tiny canary, looking as if they were conversing. Audrey looked at him with terror in her eyes. With a jolt, James realized that Audrey was able to talk to birds, and this particular canary had told her everything about The King, Adela and his dastardly plot! Without a second thought, James leaped across the room, grabbed Audrey roughly by the arm, and hauled her down to the dark stairways of the palace to lock her in the dungeon.

Audrey stayed there for many days, growing weaker and weaker from hunger. She was forced to live only on gruel, for the old and decrepit guard they stuck her with was also an evil man and withheld all the tastiest victuals alloted for Audrey for himself. His greed was short-lived though, and three days later he fell, age and evil taking away his last breath.

The replacement guard was young and very handsome. He fell for Audrey the moment he saw her. His name was Dylan.

It took many days for Audrey to trust Dylan, but when she finally let down her guard she learned he was a slave, captured from her country by Essexeville's soldiers and forced to work for a King he did not respect. They spent every day together, and soon they developed a plot capture the palace and restore Essexeville to a country of peace and prosperity.

When their plan was finalized, Dylan unlocked the door to Audrey's dungeon. Together they stole out of the castle and into the woods where Dylan had an army of fellow slaves and friendly woodland creatures waiting. There were even soldiers from James' armies there, lurking in the shadows, ready to fight against their tyrannical king but ashamed to join in the festivities due to the terrible deeds they had done per James' request.

That night, the army of miscreants stormed the castle. They fought a long and bloody battle, with casualties on both sides, until there was finally a clear end. Dylan's army, victorious, called the cowardly “king” out of his bedchamber and forced him to take responsibility for his deeds. His former soldiers took him firmly by the lapels and dragged him off to the servant's well and drowned him. Finally, James' reign of terror was over.

Everyone in the kingdom was thrilled with the ousting of James, however the problem remained that Essexeville was without a leader. Audrey came up with the idea of turning Essexeville into a republic, and Dylan was voted president where he served, Audrey by his side, for six terms, turning Essexeville into a peaceful and prosperous country once again.