((Hello new readers. I started this story in highschool and I stopped writing it for several years. I re-read it and saw many errors so I have been fixing things chapter by chapter. I hope to have this story completed some time in the near future. So please bare with some inconstancies as I fix everything

-Lizz ))

Chapter 1 – The Boyish Princess.

Ildavon was the place where men and magic could mix. To the west were the Ardesian mountains that were topped with snow, the spine of the mountain ran the whole length on the country and spanned several thousand miles afterwards. Deep in the belly of the mountain were several dragons, each kept themselves and they were spread out by several miles so that they hardly ever saw each other. To the south were the Elven forests of Ardoteg, although they were neighbors it was a tense friendship. The Elves were wary of humans and the Ildavon was such a small country that it was not worth them sending an emissary. To the North was the larger country of Kinlatca of whom they've had a very shaky treaty with. Slowly they had continued, through military and diplomatic means, to gain the lands to the west and slowly curl around the country in a crescent shape. It was strange truce, one that was held together through the fact that the Elves often traded with the merchants, and through Ildavon, Kinlatca could gain the magic the Elves had held so dear. The ruling family was Jaques a king who had been known to be very relaxed in his rule. Executions were rare and thieves were punished with a lashing or two before being sent out to the fields to work off their debt to be repaid to those they had stolen from. For the most part it was happy kingdom that saw no real strife other than the fact that their dragonly neighbors enjoyed stealing their cattle and raiding the merchants' caravans. Despite their inconvenience the king would not risk them banding together and setting the kingdom aflame. Kinlatca, on the other hand, was known to raid the mountains that bordered the west with varying success.

In the same way that he was relaxed in his rule it was applied in his parenting. The day his wife gave birth was a miracle onto itself. They had tried for months but she was. . . unwilling to complete the process. Like so many other marriages it had been arranged to gain access to the trade routes in Ildavon. She tolerated him but it was nothing close to love. His sweet little girl that was the apple of his eye and he did all he could to make sure she had the best tutors, the best nannies, and the best servants. At the age of 5 she played in mud and did other very strange things. It horrified her mother who tried her best to get her to obey. Each time she was on the verge of being hit or physically disciplined her father would step in to whisk her away. It annoyed the queen to no end and soon she gave up and went to other tasks. Her rebellious ways continued but she was in no way a fool for someone so young. She was studious, had manners and always seemed to smile kindly. The maids loved her but knew if they failed to keep her clean or in line it would be they who suffered by getting their wages docked. It took a few months of their garnished wages before one of them cracked.

"You must obey!"
"I am obeying, you asked me to read and I have I read three chapters before I started digging in the garden. . the worms need company so I brought them flowers" she answered in her normal sweet tone as she looked up at her maids who only looked back at her in horror. The new dress she had gotten was dirty with mud, grass stains, and other random colors.

"Leyla if you do not obey it is us that will suffer, I have a family to feed and your mother takes money away from their months. Children will go hungry if this continues"

Her small eyes widened sadly and she looked down as she pondered softly before looking back up and responding.

"I'm sorry I did na mean to make people sad. . . I won't play in the mud anymore"

She smiled sadly and got up to allow them to pick her up and take her to get cleaned up.

After she was cleaned up and put in a nice new dress. After a few moments paused she pulled on the maids dress, the one who had revealed the secret, and held up an ornate doll she had been given as a gift. It was jeweled and made of the finest ceramic. She lifted it high above her head and smiled.

"Here. . it has shiny stuff and shiny stuff is worth money, you can sell it and help feed the childrens"

The maid was completely shocked by the gesture and slowly kneeled in front of the young princess.

"My dear Leyla. . . you don't have to give me this. . I simply said the truth so that you would understand that you are a princess. . if you do bad things other people can suffer. Do not worry about me and mine for they are a lot more well fed than other children in other countries. . now go on to your tutors dear." She gave her a quick hug and quickly pushed her in the direction of the tutors hall.

Although she stayed out of the mud and anything dirty, she still managed to do things that annoyed those around her. Every day she would visit the stables to help out with the horses but because of her small size she was only allowed to help feed them apples or brush their hair. There she met Brion a young stable boy who cleaned up after the horses. He was 7 and was a very scrawny boy, not that he was underfed he was simply scrawny. They would pick at each other as she helped him with the horses as much as she could but in the end all she did was brush them and freed them apples.

Her mother threw a big fit upon seeing her riding a horse that was being led by one of the stable masters. She threatened to have him punished by lashing however upon hearing the commotion the king came down and picked Leyla up only to set her back onto the horse. It was better to have a daughter that took on any challenge presented to her than one who's only interest was herself. He laughed and patted his wife on the shoulder however she simply took it as him undermining her. She quickly stormed off , that afternoon had set the tune for the rest of their marriage.

The tutors would come on different days but each one after the other. The first was an old woman who would try to teach her how to act like a princess. Oh the poor woman would scream at her trying to get her to sit still, to learn eating etiquette but it was of no use. The second tutor was a young man who would teach her vocabulary and reading. He was astounded by how well she caught on and within the first week she would learn how to read 3 words. However the lesson never went as planned, the moment he would turn around to write something on a piece of parchment the little boyish princess would run off. It frustrated him to no end. The third and last tutor was an older man who taught her the history of the kingdom, and each and every time he asked her a question about what he said she would make up a story about how a dragon saved the kingdom.

This went on until she was about 7 and the poor tutors were at their wits end. They would constantly complain to the king and queen about the young girl. Although they praised her for her intelligence it was her defiance that annoyed them. A very worrying trend had begun to develop in her. She was beginning to run off in the middle of lessons by climbing out through windows the moment she got the chance. The king sighed and ordered the windows nailed shut but only the ones on the first floor because he doubted she would find a way to climb down.

Finally they were able to get her to study but it was never the books they had given to her. She had found her way into the royal library and found books of legends, the ones with dragons, fairies, and princess's that were locked up in castles.

Once again the Tutors complained, by then the Old woman had given up and left the castle never to return claiming the young girl was too much for her old heart. The king was now more irritated with his daughter rather than finding her cute, so he called her in to his study as he remained sitting in his chair. Like usual her dress was disheveled and her face dirtied. The king shook his head and looked down at her.

"Dear child why do you disobey your tutors?"

To this Leyla looked up to her father with her large green eyes and a saddened look.

"I'm sorry father but they are rather dull. I will try harder but the books they give me are no fun"

" Leyla," the king called her by her name "they are not meant to be fun they are meant for you to learn"

"But I do read." "What do you read?" "The books from your library of course".

The king thought long and hard and asked her what kind of books she read.

"The one about the singing dragon, the princess and the golden shoe, the conquest of Hirokay and the like." The kings eyes widened since she was reading books that a child her age should not be reading.

"Alright you may go now," with a wave of his hand he dismissed her with a smile. From that day on most tutors were those of math and history but no tutor stayed for long. If she was so hungry for knowledge he would not keep her. It was his own fault for not having things interesting enough to hold her attention.

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