The Legend Of The Stabbed Princess

The Legend of the Stabbed Princess

Over the dull, misty clouds a dim light was spotted in the distance inside a small, stony cave.
A man was murmuring and there was a sudden, ear-piercing scream.
A thin, sly figure crept out with a thin bulge over his weakening shoulder. The pile struggled but in a flash they were both gone…

Four years, three hundred and sixty four days later, a large spider was wondering the winding woods when he accidently slipped into a hole of darkness sending him sliding down and down into what he thought was nowhere.
As it became lighter, he saw in front of him a small stony cave. He decided to explore and discovered that inside, the walls were stained with dark red blood. Shivering, he turned to leave but tripped over a something. It was a handle to open a trap door! Excitedly, the spider pulled it open but all that was inside was an aged, crinkly map. Disappointed, the spider picked it up but instantly changed his opinion on what he thought was a boring piece of parchment. On it he saw the words ‘mountains, dragon and prison’ tower!
The large creature gasped and before you could say ‘spider legs’, he had soared out of the door. He ran and ran- not sure how he got out of the tunnel of darkness but eventually the tall trees looming overhead blocked the sun and he couldn’t see. Due to the sudden blindness, the spider tripped and was suddenly hurtling into a nearby, fast-flowing river, giving the spider a great fright.
He puffed and panted not sure what was happening- all he could hear was his own glugging and the roaring of the currents. He tried to work out where he was going but everything was blurred and his eyes stung. Leggy felt himself going under and with great strength, he kept himself a float. He reached for a reed and at last had control over the strong water.
He hitched himself up the bank, water dripping from every bit of his body. Panting, he lifted his head to see a small green tent, glowing in the firelight, which was lit just outside. He hurried over and there before him stood a young man with startling blue eyes and bright blonde hair that was sweeping back in the wind. He was rather tall but young-looking and had a determined look about his face.
He looked down and gasped as he took in what was there, a panicky, wet spider, almost as big as himself. He was slumped on the river bank, with a scared look in his eyes.
“G..g..grass and water!” stammered the panicking creature.
“What!?” exclaimed the young man, not quite believing there was a huge talking spider at his feet.
“My family!”
“Wait, let’s get things straightened out. I’m Oliver, and you are?”
“I’m Leggy. The magic spider”
“Magic, are you-how?”
“Umm well I do these weird things like…”
And the spider told Oliver all about how he could do the biggest jumps ever- even higher than a bird has ever soared. He also told him how his silk is as strong as a solid tree, but also very flexible.
“Wow!” Oliver exclaimed, a surprised expression on his face.
Leggy nodded proudly “Anyway my family and I are new in these woods so I was just exploring and without meaning to, I ended up by a small stone cave”
Oliver nodded “Go on”
“I w3as interested so I looked inside, there was blood everywhere and I found this map under the floorboards” he produced the curious, wrinkly map
“And look” went on the intrigued spider “something has been done in stony cave and whatever happened, they were heading to this unusual tower!”
Oliver gasped, “You don’t think that was P…princess Gwendoline do you? You know she was kidnapped about five years ago and never seen since. I’ve been sent by the king to look for her- the last place she was seen was these woods and so all this time, I’ve been investigating these woods and missed one fatal clue!”
Oliver stood up and paced round his fire.
“And this means she’s been taken to the tower, probably stabbed. But, of course- Princess Gwendolines blood is magic- she won’t be effected by it until exactly five years from the day she was stabbed and then her blood can be used to gradually make someone stronger and more dangerous!”
Oliver jumped up and down anxiously
“Leggy this is bad. Not just bad this is TERRIFYING!”
Leggy and Oliver gave each other a scared but triumphant look. Oliver knew they had better get started straight away.

*
An hour later, Leggy and Oliver were following the old map to some high, powerful mountains. On Oliver’s back there was a rucksack with food and he was dressed in strong armour. Leggy, however had nothing protective on and, as any lazy spider would was carrying nothing but the map.
“Right,” Oliver said “This is our brief plan. We will get there today- hopefully. Then we’ll have until six o’clock am when the sun rises tomorrow”.
The sun was just setting as they reached the peak of the mountain, giving a heavenly glow to the trees.
After climbing over rocks and going through mud-puddles for four hours, the young man and the spider needed a rest. Tongues lolling, they sat down.
“Well the sun is setting so from now we have twelve hours” calculated Leggy, while Oliver, who didn’t have as many legs to carry his weight on as leggy, was massaging his feet.
“We’ll go down for a bit more and when we find a good spot we’ll sleep-no longer than two hours though”
Down they went and had a peaceful sleep.
Feeling much better, they awoke at eight, reaching the bottom of the mountains by midnight when all was dark.
The mountains were great giants, never ending in size, but at last they conquered them. “I’m glad that’s over” whispered Oliver, glancing back at the steep, rocky hills.
They walked through a tall forest- just being able to distinguish outlines of trees from the luminous moonlight. All was quiet, not even an owl could be heard in the eerie silence. Because the ground was so soft, you couldn’t even hear their footsteps.
After walking quite a while, Leggy went to take a left turn. Oliver almost followed but suddenly stopped.
“Leggy on the map it says straight on” whispered Oliver, terrified of breaking the queer silence.
Leggy tried to convince Oliver
“Yeah, but this ways a short cut”
“Are you sure- wait are you a good spider or a bad spider?”
Leggy shifted from side to side.
“Well you see… I figured my family are living here somewhere, not my wife and children- my mum and dad. I just wanted to see them rather than save this…Princess! It’s just not my thing, you know?!
Leggy looked away guiltily.
“But, well” Oliver stammered “I need your help!”
Leggy continued softly, “I know but you’re going to have to continue alone. I’m a spider, not a handsome man like you, who will one day be famous because of saving this Princess. People won’t take me seriously, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a giant, talking spider. You must continue alone” he nodded softly and turned away.
Oliver sighed and continued on his quest.
Soon after leaving the tall forest, Oliver found that the ground became drier and less trees and plants were growing.
Before his very eyes, quite a way in front, he saw an orange bubbly light, standing out against the midnight sky and in a sudden flash, he realised he was on a volcano!
*
Leggy greeted his mum and dad with a massive hug.
“You always were our special boy, Leggy but ten years we’ve been without seeing you!” cried his mum.
“You became friends with Legolas, the spider that only had four legs. I never did like him- but why?” his father pondered.
“I know!” remembered his mum
“He always blew off his most loyal friends and broke his wonderful promises to go on last minute things with his family.”
Leggy suddenly felt uneasy.
“Mum, dad, I need to go, I left my friend to see you at the last minute”
“Oh Leggy we are very proud of you of course- go!” blushed his mother “take this,” it was a small ball of magic silk “you know what to do with it”
“Thanks for the advice” and with that Leggy left his mum and dad.
*
Suddenly it hit Oliver. THE LAVA WAS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!
*
Leggy sensed there was something wrong and his eight legs moved fast through the woods.
*
Oliver looked around him. Flat rock was stretching everywhere.
*
At the end of the wood, Leggy too noticed how much drier the land was.
*
THERE WAS NOWHERE TO ESCAPE!
*
A sudden blast of orange lava brought Oliver to his senses.
‘I’m going to die’ he thought bluntly, resigned to his terrible fate
*
Leggy saw the huge orange fire lighting up the whole sky and ran as fast as he could towards a small blonde figure not far from the fast falling lava.

Oliver felt big hairy arms around his waist and he was suddenly flying in the orange sky. Of course- it was Leggy with his marvellous jumps. They were now flying safely over the top of the volcano.
Leggy wanted to say ‘I’m sorry I left you’ but couldn’t bring himself to say it. Oliver knew he was sorry though, he could tell by how tightly and firmly Leggy was holding him as they prepared to land.
An eruption of smoke greeted them as they landed near prison tower and before their very eyes they saw a huge red dragon with sparkling green eyes, wings flapping and nostrils flaring.
Naturally, Leggy tied his silk to the dragon’s leg and before the dragon’s brain registered what was going on, Leggy was running around him, his silk tying him up.
“Good thinking” yelled Oliver as he hurried through the ex-guarded tower door.
By now it was half past five in the morning- they only had half an hour to save Princess Gwendoline!
They hurried up the circular steps that led to the only room in the tower.
The door was locked but Leggy unlocked it deftly with one of his spindly legs.
Sitting by the window was the beautiful Princess Gwendoline, her golden locks falling madly over her shoulders. Her startlingly blue eyes awoke when the door creaked open, for she had been gazing out of the window, realizing there were only minutes to go before she died and the evil doctor Vincentine became powerful enough to take over the world!
Oliver gasped at the loveliness of the Princess and knew at once he was in love.
She had a white cloak daintily draped over her body, the pure white contrasting with the dark red blood from her wound.
“Princess Gwendoline”
“My Prince you’ve come at last!” and she ran forward to hug him.
There was a sudden bang and Oliver, Leggy and Gwendoline turned, petrified, towards the door.
“Ah ha! So you thought you’d get away my Pwincess !” came the drawl of Doctor Vincentine “Well you thought WRONG! I will kill this m..MAN” he spat “and this-” he let out a small scream “-gigantic spider! Then you and I will be alone to CONQUER THE WORLD!! Ahahaaa!”
He was a tall, thin character, rather bony and was almost bald. His large nose stretched over his face, leaving small green eyes and a tiny crooked mouth alone on his bare, pale face.
He produced a sword out of his black cloak and took a swing at Oliver. He dodged- just, but panicked as he knew he didn’t have a sword himself.
Leggy, however, calmly took out his ball of magic silk. The words ‘You know what to do’ came in his mind from his mother and he held the ball tightly saying over and over again ‘give me a sword’ and finally the silk transformed into a magnificent silver sword with a decorated gold handle. Proudly engraved on the side were the words: may good be sought and evil conquered’.
Leggy handed the sword to Oliver and he at once sprang into action. He took a swipe at Doctor Vincentine. The Doctor stopped this with his own sword and gave Oliver an evil grin.
“Oh.. so that’s how you want to play”
And suddenly a first class battle was taking place in the small, stone room.
Oliver got a slash on the arm, but this amazingly seemed to make Oliver more determined to win the conflict and he took a powerful swipe across Doctor Vincentine’s chest.
He staggered to the floor as blood poured out of his wound
“This isn’t over” he hissed
Oliver smiled “Leggy, do the honours”
And without waiting to be told twice, Leggy wrapped him as tight as he could in his strong, silver silk.
Gwendoline became noticed again as she suddenly cried out in a rage
“Throw him to the dragon!”
Oliver like this idea and hauled the thin figure over to the window. With a mighty shove, Doctor Vincentine was out of the window, falling to the hungry dragon.
“This isn’t OVER!!!! Aaaargh!”
“Oh I think it is!” grinned Oliver.
He turned back to Gwendoline just as she collapsed on the stony floor.
“Oh” she cried “the pain! I’m going to die, its six o’clock!”
Oliver knelt down beside her
“Gwendoline, you won’t die, I promise you. Leggy stitch her up”
“My prince –you’ve saved my life” she whispered, still on the floor in pain “tell me your name”
“It’s Oliver your highness”
“Prince Oliver. Yes I like it”
“No madam, I’m no prince- just a knight or just a plain young man rescuing a beautiful woman who, alas he fell in love with.”
“Well, Prince or no Prince, you saved me and the world, you deserve an amazing reward”
“My dear princess, the only reward that would perfectly suit me is you. Will you marry me?” he whispered gently, holding her hand.
“Why yes Oliver of course!” and she stood up feeling much better, they hugged and as their lips met her wound healed-but not with spider silk but with love!