By Hannah Wang
To my sister Melody when she is older.
With love from the author
Prologue
It was a quiet, still, evening. The restless prince could not go to sleep, so he sat up and gazed out his window at the eerie-looking Maple Valley in front of the palace.
A full silver moon happened to pass directly overhead, beams glowing softly on the graceful curve of the two hills. What the prince witnessed next took his breath away. The moonbeams slowly took shape. A head, a torso, arms, a body, legs, a person. Or rather a girl. A lovely, beautiful girl. She drifted across Maple Valley, calling out something inaudible. Then she faded gradually. The stricken prince fainted onto his feather bed.
Chapter One: LIL
A peasant boy named Paul went out of his hut to feed his hen Buttercup. She clucked happily and greedily pecked away the seeds. When she was finished, Paul went back inside and found a handsome leather hornbook on his doorstep, his name printed neatly outside. He gingerly picked it up and called to his mother. “I’ve found a hornbook with my name at our doorstep.” Although the small hornbook looked suspicious, Paul’s mother found nothing wrong with it. “It’s yours to keep,” she said, and went back to clear the dishes.
Taking it to the kitchen table, Paul took out his inkpot and quill, when Buttercup hopped onto the table. “Oh you,” he sighed exasperatedly, and carried Buttercup outside. When he came back in, however, something was already written on the hornbook page.
“Lil?” he thought. “Who wrote that?”
Chapter Two: I AM LILLIAN
The next day, Paul rose out of his blanket and got out his hornbook. Something else was also written on the second page.
The same shaky handwriting. Paul was scared for some reason. The same thing wrote both messages, and it could not be his mother for sure.
Suddenly, a chilling something brushed across the back of Paul’s neck. He whirled around, but nothing was in sight. In a heavy sweat he slowly turned around. There was something unusual going on. The day saw Paul passing it with a feverish mind.
That night he had a dream. A young girl had slipped from a ledge and was now falling, her long trailing red hair billowing behind her like a cape. Her light turquoise eyes were frightened, but at the same time there was a red-hot coal of hatred. The ground was getting closer, closer, closer, level. She collapsed unconscious, perhaps dead. Then Paul woke up, bits of his dream flashing vividly through his mind.
Chapter Three: The Vision
Paul stared at ‘LIL’ and “I AM LILLIAN.’ Then he thought about his strange dream. The messages, the touch, the dream…Were they, could they…be connected? His hornbook messages were written with a shaky hand, the touch was like a cold finger, and his dream had a girl that was killed… Could the girl be…Lillian? Could her ghost be visiting him? He tried to shake off the thought, but it remained firmly lodged inside his brain.
Suddenly, the world around him blurred, and then a misty white fog obscured his vision. The same girl stood in front of Paul, almost transparent. In a haunting, echoing voice, she spoke three words.
She disappeared, and Paul stood still for a long time.
“Paul, dear, have you finished sweeping the floor?”
The voice brought Paul back to earth. “Sorry mother, I-I drifted off,” he stammered.
“Well,” replied his mother, “then hustle along. Buttercup will be expecting her feed soon.”
Paul grabbed the broken broom and started to sweep, but he couldn’t concentrate.
“Paul!”
Lillian asked me to find her revenge.
“Paul!”
I need to find the person who killed her.
“PAUL!!!”
The booming voice startled him and brought Paul back to reality and out of his racing thoughts.
“Yes, mother?” he asked feebly.
Paul’s mother strode in; her cheeks flushed a bright pink. “Goodness me, are you deaf?” she cried. “I’ve been trying to tell you I’ll be at the miller’s for a little. And do hurry the sweeping. Buttercup won’t let me feed her.”
Paul tried to spend the rest of the day normally.
Chapter Four: The Notice
In the late afternoon, Paul went out for a walk. He came across a booth that had a notice. Ignoring it, he went past.
Look at the notice.
Paul froze. He heard a voice inside his head that wasn’t his own. Doubling back, he read the notice. It was about an outlaw murderer named Fire Beard. The king offered a large reward for his capture, and a larger one for his murder.
Mine.
All of a sudden, Paul understood. The culprit was Lillian’s murderer. He needed to kill him.
Maple Valley.
So Lillian was requesting Fire Beard be killed at Maple Valley.
Paul went home and told his mother he wanted to search for the outlaw Fire Beard. At first she protested, but when it became clear her son had set his mind, she gave in, but ordered he be back at the sundown of ten days later. So Paul bid farewell to his weeping mother, and set off for Maple Valley. It wasn’t too far away. Paul slept for the night.
Chapter Five: At Maple Valley
In the morning, Paul got up and reached Maple Valley by noon. He sat down and ate his loaf of bread, made especially well by his mother as a farewell token. Sighing deeply, he was about to lay down for a good nap when a head popped up in front of him. The face was oddly familiar.
Then Paul realized who the ugly man in front of him was.
Fire Beard!!!
Paul smelled Fire Beard’s smelly breath and rotting teeth bared in a ferocious grin. Alarmed, Paul realized this was a battle for his life.
“Aaaaarrrrghhhh!!!!” Paul gave a loud whoop and gave Fire Beard a sound kick in the stomach. Fire Beard grunted painfully and stopped just long enough so Paul could get a head start.
But for a fat, dirty, middle-aged man with a sore stomach, Fire Beard was pretty fast. Soon Paul had to bust out all the energy he had stored from the loaf of bread and the rest. Then the racing duet reached the stony hills. Paul grasped a firm root and started climbing, while Fire Beard’s massive bulk kept getting in the way. Paul was gaining the upper hand. Now there was a good reason to be small and skinny for his age. He was ascending, climbing, higher, higher…
Suddenly there was only a flat stone face in front of him. Paul halted abruptly. This was the end. He had nothing but a thorny branch that could help him get up twenty of stone face. Even with his small size, the branch would not support him.
Chapter Six: Revenge Fulfilled
Paul could not do anything; he would be trapped even if he went to the side. And Fire Beard was getting closer. By the sound of his panting, he was about one rod behind him. He was going to die…
“NO! NO! You are dead!” Gently easing his neck around, he saw Fire Beard with a panicked face. Paul spotted a faint glittering. Lillian?
“NOOO!!!” Fire Beard howled and suddenly lost his grip. Down he fell…
.He is dead.
Lillian sounded satisfied. Slowly, Paul found his way down. Fire Beard was gone forever. Then the soil cleared. Paul gasped.
There was a dead carcass. The body had long red hair. Its blank half-open eyes were light blue. The pale skin was wearing thin. Any clothes left were muddy and full of holes. The mouth was slightly gaping. Then the soil flew back over and the carcass disappeared. Taking the body of Fire Beard, he journeyed to the king’s Palace.
* * *
Sitting in his manor, Paul relaxed. A servant brought him a cup of tea. Sipping daintily, he slouched on a velvet chair filled with cushions when there was a now-familiar voice inside his head.
Thank you.
He smiled.
Epilogue
The Prince looked out the window. There was Maple Valley in front of him.
A full silver moon passed by. Once again, the moonbeams took shape. There was Lillian Paul had told him about. But the sad, melancholy look on her face was gone.
In place was a satisfied smile, almost a smirk. Fire Beard would kill no more.
