Caliburn

Part One of The Seven Knights of Princess Snow White

Welcome!

This is Part One of The Seven Knights of Princess Snow White - a new seven-part story in The Red Riding Hood Saga!

Both newcomers and returning readers should be able to understand and enjoy this story about the titular Seven Knights taking on the dragon Fáfnir!

So, without further ado, please enjoy…

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Part One: Caliburn

Photo by Simona D'Auria on Unsplash

I looked down at the hilt of the broken sword in my hand.

Clutching it tightly, I fell down on my knees.

The lake in front of me stayed silent, as the grass around me rustled in the wind.

I took off my helmet, and let it fall onto the ground.

I tried to steady my breath, but the events of the battle that I had just ran away from flashed through my mind.

We had lost.

My comrades had been slaughtered, and the charges that we were supposed to protect... Dead.

I began to choke and sob.

Through tears, I looked down again at my broken sword.

A symbol of my failure.

I screamed in anguish, and threw the broken blade into the lake.

As the hilt hit the water, my arms slumped to my sides - defeated.

My head hung low, and all I could do was cry.

***

My tears had dried, but there I remained.

No thoughts in my mind, just an empty body slumped by the lake.

That was, until...

The sound of rippling water, growing louder and louder, heading towards me.

I looked up.

And walking out from the lake... was a fairy, holding my broken sword in her hands.

Stunned, I watched as she approached me.

"Tell me," she said, holding out the hilt of my sword, "was it you who dropped this into my lake?"

"Y-Yes," I said, "I'm sorry."

She dropped the broken blade in front of me.

"I felt sorrow and despair from this broken sword of yours," she said, "anger and anguish that emanated throughout my waters."

"Tell me," she said, "why?"

For a long moment, I stared at her.

"Because I was too weak," I finally said, "and all I could do was run away."

"You tried," she said, "did you not?"

"I did," I said, "but it wasn't enough!"

Angrily, I glared at her.

But all she did was stare back, her calm expression unchanging.

"Tell me, then," she said, "what would you do with a new sword?"

I furrowed my brow, puzzled, "A new sword?"

"Yes," she said, "what wish would you place upon a new blade?"

I paused as I considered her question.

Finally, I stood up and answered, "I would wish upon it to give me the power to protect."

"And who would you protect?" she asked.

"Those who will become dear to me," I said, "Those who are worthy of my protection!"

She paused and stared at me, her expression unmoving.

Finally, as if she had reached a conclusion, she said, "A noble wish, if a bit scattered."

"S-Scattered?" I said, a little incredulous at the critique.

Ignoring me, she turned around.

"Come," she said, as she began to walk towards the lake from where she had came from.

"Into the lake?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

And as her toes touched the water, the lake began to part.

I watched in awe as the waters divided into two.

Mesmerized, I followed the fairy into the lake.

***

We had walked a long distance, travelling to the bottom of the middle of the lake.

On my left and on my right, the fishes swam in the waters of the divided lake, seemingly unbothered by it all.

The fairy stopped and stepped aside, gesturing my attention towards an object in the ground.

It was a sword that had been stabbed upright into the floor of the lake.

"If what you say is true," she said, "if your wish is pure and your convictions are genuine..."

"Then you may have this sword that I have forged."

I stepped up to the sword, and touched its hilt.

Already, I could feel the powerful magic that resided in the lake fairy's sword - water magic, no doubt.

"But why?" I asked, my hands backing away from the sword.

"Because I wish to help someone who is worthy, that's why," she said.

"But," she continued, "if what you have said was false, or if your convictions are not as strong as your words were, then leave this sword..."

"For if you try to claim it with lies, then this lake shall swallow you."

I looked up at the lake fairy - her expression remained as before, unchanged.

In that moment, I could feel the waterfalls on both sides looming over me - their waters crashing down around me, seemingly only held back by the barest of forces.

Breathing deeply, my hands found their way around the hilt.

And then I pulled out the sword.

***

The girl screamed as the last bandit charged towards her.

Gathering the magic in my sword, I thrust it forward - unleashing a torrent of water at the bandit.

The torrent of water blasted the bandit away, and I moved in to protect the girl.

But, the bandits had already been defeated, and the girl's convoy was saved.

As my fellow dwarfs secured the defeated bandits, the little girl tugged on my arm.

"Thank you for saving us," she said, "What's your name?"

I looked at the little girl.

This was Princess Snow White, and she would become dear to me over the years.

With her, I would find a kingdom full of people who were worthy of my protection.

But, at that moment, when the princess asked me her question, I would be reminded of what the lake fairy had said to me after I had pulled out the sword.

"Take this sword then," she had said, with the slightest of smiles, when the waters of the lake did not come crashing down on us, "and let its name be your name..."

"Caliburn," I said, answering the princess.

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Photo by Ricardo Cruz on Unsplash

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Part Two will be out on May 1st at 9AM EST!