A royal visit from Prince Strongheart’s old friend, the sweet Princess HoneyRinglets fosters doubt in Lady LovelyLocks’ mind about to her engagement. However a looming green mist-monster is soon causing trouble and disharmony in the kingdom and everyone is fighting- even in Castle LovelyLocks! How will Lady LovelyLocks be able to banish this creature from her land?

This is the third fiction in my LLL series, introducing a new character from Prince Strongheart and Duchess RavenWaves' past. Please read and tell me what you think!
Aura

Part One

The warm days of spring laced with fresh flower-scented breeze drew on in the Land of LovelyLocks. It was a sweet season, the favourite time of the kingdom where it was neither too hot nor too cool, the sun’s rays were welcoming, the green fields of LovelyLocks were a myriad of different coloured flowers and the water in the lake was just right to swim in, sparkling, clear and fresh. Everyday was a day to be spent outdoors, and that was how the weeks passed.

Sweet lilting giggles wafted from Mirror Lake. The sun’s beams danced across the water and warmed the petals of the flowers- dainty white, rose pink, buttery yellow and soft blue- which blanketed the surrounding meadow. Down by the lake three young ladies were enjoying themselves on this perfect day.
“Stay still Pixietails! I am trying to paint you!” Came a laugh from a brown-haired maiden with a bell of pale blue skirts. The serene Maiden FairHair lifted her paintbrush as she peered behind the canvas at her easily distracted subjects. Nine Pixietails twinkled and giggled, swirling around each other, swishing and glittering…anything but staying still! Maiden FairHair shook her head and smiled good-naturedly. It was never in the Pixietails’ nature to stay still.
“Stay still-ix!” PixieBeauty exclaimed when she noticed Maiden FairHair’s bemused look. Lady LovelyLocks’ Pixietails, Maiden FairHair’s Wavy Pixietails and Maiden CurlyCrown’s Curly Pixietails all looked at one another and then hovered as still as they could. Maiden FairHair smiled, her brown eyes twinkling.
“Thank you PixieBeauty.” She thanked the little Pixietail just as she started to place long sweeping brushstrokes onto the canvas, occasionally glimpsing over the canvas for perspective, her brown ringlets bobbing. But seconds later, all of the Pixietails let out one great exhale and burst into giggles, flitting about. Maiden FairHair rolled her gleaming eyes.
“Oh dear!”

Meanwhile, Maiden CurlyCrown laughed with delight as she removed her butter yellow slippers and dipped her toes in the water. The lively maiden with apricot curls and dancing green eyes lifted her yellow and white skirts as she stepped into the glistening clear water of Mirror Lake, wriggling her toes. She looked up as she heard a dreamy sigh, her rosebud lips smiling. Their good friend and ruler of the kingdom, Lady LovelyLocks, with streaked shimmering golden locks and a bell-skirted dress of pink with purple, pink and gold ribbons falling from her bodice, inhaled the sweet scent of the white daisies and bluebells that surrounded her. Her blue eyes glittered as she carefully bent down and picked some of the flowers, adding them to her wicker basket decorated with a pink ribbon. Flowers of every pastel hue were brimming the basket. Lady LovelyLocks twirled around, her blonde hair streaked gold, pink and lavender swishing with her every moment and twinkling. The princess of the land smiled as she found a grassy knoll to sit upon.
“Today is the perfect day!” Lady LovelyLocks declared, giggling as her pink lapdog, SilkyPup, enthusiastically jumped up and licked her cheek. Lady took a few flowers from her basket and proceeded to make a daisy chain, humming to herself.

Maiden FairHair had given up on her unruly subjects, putting her paintbrush and artist’s board away. The gentle and composed maiden had a talent for painting that Lady LovelyLocks admired, but today painting the Pixietails proved near impossible! The Wavy Pixietails twinkled in FairHair’s rustling brown tresses, the little chipmunks tittering to themselves. Maiden FairHair joined Lady on the knoll.
“You are right, it is no better day to be outdoors in the company of friends.” FairHair stated, “We are very lucky to have such a beautiful day!”
“And without any trouble from Duchess RavenWaves!” Maiden CurlyCrown bubbled, her bird-like Pixietails swishing around her.
Lady LovelyLocks nodded.
“You are right Maiden CurlyCrown, Duchess RavenWaves has not been up to her old tricks lately…maybe she has finally realized that being mean to people is not the right answer!” Lady’s blue eyes sparkled with optimism.
“We can only hope. But let’s not think of RavenWaves…we have many more things to think about…” Maiden FairHair noted with a raised finger.
“Like the wedding!” CurlyCrown exclaimed brightly.

At the mention of ‘wedding’, Lady LovelyLocks’ cheeks turned as pink as her dress! PixieBeauty, PixieShine and PixieSparkle swooped in, their tails glittering.
“Lady-ix is blushing-ix!” PixieShine chirped joyfully and all the Pixietails burst into peals of laughter.
Maiden FairHair, the composed and organized maiden who excelled in bringing fanciful and excellent plans to life, lifted a finger.
“The wedding is on the first day of summer.” The brown haired maiden observed, then counted upon her fingers, “That is only three weeks away!”
“Oh goodness, how exciting!” Maiden CurlyCrown gasped.
Lady LovelyLocks wore a small smile of pleasure upon her rosy lips as she stroked a lock of her shimmering gold hair idly. Her thoughts drifted to Prince Strongheart, her fiancé who had been by her side all this springtime, celebrating with her in the joyful times, helping her in the troubled times. The prince who had proved himself to be the leader he was born to be and had demonstrated his enduring love for Lady LovelyLocks. She sighed dreamily.
“I cannot believe the wedding is so close!”

Just as she spoke, horse’s hooves were heard soon approaching. Lady LovelyLocks glanced behind her, her lips breaking into a smile as she realized it was Prince Strongheart upon his white stallion, Windchaser. The handsome blond prince, his blue eyes gleaming with excitement, dismounted swiftly, his brown cape swinging behind him. Lady stood up, her delicate brows rising as she realized he held a letter in his hand.
“Prince Strongheart!” Lady exclaimed, being taken into a hasty embrace by the prince, “We were expecting you for the afternoon…shouldn’t you be at Glory Manor with ShiningGlory?”
Maiden FairHair and CurlyCrown got up from the grassy knoll and joined the pair, the Pixietails twinkled with curiosity. Strongheart gave Lady an excited smile.
“I could not wait until the afternoon to tell you, my love! I have had wonderful news!” Prince Strongheart announced, unfolding the letter. Maiden CurlyCrown’s green eyes sparkled with intrigue, lifting a finger to her chin.
“What is this news Prince Strongheart?”
“I have just heard news from my old friend, Princess HoneyRinglets, that she is coming to stay in a few days.”
“More visitors!” Lady LovelyLocks laughed with delight. Ever since her engagement it seemed her life had become a whirl of royal visitors…from the ball, to Sir GlistenGill…and now Princess HoneyRinglets!
“How exciting!” Maiden CurlyCrown chirped

Prince Strongheart linked arms with Lady LovelyLocks, drawing her close.
“HoneyRinglets and I have been dear friends for such a long time, but when I was cursed I lost contact with her. But now she knows of the engagement and she is looking forwards to meeting you and the maidens!”
Lady smiled warmly, her Pixietails twinkling in her locks.
“And I am looking forwards to meeting her too! Any friend of yours, my love, is always welcome here!”
Strongheart brushed his pale blond fringe away from his face.
“I am sure you two will get on very well…she is just like you!”

The days passed, each as fine as the next, and sure enough, Princess HoneyRinglets arrived. Her palomino horses, each with a white mane and tail and golden hooves clopped across the kingdom of LovelyLocks that morning after breakfast. Castle LovelyLocks was aflurry with excitement. Nobody had ever met one of Prince Strongheart’s old friends before and the prospect of making a new friend had Lady LovelyLocks and her Maidens thrilled.
“What do you think?” Maiden CurlyCrown twirled around with a big yellow bow in her strawberry curls, her green eyes dancing, “I wanted to wear something special for Princess HoneyRinglets, and the Curly Pixietails put a few more ringlets in my hair!”
“You look lovely.” Lady LovelyLocks reassured the lively maiden with a gentle smile as she sat down with her embroidery. Maiden FairHair entered the castle drawing room with a satisfied smile upon her face.
“Everything is organized for the arrival of Princess HoneyRinglets, Lady. Louis is cooking up a banquet and I have arranged a bedroom overlooking the castle lake with the help of the Pixietails!”
PixieShine, PixieSparkle and PixieBeauty bowed simultaneously, beaming with pride. Lady sighed with contentment…everything was perfect.
“Thank you Maiden FairHair, you are such an excellent organizer! But I wonder where Prince Strongheart is…? Princess HoneyRinglets should be here any minute now…”
Her fair eyebrows drew together as she moved to the great French windows which looked out to the horizon. The castle lake twinkled in the sunshine, a peaceful breeze rustled through the locks of the trees and village children laughed as they played hopscotch. Everything was perfect for a royal arrival.

Just then, Prince Strongheart burst into the drawing room, his eyes alight.
“She is coming! Look, there is her carriage! We have to go downstairs to meet her!”
Lady LovelyLocks laughed with delight as her fiancé whirled her around before striding out of the room. Her blue eyes sparkled.
“He is in a very good mood!” Maiden FairHair remarked with a raise of her eyebrows.
“He is just excited, come on, lets go downstairs and meet her!”

Lady, with her two Maidens behind her, descended the grand castle staircase leading to the reception, Lady’s three Pixietails whizzing above them.
“What-ix fun-ix!” PixieShine exclaimed whilst doing a tumble through the air. Lady smiled up at her little friend. Downstairs the trio greeted ShiningGlory, Lady’s old friend and guardian, the wise wizard of LovelyLocks. The old sorcerer wore a wistful smile as he clasped hands with Lady LovelyLocks.
“Today is a special day, Lady, I can feel it.” The wizard spoke softly, his pale eyes glancing to the LovelyLocks’ bridge where Princess HoneyRinglets’ golden carriage rumbled, “I have not seen Princess HoneyRinglets for many years now, I do wonder how she has grown.”
Lady blinked and smiled. She turned to her Maidens.
“It seems almost everybody knows this Princess HoneyRinglets! She must be someone very special!” Lady exclaimed with a lilting laugh. ShiningGlory chuckled.
“Oh, she is Lady. I have a feeling that you two will get on very well, and after all, she is a very dear friend of Prince Strongheart…” The wizard trailed off as the carriage drew to a halt.

“Ohhh!” Maiden FairHair and CurlyCrown looked at each other and rushed to the great castle window. Lady LovelyLocks, her blue eyes sparkling with delight, joined her fiancé as they opened the great castle doors, walking out onto the bridge over LovelyLocks moat to greet the new arrival. Everyone held their breath as the carriage door was opened…

Princess HoneyRinglets was as pretty as her name. She was a petite young lady with delightfully round features, a warm welcoming face smattered with golden freckles under liquid amber eyes which glistened with wonder. She wore a dress of rust-red, her bell-skirts trimmed with white lacy flounces and her sleeves were delicate white puffs flounced with the same lace. Her hair was the colour of dark-gold honey, ringleted and piled high, the deep caramel of her tresses highlighted with thin platinum streaks which shimmered in the sunlight. Her skin looked as if it had been kissed by the sun, a light shimmering tan and her mouth fell into an easy smile as soon as she laid eyes on the company that greeted her. Being helped down from the carriage, she turned back to glance over her shoulder.
“Come on GoldyPuff!” Her rounded syllables cooed.
Out from the carriage, at her heels, jumped a golden poodle with a red ribbon tied around its neck. SilkyPup’s ears perked up and her pink tail wagged as soon as she spied a potential friend. The dogs sniffed each other cautiously, touching noses, before SilkyPup gave an encouraging yap and the pair raced off to romp in the garden. Maiden FairHair could only laugh.
“It seems that SilkyPup has found a friend!”

Lady LovelyLocks saw Princess HoneyRinglets’ amber eyes light up as soon as she saw Prince Strongheart.
“Strongheart!” The princess smiled, her light slippered feet skipping over to him. The pair clasped hands tenderly, looking into each others eyes with affection.
“HoneyRinglets, it has been so long!” Prince Strongheart sighed, flicking back his pale blond fringe.
“Oh Strongheart, I cannot believe it is you! You have barely changed!” HoneyRinglets’ soft voice giggled. She then glanced beyond Strongheart’s shoulder to spy the prince’s mentor.
“ShiningGlory? Is that you?” She gasped.
“That is correct, Princess HoneyRinglets.” The wizard gave a low friendly chuckle as he took her hand. Lady smiled as she saw the obvious delight on this young princess’ face. Then HoneyRinglets turned to Lady herself.
“And you must be Lady LovelyLocks!” The honey-curled princess exclaimed.
Lady’s blue eyes twinkled and her rosy lips broke into a smile as HoneyRinglets placed two pecks on each cheek.
“A pleasure to meet you Princess HoneyRinglets, and welcome to LovelyLocks!”
“Oh, I have been waiting to meet you Lady LovelyLocks! As soon as he started writing to me Strongheart has not stopped mentioning you! I have heard such a lot about you!”
Lady shrugged her shoulders with a lilting laugh.
“And I have heard much about you! These are my Maidens, Maiden FairHair and Maiden CurlyCrown…”
The two maidens curtseyed as they were introduced.
“And may I tell you that any friend of Prince Strongheart is a friend of mine! Please, come inside, our chef has prepared a wonderful banquet for your arrival!”

In TangleLand, however, the new arrival was greeted with considerably less enthusiasm by the scheming and sour Duchess RavenWaves.
“What?!” She shrieked as soon as her violet eyes peered into her golden spyglass, her coal-black locks swishing around her. The outraged Duchess leaned in closer, tinkering the cogs to refocus upon the entrance to Castle LovelyLocks.
“No…it can’t be!” She gasped, her features contorting into an expression of sheer horror as it dawned upon her, “But it is! No! No! No!”
At the sound of his mistress’ infuriation, Hairball, her hairy associate and jack-of-all-trades, opened an eyelid from where he was snoring, tilted back on a chair.
“Huh?”
“How could this be Hairball?! She is here! She is actually here!” RavenWaves demanded, her expression livid. Hairball gave a great yawn and stretched, almost toppling the chair over.
“Huh- whoa! What do you mean Duchess?” Her beastly assistant with two great teeth protruding out of his lower jaw asked whilst brushing off his tatty coat.
“Princess HoneyRinglets is in LovelyLocks! This is impossible! This is a catastrophe!” RavenWaves exclaimed, balling up her fists in anger.
“Princess HoneyRinglets…?” Hairball scratched his head with wonder. He had not come across that name before. He saw RavenWaves take an angry breath as she stepped down from her telescope.

RavenWaves sniffed as she stared out to the great brewing storm clouds and forks of lightening which never left TangleLand. RavenWaves’ kingdom was so ill-cared for by it’s mistress that it had not seen a day of fine weather in years, the trees were charged with static electricity, everything was frazzled, wiry and tangled. She folded her arms.
“I once knew Princess HoneyRinglets when I was younger…she was always so sweet and nice and gentle!” RavenWaves’ expression twisted into one of distaste, “She was a goody-two-shoes just like Lady LovelyLocks…and now they are together and so…so….perfect! Ugh, it makes me sick!”
Hairball winced at the description, stroking his curled moustache.
“Huh, huh, she sounds just as lovely as Lady LovelyLocks!” The assistant remarked. RavenWaves’ anger simmered, the glow of lightening crashing behind her. She balled up her fist threateningly, almost cursing the sky.
“Ugh! She is even worse than Lady LovelyLocks!” The Duchess spat, her eyes narrowing, “She was Prince Strongheart’s dear friend, and it was she who told him that I had a heart of stone! It was she who ruined my marriage prospects to the Prince! It was her fault that I had him cursed! Why?! Why did she have to come and ruin a perfectly good day! It’s not fair Hairball!”

RavenWaves harrumphed and plonked herself down onto Hairball’s rickety chair with such force that the legs wobbled and splintered, sending the Duchess falling backwards onto the cold stone floor, her slippered feet kicking, petticoats displayed.
“Grrrr! HAIRBALL!”
Hairball gasped, his eyes popping out of his head as he shrank several sizes smaller out of fear. It was obvious that Duchess RavenWaves was not having a good day as she tossed her black hair away from her face, cursing under her breath, her expression a picture of rage. Hairball gulped, pulling at the neck of his tatty cape out of sheer nervousness. Even on a good day RavenWaves’ assistant could expect something hurled at him by his temperamental mistress…
“It’s not fair Hairball! Why do things never go my way! Never!” RavenWaves kicked her heels, whining like a child, “She always has everything! The kingdom! The Prince! Her pretty little Maidens! And now Princess HoneyRinglets!”
She got up and stomped around the observatory. Thunder rumbled ominously. Hairball shrank back as the Duchess swept past. The jealous young woman seized upon the spyglass, peering into it with a fervour.
“And what is worse is that there is nothing I can do about it!” She seethed, refocusing on a laughing Lady LovelyLocks and Princess HoneyRinglets, “They are both as perfect as each other!”

Hairball returned to his normal size when he noticed the Duchess pondering her exclamation. He saw her enraged expression soften into a smirk, one dark eyebrow raised, then her smirk break into a devious grin before she threw her head back and cackled. Hairball’s eyes popped, one eyebrow raised with confusion…but seconds ago RavenWaves was fuming…now…she was laughing?
“Hairball! It’s perfect!” She exclaimed, rubbing her hands with glee, as she began to pace, this time as she concocted her diabolical plan. She stroked a lock of her jet-black hair, twisting it around her finger as her mouth curled into a satisfied little smile.
“Yes…” She purred, staring out of the window towards Castle LovelyLocks, “Yes, she is just as perfect as you Lady LovelyLocks…oh what fun I am going to have! And it is so easy! I don’t need any of your stolen magic tricks Hairball…this time it will be Lady LovelyLocks who creates her own trouble for a change!”
Lightening flashed as the Duchess lean on the castle sill, her hair swimming around her, her eyes lit with determination as she laughed at the pure genius of it all.