Prologue

The moon shone high in the sky, casting a beautiful silvery light upon the land of Angolia. It crept up mountains and flowed into valleys covering every part of the stunning land. Nowhere, that night, was completely dark, except for one place. A little abandoned shack that stood at the end of a farm stayed in the shadows, for inside of it lived a powerful evil, so powerful in fact, that even the light itself was afraid and stayed away. Nothing stood over the house to shade it from the light yet it was as black as the pupils of Death himself.

A big burly man sat in the deceased farmer’s chair and discussed a plan with the evil shadow next to him.

“Tonight is perfect,” The man said, “No one would expect an assault on a bright night like this one.”

“You must still be careful or this whole plan is lost.” the shadow’s voice shook, like thunder, from excitement.

“Why don’t we start it now?” demanded the man.

“Haven’t we already discussed this?” The shadow said angrily, “We must wait until the royal guards switch shifts.”

“I could go now and destroy the guards!“ The man insisted “We could still win!”

“You will do as I say! We do not want to alert them of our presence.” The shadow’s voice boomed with rage that almost collapsed the shack, “Surprise is on our side tonight. Wait for my signal then you may go.”

An hour of crude silence passed. The world was noiseless as if holding its breath in fear of what would happen next. With a deep breath the shadow spoke:

“It is time”

The man stepped out of the door into the silvery light of the moon.

He was at least six feet tall, maybe more. His hair was curly brown, and he had a beard of the same color. His arms and legs were as thick as tree trunks and the ground shivered and quaked with each step he took. He wore a dark shirt and pants and carried a sword at his waist and a spear in his hand. Whenever he passed, the animals would whisper his name in fear: Babirlin, Babirlin is coming! The castle was only a few minutes away but he still had to be fast or he would suffer punishment from the shadow. He arrived at the castle just as the guards began to leave for bed. This would give him thirty seconds before the next shift of guards came. Being as quiet as he could, he slipped into the castle and headed towards the King and queen’s bedroom.

As Babirlin got closer to the royal bedchamber, more and more guards appeared. Soon he was close enough to hear voices inside the room.

“She’s coming!” the queen whispered,

“Then we must get you downstairs quickly!”

Babirlin hid behind a statue as the king and queen came out of the room with ten strong guards surrounding them. He watched them go down the stairs. He then crept into the bedchamber. Once inside he hid in the huge closet that the king and queen used for their clothes. Another hour passed when finally the king came back to the room.

“You may go,” the king said and the guards left closing the door behind them. Babirlin pulled out his sword and stepped out of the closet. He gave a spine-tingling smile as he faced the king.

“Hello, your Majesty.”