Author's Note: My family and I like to watch this show called Merlin. If you haven't seen it, it's about Arthur, the king of Camelot and Merlin, who is Arthur's servant. Merlin has magic but Arthur doesn't know because it is forbidden. The show inspired this story... oh, by the way, all the characters in the show have medieval names so Laila (meaning Guardian angel) and Maurelle (meaning dark) are the cool names that I found :D
The cloaked girl rounded the shadowed corner. From the dim gleam of the moon, Laila could spot her silently creeping down the hall. The girl was Laila’s twin sister, Maurelle. Of course, Laila’s curiosity got to her. She hated secrets. She had to find out what her sister was doing.
She fastened her purple cloak around her neck and following quickly after her sister. After Maurelle went farther down the hallway and down the steps, she rushed off into the forest just outside the castle. Laila followed, wondering the whole time what her sister was possibly doing this late.
Maurelle kept walking and walking, getting deeper and deeper in the woods. Where is she going?, thought Laila as her twin started to slow her pace. She seemed lost. Confused. Hiding her secret.
Finally she turned into a thick patch of forest that Laila wasn’t familiar with. There was no trail, which was odd. What is she hiding?
As Laila passed through the prickly trees she heard a faint noise. The sound of water. Was there a hidden stream that I didn’t know about? And why would Maurelle go there?, she puzzled.
The trees began to spread, and she saw what that noise was. A small waterfall, which the stars reflected on it making it look like it was glowing. It was beautiful; she had almost forgot her sister was there until she turned. Laila quickly hid herself behind a wide tree. Fortunately, Maurelle didn’t see her.
As she peeked over at her sister, she noticed that Maurelle had a small basket with her. She crouched down at the base of the waterfall and pulled out a unique flower. It was unusually bright with petals forming a perfect star. It was then that Laila realized what this place was. It was the Waterfall of Dawn, known to contain magic. The rumor was if you brought it an offering, it would grant you any wish. Laila always thought this myth was crazy of course, but maybe her sister had believed.
Her twin set the flower gently in the water. After a few seconds, the water glowed golden, the light practically blinding Laila. Her sister then spoke her wish “I wish that something will kill my father to put me in control of the kingdom.”
Laila gasped. She cursed under her breath as Maurelle turned towards where she was hiding. How could she want to kill their father, the king? She never expected this is what her sister would wish for.
A sudden wind pushed her forward, towards Maurelle. It was a strong force, obviously not a normal wind. Laila was pulled in until she was facing her sister. But this wasn’t her normal sister; this sister’s eyes glow golden.
You have magic!” Laila screeched, trying to free herself from the force of Maurelle’s powers.
“So you’ve figured out.” said Maurelle, rage flashing in her eyes as her eyes turned red.
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Waterfall of Dawn #2- Ride into a Nightmare
Author's Note: (READ WATERFALL OF DAWN FIRST!) In class, we got to write anything of our choice. So, I decided to continue the story because the ending of the first one was a cliff hanger. :)
Maurelle's red eyes glared into Laila. Laila felt herself shaking as her twin sister's powers still held her. Maurelle's eyes flashed back to normal and she released her sister, sending her to the ground. Laila tried hard to hold back tears, but they still flowed down her cheeks.
"How could you?" Laila screamed through tears "Father is a great man. You have no right to wish to kill him!"
"He's never treated me like a father should." Maurelle growled "Witter is an old fool!"
"You may think that, but he is your king! Show respect to King Witter"
Maurelle rolled her eyes "I'm starting to see why your his favorite...."
"Because I don't want to kill him!" Laila said as more tears poured down her eyes. She thought she know her sister so well, but now she seemed like a stranger.
Maurelle turned away from Laila. "You want to know why I hate him!?!" she said, rage buried in her voice. "I hate him because of all the innocent people who have died just for using their magic. Like last month, the peasant girl who used it to cure her Father. Dead. The old man who used it to lift a heavy chest when his back was sore. Dead. So many dead, and they didn't need to die. Witter is a fool! He is! And...and..he deserves to die!"
As the words left her mouth, the waterfall began to freeze. The rushing sound of the water stopped like a dead heart as the frozen chill crept up it. Maurelle turned, her powerful red eyes burning into Laila. What happened to her sister? The one who played tea parties with her when they were young. The one who helped her learn how to ride a horse. The one who cheered her up when she was sad. Where was that Maurelle?
"You've.....changed." whispered Laila. With shaking legs, she stood and dashed out of the forest, back to her chambers, away from what seemed like a nightmare.
***
She woke with a start when she head loud knocking on her door. "Morning princess. You up and about?" whispered Laila's servant and best friend, Amity. One thing she had learned about her over the years is that she had a quiet voice, but a thunderous knock.
"Yes...." Laila said in a drowsy voice; she was still starting to wake up.
Slowly, Amity opened the door and walked in. "I was just wondering if you've seen your sister?"
At hearing someone mention her sister, she insistently sat up, realizing she was still in her cloak. Amity must have noticed because she said "You sleep in your cloak, my lady?"
"Oh...," mumbled the princess. "I was a little cold last night" she lied, knowing that last night was a warm fall night."
"Ok, well after breakfast, I thought you would like to ride our horses down Blossom trail. I mean it's such a nice day, with all the leaves changing colors. We just have to ask King Witter first."
A ride down Blossom trail sounded lovely; it would certainly clear her mind of what happened last night. But what if she returned and her father was dead? Well, Maurelle did freeze the waterfall and maybe that would stop the wish.
After a filling breakfast of porridge (and after Amity had asked Witter), the girls went to fetch their horses from the royal stables. Laila went to find Dazzle, her white and brown horse, with a long thick flowing mane. Amity had obviously been planning this for awhile because Dazzle already had her saddle, with saddle bags packed with canteens of water along with apples and cheese.
Amity walked into the town clearing with Clover, her golden-colored horse with a blaze that sort of resembled a four-leafed clover. Amity always believed her horse gave her good luck. "Ready?"
Laila, atop her mighty horse, fastened her cloak around her neck. "Yes, let's go!"
She waited till Amity climbed on top of her horse and then the two rode off together, onto Blossom trail. After 20 minutes of riding, they climbed a small hill. The two horses made their way up gracefully and strong, but when the got to the top, everything had changed. The ground was black. Pitch black. The darkest, ugliest of black.
Both the girls looked at each other, both seeing the fear in the other's eyes. Along with the ground being completely black, the roots of the trees were black too. It seems as if the forest was dying from the ground up. "Get Carnell. He might know what to do about this." ordered Laila. Carnell was a knight, a very good knight. In fact, he was the best knight in the Kingdom of Ziradia. Not to mention Witter's favorite.
At first, Amity seems frozen in her own pool of thoughts, but then shook her head, and turned her horse around and headed back to the castle. Laila wondered why she didn't ask why she wasn't coming with her, but she was sort of glad. She wanted to check on the waterfall alone.
It was a long ride, but finally she made it. Dazzle breathed hard so Laila fed her a juicy apple. She tied her reins to a tree and walked towards the water's edge. Well...the ice's edge. The ice seemed solid, so Laila gently slid onto it. The ice cracked a little below her feet, making a thin spiderweb of cracks, but it didn't collapse. Sliding, her foot caught on something. She stopped and kneeling down, seeing now that what her foot caught on was a bump in the ice. But it wasn't just that; there was something trapped under the ice. The princess placed her hand on the ice and perked into it. It was the star-shaped flower, trapped in the depths of the cold, soulless ice.
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Waterfall of Dawn #3- Greatest Knight of Ziradia.
The horse’s hooves trotted through the Main Gate towards the stables. When they reached Dazzle’s stall, Laila hopped off and walked her horse in. After shutting the stall door behind her, she removed her hood and headed into the castle. The princess walked through the halls, finally reaching the dining hall. At the end of the long table, her father, King Witter, sat sipping from his golden goblet. Laila smoothed her dress and sat down to the right of her father.
“So,” said the King. “Your sister appears to missing. Her horse isn’t in the stables so we know she wasn’t kidnapped. She just. . .left”
“Oh. Well Amity asked me if I’d seen her and I said no. I didn’t realize she was gone.” she lied. She knew her sister had left the kingdom the night she had first visited the Waterfall of Dawn. There was so much Laila wanted to tell her dad, but she didn’t know how to tell him. So she just continued, “Did Amity tell you what we found in the forest?”
Witter stopped eating. “No she didn’t.” The princess told him of the blackened ground they found on Blossom trail.
“I sent Amity back to tell Carnell while I explored around to see if it was causing a threat.” Laila lied again.
“Wow! Well I’ll send a patrol in the morning. And you can join them.” smirked Witter
“No! Why do I have to go on patrol? You know I hate them.” yelled Laila
“You can show the knights exactly where you found this. By the way, I know you hate them. But. . .”
“A princess needs to know her kingdom by frequently patrolling” said the princess in a bored voice, cutting the King off. Her father was always giving her advice on how to run the kingdom. Her and her sister were twins and Maurelle was born first by a few minutes. Since it wasn’t fair that she would be the Queen just by being delivered a little before, the princesses would be tested on their 18th birthday. The girl who proved to know how to run the kingdom would then become ruler of Ziradia. “Don’t you want to come too?”
King Witter finished his dinner and leaned back. “I got plenty of things to deal with here” he got up and kissed the top of her head, by her shimmering crown. “I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”
***
The patrol rushed through the Woods, heading toward Blossom Trail. When they arrived to the trail and went up the hill, Laila and the Knights stopped. The princess and Carnell were in the front and seeing the dark ground, looked at each other. Shaking, Laila asked “What do you think it could be? A sorcerer? Or sorceress?”
“Hmm. . . .” Carnell took a step forward onto the dark ground and then stepped back. “Here, take my hand.”
“Ok. . .” said Laila. She trusted him, even though she had no idea what he was doing. They stepped onto the dark ground together and suddenly everything changed. Where the edge of the black ground was was a clear force of some sort; a wall that separated the two worlds.
“It stops time! I was standing out here for 10 minutes and it only seemed like a second to you.” shouted the Knight.
“What?” Laila looked through the clear shining force to see the other Knights on the other side. “HELLO! GUYS COME OVER HERE!”
“They can’t hear you” Carnelled chuckled
“What?”
“Don’t you know how time stoppers work? I guess not. Ok, so if you step into one, the people on the outside won’t hear you or see you moving” he pointed the force. “After we pass this, the people on the other side will think we’re just standing here for a second!”
Laila was fascinated by this. She was still a little confused, but that’s what magic was. Confusing. “It’s amazing!”
“We should probably tell Witter about this. We need to break this Power cast” said Carnell.
“Power cast?”
Carnell rolled his eyes. “You would think a princess would know this stuff. It’s a powerful spell that can only be broken by the person who cast it.”
At that moment, the princess thought of her sister. She thought, Did Maurelle cast this?
***
When they returned, Laila and Carnell traveled to Witter’s chambers. When they came to the guarded doors, Carnell stopped. “Do you want to tell him or should I?”
Laila pondered this for a while. “Um....you. As you said it, I don’t know a lot about them. You’ll be better at explaining them to my father.”
After the knight agreed, they stormed into Witter’s tidy chambers. Witter was sitting on the windowsill, looking out at his kingdom. He turned as soon as the door opened.
“Hello. Welcome. What can I do of you?” he greeted them.
“Actually, Father, we have something to share with you” said the princess, nudging Carnell to tell him.
As Carnell explained what they had found on the trail, the King’s face went into a sort of snarl. “A sorcerer in my Kingdom!”
“Or sorceress. . . “ Lail added, remembering her sister.
“Or both” Carnell joked and chuckled. When the king gave him a stern look, Carnell stopped.
“This is not a joke. Magic is evil and dangerous.”
“But, Dad. . .” said Laila
Her father cut her off “No buts. I will not tolerate this! I. . . I will. . .” Witter thought for a second. “I will send a patrol out at noon. We’ll find this sorcerer, if it’s the last thing I do!” The king then stormed off to gather up some of his knights.
Laila wanted to cry. What if they killed Maurelle? Wait. . . how could her father do that? He loved his daughters. Surely he wouldn’t kill one of them if they had magic, would he?
***
The Knights gathered in the town clearing, some coming out of the stables with their horses, others checking their supplies. The princess sat on the windowsill in her room and looked out of the window, her gaze on them. Please don’t harm Maurelle, she prayed. She prayed over and over again, feeling like a little girl again, wishing on a star. Back then, she would have wished for a new dress or a pony, but now her sister’s protection was the only thing she cared about.
As the Knights started to ride off towards the main gate, Laila wanted to cry. She knew her sister had powers and that they probably weren’t good powers, but did she really have to die because of that. She just hoped that if they did find her sister that they wouldn’t find her casting a spell.
Laila then realized that she had to find her sister. She had to talk to her and try to figure out what was going on. The princess grabbed her cloak and dashed to the stables. Once she was on Dazzle, she rode off, trying to take a different route than the patrol.
Of course, I know a place where she could be, thought Laila.
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Waterfall of Dawn #4: The Failed Lies
The horse’s hooves ran swiftly along the trail, hurrying to the waterfall. Princess Laila quickly lead Dazzle through the trees into the clearing. The water remained unchanged, still frozen with the blackened flower in the center. The sorceress of this power cast was Marelle, Laila’s twin sister, who was missing. She’s never coming back now. Not after this..., thought the princess. She rode to the waterfall thinking her sister would have to be here. Her sister was gone.
Just as Laila was about to leave, she heard a twig swap from somewhere in the woods. “Hello?” called Laila “Maurel....”
But a running figure stopped her mid-sentence. The person ran behind a tree not far from Laila.
“You have no idea who I am”
Laila knew that voice anywhere. “You.....You are here.” she said, stepping a little closer to the tree. At that moment, a quick burst of dark light flashed from Maurelle’s hand and hit Laila.
***
The princess awoke and stared at the branches above her. She was on Blossom trail again, with Dazzle tied to the thick log next to her. But one thought hit Laila instantly, her sister was really gone. Now not only was she missing, but the real Maurelle was missing too. What had happened to her?
The patrol passed by and stopped to help the princess up. When they asked what happened, Laila couldn’t help but lie and say she had fell off her horse.
“Then why was your horse tied up?” Carnell asked questionably.
“Um...” Laila thought quickly and said “Well...after I fell I had to chase Dazzle around to get her. I finally got her and was so tired, I guess I just fell asleep.” She smiled nervously when Carnell stood silent for a while.
“Hmm...well I’m still going to take you to Haylan, just to make sure you're fine” the great Knight said.
Haylan was the kingdom’s healer. “But Carnell....”
“Nope. I just want to make sure.”
***
Carnell lead Laila to Haylan’s medical chambers in the castle. The princess felt uncomfortable, knowing that she had lied again to protect her sister. She just wanted to tell someone desperately...
“So...” Carnell’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “You aren’t in pain, are you? I just want to make sure you didn’t break a bone or something”
Again, Laila lied. “No, Dazzle was just trotting and got scared by something. The fall wasn’t bad...” She sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh...nothing. Just...nothing”
After turning a corner, they reached the healer’s chambers. Carnell opened the door for the princess. She just rolled her eyes, “I can open a door you know.”
“Wow. You sure you didn’t hit your head? Anyway, hello Haylan” Haylan, hunched over his remedies, looked up at the knight and the princess. Haylan used to be a knight, until seriously injured in the knee from a sword fight. Now, he could still help people, but he couldn’t run normally anymore.
“Hello-e-o” said Haylan in his normal happy tone. He didn’t even care about the injury anymore. Laila smiled at him and looked at Carnell.
“Princess Laila here fell off her horse. She says she’s fine but I just want to make sure.”
Laila could see the smirk trying to hide in Haylan’s face. “Shouldn’t you have mastered horseriding by now? Just kidding. Let’s just see.”
Haylan did simply tests, making sure she could move her arms and legs, testing her reaction time, and asking many questions. The princess was sweating the whole time. By the smile in Carnell’s face, she could tell that he knew she was lying. After Haylan said she was fine, Carnell and Laila walked down the hall.
“You knew, didn’t you?” she said
“Well..”, Carnell started, “you aren’t very good at covering your lies. Work on that, trust me you’ll need that skill.”
Laila felt embarrassed. Carnell knew, and he had only brought her here to see her look awkward. They walked the rest of the way in silence.
When they reached Laila’s chambers, she just dipped her head to Carnell and headed inside. She didn’t want to talk to him, not now. Amity was already inside, making the princess’ bed. “Good afternoon princess. Just tidying up” Amity sounded cheerful.
“Hi Amity. Can I tell you something? Something you have to promise not to say to anyone else.” responded Laila, thinking maybe Amity was the right person to talk to.
“Sure, what is it?”
“Well, I don’t know if I should tell you. I mean I trust you, but it’s just that....”
“Princess,” Amity said in a comforting tone. “I wouldn’t tell a soul. We’re best friends; no matter what it is, I’ll keep it secret.”
“You don’t understand. This is more than a normal secret. If anyone finds out, someone can be killed. But I just need to get it off my chest.”
“Tell me princess. I know how you feel to keep something important to yourself. Just speak your mind.”
“But it’s.....about my sister.”
“She’s missing.....”
Laila took a deep breath. “She’s the sorceress.”
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Amity and Laila strolled through the hall. Amity couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around the idea of Maurelle having magic, let alone dark magic.
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Waterfall of Dawn #5-Revealing Secrets
“I just can’t...” Amity said, Laila giving her the signal to quiet down. “I just can’t believe it’s her”
The princess held back tears. Even though this had been burning inside of her for just a few days, it had felt like forever. Her sister was a completely different person, and until now she hadn’t had the chance to talk through this with anyone.
“I...It’s...um, I don’t know” Laila felt stupid that she had all these mixed feelings, but didn’t know how to say them.
Amity gave her a faint smile. “Hey. It’s ok. I’m glad you told me; this is a pretty big secret. But I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”
Something washed over Laila and forced her to give Amity a giant hug. “Thanks. Thanks so much.” she said through tears. It hurt. It hurt a lot. At least she had a friend to talk to now.
They walked and talked, Laila letting all her worries and feelings slip out of her. They continued down the main hall, suddenly seeing a boy coming up towards them.
“Oh..my” whispered Amity. “It’s Irving! How do I look?” she panicked. Laila tried not to laugh. Amity had had a crush on Irving, one of the young cooks, for a really long time. She always got nervous around him.
Amity clearly saw the laughter trying not to escape Laila’s mouth. “Well sorry. Nevermind, you don’t understand. I mean, you’re a princess. You could be with any guy you wanted, but I can’t. I’m just a servant....”
Irving was getting closer. As they passed each other in the hall, Laila watched Amity try not to smile. After they were a farther distance from him, Laila caught Amity wiping a tear from her eyes. “You don’t understand....”
***
King Witter called Laila to meet him. She was afraid that the someone had found her sister, but when she got there, Witter just said “Hello. Any plans for your birthday?”
The princess had been so worried about her sister that she completely forgot her birthday. But since her and Maurelle were twins, her birthday party would just be awkward. Her father interrupted her thoughts “Remember, it’s your 18th birthday.” He said with a wink.
“What....” but then it hit her. Her 18th birthday, when she and Maurelle would be tested to see who would have control of the kingdom. “But it’s still a month away.”
“Plenty of time to prepare then.” Witter added. “If Maurelle doesn’t return by then, the position will be yours.”
Laila thought about this while returning to her chambers. Queen Laila?, she pondered, wondering how that would sound. A queen had a lot of responsibilities, and if there was a queen there would have to be a.....King. A king. The princess wasn’t ready for marriage, she was still a child. She wanted to be a child. Having a kingdom to take care of and a husband to find was too much for her. She decided to take a horse ride in the forest to clear her mind
***
Laila took Amity with her. She didn’t want to be alone, because that was probably when her sister would appear. She also kept away from Blossom Trail and the Waterfall of Dawn.
“Lets go south, towards Ash Trail....” Laila said while the two girls rode out of the gates on their horses.
“I want to see this ‘Waterfall of Dawn’” Amity smirked
For a moment, Laila tried to remember when she had said that. “Wait...” the princess said, realizes she hadn’t mentioned that. “What are you talking about?” practicing her lying skills like Carnell had told her.
“Well...” Amity said quietly “I don’t know if I should tell you...”
That infuriated Laila to a point where she had to stop her horse, Dazzle. “Excuse me?” she said snobbishly “I’m a princess. You shouldn’t keep secrets from me!”
“Oh Laila”, Amity’s tone was calm “I know you’re a princess, but we’re friends. Well..um, I was told not to tell you.”
“So...that means someone else knows about this?” the princess said coldly.
Amity didn’t answer. She just continued down the path without looking back. Although Laila was angry, she realized Amity had kept her secret. Someone else knew about this, someone around her.....someone knew Maurelle’s secret.
The thought hit her with a blow. Someone knows she’s the sorceress! Are they going to tell my father? Are they trying to find her? With that, Laila turned Dazzle around and headed north.
***
The waterfall was exactly how it had been before. The flower was withering away, and was nothing more than a scrap of petals. Laila just stood in front of it, staring at it. Wishing it would come back to life.
She closed her eyes. Just like Maurelle, she thought. I wish the real her could also come back to life. Laila felt a single tear stroke down her face lightly. The frozen chill of the pool made it stay on her face, permanently capturing her sadness.
When she opened her eyes to wipe it away, she gasped. The flower began coloring with color, life springing back into every leaf and petal. The center glowed brightly, stunning the princess with it’s color.
“You used magic!” yelled a voice from behind her. Laila whirled around, ready to defend herself, but relaxed when she saw Amity.
“Wh-why did you follow me” The princess wasn’t sure Amity would protect this secret. But if she wouldn’t tell anyone about Maurelle’s dark magic, why would she say anything about this?
Amity seemed to see what she thinking. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. Did you know you could do that?”
“No...” Laila said, more to herself than Amity. “I have magic! Wait, I have magic. But...I’m the princess. How can I ever be a queen if I’m breaking the kingdom’s law.”
Amity smiled. “Well, no duh. You can change the law when your queen. And I wish you would..”
Laila flinched it this. “Why would you want it to change? Magic can be evil, like Maurelle's”
For a moment, Amity looked down. “You promise you won’t say anything. I mean, I’m keeping your secret....”. When Laila nodded, Amity said “I have magic too”
Disbelief flooded Laila. When she didn’t respond, Amity added “That’s how I knew about the waterfall. I sensed it. I’m pretty good at reading minds” she walked up to the waterfall. “And it looks like you're good at life spells.”
Suddenly, Amity’s eyes blazed bright blue. The ice cradling the flower started melting away until it was released. Laila bent down and picked up the star-shaped plant. The flower felt warm from the magic recently charmed on it.
The princess started to laugh “This is amazing! We both have magic. And if we can bring this flower out of the dark...” thought filled Laila’s head “We can bring Maurelle out of the dark too!” 
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