When the courtyard was empty, Bennela turned her sharp eyes to the grim face of her adviser.
"What do we do now?"
Fo thought on the words Golira had delivered from the king of Vamane.
He will send his army of trolls and orcs to ruin this lovely island of yours.
Fo did not want any harm to come to his home or its inhabitants, but he knew that they had no means of protection. None of the people could fight and Bennela's magic would not be enough to save them from the promise of destruction King Wrill's army brought.
"We must fight."
"But how? The army of Vamane is much larger than any we have ever battled, and we have no army or allies to help us!"
The handsome elf considered everything his queen had said. There was no way out of the battle except surrendering, and another an option he didn't think she'd fancy much.
Fo sighed and responded to the faerie looking up at him with worried, brown eyes.
"I have an idea," he started slowly. "But you won't like it very much."
Bennela stared at her adviser and wondered if he had gone mad. They were about to face total annihilation, and for some bizarre reason, they were in the library. The Children's Library!
Fo led Bennela down a long row of books, finally stopping in front of a shelf, containing numerous books, each one a detestable shade of blue. He pulled a particularly heavy one and handed it to her.
"Read the second story in the book."
Bennela raised a black eyebrow at Fo, but still sat down one of the bean bags in the library, and began to read.
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Sorrel. Sorrel was the daughter of King Crochan of Wath. When Sorrel turned fifteen, her father fell terribly ill. He was not dead, but neither was he alive. The water lily that could heal him was in the possession of a wise, old dragon on the island of Nuachez.
So, gathering everything she needed, Sorrel left her home to find the cure for the illness afflicting her father.
After two days of journeying, the princess reached a wooden house belonging to an imp. Sorrel was tired from traveling for so long, and she politely accepted the imp's offer to stay the night in his home. The next day, Sorrel thanked the imp, and he gave her a map to guide her on the journey.
Not long after leaving the house of the imp, Sorrel met a brownie in a cage. He told her that it had been captured by a wizard many years ago. Because of her kind nature, Sorrel quickly let the brownie out of his cage, and he gave her a potion to strengthen her when she arrived at Nuachez.
Sorrel reached Nuachez, tired and dirty, but still determined to meet the dragon and get the lily to heal her father. She took the potion the brownie had given her, and climbed the high, rocky mountain to reach the dragon. Finally, Sorrel reached the top of the mountain, found the dragon in a cave, and got the water lily.
She returned home with renewed strength and saved her father. The people of Wath celebrated for a week after her return, naming the festival, The Feasts of Sorrel, when everyone feasted at the castle every day.
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