Trouble in the Land of Dwarves Prologue

Once upon a time there was a land of great adventure called Darrowold, which means Dwarf World. Darrowold was a magical land where dragons flew through the skies and giants stomped across the earth. It was a world where pirates sailed their ships in search of buried treasure and knights, both good and bad, fought brave battles. But most of all, Darrowold was a world of imagination created for the enjoyment of a special young prince and princess who watched from a crystal palace.

This was Amiera, Palace of the Heart, a beautiful white castle decorated with amethyst and rubys set atop Ivory Mountain, the tallest mountain in Darrowold where the Prince and Princess were always safe from danger. Mount Ivory was so high it’s peak was above the clouds in the sky so that no one could even see the Palace from below. It was also very hard to reach Amiera above the clouds because there were no roads or tunnels going up the mountain. The only way to get to it was by flying or by magic, so it was a very safe place for children to live.

Princess Nataleigh liked her castle in the sky. She would spend afternoons walking in the gardens, smelling the flowers that grew in patches of floating rainclouds, or sit on the balcony of her fluffy, pink bedroom and listen to the music of eagles calling from their nests on the mountain below. She especially loved to hear the cries of the newly hatched baby eagles as they called for food.

The princess also loved to spend time with her white pony, Jewel. Every day she would visit her in the palace stable and feed her carrots and sugar cubes, then brush the long lavender hair of her mane and tail before taking a ride. Jewel was a Wind Runner! (Wind Runners are magic ponies that can run on the air or even across the water like they are flying.) Through the clouds and around the tall mountains Princess Nataleigh would ride Jewel for hours. They would chase the young eagles as they learned to fly or make snowmen out of snow on the cold mountain tops.
This had all been great fun at one time, but as Princess Nataleigh grew older, her heart was not in her beautiful castle or even with her dazzling little pony. These things seemed boring to her now.

What the Princess really loved and never grew tired of watching, was the world below. Through her magic mirror there was always new things to see. She would gaze into it for hours to see how things were going with the good King Balderdash and his golden knights in their shining castle, or look out over the dwarven seas to find out if the pirates were getting into any new trouble.

It wasn’t that she was often surprised by what she saw in her magic mirror, for things in Darrowold went pretty much the same way all the time. King Balderdash and his golden knights were usually under attack from the Black Knights of Dingle Castle, but were always able to chase them away with their catapults and other weapons. The pirates sometimes got involved as well, but no one ever got seriously hurt and they usually made Nataleigh giggle. No, what drew the Princess to the world of dwarves was the excitement of their adventures and the thrill of their battles. Nataleigh longed to be a part of the adventure, the excitement and the thrills of not just watching, but experiencing!

That, however, was the one thing that had been forbidden to the children of Amiera. The Prince and Princess were never allowed to leave the safety of their home in the clouds without permission and not until they were older. This was for their safety.

But one day Princess Nataleigh looked into her mirror and saw something very serious; so serious that she decided it was time to leave the safety of her ivory castle in the clouds and introduce herself to the dwarves at last. “Surely I am old enough now”, she reasoned, “and this is very serious! I must go and warn King Balderdash!” So up she jumped, gathered her things and whistled for Jewel.

As the pony galloped to her side, she felt a sick feeling in her stomach and wondered if she was doing the right thing. “I’ll just tell the Jolly Men in the Renegade Forest at the bottom of the mountain.” she told herself. “I’ll be back before anyone misses me.”

Then, her mind made up, she mounted Jewel and with a leap, they were off, galloping through the clouds, moving toward Darrowold to warn the good dwarves!

This is the story of what happened and the consequences of that decision......