Journey of the Recalcitrant Princess to the Black Mountain
Princess Beatrice rode for a night through the dark forest of Ermengard and came out into the countryside as the sun rose. She travelled for days northward bound in the direction of the Black Mountain, following the routes she had learnt from her sisters’ expeditions and the many charts and maps she had found in the royal library, always taking the lesser trodden paths distant from human dwellings and villages or townships to avoid being seen or running into other troubles.
It was not in her character or her destiny, however, to avoid becoming involved in the fates of others.
She had been resting in a woodland, feeding slices of apple to Thunderbolt, when a red fox ran up to them and leapt into one of the saddlebags. Moments lat
