As beautiful as a pair of doves, were two lovebirds in the woods, near the Kingdom of Locksford. The young maiden's wavy hair was as dark as onyx with eyes as green as leaves and her skin was as tawny as the Earth. The Prince's shoulder length hair was brown as oak with large eyes as dark as coals and his skin as beautiful as ivory. They kissed and sang the most of beautiful love songs professing their love for each other. She lived not far yonder inside a commoner's cottage, but he was the Prince of Locksford and the king and queen awaited him home inside their castle.
"What must we do, my love?" she asked him. "I am just a poor villager."
"Not to worry. I will travel home and you shall fetch me in a fortnight to the gates of my castle. I will meet you there, and we will tell my parents about our plans. Then we will be joined in marriage by our priest, thereafter," he said. "No one will harm us, because I am the Prince and I can plead to my parents for their blessings."
"I shall meet you at the gates, my love," she said. "I will follow you shortly after you leave."
"Keep this handkerchief and this heirloom coin. For both will be your ticket into our city gates to meet me," he said. He bid her farewell only for short while, or so he thought, as he rode off on his black stallion to ask for his parent's permission and prepare for the imminent matrimony.
The young maiden walked to her cottage and took what was left of her belonging from her humble home, to prepare for travels to meet her prince charming. She slept the night away in dreams of love and a happily ever after.
The next day, on her journey to the city gates, a pack of wolves brutally attacked her. Her body was bloody and wounded and her belongings were destroyed. She had nothing but her tattered clothes and the two tokens of love from her prince.
Two sisters were walking in the woods and saw the remnants of the beautiful maiden on the ground.
"Is she dead?" Nahla, the older sister asked.
"She is but a carcass of dog meat. Let us leave her," said Mahla, the younger sister.
"I am alive, please help me," pleaded the wounded maiden.
Nahla and Mahla took the maiden and carried her back to their cottage by her arms and legs. The maiden was heaving and the two sisters realized that the young maiden was near her last breath.
"I am to meet my love, the Prince of Locksford," said the maiden, as blood spurted out of her gut. "Can you help me?"
"The Prince of Locksford?" said Nahla, aghast, as her eyes became fierce with fires. Mahla was suddenly filled with jealousies and asked, "I deserve to meet the Prince of Locksford. How about did you meet such a man of prominence? You are nothing but dog meat!" said Mahla.
"But, I must tell him what happened. I have his handkerchief. Could you give this to him? And tell him I was savaged, but I will always love him?" said the maiden, heaving in tears of sorrow and suffering.
"I will do it, and I will see if the Prince will take me as his friend," said Nahla. Nahla smirked, because she was in joy for the beautiful maiden was dying in pain.
Nahla left her home and left Mahla with the maiden, and as the maiden cried in grief, Mahla asked her, "How would you know if he received the message if Nahla will not return? If I was in her shoes, I would take the Prince and tell him you were no longer his bride. Then perhaps, he would take me instead."
"Oh dear sister, please help me. It is my last wish, to tell him that I am forever in love with him," said the dying maiden.
Mahla asked her, "Then you will die alone?"
"Please take this coin for assurance that he will receive my message. Please tell him, I am forever his, and his love is etched inside my soul, forever," said the maiden, with her last breath.
Mahla, still in disbelief of the maiden's death, took a knife and stabbed her through her heart to guarantee her death. She took the coin the maiden gave her and left to Locksford, to meet the Prince.
When the two sisters arrived at the gates, they were both angry at each other; because there were two tokens, not one, that might confuse the Prince of Locksford from choosing a replacement.
"What brings you here?" asked the Prince, in his full regalia, awaiting his bride.
"We are here to tell you, that your love had changed her mind," said Nahla.
"I was given this coin to tell you that I am to replace her," said Mahla.
"That is not true, my Prince. I was given this handkerchief. I am to replace her," said Nahla.
The Prince was devastated and his sadness overwhelmed him, as he dropped to his knees and wept that all of the angels in heaven felt his grief.
In heaven, the Lord of Lords saw the misfortune of the young maiden, whose spirit entered the pearly gates. He summoned his angels to bring the maiden's spirit into his court.
"Bring me the young woman. I have a plan for her. A plan to prosper her, not to harm her. A plan for a future and a hope. A plan for love," the Lord said.
The angels took the maiden's spirit and her soul was brought in judgment by the Lord's court.
"You were beaten and savaged. Was this true?" the Lord said.
"Yes, my Lord," said the young maiden, who faced death before her time.
"He loves you, The Prince of Locksford. You were meant to be together," said the Lord.
In the Kingdom of Locksford, the Prince spent all of his days and nights in his regalia on the seat of his throne, awaiting in tears for his beautiful bride. Each tear drop he cried became a million more and as he wept, the tears became gushing water that swept the villages and forests, as his castle flooded with tears. If his tears were made of gold, the Kingdom of Locksford would drown in treasures everlasting.
Nahla and Mahla were upset that they had to scale the castle walls and ceilings to find the highest points over ground to escape the waters.
"He loved her! What a weak soul he has," said Mahla.
"Only a fool would cry over lost love," said Nahla. "His bride will never come back to him. She was dog meat!"
Their lips spoke of the rotting hearts inside their souls, but the Prince cared not of their commentaries nor their beauty. They felt wrong, and he wept away, as he tried to heal through unleashing his emotion in prayers.
Each tear drop the Prince wept were collected in large glass jars by the angels and as millions of jars filled the heavenly sanctuaries, the Lord of all Lords sighed in affirmation to return true love to the Prince.
The Lord of Lords kissed the cheek of the young maiden, and instantly, she was brought to her prince. At that moment, her soul was given a second chance in true love. She was dressed in an iridescent gown, made of silk and diamonds, with a crown made of gold and rubies.
He saw her in front of his eyes as he fell to his knees out of sheer surprise and joy. The waters from his tears immersed into the ground and became the nutrients for the village and the forests. The trees and flowers around the castle bloomed and decorated the once flooded surrounding into blossoming springtime.
The Prince and the young maiden ran into each other's arms, and he asked her, "Did you send the two sisters to replace our love?"
"No, my love. It was my last dying wish to send them with a message that I loved you, till my dying days," said the maiden. "I was attacked by wolves in the midst of my travel."
"Who were the two sisters to you?" asked the Prince.
"I thought they would help me, so I gave them your tokens for me to send it to you. for our wedding day. But, they murdered me, instead," said the maiden.
The Prince of Locksford was angry and drew his sword out of its sheath and called his guards.
"Find me the two sisters with my handkerchief and coin. Bring them to me at once!" said the Prince.
The guards took the two sisters, and told them that the Prince had asked for their presence in the court.
"Is this the time of our marriage, sister?" said Nahla.
"I hope he will only take me, as his bride, and leave you inside your home, forever," said Mahla.
Nahla and Mahla fought and ripped each other's clothes, but the guards separated them and brought them to the Prince at once.
"Off with their heads. They have committed a grave crime. Fraud and blackmail! A crime amongst our people and an insult to the church!" commanded the Prince to the guards.
And the two sisters were beheaded.
In heaven, the Lord saw the souls of the two sisters and told them.
"It is with great joy, that you both shall serve the worlds' worst criminals by cleaning their wastes inside their dungeons. For all eternity," said the Lord.
In the Kingdom of Locksford, the Prince realized his maiden was unprotected and was left in the forest amongst wolves, tigers, bears and many more carnivorous animals. He realized he should not have left love without attention or a clear pathway to love's return. He should have pleaded to the king and queen for a just approval of their love and appealed to never be harmed for their unconventional marriage.
Nahla and Mahla were random strangers whom the maiden desperately asked for help, after a tragic accident, and it was still common for the cruel world to harm the vulnerable and destroy innocent lives to claim selfish glory.
Thankfully, the Lord of Lords gave the Princess a second chance in life, and the Prince wanted to reclaim love and faithful loyalty to his maiden. After the approval of the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Locksford, they resumed their plans to wed and formed a family. The Kingdom of Locksford bloomed and their harvest multiplied as the Royal Family grew in numbers with a princess in waiting.
Unconventional marriages became a tradition for the Kingdom of Locksford, as royalties and prominent families married commoners who took their breath away, and previously married men and women were given second chances in love.
The tears of the Prince of Locksford gave so much harvest to the sunflowers in the fields as new buds grew each day. Sunflowers became the symbol of the Kingdom of Locksford, and as tradition, a prince would bring a blossom of it to his maiden for their first engagement, ever after.
Just write. The End.