A mere 6,500 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Orion, midway between the stars Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, there glowed a small star called Sandyx. Around the yellowish-orange sun spun the warm and majestic, half-sized world of Adamas. Perrens comprised most of the intelligent inhabitants-one of two races of small humanoids living simple, medieval lives.

And in a yellow-stoned castle in the Kingdom of Metus, its Regal Family resided. Their ancestors had peacefully ruled the beautiful land for five hundred years-until something very out of the ordinary happened.

Lysentia panted as she plowed through the passageway door and spilled into her bedchamber. Two Excubian Guards loomed before her.

     Spinning around, one of the guards lurched forward and grabbed a handful of her regal-green gown. "Here's how she produced the disappearing act. There are secret passageways in the castle walls."

     Lysentia wriggled to shake off the guard's hold. "I am the Princess Secundus … and the second princess of the Kingdom of Metus should not be treated in such a manner."

     The guard shook her. "I'll show you how a princess should be treated."

     Lysentia smacked the guard's grip loose and jumped back. The second guard slapped one hand on his sheathed sword and thrust out the other as though beckoning a pet. "Here, pretty blue-haired princess. Come to me, now."

     The princess spun toward the passageway entrance, but the second guard dove and latched onto her hem. Glancing back and discovering the first guard about to spring, she leapt to the left. The first missed and sprawled across the second, the weight of one knocking loose the grip of the other-and Lysentia sprang free.

     Darting through the passageway entrance, she slammed the door shut and fastened the makeshift lock put there by her younger brother Festinato. He installed it last year without her knowledge to fool her into thinking the door had jammed. Not funny when he played his little trick on her then, now it provided her extra time to flee the castle.

     The twelve-year-old princess dashed to the first corner, turned left, and sprinted toward the secret castle exit. The top half of her body leaned far ahead of the rest, and she tumbled across the stone floor.

     The princess lay as still as a mountain pond on a windless day, breathing hard while tasting the humid mustiness of the passageway that always smelled of rotting mushrooms. She and her ten-year-old brother had played there all their lives, sneaking from room to room, visiting their fifteen-year-old sister Nobilis, and their twenty-year-old brother Secta, and they always complained about the odor. Now, everything had changed in an instant, and the horrible smell didn't seem to matter. On this, the last evening of her family's rule, she remained concerned only in putting as much distance between her and her pursuers as possible.

     A crashing sound echoed along the narrow corridor and Lysentia glanced back through the faint, bluish glow of the arderi stone lining the passageways.

     That oaf-like noise could only be the Excubian Guards breaking down the passageway entrance to my bedchamber.

     The time had arrived to jump up and run again-to flee from the huge, ugly men she once ordered around as Princess Secundus. Now, the Kingdom of Metus had been gruesomely transformed into the Republic of Metus-and she only knew one thing-

     I must run from them! Run like a musculus mouse from the gaping jaws of a wild lupus dog!

     Lysentia pulled up her right sleeve. She stared as yellow blood oozed from her elbow.

     Surely my knees are bleeding as well.

     Staring at her once pretty frock, it hung all torn and smeared with her own urine.

     For all the honor, tradition, history, and respect my position once commanded, I have only bruises, blood, pee, and rags to show for it.

     Thrusting herself up, she sped off again. Hearing a distant galloping, her mind ran also-racing with all the winds of her mixed-up, airy thoughts.

     What did Nobilis mean by fortitude? What could have possessed my elder sister to write such a thing about me? I have no inner strength. And what of Nobilis's mention of resilience in me? I have no ability to bounce back from bad situations? She's wrong about me … completely wrong. I don't care about bouncing anywhere except away from here to save myself. I'm as weak as Nobilis claims herself to be.

     Lysentia stopped at the little vault by the castle exit, threw its door open, and scrutinized the clothing lying within.

     Nobilis reigned as the Princess Primorus, the firstborn princess. She had the presence, the understanding, the intelligence … also the fortitude and resilience. She should be here beside me now … in the lead, guiding me, molding me into her own courageous image.

     Realizing she would have no time to change, she reached in, yanked out a hat, and rammed it over her pinned up hair.

     How could everything change so fast? I wasn't prepared for this. Things were supposed to go the same way for my family as they had for every Regal Family over the last five hundred years. Why must there be a change now? Why? Why?

     She flicked a tear from her right eye.

     This afternoon Festinato and I played nicely together … well, not so nicely. He … He …

Houses of Pristia, the capital city of Metus

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The Blue-Haired Princess Series. All rights reserved ©1999-2006 by Dakota Balmore.