Once upon a midnight dreary… Wait, this isn’t a scary story! Once upon a time, there was a prince, who didn’t have a princess. He thought he would be forever alone, until one morning, his faithful follower/friend/worker came to give him his coffee and the news of a princess, waiting for a prince.
“Your majesty, I have received great news,” said Smeth as he gave the coffee to Robert.
The prince replied, “I don’t care unless Josh had a fatal death!”
Smeth replied, “I’m sorry but he is still alive. But there’s a rumor going around that there is a princess awaiting a prince. She’s in a tower at the northern side of Pompey.” This instantly caught Robert’s attention as he spat all of his coffee onto Smeth!
“You must be kidding! Pack the whistle, my sword, food, and yourself!” he said.
“I’m not kidding, but why do you want me to go along?”
“Well maybe the princess has an older sister,” Robert replied with a winky face.
This instantly made Smeth want to go and he said, “We’ll be all packed and ready to go at noon of today.”
As Smeth and Prince Robert left the kingdom, the people cheered, finally hoping for the prince to find a princess and live happily, but they knew the chances of that happening were very slim for the prince. Over the next three days they venture to find the princess. They finally get within a days journey of the tower and stop for the night.
As they settle down, the horses go off to graze and Robert asks, “Do you think she will like me?”
Smeth replies, “ Yes! I’m sure she will. It’s not like she’ll turn you down after waiting so long for a prince.”
“You’re right Smeth. It’s a good thing I’m the only prince going after her.”
Smeth’s smile drops and he says, “About that… um, your not the only prince. Umm… Josh is going to, I must have forgotten to say that.. Oops.”
Robert stares him down and yells, “YOU COULDN’T HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE I LEFT!! YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! THERE’S NO WAY SHE’LL CHOOSE ME OVER THAT LITTLE…”
“Now just stop there Robert. It’ll be fine. We have a two-day head start. We will get there, take her and go a different way home to avoid Josh, all will be fine.”
“You better be right Smeth. I can’t take the embarrassment of losing to Josh again!”
“You won’t,” assures Smeth, “Now lets get some sleep, big day tomorrow.”
“Hello up there!” Robert yells. He’s as nervous as can be, for he has been talking to Smeth the whole day trip here. They wait… and wait and finally they see a small head poke out.
“AHHHHHHHH!” the princess yelled! Robert looks at Smeth in bewilderment.
“What was that scream? I thought she’d be happy.”
“I think we go up,” says Smeth confused.
“Then up we shall!” exclaims the prince.

Robert knocks on the door and it is immediately opened. “Hello!” exclaims the princess, “I’m so glad you came,” she sang in such a voice that Robert couldn’t reply.
“I. Um. Hello,” says the prince awkwardly.
“What he means to say is your welcome, your majesty,” Smeth says to the princess.
The princess replies, “I suppose you are the prince, who is to take me to your kingdom.”
The prince who had finally got his voice back replies, “Yes, I’m here to rescue you and take you back to the kingdom to shower you with riches!”
The princesses eyes light up and then she said, “I’m already packed for I’ve been waiting for a very long time… Shall we leave right away?’’
“Yes!” replies Robert who wants to get out of here before Josh arrives. “We shall leave immediately.” As they get outside, they begin their long journey home, not knowing what lies ahead of them.


As they stop for the night, the princess asks, “What are your names?”
The prince replies, “My name is Prince Robert Gale, and this is my partner Smeth.’’
The princess says, “My name is Princess Bella Lawrence from Twelve, Washington.”
“My dad is a super villain who lives in Disneyland, and my mother turned into a butterfly when I was 5 and flew away. I left my family when I was 8 years old,” says the prince.
“ I’m sorry. My mom is a nurse at our small town, and my dad was lost in a coal mine.”
“I’m sorry,” replies Robert.
“Does anyone want to know about my family?” asks Smeth.
“No,” replies the two, “Fine, but do you happen to have an older sister, perhaps single?”
“Nope.” replies Bella.
“Well, I suppose we better go to sleep. We have a long day of walking tomorrow, and then we’ll be just one day away from my castle! You won’t get up and leave will you, Bella?” says Robert with a half smile.
“No, of course not!” replies Bella.
“Good,” says Robert.

“EVERYBODY GET UP!!” says Robert in such a hushed tone it was almost a scream.
Smeth rolls over, “Why, what is the problem?”
“The problem? The problem is that I think heard a burnitisopia! That’s the problem,” replies Robert who has everything packed up. Smeth instantly sits up straight and helps packing.
The princess says, “I’m confused. What is a burnitisopia?’’
“Just the scariest, ugliest combination of a bunnies, turtles, goats, cats and llamas ever.’’ says Robert. Smeth and Robert get everything gathered up and ready to begin.
Smeth asks, “Where did you hear him at?”
“Up the trail a few miles,” says Robert.
“Well, we will have to travel through the other pass to get home and avoid it, but we probably won’t be able to avoid Josh,” says Smeth.
“Ugghhhhh” says Robert.
“Wait, who is this Josh?” asks the princess.
“Oh just another prince, who is my mortal enemy. He’s on his way to the eastern side of Pompey. We were going to try to avoid but I guess it is inevitable,” says Robert, careful not to mention that Josh was coming for the princess.
“If we meet him, pretend you are Smeth’s daughter. Then he won’t capture you, because he captures young princesses and kills them,” says the prince.
“Okay, no problem,” says Bella.

“Get in the ditch!!!” yells Robert who is already in it behind some bushes.
The other two join him, “Why are we hiding?” asks Bella.
“I saw them!! They are up the road half a mile and they’re coming fast. Stay hidden and don’t speak at all!”

The other two nod in agreement. They wait and wait, finally Josh is walking in front of them and the princess see’s the prince named Josh, she gasps at his magnificent beauty. The soldiers that work for Josh instantly stop and look into the trees. Robert covers the princesses’ mouth and wait, hoping they’ll move on.
Josh says, “I thought I heard someone in the bushes. Go search.” Robert frowns and gets up, along with the princess and Smeth.

Josh snickers and says, “Why it isn’t my dear friend Robert. What brings you out here?”
Robert rolls his eyes and says, “Smeth here, wanted to visit his family, so we all came out.”
Josh’s eyes fall on Bella, he asks, “And who might this fine young lady be?” Bella blushes and replies,” I’m Katniss Ever.” (Using Smeth’s last name).
“I see, and you’re the daughter of Smeth?” asks Josh.
“Yes I am,” replies Bella.
“We better be getting on our way,” replies Robert, “We need to get back to my castle before sunset.”
“Oh right, don’t want to get caught by a burnitisopia, do ya Robbie?” Robert frowns, mad that Josh knows about his weakness, “Right,” he agrees trying to get the conversation over with.
“See ya when I see ya, and I hope to see ya soon,” Josh says with a wink to Bella. Robert starts walking away quickly and the other two follow. Bella looks over her shoulder at Josh as he walks the opposite direction.
“What are you staring at, do you want to be trapped and killed at his castle?”

“No. But he seems like a nice man.” Robert makes a face in disgust glad they finally got away from him and hoping to get home without any distractions.
“Ahh, there it is, my baby,” says Robert as you can see the castle in the distance. “All we have to do is cross through the woods, and through a meadow. Then we will finally be home.”
“I can’t see it to well,” says the princess.
“Don’t worry, there’s a tree in the woods you can climb and see it,” says the Prince. As they reach the tree, the princess begins to climb up.
“Don’t fall!” yells the prince jokingly.
“Oh, I can see it. It’s beautiful, let me get.” “AHHHHH!!!!” she yells. A branch broke and she begins falling, the prince runs under the tree, and reaches out. The princess falls right into the arms of the prince.


She gasps and says, “Thank you! I almost died. That would’ve been bad if your princess died right before we got home.”
“Don’t jinx yourself. I think I heard a screech after you yelled,” says Smeth.
Robert drops the princess and runs over to Smeth. “It can’t be, there’s never been one this close to the castle before,” says Robert.
“None that have been seen, but I think that scream awoke one. We must run now,” replies Smeth. They pick up all the stuff and begin sprinting for home, which is still across the meadow. The princess doesn’t know what they are talking about but doesn’t ask, knowing it is bad. They get halfway through the meadow and stop to catch their breath.
“I think we’re safe,” says Robert. Then out of nowhere they hear a screech and out bursts the ugliest animal the princess has ever seen, running full speed toward them.
“Maybe not,” replies Smeth who is already on a dead sprint toward the castle doors. They make it halfway and the burnitisopia is gaining on them.
“The whistle!” yells Robert to Smeth who then remembers the whistle. Smeth gets it out and starts blowing; instantly four archers on top of the castle look out to see the burnitiopia coming. They take aim and launch eight arrows into the head of the beast; it instantly falls to the ground. Smeth waves to the archers; who wave back.

The three walk up to the doors of the castle, out of breath, “I think we are finally safe,” says Robert.
“Thank goodness,” replies the princess.
“Well, I think it’s time for us to finally start our new lives,” says Robert.
“Just as long as I get some food when we get in there, like a pie or something,” says Smeth.
“Don’t worry, we will feast like kings and queens tonight,” says Robert as the doors to the castle open and reveal the crowd awaiting them.