Arrowblossom by Marley Lammers '22

Arrowblossom

MARLEY LAMMERS '22

Long ago, in a faraway place, there stood a magnificent kingdom, tucked away into the valley of a grand forest. In this kingdom, there lived a majestic king and his charming queen. All was well and everyone was living a prosperous and happy life until one day, the world fell apart. The arrowmen from across the sea came bearing bows and arrows which they used to invade the royal palace in search of gold. While gold is a harmless object, it was clear, they would not let anything stand in their way. The queen was gardening near the edge of the forest when she heard the horn blast alerting the invasion. Though she knew she was nearest to the invasion, refused to budge until she had finished taking full care of her rose garden. Just as she was tidying up the last petal on the last rose in the last row of her garden, an arrowman snuck up behind her and as she peered up at the terrifying figure before, he reeled his bow back and prepared for his strike. The queen drew her last breath as the arrow slit through her throat and sent her barreling to the ground, blood splattering everywhere into her favorite patch of roses, a single drop of thick, crimson blood landed in the very center petal of a little white rose, the one which the queen had taken such care of over the years and had favored far above the rest. Once the arrowman left, the most miraculous thing happened. Under the watch of the queen’s stone cold face, the flower began to transform and out of the singular drop of her mother’s blood, a petite princess was born. In the aftermath of the invasion by the arrowmen, not a soul could be found in the fear-struck kingdom except for the small child, abandoned by all and cursed with this gift of life. However, this story is not as tragic as one may think. The small child lay on her back, staring out at the silenced world, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Suddenly out of the dark shadows of the forbidden forest, there appeared a miniature beast with wide, golden eyes, which shared the same glare of loneliness which the abandoned infant knew so well, as she was born that way. In the distance she could make out similar figures crawling about the forest floor. The kindly creature grabbed her by his mouth and carried her away into the deep woods where nothing could ever be seen or touched by the shy human eye. Almost sixteen years passed by and not a word had ever been spoken about our beloved princess. For no one even knew of her existence. The king had always wished for a daughter, so when his queen died, he not only weeped for the loss of his wife, but of his daughter too. With the loss of almost half the citizens in his kingdom, all were suffering. And so, this began the era of great sorrow and loss of prosperity. The dark ages had befallen the great palaces of the kingdom in the forest. Meanwhile, the princess lived a much enriched and exciting life in her gloomy forest. Arrowblossom spent her days swinging about the trees and hunting for her meals with her family. Yes, Arrowblossom did not grow up alone, for she would have survived but one night. On that dreadful night long ago, a family of pack wolves had come to the edge of the forest to see what terrible thing had happened to cover the kingdom in a blanket of silence. They came upon a silent, bloody infant on the edge of the forest. They had never come so close to a human in their life, though they saw that the child had been abandoned by her dead mother and anyone else who may have once cared for her. So, they decided to bring her back to their cave in the forest and to raise her as one of their own. They provided her with shelter and all the food a small, ecstatic child could dream of. When she was ready to stand, they taught her how to walk properly on her hind legs, as humans do. Though she so desired and tried to walk as the rest of the pack so willfully did on all fours, they thought it best that she learn the ways of her own kind. However, they were still wolves and she a human, so there were some things, like the human tongue, for which she had no means of learning. However, in the end, the wolf pack family raised their beautiful daughter to be a resilient traveller, a fierce hunter, and to have a kind soul.

On a normal, sunny day in the inky forest, Arrowblossom could be found hunting for dinner for her pack. She had always been naturally drawn to her spear. She had the best arm of any of the wolves and certainly could be of the best among humans. She especially loved the sensation of piercing her prey with her arrow and hearing the sound of shrill terror turn to silence as they died in her arms. As a young cub, she lacked enough experience to hunt, but always anxiously awaited the return of her family on hunting days. Now, as a grown woman, Arrowblossom much prefered to hunt for herself and others rather than waiting hours on end for the return of her pack. They did not always bring back a meal, too. However, that was never a problem for Arrowblossom as she would never return home without a meal, even if it meant hunting through the night and returning back to the cave eaarly the next morning in time for breakfast. One early evening, while Arrowblossom was out on her hunt, she had chased an elk to the edge of the forbidden kingdom. She was not supposed to travel this far from the cave on her own, especially while it was still light out. However, she only cared about slaying the beast before her. Her hunger fueled her rage as she pushed forth and snuck closer to the forbidden land ahead of her. The elk, grazing on a patch of crimson roses, had just peered out at the terrifying scene in the distance before Arrowblossom launched her spear thirty feet in front of her and struck the monstrous being. He drew his last breath as the arrow slit through his heart and sent him barelling through the air. In a split second, the forest went from silent, to a hurricane of shrills circling through the air, to the calm silence after the great beast tumbled to the ground with a great ‘thud.’ Exhausted from the hunt, Arrowblossom trudged over to where the elk lay to pluck her arrow out of the beast’s meaty heart. Just before she reached the animal, she was stopped in her tracks by the glow a shimmering flower, which she picked out of the corner of her eye. She reached down to it, though she found not a shimmering flower, but instead a shiny, dead worm with a flower penetrating its side in the center of its body. She was astounded at the sight and marveling at how hard, yet gorgeous the worm had become in its death. She was so mesmorized by its beauty that she could have wandered and lost track of her surroundings. All of a sudden, a small group of humans from the kingdom approached her. The few of them were gaping at what she had done. For them, it was a disgrace to kill an elk because they worshiped and praised the animal in all its glory. One said, “What horrid thing have you done?” Another came up and pointed out the necklace which she carried loosely in her hand. Some whispered to each other “Is that her majesty’s lost necklace?” As more citizens approached the scene and the crowd’s whisper grew, another asked, “Child, would you happen to be the daughter of her late majesty, our queen?” One peculiar old woman crept forward and said “The queen never bore any children. My dear Child, where did you get that necklace?

Do you come from the land of the Arrowmen? Do you know who killed the queen those many years ago?” Arrowblossom slowly stepped back as the citizens drew nearer, for she knew not what these humans were saying or what they wanted of her. She never knew humanspeak, just that the humans could be dangerous and that she should always stay far out of their reach, safe in the forest.

Suddenly, a flock of men approached, realized the scene and surrounded the innocent, wayward child. One woman at the edge of the kingdom shouted “GET HER!” Arrowblossom still did not understand the words which came out of the human’s mouth, but she knew what they meant. She tried to run, but she could not escape the circle of muscular men reaching out their tentacles to grab her at every angle. Fortunately she had grabbed her spear before they surrounded her, and so she proceeded to fight back against the men. She knocked one man down and gave him a bloody knob on the head with her spear. Though, before she could do any more damage, the men caught her. She squirmed inside their cage, but they woud not budge. The citizens of the kingdom then proceeded to blindfold the stranger from the woods and parade her up the windy cobblestone path to the king’s palace. The march was quite long and Arrowblossom was tired and scared. Not knowing where to go or what to do she felt tears welting up under her eyelids. Some time had passed when the two men carrying her pushed her down to her knees. She then heard the squeaking of a large, old, and rickety door being opened. The men then made her stand again and placed her before the king who sat upon his mighty, bronze encrusted throne. They ripped off her blindfold so the king could see her fully. The first thing he noticed was the necklace the men returned to his majesty. Then he glanced upon the child. A marvelous beauty with a face unbearably similar to his queen. Once he gathered himself from a whirl of emotions, he asked “Who are you child?” Silence. “How old are you? What is your name?” Silence. Silence. The king was starting to become a bit impatient with the child’s seeming retaliation. “Tell me how did you come in possession of this necklace!” He held out the necklace as the men shoved her forward so she might see it once more. Arrowblossom fell to the ground. She had not a clue as to what was going on. She glanced up at the king, tears trickling down her cheeks. The king was fixated on the creature’s glowing blue eyes, which were the eyes of his wife. He eerily reached his crippled hand out to her cheek. She quickly pulled away from him, but he kindly motioned for her to come back, and she did so timidly. He gently wiped the tears from her eyes and held his daughter’s head. There was something so familiar about his touch that Arrowblossom felt comforted and safe, yet she was remained wrapped in a bubble of confusion. He had not a clue how it could be, but he came to believe that this was truly his daughter. He signaled for his people to leave and said, “I have at last found my daughter, our lost princess. You may now go about your day in peace.” The people left mumbling with curiosity and confusion; a silent chaos was brewing. The king had so many questions yet to be answered by his beloved princess, but he let her remain silent for the night. He guided her about the palace with open arms and provided her with all the food, clothes, and bedding she needed. The princess was astounded at the size and magnificence of the place for she had never been indoors in her life, let alone outside of her home in the dark forest. She wondered if all kingdoms were like this one. She also wondered if her family was looking for her and though she did not once feel unsafe, she worried through the night and longed to be home with her pack. In the morning she ventured around the palace and stumbled upon a weapons room. She found there the most glorious spear she had ever seen. It too shimmered like the shiny worm she had found in the bush of red roses. She took the spear and headed back towards the room in which she had slumbered the night before. On her way, she encountered many citizens going about their days, but they continued to stare at her strangely. Many backed away from her and mumbled in fear at the sight of her carrying a spear through the palace. The guard whom Arrowblossom had injured the day before stopped her in her tracks and tried to take the spear. The princess shoved him to the ground yet again just as the king arrived at the scene. “What are you doing, Child?” She stood with her spear and pondered him with her majestic, sapphire eyes. Another guard from the day before approached the scene and said, “Please forgive me your majesty, but I do not believe this girl belongs in our kingdom. She appears to speak not a word of our tongue, yet carries around a spear? I fear she may pose a threat to the rest of the kingdom, sir. My deepest condolences, but I do not believe this is your daughter.” It appeared that the king was about to rebel, when he suddenly heard cries of agreement from his people. He turned to the princess and said, “My deepest regrets in saying this, child, but as ruler of this mighty land, I must do what is best for my people, and it seems they wish you begone. With that, I fare the well. You may go on your way now.” When she did not move, the king signalled for her to be taken away. She was escorted out of the palace back the way she had been carried in the day before. Once the forest was in sight, they let her be free. At the edge of the forest, the princess looked back upon her kingdom with deep sorrow. Though she could not believe her own thoughts, she did wish to return to the kingdom. Something about the palace had struck her. The palace was familiar. It was as if she had been there before, though she knew she had always belonged to her pack as they found her just after birth. As she pondered her thoughts on the edge of the forest, she noticed that the silence around her was alarming. She looked up and saw a rustle in the treetops and began to hear a rumble in the ground. Fear seeped in and as she stood frozen at the edge of the kingdom, and she was suddenly startled by the blowing of a horn. Then she started running, this time towards the noise. She knew not how she knew, but she sensed the kingdom was in danger. As she rounded the great palace, she saw a large, storming group of Arrowmen streaming through the kingdom towards her. She then started running towards the men, spear blazing. She could not face them alone, but she did not car. She began fighting and just as she was starting to slip through the cracks, the guards of the great palace began to help her. Together, they saved the kingdom and all who lived in it. The king approached his daughter with open arms and welcomed her back into the kingdom thanking her for her service in protecting his citizens, even though he had kicked her out. What she did was risky, but she chose to do the right thing rather than the fearful choice of running away from the problem. He spoke to his citizens, saying, “Let this be a reminder of what true bravery and courage looks like. Let this also serve as a reminder to all that judgement can be harsh and can lead one to push away those who are truly good in life. My dearest daughter cared not that we pushed her out of the way when she heard we were in need. She still saved the day!” Anyone who was there on that day remembered the story for years to come and the princess remained a prominent figure in the kingdom. The king taught her to speak his language and Arrowblossom visited her pack often. In the end, she lived a very prosperous and happy life with her two different lives and families and she was to be remembered by all for centuries to come.