Time for a fairy story, I think

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a medium-sized kingdom called Canary City. An evil prince had finally been deposed, and the new prince and princess appointed a new Prime Minister to run the kingdom day-to-day while they worked magic upon the economy. The Prime Minister, however, was not a success, and was replaced by another man, equally fallible. The knights of the kingdom were weak, second rate creatures, and frequently unsuccessful in battle.

But one day, the old Prime Minister saw that what he had wrought was in vain, and fell on his sword. The prince and princess appointed his assistant to help in the meanwhile.

But the assistant proved an able pupil. Not only did he rally the existing knights, he added slowly and carefully, hand-picking the best young knights until his forces were feared throughout the local realms. Indeed, they were finally convinced to embark on crusade, and that's where it all started to go wrong.

For the Prime Minister was unable to recruit the best knights in the realm due to a lack of gold, and his own inflexibility led to many battles being lost. Eventually, despite some late tactical victories, the crusade was abandoned as a failure. Worst of all, he started to fall out with his knights. First of all, he banished one of his older liegemen before the crusade even began. Later, he betrayed a loyal knight and, in shame, banished him, too. Of the remainder of his best knights, some had their heads turned by the riches available on crusade, and they departed, too.

Faced with having to rebuild his forces to defend his old realms, the Prime Minister was led astray by a mischevious nymph, who lead him to employ fourth-rate knights and mercenaries. Unsurprisingly, the kingdom lost many battles, and woe was brought unto the citizens of Canary City, and their voices were raised against him.

But the prince and princess were insulated from their common folk by their well-earned move into a mable palace, And while rumours of discord reacehd their ears, they were unsure of the depth of unrest of the citizens, and backed their Prime Minister with funds from the Exchequer, int he hope that what was successful once would be again. Yet the defeats in battle continued....

Will there be a happy ending?

Posted By: Iwan Husarmi, Apr 8, 20:33:26