The Keepsake

Once there was a young couple, a prince and princess named Orwen and Avin and the prince gave the princess a beautiful golden locket containing a picture of both of them together inside the locket and the words “Orwen and Avin; a love that will never die” inscribed within it.

 

But then, one day an evil magician named Castior, saw Orwen and desired her for himself and so, abducting her, he took her off to his castle upon his island of Dorma and, so that she would not try to escape, he gave her a “potion of forgetting” that made her believe she had always been married to him.

 

But, though Orwen forgot all about her marriage to Prince Avin, looking inside her locket one day she saw the picture of her and he together and read the inscription.

 

“Orwen and Avin; a love that will never die”, she read.

 

“Who is Avin?”, she wondered to herself, “Why can I not remember him? If I am wearing a locket with his picture in it and mine and that inscription, surely he is a man I must have loved; in fact still love or else I would not still wear the locket. Why can I not remember him?”.

 

But she didn’t mention it to the magician because whoever the man in her locket was, she assumed, it must either have been an old love before she met Castior or an adulterous love.

 

“A love that will never die.”, she read again, “And yet it is a love I have completely forgotten. I’m sure I would not; could not forget such a strong love”.

 

And for days and days she could not sleep for worrying about who the man in her locket was and why she couldn’t remember him.

 

But then, one day, the magician, while she was in his study, showed her a magic mirror, saying,

 

“This might amuse you. It is a mirror that will answer any question you ask of it and show you anything you wish to see”.

 

Hearing this, Orwenna feigned boredom,

 

“Oh, she said. That’s nice”.

 

But later, when the magician went out, she looked into the mirror and asked,

 

“Magic Mirror, please tell me who is the man whose face is in this locket; a man called Avin”.

 

“He is a prince of a distant kingdom. You were his Princess until the magician Castior abducted you and brought you here”.

 

“Abducted me”, asked Orwenna, horrified, “But why do I not remember him”.

 

“Because Castior gave you a potion that made you forget him”, said the mirror, “But the Prince never forgot you. He has devoted his whole life to searching for you”.

 

“Where is he now?”, asked Orwenna, “Can you show him to me?”.

 

Then, in the mirror, the Princess saw her true husband, Avin standing upon the deck of a sailing ship, crossing the ocean and heard him saying to himself, “I will never stop searching; not until I have found her”.

 

“Is there no way of sending him a message; of letting him know where I am?”, asked Orwenna.

 

The mirror instructed the princess to take down a golden bow that was hanging upon the wall of the magicians study and draw one golden arrow from its quiver then attaching a note to the arrow, fire it out of the study window.

 

“Whoever you think of; though they may be miles and miles apart from you, the arrow will reach them”, the mirror told her.

 

And when she did this, she saw the golden arrow transform into a shaft of light and travel as fast as a sunbeam of into the distance.

 

Then, looking back into the mirror; only a minute later, to her astonishment, she saw the arrow strike the mast next to where Avin was standing on his sailing ship miles and miles away and then, her heart leaping with gladness, she saw him pull the arrow from the mast and read the note that was attached to it.

 

“Avin, my love. I know that you are searching for me. The magician Castior abducted me and is keeping me prisoner upon the island of Dorma. Please, hurry and rescue me”, it read.

 

“A magical sign”, she heard him say, in an astonished but joyful voice after he had read the note, “Oh, Orwenna. If you can hear me, know that I am coming for you and I will rescue you, I swear. I love you”.

 

But then the image faded from the mirror and instead she saw the magician riding homeward upon his dark stallion and so she went to meet him and when he asked what she had been doing in his absence, she said,

 

“Oh, gazing at pretty things in your magic mirror”.

 

And the magician was content with her answer and asked no more.

 

But then, the next day, when he went out again; she looked in the magic mirror and asked it,

 

“Oh magic mirror, please tell me. Where is my love, Prince Avin, now?”.

 

“He is but 5 miles from this island but his ship has been attacked by a terrible sea monster”, the mirror replied.

 

“A sea monster?”, asked Orwenna, starting to panic, “Show me”.

 

Then, in the mirror, she saw Avin upon the deck of his sailing ship and, towering over the ship was a gigantic sea serpent with glowing red eyes and ginormous fangs.

 

“Oh please”, she pleaded with the mirror, “Is there no way I can help him?”.

 

And so the mirror told her to bring it the big book of magic spells that the magician kept upon his desk and to read out the spell for conjuring lightning bolts and, when she did this, she saw, within the mirror, a lightning bolt come crashing down from the sky and, striking the sea monster in the chest, pierce its heart with its electricity killing the beast in an instant so that it sank harmlessly beneath the waves.

 

“Oh merciful heaven be praised”, she heard Prince Avin say as he saw the terrifying sea serpent disappearing from view, “I was sure that I would die and never see my beloved Orwenna again but now I have hope”.

 

But then the image faded as it had the day before and she saw her husband in it returning home and so, just as she had the day before, she went to meet him and, again, when he asked her what she had been doing while he had been away, she replied,

 

“Oh just gazing at pretty things in your magic mirror”.

 

And again, the magician believed her.

 

But then, the next day when he went out again, she took down the magic mirror and, looking into it, asked,

 

“Oh magic mirror, where is my beloved Prince Avin now?”.

 

And suddenly, in the mirror, she saw her true love, riding upon a white horse across a field,

 

“He is but a mile from the magicians castle”, said the mirror, “He has rode all day and night to reach you”.

 

Orwenna’s heart leapt at this news.

 

“Oh Avin”, she said, “At last we will be together”.

 

Just then, however, the image faded from the mirror and instead she saw her husband in it but then, to her horror, she realised that what she saw in the mirror was not a magical image but the reflection of her husband standing behind her.

 

“So this is what you have been doing while I have been away”, he said, flying into a rage, “Being unfaithful. Betraying your husband”.

 

“You are not my husband”, protested Orwenna angrily, “Avin is my husband”.

 

But then, Castior seized the mirror and hurled it against the wall of his study, shattering it into dozens of pieces.

 

“Well then, you will soon be Avins widow”, replied Castior and then she saw the magician take down a magical sword and shield that were hung upon his wall and go out to face Avin, intent on killing him.

 

“What will I do?”, she thought to herself, weeping and kneeling upon the floor; desperately trying to piece together the broken magic mirror but finding it as hard to put together as a jigsaw puzzle.

 

Just then, however, she remembered the magicians golden bow and, taking it down, she drew a golden arrow from its quiver and, thinking of it hitting the magician in his evil heart and how much she hated him, fired the bow.

 

Then she saw, as before, the golden arrow transform, but this time it turned not into a sunbeam but into an arrow of blazing fire.

 

And, as it sped off, out of the study window and into the distance, she ran out of the castle to see if it had hit its target and saved the life of her beloved Avin.

 

But then, suddenly, she heard the sound of a galloping horses hooves and, looking in the direction that the sound was coming from, saw Prince Avin appear riding over a hill towards her.

 

“At last”, she said running to meet him, smiling, “My love Avin has come”.

 

Then, hurriedly dismounting from his horse, he ran to embrace her and, holding each other tightly and pressing their beating hearts together they were filled with so much joy.

 

After that, Prince Avin and Princess Orwenna went back home to their kingdom and, there, lived happily ever after.