N/Legends/Prisoner of White

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Once upon a time, a prince had a great secret. Now he was in love with a beautiful princess, who also loved him very much, and they were to be wed in one year, following the Festival of the Black Cape, held only in the Union of Five, where they were to rule.

But the prince was discovered, and he was taken away, to a prison in the far north, to die as a traitor. His father wept great tears when he found out the secret of his son, and the princess was heartbroken, for the secret was so deadly to the kingdom that none but the king would ever know. For the king had sent his son himself, and the king's word was law.

But when the princess finished her mourning, she was furious and demanded to be told of what his crime was, but none would say, for none knew, and when she questioned the king, he would not even speak to her, for he had grown very sick and could not speak. And so she set off on a horse, and departed to the north by herself, to save the prince.

She passed through village after village, and all the people saw her and recognized her, for she was one of the most beautiful creatures of the Five Tribes and they all respected her, and they all remarked how she was going off to her death, for now many believed that the only crime the prince could have committed was to be the bastard son of an enchantress or be a horrible beast, for only of those could a royal be sent to the Prison of White, where it is said to be of snow and ice all year round, and cold like a bone.

As she moved further north, she found instead of villages, she came to more and more ruins, old castles and fortresses and villages long abandoned. She also noticed the sky disappear, replaced by a stretch of white ice and crystal, and she drew her heavy clothes on and became a shadow against the icy waste.

And as she came to the Prison of White, she saw why it was feared so, for hundreds of towers of smooth steel, like swords, rose up from the snow as if to pierce the sky. And so at every door, she slammed the sword of her father, the Sword of Horador, and the lock flew off like she was cutting through chaff, and she ascended, and did not find the prince, and so she continued through every tower. She found no prisoners, and no prince. But she continued.

But at one tower, nothing particular about it, when she came to the top, there was a door and she raised her sword and cleaved the door, and it fell apart like matchsticks. And she stood amazed, for on the tower, beyond the door lay a verdue of green hills bright as sun-grown jade and trees with the colors of the rainbow and leaves smooth as silk. And she watched this, enchanted, and then lowered her sword and she called out to her prince.

And far away, she discerned a city of crystal and amethyst, that hung in the air, and she saw her prince, and he spoke to her, "Come into the Overworld, my love, and we shall be together forever."

But she could not at such faith, and so the prince continued, "If you pass through those gates of green, you can never return to the world, and forever you will be with me in the land of dreams." And she still would not move, and on the grass, she saw beasts stranger than she had ever seen, and she saw a sun and a sky that was perfection, and she wept. And she cried out, "What enchantment has trapped you, my love? How can I free you of it?" And tears were on her face now, and she saw they were like crystals.

She saw the city come closer, as if riding on clouds. And the prince spoke to her and said, "This is the realm of the Overworld, where nothing dies and all is born. Pass through the green gates and come to me." And then she felt the prince's hands on her own, and went over them to make sure they were his, and then he was standing next to her, and he said, "Come," and she dropped the sword onto the coldness of the tower prison and she went with him, vanishing forever in the land of dreams.

And so it was found out later that in whispers, after the king's death, the prince was deathly sick, and some say the king could never give his throne to a boy who could not live, and so he did the only thing he could and sentenced his son to a traitor's death. But others say that the prince was sent to the fabled lands on the other side of clouds, high up in the Overworld, so that he could not die, and later, many adventurers sought to find the gate to the heavens in that steel tower. But when they came to the Sword of Gregar, it lay on the cold floor, but of a door, none there were. Only an empty prison cell.