Chapter 1

Lost?

The sun was just barely peaking over the horizon when Elinor strode into the slumbering princesses room. She pulled back the curtains, allowing the sun's golden rays to pour in from outside. The birds were chirping, and the aroma of breakfast being made downstairs wafted into the room seconds after the curtains had been displaced.

"Merida, time to wake up dear." The Queen told her daughter gently.

A simple groan from under the covers was the only reply she got.

"Come on, we don't have much to do today. If you hurry up and wrap up your teachings, you can go out and do some shooting." She told the princess.

"I can't, you ruined my bow, remember?" The youth grumbled.

The Queen felt a ping of guilt in her chest, she had yet to replace her daughter's cherished weapon.

"Well maybe you can go out and spend the day with dear Young Macintosh." She suggested.

"Mom, we broke up months ago." The Princess moaned.

"Well then I have a goal for you today then, young lady." The Queen said sternly as her daughter slowly got out of bed.

"What would that be mother?" The young girl asked as she stretched her arms.

"Go out, spend sometime with the people. You may just find someone new." The Queen instructed.

"Mom, I'm done with dating right now. I gave it a shot with Macintosh and he ended up breaking my heart. I knew it would happen, but I went out with him anyway." The Princess grumbled.

"Well, that just means he wasn't the right one." Her mother explained.

"Maybe there is no one for me." The youth murmured.

"Merida, love is something that can not just be brought to you. Even if you are royalty, love is something that everyone ,royalty or peasant, needs to go out and find." Her mother explained, turning her gaze from the rising sun to her daughter.

"It isn't just something that just...falls out of the sky!"

"SQUAWK!"

"Castle!" a voice shouted

"SQUAWK!"

"Pull up bird brain!" the voice cried.

"BA-BOOM!"

Merida quickly sprinted downstairs to see what the commotion was about. While the Queen looked at the fiasco occurring outside with a grin.

"I stand corrected." She muttered, before making her way downstairs as well.

"Oi, what do you think your doing lad!" King Fergus bellowed, upon seeing the giant trench that had been created in (for lack of a better word) his lawn.

Guards surrounded the crash site, weapons at the ready.

The creature was a Griffin, a beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. The Griffin's eyes were blue, it's beak a golden yellow. It had white feathers and fur except for a tuft of black fur atop its head as well as black paws. The creature's master was lying face first in the grass. A sword impaled in the ground a few feet away from him. The boy was dressed in a navy blue long sleeved tunic and tan colored trousers. He slowly got up with a groan, pulling his sword out of the ground and seating it in the scabbard that was strapped to his back. He also had a round bronze war shield strapped to his left arm, it looked worn, covered in scratches, dents, along with scorch and bite marks. The boy had brown eyes and jet black hair that was awfully dusty from the crash landing and a pair of goggles hung from his neck.

He kicked the Griffin in the side of the head. The creature got up after squawking in irritation. The boy didn't pay it or the armed welcoming party that surrounded him any attention. He simply pulled a map from one of the Griffin's leather saddle pouches and unfolded it. He looked at the map, and then at his surroundings for several minutes before rolling the map back up and putting it back in it's pouch.

"This is not the Far East." He concluded.

"SQUAWK!" The Griffin replied.

"I told you to take a right at Rome but NOOOO. You had to follow your instincts." The boy grumbled.

"SQUAWK!" The Griffin protested.

The Boy merely rolled his eyes before turning to King Fergus, who looked very befuddled.

"Uh hi, I'm sorry we destroyed your lawn." He said nervously.

"Well, it's quite alright lad. After all it's just grass, and I doubt you did it on purpose." The King replied.

"Haha trust me, sir, we didn't. Normally we have much smoother landings." He told The King.

"Dad what's going on, who's our guest?" Merida asked upon arriving at the scene.

"Ugh where are my manners, my name's Spiros and my Griffin's names is Vasilis." The boy said upon seeing the princess.

"SQUAAAAWK" The Griffin cooed slyly.

"Can it, feather face!" The boy hissed under his breath.

"You can understand it?" Merida asked the boy.

"It's a him and yeah, of course I can. He raised me." He replied.

Everyone burst out laughing as the boy and his beast shared a confused glance.

"So what brings you to DunBroch, lad?" King Fergus asked the young traveler.

"Well I kinda got lost actually, I'll probably stay here for a day or so and then be on my way." He replied.

"Well, can't argue with a man who sounds like he knows what he's doing." The King replied.

"Where do you plan on staying the night?" a guard asked.

"I have a tent and enough supplies to make myself a campsite. The only thing I'm lacking is food." The traveler explained.

"SQUAAAAWWWK" The Griffin groaned.

"Well your welcome to have breakfast with us." Merida told the duo.

The boy gave his Griffin a nervous glance before replying.

"Well I really don't want to impose, it'd have to be alright with your parents before I old even think about accepting and even then..."

Fergus cut the boy off with a laugh and a friendly hand on the shoulder.

"No worries lad, in my home there is always room for one more hungry adventurer."

"Alright, If your sure it's no problem." The youth said shyly.

"Merida, introduce the boy to your mother. In the meantime I'll lead his mount to the stables, and later you can acquaint him with Angus." The King instructed.

The Princess nodded and then motioned for Spiros to follow her. The duo walked in silence for a minute or so before speaking.

"So where are you from?" Merida asked breaking the awkward silence.

"I'm from Greece." He explained.

"Is that near the southern ocean, by Rome?" She asked.

"Yeah, around those parts." He replied.

"I imagine it's a lot warmer over there, based on what I've heard from other travelers." She told him.

"Yeah it is." He said flatly.

The two walked in silence for another minute or so before Spiros noticed the sideways look she was giving him.

"I bet your wondering about the fact that I'm here all by myself, huh?" He asked.

"Well yes, I mean I know my parents wouldn't allow me to go off gallivanting into some foreign land. Well...at least my mom any-who." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Consider yourself lucky, at least you have parents. I was raised by a creature many thought were a myth." He mumbled.

"Ok seriously, did you runaway or something. If you did, it's ok. I mean it's better then admitting that then lying about being raised by a beast." She scoffed.

"Listen princess, I would be happy to tell you that it's all a joke, but the reality is its not. My parents were killed when a gorgon attacked my village and killed everyone I knew. The 'beast' you are referring to saved my life and raised me as his own." The boy snapped.

"I'm sorry, I honestly thought you were joking." She said sheepishly.

"Oh how I wish I was." He said sadly.

"So is that sword your father's?" She asked.

The boy drew the rusty weapon with a sigh, the blade made an audible "EEEEEKKK" noise as he pulled it from its sheath. It didn't look like much, the blade looked fairly dull and was covered in rust. The hilt was dusty and in the center were 6 dull gems that looked more like rocks then precious stones. The leather grip on the sword was falling apart and there were a few cracks in the handle.

"I know it's a piece of junk, but it's saved my life several times and its all I have left of my family." He muttered, clearly crestfallen.

"I'm so sorry, I hope I didn't offend you at all." She said, clearly ashamed.

"Its alright, you didn't know any better." He replied.

"Me not knowing any better has gotten me into a lot of trouble before." She said with a grin.

" Well sounds like we'll both have a few stories to tell after breakfast." He replied as they entered the castle.

"Mum, I'd like you to meet someone!" The young Princess called as they entered the dining room.

"Is is that young fellow who crashed earlier, is he alright?" The Queen replied.

"Yes mum, he's actually more than alright. He's a traveler who's a wee bit short on food. He'll be having breakfast with us." Her daughter explained.

"Oh lovely, I bet he has some interesting stories to tell. Tell me lad, have you ever had haggis before?" She asked him.

"No Ma'am, I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure." He replied, taking his sword off his back and removing his shield from his arm before setting both items down next to a chair.

Queen Elinor chuckled before looking at her daughter.

"Seems like he can teach you a few things, dear."

"It's gonna take a lot more then a boy atop a flying steed to break my bad habits." Merida said with a chuckle, taking an apple from a wooden bowl and taking a large bite out of it.

Just then King Fergus burst into the room.

"Hello dear, I'm sorry about the last minute house guest, but I figured we might show our newfound friend some good ole fashion hospitality." He told his wife.

The Queen felt something burning against her neck. She looked down at the polished emerald pendant that her husband had given to her as a wedding gift years ago. She saw a series of images in the stone. She saw...the circle of stones where Mordu had been killed. Then she saw the ruins of the old clan which once belonged to him, finally she watched as the ruins of the castle began reconstructing itself, slowly returning to its former glory. In the midst of all this she saw her daughter, clearly weary from battle standing back to back with the very boy who had just arrived. She had two arrows notched into her bow, ready to fire. The boy had his shield up and his sword drawn. The scene returned to the circle of rocks before fading away.

"Elinor, is something wrong? You were muttering just now." Her husband asked, gently putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Uh...no...nothing is wrong. I was just saying that you need not worry about our last minute guest." She then turned to glance at the young traveler.

"He got here just in time." She muttered.

A.N- Well I hope I didn't butcher any of these characters. I just saw the movie yesterday with my brothers and I got an idea for this story during the drive home. This story will probably be just under twenty parts long. Which is a decent length...I think. I plan to have CH2 up ASAP. Until then I hope you enjoyed this intro to my story.

-Blu Wolf 23