Disclaimer: None of these characters, places or languages are mine. They all belong to Gail Carson Levine. I'm just borrowing them for a while and will return them when I am done with them!

Sorry if I get any facts wrong, please tell me, but no flames please. If you haven't got anything good to say, don't say it at all!

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Ella shifted slightly beneath the embroidered coverlet, trying to adjust her eyes to the brightly lit room. The large window opposite the bed was bare and let in a hazy yellow glow, illuminating the room and giving everything a warm tint. Ella lazily scratched her nose as she propped herself up on her elbows and glanced around the spacious room. The rich materials, expensive furniture and elaborate décor were a sight she woke up to every morning. Her favourite piece in the room was a beautifully engraved marble fireplace. The colours in the stone were warm and cheerful and the carvings of woodland creatures around it were exquisite. She smiled to herself. For once she was truly happy. She had a beautiful home, a loving husband and finally she was free of that horrid curse. She didn't know how she would have survived if it hadn't been broken a few years earlier. It had gotten worse towards the end, suffocating and binding her deep down in its murky depths. But she was safe now and that was what mattered.

She looked down at the sleeping form by her side and smiled. Char, her husband, looked so peaceful. His wavy brown hair shone in the morning light and his pale skin was flawless except for the smattering of freckles across his nose.

Quietly, so as not to wake him, she got out of bed and tiptoed down the hall. She had a personal dressing room down the corridor, which held all her clothes and shoes. Quickly she changed into a plain blue dress and went downstairs into the vast kitchen. It was bright and cheerful, the immense windows letting in plenty of light. It was still early so noone else was awake, not even the children, which was a change. Ella grinned at the thought of her beautiful family sleeping upstairs. She grabbed an apple for breakfast then scribbled a note telling whoever was the first to wake, where she had gone.

She set off towards the small cottage, situated on the edge of the palace grounds. She was going to visit Mandy. After she and Char got married and moved into the palace, Mandy moved into the cook's cottage not too far away. Ella loved this idea; she loved Mandy and didn't want to be away from her for too long. Plus, how could she survive without Mandy's cooking!

It really was going to be a gorgeous day. The birds were singing and Ella had fun trying to name them all. The sun sparkled like a ball of gold in the sky and the sky was pure blue, the colour of the deepest of foreign oceans. Clouds drifted lazily along as if they had nowhere to go and nowhere to be. The immaculately kept lawn was wet with dew beneath her feet and she was so caught up in the beauty of the garden, she didn't realise when she arrived at the cottage.

The door was open, as usual, so Ella let herself in. But she wasn't prepared for the sight that met her eyes. The entire place was ruined. Clothes and crockery decorated the floor and furniture had been smashed into toothpicks. Mandy wasn't anywhere in sight. Ella searched frantically calling her friend's name, "MANDY! MANDY!" she screamed, "Where are you?" But there was no answer; the cottage was still and silent as a graveyard. Ella didn't want to think about that, graves put thoughts in her head, ones she didn't want to think about.

Suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye. On a large piece of broken table was a message. Something that had been scrawled hastily with a sharp object, a knife or a nail thought Ella, just one word: OGRES

Hope you liked it, more to come soon. If you are worried that it is not dirty enough, it will be, you will just have to wait and see…………..