He urged the white horse on, his thick blonde hair waving in the breeze. The local townsfolk looked on with a mixture of wonder and anxiety. It was as if they knew something he didn't. He waved the thought away within seconds and pressed on. It was only moments before The large thorny castle was looming overhead. Then he understood why the townsfolk has acted a little strangely as they saw him racing to the castle.
It was rather obvious that others had tried to enter the castle before he had. Here and there were the remains of those who had gone before. He sniffed in disgust. What had they been thinking, wearing such badly tailored clothing? He mused as he inspected one of the corpses. He dismounted his fine white horse and walked closer to the thorns, to examine them and see if there might be some way around them. To his surprise, as he reached out his hand, the thorns withdrew, replaced by beautiful flowers. Ah. Thought the prince. Even nature recognizes a work of art such as I. He smiled and continued to walk forward, through the thorns without so much as a scratch. The flowers bloomed in their place as if to welcome him in.
He raised a thin blonde eyebrow as he passed by a clearing in the thorns. There were flowers blooming here too, and a young man dressed in black, lay sleeping in the midst of them. The prince turned up his nose. Looks like some sort of villain... He crept closer and nudged the boy with his boot. Nothing. The young man slept soundly amid the eternally blooming flowers.
He walked on, not wanting to bother with the boy. There had been many rumors about this castle that sprouted with thorns overnight. Some said it was filled with treasure and gold. Others claimed that it was cursed, and all the inhabitants had died long ago. Still others claimed that a beautiful princess slept within, waiting to awaken from the kiss of a handsome prince.
Kelly Valcourt honestly didn't care. Anything was better than staying at the castle back home and doing nothing but listen to his instructors give him lesson after lesson. Dance, politics, hunting, and more. They used to be fun, but the repetitiveness was starting to get to him. He'd told them all he had to leave on an important 'quest', but in all honesty, he was just thrilled to be out of the castle and far, far away from any lesson books and cranky instructors.
He stepped out of the thorns and into the courtyard. He watched in wonder as the flowers withered behind him and turned back into the dark pointed thorns. There was very little magic left in the world anymore, so it was quite fascinating to watch. His father had said around a hundred years ago magic was much more prevalent. One in ten had the 'core' ability to use magic, but nowadays it was more like one in every few hundred.
He sighed and noticed more and more people as he approached. All of them sleeping soundly. He shook one man vigorously in an attempt to wake him, but to no avail. The rumor about the sleeping castle seemed to have some truth to it... Which meant there was a hot princess here, waiting to be found. Kelly smiled. This might be more interesting than he'd thought. He pulled open one of the heavy wooden doors to the castle and walked inside. Though it had been many many years since anyone had walked these halls, there were no dust bunnies, no cobwebs, no signs of life or activity anywhere. He'd seen a few women here and there, but none of them that looked anything like a princess. He stumbled upon a set of stairs. He would have overlooked them, but something about them tugged at his mind. He supposed it couldn't hurt to look.
Moments later, as his legs began to feel the burn of several flights of stairs, he gave an annoyed sigh. Was there no end to this? He trudged onward, without much enthusiasm.
Kelly yawned as he continued. Up ahead it looked like there was a small wooden door. He quickened his pace. The door was slightly ajar and the prince noticed with a bit of annoyance that someone had fallen asleep just beyond it. He shoved the door open. It was just a young boy, dressed in commoner's clothing. The prince made a look of disgust and looked around the room without much energy. The boy seemed as though he'd been trying to get somewhere, but had fallen asleep in mid step. Probably just a servant, delivering a message or something...
His eyes fell upon a small, plain looking bed in the corner of the room. It looked like a girl was sleeping there. He approached the bed and was taken aback as he stared at a face that could certainly rival his. The rumors were true. She was as beautiful as they'd said. He sat carefully on the edge of the bed, looking over her features. Not bad. Not bad at all. He leaned forward, his face mere inches from hers. It was his duty, wasn't it? To kiss the sleeping princess and awaken her from her deep sleep? She looked a little troubled as she slept, perhaps a dream was haunting her?
"Ethan..." she whispered.
The prince frowned. Another man? Well, she'd forget about this "Ethan" soon enough if he was around. No one could resist the charms of Prince Kelly Valcourt. He put a gentle hand behind her head and pressed his lips to hers. He could feel something strange coursing through him, something like... the only word he could think to describe it would be... magic.
He pulled back and watched in awe as the princess' eyes began to flutter and finally open wide. The thick atmosphere that had surrounded the castle seemed to evaporate as she came to her senses. She rubbed her eyes a few times before she noticed him, smiling at her.

* * * * *
Briar Rose backed away suddenly. "Who? Who are you?!"
Kelly stood up with a flourish, removed his hat and bowed low, "I am Prince Kelly Valcourt, I am here to rescue you fair princess..."
Briar Rose looked at him, more than a little uneasy. "What do you mean? What's going on?" Her eyes darted around the room, falling on the young man, the spinning wheel, and over near the door... Ethan. He was looking back at her with eyes full of hurt and a heart that was aching. He nodded to her and turned away, out the door and down the stairs.
The prince hardly noticed the boy had left. He grabbed Briar Rose's hand suavely, "Please, tell me your name fair maiden..."
"What? I... no! Leave me alone..." Briar Rose pushed herself out of bed and went to follow Ethan, but Kelly wouldn't let go of her hand.
"But I... I rescued you!"
Briar Rose jerked her hand free, "from what? What are you talking about?"
"Why... from the curse that had fallen upon this kingdom... Everyone within it's walls slept as you did. It's been many, many years..."
Briar Rose looked worried, "Stop joking. This isn't funny."
The prince shook his head, "I'm not joking your highness. This castle has been under a spell for... well it must have been at least a hundred years now! What's the last day you can remember?"
Briar Rose eyed him warily, "a spell...?"
"yes princess. The year is 1793(or some random year...)."
Briar Rose got her bearings and headed for the door. She left the prince behind, wondering just what was going on. As she ran through the palace, everyone seemed to be waking from a long sleep. She looked worriedly for Ethan, but he was nowhere in sight.
"Bri!" came a familiar yell.
"Yay, it's Bri!" came another as her little brothers attached themselves to her legs. "We took a nap. Where'd you go Bri?"
Briar Rose wasn't sure how to answer. She gave the boys a brief hug before heading toward the large wooden doors of the entrance. The guards pushed them open for her as she approached. "Would you like us to bring your carriage Princess Briar Rose?"
She shook her head, "No... no thank you." Her shoes clacked dully on the stone walk. She noticed a patch of black amid the green field of the courtyard. Christopher. She ran over, "Christopher? Are you alright?"
Chris put a hand to his head and he took in his surroundings. "What...? What happened? The last thing I remember... that party... Ethan said I should leave..."
"Did you see Ethan come by here?"
He thought for a moment. "Someone did run by, but I'm not certain it was Ethan... I was half-awake when it happened..."
Briar Rose frowned, "I... would you come help me find him? I'm afraid something bad may have happened..."
Christopher looked worried, "something bad?"
Briar Rose nodded, "I know it sounds weird... but I must've fallen asleep in the castle... I don't remember for how long... but when I woke up, there was a young man in my room. He said we'd all been asleep for at least a hundred years... You don't think it's true... do you? That's just... impossible, isn't it?"
Christopher felt the skin on the back of his neck rise. "w...what? of course... of course... he was probably just joking with you..." He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I... I'm going to go home and change, then I'll help you look for Ethan, alright?"

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