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“Grr” his stomach roared as Gavin mopped the castle floor early in the morning. 

Gavin tried not to wake anyone although he hadn’t had a proper meal for days. 

No wonder he was so thin. He hadn’t showered for quite some time either, the 

reason for his foul stench. He was merely a slave in the castle working for 

others. He never thought about himself. He wore the same clothes day in day 

out, a ripped singlet stained with food he had cooked and trousers he had 

outgrown years ago. But it was all he had. A seventeen year old boy without a 

family and only a necklace to remember them by. He had eyes as blue as the 

sea. Despite being a slave he was fairly handsome although no one paid enough 

attention to him to even notice. He had light facial hair on his slightly beefy 

cheeks. His facial expression was often dull and even though he was yelled at 

every day he was well mannered and kind to others. Having a soft voice he 

wasn’t the most intimidating presence not to mention his uncoordinated walk 

and lanky figure. Gavin was a smart kid he could not afford a proper education. 

Today, or any day he had to find himself a meal from scraps as he was not even 

allowed to enter the kitchen unless he was cleaning or cooking. Just more to do 

as a disrespected slave in a castle. Everyone hated slaves. But no one hated 

Gavin more than Prince Walter ‘the Courageous’, more like cowardly in Gavin’s 

opinion. Staying in bed all day having not worked a single day in his perfect life 

where he was fed like a child. Consider him the other end of spectrum. They 

shared a home in the grand castle of Dasaldof. 

Another day of hard work. There were no food scraps as no one 

had woken up but Gavin and the 

guards.   He had a chance to take some fruit or bread. Gavin 

approached the kitchen stumbling along through the hall. He 

entered the kitchen and reached for an apple. He was having 

second thoughts about taking the Prince’s favourite fruit. He 

hesitated to take it. Through his hesitation, he wasted enough 

time to be caught by a guard who happened to be walking past the 

kitchen. He was taken to King Gabriel in the meeting room. 

“What have you done now Cavin?” King Gabriel questioned  

“It’s Gavin your highness”, he murmured back

“Who cares you worthless peasant, take him away he will…” he 

took some time to think up a punishment, “personally serve my 

brilliant son for the rest of the year in the castle or on a quest” 

“W…W…What?” Gavin replied in disbelief. He knew he couldn’t steal 

an apple let alone assist a prince on a quest.

Queen Katherine was feeling very afraid for Gavin, but she had no 

right to speak out of turn. She and everyone else in the room knew 

Gavin would not survive ten minutes on a quest. The prince was 

bossy, nasty, and treated Gavin terribly. He had been trained to 

fight against all that stands in his way anyone or anything. Gavin 

wouldn’t hurt a fly. He would end up doing more damage to himself. 

Gavin was afraid that in order to succeed he had to conquer this 

fear. He walked up to the broom closet he called his room. There 

was usually a bright light coming through a crack in through a crack 

in the wall. Today it was dark. It was only morning so the sun 

should have been bright and shinning upon the kingdom.

The Sun was gone. It was the Sun God’s duty to bring 

the sun out every morning. Soon the whole castle was 

informed of this and a meeting was held. They came to 

a conclusion that this was no accident and that in fact it 

was the doing of the demon of Death. He was an evil 

trickster who managed to do wrong and escape. He has 

been trying to get revenge over the Sun god for 

banishing him from the heavens. He would do this by 

wiping out the human race. They all thought that the 

prince would save them. This meant Gavin’s world was 

just flipped on its head. He was about to enter a living 

hell and he most likely wasn’t going to survive. 

They were told to pack and set of the next day. Prince 

Walter was to ride on his trusty steed while Gavin would 

ride on a donkey carrying the entire prince’s gear and 

fifteen days of food for two people. But it was really 

thirty days of food for Walter. Gavin knew he would have 

to scavenge for food due to Prince ‘Jerk face’ with his 

blonde hair and dashing good looks and lush blonde hair. 

Gavin always envied his luck. His happiness, his fame 

and the love from his parents. He would do anything to 

see his parents again.

“Hurry up you donkey!” the prince giggled “Ow and tell 

the creature your riding to speed up a bit.” This made 

Gavin’s blood boil. As they travelled to the dark castle 

Gavin felt hungry. His stomach was still empty. As they 

reached the destination the presence of the frightening 

castle forced his hunger to die out. It was dirty old and 

vey spooky. As, they entered the prince showed his first 

sign of cowardly behavior. Both were shaking in their 

boots. It was very quiet.

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