The Saga of Draxfort
The Blacksmith and Rebel Princess

Chapter 1


A Real Princess


It was the worst of once upon a times, the best having long gone with the happily ever-after. The Draxen Legend may be just that, but the saga of Draxfort is no myth or fabled fantasy, it’s a record of the past, a portent for the future, and whether or not you’re amused, I promise you will be both informed and enlightened.


Have you ever seen a dragon? Of course not, because by now they’ve almost certainly been hunted to extinction. However, unlike ghastly ghosts, ghouls, gnomes, spirits, pixies, trolls, werewolves and vampires, all tricks of the writer’s trade, just figments of the imagination, villainy does not simply vanish with an abracadabra, swish of a wand and puff of smoke in the stroke of an author’s pen, villainy you see is real.


Cloaked in shadows it connives with treachery, greed and opportunity, secretly reaching out its malicious, thieving hand to seize control and hold on tight, without even having the courtesy to demand your money or your life. And talking of money, read closely and spend wisely, because what happened in Draxenland might just happen to you.


As quests go, there are really only two and that pathetic Holy Grail isn’t one of them. There’s the quest for power, beset by villainy, and the quest for love, so of course there’s a princess. Well, there has to be, there are rules. A story with no princess is like a princess with no story, quickly forgotten by the shifting sands of once upon a time.


I know her well, she’s the apple of her daddy’s eye, but that’s about it as far as the rules go. I’m sorry to disappoint you but she has never been a downtrodden, common prince-hunter, nor does she have a stepmother. Her mother, the Queen, may be conniving, but can never be described as evil and loves her daughter with all her heart. So what can I say? It’s a hopeless start I know but stick with it. Being born with a silver knife, fork and spoon in her mouth, as princessy as the Knights of Thane are brave and more ballroom-twirly than the Wixy Witches are stunning, I do assure you Sharon Draxfort’s a real princess, huh, everybody says so.


What’s more she’s an only child, next in line to the throne and if you thought that was good you’d be wrong, for the House of Draxfort is a bubbling brew of dissent and deceit, slowly simmering in a steaming cauldron of corruption.


Then there’s Jack Rojax who is dashing, tall and strong but whose inventions are as flawed as Wixy magic. Jack is of course our hero, not because war and pestilence have left us fresh out of handsome young princes to conveniently come riding by, or that only tadpoles turn into frogs, but because Jack saved my life and this is no fairytale, if it was, neither Kaitlyn nor I would be in it.


In debt, the King needs to borrow more, in dispute, according to the rules, his half-brother wants the crown, in denial, the Queen wants a wedding, in a dilemma, the Princess wants out as fast as she can and desperate times require devious measures. This being a saga, going way back, long before I was born, there are other princesses to meet and much to tell before we get to Princess Sharon, so let’s get started.

For Draxenland locations modelled in Minecraft click on the map at Draxfort.com (not on mobile, too fiddly, you need a mouse.)

COD