Title: Once upon a Time

Name: Iron Eagle

Email: cj.androsky@sbcglobal.net

Disclaimer: CSI is owned by CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer

Fandom: CSI: Vegas

Pairing: Sara/Sofia

Rating: PG-13 in the beginning; R at the end.

Summary: Princess Sofia is saved by a mysterious stranger.

Spoilers: None 

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Vegas there lived King Brass and his daughter, the beautiful Princess Sofia.  Everyone loved the King and his daughter, especially a young woman named Sara, who just happened to be the princess's handmaiden, Sara loved the princess from afar sadly because she was afraid to tell anyone of her secret in fear that she would be ostracized by the others in the kingdom and banished from Vegas for the rest of her life. 

Everything in the kingdom was going well until the day that the Princess decided to go riding in the woods all alone and got kidnapped by the evil King Conrad and Queen Catherine, who were the rulers of the kingdom of Reno; the reason was so they could have their son, Prince Hodges marry Princess Sofia and take over the kingdom of Vegas. 

"How could this have happened, how could my daughter have been kidnapped by those two evil people?" yells King Brass to Squire Gregory, the man the King appointed to protect his daughter from any harm. 

"Forgive me Sire, she must have slipped out of the castle while I was otherwise occupied," says the Squire who did not dare even look at the King. 

"You were probably talking with that woman who is my daughter's handmaiden no doubt... now go get her and bring her to me so I can hear her side of the story." 

"Yes your Majesty," the squire says sheepishly as he turns and leaves the throne room to search the castle grounds for handmaiden Sara. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

Meanwhile in the dungeon of the castle of the evil King and Queen of Reno, Princess Sofia is being taunted by both King Conrad and Queen Catherine, "So your Highness, how does it feel to be not so high and mighty?" Queen Catherine mockingly asked. 

"How dare you keep me locked in this place, do you not know who my father is and what he can do to you once he finds me," Princess Sofia spat out before spitting in the face of the evil queen. 

"How dare you spit in my face you little bitch," the queen yells as she slaps the princess across the face. 

"Easy my love..." the evil king says to his wife, "you do not wish to harm her before she meets our son, which is the man she will marry," 

"I will never marry your son, for my heart belongs to another," says the Princess; you see unbeknownst to anyone including her father King Brass, Princess Sofia was deeply in love with her handmaiden Sara, but like Sara she was afraid to say anything for fear of being ostracized by her father's subjects and banishment from her father's kingdom. 

"Well then your Highness, you will never leave here," King Conrad says with an evil grin as he and his queen leave the dungeon and thus leaving the princess alone in the dark. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

"How could you let my daughter out of your sight, how could you let her go riding in the woods alone...can you tell me that," King Brass yells at his daughter's handmaiden. 

"I...I am sorry your Majesty but I had no idea she was going to go riding, she told me that she was going to lie down and take a nap in her bed chambers," Sara says as tears streak down her face. 

Seeing the woman in tears, King Brass takes pity on her, "There, there Sara I am not angry at you, you have always been very close to my Sofia and like a daughter to me, but my daughter is very stubborn and strong willed and does things and I have no clue as to why, now go and tell the squire I wish to see him." 

"Yes your Majesty...and thank you your Majesty." 

Sara then leaves the throne room and finds the squire and gives him the message the king had told her to give him, "Are you doing okay Sara?" 

"I am fine Greg, I just hope the princess is found and comes back safe and sound." 

"So do I Sara, so do I," Greg says as he makes his way again to the throne room. 

"You wanted to see me your Majesty," Squire Greg says as he re-enters the throne room. 

"Yes Gregory, please take these and put them in all the villages around the kingdom and hopefully I will be able to find the right man to rescue my daughter," the king says as he hands the squire about a half dozen pieces of paper. 

"Your wish is my command, your Majesty," says the squire as he exits the throne room making his way to the stable to get his horse to ride to the villages around the kingdom of Vegas.

"Hello squire, how may I help you?" asks the king's own personal blacksmith, Albert of Robbins. 

"Well, Sir Albert I would like to have my horse so I can go to the villages to put these up at the king's request," Greg tells him and shows him the papers the king gave to him. 

"I hope you find someone worthy to defeat those two for it was because of him I am no longer able to ride for the king," Albert says with a strong note of disdain in his voice; Albert of Robbins was one of King Brass's best horsemen but during a battle with King Conrad's men he lost his leg and now must get around with the use of a wooden one. 

"Hello Greg, Sir Albert..." Sara says as she walks into the stables and notices Greg trying to hide something behind his back, "Greg what are those papers behind your back?" 

"Nothing Sara, they are nothing at all," Greg says as he tries to hide the papers unsuccessfully. 

"Come on Greg let me see them, please," Sara says with a bit of agitation in her voice.  

"No." 

Sara however was able to snatch one of the papers from Greg's hand as he attempted to pass them behind his back to Sir Albert, "King Brass is looking for someone to rescue Princess Sofia, and maybe I can be one of the people the King picks." 

"Good Heavens she is getting that look on her eyes again," Sir Albert says nervously. 

"Please Sir Albert you must let me help find her, for you and Greg are the only ones in the kingdom that know my true feelings for the Princess." 

It was true; Greg and Sir Albert were the only people in the entire kingdom that knew Sara was deeply in love with Princess Sofia and as a favor they swore to her that they would not divulge her secret. 

"It is not in our hands my dear; it is the King that will make the final decision on who will be the one to rescue his daughter," Sir Albert says sympathetically as she weeps on his broad shoulders. 

"I think I know a way she can help Sofia, but I will tell you once I return from my duty or the King shall have me put in the dungeon or worse put on the rack," Greg says as he mounts his steed. 

"Squire you know he is not that malevolent." 

"True good sir, but I would rather not take that chance," the squire says as he gallops away on his appointed duty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

"So it seems your father is looking for some men from around his kingdom to try and find you..." the evil King says to the Princess, "and you know I just may have the perfect person to do that." 

"See I told you he would have a plan of rescue and what are you talking about that you know someone that could find me?" 

"That is easy your Highness, I was talking about Sir Henry of Pedigrew, I am quite sure you remember him." 

Tears began to streak down the face of the Princess as she truly did remember it was Sir Henry that had killed her mother just a few years earlier. 

"Yes my darling she does remember..." says the evil queen smiling as she mocks their prisoner, "but what she may not know is that it was her father that caused the death of her mother." 

"What in the world are you talking about my father had nothing to do with the death of my mother," Sofia screamed angrily pulling against the chains that were around her wrists. 

"Oh but he did..." Catherine smiles her evil smile before continuing, "It was because he took away all of the property he gave to Sir Henry..." 

Sofia cut off the rant, "That was only because Sir Henry gave away the position of our troops in the last war we fought with you." 

"And who do you think told him to do it?" King Conrad asked. 

"So the two of you were behind the whole thing; Sir Henry betraying my father and then to make sure his betrayal was complete you told him to kill my mother...I swear by all that is holy my father will find me then take of the two of you." 

"Why do you think we are having Sir Henry join in the search for you, he is going to lead them into my little trap," says Queen Catherine with an evil laugh. 

"What trap...what are you talking about?" 

"It is none of your concern my dear, you will know the trap has succeeded when Sir Henry comes back alone, and the news of the failure of the quest will reach King Brass and he will be forced to have our son marry you." 

King Conrad and Queen Catherine then leave Princess Sofia to ponder what they had told her and more importantly her future. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

Two days later in the castle courtyard, King Brass welcomes the best trackers from the villages around the kingdom of Vegas; there at the request of the king was Sir Gilbert of Grissom, Sir Nicholas of Stokes, Sir Warrick of Brown, and of course Sir Henry of Pedigrew, however he went by a different name; he called himself Sir Edward of Willows, but there was also someone no one recognized the name of that person was Sir Sid of Esalar. 

Not even the King recognized Sir Henry because it had been a few years since the death of wife and by that time Sir Henry had dramatically changed his appearance, the other gentleman Sir Sid of Esalar intrigued the King, he thought he had seen this man before but was not sure where. 

Sir Sid was in truth Sara Sidle the princess's own handmaiden; she, Squire Gregory and Sir Albert came up with a plan to make her look more masculine, because once Sara gets an idea into her head there was no talking her out of it. 

First they thought of using horse hair to make a suitable moustache and beard, but Sara that was too unclean and was repulsed by that idea so in the end she decided to use her own hair even though Sofia loved the her long hair but if she was to save her love Sara knew something had to be sacrificed; better her hair than the life of the woman she loved. 

Sara also remembered how sticky honey was so she decided to use it to stick her hair to her face, she also remembered the chef telling her that when his hands were sticky from the honey all that was needed to make the honey lose the stickiness was hot water. 

"You better get going Sara, the King is about to call all the men to order," Greg says and with that he and Sir Albert wished her 'Godspeed and Good Luck' on her mission.  

Sara had just joined the other men at the appointed place at the appointed hour, when King Brass himself came out and addressed the awaiting warriors. 

"Gentlemen as you well know this mission is of utmost importance; it is to find my daughter and destroying the evil that is King Conrad and Queen Catherine, I must know is there one among you that is willing to lead this mission..." Of course Sir Edward/Henry was more than willing to offer his services to lead the mission, "You truly are the bravest among the brave, and as a reward, the man who brings my daughter back to me will with my blessing have her hand in marriage," the King concluded before sending the warriors on their mission. 

"I promise I will find you my love," said Sir Sid/Sara silently. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

About two hours into their search, the group of knights came upon a fork in the road; one road was a clear unobstructed path, the other went into a deep, dark forest so they stopped and discussed their options. 

"I believe we should go in that direction," said Sir Gilbert pointing in the direction of the open unobstructed path. 

"That is what I would do," says Sir Warrick. 

"It surely seems the most logical thing to do," says Sir Nicholas agreeing with the two other men 

Sara/Sir Sid said nothing because she did not want to give herself away by speaking being her voice was higher than the others in the search party and thus giving away her disguise, so she just nodded her agreement to what the others had already said. 

Sir Edward/Henry spoke up, "The king put me in charge of this search and I say that we take the road in the forest because I feel that if anyone had taken the princess and is trying to hide her, this would be the perfect place to do just that." 

'It is also a perfect place to trap these fools and have Prince Hodges say he saved the princess and then King Conrad can take over Vegas and I can have my revenge on good King Brass' Sir Edward/Henry thinks as he leads the group into the forest. 

As Sir Sid/Sara and the others made their way down the forest path, she remembered something that not only Sofia, but her father had told her 'Stay away from the forest path it will only lead to danger'. 

However Sir Sid/Sara had no chance to voice her concerns for out from the midst of the trees a contingent of black armor clad knights that swore their allegiance to King Conrad and Queen Catherine came and began to attack the heroic knights sent by King Brass. 

"My God where did these men come from," yells Sir Gilbert as the black knights begin their attack. 

"I am not sure but there are so many of them I am not sure we can fight them off successfully," Sir Nicholas exclaims nervously as he enters the fight. 

"Do not speak like that sir knight for with the grace of God and our fighting skills we shall dispatch these evil knights and be back on our journey to save the fair princess," says Sir Warrick as he fights side by side with the others. 

Sir Sid/Sara fights with everything she has knowing that she will do anything in her power to get back her beloved princess; she then notices something that surprises her, Sir Edward/Henry is actually fighting on the side of the black knights which also means that he was also loyal to King Conrad and Queen Catherine. 

Her attention being diverted from the fight is her downfall, for she feels a mace come down across the back of her helmeted head, she tries with all her might to stay on her steed but to no avail, she soon falls off and succumbs to unconsciousness. 

A few hours later Sir Sid/Sara wakes up and sits up and surveys the scene before her; all her fellow knight were dead, Sir Gilbert is pierced through by a sword on a tree, Sir Nicholas's head is next to another tree and his body is strung up by its' arms on that same tree, Sir Warrick's head was split open in by a battle axe which is sticking out of his head, Sara then notices a mace lying near her body which makes her realize what must have happened to her and why her head hurt so much.  It was at this same time that Sir Sid/Sara also realized that Sir Edward/Henry was actually working for King Conrad and Queen Catherine. 

Sir Sid/Sara decides it is time to get up and continue the search for her beloved Princess Sofia, but before returning to the quest she decides that the knights deserve a proper burial so she goes about gathering up their bodies and parts as it were and begins to dig a grave for each of them, "It is the least I can do for these brave knights." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

At the same moment Sir Sid/Sara was burying her comrades, Sir Edward/Henry was telling King Conrad and Queen Catherine of the battle that caused the death of every knight that King Brass had sent with him, at least that is what he thought.  "Very good Sir Henry and now with all those knights out of the way our son can now marry the princess and we can take over the kingdom of Vegas," Queen Catherine says with an evil grin. 

"I think we should go tell our future daughter-in-law about her upcoming nuptials with our son," adds the evil king with a grin of his own as he led his queen and Sir Henry down to the dungeon. 

"There is one thing your majesty, how will Prince Hodges be able to get close to King Brass when he wasn't on the quest?" 

"That is easy Sir Henry, you and the prince are the same size he will be wearing your suit of armor." 

"Always thinking my love," Queen Catherine says before passionately kissing him as the three make their way down the dungeon steps. 

As the three villains make their way down to the dungeon they heard stifled sobs, "It looks like our guest heard what we were saying...that is too bad is it not princess that now you really will not be leaving here unless you agree to our terms," Queen Catherine says with an evil smirk. 

"I WILL NEVER AGREE TO MARRY YOUR SON!!" yells Princess Sofia as she struggles against the chains that are holding her to the wall of the dungeon.

"Well then I guess you will stay in this dungeon forever," says Sir Henry as he gets a nod from both the evil king and the evil queen, and the three of them walk out of the dungeon leaving Princess Sofia again to ponder her fate. 

"Oh my sweet Sara, how I miss you and I wish you were here saving me from this fate worse than death," Sofia says into the empty darkness of the dungeon as tears begin to roll down her cheeks once again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

At that precise moment in the forest where Sir Sid/Sara and the other knights of King Brass were ambushed by the knights of King Conrad, Sara finishes burying the last of the dead and places a cross at the head of each grave which includes filling an empty grave, her thinking is that if anyone loyal to King Conrad would come upon the graves they would believe that Sir Henry was successful in his attempt to kill all the knights loyal to King Brass, "Rest in  Peace brave knights," she says just after she finishes her grave and walks away hoping to find her or any of the other horses the knights used. 

Sara whistles loudly hoping one of the horses heard her and she is surprised to see her own horse trot its way towards her, "Good Boy Francisco, I am glad you heard me," she says to the animal which instinctively nods its head as if it understands what Sara has just said. 

She then mounts her horse and turns him toward the fork in the road and toward the clear path she knows the group should have taken, and they would have if it had not been for the evil Sir Edward or whatever his name is but now she thinks of a more important issue; getting the woman she loves back into her arms and to her father safely. 

As she gets to the fork she notices hoof prints of about seven horses, 'They must have met here after the battle' Sara thinks, she then see the hoof prints moving in the direction of the clear path and decides to follow them sure in the knowledge they will lead her not only to Sir Henry but also King Conrad, Queen Catherine and her beloved Princess Sofia. 

Sara had been riding for nearly three hours when she came upon what looked to be a caste and she knew it just had to be the castle of the evil Conrad and Catherine, "I am coming my love, coming to save you." 

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Dismounting from her horse, Sara decides it would be safer to travel on foot so as not to be seen by the guards and in turn have the guards warn Conrad and Catherine that she is trying to rescue Sofia, in a matter of about fifteen minutes she is at the castle and decides to stay as close to the wall as possible again so she is not seen by the guards. 

Knowing that there would be a guard at the drawbridge, Sara goes around the back to the castle and she sees the guard turning away from the direction she is coming from and she knows it is now or never. 

"You turn around or yell for any help I will run you through with my sword that I can promise you...Now you and I will go through the guard doors and then you will take me to the dungeon and you shall live." 

The guard nods knowing that his life depends on him doing what Sara has told him to do, so he opens the guard door and lets himself and Sara in then the two of them make there way down to the dungeon he then opens the door to the dungeon, "GUARDS WE HAVE AN INTRUDER...TELL THE KING..." he never got to finish what he was saying because true to her word Sara ran him through with her sword. 

"Who is there please tell me," Sofia says with fear thick in her voice. 

Sara heard the fear filled voice of her beloved and ran to her side, "It is me my love, your Sara." 

Sara unlocked the chains that were around the wrists of the princess and then held her close, looked into her lovely hazel eyes, and in those eyes she saw some confusion, "It is me Sara, I had to disguise myself so I could accompany the other knights on your rescue mission," she says with sadness in her voice. 

Sofia just looked at Sara, "I loved your long brown hair and now it is gone...and how did you get that beard and moustache?" 

"As I told you love I needed to disguise myself and so I had squire Greg cut my hair and use what he had cut to disguise myself so your father would not recognize me because if he had known it was me we would have never allowed me to come on this quest." 

"What happened to the other knights?" 

"They were all killed by the black knights of King Conrad and Queen Catherine, but they had a spy amongst he went by the name of Sir Edward of Willows, but before I became unconscious I heard one of the black knights call him Sir Henry...does that name have any meaning to you Sofia?" 

Sara notices tears beginning to fall from the eyes of the princess, "Yes it does, and you see Sir Henry of Pettigrew was the man who betrayed my father to King Conrad and he was the reason most of the knights that showed allegiance to my father were killed in the last war by the knights of King Conrad...he also killed my mother," it was then Sofia succumbed to tears and collapsed to the arm of her hero. 

Sara kissed the tears away, but the tender moment was short lived because of the foot steps the two women heard coming from just outside the dungeon, "They are coming my sweet Sara, please be careful." 

"I will my love," Sara says as she releases Sofia from her embrace and readies herself for the battle with the guards and whoever else King Conrad will have by his side. 

Moments later King Conrad, Queen Catherine, their son Prince Hodges and Sir Henry along with a half dozen guards ran down the stairs to the dungeon, "Get the intruder my knights," instructed King Conrad. 

Sara silently thanked Sir Albert for giving her lessons on how to handle a sword as well as fight with one, she handled the guards with little trouble she was then face to face with the traitor. 

Sara fought with Sir Henry with all her might and with a final thrust she ran Sir Henry through and as he fell dead, Sara whispered "For all of the brave knights of King Brass." 

Sara then was facing Prince Hodges, the son of the mortal enemy of King Brass and even though the prince was trained by his father he was no match for the skills of Sara; she killed him with a sword thrust directly to the heart. 

"My God you have killed my son," Queen Catherine cried as she saw Sara now squaring off with her husband the king. 

As the fight wore on both King Conrad and Sara fought with all their might and it seemed for awhile that the King had the upper hand because he had Sara trapped in the corner, but Sara was able to fight her way out and nearly had the King defeated when she hears the princess scream. 

Sara turns to see Queen Catherine with a dagger to the throat of the princess, "Continue to fight and I swear on the body of my son I will kill her, so put down your sword and I shall release her." 

Sara could not let her love die, so she let down her sword and looked into the eyes of the princess with sadness.  At that moment the princess opens her eyes wide with surprise, "Look out," she yells. 

As if on instinct Sara grabs her sword and turns in one swift motion to see King Conrad ready to thrust his sword into her, but she was too fast for him and with one swift swipe of her blade Sara decapitates King Conrad killing him instantly. 

Forgetting all about Princess Sofia, Queen Catherine lunges at Sara and screams, "I WILL GET YOU FOR KILLING MY FAMILY!!!"  As the evil queen is just about to reach her, Sara thrusts her sword into the heart of the queen, who falls to the floor dead. 

Sara then sees the trembling form of the princess and runs to her side and holds her close, "It is all over my love the Royal Family of Reno are all dead, now he must get you home." 

Sofia turns to her 'knight in shining armor' and says, "I love you Sara," and then proceeds to kiss her passionately. 

The two women left the castle of King Conrad and Queen Catherine, but decided to get a burlap sack to collect the crowns of both the King and Queen and also the swords and shields of the king and Prince Hodges; this way King Brass would have evidence that the evil kingdom of Reno was no more. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

"Why have I not heard anything from the knights...Where could they be...do they have my daughter or have they killed her?" King Brass was very nervous not having heard any news from his knights about their rescue attempt. 

"I am sure all is well your Majesty, besides it has only been twelve hours and we are not sure where King Conrad and Queen Catherine are holding her." says Squire Greg trying to calm the King. 

Sensing the young man attempting to calm him, the King looks at him as a father would a son, "Thank you my boy I know you are trying to just belay my fears but I can not help it I am a father and she is my only living relative since the death of her moth..." 

The king did not have a chance to get his statement out before someone from the guard tower was heard, "Sire come quickly I believe your daughter is riding with one of the knights you sent to rescue her." 

The king was closely followed by the squire as they ran from the living quarters to the castle courtyard, "Open the drawbridge, the Princess and her rescuer are approaching," says the King. 

'I surely hope it is Sara', Squire Greg thinks. 

As the horse bringing Princess Sofia and Sara comes into the courtyard, it is met by Squire Greg who helps the princess from the horse while Sara/Sir Sid dismounts and faces the king, "Your daughter is safe my king." 

"As I said my reward for you Sir Sid would be the hand of my daughter in marriage, is that what you favor?" 

"I would love nothing more, but I must tell you something first..." after asking the squire to get him a small pail of hot water, Sir Sid wipes his face to reveal that he is in truth Sara, the handmaiden of Princess Sofia.

"You how did...how were you able to fool me and why did you do it?" 

"I did it your majesty because I love your daughter with all my heart and have for a long time, Squire Greg and Sir Albert know of my feelings but I swore them to secrecy because I was not sure how you would accept the news." 

"Is this true Sofia, is she in love with you and do you share her feelings?" 

"Yes father I do, but I too was afraid what you would do not only to me but to Sara, I love her so much please she did in fact save my life and she also brought you the crowns of the Royal family of Reno along with the sword and shield of the king." 

"How can I be angry with the woman who not only saved my daughter but also makes her very happy...so you both have my blessing you two will be married." 

True to his word, King Brass allowed his daughter Princess Sofia to marry the newly crowned Princess Sara, and gave them the Castle of Reno where the two now live happily ever after.