The Beatryce Prophecy

Beatryce's mother defied law and convention in this medieval society by insisting her daughter be educated the same as her sons. Beatryce is now in danger because she knows how to read and write. She shaves her head and disguises herself as a male monk in training to escape the king's forces who want her dead due to a prophecy of "a girl child who will unseat a king." The cast of characters is White.

The entire world is involved in a war that long since killed Beatryce's father and has a way of reaching into every aspect of daily life, whether you're a victim, a participant, or just trying to lie low and survive it all. Beatryce's brothers have been brutally murdered in the past, and she is in mortal danger throughout the story -- not just because her family's killers still seek her, but because she's a girl who knows how to read. All the monks but her one friend are too scared to protect her, and choose to abandon her to her fate. Jack Dory's parents were slain by robbers in the woods; he has nightmares of his mother's screams, and he dreams of revenge; the sword that killed his parents and Beatryce's brothers is important to the story. A knight is haunted by his past bloodshed and a creepy, smelly angel of death. An adult character is traumatized because when he was little, his family abandoned him at the monastery and never returned. On the more slapstick side, Answelica the goat terrorizes the monks but adores Beatryce and saves the day more than once with a well-timed bite or head butt.