Author's Note:  The following was the prompt that inspired this story.  It's from a challenge by _Once_Upon.  My portion of the writing starts in chapter 2.  Happy reading.

Once upon a time, there was a young huntsman.

He lived with his old mother in a little cottage by a hill near a forest.

One day, he set out to hunt a swan for the young prince of his kingdom for there was going to be a ball that evening and the prince wished to have a roasted swan for his guests to eat.

So the huntsman went out into the forest, with his shotgun slung around his shoulder and his thick woollen coat on his back, for it was a chilly autumn morning.

Dry leaves crunched beneath his heavy boots and the air smelled of earth and pine cones. He breathed it in deeply, letting it fill his lungs and then exhaled in a puff of white clouds.

He knew, that most swans were gone, leaving their homes behind and had flown to warmer places to spend the winter. They wouldn't return until the warmer weather of spring.

But, he also knew that there was a little lake, deep in the forest, hidden behind thick bushes, where a colony of swans resided throughout the whole year, seemingly unfazed by the colder temperatures, the autumn winds, snow, and ice.

And that was where he was headed.