"Louis! Louis! Pay attention!"
The young man snapped out of his thinking and glanced up at the captain of the musketeers "Yes Sir?"
Treville groaned "How do you expect to become a musketeer if you won't pay attention?"
Louis dropped his head "I'm sorry Sir."
Treville shook his head "Listen to me boy. If you don't learn to pay attention, then you will never be a good musketeer! You might not even become one period!"
Louis nodded his head "I understand, Sir."
"Then act like it!" Treville snapped, then he turned and walked away.
The other musketeers snickered "You might as well give up. You'll never become a musketeer."
"Men!" the captain got their attentions "Tomorrow morning, the Royal Family is coming out to observe the skills of the musketeers! Don't let me down!"
"Yes Sir!" All the men echoed.
Treville walked past Louis on his way to the office "Especially you."
The next morning, all the musketeers lined up, Louis stood a little bit away from the others, since he wasn't a full musketeer yet.
"Announcing, Their Royal Highnesses! King Reginald and Queen Elizabeth!" A man with a megaphone shouted "And The princesses Guinevere, and Corinne!"
Louis watched as a Raven haired beauty came floating out of the castle. Her dark brown eyes shining with pride.
Then his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful blonde that stepped out the doors. Her shiny white blond hair hung down in curls to her waist. Her bright pink dress emphasized her bright blue eyes. With out a doubt, Louis knew that this was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life.
Three Ladies in waiting followed the two princesses to their seats.
Louis suddenly felt a hard elbow ram into his side.
"Stop starring at the Princess you fool!" One musketeer, Sir Edward snapped.
Louis clamped his mouth closed and stood up straight, only peeking at the princess from the corner of his eye.
"Your Majesty." Treville bowed "Here are the musketeers. And the one in training."
The king nodded "Good. Show me what they can do."
Treville ordered two of his men to dual.
As Louis watched the princess, he noticed that although her face stayed emotionless, her eyes sparked with some sort of fun. She glanced over at him just then. They just stared at each other, until the princess finally turned away, her cheeks turning slightly pink.
"Does My Lady need a drink?" One of her ladies asked.
"No. Thank you." The princess answered. Who is that? she thought I don't recall ever seeing him before. She glanced back over at the young man. He was tall and really handsome.
Her father suddenly interrupted her thoughts "Bravo! Bravo! Wouldn't you say dear?"
"Yes." The queen answered fluttering her fan.
King Reginald suddenly pointed to Louis "You say he's in training? Let's see what he can do."
Treville's face blanched "H…He still needs a lot of work… Your Majesty."
"Let's see what the Boy can do!"
Treville bowed and motioned Louis over to him "Don't let me down!" then he turned to the king "What would you like him to do?"
"See how long he stands up against another musketeer." The king answered immediately.
Treville called Sir. Edward over to him and whispered "Go easy on him."
Sir Edward sneered "Of course."
The dual started, not thirty seconds later, Sir Edward had Louis' sword.
Corinne resisted the urge to face palm.
The king jumped to his feet "Preposterous!" he shouted "That boy has no talent!"
Louis hung his head as the other musketeers started to snicker.
Guinevere laughed "Ha! He shouldn't even be in training!"
"Get that boy out of here!" the king commanded.
Corinne leapt to her feet "Father!"
Instantly everything became quiet.
"Yes, my dear?" The king asked.
"Why not give him another chance?" Fire sparked through the girl's eyes as she stared at her father "Even Treville was in training once."
Guinevere stood up "No, Father. I say get rid of him!"
"Silence, Guinevere!" Her father shouted. He stared into the eyes of his youngest daughter "He gets one more chance."
Corinne did a small curtsy "Thank you, Father."
Guinevere huffed "I say no!"
"My decision has been made." The king said "Sit down."
Instead Guinevere turned and stomped away.
Louis bowed before the king "Thank you, Your Majesty."
The king nodded "Don't let me down."
Why does everyone always say that to me? Louis thought, keeping his face straight. He looked up at the princess and nodded his gratitude. In return she nodded and smiled,
The next morning, Treville sent Louis into that castle to deliver a letter to the king.
"If you can't do this, I don't know what you can do." Treville shook his head "Now get going."
Louis bowed, then turned and ran. He wouldn't let Treville down this time!
Corinne's ladies-in-waiting were tending to her.
"Those musketeers are awfully cute." One that was brushing her hair, Aramina, swooned "Don't you think?"
Another one, Viveca, was hanging some new dresses in the closet said "I think you'd say Frankenstein was cute if he held a weapon."
Corinne laughed and took the brush from Aramina's hands "Thank you, girls. But you had probably head towards Guinevere's room before she wakes up."
The last lady in waiting. Renne, curtsied "Yes, Your Highness." then the girls left the room.
Corinne waited till she couldn't hear their footsteps anymore before she stood.
She removed her long skirt. Underneath it was a shorter one that was only nine inches below her knees. Then she tiptoed over to her wall and pushed one of the panels. It opened, and she slipped through, closing the secret door behind her.
Louis hurried through the castle towards the king's office.
"Well, well. If it isn't the little no account." Guinevere suddenly stepped in his path.
Louis skid to a stop "Your Highness." he made a low bow.
"Where are you going?" the princess demanded.
"To your father." Louis answered.
"Why?"
"To deliver a message for Monsieur Treville."
"Give me the letter."
Louis looked at her uncertain "I was told to give it to the king."
Guinevere grabbed the letter out of his hand, and to Louis' horror tore it to shreds.
"Oh my!" She said mockingly "Whatever will happen to you when Treville finds out you can't even deliver a letter!" with that, she brushed past him, pushing him into a small hallway.
Louis tried his best to keep his balance. He reached out and leaned against the wall. To his surprise, the brick that he had leaned against gave way and he fell through an opening in the wall.
Louis sat up and watched the wall close again, trapping him inside.
He stood up slowly trying to figure out how to get out of his predicament.
"I can't be in much more trouble than I already am." he said to himself.
He stood there quietly for a few moments. Then he heard this odd noise. It sounded like swords clashing together. But that was impossible.
He decided to follow the sound.
He walked through several twists and turns following the noise. Then around one corner he saw sunlight shining.
"Where is that coming from?" he wondered out loud. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden light. His mouth fell open at the sight before him. A huge contraption in the middle that consisted of many holes, pieces of rotating timber, and suits of armor that that had swords in their hands.
He saw movement on the other side of the room. His eyes growing wide at the sight of the princess. Her long flowing skirt had been replaced with a shorter one. Her long hair was twisted up in a bun, and she had a sword in her hand.
Louis watched in amazement as the suits of armor swung their swords wildly at the princess. She blocked every move with lightning speed. Then she hit something in the middle of the armor to make it stop moving. The machine spun around quickly as the princess back flipped over to a wall that had a bunch of different weapons on it. She grabbed a bow just as the contraption started shooting arrows her way.
Louis gasped as the arrows came within inches of the girl who was cutting cartwheels to avoid them. Then she straightened up, grabbed one of the flying arrows and shot it straight into the heart of the machine. The whole thing came to a stand still.
The princess straightened up and smiled.
"Wow." Louis whispered, but unfortunately, the sound echoed.
The princess's head jerked in his direction. They stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime. Then the machine gave a low groan and shot one last arrow out of its side straight at the distracted princess.