Kingdom of Crowns
It was the summer of 1531, the breeze whipped at the tops of the trees that stood on the 12 acre of land surrounded by knee-length grass. There was movement going through the forest, ducking underneath the green growth, footsteps approached cautiously making their way towards where the little figures had been hiding. Anna let out a small giggle...The footsteps stopped. Suddenly peering around the bushes, three small children were crouched beneath some low hanging branches waiting for their captor to find them.
"Hm... I wonder where my darlings could be." A sweet voice whistled just above their heads, it was their mother; her face contorted in a playful smile as she played hide and seek with them.
The golden sunlight showered down on the cascading locks that hung in curls down the back of her dress, green emeralds shining in the light as the sunlight caught the colour in her eyes; she knelt down slowly to avoid being suffocated by the tightly fitted corset on her chest, carefully reaching through the rose bushes to the mischievous youngsters, she grabbed hold of one of their hands as it gave a screech from being caught.
"Oh no... Mother has found us!" Hadley screeched, trying to pull her hand away from her mother's grip.
"Now children, come on out. Father needs to speak to you all about something." She smiled, still holding onto her eldest daughter.
Two other faces appeared from beneath the growth, making their way out of the branches; Anna came out first in her little lilac petticoat, pink ribbons dangling from her curls. Next came Richard, he was the youngest of the three children, his skin a very sickly pale; his sparkly blue eyes looking warily at his mother as he emerged from behind his sister.
"There you all are, i believe I'm getting too old for this game now." Beatrice soothed, picking up Richard and swinging him around, while the other two children waited with excitement for their turn.
"Mother..." Richard gave a groan beginning to feel sick from the ride.
A gruff voice sounded from far away, all of them turning round to see father standing outside the estate with his hands on his hips. Beatrice gave a small scowl at her children, making them believe that they were all in trouble.
"Oh dear, it looks like father isn't very pleased with you. You better hurry over and give him a hug before he starts shouting."
As soon as their mother said this, six little feet ran as fast as they could between the trees to get to their father.
"I bet i can beat you both!" Anna cried, dodging between branches as she overtook her siblings giggling in delight as they slowed down behind her.
Richard was the smallest and the youngest; he had also been the sickest since he was a baby. He brought a lot of worries on the family as when he got sick, it tended to get so much worse before it got better; when Richard was younger the doctor believed that Richard wouldn't make it past the age of 5. Being the age of 8 now, the family believed that the worst was over.
Coming through the clearing of the forest, Hadley had taken lead closely followed by Anna; the two battling it out with some shoves and pushes. Richard was the smartest; he had found a short cut through the forest and had arrived at his father before the other two. Finally, the girls made it to their father; his hands rushing down and scooping them both up in his arms as he nuzzled their heads with his chin. Richard stood patiently waiting to also be greeted by his father, Robert gently put both of his daughters down and bent down on his knees and embraced his youngest son and heir.
"Father...Mother said you wanted to tell us something" Hadley swiftly spoke, clambering onto the wooden bench that stood by the side of the pots of flowers near the front of the house. Anna came and sat by her sister, playing with the ribbons on her petticoat.
Robert picked up Richard and put him down on the bench as well, he then bent down on his knees to speak to his children. His face was serious and wasn't in the mood for any jokes.
"What i am going to tell you is of the up most importance to all of you, especially you, my girls." He spoke. Beatrice appeared out of the shadows and sat beside her children on one of the stools placed by the side of the bench.
"Anna...You must listen very closely. Me and your mother love you very dearly sweetheart and i know that what we are about to tell you won't be easy on you... But because you are the most mature out of you three, we have decided to betroth you to a young fellow called Thomas Moore." Robert gave a cautious smile at his daughter; he knew she wasn't the easiest to deal with. Beatrice put her hand on her daughter's shoulder for encouragement.
Anna was breathing heavily, her breath getting caught in her throat as she tried to respond to her father. She stood up quickly, kicking a stone across the pavement; letting out a scream, she began to stomp off but her father grabbed hold of her before she could go.
"No...I don't want to get married!" She yelled at the top of her voice, thrashing out at her father with her hands.
"Anna! Listen please!" Her mother shouted, Anna shut her mouth quickly, it wasn't usual that her mother shouted at anyone especially her children.
"Right, i understand that you don't want to get married, sweetheart. But this is what we've been preparing you for your whole life; all of those tutor and lessons, it's to help you when you do get married." Her mother spoke soothing to her, embracing her as Anna let tears fall down her cheeks and spill onto her mother's shoulders.
The wind picked up as it blew through the horse trails, whisking up lose pebbles from the cobbles roads scattering them about the place. Hoofs were heard further up the trails, the naying and snorts whistling through the air as the full grown steed galloped heavily down the road, its hair flowing in the wind; galloping at full speed it raced into the covered branches of the woods stopping as it approached the nearby stream, the water trickling down on the rocks below.
"Hadley, you are learning well my daughter." Her father said proudly, lifting her off of the leather saddle that sat upon the back of the horse.
"I hope to be a great rider someday, Papa." She grinned, sliding the stray bits of her hair behind her ears.
Hadley reached up to stroke the horse's long mane, her fingers getting tangled in the little knots that occurred while running through the strong wind. She laughed, her father gazed at his daughter; his eyes filling with happiness at the sight of his eldest laughing. Robert would have preferred to get Hadley betrothed first however his daughter was very stubborn in making any sort of affections for anything or anyone other than herself.
Meanwhile, back at the estate...
"So, what is needed in order to make your future husband happy?" Beatrice asked, walking around the exceptionally large room, her nose in one of the books.
Anna rolled her eyes and placed her hands in her lap as she answered her mother.
"Put him in the parlour, preferably in the fire place..." Anna giggled.
Beatrice snapped her head at her daughter as she answered the question, her eyes filled with disappointment at her daughter's sheer arrogance to what she was trying to teach her. Anna smirked to herself, letting out an amusing laugh.
"You will do no such thing! Young lady. Now, answer me properly otherwise i will keep you here until you do!" Her mother hissed, snapping Anna out of her amusement.
Anna stared at her mother with an annoyed look on her small fragile face, feeling tired of being taught such boring topics; she would much rather be outside in the courtyard with her brother Richard firing arrows at the targets. Her mother continued speaking to her but Anna wasn't listening, she peered out of the huge window towards where her brother was trying his best to hit one the targets with his newly bought bow.
"Come on boy, you can do this. Just pull it back and let it go" The Master of Arms spoke, giving comfort to Richard.
His fingers slithered over the sketches into the wood, fingering out the name etched in to it. His hand slowly reaching back into his quiver as he pulled out one of the arrows, stretching it along the string; drawing back as much as possible with his tiny arms. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, peering up at a familiar face smiling down at him…
"You can do this Son." He encouraged.
Richard pulled back to his ear, his arms losing strength near the end; his father placed his hand on Richard's giving it an extra pull before releasing the arrow from the bow. The long arrow shot through the air landing in the painted red circle; Richard grinned and smiled up at his father who was patting him on the shoulder showing him how proud he was.
"See, I told you, you could do it. Well done my boy" Robert and the Master of Arms congratulated Richard at his success of finally firing an arrow at the target after all the failed attempts; it was either too heavy when he shot and it fell to the ground or it failed to even be brought up to the bow.
Later that evening, the family sat down to dinner; the shiny china plates filled to the brim with fruit and bread rolls. Hadley and Anna were chatting amongst themselves; Richard was stuffing his mouth with delicious red grapes; the juice spilling out the corners of his mouth dripping onto his blue garments while his mother looked over at her son with an amused face. Robert smiled simply to himself, gazing around and seeing his family happy brought him joy; but he knew, boy did he know, that life is good at the moment but with years to come…What will it bring along with it?