Slightly EDITED Chapter 1
"Princess, I've just heard the news!" Sarah exclaimed. I pulled her away from the group of ladies surrounding us and out into the hall.
"What news?"
"You don't know?" she asked, puzzled. I hated it when Sarah, my cousin, one of my ladies-in-waiting and closest confidant, knew about something that I didn't-and kept it from me. Especially when it involved me.
"May I be told what this news is?" Sarah bit her lip for a while before deciding to tell me.
"The king is marrying you to Sir Augustus, Princess! King Perry and Queen Felice were going to tell you sometime today, but I just couldn't keep the news to myself! I'm sorry!" she said quickly.
I stood there, staring at her, wondering how it had happened.
"Sir Augustus? That beast? My mother and father are marrying me off to that idiot?!? Why?" But I already knew. It was for the money and land. Sir Augustus was the wealthiest suitor that had come to court me, so, of course, my father agreed to give me to him.
I was outraged. Sir Augustus was the richest of my suitors-along with the rudest, stupidest, and oldest. Marrying him was like marrying a wild animal that was a mixture of skunk and hippo. He was an insult to mankind and the lamest excuse for a human imaginable.
"Well, at least you'll live in a more comfortable home. His estate is half as large as our entire kingdom."
"Sarah! How can you say that? I'll never be happy living with a monster like him."
Before I could say more, Richard, one of my father's messengers came up to us. He was tall and thin, and always had a blank expression on his face.
"Your Grace, King Perry and your mother would like to have a word with you this evening after dinner," he announced solemnly. "They will see you in the Grand Hall." I glanced over at Sarah and knew what it was my parents were going to say.
"Alright, Richard. I'll be with them later. You may leave now. Sarah, I think I need to take a walk. Please tell the ladies I'd like to be left alone," I said. Sarah nodded, and walked off down the hallway.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Why me? was the first thought that entered my mind as I sat down on one of the cold marble benches in the garden. Oh, what I would've given if I might be a peasant, rather than a princess!
The life of a princess didn't suit me a bit. All the rules and restrictions, it's unbearable! And what's worse is the fact that there are actually some people in the palace (such as Beth, one of my more dimwitted ladies) that enjoy palace life. Ever since I was a child I could go nowhere unescorted, except the privy, but even there someone would stand outside the door. Nobody's allowed outside of the palace walls-except on rare occasions when we travel to our neighboring kingdoms. (I'd severely disobeyed this order ever since I was 10 years of age and learned about the secret passageways under the palace that led to and from the village.) And all the women in the palace were shielded from the outside world and anything deemed unsuitable for ladies to see, hear, or know. (But I'd gotten past that little obstacle last year, when I went to my first tournament. I had wanted to go to one for a very long time-- hearing they were very exciting-- and so was enraged when, after arriving with my ladies, we were put in a tent where our vision was obscured by the wall of the tent-to "protect" us. As I had seen many, many battles and fights on the streets whenever I went out of the palace on one of my little adventures through the town, I was rather insulted by this, and pulled off the cloth wall of the tent. Anne, one of my mother's ladies-in-waiting who was in charge of us at the moment, was furious with me, and my ladies all went white at the first sight of blood shed on the field. My mother gave me the punishment of a day locked in my bedchamber, but that only gave me more time to think about all the things that I knew about that the people here tried to shield us from, when I thought it was silly for us not to know. Even when my punishment was over, and my door was unlocked the next morning, I felt no differently about my thoughts. And when one of my ladies told me that I ought to feel very ashamed of myself for what I'd put them through the other day, I felt so furious that I shouted all the dirty curse words I'd ever heard on the streets at her, just to show her how I felt about the matter.) I hated it. And now I was betrothed to a man who was selfish, unkind, and rude-not to mention 34 years older than me.
Well, anyway, as you know, I had to get out of it somehow. There were the regular things: having someone tell my betrothed awful things about me, act nasty in front of Augustus, be as rude as possible, but for some reason I had the nasty idea he wasn't going to give up just because of that. I needed something complicated. Something that even he would be so revolted by that he'd immediately call off the marriage...
So, after dismissing more ideas than I thought one person alone could think of in an hour, I sat on the marble bench gloomily, wondering how bad my fate would really be. Maybe he wasn't all that bad. Maybe if he was, he'd let me travel away from the manor where I would live at with him in the future. But no, such ideas as those were nonsense. And surrendering to the enemy was the last thing I wanted to do right then. Wait... travel from the manor... I could run away!
Of course, it wasn't exactly the wisest solution, I know, but come on here. If you'd been sitting around plotting out ways to get rid of an unwanted suitor only to find that there would be a problem in every one of them, wouldn't you be a bit desperate? Of course, there would be kinks in this plan, too, but it would be much safer to just run away than to go to lengthy measures for some other plan when the chances it will work are 1 in 3 million. But there was always the biggest risk factor, being caught. As a princess, I'd have to rely on pure luck to escape that. Even though I'd only made three public appearances in my life, my family would more likely than not hire an artist to paint pictures of me to hang in public places for people to see.
The Escape
I sat in my bedchamber on my mattress, listening for the palace's clock to chime out the hour. Finally it came. Ding...ding...ding. It rang seven times, signaling me to leave my chamber. I grabbed my pack from under my bed, and went out into the hall. I stood there silently, listening. Instead of the regular sounds one might hear in the palace at seven o'clock-chairs sliding out from under the table as our guests retired to their rooms, or laughter as the men talked and joked, I heard only heavy snoring. Perfect.
An hour before supper, I'd feigned a headache to stay in my chambers. Once my ladies all believed me to be asleep, I crept out and disguised myself as a kitchen maid. Just before the servants moved the food into the Dining Hall, I'd inserted a drop of sleeping potion onto the venison. As an extra precaution I'd also drugged the wine. Then I'd crept back up to my room to wait for the effects to take place. Now all I needed was to sneak back down to the kitchens (still disguised, of course) and draw attention to the snoring Dining Hall, where, in all the confusion, I'd be easily able to slip out of the palace. I'd already prepared a horse to take from the stables-a gentle dapple gray mare. From there I'd make my way toward Greenwood Forest, a place where no one would ever dare go, but why they won't will be explained later.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I edited out that bit of material that annoyed people, and some other things that just didn't need to be in the chapter. I think it's a little better now. I'll try and post up Chapter 3 soon, but I have 12 books to read and do "reading logs" on (a.k.a. summaries for every chapter of the story) for English, and only 3 weeks to do it (and the books are LONG). I WILL try though!!
"Princess, I've just heard the news!" Sarah exclaimed. I pulled her away from the group of ladies surrounding us and out into the hall.
"What news?"
"You don't know?" she asked, puzzled. I hated it when Sarah, my cousin, one of my ladies-in-waiting and closest confidant, knew about something that I didn't-and kept it from me. Especially when it involved me.
"May I be told what this news is?" Sarah bit her lip for a while before deciding to tell me.
"The king is marrying you to Sir Augustus, Princess! King Perry and Queen Felice were going to tell you sometime today, but I just couldn't keep the news to myself! I'm sorry!" she said quickly.
I stood there, staring at her, wondering how it had happened.
"Sir Augustus? That beast? My mother and father are marrying me off to that idiot?!? Why?" But I already knew. It was for the money and land. Sir Augustus was the wealthiest suitor that had come to court me, so, of course, my father agreed to give me to him.
I was outraged. Sir Augustus was the richest of my suitors-along with the rudest, stupidest, and oldest. Marrying him was like marrying a wild animal that was a mixture of skunk and hippo. He was an insult to mankind and the lamest excuse for a human imaginable.
"Well, at least you'll live in a more comfortable home. His estate is half as large as our entire kingdom."
"Sarah! How can you say that? I'll never be happy living with a monster like him."
Before I could say more, Richard, one of my father's messengers came up to us. He was tall and thin, and always had a blank expression on his face.
"Your Grace, King Perry and your mother would like to have a word with you this evening after dinner," he announced solemnly. "They will see you in the Grand Hall." I glanced over at Sarah and knew what it was my parents were going to say.
"Alright, Richard. I'll be with them later. You may leave now. Sarah, I think I need to take a walk. Please tell the ladies I'd like to be left alone," I said. Sarah nodded, and walked off down the hallway.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Why me? was the first thought that entered my mind as I sat down on one of the cold marble benches in the garden. Oh, what I would've given if I might be a peasant, rather than a princess!
The life of a princess didn't suit me a bit. All the rules and restrictions, it's unbearable! And what's worse is the fact that there are actually some people in the palace (such as Beth, one of my more dimwitted ladies) that enjoy palace life. Ever since I was a child I could go nowhere unescorted, except the privy, but even there someone would stand outside the door. Nobody's allowed outside of the palace walls-except on rare occasions when we travel to our neighboring kingdoms. (I'd severely disobeyed this order ever since I was 10 years of age and learned about the secret passageways under the palace that led to and from the village.) And all the women in the palace were shielded from the outside world and anything deemed unsuitable for ladies to see, hear, or know. (But I'd gotten past that little obstacle last year, when I went to my first tournament. I had wanted to go to one for a very long time-- hearing they were very exciting-- and so was enraged when, after arriving with my ladies, we were put in a tent where our vision was obscured by the wall of the tent-to "protect" us. As I had seen many, many battles and fights on the streets whenever I went out of the palace on one of my little adventures through the town, I was rather insulted by this, and pulled off the cloth wall of the tent. Anne, one of my mother's ladies-in-waiting who was in charge of us at the moment, was furious with me, and my ladies all went white at the first sight of blood shed on the field. My mother gave me the punishment of a day locked in my bedchamber, but that only gave me more time to think about all the things that I knew about that the people here tried to shield us from, when I thought it was silly for us not to know. Even when my punishment was over, and my door was unlocked the next morning, I felt no differently about my thoughts. And when one of my ladies told me that I ought to feel very ashamed of myself for what I'd put them through the other day, I felt so furious that I shouted all the dirty curse words I'd ever heard on the streets at her, just to show her how I felt about the matter.) I hated it. And now I was betrothed to a man who was selfish, unkind, and rude-not to mention 34 years older than me.
Well, anyway, as you know, I had to get out of it somehow. There were the regular things: having someone tell my betrothed awful things about me, act nasty in front of Augustus, be as rude as possible, but for some reason I had the nasty idea he wasn't going to give up just because of that. I needed something complicated. Something that even he would be so revolted by that he'd immediately call off the marriage...
So, after dismissing more ideas than I thought one person alone could think of in an hour, I sat on the marble bench gloomily, wondering how bad my fate would really be. Maybe he wasn't all that bad. Maybe if he was, he'd let me travel away from the manor where I would live at with him in the future. But no, such ideas as those were nonsense. And surrendering to the enemy was the last thing I wanted to do right then. Wait... travel from the manor... I could run away!
Of course, it wasn't exactly the wisest solution, I know, but come on here. If you'd been sitting around plotting out ways to get rid of an unwanted suitor only to find that there would be a problem in every one of them, wouldn't you be a bit desperate? Of course, there would be kinks in this plan, too, but it would be much safer to just run away than to go to lengthy measures for some other plan when the chances it will work are 1 in 3 million. But there was always the biggest risk factor, being caught. As a princess, I'd have to rely on pure luck to escape that. Even though I'd only made three public appearances in my life, my family would more likely than not hire an artist to paint pictures of me to hang in public places for people to see.
The Escape
I sat in my bedchamber on my mattress, listening for the palace's clock to chime out the hour. Finally it came. Ding...ding...ding. It rang seven times, signaling me to leave my chamber. I grabbed my pack from under my bed, and went out into the hall. I stood there silently, listening. Instead of the regular sounds one might hear in the palace at seven o'clock-chairs sliding out from under the table as our guests retired to their rooms, or laughter as the men talked and joked, I heard only heavy snoring. Perfect.
An hour before supper, I'd feigned a headache to stay in my chambers. Once my ladies all believed me to be asleep, I crept out and disguised myself as a kitchen maid. Just before the servants moved the food into the Dining Hall, I'd inserted a drop of sleeping potion onto the venison. As an extra precaution I'd also drugged the wine. Then I'd crept back up to my room to wait for the effects to take place. Now all I needed was to sneak back down to the kitchens (still disguised, of course) and draw attention to the snoring Dining Hall, where, in all the confusion, I'd be easily able to slip out of the palace. I'd already prepared a horse to take from the stables-a gentle dapple gray mare. From there I'd make my way toward Greenwood Forest, a place where no one would ever dare go, but why they won't will be explained later.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I edited out that bit of material that annoyed people, and some other things that just didn't need to be in the chapter. I think it's a little better now. I'll try and post up Chapter 3 soon, but I have 12 books to read and do "reading logs" on (a.k.a. summaries for every chapter of the story) for English, and only 3 weeks to do it (and the books are LONG). I WILL try though!!