"One Day, I'll show them. I will, and I'll laugh in their stupid, impudent faces and say "WAKE UP! Girls can do anything that boys can do, and even better than they do it." But, until then, I've gotta do something about this stupid situation I'm in. Well, here it goes."
Paige, a lower-city girl from a poor family, is expected to play the traditional role of a girl; cook, clean, fetch water from the well down the road, and worst of all, get married. It's not that she wasn't slightly intrigued, there were boys she liked, but from her experience, the fathers married the girls off to the ones that payed the most money, and they were usually the ones that couldn't get anyone to marry them because of handsomeness or personality. So she wasn't looking forward to her new husband very much, but the street girls really didn't have many other choices. She just couldn't abandon her family like that. She was certainly pretty, so she would fetch a good price which might feed her family for months. But then she would never get out of this cycle of poverty. She wanted to be a knight. A warrior, famed for being merciless among evil. Her father would never let her though. She had asked, even tried to reason with him, even though arguing with a male is forbidden.
"There are plenty of girl pages and lady knights around now. Lady Keladry showed us that we CAN do anything the men do. Why can't I make a better life for myself too?" At first her father had stared at her in disbelief, that a girl would argue with him was absurd, especially one of his own daughters. "This whole Lady Knight thing is a big scam. Giving men less power and women ideas. Besides, those girls who made it only went there because there wasn't a future for them elsewhere. You are going to bring fortune to this family." Paige was fuming by the time he'd finished. Angrily, she shouted back "So you can drink the money off and forget I was ever here?" Taken aback, her father could only stare as she stormed out of the room they were in, slamming the door behind her.
Paige stormed out of the small hut in which her family lived into the grubby backyard, which contained all the livestock they owned. Two goats, a cow, a white pony that was so dirty it looked to be brown, and skinny mutt that guarded their house at night. As she entered the yard, the dog got up from its resting place under the sparse leaves of a thorn bush and trotted over to her, head even with its shoulders, ears that went up slightly and curved back, like the ears of the Kings' fine greyhounds. The rest of the dog's body was as sleek as a greyhounds', with the curved back and large chest, long legs and whippy tail. Sometimes Paige liked to imagine he was a pup of one of the most coveted females in the Kings' kennels. Then at least one of them would've had a way out of there. But even the dog clearly wasn't royalty, for he was smaller than a greyhound, his head only coming up a little past the knee, he was furrier than the sleek royal dogs, sporting a coat of tan and white, and had large paws. But the biggest giveaway of his less-than-royal stature was how he walked. Submissive and loyal, he didn't carry himself as the proud greyhounds did; he held his head level with his shoulders, tail down, walking in a bouncy, humble but alert way. To Paige, his presence was reassuring. It let her know that, even though she wanted to be independent, there was someone there to look after her. She sat herself down in the dirt and put her head on her knees, scratching the dogs' ears absently as she calmed down. The she remembered, tomorrow was her fourteenth birthday. Birthdays weren't kept track of in her family, as there were too many children to really make things like age important. Despairing, she started to cry. Even if she wanted to be a page, she was too old for the training. If she DID get in, she would be teased by others about her age and why she hadn't started earlier. "I hate my life. I just HATE it!" she screamed to the sky, "Why can't things be changed?"
"Where's the god damn water?!" the familiar yell reached Paige's ears while she was giving the pony a long-since overdue grooming. "Oh, Mithros, I forgot the stupid water," she grumbled as she dropped the brushes, "Why can't someone ELSE get the water for a change? Oh NO, the boys can't, because they're tough guys and obviously can't handle the task of lugging a huge bucket of water back from the well. How macho of them." She whistled for the dog to come along, grabbed the plastic bucket from the side of the house, and walked away down the grime-covered cobblestones of the street.
The walk to the well had gone without a problem, and as she pumped water, Paige was complaining to the dog about all the unfairness's of the life she lived. As she put the lid on the bucket, she noticed that the dog was standing erect, ears cocked forward, grunt-whining and sniffing the air anxiously. She quickly scanned the shadows of the buildings, made even dimmer in the twilight hours, she saw a bulk move around a corner, squinting hard at it, she was oblivious to the footsteps behind her until she was grabbed around the waist and a hand was clamped firmly over her mouth. She was spun around and gripped firmly by the shoulders. She looked up into the face of her attacker and saw a man of forty, unshaven, unclean, and obviously not well-intentioned. In an oily-smooth voice he sneered "Well, what do we have here? A little street beauty here is what we got. How's about you come with me little dearie, and for a little favor I'll show you how to live a life better than the one you've got here." Paige had heard about attacks on girls, they weren't uncommon in the slums of the lower city. She knew that she wouldn't go with this man. Think Paige, think. What would a knight do? She twisted and ducked, but that only resulted in a tighter grip on her shoulders. "Eh, a feisty one are ya?" the man asked, "Well, I'll show you to mind your place!" With that he punched her roughly in the cheek and on the edge of her eye. Pain making her head throb, Paige pulled her last desperate trick she could think of. She twisted her head to bite his arm, and at the same time kneed him in the groin. The man yelled and let her go. But as she turned to run he leaped and grabbed her ankle, making her fall to the ground. Then the dog stepped in. The submissive mutt leaped at her attacker, scoring his face with sharp teeth, leaving a line of cuts across his face. The man's blood dripped into his eyes and, blind, he blundered around to the buildings and felt his way back down an alley. Paige didn't wait for him to come back. She got up and sprinted back home, her mutt following close behind.
When she got home, Paige recounted the story to her mother and father. As her moved to comfort her, her father held out his arm to stop her. Not knowing how to resist a man's commands, she stopped and fell silent. "Daughter, these things are to be expected. We are not rich, there are people who will take you. We must go on with life as if it never happened. Tomorrow, you will fetch back the bucket, which may already be stolen thanks to your lack of forethought." Outraged at her fathers' insensitive words, Paige replied hotly "He was going to HURT me. I've heard the stories about girls taken off the streets by strange men. I know what happens to them. I don't want that to happen to me, so I'm VERY sorry to have cost you two coppers for a new bucket. Maybe next time I'll just stand there and LET MYSELF BE RAPED." Her parents, stunned into silence, watched as she stormed out of the hut.
Paige ran into the yard. Only when she was sure she was alone did she let a tear leak out, but before she knew it, she was crying into the mane of the white pony. "I have to get out of here," she whispered, "Far away, and never come back." She was decided. That night, after everyone in the small hut was asleep on their cots and her father out drinking, Paige dug up the food storage bag they buried in the floor to keep the long-term food. Then she stuffed as much as her saddlebags could carry, then stuffed her daypack as well. Running out to the yard, she turned back suddenly to grab a bag-full of grain to supplement the ponies' diet of grass, making it light enough to carry. They wouldn't be needing it anymore. Paige knew she was traveling heavy, but she had no idea how long the journey would be. While she was saddling the pony, the dog walked up to her. In his mouth he held the boots that she always forgot to put on the pony, to keep his legs from getting sore. Looking at the dog's face, always submissive yet affectionate, she knew she couldn't leave him behind. "Oh, alright, you pushy mutt." Running back to the hut as lightly as she could, she unhooked some strips of dried beef from the ceiling. She turned around to see a pair of eyes staring solemnly at her. Stifling a gasp, she peered closer at the dim figure. Letting out an anxious breath, she said "Ma, I have to do this. I can't go on living this way. If I become a knight, I'll send money back to you, I promise. And I'll visit and-" Her mother hushed her. Holding her close, she slipped a small bag into Paige's palm. The soft clink it made as it traded hands confirmed that it was money.
"Use it well daughter, and, become who you will, do not forget your mother." With tears in her eyes, Paige buried her face in her mothers' robes again, feeling like a child. "Thank you Ma, I'll come back for you, I will." Smiling, the old, wrinkled woman gently pushed Paige away and said
"I know, now GO! Buy a new outfit at the market and go straight to the palace training master. Here are signed papers with my consent on it. GO!" As Paige swung herself onto the pony's back, she looked back for her mother, but the old woman had slipped back inside. Feeling free for the first time, she let out a whoop of joy and kicked the pony into a gallop. They sped along the cobblestoned streets, the dog following close behind. Stopping at the edge of the slums, Paige shouted a last goodbye for all to hear, "So long, miserable people, one day I'll be a knight, and you'll be sorry! Sorry for everything!" With that, she whirled the pony around and set off at a trot towards her new life.
Paige rode on all night, and when dawn came, she was exhausted. She slowed the pony to a stop and slid off his back, leading him off the road. She then ate some of the rice she'd stored in the saddlebags, and ate some of the dried meat strips as well. She fed some meat to the dog, then walked over to the sweating pony. She brushed him and talked to him, letting him eat some of the grain from the bag, then let him out to graze. When everyone was taken care of, Paige let herself lie down in the grass. Her heavy eyelids started to close, and she told herself, "You can rest, but just for a minute." Then she shut her tired eyes, and soon she was asleep.
A cold nose in her ear made her eyes snap open. When he saw she was awake, the mutt whined and bounced back a few paces. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Paige sat up blearily. It was very light out, she noticed, and she looked to the sky. She yelped in surprise and scrambled to her feet. The sun was almost above her head, which meant it was an hour to mid-day. She had slept too long. Hurriedly, Paige packed the saddlebags she had used for a pillow back up and was about to latch them onto the saddle when she realized it was not there. She looked around, hoping she had just placed it somewhere else, but the saddle wasn't there. It had been old and ratty, but it was still a saddle, and she needed it to hold the saddlebags. "Of course," Paige shouted to the sky, "of course this journey couldn't just be easy for ONCE in my life." As she stomped to get the pony, she heard a soft whine. Turning around, she saw the dog sitting in the grass, his muzzle bound harshly with coarse rope. "I'm sorry; I didn't even think you'd try to stop them. Good boy, good boy." Paige continued to murmur to her dog while she unbound his muzzle. Once he was free, she once again contemplated how to carry the saddlebags. She couldn't spare much more time, so she decided to hope the city wasn't much farther away and to just leave the supplies. She knew that it was a foolhardy idea, but she didn't have much other choice. She walked over to the pony and untied the hobbles from its legs. As she started to coil the rope, dejectedly twirling it around her arm, she got an idea.
Soon they were off, the dog trotting beside the girl and pony. Paige sat tall, riding bareback, heels locked tight at the pony's sides. On either side of her legs, the saddlebags, suspended by rope and tied around Paige's waist, slapped lightly along with the rhythm of the pony's trot.
After Paige had stopped for a late lunch, she was riding hard. Worried that she might miss the day that the pages had to register at the palace, she urged the pony to canter along the road. She was beginning to feel as if they would never make it, when, over the hill, she saw the roofs of many tall buildings, and heard a distant sound of chatter. Sighing in relief, she let the pony slow to a trot. Seeing that she still had about two miles to go, she occupied herself with random chatting to her horse and dog. "You know, my friends," she began, "Now that I am to be a knight, you two should have proper names, as a knight's companions." Thinking hard she finally decided. "You, dog, will be named Milo, because that is a wonderful name, not to important or fierce, but not wimpy either." Struggling to keep her voice noble-sounding, she tried to leave out her lower-city accent as much as possible. "As for you, my noble steed, your name shou- shall," she corrected herself, "be Peach, after Lady Kel's warhorse Peachblossom." Very satisfied with these two names, she rode into the city.
The sounds of the marketplace overwhelmed her. Paige had never seen such a busy place. She slowly guided Peach through the crowd, routinely checking behind her to make sure Milo was following. She needn't have worried. The mutt was experienced with crowds and stayed right at the horse's heels. Soon, Paige spotted a friendly-looking dressmakers shop, and made her way toward it. She tied Peach to one of the designated horse-posts off the streets and said sternly to Milo, "Now, I need you to stay here and guard Peach, to make sure no one steals him. Stay." With that, she turned around and walked into the shop.