Knight Girl

Chapter #1: Meeting Prince Fang and 'The Knight'

Prince Nicholas (Fang) POV

As the sun hung high in the sky a grand carriage rolled along the road in the distance coming in the direction of the palace.

It was a peaceful, sunny, quiet morn... "James! Zephyr! GET HERE NOW!" ...ing. Well it was. Ugh, I wonder what the twins have done to upset the maids THIS time.

Oh whoops I guess you're wondering who the hell the twins and I are. Well the twins are Prince James William and prince Zephyr George; they are the little annoying brothers that I am unfortunately stuck with. Yeah, yeah I known what I have to be for them to be my little brothers, I am Prince Nicholas, first in line for the throne, 20 years old actually, and in a few weeks I turn 21. I have my mum's looks, with my black hair and onyx eyes that are apparently gorgeous if you are one to believe in gossiping maids and tanned olive skin. I have an eight pack for all my training that I do and I am quite fit, which unfortunately means that girls are always after me, I mean I am a guy and I like the attention but not constantly, well it depend on if they're good looking and up for a little fun, and besides if I wanted, I could get any girl that I set my sights on. I'm 6'2 which is tall but my father is 6'1 and so was his father. I am also a bit of a quiet person I rarely talk, well what's the point when all the people talk about is politics and money and... Marriage, ugh going to have to do that soon.

Anyway, James or Iggy is 17 years old and takes after father. He is pale, pale strawberry blonde hair, fair skin, and milky blue eyes. He's also quite tall for his age at 6'1 feet tall and thin. He is immature and can make anything explode. It can actually be really cool, except when he puts a stink bomb in my room. He's loud and obnoxious and often talks in third person which can be funny sometimes but not ALL of the time. He seems to have a slight crush on one of his maids (yes his, she was assigned to clean his room and do his laundry and stuff) Ella. She's pretty with brown hair and large hazel eyes, with freckles. Ella's short but thin and quite fit from running after Iggy all the time.

Zephyr or Gazzy as he is called for obvious reasons is similar to Iggy just not as thin. Blonde hair and blue eyes, although his aren't nearly as light as Iggy's are. He's 17 as well but only a few minutes younger than Iggy and only an inch shorter. And is also a pyro and it usually causes things like this to happen. Gazzy can mimic anyone's voice even after only hearing it a couple of times. Gazzy has a huge crush on his maid (she was assigned his room when she started working here, poor girl) Monique, or Nudge as I've heard she likes to be called. She has mocha coloured skin, with dark curly hair, with big brown eyes and she's also fit from all the running that she does. She also talks a lot!

Well back to the present time the twins have probably just blown something up to attract the attention of the maids. Not so sure if that's the BEST way to get a girls attention but it seems to be working. They actually are paying close attention to the twins. And by "they", I mean their maids Monique and Ella. They have been doing thing for a while now, they know not to cause too much damage to the castle but sometimes things get taken a bit too far. That meant blowing giant holes in the palace walls and putting craters in the middle of the courtroom right before the meeting of the Kingdoms.

Oh well, at least it will take the attention away from me and my upcoming marriage ball grrrrrr. Yes I growled, you would too if you had to marry some snobby girl by your 21st birthday. I know it's a long time, two years in fact but still. Well that and the fact that I have to wear the most tight, itchy clothes in history. The reason that this would be horrible for me is because, the clothes I wear are slightly loose BLACK not red not orange or yellow, black, but apparently that's not okay. And my parents expect me to get someone to marry me with these... Ha ha... Not happening.

My parents are desperate though. They're even inviting the princesses of the land to our kingdom for a ball. Yippee. I am doomed, hordes of snobby princesses swarming to get my attention and money and the power that comes with it. Ugh! I just want to have fun, play around with some girls, Don't want to be tied down to some cake faced, bad kissing, self-conceited bitch *shudder of horror*

As well as the ball, we are going to host some if mothers friends, King and Queen of The Kingdom of Darkness. The queen and her two daughters as well as their ladies in waiting and personal body guard-knight that the queen insisted would come. Well I guess we'll have to make room for them (the servants).

I heard that the Knight is the best fighter in all the kingdoms that he can fight with almost any weapons that he is given; even I am not that good. I could beat him in hand to hand combat though; after all I have been trained by the best tutors that money can buy all if my life. Not bragging or anything, but I have ended up besting all of them and sometimes some of them gang up and I have come out of that victorious. I heard that they all had the same teacher after He had bested all of them together! I want to be that good one day, I can't believe one MAN, went up against 30 masters of fighting. I always asked the masters who their master was but they always smiled a reminiscing sort of smile, like they were remembering both embarrassing and good times, but they would shake their heads and say "You will meet them one day, and when you do, you shall kneel before them and want to know all of their secrets, but you will only find out a fraction. I was like you and asked this question and their reply was, the masters of you before me and Mother Nature. I never understood why they said that and I probably never will. My Master was something special" And with that, they would leave me wondering what did I have to do to know what the Master of Fight Masters know?

All I know about the Knight is that his fighting is unparalleled by anyone. My guess is he was taught by my tutors Master and that the Knight found got a few more secrets of fighting them my tutors ever did. I should ask the Knight if he would spar with me while hey stay, it would be a welcomed challenge. Beating everyone who challenges me is a bore now, only Iggy and Gazzy really put up a fight. Huh okay I will, it will also serve as a distraction from the two princesses, well escape from them, HA-HA-HA good excuse. I want to ask him why The Knight and does he have any other names? I mean sure he's good but he will only be the best until he meets me I win our fight, because that's just how good I am.

The reason I am so good though is because I was bored and so I practised everything I was taught to perfection. I mean I had the twins but they always paired up and I was alone. I didn't like any if the servants until a guy named Dylan showed up as a stable boy. He and I were close but not really close, we talked and sometimes sparred but I always came out victorious. I think he got sick of it because one day he grew distant and I only saw him when I went riding. I would say hello and he would say hello back but it was obviously only because he had to, he's also changed a lot. He soon rose through the ranks and became a knight, he was one of the best there in our army, and he's a captain now, still too young to become a general but the way he's going, I am sure he'll get there soon. To have a friend, not one of my brothers, was hard, to have a close friend was even more difficult to find as many just saw me as the prince, someone who was rich or someone who was above them. So when he ended that friendship I became even quieter and more withdrawn, but Iggy and Gazzy kept me from complete emo-ness. I have to thank them for that. I know I sound emotional and all but losing a friend is hard, losing my one friend, was difficult, so you can't blame me for being a little angry and bitter about it all.

Speaking of the visitors, I think I heard the arrival trumpet. Must be them in the carriage that I saw from my window earlier. They have a day to arrive still, I wonder…. Oh we'll I should give them something to remember, being so polite and surrounded by the same people is getting boring. Also I don't want everyone in the kingdom to think I am also a snob I mean, I want to be respected one day, and I also want to be friend The Knight.

Knight/maid Max POV
Ugh I am not a morning person; wake me up before I am ready to be woken up... And you are stuck with and angry Max all day. At least, that is, if you don't wake me with the smell of food cooking. Grrrrrr... Time to feed the beast, it will probably be the only meal I have today. Oh well, I'll make sure to eat plenty, and maybe steal some for the road. I found out just now that... Your probably wondering who 'I' is, or I am would be better.

The name is Max NOT Maxine, Max. If you call me by any other name I will kick you into next week. And I can. Any way I'm 19 (my birthday is coming up soon), I am tall for a girl my age, 5'9 actually, and I am athletically built, so strong but thin, so I can be agile and fast as well as pack a punch. I have long light brown hair, reaches my waist when let out, with natural blonde highlights from training in the sun all of the time. My eyes are the colour of un-barfed chocolate, lucky me. I have high cheek bones and medium sized lips so not thin or full in between. I have long eye lashes and long legs (or so I am told constantly by my best and only friend Angel) and a small six pack. I also have the ultra-death glare ™, I have made grown men cry with it and won all my stare downs, some people take longer than others to break but honestly not that long at all.

Angel is basically like a daughter to me, weird I know but, she's only 10 and she has these big blue eyes that ,when put into Bambi eye mode, could turn the hardest hearts soft ( I should know, I have experienced it first hand on multiple occasions ). She's got a thin build and is slightly taller than most girls her age. Angel's blonde hair is curly and light and bounces around her head like a halo. She is very intuitive and it often seems like she can read minds. She loves clothes and gossip and keeps me filled in on the goings on of the kingdoms.

She's my baby and if anyone hurt her I would make sure they never came back to any of the kingdoms in the present, although if, and I mean IF they survive, they may turn up in the distant future. And the scary thing is that I wouldn't have to try too hard to do it. I mean if you believe that I am the best fighter in the land, but hey I am a girl, how can I be the best fighter? Oi! All of you who ask that question, you are sexist and SHOULD be booted into next week.

Anyway back to what I found out... I just found out that the Queen Clair of the Kingdom of Midnight (I know they all have strange names), my Queen's, Queen Valencia, friend, has invited her and Princess Lisa and Princess Bridget to stay with them until Prince Fang's (cool name) ball. The latest news is that he is looking for a bride and it's got Lisa and Bridget into clothes makeup jewellery frenzy. They are complaining about their lack of clothes (like they didn't have enough clothes for entire army of fashionistas) saying that they need more of this and that and "but she has this why can't I?" It's driving the entire palace insane. Oh well, personally I have no trouble with clothes I only wear one type of outfit when in public and that's my black fight suit.

My fight suit is amazing if I do say so myself (considering I made it). It's completely black and it has thick leather padding on the back ( it goes over my butt, but its flexible I can still sit), on the front, from my collar bone, down to my hip bones and around my sides to protect them as well, aren't I smart? It also has a thinner layer on my thighs leaving the rest of my legs coved in the stretchy cloth. It wraps around my feet and also has soft leather but toughened so I can walk without boots which restrict the amount of hold I can get on rocks trees walls roofs etc. The cloth continues up and around my head, leaving only my eyes showing, the part around my mouth is thinner so that I can breathe. And as well as around my ears so I can still hear. The reason I need this mask is so no-one knows who I am. The reason they can't know is mega secret but I'm going to tell you...

I am a princess as well, Princess Maximum of the Kingdom of Darkness (the inspiration for my outfit). I am actually first in line for the throne and will get to rule over all of the land but I don't want to, so I became Maxine the queen's lady in waiting. Nobody suspects because my mum, the queen if you hadn't figured that out, is very smart and makes sure I never have to appear at the same time as much as humanly possible.

She figured out as soon as I could walk that I wasn't going to be a princess-princess. So she didn't tell anyone that I was hers, they thought she had a miscarriage and that I was some servants daughter. I "moved "when I turned 5, and then I started my training.

At first I was taught by the masters that lasted for a few years, until I wore them out with my attitude and hunger for more fighting knowledge. I finished my training faster than anyone expected and when I turned 9, I started training myself, setting up everything, practicing everything that I knew to perfection and then made things up and eventually made up my own style.

By the age of 15 I had bested all of the current masters of all styles of hand to hand combat and armed battles, even improved my senses as much as I could. I trained my hearing, used sorta echo location to find my way around, so know I can see without seeing! In other words I click my tongue and the noise bounces off the objects in front on me, comes back and voila, slightly distorted image of what's coming up, and improved hearing, the only down side is now loud noises really bother my sensitive ears. I learnt the smell and tastes and appearances of all things edible and drinkable basically survival training.

I then was asked to start teaching them when it became apparent that I knew so much more, that was discovered after most of them ganged up on me and I won, not bragging but it was only 20 of the masters, I would have had more of a struggle with all 30 of them. The only thing was I was dressed as a boy with a short haircut and loose clothes I passed as a small teen, not as me Princess Max. It irritated me to no end when they talked bad about women, but other than that; being free and living the life of a man was nice.

Yeah I know that you're confused and thinking how come you need to hide? No one saw you that knew of your existence? Yeah well better to be safe than sorry, I mean there are people who know about my existence, I did live in the castle for a while before mum figured out that I might not have been princess material. And now you're wondering how someone could hide being pregnant, well that's because mum hid it. She had had a miss carriage before and because she didn't want to give hope of an heir and disappoint her citizens again, she hid it, me, the large bump I made in her stomach, away from public view, shut herself up in her chambers, only venturing out to her gardens, which were joined to her bedroom, hidden away from sight. Pretty amazing though. And so she kept me hidden from the other for the first couple of years, wanted to make sure I'd live past an infant, and I did!

Well any way I do have the maid outfit if I don't want to wear my black one... Yes I know what you're thinking "But how can you just pretend to be a maid, wont people notice? But I usually don't, why you may ask? It's because the maid's outfit is a... DRESS! No way is anyone ever going to get me into one of those frilly, pink, poufy, sparkly, deadly things. I know the maid uniform isn't anything like that, long dark skirt, whatever neutral colour you want, white black brown, anything in between. And the shirt is a small, and slightly poufy, again with the neutral colour theme, and over the top a crisp, perfectly white apron, emphasis on the clean pure white and crisp, it's the only thing that's nonnegotiable, have to be clean nice and presentable, never know who's around the corner in the palace, can't look like a slob. I try not to use it as much, it's really difficult to hide the changes from Angel, I'm surprised she hasn't guess yet, no I haven't told her as much as I want to, I knew to tell her would end badly. And the only reason I get away with the whole being a maid and the Knight at the same time is because Maid Max is sick a lot and takes a lot of holidays to visit family in some random other kingdom. Does it all make sense now?

Well now that you know all about me. I should be going, I am the royal's personal body guard it means where they go outside the palace, and I go. It's actually fun getting to go to the other kingdoms and not have to wear a frilly pink dress and high heels and make up, or cake up depending on how much you use, and have to giggle and flirt and sit there looking pretty and like you have no idea what's going on, like you're some pretty little doll that can't think for herself. That's never going to happen to me if I can help it.

"Knight, you need to come to the stables they're ready to go... Almost! Good luck mate they're excited over the ball and meeting the prince, so I suggest you block your sensitive ears" Ari said clamping me in the back. Ari is like a brother, to the 'knight' yeah that's my name when I'm in the suit, which is most of the time. But we're close, I have given him a few tips on fighting and he thought me how to take care of my horse properly, see Ari is a stable hand, well was one until he got knighted and was moved to the army. He still works in the stables but not full time, I miss seeing him a lot, but am relieved as well I hate lying to him, besides Angel, he's my best friend but I just can't tell him. That would put an end to my freedom and respect, to be replaced with rules and scorn and dresses. Uh… I think not, but hey Ari won't find out and if he does, he'll understand… I hope.

"I'm coming; I'm coming, hold your horses!" I yell in a deep, gruff voice (hey I can't go talking in a higher pitched voice now can I?).

"Oh hardy ha: like I haven't heard that one a million times before, now get you lazy butt out here before the princesses come and start their morning yelling at you for being late!" Ari yelled the last part knowing that I hated the high pitched yelling, it was a wonder my ears were still this sensitive after living with them for years. I fixed my mask, making sure the complex knot was tight and unlikely to slip and sprinted out the door, pausing to hug Angel and slip her an extra apple "Keep that hidden and eat it if you really need it" I whisper yelled as I grabbed my many weapons and satchel and dragging her out the door with me, grabbing her shoes and carrying her to the carriage. Her laughter filled the stables and made me smile under my mask as I dumped her on the servant's carriage and helped her with her shoes. Oh, I forgot to say that she's one of the Queen's ladies in waiting, she's pretty young but she's smart and able.

"Oh Mr KNIIIIIIIIIIIGHT" I hear and just barely suppress a groan; the Red Haired Wonders had arrived with the Queen. Finally and un-fortunately….