Chapter 4
"Stop pacing, Walter, you're making me dizzy," Ben called to the man who was wearing a path into the dirt floor. "She's fine. She just collapsed from exhaustion, like anyone would after fighting on their own for who knows how long."
Ben shook his head as Walter continued to pace. He knew the old man was protective of the princess, but she was fine. Thank Avo I woke up in time, he thought gratefully. When he'd woken up and saw her crouching, the skeleton looming over her, he'd reacted as quickly as possible, hoping and praying he would be fast enough to stop her from dying.
He glanced over to Annabelle lying on the stretcher. She looked so vulnerable. He still couldn't believe that this girl could fight as well as she did and if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he still wouldn't believe that she could be a Hero. If he hadn't been fearing for his life during the fight last night, he would have enjoyed simply watching her dance with her sword. This girl was something else.
The scene directly after the battle played over and over in his mind. The hurt and desperation in her eyes had frightened him and seeing that raw emotion in her eyes made him realise that she was hiding so much from the world. Despite her frigid exterior, it was clear that she was overwhelmed and he couldn't blame her. She was much too young to have this burden of an entire country on her small shoulders. If he remembered correctly, she had barely turned nineteen a few months ago.
Annabelle gave a slight stir and muttered a name she'd repeated over and over.
"Elliot."
Probably a former lover or something, he thought. There was no way that this girl didn't have a string of admirers and he felt slightly jealous of this Elliot that had earned the privilege of occupying Annabelle's dreams.
"Wally, who's Elliot?" he asked the older man. Walter gave him one of his scowls and Ben rolled his eyes. "She keeps repeating his name. I was just wondering," Ben said defensively.
Walter let out a sigh and finally sat down. "He's Annabelle's childhood sweetheart. The day we escaped from the castle, there was a demonstration. Logan ordered the ringleaders killed, but Annabelle refused. Logan gave her a choice. Either she sentenced the ringleaders to death, or Elliot, who'd been by her side at the time. Annabelle refused to choose, saying that he should punish her instead, but he said that if she couldn't choose, he'd execute all of them. She chose to save Elliot and Logan forced her to watch as he executed the villagers. We had to leave before she could make sure he was all right and it troubles her greatly."
Ben listened intently to Walter's narration and at the end he couldn't help but feel even sorrier for the princess. What would he have done in her situation? Save someone he loved, or a group of strangers? How could anyone make a decision like that and live without any regrets and second-guessing your choice? Suddenly, part of the desperation in her eyes made sense.
"Do you think he's still alive?" Ben asked Walter.
Walter gave a shrug. "I told Annabelle that he can take care of himself when she asked the same thing, but I'm not so sure. The boy can barely hold his own in a fight, but he is very resourceful. Unfortunately, it is possible that Logan captured him to interrogate him about Annabelle's whereabouts."
"Does she love him?"
"Very much. I'm not too crazy about him, since he has always been a bit of a pansy in my eyes, but despite Logan and my own reservations, she insisted that she will marry him one day."
Ben let out a sigh. "She's probably going to want to look for him in Industrial."
"Of that, I have no doubt." Walter eyed Ben wearily. "Listen Ben, I like you, but I don't want you to hurt her. I know how you've treated and fallen in love with many women in the past and I'm only going to say this once. If you do anything to her that I deem inappropriate, be it a gaze, an action, anything, I won't hesitate to kill you, do you understand? This girl has no family left and I promised her father on his deathbed that I would protect her."
"I was just concerned that she is going to be distracted. There's a lot riding on her shoulders." Ben gave a shrug. "Come on, Wally, I've done a lot of things and have been called many things, scoundrel being one of the more polite ones, on many occasions, but I'm not going to risk my own life for a quick roll in the hay or some unrequited love affair." Besides, she'd probably kill me faster than you would if I tried anything, he added silently. Maybe he should try to be less brash when dealing with her.
Walter turned red and started to form a reply, but he was interrupted by Annabelle stirring awake and the old knight rushed to her side.
"Walter?" she asked softly and let out a groan. "What happened?"
"Lieutenant Simmons almost lobbed off that pretty head of yours, but I woke up in time to kill him. You passed out afterwards," Ben cut in, a smile on his lips.
She was feeling strong enough to shoot him a cold glare. "You saved me?" She fell back on the stretcher with a huff. "Forgive me if I'm surprised you could land a shot like that. On the other hand, dying would have been a more pleasurable experience than this horrid throbbing, that's for sure."
"A thank you would be appreciated more than hostility, Princess. I did save your life after all," he replied snidely, shaking his head. This must be the most ungrateful woman he ever had the misfortune of meeting. I must be the biggest masochist ever to want to endure this.
"I wouldn't need saving if you hadn't passed out in the first place," she retorted.
"Clearly, your little accident has done nothing to dull you tongue or stunning personality," he replied sarcastically, his resolve to be more considerate tossed to the four winds. It was a lot easier to make that decision while she was unconscious! "At least you're admitting that you need me, Princess."
She sat upright. "I never said that. I said that I wouldn't have been in that particular predicament if you didn't decide to take a little catnap in the middle of a fight."
"I thought you fought alone, Princess," he said with a smile, raising his eyebrow. She opened her mouth to reply, but shut it quickly, turning bright red with either fury or embarrassment. "Don't get into a fire fight without any ammunition, Princess," he taunted her, pleased that he'd gotten her to blush.
"Has anyone told you that you are absolutely infuriating?" she spat at him.
"More than I'd care to count, unfortunately. Fortunately, the women that called me infuriating all change their minds quickly enough." With this, he shot her a wink and he saw her eyes flash with anger.
"Well, I'm not one of your whores, Finn." He couldn't help but notice the way her two front teeth overlapped slightly when she sneered at him. The little imperfection, slight as it might be, reminded him that she was actually human and he found it absolutely adorable. Now if only I can see that in a smile.
"How quick you are to assume that only whores are interested in me. Some of the women I was referring to had been nobles, Princess," he retorted, still grinning.
She started formed a reply, but Walter cut in. "Both of you, cut it out. Annabelle, I'm glad you're alright."
Her expression changed from blind fury to tender care when she addressed Walter. "I'm glad you are unharmed, Walter. Is the rest of the brigade alright?"
Ben started to interrupt, but she shut him up with a cold glare. "I wasn't asking you, Captain."
"They lost a few men, including Private Jammy," Walter said sorrowfully. Ben watched as Annabelle's face fell. She did care. What a surprise, he thought with a start. "But it would have been much worse had you not been here," Walter added quickly.
Annabelle sat up gingerly and rubbed her temples. Her gaze darted downward and her face contracted in horror, probably at the sight of the bandages wrapped around her middle. Oh, come on, she can't really be surprised that she got hurt, he thought, slightly irritated. Besides, it's not as if her injuries were that bad. Just a few-
Ben's thoughts were brought to a screeching halt by a loud exclamation from the princess. "Who undressed me?" A bright red blush coloured her face as she hiked the blankets higher, obviously trying to cover her modesty. Okay, not the injury.
"Ben helped me dress your wounds. He's the only one with medic training who was in a state to help you," Walter replied, confusion written on his face. If possible, the princess turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Come on, Princess, you can't be concerned about your modesty in these kind of situations," Ben tried to placate. "Besides, Walter used a sheet to cover up the more interesting bits."
When he said those words, the princess's expression changed from sheer horror to blind outrage. If looks could kill, Ben would have been long gone.
In reality, even without seeing her body completely, the princess was easily the most gorgeous woman he has ever laid eyes on. She was every bit as curvy as he had imagined, with a tapered waist, full hips and strong, muscular legs and arms. Though her skin was ghosted with the remains of battle scars, they only added to her overall beauty and made her unique. He had to remind himself constantly while bandaging her that Walter was watching and that he couldn't ogle too much, lest he lose a limb.
"But…but what if you took advantage of me while I was incapacitated?" she retorted, clutching the blanket even tighter. Ben let out an involuntary snort at this.
"Come on, do you really think I'm that depraved that I would molest you or something while Walter watched? I wasn't left alone with you for even a moment. And even if I was, I'm not a monster! You were hurt and I helped!"
To her credit, she looked slightly embarrassed before the colour faded from her cheeks. "Then I apologize that I may have given you the impression that I think you inappropriate," she said stiffly, not looking him in the eye.
"May have given me the impression?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, but Walter shut him up with a glare.
"Is Major Swift ready to join our cause?" she asked, getting to her feet slowly. She pitched forward slightly and Ben rushed forward, holding out an arm for her to hold on to. Though she took it, he was met with yet another glare as she quickly straightened up.
"The whole Swift Brigade is at your command, Annabelle," Walter replied. "Swiftie, Ben and the rest of the brigade will be coming with us to Bowerstone."
Ben saw her flinch slightly at the mention of his name. Did she really think that he was going to stay in this hellhole any longer than necessary? Besides, was a thank you too much to ask for, seeing as he saved her life?
"Then we'd better get a move on," she said. Walter nodded and they went to the fortress gate to meet with the other soldiers who had been waiting for her to recover. She was met with welcoming cheers and Ben noticed that she tinged pink at the adoration. He was strongly starting to suspect that her whole ice princess image was a façade, a defence mechanism to protect herself, like he did with his humour or sarcasm.
"All right, men. We'd better get out of this forest before nightfall. Let's move out!" Swift commanded and the soldiers started marching toward Bowerstone Industrial. The mood was considerably lighter than the previous day and the air was filled with laughter, jokes and tales of the previous battle. Ben thought about the unedited autobiography he'd been writing where he'd written about this specific phenomenon. What did he do with those pages anyway? He put it out of his mind. It was a good day to be a part of the Swift Brigade.
