~*~Ten years later~*~
In the dark of the night, a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders took his first step toward his freedom. Prince Maxwell Evans looked out of his window and down toward the ground. 'It's a long way down,' he thought. 'But it's worth it.' He looked around his posh room, with all the luxuries that anyone could think of. He was willing to throw it all away for his freedom.
He took the rope he had fashioned out of the bed sheets and tied one end securely to the bed post. He then threw it out the window and started to climb out – making sure that he was holding on tightly. 'Good-bye mother and father,' he said silently before trekking down the side of the wall.
Just half an hour later, his parents were walking down the corridor up to his room. Following King Philip and Queen Diane were a multitude of servants who were busy trying to keep in front of them to light the dark walkways.
"Really, Philip, can't this wait until morning?" Diane pleaded. It tired her out the way that her son and her husband fought so often.
"No!" Philip thundered. "If I can't sleep, neither should he!"
Diane tried once again to reason with him. "Perhaps he just needs some time."
"Time! I don't have to give him!" Philip snapped. "I signed the marriage treaty with Spain all ready and that boy is going to marry Gabriella!"
"But he doesn't love her!"
"Marriage is not about love."
"Then maybe it should be," Diane said quietly as they entered Max's room. A quick sweep of the room showed that it was empty.
"What the…" Philip began before seeing the home-made rope.
"Not again," Diane sighed as she sat on Max's bed. She winced as she heard Philip's bellow for the guards. 'Run, Max,' she silently thought. 'Go reach for your happiness.'
~*~Dawn, several miles out~*~
Outside, as the sun rose, a rooster crowed to announce its arrival. Inside the house, beside a cold fireplace, Liz woke up. On her chest lay the worn, open book Utopia. Soot and ashes covered her coarse clothes and smudges of it lined her face and hands. Liz yawned and stretched her sore muscles. She had fallen asleep reading again. She inwardly groaned and thought, 'Another day.'
Liz was always the first to wake up in the house. Ever since her father had died, she had been forced to work as more and more of the servants were sold off. The money that Rodmilla gained by selling them was not spent toward the estate – rather it was to buy new dresses and jewels for herself.
The estate was falling apart. Now, there was only Louise left and Maurice had just been sold two days ago. Maurice and Louise had been married and Louise was heartbroken at the loss. Liz was racking her brain for some way to bring back Maurice.
In the apple orchard, Liz took her time gathering the apples for breakfast. It was the one place that still flourished without too much work. She gathered the apples into her apron and was about to head back into the main house when she heard a horse whinnying. She looked over to the stables where there were only two horses still stabled. Like the servants, all the other horses had been sold or traded off.
Then Liz noticed a hooded figure jump over a small stone wall on a horse. Wait a minute, that horse looked really familiar. Hey, that was her horse! The audacity of that man to steal what little she had! She ran out to the field and waited for him to come toward her, still holding onto her apron of apples.
She let go of the apples, holding onto one and as soon as the man was close enough, she aimed and threw the apple. It hit its mark, the man's forehead. With a heavy grunt, the stranger fell off the horse. "Owww!" The horse stood still and the man quickly tried to get up only to have Liz pelt him with more apples. "Please, stop," the man pleaded.
However, Liz paid him no attention. If she had taken a little more time to think, she would have noticed that she still couldn't see the horse thief's face because of his cloak. His royal purple cloak. "This will teach you for stealing our horse!" she yelled.
The man desperately tried to hide from Liz's apples as he hid behind the horse. However, Liz just simply circled around and pelted him with more apples. "Please, I had no choice. My own horse lost its shoe."
"And what of our choice? To simply let you?"
With a cry, the man finally straightened up and let the cloak fall from his face. Liz gasped as she saw the chiseled features of the man. The dark hair and those eyes. Instantly, she fell to the ground. How could she have been such a fool?! "Forgive me, your highness, I did not see you," Liz trembled, she knew she was in trouble for this!
Max gingerly felt his forehead and winced slightly. This girl certainly had an arm. Then he glanced down at his tunic and smiled slightly at the apple pieces stuck there. He said wryly, "Your aim would suggest otherwise."
Liz knew it. He was mad and she was going to suffer. "And for this, I know I must die," Liz stated sadly, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes.
Max paused and looked at the girl. All he could see was her long, dark hair. What she said gave him the perfect excuse to leave without any trouble. "Yes, well…" Max paused to think. He had never done this before. "If you keep silent, then perhaps I will be lenient."
"Thank you," Liz sighed gratefully. She began tentatively, "We do have another horse, sire. One more younger, if that is your wish."
His wish. Max sighed and looked off into the distance. He still had so much more distance to go before he could gain his wish. "I wish for nothing more than to be freed from my gilded cage," he said softly, almost to himself.
Liz, however, had heard what he had said. 'That's strange for a prince to say. I wonder what he means by that.' But then she noticed that the Prince had begun speaking again. "This is for your silence," Max told her as he poured the contents of his purse out to her. Max wanted to begin anew, with no advantage at all. He was going to rough this.
Liz's eyes widened as gold coins fell all around her. This was just the sign she needed! A plan formed in her head. She then dimly noticed that Prince Max was walking away and had mounted his horse. He turned to leave but paused to tell her, "Speak of this to no one."
Liz vigorously nodded her head in agreement. As the prince rode off, she finally dared to lift her head and watch him leave. 'Pity I couldn't have gotten a better look at him,' she thought with a smile. 'He looked very handsome.' But then her eyes spied the coins again and her smile grew even larger. She hurriedly gathered them up and put it in her apron pocket.
As Liz headed back to the manor, she groaned when she realized that she had thrown all the apples away. She ran back toward the orchard to gather some more. Rodmilla was not going to be happy.
Thanks to everyone for your wonderful words!! You guys are the greatest!! BTW, Anna, Liz isn't really going to whip Alex. What she means is that she can kick his little tush when they play games and stuff. It's in the movie, go check it out if you want. Special thanks to Amouse, who has given me some great ideas to make this fic better!!