Chapter 22 – Count V Escaped!
After a week of agony, I finally finished the embroidery and could go outside. I looked for John all morning, but it seemed that he was avoiding me. I found him at last in the stables mucking out a stall.
"Where were you this morning?" I asked.
John didn't look at me. "I, I was busy," he finally answered.
I didn't know what to say to him. Finally, I decided to bring up the subject of marriage.
"I told you, I can't," he said without looking at me.
"I know that," I said impatiently. I didn't like the way John was trying to avoid everything instead of facing up to it. "But could you at least come with me to Father's study when I tell him, I need some support."
"I, I can't, I'm too busy."
I felt anger rise inside of me, "Fine, if you are too chicken, I'll go myself then." I walked away, and couldn't help but to add, "I don't even know why I want to marry you! You are a coward. You may be able to use a sword better than me, but you aren't even able talk to my father!" I stomped away without looking back. I felt my face glow red with anger. I couldn't believe he was such a coward. If he didn't want to come, he could've said it out loud, but he had to make up sorry excuses.
"I'm sorry, Dee, it's not my fault I was born into my family," I heard him call faintly behind me.
I wanted to ignore him, but I turned around and retorted, "I know you can't help it that you were born into your family, and I can't help it that I was born into mine. But at least I'm doing something to get rid of this feud!" with that I ran into the palace.
I was still huffy during dinner. But I knew I had to do what I said I would do. I didn't want to be a hypocrite, calling John a coward and not facing Father either.
After dinner, I met Father in his study, and Mother was there too. They sat behind the writing table while I sat on a chair facing them. I calmed my nerves down and took a deep breath.
"Father, I – "
Before I could finish, the door to the study opened. Standing in the doorway with a kitchen knife in hand was Count V of Amona.
[A/N: should I leave you there? I'll think about it…]
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[Okay, I won't be mean]
We all froze, Father stood up. But before he could do anything else, Count V had closed the door and stuck a knife to my throat.
"Don't move, and don't call anyone, or else," he put pressure on the knife and I felt a sharp pain in my neck.
"What do you want?" Father said calmly, although I detected a hint of worry in his voice.
The Count pulled out a sheet of paper with his other hand and hand it to Father. "Sign this."
Father scanned the document. "I can't do this!" he exclaimed, "If I do, you will become the next king of Kyrria."
"Precisely," the Count snickered, "Now are you going to sign that or not?" he put more pressure on the knife for emphasis.
Father looked thoughtful, "I need more time to think about it."
Count V looked annoyed, "Fine, you have one minute to think it over."
I thought desperately for a way out of this. Count V looked so much like an ogre, with his messy hair and beady eyes. If the situation were different, I would be laughing. Wait, ogre! That's it!
"Dear Count V," I began in a sweet oily voice, "My friend, put down the knife and we'll talk nicely." It took almost all of my strength to call him a friend and "dear". He seemed surprised at first, but relaxed after a while. But to my dismay, I stumbled on my words because of the pain in my neck. The spell was broken for a while and Count V snapped out of his trance.
"You have no right to talk," he snarled.
Luckily Mother got my drift, and she started to enchant him. But only after the first few words, Count V roared, "The minute is up. Sign the paper to make me the heir or I'll kill the girl!" Then I saw Mother whisper in Father's ear. He nodded and bent over the paper.
Just as I wondered why no one else heard him since he was so loud, the door squeaked opened and to my surprise, John sneaked in carrying his sword. I was the only one to see him, the Count had his back to the door, he and Mother were too busy watching Father slowly sign the paper.
~*~
*holds up trampoline to bounce back the rotten vegetables and stuff being thrown at for not updating sooner and for the evil cliff* haha, it's going back to you.
*ehem* sorry about that. i tried to update sooner there's just too much stupid english homework. one of my missions in life is to get rid of analysing literature! *gag* i mean, unless you become a critic, what good does it do? but my teacher doesn't think of that, she made us analyse Lord of the Flies, which by the way, is an evil and morbid book (no offence to those who like it). She also made us analyse a book of our choice based on the theme of beauty and the beast, i used Beauty by Robin McKinley. by the way, if you read "For the Sake of Honour", i wrote that for english, it's modeled after Beauty 'cause we had to write a short story that "echos the theme"
anyway, i'll stop rambling about my english assignments, i mean, what do you care about them?
two more chapter to go!!
i got over 100 reviews!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(need to cut back on the rice crispies squares with chocolate)
After a week of agony, I finally finished the embroidery and could go outside. I looked for John all morning, but it seemed that he was avoiding me. I found him at last in the stables mucking out a stall.
"Where were you this morning?" I asked.
John didn't look at me. "I, I was busy," he finally answered.
I didn't know what to say to him. Finally, I decided to bring up the subject of marriage.
"I told you, I can't," he said without looking at me.
"I know that," I said impatiently. I didn't like the way John was trying to avoid everything instead of facing up to it. "But could you at least come with me to Father's study when I tell him, I need some support."
"I, I can't, I'm too busy."
I felt anger rise inside of me, "Fine, if you are too chicken, I'll go myself then." I walked away, and couldn't help but to add, "I don't even know why I want to marry you! You are a coward. You may be able to use a sword better than me, but you aren't even able talk to my father!" I stomped away without looking back. I felt my face glow red with anger. I couldn't believe he was such a coward. If he didn't want to come, he could've said it out loud, but he had to make up sorry excuses.
"I'm sorry, Dee, it's not my fault I was born into my family," I heard him call faintly behind me.
I wanted to ignore him, but I turned around and retorted, "I know you can't help it that you were born into your family, and I can't help it that I was born into mine. But at least I'm doing something to get rid of this feud!" with that I ran into the palace.
I was still huffy during dinner. But I knew I had to do what I said I would do. I didn't want to be a hypocrite, calling John a coward and not facing Father either.
After dinner, I met Father in his study, and Mother was there too. They sat behind the writing table while I sat on a chair facing them. I calmed my nerves down and took a deep breath.
"Father, I – "
Before I could finish, the door to the study opened. Standing in the doorway with a kitchen knife in hand was Count V of Amona.
[A/N: should I leave you there? I'll think about it…]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Okay, I won't be mean]
We all froze, Father stood up. But before he could do anything else, Count V had closed the door and stuck a knife to my throat.
"Don't move, and don't call anyone, or else," he put pressure on the knife and I felt a sharp pain in my neck.
"What do you want?" Father said calmly, although I detected a hint of worry in his voice.
The Count pulled out a sheet of paper with his other hand and hand it to Father. "Sign this."
Father scanned the document. "I can't do this!" he exclaimed, "If I do, you will become the next king of Kyrria."
"Precisely," the Count snickered, "Now are you going to sign that or not?" he put more pressure on the knife for emphasis.
Father looked thoughtful, "I need more time to think about it."
Count V looked annoyed, "Fine, you have one minute to think it over."
I thought desperately for a way out of this. Count V looked so much like an ogre, with his messy hair and beady eyes. If the situation were different, I would be laughing. Wait, ogre! That's it!
"Dear Count V," I began in a sweet oily voice, "My friend, put down the knife and we'll talk nicely." It took almost all of my strength to call him a friend and "dear". He seemed surprised at first, but relaxed after a while. But to my dismay, I stumbled on my words because of the pain in my neck. The spell was broken for a while and Count V snapped out of his trance.
"You have no right to talk," he snarled.
Luckily Mother got my drift, and she started to enchant him. But only after the first few words, Count V roared, "The minute is up. Sign the paper to make me the heir or I'll kill the girl!" Then I saw Mother whisper in Father's ear. He nodded and bent over the paper.
Just as I wondered why no one else heard him since he was so loud, the door squeaked opened and to my surprise, John sneaked in carrying his sword. I was the only one to see him, the Count had his back to the door, he and Mother were too busy watching Father slowly sign the paper.
~*~
*holds up trampoline to bounce back the rotten vegetables and stuff being thrown at for not updating sooner and for the evil cliff* haha, it's going back to you.
*ehem* sorry about that. i tried to update sooner there's just too much stupid english homework. one of my missions in life is to get rid of analysing literature! *gag* i mean, unless you become a critic, what good does it do? but my teacher doesn't think of that, she made us analyse Lord of the Flies, which by the way, is an evil and morbid book (no offence to those who like it). She also made us analyse a book of our choice based on the theme of beauty and the beast, i used Beauty by Robin McKinley. by the way, if you read "For the Sake of Honour", i wrote that for english, it's modeled after Beauty 'cause we had to write a short story that "echos the theme"
anyway, i'll stop rambling about my english assignments, i mean, what do you care about them?
two more chapter to go!!
i got over 100 reviews!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(need to cut back on the rice crispies squares with chocolate)