1001 Nights in Their Garden
The Third Night- The Hunt II
The Man at the Bridge/The Girl in the Tree
Author's note: There is nothing important about the man on the bridge.
My name is Steven and I am ready for the hunt.
We left early in the morning and searched the small woods where we had seen her the day before. Alas all we found was a bit of dark pink hair. Thank the stars that it had rained the evening before and there were signs of footprints leading into the town of Riverside. It was a pleasant day, and the sky had cleared to a picturesque sea of blue punctuated with large white clouds sailing the endless horizon.
The path into my town was nothing special, a dirt track worn by the continuous foot traffic and the occasional horse or mule traveling the long route which widened out to the world beyond. The only pieces of infrastructure to be found was a pair of small plank bridges that connected a small island in the center of the river that was the town's namesake which connected to the town proper.
Along the way we heard a rustling in a nearby stand of trees. My hopes rose thinking that maybe the fox wasn't near so far away. Pearl followed close behind, it wasn't long before we found the source of the noise, and heard her crying, "Help! Oh, please help!"
Her pig tails bobbed back and forth standing straight up. The reason for this was quite simple, she was upside down. She swung under her own weight, clearly caught in one of the more elaborate traps a hunter could make. I just stared for a moment at the foot of the towering oak, baffled by the nonsense of it all. Hero that I am; I was more curious as to why her pink dress continued to lay flat as she struggled. Pearl was equally surprised at what she saw, commenting, "What was the fool trying to trap, a bear?"
Locking eyes with me, she was suddenly calm and collected, "Hey, so ugh, mind helping a girl out here?"
Fortunately, she wasn't that high up, and the would-be trapper had left foot holds on the tree. I motioned ready to draw my dagger when Pearl stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Milord, the young lady is nearly nine feet off the ground, and I'm not about to let you risk your life. Not even for the sake of chivalry."
The woman was not amused by this at all, "So what, you're just gonna leave me here? Clods!"
"Not at all miss," I said, catching Pearl's meaning. Instead I handed my knife to my servant. "Would you be so kind?"
She nodded and began the ascent. "I'll catch you." I said. It seemed to always work in the bardic tales. Of course, the bardic tales were full of men who could rip a man in two, bare-handed. As I heard the rope breaking, I considered letting her fall to the ground. The rope snapped before I could act on that. Rather than catching her perfectly she fell into me.
I felt my face go red hot as she lay there on top of me. Already this adventure had resulted in the most undignified incident in my short life. The girl just giggled, "Thanks for breaking my fall."
"S-s-s-ure thing," I stuttered.
Pearl, who had jumped from the tree, pulled the young woman to her feet by the back of her dress. The woman was irritated, "Hey what's the big idea?"
"The big idea," she said scornfully, "Is that permitting milord to be in such a precarious situation would've been unbearable. With a commoner no less!"
I stood up and attempted in vain to get the dust off my clothing. "Pearl, given the circumstances, I think we can just let this go."
The young lady was quite pretty, and if I didn't know any better, about my age. It was clear by the way that she treated us that she wasn't from anywhere around here. Even the style of her dress was nothing like I had ever seen. She was crass and vulgar, but something about her struck me as unusual. I just couldn't quite grasp it.
I bowed politely, "I'm Steven by the way, and yours is?"
She curtsied, "Spinel, a pleasure to meet ya."
"You," Pearl corrected.
Spinel just stuck out her tongue in disdain. "So what're you and the old lady doin' this far from yer manor anyway?"
Something about her way of talking just made me smile, "We're hunting, for a pink fox."
"Well you're on the right track, I was just walking along. Minding my own business when it came running through here with a piece of meat in its mouth. I take two steps the wrong way, and I sprung the trap that it had apparently avoided."
"That's great."
"Hey, you jerk! I've been hanging there for hours." She shook her fist at me, then broke into a fit of giggles. "Of course, I guess it's not every day you meet a handsome prince?" She winked and wrapped her hands around my arms. There was that same nervous feeling as before, what kind of woman is this?
After a few minutes of walking they were back on their way to the bridge. It was clear that Pearl had her reservations about the way Spinel clung to me. "Milord if you go into town like that everyone will talk."
Spinel quickly replied, "Your right," she put a hand on her cheek, "I'll just have to tell them how I, a poor defenseless girl was taking a morning stroll when I fell into a vicious trap." She mimed swooning and slid to the floor, "Who should come to my rescue but this strapping young gentleman and his hideous, elderly, old man servant." Returning to her feet and dropping the act she looked spitefully at Pearl, "that work for ya, Crow."
Pearl looked visibly hurt, "I'm not that old…"
When they made it to the bridge, an old man was fishing. That wasn't important. What was important was the large crowd of people that were milling about. It became obvious that some sort of parade was going on. It was a huge crowd passing through, soldiers in bright white dress uniforms, cavalry and even dancers. "Stars, what's going on?"
Pearl chimed in, "Looks like some sort of delegation. Must be from the Empire.
Spinel said, "Steven it's not just any delegation."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
It was then that Pearl noticed a banner among the troops, "Oh my, it's the Imperial Princess."
Spinel poked me in the ribs, "Hey dunce, did you see that? It's that miserable rodent!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me into town. Sure enough, there she was meandering through the dozens of people gathered. What was that little fox up to?
Next time: "The Imperial Princess, and the Fox" The Hunt III
End note- Thanks so much for reading! New tentative schedule on my profile.