Chapter 4: Penta and Italy
Warning: There was a couple mentions of gruesome things. It's not enough to bump up the rating or anything but just be prepared.
A bad time would be an understatement. No, Penta was having a world-class, terrible, worst day ever experience.
It had started with her brother, the king. When her brother's wife died, he decided to marry Penta... because of her beautiful hands. So she cut her hands off and gave them to the king. Her brother got mad, trapped her in a chest and exiled her by throwing her in the ocean.
She thought she had been saved when a fisherman rescued her from the chest. But his wife sent her back to the ocean.
So here she is again, in a chest, in the ocean, without hands. Not the best of days.
It's been days since she was sent adrift again. Days without water or food. She was almost ready to give up. Her struggle was almost done.
Then, the chest lurched forward, still going with the momentum although it hit something solid. She could hear the waves crashing against the back of the chest. But the front was stuck on something: land. Finally, she had been washed ashore.
Mustering up the last of her strength, she banged on the side of the chest, begging to be let out, hoping someone would hear.
Soon, she gave up. She was so tired. So close to salvation only to fail.
The chest opened. She looked up but was blinded by the bright light.
"What is such a pretty lady like you doing stuck in there?" A voice from above asked.
Penta blinked until the brightness went away. Standing overhead, was her savior. It was a boy with auburn hair. The Sun's halo gave him an angelic appearance as he held his hand out to her.
Her mouth and throat were so dry, she couldn't get a coherent word out; just mumbles. All she could do was shake her head and hold up her arms to show the lack of hands.
Her mysterious savior lowered the hand offering assistance in standing up. For a moment, she was scared he would leave her or toss her back in the ocean like what happened before.
But he did neither of those things. Instead, he grabbed his flask from the ground where he had sat it down. Opening the top, he offered it to her. And when she clarified how thirsty she was, he helped her drink the cool water.
"Thank you so much!" Penta exclaimed once she could talk again. She wanted to jump up and hug him but standing was difficult.
Quickly, the boy gripped her arms and gently pulled her up, acting as her crutch.
"So what is your name?" The boy asked her. The first thing she noticed was that he avoided the topic of her floating in the ocean and her hands; it was considerate of him.
"Penta." She answered. "And your's?"
He looked at her and smiled. "Feliciano!" He started to walk away from the chest and towards a village in the distance. "I'll take you to the king! He's so friendly and loves pasta!"
At least an hour later, they arrived at the castle. Feliciano's talking made the time fly by. And for the first time in over a week, Penta laughed.
"Feliciano! Who's your guest?" The king met them at the door of the castle.
"She's Penta! I rescued her from the ocean!"
Penta, now standing on her own, slowly bowed to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
The king led them inside and, on Feliciano's insistence, offered her a job as one of his wife's helpers.
A/N: A new chapter! Yay! As always, not absolutely historically accurate but I tried my best. And this is a myth anyway so... yeah.
If you're wondering how the rest of the myth goes, king's wife dies, he marries Penta, king goes off somewhere, Penta's pregnant, the fisherman's wife from earlier lies to the king about Penta's baby being a dog, same evil lady lies about the king wanting to banish Penta, Penta gets banished, comes across a sorcerer, they have a reunion, and Penta gets hands again! Yay! That's the extremely condensed version of it. I highly suggest just going over to Rejected Princesses to read it.