Kimberly is up the next morning before sunrise standing in her closet looking for something decent to wear to go to the royal courtyard. Finally, after about an hour of searching she remembers seeing one of Trini's gowns down in the washroom. So she runs down the stairs and into the washroom where she quickly grabs the gown and runs back up the stairs to her room where she puts it on; after she has the gown on she turns and looks in the mirror hanging on the back of her door. When she sees her reflection she can hardly recognize herself. The dress is burgundy tailored with a gold slash just above the ankles. With a white under dress, whose collar goes up to the neck underneath the chest plate and burgundy cuffs above the elbow and over the wrist. She thought she looked like the princess from her daydreams and she had to admit that she liked it. After giving herself one more once over she puts on the shoes that she picked out and leaves her room.
When she gets outside she decides to take the long way to the palace through the forest, her favorite spot in the world. "Excuse me mister, no that sounds to impolite. Pardon me sir, but I would like to purchase that man there. Wow that sounds pretty good, Lord give me strength. Please don't let me mess this up, I've already messed up enough." Kimberly says to herself while walking through the forest. She stops walking when she gets to the edge of the forest and sees the palace; she takes a few deep breaths then continues walking.
She walks up to the entry guards and smiles politely; the guards open the gate and let her pass. Once she gets through she runs across the bridge where she sees the holding cell that they are holding Matthew in. She walks up to the line of men standing in line waiting for the guard to load them into a burned bronze cage with small squares surrounding them. When Matthew sees her he smiles at her slightly then is pushed into the cage by the guard; Kimberly sees this and runs over to the cage and gets the attention of the guard attending to the men. "Can I help you miss?" The guard asked her, "yes, I would like to buy that man there, he is my servant and I am here to pay his debts." Kimberly said confidently, "I'm sorry miss but he's already bought and paid for." The guard said starting to pull the cage door shut. "Sir, I can pay you 20 gold franks." She replied lifting the little purse that had the money in it; the guard looks at the purse for a minute before replying, "Again miss I'm sorry but he's already been bought and paid for, I can't sell him to you." Kimberly looks at him defiantly and then says very confidently, "If you do not sell him to me, I shall take this problem to the king!" This time the guard looked slightly afraid but still maintained what he told her before. "The king's the one who sold him, now he's property of the America's!" The guard yelled, this made Kimberly very angry, "he's not property at all you ill mannered fat pig!" She yelled getting in the guard's face, "GET OUT OF MY FACE!" The guard yelled, Kimberly got scared and backed away. Just as the guard said that Prince Tommy road by on his horse and stopped when he saw whom the guard was yelling at, "how dare you raise your voice to a lady, sir!" The Prince said in a demanding tone, "I didn't mean any disrespect your highness. She just wanted to but that man, but he's been paid for by the king so I can't sell him to her." The guard looked between the Prince and Kimberly then back at the Prince, "My father has purchased all these men, I'm sure he will survive with one less. Release him." Kimberly smiled at Tommy and Tommy smiled back at her then looked back at the guard. "Bur sire the King told m-" Tommy cut him off before he could finish, "I said release him!" Tommy said raising his voice slightly, "yes sire." The guard said and released Matthew to Kimberly, they hugged for a while, "You look so much like your mother, thank you for saving me Kimberly." Matthew said with tears in his eyes, Kimberly smiled and then released him. She looked up at Tommy on his horse and motioned for him to lean down; when he did she got close to his ear and whispered, "Thank you, Tommy, thank you so much." He just smiled and kissed her cheek before whispering back, "You are more than welcome Kimberly."
Kimberly turned to Matthew and said, "We should be going Matthew, it's a long walk back to the mansion." Matthew nodded and they turned to leave, "Milady, may I escort you back to your home?" The sound of Tommy's voice caused her to turn around and look at him, she smiled and then said, "Yes, your highness that would be very nice." Kimberly added a slight courtesy after she said that. Tommy had to try very hard not to burst out laughing at the sight of Kimberly curtseying at him, normally that wouldn't have made him laugh but for some reason her doing it just didn't seem right. To him she was too beautiful to courtesy at anyone's feet much less be a servant to someone. "I will be back with a horse." Tommy said and turned his horse to the stables and galloped away. He returned ten minutes later with a beautiful white dappled (dappled means gray spots, for all of you people that don't know a lot about horses) mare. Kimberly helped Matthew up and was about to get on behind him when Tommy stopped her. "Please do me the honor of riding with me." Tommy said in a voice that almost made Kimberly laugh, but she maintained her composer and walked around Matthew's horse to Tommy's horse where she put her foot in the stirrup, and sat, as her stepmother would say, "very unlady like" in the saddle and wrapped her arms around Tommy's waist. "Are you comfortable back there Kimberly?" Tommy asked quietly, "yes very much so, Tommy." Kimberly whispered back.
Once they were out of the courtyard Kimberly leaned more into Tommy resting her head against his back. "Don't fall asleep back there." Tommy warned Kimberly laughed, "I won't." Kimberly said. Matthew watched the two of them and realized that they had obviously met before; he made a mental note to talk to Kimberly about this. After all it wasn't every day that a servant girl meets a prince! As me watched them interact with each other it brought up memories of him and Linda, he couldn't wait to see her again.
When they got to the mansion Tommy pulled his horse up to the door and jumped down then placed his hands on Kimberly's waist and effortlessly placed her on the ground; his hands lingered on her waist for a few minutes before reluctantly letting her go and placing a tender kiss on her cheek. Kimberly smiled up at him and gave him a hug, "Thank you again for everything you did for me today." Kimberly said into his shoulder, "you are more than welcome Kimberly. Would it be alright if I came to visit you tonight for a little while?" Tommy asked while running his hands through he waist length hunny brown hair. "Of course you can visit me tonight, I will be waiting anxiously for your arrival." With that Tommy kissed her once more and released her, watching as she and Matthew walk into the mansion…
Well that's that end of chap. six! I hope everyone liked it! Well you know what to do review now, and no BASHING!!!! Catch ya' on the flip side.