The next morning Matthias started his day off as he usually did with a bit of training before breakfast. He sat mounted upon his horse as it galloped down the archery field's thick grass. From the top of his horse, shadow, Matthias pulled out his bow and began firing arrows at his haystack targets hitting them with a perfect bullseye everytime showing excellent marksmanship. Matthias had trained in archery and sword handling ever since he was 7 years old instructed by the city's best swordsman, and also blacksmith, Silos. Silos was a good sized and very well cut man in his late 40's by now, with dark hair that was usually balled up into a ponytail. He stood inside of the barn that sat next to the small grassy plain that took up about a quarter of the citadel's yard, and was accompanied by Thomas. Shadow neighed to a slow and stubborn trot from after being ridden for so long. Matthias entered the barn on his horse and very gently pulled back on Shadow's reigns easing him to a halt. Shadow whined and whirled its majestic black mane around making it flutter in the breeze that had been creeping into the barn. Silos carefully walked up to the horse and held his reigns while he patted him on his nose. The horse let out a rough breath and bobbed its head up and down. Matthias carefully stepped off of his horse and went up to stroke his mane.

"Good boy Shadow."

"I believe the horse needs to rest for a bit," said Silos, "No doubt he's worn out as well as you. Thomas, take the horse to his stable. And you Matthias, you think you've still got enough energy to practice some more?"

"I never tire, just get bored."

"Well let's hope I don't bore you too much," said Silos as he unsheathed his sword.

"Alright but let's make this quick I'm hungry," Matthias pulled out his blade and took his Defensive stance. He and his master circled eachother staying perfectly parallel to eachother. Then suddenly Silos swung his sword first and Matthias blocked his slash and there was a loud clang of steel. The two began to duel and Thomas re-entered the room.

"Gosh, I miss everything. Who is winning?" Thomas asked.

"Dunno," Matthias said as he deflected another chop, "Just started."

"Ah," said Thomas, "Alright then." Thomas just sat back and watched as they kept at it. They began making their way across the barn, Matthias still on the defense. Matthias hopped up on a haystack and jumped over his master's swinging sword.

"You haven't tried to counter me yet," said Silos.

"Yes I Know! Just waiting for the opportune moment." Matthias continued to lay on the defense as his master swung away at him. He jumped from the haystack, overtop of Silos and landed on the wooden floor. He took a stab at Silos which was quickly deflected and followed by a counter stab. Matthias rolled out of the way, avoiding losing his eye and took a chop at his masters knee. Silos blocked it as well and sent a kick to Matthias' ribs. Matthias stumbled back clutching his chest and nearly fell over but was able to maintain his balance. Silos stabbed straight at him and missed Matthias but hit the wall right next to Thomas.

"HEY HEY! WATCH IT!" Thomas yelled rolling out of the way. For the moment Silos' sword was stuck inside the creaky wooden wall of the barn. Matthias took this opportunity to lay a blow right into Silos face causing his lip to bleed. Matthias rose his sword and swung down hard at his master who quickly pulled his sword from the wall and deflected the chop and then stabbed forward toward Matthias' stomach. Matthias turned just in time barely missing the sharp blade. He made a 360 degree spin followed by a slash that brought his sword's tip right to Silos' throat. Matthias looked at his master who had a blade poking his neck.

"Well done," said Silos with a smile, "Well done indeed. You've beaten me." He carefully pushed the blade aside with his fingertips.

"You sound surprised," Matthias grinned.

"Ha ha! No that I shouldn't be should I? I'm getting old. But keep up the practice Matthias. Well I'd say that we are about done for today, Wouldn't you?"

"Unless you feel like going another round," said Matthias.

"No," Silos smiled, "You need to eat, My prince. Go get some breakfast in the Great Hall, and I will see you tomorrow morning bright and early."

"As always," said Thomas walking over to Matthias," Let's go, I'm starving."

Matthias and Thomas left the barn and began walking toward the Great Hall to eat some breakfast.

"I thought he had you there for a minute," said Thomas, "But of course I was wrong. You always seem to dodge trouble just barely by luck."

"Luck? You call that luck?"

"Well let's be honest. You're not that good at handling a sword. In fact you are terrible."

"Yes I'm terrible enough to beat Silos, the best swordsman in this city."

"Oh come on. He's getting to be ancient. The man is old, anyone could beat him."

"Right I bet that even you could get him to yield."

"And what's that supposed to mean? You think I can't duel? I'm ten times better than you are."

"Right," scoffed Matthias.

"Seriously. I mean have you looked at how bad your foot work is? And your sword handling is sloppy as a cow's..."

As Thomas kept on flaunting about himself, Matthias' gaze left his cousin and drifted off to the side of the dirt road. His eyes claimed a girl. An extremely beautiful girl who was working in a garden, picking vegetables from plants and placing them into a weaved basket that was being balanced on her shoulder. Her hair was long and blonde and her eyes where a mixture of blue and green, the prettiest that he had ever seen. She had the body of an angel. He was entranced by her radiance.

"And who are you to say that... Hey!... Matthias. Are you even listening to me?" Thomas waved his hand in front of Matthias' face to get his attention, but Matthias was still entranced. Thomas Clapped his hands really loudly, "MATTHIAS!!"

"WHAT!? Oh sorry Thomas."

"What are you looking at?"

"Her. Who is that girl?"

"Who?" Thomas turned to look," Who the peasant? I don't know. I've never seen her before. But who cares. As I was saying-"

"She's beautiful," said Matthias, his eyes still hooked on her, "I must know her name."

"Whoa whoa whoa, Mate!" Thomas stretched his arm in front of Matthias blocking him from her path, "No can do. See, that is a peasant. And you are a prince. This disturbs the natural order of things, so... Let's go get some breakfast. Still hungry here."

"But... "

"Come on Romeo. Romeo?... Where do I know that name from...?" Thomas dragged Matthias to the Great Hall holding his arm to keep him from running back to her. They walked through the great doors and made their way to the table which momentarily was occupied by The King, Queen, Myrtle, and Thomas' parents. "Mother, Father, hello," Thomas said seeming a bit surprised.

"Thomas darling, and Matthias, Good morning," said Thomas' mother.

"Yes," said the King, "Good morning." Thomas and Matthias filled in the two seats across from Myrtle. Thomas placed a napkin in his lap while Matthias stared straight ahead rather blankly. "How was practice this morning?" asked the King. There was somewhat of a silent moment while Matthias kept looking straight ahead with a face filled with ecstasy. His sister caught his stare, and after a minute gave a disgusted look at him, as if he were looking at her.

"Uh.. Practice was good, yeah!" Thomas said filling in for Matthias. He then elbowed Matthias in the rib.

"Hey! Oh, yeah practice was good," Matthias said while reaching for his napkin. He placed it in his lap and began filling his plate with various foods. The King and Queen stared awkwardly at Matthias as if he might be sick, they turned to Thomas who made motions suggesting that Matthias got hit too hard.

"So the blacksmith is teaching you well then. Did you fight with him today?" the Queen asked Matthias in a worried tone.

"Um yeah," Matthias replied and took a bite out of a mutten joint.

"And did he yield to you?" the King asked.

"Yeah," Matthias' attention was still on the girl he had seen. He couldn't really hear the curiousity in the voice of the king and queen. He continued eating what was on his plate while Thomas jumped into conversation with his uncle about how the Kingdom was going. Matthias left the breakfast table earlier than the others with the excuse that he had to go to the lou. He left the Great Hall and followed the dirt road to the garden where he first saw the girl. Matthias found the garden yet again to only to find that the girl had retreated back into her hut-like house. It wasn't a very good looking house, it seemd rather dirty but that wasn't where his attention was focused. Then while he was still gandering at the house he saw the wooden shutter fly open revealed her again. She draped a rug over the window seal and began shaking it off a little bit releasing dust and dirt into the air. The prince was devoting so much attetion to her that he didn't notice the rock that was wedged in the ground. His toe hit the rock and he tripped and fell and the last thing that he saw was a bigger rock plummeting toward his face and then blackness.

Color began flooding his sight again as he regained focus. His head was spinning around a tiny, dim, room that was nothing more than a fireplace a bed and a chair. His eyes looked straight ahead to see the maiden's face that he had seen right before he blacked out. She was dabbing his head very gently with a wet piece of cloth. Her eyes were very heartwarming and nurturing. He felt very awkward being this close to her. He tried to think of something to say to her and started to stammer very nervously. He was tripping over his words.

"Sh," she said softly, "Calm down, My prince."

"Where am I?" Matthias asked even though he already knew where he was.

"You are in my Mistress' house. She is outside in the garden for the moment. You fell on the road and hit your head on a rock. I saw you fall, so I decided to bring you in. You had a big bump on your head a while ago but this cold rag has helped with the swelling." He felt a little embarassed to know that she watched him fall. ' Must have been attractice... ' he thought too himself. ' Clutz. '

"Thank you. That was very kind of you to have aided me. What is your name, Milady?"

" My name is Illiana," she said.

" Illiana?" ' What a beautiful name ' he thought. Without warning a very old woman opened the creaky wooden door and walked in. She was very small with a back that was hunched over. She had white hair and mysterious black eyes.

"They are on their way to escort you back to the great hall," the woman said in a very quiet tone. Her voice was raspy, no doubt due to her age. She had to be in her eighties. " I believe that I will just wait outside for them." The elderly woman smiled at Illiana and left the room again closing the door slowly behind her. Illiana's gaze followed her out the door, then she turned back to Matthias who was already looking at her.

"Uh - you are very - um.. er- pretty heh," Matthias said. He sighed. ' Very smooth, genius. Pretty? That's it? Man you need to practice wooing. '

"Thank you," she said kind of sheepishly.

"Beautiful. I - I meant Beautiful." She smiled at him and looked into his eyes, and he looked into hers.

"Thank you, My Prince," she said.

"Um, tomorrow, will you be working for your Mistress as well?"

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking that I might black out outside again." ' Wow that was cheesy. '

Illiana smiled and said, " Maybe I'll see you in the garden." They continued to stare into eachother's eyes, feeling a connection that neither of them had ever felt before. There was a knock on the door right before it swung open a group of four citadel guards, decorated in bright shining armor stood in the entrance of the small hut.

"Step aside, out of the way tiny," Thomas said pushing his way through the oversized guards in order to see Matthias. "Prince Matthias. We've been looking everywhere for you. Thought you had been kidnapped. Good heavens man, scare me to death. That was the longest bathroom break in european history. And we do have a lou in the halls you didn't need to come all the way down here." Thomas walked over to the bed at which Matthias was lying and pulled him up by his arm, "Thank you, miss for your hospitality, but the prince needs to be getting back to his tower now. Time to go beddy bye. Come on you have a room of your own, no need to stay in this one any longer." Thomas shut the creaky door behind him after pushing Matthias through it. But Matthias' eyes never left Illiana. He thought of her all that night as he lie in his king-sized bed. Matthias finally realized what he had been missing for so long: Love. He had never seen such beauty and grace in a girl before. Especially a peasant. But he wasn't one to discriminate. He never really sought for a difference between he and his people. But he did wonder why he had never seen her before. He had lived in that kingdom all of his life and never even noticed her. He was a bit angry at Thomas for being such a jerk to the two women. But Thomas, like Matthias' father, had always been ones to uphold their places of royalty by avoiding familiarity with peasants and such. Matthias wondered what she might be doing at the very moment. Sure it might seem a bit silly that they just met, but there was just something about her that drew her too him.

The next morning Matthias snuck out of the Great halls again to take a walk by the garden that Illiana said she would meet him in. He walked down the dirt road with a gleam of happiness, having that sense of ecstasy in him yet again. It was still quite early, the roosters in the barn had just begun to crow, and the sun was slowly making its way up into the sky. The dew still lay on the grass, undisturbed all night, except for one patch of footprints that seemed to lead too and from the hut. But Matthias didn't really take note of it. He walked up to the gate that blocked off the hut from the road. He reached the little swinging door of the gate before the door to the hut opened up. Illiana stepped out with a piece of cloth cloaked around her shoulders to keep her warm.

"You are late, your highness," she said making her way down the narrow path of the garden to the gate.

"My apologies, milady. I am glad that you are up this early, I was wanting to show you something." Matthias took her hand and they started walking across the Citadel toward the outerwall.

"What is it that you were wanting to show me," she asked in a kind of worried tone.

"Something that I have never shown anyone before." Illiana looked at Matthias rather oddly. "I mean... It's a place that I go sometimes when i just want to relax and think too myself for a while." They reached the outerwall at the same place that Matthias had been before. He reached out and pressed in the five different bricks that opened the sealed wall which led outside. He kept his hand in hers as he pulled her through the secret door, she looked bewildered by the wall. He turned around and closed it back, and then they continued on into the forest. They stepped over leaves and twigs, and he led her around different bushes. " It's just around this tree here." Matthias held back a tree limb to reveal the beautiful waterfall which he had visited many times before.

"It's beautiful," she said as her eyes glistened like the crystal clear ripples in the pond.

"Isn't it? I found it when I was 9 years old. And I have come here ever since. Sometimes to hunt, sometimes to explore or get a drink. Or even go for a swim."

"Swim?" Illiana asked.

"Yes. It is so refreshing after a long day. The mist of the falls is so relaxing that it makes you want to go to sleep on the water." Without warning Illiana jumped in soaking Matthias with the pond water. He looked at her for a second and then he laughed and dove in next to her. She screamed as his splash overwhelmed her dunking her into the water. She came up with her hair in her face and he couldn't help but laugh. She splashed him and he splashed her back. He went under the water and grabbed her by her waist and pulled her under. The water was so clear and blue that they could see the fishes swim by them as he pulled her in close. They resurfaced again face to face. Illiana began backing into the misty falls and Matthias followed her. They stopped right were the falls met the pond. "I have never met a girl like you."

"Well I can't honestly say that I have met alot of princes... My prince."

"Matthias," He said, "Just call me Matthias."

"Matthias," She said with a hint of softness in her voice.

"Even the way that you say my name is beautiful," he said gazing into her eyes. They came in closer to eachother until there lips met, and he kissed her there under the protection of the falls. He had never experienced anything sweeter than this moment. His eyes closed and his world spun and he could feel heaven's presence among him. Matthias and Illiana spent the rest of the morning walking, and drying off. They picked some berries not too far from the hidden paradise. The more time that they spent together the more they began to realize how much they cared for the other. Around noon they decided to head back to the citadel. Matthias led them through the secret wall yet again and then sealed it off behind them. On their walk back to the garden Matthias noticed Illiana looked a little bit upset. He looked at her with curiousity.

"What's wrong?" He asked her. She just continued to look at the dirt as they kept walking. He touched her shoulder very gently and turned her toward him. "What's wrong Illiana?" She looked down rather stiffly and then looked him in the eyes.

"I enjoy being with you alot, Matthias," she said.

"I know, I enjoy being with you too. I've never had a day like today. I want everyday to be like this, with you."

"That's just it," she said nervously, "You are a prince, and I'm nowhere near being a princess. You should be dating girls more suited to your class."

" I don't care about class, or royalty. I don't give a damn about it if it means I can't be with you. I've never met anyone like you before and I'm not going to stop seeing you. I'd love to see you tomorrow if you would still like to see me. Would you? Please?"

"I would love to," she said as they reached the garden's gate, "Until we meet again."

"I will be counting the seconds, milady." They gazed at eachother one last time as she walked up to the door of her mistress'. She very discreatly blew him a kiss and smiled. "Until we meet again," he whispered under his breath. From off in the distance just down the street leaning against a tree trunk stood Thomas twiddling a stick in between his fingers staring angrily at Matthias from a distance who had begun to walk toward the great hall.

"Don't give a damn, do you?" said Thomas," Well... Damn you." Thomas gripped the stick in both of his hands and snapped it into two pieces.

This is the end of chapter 2. Let me know what you think of it so far and if anyone wants me to keep posting.