Prince Justin, the next great King. Prince Justin, the oh so handsome. Prince Justin, the oh so BORED.
Prince Justin was trapped in the same place that he had been trapped in for many years now. In his room being tutored to be the next king.
Many would think that being royalty was the greatest thing in the world. In truth it is simply an over sized, gilded cage, encrusted with gems.
Prince Justin was often forced to partake in dull meetings and endless speeches. More times than he cared to count he found himself wishing that he could go outside and be free like a normal person.
Well, today he was going to get his wish. He was breaking out of his gilded cage, even if it was just for a few hours.
Dressed in a crisp, yellow suit. Prince Justin escaped the palace walls, finally free.
Free to get hopelessly lost! Almost an hour after his escape, Prince Justin found himself down an alley with a dead end. Emfasis on 'dead' as there appeared to be, what seem to him, black gunk monsters oozing out of the walls.
'What are these things?' He thought as he tried to find a way out, but couldn't.
He tripped and fell to the ground, frozen in fear as the slime things were about to grab him.
"Hey Slug men! Leave him alone!"
Prince Justin looked from his attackers to gaze upon his apparent rescuer.
It was a young lady. A very beautiful young lady in the eyes of the prince with long chestnut hair and chocolate eyes.
When the glob men went to attack her, she simply set down her basket and twirled her body to throw a powerful kick. She began to defeat the monsters with an amazing fighting style he had never seen before.(martial arts) Performing twirling flips, dazzling kicks, and rapid punches that sent the creatures fleeing back into the walls as beat up goo.
After a brief pause to ensure that she had gotten rid of all of his attackers, she turned her attention to the man that she had just saved.
"Are you alright?" she asked him holding out her hand to help him up off the ground.
"Yes, I am alright, thank you." He said, he was also thinking along the lines of "Who is she? Why did she save me? and why does she smell like an ocean breeze?'
That last thought almost had the prince blushing, and as if she had heard his thoughts said.
"My name is Sophie. I am glad I was able to help you, but you should really be more careful. There are a lot for witches around, you never know what tricks they might had up their sleeves and not all of them are good."
"Really? Is that what those things were, witches?" asked a very stunned prince.
"No, those were magic henchmen that serve the witch of the wastes. All the same you better start heading home. If she is involved, I shutter to think of what could happen to you if her henchmen catch you in a dark alley again."
He was shuttering too, he was well protect from such things in the palace. but even he knew how dangerous a witch could be. However he was not going to let his, most likely, only opportunity to get to know this stunning prize of a woman slip away from him.
" I thank you for the rescue and good advice, but I can not let such a heroic deed performed on my behave go unrewarded. Will you allow me the pleasure of escorting you to a cafe for tea and cakes?" he stated with a flourish bow.
"I would good sir, but I would find it most improper to dine with a man with of which I do not even know of his name." she stated with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow at his conduct.
He blushed, for she was right. He hadn't introduced himself, but what should he do. He didn't want her to be with him simply because he was the prince.
He hesitated before answering.
"Justin. My name is Justin."
'No need to add my title' he thought.
"Justin. Well then. I accept offer. Where would you like to go?"
"Where ever you would like to go is alright with me."
Actually, he didn't know of any cafes that he could take her. This was his first time outside the palace, maybe she would pick a nice place to eat.
"Truth be told. I am new here and do not know much of the city. I was getting acquainted with everything in town when I found you. I did find a nice looking bakery that might be fun to try. If you are up for it?"
"Sounds delightful"
So Sophie picked up her basket, and the two of them walked to the bakery.
It was really a nice cozy place. A tall brick building with large windows filled with breads and pastries. It even had some tables and chairs inside so that people could sit down and enjoy their food. They didn't serve tea, but they did make coffee and hot chocolate.
So that was what they ordered, two hot chocolates and two large walnut, chocolate chunk cookies. Justin was glad that he was at least smart enough to take some money with him when he left the palace. He may not have needed it before, but he knows enough about economics to know how to use it.
"So, is there any particular reason why the witch of the wastes is after you?" asked Sophie as the two of them sat down at an empty table in the back corner. Everyone was simply buying coffee and leaving so there was much of a chance of anyone overhearing them.
"I don't know. I am just visiting the city for the day. I did not know the witch lived here."
"No one knows where she lives. But everyone knows that she loves to hunt down handsome young men to rip their hearts out for her collection." Sophie simply stated taking a sip of her hot chocolate, it was very rich and creamy.
"That is most likely the reason that I can think of for her to want to hunt you down."
"Oh, I will just have to be more cautious now. So how do you.."
"Meow"
Justin stopped short and looked towards the now moving basket that was the source of the sound.
"Ah, so you decided to join us have you?" said Sophie as she bent over to pick something up out of the basket.
It was a black cat. It must have been taking a nap in the basket. It was awake now though and was eyeing him suspiciously before climbing up to curl around Sophie's shoulders.
" Allow me to make proper introductions. Luna this is Justin. Justin this is my best friend, Luna."
"Huh, Hello?"
Luna simply growled at him. Obviously not happy with the strange man sitting with her Sophie.
"Have I offended her?"
"No. Most men we meet are, to be honesty, either sloppy scoundrels or pushy soldiers that don't know when to leave girls alone and just do their jobs. So she treats all men like this in general, no matter what he is or what he thinks he is." Sophie says with a slight smile, as if remembering something amusing.
"Oh" was all he could say. Had she really been exposed to such rapscallions.
It was no wonder that she had learned how to fight. If she had to deal with such things like bullies and blob men everyday.'Which reminds me'
"If you don't mind me asking. How did you know about those blob things were working for the Witch of the Wastes?"
"I don't mind. She's hunting me down to either curse me or kill me. I am not quite sure which."
"What? Why?" Justin gasped horrified! Why would anyone, even a witch want to harm someone as sweet as Sophie seemed to be.
"A gentlemen she was trying to catch was interested in me. Although I had no feelings for him. I guess she thought she needed to eliminate what she thought was her competition."
"That is foolish." he said with a frowning look that just screamed 'some witch is eating too many looney loops'.
"I know. There is nothing I can do though. We were forced to leave our home to escape what she had planned for us."
"I am sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do?"
"You can talk about something happier for a little while. It has been a long time since I had just relaxed and talked with a friend. We are friends, are we not?"
"Yes, of course."
The prospect of being friends with this beautiful lady was very acceptable.
'OK. She is not just beautiful. She is kind, funny, clever, and has the cutest laugh I have ever heard.'
Justin's thoughts pulsed through him as he recounted the last few hours he had spent with Sophie. After the bakery, they walked around the whole city. Talking every bit of the way. They chatted about everything from their favorites books to childhood stories. Right now they were playing a game known as 'would you rather'.
"Alright I got one. Would you rather wear a pair of shoes filled with pig droppings for a day or wear a hat filled with raw eggs?" Justin asked with a wide smile.
"Well, I heard once that raw eggs can be really good for your hair. So I'll go with the hat for a day. ha ha. My turn, would you rather always have fingernail fungus or always have nasty nose warts? ha ha ha."
"That is a difficult decision to make, but I think I would go with the fingernail fungus. That way I could simply wear my gloves to hide it. ha ha ha."
Justin was enjoying this, so was Sophie, and Luna was comfortable enough with Justin to return to napping in the basket again.
"Well Sophie, would you rather eat."
"YOU THERE! HALT IN THE NAME OF THE KING!"
Justin and Sophie turned in shock towards some angry looking soldiers running straight towards them.
'Oh NO!' Justin thought not believing his luck. He couldn't go back now, not when he was finally enjoying his freedom. Enjoying being with Sophie.
"Sophie Run!" he yelled as he grabbed her arm and began to drag her into a fast sprint away from the soldiers.
"What is happening? Why are we running?" Sophie asked trying to keep up a fast pace.
"Meow?" Luna was startled awake by the shouting and running and wanting to know the same thing.
"I'll explain later just keep running!" and they did, but it took nearly 5 city blocks of non-stop running before they finally lost the soldiers.
Trying to catch his breath, Justin thought about how he was going to tell Sophie that he was a runaway prince. Without her either freaking out or liking him because he was rich and powerful.
As if reading his thoughts Sophie began talking first, after getting her second wind and making sure that Luna was still safe in the basket.
"You know, everyone is entitled to their secrets. Even kings have secrets they don't want their people to know about. And everyone has a right to keep those secrets to themselves. So what ever reason that those soldiers have for chasing you. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to tell me. OK." She said with a smile.
Justin was astounded. This woman was absolutely perfect. She always seemed to know what to say. Her words were as wise as she was beautiful.
Knowing that his day of freedom was ending. He escorted Sophie back to where she lived. Well, he tried. He was pretty much hopelessly lost, the best he could do was walk beside her as they tried to find their way back to the bakery.
Sophie said she knew the way back to where she was staying from there. When he asked her where she was staying, she simply said that she was working as a maid for a family that was visiting the city for a few weeks.
"Really, then what were you doing when I found you?"
"You mean when I found you! And there is such a thing as a day off from work. Today was one of mine."
"Oh. Is there a chance that we could meet again the next time you have some time off?" He asked as they neared the bakery.
Sophie simply smiled and said "we'll see" before turning away and headed in what he presumed was the direction of the place she was staying with her employers.
Getting home for him wasn't to much of a problem. For the moment Sophie was out of sight. Justin was found and seized by some of the royal guards.
As they were escorting him back to the Palace. His thoughts were consumed with Sophie. He only hoped that he would have another day with that amazing, wonderful, beautiful prize of a woman.