Chapter IV: The Taking of the Princess

The next day without her mother's lesson plans couldn't come soon enough for Merida. The lairds were coming in just a few days to win her hand in marriage. All of her time after today would undoubtedly be spent on preparing for the big day.

Merida rose at the crack of dawn and quickly grabbed her trusty blue green dress.

She splashed her face with water and fumbled for her brush, rushing through her morning routine to the point where she could hear her hair snap from the force, leaving the bristles riddled with untamable knots and tangles. She wiped her face with the washcloth as if it were a rag and grabbed her bow, sword, and quiver full of arrows.

After putting on her stockings and shoes, Merida dashed down the castle stairs and immediately ran to the stables to fetch Angus. She wasn't going to miss one moment of what she was sure was her last day of freedom.

"Ready, Angus?" she asked as she mounted him . The horse neighed loudly in response. With that, Merida rode off at breakneck speed through the gates and into the forest ahead.

Within a few moments, Merida was furiously firing arrows at the wooden targets that she had hung from the trees herself. When there were no more targets to be seen, she rode even deeper into the forest, drinking in as much scenery as she could. She was sure that this would be the last time she would be able to do so without an entire court in waiting flanking her- or a husband.

After taking a deep breath and briefly reflecting on this fact, Merida rode on, determined to cover as much of her old stomping ground as humanly possible- and then some. She peered out at the magnificent scenery from the hilltop where she had carved her bow, shot a few salmon from the nearby river, and even revisited the Firefalls.

The next thing she knew, the sun was hanging low in the sky. She stared at stark, sparkling water of the Firefalls and sighed.

"Guess it's time to go home, Angus."

Angus' nostrils flared as he exhaled, as though in defeated agreement.

Merida gently tugged on the reins to signal that they were heading home. The sound of his hooves slowly clomping on the ground almost lulled her to sleep when she suddenly heard the rustling of the trees behind her. She immediately snapped out of her semi awake trance and looked about her, only to find... nothing.

She sighed and shook her head, tugging on Angus' reins in order to remind him to keep going. He had only trotted a few feet when, out of nowhere, several men leapt from the bushes and spooked Angus out of his wits. His neighs and squeals pierced the air as he reared almost to a vertical position, sending Merida tumbling to the ground. Several of the men immediately grabbed her arms and dragged her to her feet. She struggled violently as they tried to subdue her - and even managed to elbow one man in the eye. She kicked another in the shin, sending him down on one knee cursing. Alas, two other even stronger thugs had taken their places. They wrung and twisted her arms behind her back and quickly bound her hands. Another man grabbed a rough cloth - presumably to gag her - but one of the men who had just bound her hands had an even quicker idea. He raised his fist and aimed it directly at her head.

A shocking blow greeted Merida, followed by a burst of pain before everything went black.

...

An uneasy rocking motion and the sound of creaking wood woke Merida from her blacked out stupor. The rough cloth tied to her face like a horse's bridle was a rude reminder of her current situation.

Her hair obscured her vision, and she couldn't use her hands to brush it out of her way due to their scratchy restraints. She tried to move her legs. Nothing. She tried to look down at them through the red veil of her hair and could make them out tied to the legs of some chair, which had been tipped over to one side on the floor.

The rocking and creaking, along with the unmistakable musty scent of the sea, was a dead giveaway that she was on some sort of ship.

The door wailed open as two men stormed in. One of them vaguely resembled one of her supposed suitors - Young MacIntosh. She groaned beneath her gag cloth as he yanked her chair and pulled her to an upright position.

"You idiot! We need her alive and unspoiled!"

"But she is, sir!"

"Look at her! She's bound and gagged with rough cloth and rope - and left on the ground like some village harlot!"

"We got her, don't we? That's all that matters, right?"

"Did you recently fall and break your skull?! SHE. IS. THE. PRINCESS! That means that if there's one scratch on her, you'll wish you'd never been born! Now go fetch some better bonds for her!"

"But, sir -"

"I SAID GO!"

He slammed the door behind the other man before approaching Merida. He obviously had Young MacIntosh's temper, as well as a similar build and coloring. He even wore the red and green MacIntosh tartan. Yet his features were far more boyish - and his nose wasn't quite as big.

She heard him grumbling under his breath.

"Wee Dingwall - that wuss - chickened out- leaving me to do his dirty work -! Firstborn rubbish -! Why does my brother...?"

Merida gasped under her gag as the other man returned with some softer looking materials.

The younger MacIntosh, as Merida inferred him to be, snatched them from his hand and brusquely sent him off before approaching her.

"I'm sorry about all this," he said, almost in a whisper.

He untied the gag only to replace it with the cloth he'd just obtained. She had to admit that it was softer than the previous one.

"A princess deserves so much better," he said as he began to do the same with the ropes tying her hands.

Merida's eyes suddenly widened as an idea popped into her head. This wasn't the time to ponder.

In a split second, she turned around with the chair still attached to her and knocked the younger MacIntosh to the ground.

She noisily sat back down only to kick up a dagger and cut her own bonds. Once she was free, she ripped off the gag and whipped around to her stunned captor.

"I do indeed!"

She kept the dagger in her hand as she ran off to the deck, only to be greeted by the heaviest curtain of rain she'd ever seen. Fortunately, this meant that there weren't quite as many men to fight off. She dodged a punch from the one on her left and kicked another in the back of his knees. She used the dagger to bring a large wind-taut sail crashing down on the man who had tried to punch her, along with a third pursuer. She wasted no time on getting to the edge of the ship. She took a look down at the tumultuous waves before her and took a deep breath. She whipped her head around and found three angry, crazed thugs who looked like they were ready to rip her throat out. Without a second thought, she leapt off into the raging black waters below. The waves dragged her away without hesitation, and before she knew it, that wretched ship was nowhere to be seen.

The sky was almost as black as the waters surrounding her. The only source of light was the occasional bright streak of lightning that followed the roars of thunder. She splashed around, trying to fight the waves - only to come a sudden, sinking realization.

She had never learned how to swim.