Pirate Princess (8 page)

“Not you too!” Jared groaned. I stifled my laugh, but he saw me covering my mouth and glared at me.

Faxon yelled back, “Tilia, come up here.” I urged Duke into a trot and caught up to Faxon who had stopped on the side of the road, facing into the forest. He pointed into the forest and asked, “What do you see?”

I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw trees. I squinted my eyes and after a moment a shimmering gold veil appeared around the trees. “What is that?” I asked.

“That is a cloaking spell. It hides your house or campsite from others,” he explained.

“But if people can see the spell then they know something is there and will try to break in, right?” I asked.

“No one has been able to break them,” he said, “But I think you might be able to.”

“I don’t want to ruin someone’s spell,” I whispered, “They might be protecting themselves from bandits.”

“I’ll redo their spell,” he said, “I just want to see if you are able to disable it with your unlocking ability.”

I dismounted, tossed my reins to Faxon and walked towards the veil, which looked like a golden silk wall now that I was closer to it. I reached forward, touched the wall and instantly felt a zap of pain through my hand. “Ow,” I yelled and then tucked my hand under my arm.

“Faxon,” Jared said, “Are you sure?”

“She’s fine,” he assured him, “They just sting a bit when you touch them. Place your hands just in front of it without touching it.” The group formed a line on the road behind me as they waited to see if I could do it.

“I’m fine,” I called back to Jared. I put both of my hands out, just in front of the veil so it wouldn’t zap me again, and concentrated. I imagined the wall falling down like a curtain dropped off of its hook to the ground. Sweat dripped down my back as the sun rose higher and my head began to pound. I focused harder and then heard a loud pop. I looked up and found a wagon with three bandits sitting on the ground around a campfire with drinks in their hands. They were dirty and looked worn and tired. I assumed it meant they had been traveling for a while with little food, but I could have been wrong. They looked up at me with shock and then anger on their faces. They drew their weapons and advanced towards me.

I was exhausted from breaking the spell and my movements were slower than usual. I drew my sword just in the nick of time to block one of their strikes. I backed up a step and then threw my dagger into the bandit on the right who was running towards me, trying to attack me while I was busy with his friend in front of me. It hit him in the chest and he fell like a cut tree. I was preparing to finish the guy in front of me and attack the one on the left when strong hands hauled me up onto a horse. Jared and Griffin killed the last two bandits on foot with remarkable efficiency and looked as if it were no harder than eating salad with a fork.

“Are you alright?” Faxon asked me as he held me with one arm around my waist and had me set on his leg over the side of his horse.

I turned my head to look at him and fainted. I heard them saying my name, but I was too tired to respond.

“I told you she wasn’t ready!” Esmeralda yelled.

“What are you talking about? She did it! And she would have defeated all three bandits if we hadn’t intervened,” Faxon said from right next to my ear.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Jared said.

“She was already preparing to attack the one to her left when I grabbed her. Besides, this was the best place to test her abilities. Or are you doubting your ability to protect her?” he asked angrily.

“Faxon,” Jared warned.

“You all know I’m right. She was perfectly safe. I could have frozen them in place if they had been about to hurt her.”

“Why isn’t she awake?” Griffin asked.

“Because I’m tired,” I whispered, but my voice was barely audible even though it was as loud as I could muster it with how exhausted I felt.

Faxon’s arm tightened around my waist and I realized that I was sitting in front of him on his horse now. “How are you feeling?” he asked me quietly.

“Tired,” I whispered.

“Are you injured?” Esmeralda asked.

“I already told you that I checked her for injuries,” Faxon snapped.

“I’m fine. It just took most of my energy to break the spell,” I explained. I realized my back was pressed to his chest and I didn’t have my bag. “Where’s my bag?” I asked nervously.

“It’s hooked to the saddle horn on Duke,” Griffin told me, “It’s safe.”

Faxon moved me slightly and tilted my head back. “Open your eyes.” I did and found him staring straight into mine. I felt a blush creep over my cheeks, but was too tired to pull away from him to hide it. “I’m going to put you to sleep now,” he whispered, “So you can regain your energy faster.”

“Okay,” I whispered around the lump in my throat and took a few more shallow breaths.

He put his fingertips on my eyelids and closed them, moved me back so that I was in front of him with my head leaned back against his chest and then the world disappeared into blissful sleep.

I don’t know how much later it was, but when I woke up it was dark and I was still being held by Faxon on his horse. “Can we stop?” I asked him.

He made his horse stop and I jumped down, ran into the forest and relieved my bladder. I came back and before Faxon could pull me up, climbed onto Duke’s back, taking the reins from Griffin. “Thanks.”

He nodded his head, but said nothing. I put my bag on, feeling inside it to make sure my mask and everything was still safely hidden. Faxon rode beside me, looking at me occasionally and then gnawed on his lower lip. I knew he only did that when he was thinking and he wouldn’t form logical statements if we asked him anything right now so I moved up between Jared and Esmeralda.

“How are you feeling?” she asked me.

“Great,” I said, stretching my arms, “Except that my butt is sore.”

“We’ll be stopping for the night soon,” Jared said with a smile.

“I’m hungry,” I said as my stomach growled.

“We’ll eat when we get to the spot,” Esmeralda assured me.

I looked up at the night sky and the stars above us and enjoyed the quiet. “It’s very peaceful here,” I whispered.

“The valley is very peaceful,” Jared agreed, “But peaceful is boring.”

I laughed and looked at him, “I bet you were fun to see during the wars.”

Esmeralda pretended like she had a fan in her hand and waved it towards her face. “Oh my, was he!”

Jared scowled at her. “So you’re saying I’m not fun now?”

“You’re grumpy,” she told him.

“And out of shape,” Griffin said from behind us.

Jared twisted around in his saddle and said, “I’ll show you out of shape, old man.”

“See? Grumpy,” Esmeralda said with a snicker.

“I miss war,” he admitted, “But peace means I know my wife is safe and my kingdom is safe, which is worth me being bored.”

“Why don’t you hold tournaments anymore?” I asked him.

“No one participates if they know he is going to be there,” Esmeralda said, “They all know they’re going to lose and so they won’t play.”

“Why not make the victor fight you and no matter what the victor gets a prize and status as the victor, but then you get the joy of fighting and defeating them?” I suggested.

“Because the kingdom knows they really aren’t the winner if he defeats them,” Griffin said.

“Plus, no one wants to see their king lose anyways,” Faxon said, finally back to reality and the present.

“I guess that’s true,” I said when I thought about it.

“I would have to meet whoever could beat him,” Esmeralda said with a teasing smile at her husband.

“As if anyone could beat me,” Jared said cockily.

“Tilia might be able to by the time she’s eighteen,” Griffin said.

Jared looked at me and said, “Maybe I’ll make you battle me for the throne and you can only have it if you beat me.”

“I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings and embarrass you in front of your kingdom like that,” I told him.

“Your training is going to become very very difficult,” he told me.

I smiled and said, “Good. That just means I’ll be able to beat you faster.”

Esmeralda laughed and said, “You’re definitely related to me.”

“I tried to tell you that earlier,” Faxon muttered.

“You aren’t going to force me into an arranged marriage, are you?” I asked them.

Esmeralda looked like I had smacked her. “Of course not!”

“We haven’t done arranged marriages in a century,” Jared said.

I exhaled. “Well, my dad wasn’t sure and told me to be prepared just in case.”

“Does your dad do arranged marriages?” Esmeralda asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about that,” Jared said, “We aren’t going to force you to do anything.”

“Except not be a pirate,” I fake pouted.

Esmeralda laughed. “Except that.”

“Well, I guess I’m okay with that. Most pirates don’t have very long careers anyways,” I said.

“Speaking of marriage,” Esmeralda said, moving her horse closer to mine. “Technically we are supposed to have a ball for your seventeenth birthday so that all of the available men can come so you can start looking for a suitor.”

“WHAT?” I asked in an almost scream.

“You don’t want a boyfriend?” Faxon asked.

I blushed and said, “I just didn’t know it was a formal thing and, uh, hadn’t really thought about it yet.” That was a lie. I thought about boys like every teenage girl did, but my options were slim at the Capitol.

“Well, it’s a tradition and I thought I would let you know now that we’ll be having it while we are in Markleville,” Esmeralda said.

“I don’t have a dress,” I said, hoping that would cancel the plans until we returned home, “I didn’t bring one.”

“That’s fine. I will have one made for you,” Jared offered.

How generous. Ugh. “But if I find a guy I like in Markleville, I won’t even be able to see him when we return to the Capitol,” I said.

“That is where the true romance is supposed to begin,” Esmeralda said with a smile. “They have to try to keep you interested with letters and poems and gifts.”

“It’s very tedious,” Jared said.

“Only because you had to find others to write poems for you,” Faxon said.

“I
knew
you didn’t write that poem!” Esmeralda said with a triumphant shout.

“I’m going to skin you, Faxon,” Jared growled.

“It’s time she learned the truth,” Faxon said.

“I already knew,” Esmeralda said, “I just never had confirmation.”

“How did you know?” Jared asked.

“You haven’t written me a poem once since then. Every other guy who wrote me a poem continued to write them, not just one,” she said honestly.

“Who else wrote you poems?” Jared asked with crossed arms jealously.

“Yes, I’m really looking forward to this,” I muttered.

Griffin laughed.

“Not every man is like him,” Faxon said defensively.

“I can’t believe you helped him,” Esmeralda said.

“I’m a good friend,” he said with a shrug, “it’s a curse.”

Up ahead on the left I could see the outline of buildings in the dark. Jared saw it too and said, “Finally!”

We asked the horses to trot and stopped them in front of two small buildings right next to each other. They were square in shape and had one window each. “What is this?” I asked. I hadn’t seen anything like this before.

“This is a place we built specifically for making the trip to Markleville,” Jared explained.

I dismounted, took my saddlebags off Duke and then Faxon took Duke’s reins from me. He led his horse and Duke around back without a word to me.

“Where’s he taking them?” I asked softly.

“There’s a corral back there to hold them,” Esmeralda said as she walked up next to me. Jared and Griffin followed with the other three horses.

“Esmeralda?” I asked quietly.

“Hm?”

“Why is he upset?”

“Faxon?” she guessed.

I nodded my head.

“He was worried about you. As much as he was telling us that you were fine, I could see that he was worried. Jared offered to take you and he refused. He’s the best with healing magic so I think he wanted to keep you close to keep an eye on you and be right there if he needed to do anything.”

“Yeah, but I’m fine and he is still acting weird,” I said.

She put her arm around my waist and hugged me. “You’re the only child any of us has had,” she whispered, “I think he’s as attached to you as Jared and I are.”

“He never even talked to me before this week,” I said in shock.

“That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t watching you and worrying for you all the same,” she said with a shrug. “Men don’t like to admit when they care for something because they’re afraid it might get taken away or it will be used against them. Faxon has a lot of enemies and he doesn’t have many friends. Don’t take his friendship for granted.” The men walked back towards us and Esmeralda said, “We’re taking the right house, you boys can have the left.”

Jared looked unhappy with that decision, but just kissed her cheek and walked to the building on the left. She walked me to the right building and we ate a small meal and then went to sleep. I didn’t think I would be tired after sleeping most of the day, but before I could even count five sheep I was asleep.

We set out early the next morning and our boisterous group was very quiet. I chewed on a bread roll and slouched in my saddle. After a few hours I was tired of it. “I’m bored!” I yelled. Everyone turned and looked at me and I sighed. “Aren’t there any games we can play or something we can do? You’re riding quietly in your own thoughts and I can’t stand it.”

“We can play when we make camp tonight,” Jared offered.

“Why is everyone so quiet now?” I asked him.

“We aren’t trying to be quiet,” Faxon said, “it just happens occasionally.”

“Would you like us to sing?” Jared asked.

“What?”

Before I could say anything else, Jared started singing. Faxon joined in once he knew what song Jared was singing and then Griffin joined in as well. I sat there stunned and amazed as three of the toughest men in the kingdom sang while we rode. They harmonized well which led me to believe they sang together often and all of them sounded much better than I thought they would.