Weekly writing contests
Prompt No : 38

Damsel in Distress and a Knight in Shining Armour

I adjusted the heavy, shiny metal armour on my head for the millionth time, cussing out quietly when the silver helmet danced on my head while I confidently marched towards the castle's large wooden doors to exit my personal hellhole. I pulled on the cold bronze handle of the door, a gush of warm wind entered through the holes in my knight suit as the mahogany door creaked loudly while opening. A grin made it's way on my face at the soft touch of the spring beeze which entered through my breathing holes in my visor as I took a step forward, embracing the tranquility of the colorful season when a voice stopped me.

"My knight! Our king has ordered you to come and see him right away"

I whipped my head towards the breathless voice, a foolish mistake on my part actually, because if my helmet wasn't dancing before, it certainly was now. My hands immediately went on its reflex mode and caught the heavy piece of metal before it could fall from my head. There stood an unfit soldier with his hands on his knees, panting heavily trying to regain his breath as he said his last message.

"It's..urg..ent" I gulped down the extra saliva in my mouth and nodded curtly. I brushed past him with my heart beating rapidly fast that it was so loud that I could even feel it through the hard cutting edge of the armour as I climbed up the royal carpeted steps to the king's chamber.

I knocked once and I repeated it twice after a pause, when I reached the royal room. It was a secret code, only the king's most trusted ones know the password to his room. The teak door slowly opened and I stepped in, not bothering to examine the lustrous artefacts that were shining by the sunlight which came through the large window in his room.

I headed straight towards the man in royal robes and golden ornaments, who was currently pacing back and forth like a pendulum, nearby his bed in frustration.

I cleared my throat, indicating that I was gracing him with my presence. He immediately stopped his pacing and looked at me. His eyes held a mixture of wrath and worry that made my hardened heart to soften a bit. Only a bit.

"The princess is missing. I never thought that my daughter would flee from her marriage. I just don't know where things went south" He roared, slamming his fists on the dining table in rage, the nutritious fruits in the bowl collapsed on each other due to the the abrupt vibration making me to flinch.

"My trusted knight, What's your opinion based on my daughter's runaway?"

I gulped and chose my words carefully and masculinily voiced my opinion,"I think she's probably upset about not having a say in her arranged marriage, my king. I think you should have given her a choice" I requested humbly at his service, keeping my voice down.

"Choice!? I know the best choice for her. She just cannot escape from the choice I made for her" he thundered while he continued to pace, making me to grit my teeth in annoyance.

"Find her. Find her before dawn and you'll be rewarded" the king commanded me. A frustrated, lone tear made its way down to my cheeks from his commanding words as I kneeled on one knee,"Your wish, my command" I bowed, not objecting his words as I obediently straightened my posture and did an 180 degree angle, I strolled out of the room as tears began to accompany the lone one.

I took the stairs three at a time and sauntered towards the stable, which was kept outside of the stone - hinged castle. I lifted my visor up and whistled, my whistle echoed throughout the field of garden as the various colours of painted maple leaves and twigs crunched beneath my sabaton as I sprinted towards Jenny, who raced ahead of me with ease.

I pulled on her rope strings to stop her from bolting and threw my leg on the other side of the leather saddle. Having a firm grip on her strings, I whipped the thick rope against the soft, white skin of the expensive gypsy horse as a sob of despair left my lips through the ventilating holes in my visor.

I lashed out my agony with the help of the strings, trying to distract myself from the unfortunate series of events by riding my horse swiftly as a lightning, trying to flee away from this dungeon of hell as fast as possible. My vision blurred as I heard his words again and again.

"She just cannot escape from the choice I made for her"

I thwacked my horse again. Jenny accelerated its speed as it leaped across the picket wooden fence in one swift motion, taking me away from the enormous, royal castle to the lovely, dark woods.

Why can't they let the princessess be happy? Why won't they give freedom to the princess? Why in the bloody hell, the princess's life should be dictated from the day she was born? Why doesn't she have a choice in her marriage? So much of rules and regulations. Mannerisms for clothing, eating, playing, talking.... everything. Everything is defined and fixed and I am tired of it. Tired of what they do to princessess.

Jenny whizzed past the dark barks of the ever olivegreen tress in which the birds which were singing a sweet lullaby about the swivelling colours during the sunset and the miscellaneous footprints of the animals on the swampy soil.

The branches, the flower buds and the scions striked against my protective gear producing a high pitched 'clink' sound that reverbrated all around the woodland in repitition as I directed my horse into the impenetrable part of the thicket as I got a view of the hidden river gushing it's magical ever flowing crystal water.

The enchanting scene hypnotized me as I got closer to it. I was sucked and plunged into the glamorous sight that I didn't acknowledge the fact that Jenny was dashing across the woods, bolting out in the direction of the silver streamed river. I pulled on the Gypsy's strings, halting it come to a stop.

The horse galloped, with its two front legs going up in the air as I held the rope tightly with my rope burned palms. My traitorous, baggy helmet betrayed me requisite to the change in position of my head as it got ejected from my head and greeted the mushy meadow.

My long, red hair toppled down in waves as the tender gust of wind brushed my thick hair with rich pink cherry blossoms. Jenny stopped her galloping and settled in her regular stance as I took in the solitude and the elegance of the extraordinary place.

I sighed softly as the sun began to play hide and seek with the people of Springfall kingdom, my father's kingdom. I rested my head on Jenny and toyed with the silky strands of her mane.

"Being in a knight's disguise is bloody hard, Jenny" I mumbled quietly in my feminine voice, just like I was taught to not to raise my voice against the higher officials since I was a kid.

My relaxed posture stiffened when I heard a scream. I distangled myself from Jenny and grabbed my helmet from the flowers covered meadow and secured it on my head. A sudden galloping noise pierced the defeaning silence, I charged towards my gypsy and straddled her, slowly coaxing her to hide behind the bushes by massaging her soft spot. Jenny slowly understood me and concealed us among the trees. I cautiously looked around for the cause of disturbance as I heard the rustling of leaves. My head twisted in the direction carefully not wanting my helmet to give away my hidden features once again.

A groan of pain was heard by my sharp ears as I headed towards the cause of the peaceful disruption. I saw a figure clutching it's arm and crying out in pain nearby a rose shrub when I approached it. I went closer and saw that it was a woman in a gown. The red row of hair above my eyes furrowed when I saw the woman's distress. I dismantled my tiny figure from my horse and approached the women.

The women's head gyrated towards me at the sound of my foot grinding the dry leaves. Blue, Curelian blue eyes captured my light blue ones as I leaned down to check upon her.

"Are you hurt?" I asked the young maiden women. My alerted eyes softened in sympathy as I took in her blood stained frock that covered her breast area. I retreated my hand which was hovering over her large form in embarrrasment as she covered away quickly from me.

The sound of horses footfall stopped whatever the young women was going to say, abruptly. My head snapped towards the rhythmic noise, with my heart beating fast knowing that they will find me sooner if I stayed here for longer. I gulped as the women groaned in a pained voice, "Please, take me away from here"

I took a glance at the injured maiden under the tree, her face was concealed with black cloth revealing only her exotic begging eyes. I ignored her pleads as I plunged towards my transportation. I hopped on Jenny's back and fisted the entwined ropes in my hands, signalling my horse to depart. Without looking back I charged forward, for all I know, the concealed lady could be a spy who was set to trap me. The trees blurred past me and the view began to get clear when I stopped my horse dead on its tracks as I heard my mom's voice in my head, "A good ruler will always put the needs of his people before him, even though sometimes it brings him loss, he never loses"

I shut my eyelids tightly and paused my escapade for a moment as the memory swimmed in my head. I recalled how my mum smiled at me when she said those words, how beautiful she looked when she smiled and how lucky I was to get her features.

"I ain't a good ruler mom, I am sorry I failed you" I murmered with a heavy heart as I realized what I've done. Regret flowed through my veins like a never ending fountain.

"You can always change that" I heard her voice once again. My face lit up in a hopeful smile. That's why I love the woods. It gives me a quiet sense of seclusion and harmony, making my mind still so that I can think rationally by hearing my mother's sweet lullaby voice.

I grabbed on the twinings of the rope and guided Jenny in the direction from where I left.

I might not be my father's princess but I'm definitely my mom's warrior.

I followed the bloodstains which were secreted on the muddy ground when I didn't find the women nearby the tree. My horse came to a slow pace as the sounds of the other horses came to a receding halt. My horse slowly paced up to a crouched figure. My heart sunk in relief when I saw that it was the injured maiden.

I extended my hand, undicating her to grab on it. Her suprised eyes turned grateful when she saw it as the tress began to part to give way to the group of soldiers on their horses. Their eyes widened when they looked at us and for a moment I forgot that I wore a helmet.

Panicking, I pulled her heavy body with all my might, she understood my situation and fluently hopped on my horse. "Hold on" I commanded as I put all my horse riding skills which I've learned from the age of fifteen into effort.

The luscious, evergreen tress whizzed past us as I breathed in the smell of the pure earth. I missed the deadly poisonous arrows that were aimed at us by the thinness of a thread. The galloping noises and the arrows which were shot at us started to decrease in volume as my gypsy zoomed past the dark parts of the woods to a lighter one, in which I found solace. The dying light of the sun shone dimly through the canopy of the leaves as I began to feel exhausted and tired of the unexpected events in my runaway plan.

I sighed softly as I let my horse go in its normal speed, enjoying the aftershocks of the adrenaline kick.

"Why do you think that they followed us?" I asked nonchantly, feigning innocence making the girl behind me to laugh in nervousness.

"Maybe the prince has runaway and they came to look for him in the woods just to see two total suspicious strangers in their kingdom,? I don't know. Why do you think they followed us?" She asked me in a nasal, throaty voice.

"I think the princess has fleed from her marriage and the guards came to look for her and found two strangers and decided to scare them" I shrugged, brushing it off.

Suddenly a realization flashed through my mind when I was thrown off Jenny to the dry, hard ground.

I NEVER TOOK MY HELMET OFF

If I didn't take off my helmet then the soldiers wouldn't be able to see it was me. So they were not chasing me but the stranger whom I've dumbly helped. With that thought, I drew my sword from my waist band and pointed it at the disguised criminal. She did the same but when she took out her sword, the blade tore her white gown revealing her thick muscular legs which were covered in royal blue trousers.

She's a guy. I gasped in shock, something to which he took his advantage. He armed at me first, which I blocked it with my best made sword from the popular blacksmiths which has a glamorous curelian blue stone in the centre.

Our swords clashed against each other for dominance as our disguise slowly started to betray us. The rest of his womanly disguise was strewn across the ground with the help of my sharp weapon, revealing his messy brown hair and muscled arms.

Our metal swords clinked together as we conversated...

"Who are you?" We both asked in unison and scoffed at the same time. I made sure to talk in my fake - male voice as I tried to remove the black cloth wrapped around his face, but he beat me to it and jarred my sword with a force that led me to a defenseless state.

I looked at my sword which was thrown at a good old long distance away from me. If he thinks I am going to give up now, he's got another thing coming.

I kicked the dirt in the ground aiming it for his eyes as I cunningly took the power of his heavy sword into my hands while he was busy wiping the dust from his eyes.

He looked at me with mad anger in his stormy, tribal blue eyes as he stared at his sword in my hand. I smirked as I let his sword join mine.

"Unlike you, I play fair and square" I challenged him for a fight as I charged towards him with my open arms as I thrashed my body against his stomach getting a 'oof' sound from him.

His large hands settled on my helmet when I simultaneously got a hold on the thick robe that concealed his face.

Clink. Pchkkk.

Wait! No, it didn't sound like that. The sound of the cloth tearing was the first sound emitted throughout our battle followed by my helmet hitting the ground. I was the one who won our battle.

I felt a satisfaction in the admist of my fear of the future as I turned to study the mysterious stranger who brought me no good.

My mouth went agape when I took in his features, sweat coursed down my body as I took in the irony of our polite conversation that took place right before our aggressive fight.

"Prince?" The word left my mouth before I could even understand what was happening at the same time when he said the same word as me with a excess of two 's'.

Guess the princess was a knight in shining armour to the prince who was a damsel in distress.
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AUTHORS'S NOTE :

That ended in a cliffhanger because the contest's deadline was tomorrow.

Anyways, tell me if you like this chapter and please vote and comment. I would seriously love you guys if you do that.

Thank you, my babies!

By your author,
Miss.Blackwood