The Princess and Her Rogue

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Sir Claude, being the daring, noble knight that he was, joined the search parties that spread across the kingdom. And he was the one who would come back each day to the king to report that there was no sign of the princess anywhere.

  The sky over Aleph grew grey while Kiara was gone and it seemed that nothing could bring the sunshine back, except for her

  Morning within Deceiver’s territory might as well have been night or late evening. The moon had left the sky to let the sun take over, but the clouds and haze of the dawn blocked any light from shining down on the little burrow that Kiara was hiding in.

  As Nate waited patiently outside, still leaning against the hill with his arms folded, Kiara lay inside snoozing away. She was dreaming of home in the cozy little cave and refused to get up. Finally, Nate stood up, stretched and looked down both ways of the road before going to pick up a rock and throwing into the burrow.

  The hard pebble hit Kiara in the shoulder. She awoke with a start and rubbed her shoulder tiredly.

  “It’s morning. Let’s move,” Nate shouted from outside.

  “The sun isn’t up yet,” Kiara pointed out as she squinted sleepily at the road, still not emerging from the burrow.

  “Yes it is. Come on.”

  Kiara unwillingly crept out of the hole and stretched her arms up in the air in an attempt to wake up. But, Nate was already walking towards the tree line.

  “Hey! Wait up!” she cried out, running after the rogue into the woods. He didn’t wait, but kept on trudging through the pointy, dead bushes. Kiara eventually did catch up with him and saw he had acquired a long stick to sweep away the low lying branches.

  “Did you sleep well last night? Or at all?” she asked cordially, hoping to get to know the man better.

  “I didn’t sleep,” he replied, not caring to look behind him as he continued to walk on.

  “Well, you probably should have. I mean, it’s not healthy for someone to not sleep. Everyone needs at least eight hours of sleep a night, you know?” Kiara lectured as she picked up her skirt to avoid it being torn more by the prickly bushes and vines that littered the forest floor.

  “And another thing, why are you so interested in helping me? If you were prepared for no reward for you at the end of the road, then why do you do it?”

  “Because I want to,” he said curtly.

  “That’s not a logical reason. Everyone has a reason for doing something, whether honorable or not.”

  After this, there was no response. They walked in silence for another few moments before Kiara felt awkward. She never liked to be in complete quiet. She always needed some sort of noise or conversation going on unless she particularly preferred it. However, this was not one of those times.

  “I can’t believe how cold it is still. I was sure that by this time of the year it would have gotten a lot warmer, don’t you think so?”

  No answer.

  “Well, I for one think it’s very cold. I should have been wearing a cloak or coat before I was kidnapped. That would have been far more convenient than just wearing this dress. It has long sleeves, but the material is rather thin and tears easily. And with all this walking over roads and through these blasted trees, I’ve sustained many holes and rips in this dress… Ahh!”

  Nate turned around quickly to her cry and rolled his eyes when he saw that one of the bushes had managed to snag against her dress and tear another portion of the beaded lace off.

  “You see what I mean?” Kiara said, lifting up that part of her gown that was just destroyed. Nate continued to walk and didn’t pay attention to her complaining.

  “My father gave me this dress just a few nights ago for my birthday banquet and now it’s ruined beyond repair. It was a lovely gown, too. I know you weren’t there when I was wearing it in mint condition, but it really was a lovely gown. It’s prettier than any of my other dresses anyway… Oh, but now I’m starting to sound like all my sisters. They’re so obsessed with their clothes and appearance that their vanity is rather annoying. I choose to dress modestly, though, unless provoked. And a birthday party is certainly a reason to get dressed up. I’m eighteen now, by the way, if you didn’t know. Well, I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about me this far into Deceiver’s territory.”

  Her long winded speech was again interrupted by more tearing of her dress and a stumble that caused her toe to be stubbed.

  “Agh! This land is absolutely horrid! All the roots are dry and sticking out of the ground as if their whole purpose was to make me stumble! I can’t believe how dead and lifeless this land looks. It’s amazing that anyone can live here at all. The ground looks anything but fertile, so farming isn’t an option and there is no vegetation for livestock. How do people make their living down here anyway?” Kiara didn’t wait for a response.

  “And the trees are so ugly!” she exclaimed, looking high up into the canopy of dead branches, “They’re all dead! It’s like everything in Deceiver’s territory is just dead! Well, I guess Deceiver would have it no other way, right?”

  Kiara returned her gaze to the back of Nate’s head. He made no sound the entire time she had been talking, but that didn’t bother her. “You know, you don’t talk much. If we’re going to have to travel together for a long time, then we’re going to have to get along somehow and the only way to gain a friendship or even an acquaintanceship would be to talk and converse with each other.”

  Nate didn’t respond as he pushed back a low lying branch to let him pass through. Kiara kept at her same pace, presuming that he would hold the branch back for her. She was completely wrong. As soon as he had passed and Kiara was within range, he let the branch fly straight into her stomach.

  She grunted and staggered back a little from the impact. As a result, she tripped over one of the treacherous roots and fell flat on her bottom. Kiara whimpered and glanced up to the oblivious Nate who continued to keep walking like nothing had happened. She glared at his back, then helped herself up.

  “Are you deaf or something?” she asked, hoping that there was a legitimate reason that this man was ignoring her. He didn’t respond, as usual, but continued walking. Kiara folded her arms angrily over her chest and followed him.

  “Well, in that case I’ll keep talking. My feet hurt like crazy! I’ve never had to walk this much in my life and I dare say, I shall confine myself to a wheelchair for the rest of my existence just to recover from this horrible incident once I get home! I feel like my feet are on fire and would soon fall off if they weren’t attached to my aching shins and knees. I’ve never hurt so much in my life! This is the worst experience I’ve ever had to endure and I swear to you I will never do something like this again without a horse or carriage!”

  Kiara began ranting, swinging her arms about wildly. As she continued to complain about her feet, the air, the trees, the ground, the roots, the bushes, the thorny vines, Nate occasionally let another branch fly in her face. Kiara grew wiser after a while and would either duck or block the tree with her own hand before it had a chance to hit her.

  As they walked for another few hours, Kiara grew even more sore and frustrated. Her hands became beaten and cut from catching the branches and her muscles ached more than they had the previous day. Not to mention, her vocal cords were growing hoarse from all the talking she was doing.

  “I can’t believe you haven’t said a single word since we left the burrow! What is wrong with you!” she practically screamed as they came to a clearing. Nate had no trouble stepping through the thicket into the sun, but Kiara’s dress caught on a branch and refused to come loose.

  In her anger, she turned around and tugged vigorously on the skirt. Nate decided to stop and amuse himself with the spectacle. Kiara leaned all her weight backwards in an effort to break the skirt loose. And, with one loud, heart-shattering rip, the whole left side of Kiara’s dress up to her knee split from the rest of the gown, leaving half of Kiara’s left leg exposed.

  She fell back onto her bottom as she had before and stared d
umbly at the catastrophe with disbelief. Nate felt like chuckling, but held his smile and looked from the torn piece of material to the distraught little palace brat.

  “I think we’ll need to get you better clothes while we’re in town,” Nate commented.

  Kiara looked up to him with the same look of shocked incredulity.

  “Ya think?!” she cried out. Nate kept a calm face and nodded.

  Kiara felt like slugging him across the face for his arrogance.

  Chapter 4

  It wasn’t long after the disaster occurred with Kiara’s dress that they found the village of Peh. It was a very small merchant village and not very densely populated. Kiara didn’t expect it to be half the size of Aleph due to its inconvenient location, but she didn’t think it would be as small as it really was. There was only one main road, where a few shops and an inn stood. The rest of the little town was speckled with trading wagons and merchant tents that sold stolen wares and black market items from exotic lands.

  Nate graciously gave Kiara his cloak to wear and he advised her to have the hood up at all times. It was only when Nate took off his cloak did Kiara realize how muscular he was. He wore a pair of loose brown trousers covered by leather chaps, a white swordsman shirt with baggy sleeves and a brown leather vest over it to match the chaps. His shirt had the feature of a lace up front just below the neck, but the strings were not tied, revealing some of his chiseled chest. When Kiara first saw him in such a fashion, she felt her heart flutter, but she had to resist and restrain her thoughts.

  As they walked into the village, Kiara began to observe Nate more closely. He walked with a straight back, standing tall and strong like a soldier. His eyes looked concentrated as he scanned the crowd for any unwanted company. He was rigid, cold, almost mean as he simply shrugged off any soliciting trader without so much as a glance. Kiara preferred to give the traders her attention if they spoke to her directly and politely told them that she was not interested. Nate had his jaw clenched at all times and his hands formed tight fists at his sides. He kept his chin up and chest out like he was royalty himself, having a condescending demeanor over everyone there - even Kiara.

  As they walked towards the clothing merchants, Kiara never thought that her escort would be this tough and serious. It was rather unnerving. The night before, his stature was hard to discern in the darkness and even that morning after they left the burrow, it was hard to know how he presented himself. But, discovering how brutish he was, it reminded her of her dreaded fiancé, Sir Claude. Was there no noble man who knew how to relax?

  As they ventured further into the village, Kiara had never seen such characters in her life. Women didn’t dress decently and the men all seemed to be roaring drunk. There were no children running in the streets and it looked like she was the youngest person in the town.

  Instinctively, she flanked closely behind Nate, clutching the material on his shirt sleeve like a little scared toddler. He didn’t pay her any mind and didn’t shrink under her grip, still walking like a stiff sentinel.

  “Just keep your head down and don’t make eye contact with anyone,” Nate muttered to her as they approached a clothing vender. Kiara obeyed and focused her gaze on a very lovely looking dress on one side of the merchant’s booth. It was a very elaborate dress and she took a fancy to it.

  While Nate was bargaining with the trader gruffly, she let go of his arm and wandered over to the beige gown that was laced with black beads and embroidery. Kiara picked the dress up and brought it back to Nate’s side eagerly.

  “Can we get this one?” she asked, not lifting her eyes up for a moment.

  “Oh, that’s a priceless little treasure I picked up from the far east,” the trader interrupted, “A very noble lady of that kingdom wanted one of my other dresses, so I struck a trade with her. I’d accept no less than twenty gold pieces to part with it.”

  “No, I’m interested in this set. How much?” Nate said, holding up a pile of rags. Kiara glanced towards what was in his hands and her breath caught in her throat with the shock of seeing such a monstrosity. It was the most atrocious looking boy peasant outfit she had ever laid eyes on. The cloth in the past might have been white, but it was too dirt stained to look anything less than dark tan. There were holes in the knees and Kiara was confident she wouldn’t wear it willingly.

  “I’d say about four bronze pieces. It’s not worth much, actually. I could probably let you have it for free, but I still need to make a profit. Not many people come through asking for it,” the vender said, stroking his twisted beard.

  “I’ll give you one bronze piece.”

  “Done.”

  Nate pulled out a leather pouch, heavy with coins and pulled out the decided price for the outfit and gave it to the man. Kiara was still struck speechless by the ugliness of the outfit she would be forced to wear as Nate snatched the beloved dress from her hands and threw it back on the cart to pull her away to a weapons tent.

  “Twenty gold pieces wasn’t a bad price for that dress! Why do I have to settle for these rags?” Kiara whispered in an annoyed tone to Nate as he was examining a bow and testing its draw with a scowl.

  “It may be a cheap price for you, but not for me, princess. You think I’m made of money like you?” Nate pulled out his little pouch and jingled it in front of her face tauntingly, “This probably only amounts to five gold pieces, let alone twenty. You can do without your precious luxuries until you get home,” Nate said very angrily, then returned the pouch to hang on his leather belt, “Now, hush up and let me do the buying.”

  Kiara had never had anyone speak to her so rudely before. She was taken aback by his bluntness as he thrust her new clothes at her to hold. She did so grudgingly, folding her arms over them to press them against her stomach. Kiara pouted the whole time she had to wait for him to buy a dagger and bow and arrow set. He was such an arrogant man. She was regretting leaving the bandits for Nate in the first place. Dieing for her king would have been a lot easier than having to put up with this rude conduct for a week or more.

  Nate bought his weapons and dragged her by the arm aggressively towards some relatively shady woods. Last night he seemed so calm, cool and charming. But ever since that morning, he’d been so insolent and obnoxious. Kiara hadn’t done anything to offend him that she knew of. All she did was try to make conversation and get to know him, but he wasn’t cooperating. She couldn’t understand why her rescuer had to be such a uncouth, uncivilized, coarse, offensive, selfish, conceited, bigheaded, crude, impolite, pompous, egotistical, no-good, inconsiderate, low-life…

  Before Kiara could finish that thought, Nate paused in mid step and then pushed her abruptly behind a tent. She cried out in protest, but he quickly followed her and pushed her even farther out of the alley that the two tents made and towards the merchants’ camps.

  “Stop pushing and shoving me everywhere! If you just ask politely, I would move! There’s no reason to…” Kiara was stopped short as Nate’s hand covered her mouth.

  “For once, shut up!” he said in a hushed voice with fire in his eyes, “The bandits just came into town and they’re looking for you! If you don’t shut that trap of yours, we’re both dead, got it?”

  Kiara, whose mouth was still covered, nodded her head in quick agreement. Nate removed his hand and peered behind the tent towards the main road, just as the bandits were passing by with their wagon train. Kiara could hear them asking the merchants if they had seen the princess, but none would give them any information without first being paid. Since the bandits had little money, there was no hope for any vital information. And if one merchant did happen to have some silver cross his palm, they revealed they hadn’t seen any princess.

  Nate and Kiara remained behind the tents for as long as they possibly could, scurrying from one tent and house to the other to follow the bandits along the road. Kiara supposed the plan was to watch and make sure that they were out of town before showing their face again. Nate kept his eyes on the bandit party as the
y slowly moved through the village, inquiring anyone they happened to pass by about Kiara.

  It didn’t take long before their leader grew frustrated with the lack of cooperation by the villagers and he ordered his men to move out. Nate wouldn’t let Kiara stir one inch until every last grisly bandit was on the road towards Deceiver’s territory.

  “We’ll have to stay the night at the inn. I don’t want us to keep moving until they’re completely out of the way and far into Deceiver’s land. Come on,” Nate said, attempting to wrap his strong fingers around Kiara’s arm, but she was too quick and whipped her arm out of reach.

  Nate stood up straight and looked at her with slight confusion. Kiara only donned a look of sly coyness and folded her hands behind her back, still holding the rags.

  “If you want me to move, all you have to do is ask politely,” she said teasingly.

  Nate took a deep breath, as if to calm down before striking her. “Fine. Princess, will you please come with me so we can get you changed into your new clothes so you don’t get discovered?” he asked mockingly.

  “Why, yes, I believe I will. Where is the changing room?”

  “I don’t know, princess. That’s why we have to go look for one or would you rather change in the woods?” Nate said, half bowing and pointing an angry finger towards a patch of bushes.

  Kiara scoffed at the suggestion. “I would sooner change in broad daylight than in the thicket.”

  “Well, I would recommend you change over there rather than in front of a bunch of men who are liable to rape you!” His tone had turned from light flirting to scolding and Kiara simply folded her arms over her chest and looked defiantly at Nate.

  “And what if I don’t want to change in the woods?”

  “Then you’re going to change in the tavern’s outhouse whether you like it or not!”

  Kiara thought for a moment and without a word, stomped off towards the thick underbrush to change clothes. As far as she knew, Nate kept his back turned and guarded that block of trees from prying eyes. She realized how unreasonable she was being, but it was too much fun to toy and tease Nate. In fact, for some reason, she thought it funny to make him mad. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to do so for long before he was tempted to strangle her.