A Warrior Princess' Tale

Chapter one

Chapter one
Adelaide
In a typical clumsy hurry I was always in, I stumbled right through the great sky high doors that lead me into the Great Hall, where all of my father's knights and close friends were having supper.

Naturally, as I had made a late entrance all eyes were on me for a second before they all rose and I was announced. Not that I needed announcing. I was daughter of the powerful, King Alexander the Great and Queen Isabelle the Pure. I was Princess Adelaide Braxton, the warrior princess and heir to the throne.

The room was grand with a long table and lit by candles around the room. Our servants were all sitting patiently along the wall, waiting to pour someone's drink or clear someone's food. Usually they aren't needed at dinner, we Braxton's can take care of ourselves but in front of company we have to seem as though we are royal. All along the walls were great paints, some of battles that had been fought well before my time, others were of past rulers, my ancestry.

As I walked past the knights, they all bowed muttering 'your royal highness', and one fine gentleman had the nerve to try kiss my hand, which I snatched right of his gripped and kept walking.

My father and mother sat at the end of the table with all the elegance that a king and queen should have.

My mother was the most beautiful women in all the Capital, if not the whole of Arcadia. She was a slender women of average height. With her long legs and slim arms, she was the perfect body shape. Her eyes were emerald and her lips were as red as blood. Her hair was a luminous chocolate coloured hair that reached down to the back of her thighs. As always and staying true to her house, she wore a navy blue simple dress with a leather belt that was for style now, but usually was what would carry her quiver. Her skin was milky white and with a few freckles across her nose. She was a fierce warrior and that is why my father fell in love with her.

There had been a tournament for my father's coronation and my mother was in the archery tournament but also fought in the Game of Wars; the Game of Wars was a dangerous and often fatal game against twelve males or females. The object of the game was to take out your other opponents in a maze like complex. The only rules were once you yield you are out and that is the only way you can be thrown out, unless you are knocked out. My mother won the whole thing and won the favour of a King.

And his heart.

The story gave me goosebumps because it was a real love story. It wasn't like the stories scribes wrote about or poets sang about, it was real.

People say that my mother was so beautiful, if the Moon Goddess had a child, my mother would be hers.

My father however was a brute in strength and size. He was the most wanted man in the whole Capital. Women were constantly throwing themselves at him but he was a respectable King and he had a beautiful wife. He was a tall, strong man with a typical well manned, curly and thick black beard. His hair was dark as midnight itself and he let it grow out down so that it just touched his shoulders. His hair was curly and thick, like his beard and most men had the same style. He had a huge scar down his left eye and his eyes were cold and black.

Behind closed doors my father was a great dad, he taught me how to ride, he bought me my first long sword and short sword, making sure they were engraved with my initials and had a lion proudly on the hilt. He even taught me how to fight with two short swords, something no one did. But in front of company, he was a King and I had to treat him accordingly.

I made my way to head of the table and curtsied in front of my parents. "Apologise for being late to supper, your Excellences. I was out hunting and lost track of time, it won't happen again." I kept my head down as a sign as respect and my mother tutted, though I could almost hear her smile.