I Am Not Cinderella

Chapter 4

          Arthur stood up, placed his hands on his lower back and bent over backwards part way.  His back hurt from all the hours he'd spent stooped over the fire.  Sweat dripped down his neck and ran down his back.  Arthur ran an arm over his forehead trying to get the sweat out of his eyes.  He shook his head and rolled his shoulders before he picked up his hammer and started to work.  He needed to get this done so that he could show Master Ballard his practice strokes.  If he did good, then maybe he could move on to something else.  He had barely made two hits when the Princess popped up on the other side of the window that he had open. 

          Arthur jumped and the hammer thudded way to close to his hand for comfort.  Arthur rested his hammer on the anvil and glared at the Princess.  She grinned at him before she disappeared from the window and in short order reappeared at his elbow.

          "Hi Arthur," the Princess's voice was very upbeat and cheerful.

          "You're going to get me in trouble Princess," Arthur said as he went back to work.

          "Nuh uh and don't call me princess."

          Arthur glanced over the Princess before he looked away from her.  "Why shouldn't I call you Princess?  That's what you are."

          The Princess placed her tiny hands on his arm and peered intently up into his face.  "Princess is my title.  My name is Barrie and that's who I am."

          Arthur looked back down at the Princess.  "Who is Barrie?"

          The Princess smiled.  "Barrie is a girl who wants to make her own mistakes.  Barrie wants to make her own choices and do the things that she wants to do.  She is adventurous and bold, cunning and smart.  The King and Queen want her to follow in Cinderella's dainty footsteps, but Barrie wants to be her own person."  The Princess looked at him with shinning eyes.  "I want to be a Warrior Queen like my ancestors were before me."

          Arthur shrugged her hands off his arm.  The Princess dropped her hands and looked at him.  "Is that why you like hanging around here."

          The Princess shook her head causing her thick black hair to fan about her.  "No, I like coming here because you treat me like I am a normal girl.  You don't watch you language around me or treat me like I'm breakable."

          Arthur stared at the Princess for several moments before he spoke.  "You're strange for a royal."

          The Princess grinned at him.  "I'll take that as a complement."  The Princess sighed before she spoke again.  "I promise to be careful when I come around.  The guards won't know I'm here if you call me Barrie instead of Princess every time you see me.  Deal?"

          Arthur looked down at the hand that the Princess had stuck out.  He gave a weary sigh and shook her hand.  "I'm going to regret this someday."

          Barrie laughed as she went over and hopped up on a stool.  She settled herself in.  "How come you're an apprentice to a metal smith?"

          Arthur shrugged as he got back to work.  "My mother is ashamed of me and didn't want me anymore.  I bugged Master Ballard for months before he agreed to train me."

          "How long have you been here?" Barrie asked as she swung her legs where she sat on the stool.

          "Since I was eight and that was four years ago."

          Barrie sighed and looked at him wistfully.  "You are very lucky Arthur."

          Arthur stopped working to glare at her.  "How am I lucky?"

          Barrie flinched back from his gaze and then squared her shoulders to glare back at him.  "You're lucky because you chose something that you wanted to learn and become.  You want to become a black smith or perhaps a metal smith.  Me," Barrie herself on the chest with her tiny hand.  "I have no choice in what I want to do.  I have to be a Princess.  The training for that is just as grueling as your training, but you will feel more pleasure in what you do.  I have to conform to some image that isn't me."

          Arthur spoke softly to Barrie.  "What is it you want to be?"

          Barrie looked at him sadly.  "I want to be a Warrior Queen who can defend her people against attack."

          Arthur laid his hammer down.  "How would you achieve that dream?"

          Barrie shrugged her shoulders and looked lost.  "I don't know.  I would guess that I need to have training like my brothers will eventually have when they are older."

          Arthur crossed his arms and thought.  "Since I have a feeling that you're going to be bugging me for a long time, I could help you as much as I can."

          Barrie perked up.  "Really, oh thank you Arthur.  I promise that I'll pay you back somehow."

          Arthur gave her an offended look.  "You don't have to give me anything.  I just don't want you killing yourself trying to train when you have no idea what you're doing."

          "When do we start?"

          Arthur sighed as he thought about it.  "Can you meet me tonight?"

          "What time?"

          "What time can you escape your handlers?"

          Barrie thought about it and when she spoke, she spoke slowly as she thought out when she could make it.  "I think I can get away after dinner.  My parents expect me to retire to my room after supper to rest like an obedient child."

          "Will you be able to escape without anyone noticing?"

          "Yes, I do it all the time," Barrie said with confidence.  "I'll have to tell Grekken.  She's my Governess, if you will, though she's more of a friend.  She'll cover my absence."

          "Are you sure?"

          Barrie bristled.  "Of course I'm sure.  She's practically raised me.  Besides, she told me just the other day how I was what this country needed to return to the days of old."

          "If you can escape meet me in the forest."  Arthur paused as he realized something.  "You have been in the forest before right."

          "No," Barrie said quietly as she shook her head.  "I was caught and whipped before I even set foot in the forest.

          "Hm," Arthur scratched his chin as he thought about that.  "Well, where can you meet me at?"

          "There's an old over run garden down at the foot of the castle.  No one goes there and no one checks there because it's in the old wing of the castle where no one goes.  I'll meet you there two hours after supper."

          "Sounds like a bad plan."

          "I'll see you later," Barrie said as she jumped of her stool and disappeared out of the black smith's shop.

          Arthur shook his head as he got back to work.  He had a feeling that he was getting deep into something that he probably should stay out of.