The Blue Eyed Page

Chapter 4

The days turned into weeks and weeks turned into two months. Madison was just finishing getting changed for bed one night when Calvin came in. "lass I would not change just yet."

Madison got the hint she quickly changed back into the clothes she wore for dinner and followed Calvin to one of the outside practice courts. "What is going on?" she asked as they walked.

"Turns out some of the older pages thought it would be funny to pull something and someone needs your help."

"My help? Who? And why? What can I do that no one else can't?"

"All will be answered. Now hurry up."

They got to the practice courts and she knew why they needed her help. Some of the squires had turned on the arrow shooters to pull a prank on the younger pages and to turn them off you had to get through without getting hurt. There were already 6 guards down. She looked at Calvin with the I can't do it expression. Calvin put a hand on her shoulder and said, "You can do it, remember what happened last fall over at Airedale." she nodded "then do it again." She took a shaky breath and they walked over to the starting point.

"Calvin I know you said that you lad was good but this almost killed 6 of our knights. It is a suicide mission for the boy." called the Duke Morvay. Madison turned and just realized that Duke Morvay, the king, Brett, Adam, Alex, and the Prince were all there and they were all looking at her. They were right. She was just a normal girl pretending to be a boy. . . NO, she was a girl and she could do it.

"I can do it. I have done it before. Your grace," Madison called out. She took one more breath before she took off.

She took off running. She ducked, flipped jump roll, jumped again and repeated. She was going and going just thinking one at a time. There were about 20. She began to count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. It was about the tenth one something had pierced her left shoulder. Only then did she realize the pattern had changed; she broke part of the arrow shaft off before watching the second half of the shooter.

This time it was flip,flip, duck, roll, jump then repeat. She did it over and over again trying to ignore the burning sensation in her shoulder. She counted again 11,12,. She was starting to lose a bit of blood but she had to stay focused. .16,17,. Three more she thought to herself. . .and finally 20 the last one was cleared she jumped then pulled the lever down. The last thing she heard was cheers before she dropped in a dead faint.

She woke up for a little while and there was a circle of people around her to her right was Calvin and over his shoulder was the Prince, Adam, Alex, and Brett. To her left was the physician Duke Houman getting ready to pull the arrow out. Just the thought of it coming out made her want to pass out again. She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Then she looked back over to Calvin and he smiled when he saw her eyes. Then he said something even though she was awake it was like being underwater able to see the lips move but not what they were saying. But by the expression he had on his face, you could tell he was saying "good job I knew you could do it." She gave him a weak smile. That was when Duke Houman was starting to get the arrow out; she passed out after the first wave of pain.

It was two days before Madison woke up when she sprung up. Breathing hard before she realized that there was pain she bit down on her blankets to muffle a scream. a little. That is when a hand clamped down on her good shoulder she looked up terrified only to find Calvin there. She let out a breath of relief. Calvin helped her lay back down. He sat down on the edge of the bed and said "ye took an arrow to ye left shoulder. It will take some time to heal but at least it is not ye sword arm." Madison looked down. she was in a different pair of clothes. She looked again at Calvin and he said "don't worry yeh secret is still safe. I almost had to beat Duke Houman to make sure that it was though. Oh, The palace is all really surprised by your abilities." he said as he handed her a cup of tea.