A Royal Match (Mericcup)

The English and the Future

She screamed when she saw me, and I hastily covered her mouth. "Are you daft?! Do you want my mother to hear us?!" I hissed. She shook her hand, and I uncovered her mouth.

"Running away too?" She wondered.

I shook my head. "Following my mum. She's been acting odd for a while, and I think the Witch knows why. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Kíla, and I'm running away. From the Lord's Sons, as much as anything else. Mum and Dad are on my side, but Torra and Grandmother... thank God for my cousins."

"Cousins?" I asked.

"Jamie, Maoilios and Lawren. They're not siblings, but they're almost identical. Except Maoilios has red hair, Jamie has black hair, and Lawren is blond. Their fathers rule jointly every other year."

"Why every other year?" I asked.

Kíla shot me a look. "You don't know? Every year, the King and Queen are either ruling here or in a distant land. Unfortunately, I am the Princess. Fortunately, I am the second daughter. I can rule Dad's land when I'm older, and Torra can stay here."

"Why don't you like your sister?" I asked her.

"Because... you saw her. she's like a bloodhound. An evil bloodhound. She rules my life with an iron fist."

Suddenly, someone called, "Kíla! Where are you?!" Kíla was up and running in a minute, disappearing into the forest. Two riders on horseback stopped in front of me, cloaked.

"She's not here." One of them said, a woman by the voice.

"We have to keep looking. She could be anywhere." The other rider said, a man.

The woman's horse pawed the ground. "Don't you think I know that?! She's our baby. But we have to find her soon- if we're all gone, the Kingdom... excuse me, have you see a girl with red hair and green eyes come through here?"

I hesitated. "Who wants to know?"

"Never mind that! Have you seen Princess Kíla?" The man asked.

"...Yes. But she doesn't want to be married." I told them.

"We know! My mother and Torra are trying to marry her off to the highest bidder though. Kíla would rather be locked in a tower with a dragon at the base of it and spend the rest of her life there."

The man seemed to have shot the woman a look. "Hey, that's unfair to-"

"You know what I meant. Which way did Kíla go?" The woman interrupted.

I pointed through the underbrush, looking up, trying to see their faces. The woman sucked in a sharp breath, then tore off through the underbrush. "Thank you, Merida." The man said, before following her. How did they know my name? And why do I feel like I know them?

"Aha! There you are!" I heard Torra say loudly.

I whipped around and glared at her. "I'm not your sister. I'm Merida of Dunbroch."

Torra froze. "B-but, you can't be!"

I shrugged. "Well, I am. Lovely to see you. Your parents just tore off that way looking for your sister. Why do you want her to be married anyway?"

"Because it's tradition!" Torra said. I tilted my head.

"Tradition? That's the only reason? No wonder Kíla ran off. It's what I would have done. And what I did."

I walked back to the castle slowly. Mum soon came upon me. "Merida?! What are you doing here?!"

I turned, and said calmly, "The usual. Met Torra and her sister Kíla, who is either delusional or foreign, their parents, and I saw you chatting with the very witch who turned you into a bear, regarding my 'true love'."