Cinderella vs. Prince Charming

Chapter 4

            “You stupid, reckless, idiot woman!” Darren yelled as he stalked over. Behind him, Erramun had begun helping Lyel secure both prisoners and their weapons.

             “Now, now. I believe you mean to say ‘Thank you Valerie. I’d have been dead if you hadn’t saved me.’”

            Val however, had made a mistake. She’d taken her eyes off Amorrt to face Darren. That was all the other man needed. Amorrt jerked his legs up, throwing her off balance before striking her with the side of his foot. Valerie fell with a cry of surprise, sliding a few inches on the polished marble floors, the sword flying from her hands.

            Amorrt jumped to his feet as Darren lunged across the remaining distance, interposing himself between Amorrt and Valerie. Neither moved for a long moment, the two of them eyeing one another. Behind them, Val scrabbled after the sword, whirling to her feet once she had it. With the blade held in front of her, she came to stand beside Darren.

            Eyes locked on Darren, Amorrt’s sudden smile made Valerie bring her sword up as he hurled something small at Darren’s head. Darren shifted back, preparing to slice the projectile in half. Val beat him to it. Taking half a step forward, she swung her blade up and forward, striking the object with the flat of the sword causing some strange dust to puff out. The projectile went flying back and smashed Amorrt in the face. It raised a cloud of the sparkling dust before falling to the floor. Before any of them could do more than lean forward, Amorrt dropped to the ground and lay there, motionless.

            “What the heck was that?” Valerie asked staring at Amorrt but not trusting in his apparent unconsciousness to take even one step forward.

            “I…I do not know,” Darren murmured before straightening. Turning to look at Val, he said, “And what were you thinking, interfering like that?”

            Valerie’s eyes widened for a moment before snapping into a glare. “What was I thinking? Oh, I don’t know, something along the lines of ‘I don’t know what that thing is but it can’t be good so I’d better keep it away from us’. You should be thanking me. If that stuff had come anywhere near your face you’d be the same as him.”

            Darren got a little red. “That is unimportant. That was a fight between Amorrt and I. You should not have interfered. It is not your place to get involved in battles.”

            “Not my place? You’d have died at least once tonight if it weren’t for me! And as for my place, I don’t believe in that chauvinistic BS. Just because I have a vagina doesn’t mean I’m some sheltered, quiet, defenseless creature that you need to protect. I stand on my own. And so help me, if you ever, ever, try to take away my independence, I’ll f-ing castrate you.”

            The prince took a step back seemingly pushed by the force of her words. “Princesses do not belong in battle,” he finally managed to say.

            “Then it’s a good thing I’m not a princess.”

            “You are a Cinderella. You admitted it yourself so do attempt to deny it.”

            “I said I was Cinderella because you were going to get killed. I don’t believe in this whole princess thing of yours.”

            “You are my princess whether you like it or not.”

            “No I’m not.”

            “Yes you are.”

            Before the fight could escalate, Lyel called out “You two may fight later. Right now we need to send a message home so someone can collect Amorrt.”