Instant Princess

Target Practise

A burning sensation on my nose woke me up. I opened my eyes a slit, and realised the sun was creeping up over the windowsill and hitting my face with its full glare. I lifted my arm sluggishly to scratch away the feeling. 

I was in a large stone room—a castle room. Across the room on a smaller bed slept Audrianna, and sitting by the empty fireplace on a rocking chair was Alima. She was knitting what looked like a baby jacket. 

I tried to sit up and fell down a second later with a woozy feeling in my stomach.

"Don't try it, dearie. You gon and got var bad sea sick. 'Bin out of it, round three days."

I deciphered what she had said in my head. Sick for three days? That must mean we were in France now. 

I slid slowly out of the bed and onto the freezing cold stone floor. I stiffed my feet quickly into my boots. My faithfull chest was at the end of the bed, and I started searching through it for something to wear.

"Now don'you get yer paws dirty. I'll get yourn dress for you." I heard a loud creak as Almia stood up and moved towards me.

"No, I can handle dressing myself, if your busy knitting." She looked surprised at my words. "Is that for one of your grandkids?" I asked, nodding to her small jacket.

Her face lit up. "Ach, no. It's for one of your babies. I reckons the king will be marrying you off soon!" 

I blanched, and the woozy feeling returned to my stomach. She noticed my face and rushed over  to force me into a chair. After that I allowed her to dress me. Arguing with her was pointless.

I ate my unappetising breakfast in the great hall with the rest of the soldiers. Well, I was seated at the head table separate from them all. Richard, Robert, Liam, and Thornham were all mysteriously missing from the room. Unfortunately sitting right beside me was de Camville, the man from the boat.

"Do you know where my father is?" I asked him politely. He looked up from gorging himself.

"No, but there are plenty of fun things we could do without him around," he winked at me. I recoiled and stood up, abandoning my barely eaten breakfast.

"I think I'll go look for him."

Camville looked like he wanted to follow me, but in the end his food was just too appetising. I grabbed an apple off the table for later.

I made my way down one of the hallways, passing by the soldiers tables. Some of then stared at me creepily, but most gave me respectful nods. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to curtsy back or not, so I took the safer choice of pretending to be absorbed in the patterns of the wall hangings. Soon I was away from the noisy hall and in an empty hallway. I was debating where to head next when Thornham came speeding around the corner, clearly in a hurry.

"Thornham! Do you know where Richard is?" 

"The king? Of course I know where he is. It is my job to know where he is at every moment of the day." I gave him a bright smile. He sighed, "I assume you would like to know where he is?"

"Yes Thornham, that would be lovely." My smile had become somewhat more strained.

"He is in the practise yard, training with the other knights." He took off again, leaving me to find where that was all an my own. 

With the help of a friendly maid, a few minutes later I was at the edge of the grassy yard, observing the Knights in their heavy armour spar. The location was perfect, in the centre of the castle, assuring that the yard was always in shade. I didn't want to know what it would feel like to be in full armour in a desert.