the tale of Annalise Roth

Prologue

"CHARGE!" I shouted to my soldiers, sword raised in the air. I ran at full speed towards my enemy, swiping my sword through the air, dodging attacks left and right. There were fights going on all around me but my attention was solely focused on one person: the evil King Martin who had kidnapped the princess and enslaved the villagers. I stormed towards him, easily taking down anyone who got in my way. I saw a horrid smirk spread across his repulsive face as he watched me approach. As soon as I reached him I raised my sword and took a swipe. He blocked it with ease and I was forced to take up the defensive. We sparred and sparred, until I could feel sweat dripping down my nose, but we were too evenly matched. We spun and twirled through the battlefield in what probably looked like a strange kind of dance, yelling insults at each other:

"You fight like a little girl!" He shouted.

"Well, if that were true, surely you'd have beaten me by now." I retorted, actually managing to get a swipe in as he thought of the best way to respond to my smart-assery.

And so we continued, long into the night, the number of knights fighting around us dwindling by the hour. We were both becoming increasingly exhausted but neither one of us let down our guard. That is until the King slipped in a pool of blood. Before he had time to regain his balance I smashed the hilt of my sword into his stomach, an attack that would normally have very little effect but, because he was already off-balance, sent him flying backwards, landing hard on his butt. I quickly kicked his sword out of his hand and pressed mine against his throat.

"Any last words you filthy-"

"Anna!" I heard a call from the distance, but tried to ignore it.

"I said, any last words?" I repeated through gritted teeth, pressing my sword even harder against his neck.

"Anna? What are you doing?"

I sighed and turned around, letting the arm gripping my sword drop to my side. "Can't you see I'm busy mother?"

"Oh Anna, look what you've done to your dress! I gave Mr Tilbert free bread for a week to pay for that." My mother's cheeks flushed red with anger. "Get inside, supper is ready, although I've got half a mind not to give you any. How many times do I have to tell you, you're too old for these silly games."

"They're not silly." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that? It looks pretty silly to me, young lady. What were you doing, whacking a tree with a wooden toy sword? Ridiculous." With that, she pinched my earlobe between her thick fingers and pulled me towards our house. "Honestly girl, you turn thirteen in two months. You need to start learning how to run the bakery and grooming yourself so that somebody might consider marrying you one day. Honestly, you're such a pretty girl but what boy is going to want a girl that is constantly daydreaming and playing make-believe and covering expensive frocks in mud?"

She continued like that all through supper. I ignored her, losing myself in my thoughts as I pushed food around my plate, feeling too annoyed to eat much. Why couldn't she understand that I didn't want to take over the bakery, I wanted to be a knight.