The Princess and the Peasant

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was standing in a large meadow bordered by trees. I looked down and saw that I was wearing a white ball gown with intricate designs. The top was long sleeved to my elbows with a normal neckline except that it was lace until the silk fabric started. The silk fabric part of the top was strapless. The entire bodice was covered in shiny jewels. The dress was entirely made of tulle and silk with silver curlicue patterns. It had a very full skirt that was extremely heavy, but at the same time beautiful.

I looked up to see a man running towards me. He was wearing peasant clothing yet when I saw him, I didn't feel as if he was just a regular person. I felt some strong connection to him that I couldn't describe. I wanted, no needed to be near him. It was like we were connected by a wire that hurt when it stretched too far from the other end.

Then time seemed to slow down. I felt my breathing slow, my heart beat almost stop. I turned my head to the left toward the trees to see a massive wolf jump on me. The last thought I had before I died was, I love you Dylan.

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I opened my eyes quickly to see that I was in some sort of medical place. The walls and ceiling were painfully white, and the air was full of chemical smells. I was lying in a bed with white sheets. I must have been in the infirmary. How did I get here, I thought.

Just then I heard voices to my right and looked that way. Every move I made hurt. It felt as if every bone in my body had been crushed, then glued back together. I could just see half of a person standing there. I heard multiple voices, so there must have been more people standing across the room.

Once the people that were talking realized that I was awake, they immediately became quiet. I finally got my head turned to where I could see all of them. It looked like there were about four or five Healers, but only two of them were Royal Healers. The other three looked they might have been from the village, but I couldn't see their faces to tell where they were from.

They all turned to glance over at me at once. Then, seeing that I was staring at them, they all bowed and muttered, "Princess." I tried to give them a small smile, but it turned out to be more of a grimace. One of the Royal Healers walked over to me. He had short blonde hair and was wearing purple Royal Healer's clothing- dark pants and a long sleeve loose shirt that was tied at the top. I recognized him as Allen. He was the main Healer in the castle, other than my mother of course, but all of the servants and maids went to Allen to be healed.

"What happened?" I whispered as clearly as I could. My voice cracked and my throat was sore from disuse.

"We found you lying under the big oak tree on the grounds. From the looks of it, you must have fallen from the tree. And the way your injuries were, you must have been high up," Allen told me. He paused them and looked to be contemplating something. I didn't have the strength to read even a small amount of his mind so I had no idea what he was thinking about. Eventually he spoke again, "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in the oak tree? You haven't been up in it since you were a small child."

I knew I couldn't tell him. My mother would just search his brain later. And I couldn't persuade him because I was too weak. One of the only times my powers didn't work was when I was weak. I had to make up a lie and quick.

"Well, um, I think I, um, might have been reading up in the branches." My lie was terrible and Allen knew it. He didn't ask questions though, for which I was grateful. He just nodded his head at me. I wondered what kind of injuries I had. I didn't remember anything after I looked up to see where the mysterious person was.

"What kind of injuries did I have?" I asked Allen before he left the room.

"Well you had a terrible knot on your head, which we think is from the fall, a sprained wrist, and multiple bruises. It wasn't anything serious, other than the knot. We will still need to keep an eye on it. I had to call in more Healers just to get the swelling to go down," Allen replied.