Knight for the Prince

Chapter 1 - Escape

Grimston seems not to notice that Marilyn's face has gone stark white with fear. "You shall work in the kitchen with the rest of the women." Her uncle's cold words felt like a knife in her gut and his following words were like a judgment from the gods. "As is a woman's place. In the kitchen with a baby at her breast. That is all that a woman is good for and it is high time you accept it rather than be filled by dream castles of grandeur that your father filled your head with. You will not leave this keep until I say you can! If you run I will find you and drag you to that alter in chains! Is that clear?!" He bangs his fist on the table with emphasis and the two dogs yelp and run in fear of his anger.

"Yes, sir." Her voice is filled with venom and feels more like ice than a meek understanding, while she furrows her brow angrily.

"You will do well to answer with greater respect and not someone that just received a death sentence," Grimston misinterprets her cold defiance.

"Forgive me if I do not agree with your reasoning, my Lord but this meaningless life you insist I follow is a gilded cage," she replies coldly.

"Watch your tongue before I decide to feed it to my dogs. I am certain they will find it very useful. Marian put her on laundry duty. I do not want to see this filth until she is married!" Lord Grimston shouts angrily.

She snarls at him. "Why should I watch my tongue if it is the truth!"

"Enough! You have no say in this! Marian!!"

His wife, who has been watching and listening from the scullery doorway comes to her without speaking a word and yanks Marilyn after her with a hard jerk. She is half-dragged by the woman past two empty tables lining the dining hall, through the scullery, where several women are busy preparing a meal, and into the laundry room, past several servants already working in the laundry. The dark-haired, green-eyed woman in a silver satin tabard watch her like a hawk as she labored at the laundry until her arms were raw and bleeding from the rubbing of the laundry in the large washbasin. The heavy smell of starch and animal fat made her gag. She bit back the tears of her humiliation. Never did she have to do this much washing in her life.

She is watching the men of the family as they pass her in their armor and an idea starts to coarse through her mind. She knows she looks like a boy when she pulls her hair away because when she has worn her hair in a ponytail before, she was mistaken for a boy even though she was wearing a dress at the time. She still lived with her mother at the time and Lord Grimston does not know this fact.

The idea takes root and grows into a fully-fledged escape plan. But to escape she will need her father's armor and for that, she needs to find the armory, but she has to do it discreetly. Later that day when everyone has retired she lay awake until late, fine lining her plans until she falls into a fitful sleep of nightmares of being caught and her uncle cutting out her tongue. His smug laughter as she is dragged off by a complete stranger is the last cobweb of her nightmares. This alone should have kept her from doing what she is about to do.

She set her mind into one single gear. To escape. Nothing and no one will stop her and if she is discovered she will welcome death with open arms. Peace settles deep within her being and her heart pound with both excitement and fear. She is placed with the laundry again, but the moment the linen touches her still has raw skin. She jumps away in alarm as searing pain roars up her arms and she cries out in agony. Tears flood her eyes and roll down her cheeks. One of the men hears her and gleefully points at the washing again. Laughing. She sends him a venomous glare before fleeing.

Their laughter only worsens her situation as she continues to flee blindly through the grey stone hallways of the keep and deeper into its dark interior. Her footsteps sounding like thunder in the hallways. She cries as emotions wrack her body. She tries to fight it, but to no avail. When she finally came to she finds herself in the armory of her uncle's keep. There, shoved in a corner is her father's armor casket. Marilyn recognizing the telltale royal coat of arms on the trunk and the small engraving of a glyph in the lower corner near the floor. The glyph is the first letter of her father's name.