Chapter 2: Wake Up Call
“We are here today, to announce the engagement Between Prince Alexander Sonas Portsontas, and Princess Elizabeth-Marie Depore.” All the while when he said this I was too shocked to move, or even gasp. The prince of the other kingdom was perfectly unperplexed, he obviously knew what his father was going on about.
I really hadn’t realized what I was planning on doing, until it was already too late and I started. I got up and said. “You can’t do this to me.” I was yelling, rather than just talking which was a big no, “An arranged marriage?” This couldn’t be happening, why did they want to do this to me?
“Elizabeth!” my mother said, “We do NOT raise our voices in this palace!” It was funny to me, because she had raised her voice. I started to laugh, because I did not want to cry in front of these people.
By this time Collin was cracking up. The prince looked a little angry, but mostly unconcerned. My father looked like he knew this would happen, and the other king looked raving mad, my mother also looked furious. I ran away because my eyes were starting to get a little wet.
I ran to the stables, “JOHN...” I was yelling.
“Sheeissh. You don’t need to yell.” he said coming out of one of the horse stalls.
The tears were spilling out of my eyes now, “I need to get away, where is Sarah, or Rodney?” those were the two fasts horses that we had, they were also my favorites.
“Hold on, Lizzy why do you need a horse, what’s going on?”
I was full out crying now, “Get Sheala, and lets get out, maybe just for a little while, until they all go away.”
“Okay,” he was a little confused, he clearly had no idea what I was talking about, or why I was so upset, but he ran off to get her. She must have heard everything inside, because she was already to the door when John went to go get her.
“Lizzy?” she sounded a little timid. “Lets get out of here. You need a chance to think, without pressure. And I know where you can go to get a clear head.”
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We decided to walk instead of riding a horse. It was better this way. The trip would last longer, and John and Shea wouldn’t be noticed missing, rather than if there were two or three horses missing.
I decided to brake the silence, “Shea?”
“Hmmmm...?”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” She sounded sad, and a little distant. We ended up in town, the rich part of it.
“Why are we in town?”
“Let me tell you a story,” she began as we kept walking. “Once upon a time, our kingdom was happy, lively even. Then the war and sickness spread through the land.” We were now in the streets leading to the poor part of my kingdom. “This is how most people live because of the war, go ahead look around.” There were condemned buildings, and dirty children and beggars. There was a man who was crippled, and dirty that asked a rich man who was walking the street for spare change, the rich man kicked the other man over. I gasped as he fell, John went to go help the old man stand up. This part of town was awful. The smell was disgusting, I couldn’t handle it, so I covered my nose.
“I want to leave.” I turned to Shea to tell her this.
“Let’s keep on walking.” She told me. The poor part of the kingdom was so big, It was hard to wrap my mind around how all these people live. There were more dirty children playing in the street, they had no need to worry about carriages Shea explained to me, because there was hardly anyone who could afford one in this part. “So the kingdom was almost destroyed, but your grandparents knew how to help the people, they exhausted their resources. Your parents are out of what they can do to help all of these people.”
We were now in a graveyard. There were so many gravestones. It seemed to stretch longer than the poor part of the kingdom. “These are all the people who have died of starvation, sickness, or they took their own life.” I was too shocked to say anything. “Elizabeth?”
“Yes?” I was whispering. I was confused but I knew what I had to do. For the greater good of my Kingdom, I have to make the right decision.
“What are you going to do?” John asked.
I took a deep breath, “I will accept the engagement. I will marry Prince Alexander Sonas Portsontas. I will do this for my kingdom, for my people, and for you guys. We need the money, and the people need someone to help them, so yes, I have decided.”
