The Tale of a Princess and Her Journey to Love

Chapter Nineteen

Grabbing what ever they could, the girls prepared to defend themselves against Korian and his dastardly crew. Aurora had asked the girls how many of them could swim, which was only a little over half and caused a lot of panic. Considering the boat had left the dock Aurora was not sure what they could do to escape other then to jump overboard, but she could not even swim, so it was not a propitious idea. Vera had found a large bunch of keys on the mans body, and as they were running on very limited time the girls settled for just locking him up inside the basement of the ship, and not dragging him down to the cages.

The girls looked up to their Princess to lead them, who was seconded by Vera, the tough blacksmith's daughter. Altogether there were twenty-eight mostly terrified girls creeping along the dingy corridors, each trying to keep their noise to the minimum so that they did not attract any unwanted attention. Of course, eventually they were going to, but Aurora was hoping that they could silence any persons they came across quickly and efficiently. They had not found much in the means of weapons, just a few loose poles from the cages and old plates. A couple of the girls took torches from their posts as they tiptoed by for light and a way to protect themselves.

Aurora led them up and up, until Vera who was just ahead of her turned a corner and bumped right into the back of a man. Aurora halted in shock as four surprised sets of eyes met hers, widening even more as the crowd of girls started to follow her around the corner.

"What..." The largest man murmured aloud, before the girls snapped to their senses, and Vera lurched forward, swinging her lethal pole and whacking him swiftly around his baldhead, causing him to crumple to the plush-carpeted blood red floor.

Aurora and most of the other girls also rushed forward to attack, knowing they could not give up now and lie down in the face of danger. Of course the men were a lot stronger then them, although they did have the gift of surprise, but five of the girls managed to push and strap one man down, pointing a torch at him to prevent him from moving. The most intimidating man went after Vera, grabbing her arm, which looked like a toothpick in his beefy hand, and raising his fist to hit her. Before he had a chance, Haisley threw half a plate at his head, causing him to groan and become distracted, as Vera finished him off with a smack of her pole. The last man grabbed three of the girls who screamed in terror, and warned them all not to move otherwise he would hurt his captives, but Aurora had snuck up behind him and smashed a vase she found on a golden table over his head. She realised afterwards that it was most likely priceless, but she did not have time to feel too bad about it, because as a result of the commotion more guards had come running to them, their heavy footsteps instilling terror in every one of the girls.

"Everyone! This way!" Aurora heard Camille shout, as she and a couple other girls had backed off once the fighting had begun with their tails tucked between their legs. "There is a way up to the top deck!"

The girls all turned and fled, their feet barely hitting the floor sounding like a stampede. Angry shouts echoed through the boat as the girls burst out on to the top deck, much to the crew's bewilderment. It was freezing out there, and Aurora noticed with dismay that the warm glow of Alluvia was getting further away.

"There! There's a lifeboat!" Mary-Lou screamed before the girls all raced towards it, adrenaline pushing them on.

But that was when the screaming started. They were not alone and largely outnumbered, and Aurora watched on in horror as one by one girls were picked off from the pack and hauled away screeching for their lives. In that moment Aurora realised that they would not all be escaping that day. How could she get on the boat and sail away to freedom when her people were being pulled back into captivity? What kind of Princess would that make her? The selfish and ignoble kind.

Vera and another girl were defending the rickety lifeboat as some of the girls got it swung over the edge and started to lower it, jumping in as Vera thwacked any who tried to come close.

"Hurry Princess!" She screamed. "I cannot hold them back for much longer!" Vera yelled as she swung her pole wildly as five agitated men started closing in on her.

Around eleven girls were on the boat, gradually lowering it into the rocky seas below, which meant twelve girls would escape including Vera. Suddenly someone grabbed Aurora from behind, roughly pulling her across the wooden decks. Aurora screamed and tried to fight, feeling tears brim in her eyes. The wind whipped her skin as it started to downpour, seeping into Aurora's dress and chilling her to the bone. But then just as suddenly as the iron giant grabbed her he let go throwing Aurora to the floor making pain erupt in her side. She quickly swept her now matted hair from her eyes, and looked up to see a shadowy figure fighting back against the men and helping the captured girls. Aurora hoped it was Dusty trying to redeem himself, as she had always thought he was a lovely man.

"Your highness! Please hurry!" Vera called out as she had one leg still on the Aubriemian boat and the other in the lifeboat.

"Just go! Get help!" Aurora yelled into the misty darkness, knowing she could not leave the others behind.

She had no plan, no means of protecting herself and no way of getting home, but that did not stop her from jumping up and racing towards a pile of crates, jumping over them to conceal herself. The rain started to hit harder, pattering angrily against the boat. Aurora felt relief, yet an inner sense of turmoil as she noticed the lifeboat had now gone. The shadowy helper had disappeared as well, and Aurora tried to make herself as small as possible as the sailors ran around in outrage, dragging the screaming girls back inside. They sounded absolutely terrified and probably thought they were all alone, lost in the depths of despair.

"How the hell did this happen?" Korian raged as Aurora peeked over the top of one of the crates, ignoring the dull ache in her side.

Fear struck her heart as she noticed there were four men standing very close with their backs to her, and she tried to remain as quiet as possible so that she did not attract their attention. She also got a burst of anxiety when she noticed members of crew hurriedly untying another lifeboat. She could only hope that the girls would get away in time.

"We do not know your highness... Somehow they escaped!" Sychelles exclaimed causing Korian to growl.

"After them! You better get them back Sychelles or I will throw you off this boat myself!" Korian raged. "The rest of you get inside. We need to see whom we have left... The Princess better still be here!" He growled before storming inside, the majority of his crew following with worried looks.

Aurora could hear the girls screaming and crying above the roar of the sea, and her body continuously jolted, not only because she was freezing cold. What was going to happen now? How would she ever get home? She would be found sooner or later and then be entirely at the hands of her captors. A part of her wished she had just raced for that damn boat, but it was not the honourable thing to do.

All of a sudden, a hand was clasped over her mouth and squeezed her shoulder. Frightened for her life, Aurora screamed and kicked out, but she was vulnerable to her captor's ministrations. She scratched around on the floor looking for anything she could defend herself with, but in the mayhem she had lost her pole.

This was it, the end of the line. Would her family catch up to them in time?

Edited