The Valiant Princess

"Do you think it's safe to leave the house?"

"Yes, now that they figure I'm dead."

"Are you sure? They'll kill us if they find out who we are."

"I think we're fine. *Even* if they find out, they'd probably try to recruit us."

"Why did you even have to be born a princess?" asked Lord Tyrele. "It's like your parents wanted you to get into trouble."

"My mother's a witch, so she might've been planning this all along," said Princess Eleanor. She sighed and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "But really it all started when I was born."

On that September night in 1709, a bolt of lighting crashed down on the royal castle. The castle smoldered as the villagers watched from outside the gates, but no one dared approach - not after all that had happened already. A month earlier, three witches had entered the village. Men and women suddenly aged or fell ill, or turned violent. Some people disappeared entirely. There were rumors of monsters and demons, of bloody sacrifices at midnight. Then one day the witches simply vanished, leaving behind nothing but stories and fear. Two weeks later, Princess Eleanor was born.

"The villagers thought I was a witch," Eleanor continued. "They thought my mother had performed dark magic in order to conceive me." She let out another sigh and spoke quietly: "I don't blame them."

"That's ridiculous," said Tyrele. "Your mother loves you." He coughed softly into his fist. "You know she loves you very much." Eleanor nodded and picked at her fingernails again; she hated how long they were getting lately - even longer than Lord Tyrele's! She folded her arms over her chest and began pacing back and forth across the room; it felt like she hadn't been able to move around much for days now. Her legs ached with the effort of holding herself up in such tight trousers! She tried not to imagine what dancing would feel like right now...it would be so freeing without these clothes on! But that would be too dangerous; there was no telling who might see her if she danced in public - it would reveal too much about her identity! And if anyone saw, they would tell! Oh gods, what would happen then? Would they hurt her family? Would they hurt Lord Tyrele?! She shuddered and stopped pacing; she stood still with her eyes closed for a long moment before taking a deep breath through her nose and letting it out slowly through her mouth. It took all of her strength to open her eyes again and face Lord Tyrele across the room - he looked so tired lately, but then again he always did when she was around! It was hard to remember what he was like before...so strong and handsome! His hair used to be so thick! Eleanor could hardly recognize him anymore; it broke her heart just looking at him sometimes. "Do you want some water?" she asked quickly as she rushed toward the table by the door where their supplies were stacked tightly together in bundles. Tyrele nodded slowly as he leaned back against the wall just behind him; he didn't look up at all as Eleanor grabbed two cups from beside one of the bundles and filled them at the small pitcher sitting on top of another bundle nearby. She handed one cup over to him before lifting hers to take a sip - only then did she notice how shaky her hands were! She gripped the cup tightly with both hands until they stopped shaking before setting it down beside Lord Tyrele's on the table between them. "How many days do we have left?" Eleanor asked softly; she reached over to rub his shoulder gently before letting go again and folding her arms across her chest once more. Tyrele shrugged before reaching out for his cup: "I'm not sure," he said quietly as he took a long drink from his cup before setting it down again beside Eleanor's own once more - he didn't look at her as he spoke next: "We should probably go soon though; we need to get supplies from town tomorrow night." Eleanor nodded quickly in agreement as she reached out for his hand - she squeezed his fingers tightly between hers for a moment before releasing him and turning away from him toward the other side of the room again: "We should probably plan our route today too..." She began pacing once more while speaking: "We should talk to some people in town tomorrow afternoon while we're shopping and ask them which ways are best...we can talk about horses and things too..."

Her voice grew quieter until she trailed off, lost in thought. She stared blankly ahead, contemplating how to carefully navigate this dangerous situation with Lord Tyrele's help, recognizing that they were both in grave danger if they made even one wrong move. Every ounce of caution was warranted, born largely from an understandable fear that any slip