Outcasts and Royals

Chapter 2

As the three friends began the task of finding the Princess with the help of their outcast companions, a young woman named Katherine was riding her horse Bonnie in the middle of the woods, completely unaware of the news that Princess Madeline had been kidnapped. Then, all of a sudden, Bonnie couldn't move!

"What happened, Girl?" Katherine asked her horse, knowing that Bonnie couldn't talk anyway. Bonnie motioned for her front right leg with her head to show that it was caught in a bush of thorns. "Oh, my goodness! Don't worry, Bonnie. I'll try and get you out of there."

"Excuse me, Miss. Are you alright?" a male voice from behind asked.

Katherine turned around to see a tall, tanned man with brown hair, blue eyes, and a sheath containing a sword. He looked shocked when he saw her face.

"First of all, I am alright, but my horse, unfortunately, walked into this thorn bush and now has her leg caught. Secondly, I don't want to sound rude, but why are you looking at me like that?" Katherine replied.

"Well, if your horse is trapped in the bush, I will help her out, Your Highness," the man said with a bow before going to help the horse.

"Why did you just call me 'Your Highness'?" Katherine asked, confused by the response.

"Because I was lucky enough for the Princess's horse to get caught in the thorn bush that my group and I have set up so we can return her home and get rich quick. And that should do it," he explained, showing Bonnie's now freed and bandaged leg.

"Thank you so much. If there's something I can do to return the favor, I'd be happy to," Katherine offered. "However, what do you mean by the Princess's horse getting caught in the bushes?"

"Stop playing this game, Princess Madeline. I know that you are the Princess that was kidnapped from her palace last night, which has now escaped from her captor, and now, we are going to bring you back home and get the big award." Suddenly, the man grabbed Katherine and lifted her off the ground.

"Hey! Let me go! When I said that I would return the favor for you freeing Bonnie from the thorns, I did not mean that I would lie about my identity and pose as a princess so you could get rich quick!" Katherine demanded.

"My apologies, Miss," the man who had freed Bonnie said. He let go of Katherine but made sure she couldn't escape. "So, will you allow my friends and me to bring you back to the castle so we can have the reward and become rich?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter how you package the deal; my answer is still no," Katherine replied firmly.

"Ah, so it seems as though you are a princess who is not happy with her position of wealth," the man decided.

Suddenly, everything went black for Katherine.

"Erik, you won't believe how much luck has struck today," Paris told his best friend as he and the woman he had helped and kidnapped reached the dock where Erik and Sylvia were waiting near their boat.

"Did you find the Princess, return her, and get the reward?" Erik guessed.

"I mean, I found her, but she says that she's not Princess Madeline and doesn't want to return home," Paris explained as he put her down in the boat.

"Please don't tell me you killed her."

"I didn't; I just knocked her out. I thought that maybe since she didn't want to be a princess, maybe she would like to join our group of outcasts instead," Paris explained while blindfolding and tying her up.

"And you believe the best way of suggesting that to her was by knocking her out and kidnapping her?" Sylvia questioned.

"What would you have done? You and Erik are supposedly the smart ones of the group?" Paris pointed out.

"Let's just row back to the island, and we'll figure out what we'll do from there," Sylvia decided.