A Casual Collection: Season 2

Ep15: Archery Night

"Elizabeth, be careful not to lose your doll!" The queen shouted as she watched her adorable 5-year-old run off with her mates. The small child ran around the castle yard with her other royal friends, chasing each other in their puffy dresses and suits. The guards watching over them were bombarded by constant toys that flew in their faces, having to catch and retrieve them each time some went over the wall. Elizabeth's dolls were just the latest in a long line to go sailing over the high wall from the children, a guard sighing as she went to go get it for her. Elizabeth waited excitedly, hopping up and down as her tiara bounced on top of her head.

"Hurry, hurry!" she giggled, as she watched the guard walk over to the doll. As the guard reached down, he heard two horses barreling in front of him, jumping back in panic as the doll ended up snagging the saddle on the horse. "Ah, sorry princess, two baboons came and stole the doll..." he said.

"What? But we need to get it back!" She started running after the horses, getting picked up off the ground by the guard. "No, the queen said to not let you go off by yourself again. The last time you escaped you ended up eating all the bread at the bakery. You have plenty of dolls already."

"But mama said not to lose that one!" A bunch of other kids came out after her, seeing the door left wide open. One of the guards was changing them, trying to round them up. "Charles!"

"Oh, I left the door open. Princess, stay here." He made her promise before setting her down to get the other children but tugged between losing her doll and her pinkie, she made the choice to run after the horses. The guards wouldn't stop her, they were too busy stopping everyone else! "Someone get her!" one of the guards yelled. "We can't, the rest had already gone off for a time change! There will be no one watching the rest of the children."

"It was time to change positions?" the first guard asked looking at the sun. It was halfway up to the top of his arc, meaning guards were starting to move about. With a bad string of luck, they had lost the princess in the few moments the number of guards overseeing the children had gone down. None of the citizens had made a grab for her either; who would want to risk angering the ruling family, after all.

Continued to chance undisturbed, her tunnel vision keeping her from seeing her surroundings changed. She didn't stop running until her body finally gave, tripping over a root of a tree as she rolled to a stop. "Ewwwww, I'm muddy!" she yelled, bouncing back up and looking at her dress, all ruined by her tumble through the muck that made up the ground. On the plus side, she could hear the squeak of her doll nearby!

She took off her shoes and started walking over to where the nose was, her ears sensing commotion long before she could see what was going on. A demon and succubus sat with each other, their horses waiting around a tree while they recouped and took stock of their belongings. Until now, they were complete fiction for all she knew; bedtime stories made up by her mother whenever she took one too many trips into the dungeon. Yet here they were in front of her, having breasts that shook each time one of them made a large enough movement. They also stank as well; not the gross kind, but the kind mother jokes about when she talks about weird stuff with father. The 'adult stuff kind'. On one hand, the monsters she was scared half to death of were right there and could probably make her pee her clothes with one evil eye.

On the other, she could see her doll right there, lying beside the blue demon. "Hey, there is a kid beside us," the demon said to the succubus, both of them staring right at Elizabeth. It was terrifying, now they knew where she was! He had to run, or yell for mother, or....

No. No! She was told not to lose that doll and she wasn't gonna! Puffing out her chest and taking a deep breath, she stup- bravely walked out there, right in front of the two. "I want my doll!" She said, holding her arms like her father does whenever he commands the knights. Surely they would be shaking in their shoes when she saw her, asserting her authority as she picked it up. She even stuck out her tongue for emphasis. Monster? What monster? All she saw were peasants!