A Grim Fairy Tale

Chapter Sixty-Six

By the time training ended, Anthony was exhausted. Exhausted and hungry. All the food he had packed for the trip had been stolen by robbers and he hadn't of had a single bite to eat since then. Being a prince, he had never really been hungry before. At least not the kind where your stomach feels so empty it was enough to make you sick. And to think that some people actually had to suffer through this everyday. What a terrible existence.

"I'm starving." He complained. "When do we reach the next market place?"

"Not for another two days." Vagatha said. "Tonight we'll have to catch our dinner."

"Catch?"

"Yes. There's a stream near here that's just full of fish, which couldn't be a more perfect meal in this situation. It has plenty of protein, iron, and calcium to help us keep up our strength yet not fatty enough to make us slothful. Cherri, you know plants and fungai right?"

"Yes." The dryad replied.

"In that case, see if you can find some herbs and non-toxic mushrooms that we can cook the fish with. As for you, your highness, you're going to help me catch our supper."

"But I can't fish." Anthony said. "I don't know how."

"Then I'll just teach you to fish just like I'm teaching you how to fight. Now neither one of us have any fishing poles which means we'll have to improvise."

"Improvise? How?"

Vagatha grabbed her bow and arrows then led Anthony over to the stream she had mentioned. She pulled a lace from her bodice, tied one end tightly around an arrow, and tied the other end to her wrist. Afterward she stepped into the stream, studied the creatures beneath the water carefully, all the while slowly drawing her arrow back on her bow. She closed one eye and made her aim, she took a shot and the arrow hit something. Pulling on the lace, she retrieved the arrow which now had a fish attached to it.

"Impressive." Anthony said.

"Now I need you to take off your jacket."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not going to stand here and do all the work. The fish are just swarming around here, you can use your jacket for a net."

Anthony removed his jacket.

"Now step into water." She instructed.

"Is it cold?"

"Of course it's cold, but you'll get used to it."

"Now way!" He shook his head. "I am not standing in a cold stream, in the middle of Autumn. My feet will get frost bite."

"That only happens in Winter, dummy. Besides it's early Autumn so it's not that cold yet. You'll be fine."

"I'm not doing it."

"Then you'll starve, because I'm not sharing my food with someone who refuses to pull their own weight."

Anthony let out a whine, but he made his way into the water.

"Cold! Cold! Cold!" He shivered.

"Oh don't be such a baby!" She scoffed. "Now open up your jacket and use it to catch the fish."

After getting used to the water, Anthony looked down and watched as the fish swam between his open legs as he stood. He saw a big one go by and attempted to trap it in his jacket but not only did he miss his target, but he fell into the stream.

"Hey get back here!"

He just kept slipping and falling and splashing around, trying and failing to catch one fish after another.