The Forgotten Princess

Chapter Two.

Word Count; 1,000 (1k)

He's wearing a hood and in the room's shadows, toward the back.

'He's a strange one.' Rosemary thought.

"Don't be intimidated, he's kind," Lara said, snapping Rosemary out of her daze.

Rosemary glances back at her and smiles weakly.

"Maybe he is." She replied.

Rosemary glances back at him, noticing he's gone.

"What?" Rosemary mumbles,

She thought it was odd that he was suddenly gone, she shrugged it off, trying not to overthink it.

"Hey, Lara? Do you have any hay bales in the back?" Rosemary asked Lara.

Lara nodded, heading into the kitchen.

Rosemary glances down at the table, she spots a name carved into the oak and drags her fingers over it, feeling the smooth wood underneath.

It says the new guys name,

'Clyde.'

Lara renters, she had a bale in her hands.

"Here, hay for your horse, Rosemary." Lara says, handing the hay off to Rosemary.

Rosemary stands from the stool and gently grabs the hay into her hands, smiling at Lara with kindness.

"Thank you, Lara." Rosemary says sweetly.

She wanders toward the entrance and exits the diner.

"Hey sweet girl," Rosemary greets her horse, setting the hay before her.

Rosemary's horse begins eating the hay and pets her gently. Rosemary suddenly gets an odd feeling, reaching for her knife without making it noticeable.

She turns around quickly, pressing the blade against the persons neck and gripping their shirt.

Its anna.

"Jesus, Anna!" Rosemary said with a sigh, lowering her knife.

Anna is a mage warrior, she grew up with Rosemary. Anna has been against using her mage powers because people just tend to take advantage of it, so she would rather be known as a human warrior.

She only uses being a warrior for good, she doesn't make people feel threatened like most.

"On guard like always," Anna said.

"Higher than usual, there's this new guy here and he's-"

"Strange and mysterious?" Anna asked.

Rosemary laughed in relief that she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Yeah, I noticed him too. How're things at Nisyork?"

Rosemary shook her head, and they walk toward the town park, its always empty this time of day.

"Well, only time will tell." Rosemary tells Anna.

They sit at a bench, close to a water fountain.

"Did Dom get the crown?" Anna queried.

Rosemary nodded at Anna's question with a bit of irritation.

"Yeah, and he doesn't have pure intentions. I heard him talking with the other boys."

"He never really did, did he?" Anna joked.

"Anna, this is serious. The kingdom could be in danger!" Rosemary replied.

"Right, sorry, but what can we really do?"

Rosemary shrugged, glancing toward the sky.

"Once he has the crown, there isn't really much we can do." Rosemary admitted.

"Have you thought of leaving?" Anna said.

Anna pulls her knees to her chest, reducing the anxiety growing in her.

"Of course I have," Rosemary started.

"...But I can't just leave my parents." She continued.

"I didn't want to leave my family either but I had to, for my own sanity." Anna assured.

"I'm not sure, it depends how things turn out." Rosemary sighs.

"I should go, I told my mother I was only going to the ranch." She tells Anna.

"Okay, it was nice to see you."

Rosemary walks back to her horse and unties her from the post. She climbs onto her, tassel in hand. She pulls lightly on the tassel, leading the horse toward the gate.

It opened slowly with a creak.

Once again she gets the sensation that she's being watched as they galloped out of the village. She groans with irritation as the feeling followed her to the castle.

Rosemary carefully glances around the forest as they get closer to the ranch, the horse stops abruptly, confusing Rosemary.

"Is something wrong, Marley?" She asked.

The horse is glaring off into a dark direction of the forest, Rosemary glances toward the same direction.

"Who's there?" Rosemary called out.

A shadow steps out of the darkness from behind a tree.

A mage.

'Shit.' Rosemary thought, feeling her body tense up.

"Princess Rosemary?" He says.

She only stares at him, unable to break the contact and unsure of what to say.

"Not to fear, young one. I am here merrily to call a truce." He tells her, stepping closer.

"Don't come any closer." Rosemary demanded.

"As you wish." He said.

"You're a fool for coming here." Rosemary says harshly.

She lets out a deep sigh and within seconds she is surrounded.

"What the hell is going on??" She inquiries.

He steps closer to her slowly and she grabs her knife, pointing it in his direction, instantly everyone has their bows drawn and pointed at her. She glances at everyone and back at the guy.

"Your brother had the crown, correct?" He asks.

"Dom? Yes. So what?" She replied with irritation.

"He called in a war." He told her.

"What?!"

"Coronation day was today, yes?" He questions.

"Yes, he got crowned about an hour ago." She verifies.

"Then yes, it was him." He confirms.

The world goes silent for a minute before everyone lowers their bows.

"Were going to have to take you with us." He tells her.

With a snap of his fingers, a group of mages exit the shadows of the forest and approach her.

"You can't do this!" Rosemary shouts.

She pulls on the tassels and Marley runs toward the forest exit.

The sound of arrows whiz past Rosemary's ears and suddenly, she is thrown off the horse with force.

Rosemary groans, her vision is a bit blurry but despite that she quickly gets up. Marley is whining and Rosemary gasps seeing Marley shot with multipule arrows.

"Marley!!" Rosemary screamed, running toward her horse.

Tears well in her eyes as she kneels beside her.

"You bastard!" She yells at the guy as he slowly approaches with a group of his men.

"Get her." He demands them.

They grab Rosemary with force around her arms but Rosemary doesn't fight back.

"Please, save her!" Rosemary cried.

The guy nods at one of his men as they get closer with a syringe of a mysterious liquid, they approach Rosemary and shoot the liquid into Rosemary's neck.

Her vision fades to black, not once does she take her eyes off of Marley.