Inside of a large home, a young girl was sitting at the table. She looked no older than 10, and sat directly next to her Mother.
They were sitting with straight backs, acting proper and nice while they ate very small and basic salads.
At the other end of the table, the girl's Father was surrounded by 12 other boys, the oldest in his early 20s, while the youngest was 12 years old.
They were loud, obnoxious, and didn't worry about being proper.
The young girl tried to move closer to them, but her Mother pulled her back.
"Charlotte, you know you aren't supposed to spend too much time with your brothers. They're savages. You are a lady." Her Mother said in French.
Charlotte looked down at her salad as she ate.
Then she looked at the entire pig carcass sitting on the table in front of all the boys. It had been completely cooked, and they were eating every single piece of it.
Charlotte quietly sighed and went back to picking at the pieces of green lettuce.
Later that day, Charlotte was standing outside while holding a large book in her arms. Inside was musical notation and lyrics written underneath.
She was singing the piece Deum Verum, which was normally sung by male monks in the cathedral.
As she sang, her Mother balanced a small pile of heavy books on her head.
Charlotte stood with as straight of a back as she could, singing in a high tone despite the notation being a few octaves lower.
Charlotte looked out as she sang, watching as all 12 of her brothers and her Father were practicing sword fighting, doing military drills, and whatever else they could think of doing.
Charlotte watched as she kept singing, her eyes no longer looking at the large book but watching the boys do something that seemed so fun.
Charlotte was laying in her bed, the only bed that had a room all to itself.
The Father and Mother slept together in a small bed, cuddled together closely. Meanwhile all 12 boys had to huddle together in a room that was more like a barracks, beds so tight together it was hard to move without hitting one.
Charlotte was staring up at the ceiling, her hands holding each other as she hummed softly to herself.
She closed her eyes, but all she could dream about was practicing combat. Practicing how to use the sword and shield.
Charlotte couldn't help herself anymore.
She got up from her bed, very quietly making her way out of her room. She quietly made her way down the old wooden stairs, stepping over the weakest ones to prevent noise.
She made it to the ground floor, and then quietly made her way outside through a backdoor to the home.
She walked out onto the nice and soft grass with bare feet.
It was one of the only homes inside the kingdom walls with a sizeable yard, a very small wooden fence creating the perimeter.
Charlotte made her way over to the 13 sets of military practice gear.
Basic wooden armor and helmets, a wooden practice sword and shield, and even bows that were only to practice pulling the string back.
Charlotte lifted up her Father's practice sword, which was larger than all of the others. She struggled to hold it in the right position, the weight being so much for her. She groaned and seemed upset that she couldn't use the biggest sword, so she dropped it and went to the next smallest, the sword of her oldest brother.
YOU ARE READING
The King's Five
FantasyA group of 5 warriors are sent by their King to expand his kingdom and collect artefacts to increase his power, discovering countless things that they never expected or knew was possible.
