“So, I heard Terence is back in town,” Emily said. We were in my bedroom with Maggie gossiping about recent news or boys; in this case- boys.
“We went riding,” I said.
“And we’re just now hearing about it? Spill it!” Maggie gasped.
“We went riding, saw the scar from the final battle of The 10 Years War and left,” I said.
“That was scary,” Emily shuddered.
In the final battles of the 10 Years War, as it was commonly called, The Mountain Tribe got closer to the castle than any other army in any other war. They were in the gardens, fighting brutally against our knights. We violently retaliated by torturing their healer and setting their forests on fire. The wizards were able to heal the other parts, but the one strip of forest was stubborn and unyielding. It would not grow.
”We should talk about other things,” I cleared my throat.
“Well, another dance is coming up in two days! This summer festival has me clean out of dresses!” Maggie said.
“You have a whole closet full!” I laughed.
“Well, I gave many that did not fit to the church for other young women,” Maggie said.
“I wish I could pull something like that off,” I rolled my eyes.
“Why not? We can go into town, stop by the church, and buy new dresses,” Emily said.
“Yes and mother is out in town! We had better hurry,” I laughed and we quickly went through my closet for old dresses that would never fit me again.
“Hurry,” Maggie stumbled.
“Where are we going? The stairs are that way!” Emily said.
“We can’t take the stairs! We’ll get caught for sure!” I said running into an empty apartment at the end of a hallway.
“This place has more cobwebs than anything I could imagine,” Maggie said. I walked over to the fireplace and slid a panel of the wall open.
“That’s cool,” Emily said.
“Close it behind you,” I whispered to Emily, the only one with a free hand. I handed her my bundle and lit a torch and quietly led the way through several turns and down a long, creepy stairwell. I silently slid open another panel and we were in the courtyard.
“Shoot, it’s your mom!” Maggie hissed and we all ducked back into the hall and quickly closed it up.
“She’s gone,” I checked a moment later.
“Let’s hurry!” I giggled and we dashed across the courtyard.
The castle wasn’t far away from the church. I kept a brisk pace and quickly slipped into the church.
“Oh, Your Highness!” The Pastor said and bowed. The two other men with him followed his lead. There were rows of empty seats facing a stage with candles everywhere and a piano in the center.
“I’ve come to donate some old dresses,” I said. We handed over the poofy bundles.
“This is a generous offer Your Highness,” He thanked me graciously.
