Running From Death

Chapter One

Written: 5/5/2016
Edited: 5/7/2016
All Rights Reserved
I woke up to a loud noise outside my door. I got up slowly and opened my door. There was nothing in sight. I closed the door and took off my nightgown to put on a more appropriate gown for a princess. Once finished, I walked out of my chambers and went to the throne room to see my father. My father is the king of our kingdom. He has shoulder length black hair and hazel eyes. With the circles under his eyes, he looks to be at least in his fifties.

"Good morning, Rosalia." He greets me kindly but with a frown.

"Good morning, father. Is everything okay?" I ask with a small curtsy.

"Yes, yes. I have some bad news for you though so please bear with me." He says slowly.

"What is it?" I reply slowing my walk a little bit.

"I know you really do not want to do this, but you are going to have to be married. I am no longer of age to rule. It is for you now with your choice of man to run this kingdom." He says.

"What? Father! You know that I do not want to marry someone I do not know! I cannot do this. How come you cannot rule this kingdom anymore?" I exclaim.

"I am not of age. It is up to you. I would not make you do this if you did not have to, but there is no other choice. You have two days to choose a man suited to rule. If you do not choose within the allotted time, our enemies, the Coldrens, will take over," he explains. "I know you do not want that to happen considering what they have done in the past to their kingdom. So please, go along with this."

"Who am I to choose from?" I ask quietly.

"I will call upon some other kingdoms to send their princes who are an heir to the throne. We will have a ball to gather everyone together so you can choose who you want to wed. The wedding will be on the third day." He says smiling.

"The third day? I thought the Coldrens would take over." I say confused.

"They would if you did not choose a man to marry. The wedding would be on the third day which would not count." He says.

"Okay. I will do it for you and our kingdom but just remember that I am not doing it for myself. I will go now?" I curtsy.

"Yes. Go ahead." He says pointing his hand to the door.

I walk quickly out of the throne room and run up the stairs to my chambers. I open and close the door in a fast manner. I throw open my wardrobe to change into something more comfortable for riding. I quickly grab a pair of breeches that I bought (claiming they were for my father) and put them on then grabbed a silk shirt that I stole from my father and throw on some worn-leather boots with a good bit of comfort.

I sneak out of my chambers and hastily walk to the stables to get my beautiful horse. The stagehand sees me walk in and nod to me. I walk to the back of the stables and find my horse's stall. The stables are a beautiful emery with gold outlining the features. Each stall has a big opening for the horse and hooks on the inside for the equipment that goes on the horse. The stall door is beautiful with iron locks and the kingdom's symbol on the door.

My horse is a beautiful white with black spots. She is strong and can run very fast with grace and honor. Her name is Embarr and her name means imagination. I named her Embarr because she is the horse of my imagination that actually came true. The kingdom with a black and white horse bred her specially for me.

I open the door and grab the brush that's sitting in the stall. I brush her just a little bit to get her used to me again. It has been a while since I have ridden her. Once brushed a little bit, I start gearing her up for a ride. I put her saddle on and put a little saddlebag on her too while grabbing my sword I hide in her stall. I am not supposed to be able to sword fight but I do it anyway because I love it. After finally being ready for the ride, I walk her outside and hop onto her back.

As I ride Embarr, I take in the fresh air and smile. The only time I feel free is when I ride Embarr. She makes me feel happy and ordinary. I've only ever had short rides on her but today I decide to change that. Embarr means everything to me and she loves to run in the wind. I keep riding past all of the village houses and farms into the woods to my secret place.

My secret place is made of mahogany and has a little pen for Embarr while I practice my swordsmanship. There are ten wooden dummies that I use to practice with my sword. I quickly put Embarr into her pen, give her some water, and grab an apple from the saddlebag for her.

I walk over the dummies and unsheathe my sword. I start hitting the dummies until they are unrecognizable to anyone; like anyone else would see them. Once I finish practicing, I sheathe my sword and move the dummies out of the way.

I walk over to Embarr and open the pen to let her out. I grab another apple from the saddlebag and give it to her. I then take the cloak that I left here last time and put it on. I hop onto Embarr and barrel towards the kingdom. It feels like it has been hours.

I finally get to the castle and put Embarr back in her pen with my sword hidden in there. I dismantle the saddlebag from the saddle and put it on its hook along with the saddle. I take my hood down and walk hastily back to the castle.

"Rosalia! Where were you? You've been gone for hours." My father says upon seeing me.

"I'm sorry, father. I lost track of time. I hadn't realized it had been that long until I left. Please forgive me." I reply with a short curtsy.

"It's fine, Rosalia. I was just worried about you. Tell me next time before you go out. I had no idea." He says softly.

"Yes father."

"You should get ready for meeting the prince's tomorrow." He replies smiling.

"I will."

I wake to a banging at my door. I groan putting the pillow over my head. The banging stops and my door opens.

"Milady, please wake up. You have to get dressed and go the throne room. The king wants to see you." My maid says.

"Okay. Thank you. You may leave now." I say with a smile.

I get out of bed and walk to my wardrobe to get a dress to wear. I picked my favorite dress, it's purple with gold embroidery and it goes down to my feet with the gold embroidery around the bottom of the dress. I put on some gold shoes to go with the dress and start towards the throne room my guards following close behind.

"Good morning, father." I greet with a curtsy walking to him.

"Ah, Rosalia you're finally awake. I wanted to tell you not to go anywhere outside of the castle today so you can get ready for the ball tonight to meet all of the princes." He states with a smile.

"Yes of course. Is there anything you need me to do?" I ask kindly.

"Just listen to the maids as they help you get ready." He replies shooing me away.

"Yes sir." I say walking back to my chambers.

When I get to my chambers, I notice a lot of maids inside getting everything ready for the ball. As always they notice me right away. Here comes hours of getting ready for a ball.

Hours later, I'm finally dressed with makeup and my hair done. My dress is red with golden embroidery and a large skirt. The skirt is like the top of dress only it has a little bit of silver embroidery. The shoes are red with black lace and go up to my ankles.

The maids leave and go to tell my father I am ready. Soon enough, they are back and shooing me out of my chambers. I am being quickly guided to the ballroom to meet all of the princes. I am not looking forward to this.

I walk into the ballroom and is immediately impressed. There are so many people and the ballroom looks amazing. I look around at every crown on the heads of princes, kings, and queens. There are more people in here than I thought there would be and so much royalty is in the room. If anyone had a grudge against any guest they could come here and kill all of them at once. It wouldn't be hard but that would never happen with my guards in charge.

Once I walk in, all eyes turn to me and everything goes silent. You could hear every move anyone made it was so quiet. I quickly, but gracefully, walk down the stairs into the ballroom and everyone continued what they were doing. I should have known it was going to be like this, I am the reason they are all here. My father walks up to me so I could be introduced to everyone.

"You look beautiful, Rosalia." He says.

"Thank you, father. I did not know you were inviting so many people for me." I reply smiling.

"It is a big deal and I wanted you to have as many options as possible so that you could choose the best suitor." He answers with a smile.

"Okay." I reply.

"Come with me, I have someone I think you might like." He says walking through the guests.

I follow him across the ballroom to an older looking king. He has gray hair with a little bit of black throughout it, hazel eyes, and is a little muscular. He looks to be in his sixties but is probably older. His crown is made of a nice, shiny gold with emeralds and diamonds scattered around it. Beside him is what I am guessing, his son, the prince.

"Rosalia, I would like to introduce you to the King of Ameri. King Joseph, this is my daughter, Rosalia." My father introduces.

"An honor to meet you, King Joseph." I say as I curtsied slightly to show respect.

"The honor is mine, Rosalia. This is my son, Nemahui." King Joseph replies.

"Dashing to meet you, Rosalia." Says Nemahui who steps out from behind his father.

He has shoulder-length black hair and beautiful emerald-green eyes. His lips have the cupid bow that I love and has beautiful, straight pearly whites. He looks to be about six feet tall but possibly taller.

"Uh, Nice to meet you too, Nemahui." I reply stuttering a bit.

"Would you like to dance?" He asks with a small laugh.

"I would love to." I reply taking his hand.

The night has gone by really fast and the whole night I have spent with Nemahui. He is the guy of my dreams and the sweetest prince I have ever met. He is not stuck up or self-centered like most other princes around here. He is caring and actually wants to spend time with me. We have been telling each other about ourselves and laughing at funny things that have happened in our kingdoms.

Nemahui is the first-born son in his family and is not able to take over his kingdom. His sister, who is of age, is married and is about to take over the kingdom for their father. He is 20 years old, four years older than I am, and wants to help there be peace between all kingdoms. He has a great heart and a great head on his shoulders.

"Nemahui it is becoming really late and I think we should retire for the night." I say after our walk back to the ballroom.

"Of course. I have had a great time with you, Rosalia. Will we be able to see each other again?" He replies smiling.

"Yes. I would love to see you again," I reply. "Good night."

"Good night, milady." He bows.

This has been a great night. I think I might marry him.

When I wake up, I surprisingly did not have any maids in my chambers or at my door. I get up and took my time getting ready, doing my hair and makeup, then choosing my dress. I am ready in about thirty minutes, since I took my time. I walk down the throne room and se King Joseph talking to my father. I decide to listen in.

"Rosalia took a liking to your son last night. He was the only prince she talked to all night." My father says.

"I am glad. I think Nemahui took a liking to Rosalia too." King Joseph replies.

"Do you think they should get married?"

"I do. They work well together. I know Nemahui will be good for your kingdom." King Joseph says.

"Hey. You're listening too?" Nemahui asks.

"Yeah, silence. They will hear us." I say laughing.

"Well I guess it is official. Your son should be the new king of Perisel, Nilveaway in two days. Let's call them in there. Guards! Please retrieve Rosalia and Nemahui from their chambers." My father commands.

"Oh no." I say. We could not get anywhere before the guards saw us.

"Milady, were you listening in?" Zachary ask.

"Uh, no? Please do not tell our fathers." I plead.

"You know I would never. Come with me. They are waiting for both of you." He says smiling. We walk in together and our fathers turn to us.

"Ah Nemahui, Rosalia, come in. We have made a decision." King Joseph says smiling.

"Rosalia, you will be married to Nemahui in two days. Congratulations you two. Everything will be set to plan within today and tomorrow. Now, go off and celebrate." My father says smiling as he shook Nemahui's hand.

Nemahui and I leave together and decide to go on a ride together. As he did not know about me yet, I decide to just ride as I am. Although I was doing that, I put all of my usual things into the saddlebag on Embarr and put on my cloak. Nemahui got his horse saddled and got on. I follow suit.

We ride for hours together talking about each other the whole time. We stop for lunch in a beautiful field with tons of flowers after deciding it was time to eat. He unhooks the picnic basket from his horse's saddle and pulls a blanket out of his saddlebag. He lies the blanket down on the ground and puts the basket on top of the blanket. We both walk our horses over to a tree and tie them tightly to it.

"I have had a really great ride with you, Rosalia. You are okay with being married to me, right?" Nemahui asks once we sat down and start eating.

"Of course. You are the prince I have dreamed of since I was little. Thank you for coming into my life. I really needed you in it." I smile.

"Great. You need not thank me. I am very glad you have allowed me to come to your kingdom and become your people's king." he replies.

            It happens in the blink of an eye. A huge group of guys come on horses and force us on our feet. One of them grabs my arm forcefully and forces me to my horse. I have no idea what is happening.

"Untie your horse." the guy with black hair commands.

"You! Get on your knees." Another guy with brown hair commands at Nemahui. The guy then draws his sword and hits Nemahui on the back of his head with the butt of his sword.

"Stop! Please! Why are you doing this?" I scream at the brown-haired guy.

"Get on your horse now!" the guy beside me screams in my ear.

I decide the best thing would be to go along with it and it would keep Nemahui and my kingdom the safest. I get on my horse as they get on theirs. They make their horses go forward and mine follows unknowingly into the forest. I have just been taken. The princess has been captured.