Defying Gravity

Chapter 01: Caught

               “Unhand me!” The teen twisted her arm back and forth in a vain attempt to remove the hand clasped about it, the hold so firm that a red mark was left underneath.

                The men chuckled, before another took hold of her elbow and thrust her lithe form forward. Her feet, bereft of her bedroom slippers, were battered from the numerous branches that the trees had thrown down. And the bitter air burned at her alabaster cheeks, until the flesh was a lively crimson. Occasionally, the wind would cast her crimson curls before her face. But even this faux mask could not conceal her beauty…

               “It was not a request! Unhand me, this instant!” The teen shrieked until her throat was raw.

               The one who had taken hold of her elbow leveled his face with hers and spat, “You’d best shut that royal mouth, Princess Carolynn.”

               Carolynn hissed, but remained silent. It would be best not to frustrate them further. And to think, not ten minutes before she had been in the comfort of her own bed, lost to dreams that were forever a puzzle! She had been in her own chamber, safe. It amazed her how easily that security could be torn down. How, with over two hundred soldiers stationed around the palace, had these Neanderthals taken her captive?

               Carolynn was the much-loved child of the current ruler, John, and his deceased wife Annabel. And it was a well-known fact within Europe that Annabel was not born into the monarchy, nor had she been a lady-in-wait to Queen Elizabeth. In fact, it was believed that she had been born to the poorest of the poor on the streets of London. This, of course, called Carolynn’s claim to the throne into question. And as John’s illness held him on the brink of death, the people wanted to ensure that the child born into the monarchial bloodline received the throne.

               Carolynn had two older brothers, but both had been born to Annabel also. John II, also known as JR, had taken the throne of France when he married Princess Cosette Madeline. John II’s twin, James, had renounced his claim to the throne in order to marry a common woman. He had been cut off of all royal funds, livelihood, and had even been robbed of his surname. It was a deep insult to John to decline his entire estate. And this left all John had done to Carolynn…

               John had, of course, remarried. The woman had at first seemed kind, but in actuality desired for her own child to take the throne. Her name was Aphrodite, thus named after the Greek myth of the woman to be born from the sea foam. Aphrodite’s child was Narcissa, aptly named for the one who fell in love with his own reflection.

               “Look! Another outlaw has been taken by the hands of the law.” The first man motioned down to a bear trap, which was stained crimson with a bit of cloth stuck between the teeth. “He will, no doubt, be tried tomorrow.”

               Carolynn scowled, “Must all men lean back on such violent tendencies?”

               The first man turned to her, and in a flash his hand covered her mouth. “I was told that the princess was smart. So, when I said that she best shut her trap, is it possible that she could have misunderstood?”

               “Indeed.” The second man responded.

               “I don’t want to hear another word from the likes of you. I desire silence. Is that understood?”

               Carolynn bit down hard on the flesh of his hand, and tasted blood. The man let out a most unmanly shriek, before she shoved her forward and looked down at the bloody crease on his palm. Oh, that crossed the invisible line. But when he looked up, he found the area where the princess had once stood abandoned. He looked to where his partner had stood, but that area was vacant as well. And then he heard the shout from his oaf of a partner as he stumbled in the chase to recapture the princess.