Princess Warrior [ON HOLD]

02

"A musician must make
music, an artist must
paint, a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately
at peace with himself.
What a man can be,
he must be."
-Abraham H. Maslow

I closed my eyes and waited for the impact of her stick on my head.

And the impact never came.

I slowly opened my left eye and then, my right eye. Praying to God that Father had changed his mind and called off the match.

Sure enough, I was wrong. Keziah was staring at me imploringly. I looked into her piercing dark brown eyes. I quickly looked away. She had the same scary eyes like Father.

Father said, "What happened Keziah?"

Keziah said in her somewhat manly voice, "She didn't raise her weapon your majesty. It is not a fair fight if she doesn't defend herself."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I was always she to them. There was never a direct reference to me from any one of my sisters. And I don't blame them.

Also, why on earth must Keziah always have a sense of righteousness and fairness? Why can't she just get on with the stupid match? Gosh! Must she always have to be uptight?

All these thoughts were running in my mind when Father said, "Is that true Keren-happuch? You are not going to put up a fight?"

I sighed. I very well knew what he wanted me to say and I hated myself for being so weak. I hated myself for lacking the confidence to stand up to him.

So, I slowly raised up my stick and took on a fight stance. Might as well get on with it.

Keziah took that as her cue and came charging toward me. She hit my stick and tried to pry it out of my hands. That was her signature move.

I resisted. Then the sound of stick on stick was heard as I tried to stand my ground.

The match would end when one person losts his weapon and is rendered completely defenceless.

Soon enough, sweat poured down my face and kept on getting into my eye. It was only a few minutes into the match and my muscles were aching already.

Soon enough, I lost my stick to Keziah. I couldn't even last after she used her signature move twice.

I stared at her. She wasn't even sweating or panting. She just stood towering over me, a look of disgust in her eyes.

Father said, "So Keren-happuch, do you call that sword play?"

Then, the bubble burst. So, all this had been just to prove a point. I ought to have known. It was so like my Father to always want to prove his point. He believed lessons were learned after you experience it.

Then I said, "Why go through so much length to prove your point Your Majesty?"

That's one interesting thing about me. I always said something or did something to unnerve my Father. It was like my talent or something. In other words, it was partically the only thing I was good at.

He stared at me, anger blazing in his eyes. I loved knowing that I was the only one capable of making him angry. But pushing him too far meant trouble.

But I didn't care. I was tired. Tired of being the youngest and the runt of the litter. Tired of Father always having to go through so much length to prove his stupid point. Tired of being so weak. Just plain tired.

I stared at Father, a look of defiance in my eyes. Father stared at me, anger was also written in his eye. It was like some sort of staring contest.

Mother understood what was going on. So, she put her hand on Father's arms and said, "Let's go in Your Majesty." Father allowed himself to be led away by Mother.

I sighed. My sister threw stares of disgust my way. Jemimah, my fifth sister said,"Why must our lessons be cut short by her? I'm sick of this." She walked out. Keziah followed and so did the others.

I sank down on the grass deep in thoughts. I hated my life. I hated having to live this way. It sucked. I always wished I was a bird, so I could fly away from everything.

I stood up and made my way to my special tree. It was a very large sycamore tree. It was where I sat and drew. I loved the tree, it was my safe haven. Not only from my family but also from the palace. I enjoyed walking to the tree and spending time in it. It gave me time to collect my thoughts and enjoy the beautiful view nature provided me with.

It was facing a large open field where farmers brought their livestock to gaze. I always loved watching the animals gaze. It always filled me with so much peace. I usually forgot about all my troubles up there. Not to mention the fact that it was not in the palace.

I climbed the tree. I dug into a branch and took out my sketch pad. Father had banned me from drawing saying it wasn't right for a princess. That I should be concentrating on other things. It's not like I'll be queen someday.

I opened my sketch pad and saw a sketch I had made sometime ago. It was of me and all my sisters. We were all in smiles.

I had copied the drawing from a portrait that was taken just after I was born.

Keziah, the eldest, then eight years old, held me in her hands with a large smile on her face.

The triplets Opal, Jade and Gold stood close to Keziah. They were also all smiles. They were seven then.

Jemimah and Sapphira also sat on a couch. They were all smiles. They were only four years old. They were born in the same year but in different months. Jemimah was born in the first month of the year and Sapphira on the last month of that same year. Sapphira had been conceived when Jemimah was only three months old.

According to Mother, after the triplets, she had not wanted more children but Father had persuaded her hence the three year gap between the triplets and Jemimah and Sapphira.

Father had succeeded in persuading her and it had led to over persuasion as I love to call it seeing that Mother had, had two kids in the same year.

Emerald also sat on the couch too. She was smiling softly. She was three then.

I looked up from the picture and stared at the horizon. It was seventeen years later and that close knitted family was gone.

Things had started to change after Keziah became ten years old and fully understood her role as the eldest. Then it was officially over when she came back from her first war.

It was like all my other sisters noticed this change and began to drift away. Now, we were all like strangers to each other. But maybe to only me since I'm the black sheep of the family. Sometimes, they don't even notice me.

Then, I heard a voice say to me, "A penny for your thought?"

I turned my neck and tore my gaze away from the horizon and to the base of the tree where the person who spoke was.

What I saw made me speechless. It made my mind freeze a little. But, one thought slowly made way to my mind.

His hair was gorgeous.

A/N: Hey guys! A sort of boring chapter but not to worry, the next will be better.

Stay blessed.

Lohluh.