Viata

All the Kings Horses

My wet nurse remained my primary caretaker for many years after I stopped breastfeeding. She cared for me until the day I left my kingdom for Graiden and for as long as I remember she would wake me up with a song and put me to sleep every night with a story.

My favorite story was the one of a princess who came for the hand of a prince but was put through many trials and by nighttime was not convinced that the woman was a true princess.

"You see, Athene. It matters not whether you are of royal birth. There is something special within a princess that differentiates her from all other woman in the kingdom."

"What is it?"

She wouldn't say. She finished the story with the princess proving her identity as a princess by not being able to sleep on a dried pea. This princess was a princess because of her delicacy.

Perhaps my nurse wished for me to prove my delicacy to be a true princess.

This was not achievable in a kingdom like Viata, however. This village had been burnt to the ground by fires but turned away by those sworn to provide protection. I gathered the men and capable women into various groups and together we manager to put up buildings. We focused half the labor on each house, the goal being to put together a place for the women and children to sleep until the men were able to proceed with work. 

I stooped by a woolen blanket on the ground with Marvin and an elderly man who claims the village had been in flames like this before, back in the time of my grandfather, King Julius. My grandfather was famed for his value for family. It was his laws that allowed our people to travel to the castle to beg for help from the royals they are supposed to entrust.

My eyes flickered over to Avril. She was passing wood onto a young man to be nailed onto the climbing wall of what would be a house. I wondered if there was another law in the making to remove my grandfather's laws. How much had Elena planned to change?

"If we proceed with the plan set up with the help of the princess," Marvin began, pointing at a set of two stones we had placed on the blanket, "We can plan to be nearly done with construction by the next full moon."

"We would be done sooner if it weren't for the stingy ways of the queen," the elderly man grumbled. I maintained eye contact with the stone, choosing to ignore the man's words. 

"You cannot speak that way of her majesty's mother."

I could have scoffed at Marvin's hiss of correction. Instead I stood from the ground and made my face straight. Marvin stood quickly as well but the old man moved not.

"Let us continue with work."

Marvin nodded harshly before walking off. I turned back to the old man and put out my hand to help him. He snarled at it but took it anyway. Between my hands, untouched by the harsh reality of work and effort, I felt the wrinkles and callouses of the true world. 

"Might I add, sir," I held his hand still between my own. His eyes seemed a watery blue in the center but the remains of what once must have been eyes darker than Elena's or my father's lined the rims in a beautiful circle. 

He nodded for me to proceed.

"Blame me not for the actions of my mother. I am not her, nor am I my father. While I wish to follow in the footsteps of a king as great as my grandfather I cannot promise that I will do as great as he. I can only promise to rule with a fair hand and to begin mending the mistakes of those before me."

He stared at me for a long moment but eventually patted my hand and smiled a small smile that told me all I needed to know about forgiveness from an old man.

I returned his smile but our moment together was soon cut off by the sound of a horse neigh.

"We've found her! The princess is here!"

One dozen men came out of the woods. I looked around at the people surrounding me and waved before stepping out to the men. The fear of the townspeople at the fine horses and strong men dressed for battle made the children hide and the women back away. The few men the townspeople managed to produce stayed strong to protect their loved ones.

"Princess Athene," one. I recognized as my father's general dismounted his horse," We've come with strict orders to bring you back to the castle."

"I shall abide willingly."

He nodded and helped me climb onto the large, grey animal. Once I was on it he mounted his and came nearer to me. We started into the woods, the grateful voices of my people in the background.

Avril had mounting her horse and trotting to come closer to me and my horse.

The general gave me a backward glance every few seconds. A man off to the rear was singing a song about a woman who refused to leave with a man.

'Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest.'

I smiled serenely at the song. So calming. it was almost as if the willow trees yonder did ask us to hear her. To hear the girl who sings so fine in their beds. I turned to my dearest lady Avril and she was occupied with her horse and keeping him calm. He tried repeatedly to move off the path and walk faster but she stayed him and proceeded next to me.

I looked to the general as the song continued, but his eyes looked worried. I wondered what it could be for. I was safe and coming with them, was I not? He had fulfilled his duty and was obeying my father's wishes.

"What's wrong, general?"

"Nothing. Nothing, princess. Do not fret."

He was so confident in his answer that I couldn't help but to simply look forward. Maybe it truly was nothing. Maybe it was just my imagination.

Birds flew high and my horse moved steadily forward, sniffing the air deeply as he took me back to my castle. This trip was truly the beginning of an era of peace for the kingdom of Viata. A rule that I was to bring as soon as I took over the throne. A promise of assistance for my people.

We rode on until we got to the top of a high hill where I could look back and see the town I had assisted.

Or at least the burning remnants of it.