The Princess Warrior

When it started...

                      Breathe in.
                Breathe out.
                            Feel the blades of grass between your feet.
Step forward.

Jo repeated these actions slowly, but started to increase her speed.
               Thirty minutes.
               Thirty minutes she had been gone.
              Why had they stopped following her?
            They always followed her.
      She sat, waiting for the inevitable.
She made herself busy as she waited, talking to the woodland nymphs, making light conversation, and singing to herself.
  They came.
  Jo had enjoyed her time, but was secretly glad when they came.
     "Over here, Toby!" Jo yelled at the man dressed in red and yellow.
    "For the last time, Josephine, it's Tobias!"
     "For the last time, Tobe, it's Jo"
  "Josephine, come here," Toby said dryly, with a slight edge in his voice. "Hurry up, and no more running! You could get hurt out here"
    Jo scrunched her eyebrows at the unfamiliar tone his voice had, and the way his voice cracked at the word 'hurt'
      At the young age of 8, Jo was smart. Smart enough to know something was wrong.
      Her blue dress flowing, but her face a pale white, she walked towards the 20-something man.
    
        They had her sitting down with tea, still outside and out of sight of the gorgeous castle she lived in. She really wished she could stay outside as long as possible.
      "Princess Josephine," an officer started, the small girl interrupted, "It's Jo. Just Jo."
     The officer cleared his throat. "Jo, I regret to inform you that something terrible has happened. A man killed your parents. We have him in custody, you are safe." He paused, to let the information sink in.
   Jo was on the verge of tears.
     Now, don't get the notion that Jo and her parents were close, the situation was hard to explain, but in words, it was on the contrary. You could say her parents loved her, if you truly believed money was equal to love, but let me tell you a secret.
It wasn't.
      Jo was upset, because she knew what would happen in ten short years, as soon as she turned 18.
    She would have to marry 40-year old Theodore, and be the stepmother of Constantine, a boy only one year younger than herself.
      She would be forced to be the queen, which she didn't mind.
                               But
      Theodore would be king.
                 Kings had most power, and Theodore was a wicked, evil man.