The Saving of the Queen

What Knight?

Emma POV

Ten Years Ago

"Uhfff!"
I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I hit the ground, the boot-shaped bruise already forming on my chest.

"What did I tell you Swan? Huh?"

That voice, I hated that voice. It always told me I could never fufill my dream. It belonged to a boy named Nate, the village blacksmith's son. He always liked to show his ass to me, so I began calling him the Village Ass. At least in my head.

"You know, I don't know why you continue to fight. Everybody in the village knows you're just a whore. You look like one, smell like one, and you live in the brothel down the street."

His voice grated on me. It resounded in my ears like nails on a blackboard, scraping my ear drums until they bled.

"You are a good-for-nothin, little piece of--"

"Nathanial!"

That voice was one I also knew, it was the voice of my would-be savior. The woman who took me in, gave me clothes to wear, and put food in my belly.

"What are you doing, Nathanial? Get away from her before I tell your father what you've been up to. Now get you little scoundrel! Get!" The voice said.

I felt strong but soft arms pick my small body up and take me into a warm room. As I cracked open one of my swollen eyes, I saw her, Elenora, the madam of the house. She was my savior. We were in the kitchen of the brothel, and I was sitting on the table by the hearth.

"I outta whip that boy next time I see 'im. He ought not do what he does to you. He's a menace, and one day he'll get his." She vented as she semi-gently cleaned my face of the mud I had been pushed into.

"It's fine, Ellie." I whispered. I was the only one who got to call her Ellie. She took me in when I was a baby, and when I was learning to talk, I couldn't say Elenora, so I called her Ellie. The name stuck.

The girls of the house called her madam, or in emergencies, Elenora. I'd only ever heard that name being called twice, both instances I was there.

"It's not of new girl! Boys shouldn't beat girls, it just ain't right! He outta be punished, but his father thinks 'im a saint! Pfft!"

After she cleaned my face, she took care of my scraped knees, knuckles, and busted lip.

"Come on now, get your dress off. Let's have a look at what he done."

I gingerly took of my thin, ragged dress and heard a small, partially hidden gasp. I looked up at Ellie's face. Her eyes darkened from anger and she took a deep, angry breath.

"Gods girl. How you ain't dead yet, I'll never know. The fates got a plan for you little one. Yup."

I looked at the black and purple spot on my chest. The fire was warming me up, so I was only now just beginning to feel the pain.

"One day Ellie, I'll be better at fightin than him, and the Village Ass will find himself on his ass." I said plainly.

Ellie's mouth stretched into a grin, followed by her boisterous laugh. I smiled, too.