Arand's Fighting Princess

Discovery

"You will never find me!" a 4 year old Aria yelled to her 10 year old brother, Ash.

He chuckled and started counting to forty while having his eyes shut. Meanwhile, Aria ran around the garden looking for a hiding place. She then saw something glitter in the forest. Curious, she entered the forest and walked to where she saw the sparkle, which was in between two bushes. Little Princess Aria ducked in between them to look for the strange sparkle when suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. She cowered in fear as she dug deep into the middle of the bushes to hide herself.

"Damnit! We lost her! He is going to have our heads for this!" a man with a deep voice proclaimed worriedly from where she had stood before.

"Don't worry, we will find her" said a much younger and relaxed voice that was really close to where she was.

She suddenly had an urge to cough, which she tried to hold in. She slowly let the cough out when she heard the deep voice again, but she stopped suddenly when she heard the younger man say, "Shush, Gerald. Listen. I'm pretty sure I just heard something"

She froze and held her breath in, fearing for her life. She then heard someone crouching down and the leaves from the bushes rustling, but as immediately as it started it stopped. She held her eyes shut. Her ears then picked up the sound of her brother's worried voice calling for her urgently. "We got the little runt" the older man said and not long after that she heard them running away.

She relaxed for a moment until she remembered that they were going after her brother. She quickly ran towards where she last heard her brother, but stopped when she heard her brother's pain-filled moans. She carried on, way slower, until she was almost at the edge of the clearing and could see her brother, next to two men. The biggest one had a shiny bald head even though he had the biggest and thickest red beard and eyebrows she had ever seen. 'This must be the guy with the deep voice' she thought. She then looked over at the other guy who was tying up her brother. He seemed way younger than the other guy, maybe around 15. Since she could only see his back she only saw his hazel colored hair and slender body. He seemed so tiny compared to the burlier man. Suddenly, the younger guy turned around and looked into the end of the clearing and swept his eyes on the forest line until suddenly his icy blue eyes looked straight into Aria's warm violet blue eyes. Her breath caught and a shiver went down her spine as he smirked. "What are you looking at Jax?" the giant-like man, whose name was Gerald, asked.

Jax turned around and snarled to be quiet at Gerald as he finished tying up Ash, who had seemed to find her in between the shadows. He motioned his head away from the clearing, but she shook her head no. 'I am not going to leave you here Ash' Aria thought to herself. She suddenly had what seemed like a good idea to her, yet risky. "Here I go' she thought as she burst into the clearing.

"Leave my brother alone" the toddler demanded timidly.

Gerald shook with laughter as he rolled on the ground, disbelieving, while Jax just smirked at her and looked her up and down, appraising her. Ash looked on, frightened for his sister's life as she tried to steel herself up for what she was going to do next. "AHHHHH!" she screamed as she ran towards the big ugly brute on the ground and kicked him on the nose.

"You stupid brat! You will pay for this!" Gerald howled as he held his broken bleeding nose and tried to chase after Aria, who was too quick for him.

Jax looked on amused until he heard the sound swords clinking and battle cries in the distance. "Shut up you bumbling idiot, they are close." Jax said as he scooped up Ash, who was kicking with all his might, but didn't seem to even scratch Jax.

"Ash no!" little princess Aria yelled worriedly from the other side of the clearing, still running.

"You want your brother? Come and get him" Jax sneered cruelly as he started walking away.

Aria froze in place, white in shock, which enabled Gerald to pick her up and lock her in his grasp. "No!" she yelled agitated as she struggled with all her tiny might, but couldn't seem to loosen his grip.

She then slacked her body fully which seemed to take Gerald by surprise, causing him to loosen his grip. She immediately slapped his head with a rock she had been hiding in her pocket and they both fell, Gerald unconscious. Jax turned around as he heard a thud and saw Aria running towards him really fast. He immediately pulled out a dagger and brought it to Ash's neck. "One more step and he is dead" he threatened cunningly as Princess Aria halted in the middle of the way.

"I know you won't actually do it!" she proclaimed as she walked slowly towards them.

"Oh, so I won't?" Jax replied tauntingly as he slowly shallowly cut Ash's neck enough to bring up a bit of blood.

"Please don't!" a terrified Aria wailed miserably, not being able to help as her brother screamed in pain.

She felt so horrible and upset that she had caused his brother to suffer and cried because of it. "Stop crying or else I won't stop" he said annoyed.

She immediately stopped and just sniffed. "Good girl" he said as he drew back his knife and put it away.

He then threw Ash, who yelped in pain as his body hit the ground.

Aria flinched as Jax started walking gracefully towards her. "Please don't" she said feebly as the fight drained out of her.

Soon Jax was within a her reach. "Don't worry. This probably won't hurt..." he said as he grabbed her shoulders and gazed at her hungrily.

Suddenly a rock hit his head, which infuriated him. "Listen here you brat! You will leave me and your sister alone!" he said as he stalked to him, grabbed him, and punched him in the face.

"STOP!" Aria yelled as she felt a warmth rush through her and a flash of light blinded her.

Next thing she knew, she had been thrown back by an explosion and she heard Jax scream. When she finally got her sight back all she saw was her brother standing with the knife in his arm.

She was in shock and did not move until her brother collapsed to the ground. She quickly ran towards his battered body and clung to him. "You will be okay. I-I promise" she stammered as tears fell down her already tear-streaked face. She then heard a lot of thundering footsteps and men yelling coming towards them. Then, their father's voice rang out over the crowd, "Get out of my way! I need to see my children!"

He ran out of the crowd and collapsed in front of Aria and Ash. "My poor children" he sobbed in a moment of weakness, but then gathered his wits and said "Get me a stretcher and help me take my b-boy home." They then quickly patched Ash up as much as they could and placed him on the stretcher. As soon as Ash was safe and taken care of, Aria stumbled towards King Stefan and completely collapsed in his arms. The last thing she heard was her dear father repeating her name worriedly as she fell unconscious.