The Princess Switch

Saved by the Footsteps?

Chapter 25:

I started going through the heaps of laundry while whispering hoarsely, “Derrick?  Prince Derrick, where are you?!  Come out, come out, wherever you are!  Seriously, I need you right now!”  

Wherever he was, he remained silent, and I was becoming frantic while looking for him.  Clothes were flying through the air as I threw them violently behind me.  I continued for about two whole minutes before I grew too tired to continue on.  

Finally, I turned around to go back to the castle, believing that he must have escaped.  However, as my arm raised hesitantly towards the door, a fierce arm grabbed it so hard that I was sure I would have bruises for a week.  I turned around to find myself face to face with pretty boy.  How could he have been hiding from me while I worked so hard to try to free him from bondage?  My body shook violently as my eyes squinted in anger.  

My anger melted as I realized that the important thing was that he was safe.  I bounced up off of my heels with a sudden mood swing and jumped at him, squealing with delight.  Before I had even began hugging him, the situation was suddenly uneasy and uncomfortable as I realized that we had never really come into physical contact before, and now I had just jumped at him and was now in his arms.  We held each other for a few more self-conscious and very awkward moments, until we finally backed away.

When we had finally backed away, I noticed with delight that Derrick’s cheeks turned a violent shade of bright red.  I found myself clueless as to why I would have embraced him in such an informal way, when all that he had ever shown me were half-smiles and stiff bows.  

Suddenly, I realized that I had a love triangle going on now!  I was in love with this dashing--and very formal--prince, and all this time I found that my mind still wandered back to Jean.  

I turned back to him, and I found that my mouth was opening to tell him.  What was I, stupid?  I could not just tell him that I truly loved him!  He might not love me, and consider how truly heartbreaking that would be, Adrianna!  

Two arms reached out, and soon I was in Derrick’s arms once more.  “I love you too, in case you are wondering.”  He whispered into my ear as he stroked my hair tenderly.  

We held each other so tightly that an outsider would have thought that we believed that the world was ending.  However, we were soon interrupted by footsteps pounding recklessly down the hall.  

Instantly we both knew that the people were from the castle.  Derrick mouthed a ‘hide’ to me, and we both moved at top speed to hide him before I found a hiding place of my own.  My footsteps pattered frantically until I finally found a spot inside of an almost empty bag full of middle class laundry as few could afford the cost of laundering their clothes at a professionall establishment.  I surrounded myself with various trousers, leggings, tunics, headdresses, corsets, and other unmentionables. 

While my ears were filled with metallic screeching, my breath caught in my throat as I unsheathed my dagger as quietly as possible.  Their swords pounded on the metal door painfully, and after several minutes of wishing for the headache medicine that had been in the pouch given to me by Jerusha(I remembered that it was some mix of rose, lavender, sage, and bay.  Aren’t you proud of me?)  Finally, the door fell, and I was almost relieved that Jean was done with his attack on the poor door.

The men burst into the room, and just as I expected, their faces were covered with white ghostly masks.  Spouting foul language, all of them brandished their swords, daggers, maces, battle axes, spears, bows, slingshots, and other various but still nice weapons.  

I guessed that this was Jean’s elite group, as they all had established weapons instead of farm or kitchen tools.  

That meant, of course, that the possibility of me or Derrick defeating them by brute force was negetive, as I had seen him with his elite group before.  They had been with him for probably three years now, and they followed all of his commands exactly, not letting anything get in their way.  

Also flourishing a decorated and newly-polished weapon, Jean yelled, “find the wench and her royal pain of a friend!”  I estimated that he had not yet gotten over his finger.  I noted with proud satisfaction that the item of question was still bleeding, and I could tell that it had come with no small amount of pain.  Letting out a roar of pain, he repeated what he had said, and his men rushed forward, slashing up bags of laundry.

Soon, the fiends approached my prince’s hiding place.  Then, they reached out, and almost in slow motion they slashed open Derrick’s retreat.  The man’s blade was all that I saw before I forced my eyes closed, squeezing out the tears that had been budding as I watched the scene unfold in horror.  

When I finally opened my eyes, the men had moved on to the next pile of clothes, leaving the court’s finery shredded in a heap, and Derrick either injured or -- dead.  I bit back a sob as I contemplated whether or not Derrick might even still be alive.

My mourning came to an abrupt stop as I noticed that the men were drawing closer to me.  My mind whirred as I tried to invent an escape plan.  I could not get out without making a loud movement, and then the men would be even more attracted to me by the sound.  

I was stuck without hope of escaping, and the sad thing was that I did not care.  If my lover was gone, then there was no one to love me or for me to love.  

Now the men were only several feet away from me, and I was holding my breath, hoping that maybe as they went on they would grow more careless and accidentally skip my hiding place and move on to the next stack of clothes.  

I pulled some clothes on top of me, hoping that they would offer more protection when the knives were raised and then plunged down on top of me.  They made a slight rustling noise, one that I hoped was not too loud or attention-drawing.  

In my head, I prayed that God would save me from this terrible situation, and that somehow He would spare Derrick.  Afterall, prayer can’t hurt, and maybe Derrick was somewhere about to die, and I needed to help him.  

About to jump up and run over to the pile to see where Derrick was and what could have happened to him, I stopped and waited for just a moment to see if maybe I would be spared.

Then, right on time, a noise sounded from outside of the laundry room.  

:)

Thanks for reading!  Here is another chapter after a long wait.  I am so sorry for the wait, but I was on a mountain at a camp.  I learned that I really stink at white water rafting, and that my friends and I are all really weak and pathetic.  It was NOT  my fault that I just fell in like three different times.  And I am a girl who does not play sports involving arm strength.  I play soccer, not softball, so of course I am not very good at paddling.  I was better than the boys in my group though, which is kind of sad but also very hilarious.  Anyway, if you are also a reader of Hidden Fame and/or How to be Famous, well I am going to be updating them soon as well.  However, I have family coming in from Minnesota (I live in Missouri, by the way), tomorrow night for 4th of July, so I may not update until Saturday or Sunday if I don't update tomorrow morning.  Just to let you know, if I got two hundred and fifty votes I would update early!!!!!  just putting that out there......

Love,

Hannah V.H.