The Lost Princess

Chapter 1

Charlotte hid in the closet behind the massive staircase. This had always been her hiding place when she and her brother had been younger and played hide - and - seek around the castle on rainy days. Though now she was not playing a silly game with her brother, she was hiding for her life. What was left of it anyways. As she closed her eyes to listen for the footsteps of enemy soldiers she could still see flashes of her mother crashing through the door of her bedroom where Charlotte had been brushing out her hair before bed. She remembered her mother grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room and down the long winding staircase. Charlotte was terrified and the queen was screaming at her to run and not look bad. To get as far away as she could and no matter what happened she was not to come back. Once  they reached the end of the stairs Charlotte could hear fighting from the other room. The crashing of steel that could only be swords rang through the mighty castle. Tears started to form at the corners of charlottes eyes as she realized what had happened. The castle walls had been breached. 

Her mother was dragging her through the main dining hall where they only ate when entertaining guest. Charlotte knew where her mother was going. You could go anywhere in the castle through the kitchen. It held staircases for every corner of the castle. You could get to all the dining rooms, every bedchamber, the King’s private war room, and even secret rooms that no one really knew the uses for anymore, but most important was the stairs that led to the basement where there was a secret underground passage that led out of the city.

Charlotte started to speed up once she realized where they were going until she felt her mother slow down and finally her hand slip from Charlottes arm. She looked back only to see a man reloading his crossbow. She glanced down to see her mother lying face first, lifeless on the floor. Remembering her mothers last words, Charlotte looked away and ran through the kitchen door just as the man let his arrow loose. She continued to run until she found a familiar staircase. It was not the one that led to the basement, but the supply closet behind the stairs had always given her cover before and she was to frozen in fear to go any farther.

Hearing enemy footsteps going up the stairs made Charlotte hold her breath until she was seeing spots. She silently sobbed and backed up into the corner of the closet. She sank to the floor and wrapped her arms around her body. Charlotte sat listening to her world fall apart all around her. 

She must have sat there for at least a hour just listening to the screaming and yelling. Charlotte thought she might have heard her brothers voice at one time, but couldn’t be sure. He’s probably dead, she thought. Her father too. Both dead just like her mother. That means she's alone. That the life she has been living is at an end. Even if she made it out of the castle, by some mercy of God, she would be without a home. Without a family. Without food and water. What kind of life is that, thought Charlotte. But her mothers voice still lingered in her memory and Charlotte could not help but feel responsible for her mothers death. She was trying to save me, Charlotte thought. She couldn’t let her mothers effort to save her meaningless life be for nothing. No matter what happens, she had said.

After about another hour the fighting was so far away from the kitchen that it sounded like little whispers to Charlotte. She knew that if there was ever a time to escape that now would be that time. The soldiers still fought, but not so close that they would hear her if she happened to make noise and there is no time during a siege to look under every staircase for a lost princess, but there will be once the fighting is done and that could be any minute.

Charlotte stood with her hand on the doorknob waiting for the courage to push the door open. Once more she closed her eyes and saw the horrific events that changed her life in the blink of an eye. Courage, she thought, I must have courage. Charlotte twisted the knob slowly then peeked her head out. Once she was sure there was no one in the kitchen she stepped out of the closet. Charlotte steadied her breaths, even though there was no one near enough to hear her. That is she hoped no one near enough.