Long Live the King

Chapter 3

Chapter III

I was asleep in the carriage, well at least until we came to an abrupt stop and I rolled off the seat and onto the floor.  “Ouch!”  I exclaimed, my head hitting the bottom of the seats.  I got up and looked out the window, it was already dark.  I stepped out of the carriage and walked to talk to Simon, in the driver’s seat.  He was starting to get ready to climb down from his spot when he saw me standing there and not sitting in the back of the buggy. 

“Ah.  Princess, I was just going to go back and talk to you.  Where will you be staying tonight?”

I rubbed the back of my head, “I’m not sure.” I said, looking around at the surrounding area, “Where are we exactly?” 

“Sonfolk.  Do you know anybody around here that you could stay with?”

I shook my head, “Being royal, I never really had friends outside of the castle area.” I explained, “Is there a tavern around here?”

“Yes.  Just a little while away from where we are right now.”

“Good.  I shall stay there for the night then.”                                            

“Very well.  I can take you if you’ll just…” he gestured to the carriage.

            I smiled, “Already done.  Oh! And Simon?”

            “Yes, Princess?”

            “Thank you so much for doing this for me.”

            “Anytime, Princess.”

            I once again got in the carriage.  We began to move again and I sat, mulling over all that had happened today.  Everything happened much too fast.  It almost seemed impossible that all this could have happened in the matter of one day.  One brother’s death, another’s crowning, me leaving the castle… then I remembered Patrick again.  To think that I would never see him again was too hard to believe.  The reason why was even worse, but I tried to block that part out the best that I could.

            None of that really mattered at this point anyway.  Now I was looking out for myself and myself only.  What exactly was I going to do after this?  I didn’t have a solid place to stay, Gerard probably had people searching for me at this very minute, and I had no idea how the hell I was ever going to get him off the throne.  I knew now that this was going to be a very long and hard journey, but if I made it this far in one day, who was to say that I couldn’t do all these other things quickly?  I knew I was getting my hopes up for nothing though, crushing any optimism that I had before.

            When we had stopped, I sighed.  This was probably the last of any little piece of my royal life that I had left.  I got out as Simon opened the door for me.  “Thank you so much, once again.”  I said.

            “You’re welcome.”  He said, “If there’s anything more I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.  Trust me, I want Gerard out of that castle just as much as you do.”

            “I guess I have an ally then.”  He laughed as I said it, “There is one thing I want to ask though.”

 “Hmmm?”

“Would you be willing to come and work for me?”  I asked hopefully.

He laughed, shrugging, “I don’t see why not.  You seem like a nice enough boss.”  He paused, “Plus it would be damn funny if Gerard came out of the castle to go somewhere and he didn’t have any transportation.”