The next morning I awoke to see the sour face of my mother looking down at me. Suppressing a groan, I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow. Unfortunately, Mum had other plans.
"Nightshade! Get up! Now! You are leaving tomorrow and you still have to pack all your things. Plus, you need to make an appearance in the town square to talk with people. As future Princess you need to get to know your subjects." She pulled the blanket off my bed, and threw it on the floor.
"Mum! Can't I sleep a little longer? It won't take me very long to pack, and I don't need to get to know anyone! I've been living here with all of these people for 16 years! I know them inside and out, from the baker's favorite colour, to the name, weight, and birthday of the newest baby!" I tried to reach the blanket, but Mum pushed me out of bed.
"When you're a princess, you will have to get used to rising early." she said.
"I'm not going to be a princess! I told you yesterday that I'm never going to get married and I certainly will NOT marry a pompous, overconfident, self-obsessed, arrogant-" Mum cut me off.
"Nightshade Hemlock! I expect better than this from you! You will go to the castle. you will learn how to be a princess, and you will marry the prince whether you like it or not! I will not have you disgracing me with one of your childish schemes! You will obey me and marry the prince and that's final!"
"Fine." I spat. "I'll go to the stupid castle, I'll learn how to be a princess, but I'm going to do it my way." So saying, I got up out of bed and stormed over to my closet. I popped out the panel, and grabbed my tunic and trousers. After slipping them on, I pulled out my sword and lay it and the scabbard on the bed. Then, I grabbed the new knives that Will had given me. Quickly, I fastened the belt around my waist, and attached the double scabbard and knives, along with my sword.
"Nightshade, what do you think you're doing? A princess would never-"
"I'm not a princess yet."I said, pulling on my one pair of boots. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some packing to do." I steered my mother towards the door, pushed her out, and closed it right in her face. I then went and knelt beside the bed, reaching under to pull out my leather bag. It wasn't very pretty, but it served the purpose. There was nothing special about it, except the over-the-should strap that made it hang down by my waist, the strap crossing my body diagonally. Other than that, it was a simple bag, with a top that you buckled down with straps. The stitch job was poor, as I made it myself. I undid the straps and threw in my extra pair of "men's clothes" as Mum would call them, a pair of soft moccasins to wear if i somehow lost my boots, and a black hooded cloak that my grandmother had made me when she was still alive. I then fastened the buckles, and set the bag aside. Then I retrieved a trunk from under the bed as well, and proceeded to pack up all the girly things that I knew my mum would insist on me bringing. The reason I packed everything else in the leather bag was that I kenw as soon as I was asleep tonight Mum would come in and go through my trunk, taking out anything she deemed "unladylike." She didn't know about the bag, so as long as she didn't find it everything in there should be safe. By the time I was done, it was late into the afternoon, and my stomach was growling, reminding me that I hadn't eaten all day. I opened the door, and made my way down to the kitchen. When I went in, I saw one of the inn's serving girls just going out with a plate of food. I decided to stay and watch because there had been some men I didn't know hanging around lately, and I didn't like the looks of them one bit. With just me and my mum here to run the inn, men often came in and tried to take advantage of our girls. Mum was always to scared to do something, so that left it up to me, especially during this time of the day when none of the townsfolk were able to come in.
I watched as the girl, Sophia, took the plate of food over to the table with the strange men. She set it down, and turned away. I was just about to relax my guard when I saw one of the men grab Sophia's wrist and pull her toward him. "Well, you are a pretty thing." he said. I started making my way over to them as Sophia struggled in the man's grip. He let her go and she backed away only to hvae her butt slapped by one of the others. I could see the fear in her eyes as I got closer. It made me mad, that these men were able to treat an innocent girl this way and get away with it.
"Don't touch her." I said. Their attention turned to me, and I motioned with my head for Sophia to make her escape. She did, scurrying back to the kitchen, watching me with fearful eyes. I flashed her a quick grin, showing her my knives. She nodded and turned away, knowing I could handle myself. The men started coming closer.
"Oh, and would you prefer we touched you instead?" asked the one that had slapped Sophia's butt. He moved closer and was raising a hand to slap me like he had done to Sophia, when I spoke.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." my voice was deathly quiet, and the amount of venom in it would have sent any sane man running for the hills. This man, obviously, was quite out of his mind, as he kept advancing.
"Oh? And what would you do about it? Those pretty little toothpicks you call daggers couldn't hurt a fly." the man sneered. He raised his hand again, but before it could come down, I spun around and whipped one of my daggers out of its sheath. My arm was a blur as I sliced the dagger across his palm. He backed away, staring at me in shock.
"I did try to warn you. Now I suggest you leave my inn before I get even angrier with you." my voice was still deathly calm, but this time it held more venom, if that was even possible. He and his buddies took the hint and tripped over eath other trying to get to the door. They ran into Will, who was just about to come in the door. he must've seen the terrified looks on their faces because he asked me what happened.
"What did you do to them Shade?" he said, shaking his head.
"Nothing much, I just found a use for the daggers gave me."
"Of course you did. Of course you did. Who were you defending this time?"
"Sophia. And then, when I defended her, they tried to touch me. So, I decided it was a good time to try out my new daggers."
"We're all gonna miss you Shade."
"Of course you will, you couldn't live without me!"
"I'm not sure I would go that far."
"Oh, you know it's true. You're coming to see me off tomorrow, right?"
"Of course I am! You honestly didn't think I would miss it did you? Anyway, I have to get back to work. See you tomorrow."
"Bye." After Will left, I stayed and helped out in the kitchen. That is, until Mum came in and yelled at me for acting like a commoner when I'm soon going to be a princess. I was sent to my room, and stayed there until sleep overtook me.
