Goodbye to the Knight✔️

3. Freedom

"I still can't believe it. Betrothed to a KNIGHT?!" Maud exclaims, sending a horrified look at me.

"Explain to us again exactly how this happened," Anne says.

After the meeting with Lord and Lady Golding I had rushed back into the castle to find Maud and Anne to tell them of what had just happened.

"He looked me right up and down and said, she'll do." I fling my arms out in disbelief.

Silence fills my room.

Anne takes a deep breath. "You're screwed."

"Surely it won't be the worst. At least you will have good food." Maud tries to reason.

"No, I really am screwed," I reply gloomily. "I will literally only there to make babies."

"Maybe you should marry him and then slip poison into all of their food and inherit their land?" suggests Anne, brushing a short strand of dark hair out of her face.

"No, that's far too violent!" Maud shake her head. "How did this other girl get out of having to join their family? Remind us again what happened to her."

"She ran off with her true love," I reply.

"How romantic," Maud sighs, but my attention is on Anne who suddenly gets a strange expression on her face.

"... Anne?"

"That's it!" Anne stands up, excitement gleaming in her eyes.

"What is it?" I ask.

"You run away."

"I'm not sure about that..." I trail off.

Anne walks over to me and grasps my hands. "Ella, do you really want to stay here and get married to a knight?"

"Of course I don't!" I exclaim. "But I have no money to support myself with!"

"No, listen. How else are you going to get out of this marriage? We all know your parents won't change their mind. You have no other option."

My eyes jump around the room as thoughts whirl through my head. Anne is right. I will not become the wife of a knight and join a family who views me merely as a tool. I will make my own future, my own path, even if it isn't the easiest.

The world is wide for those who choose to be brave. Those who are willing to risk it all and step out into the wind of the unknown. Those who wish to truly live.

And I do.

"I choose my freedom," I whisper, then turn to face my friends. "I choose my freedom," I repeat louder with a smile. "I will run away."

Anne lets out a whoop and Maud smiles.

"I will go to Fred's farm which is near to here, he's my great-uncle, and then I can start looking around, maybe become a scullery maid for another manor." I think out loud.

"You can do better than that! You're already a cook here, for the Duke." Maud points out. "You could also choose to live in a village and sell your bows."

I nod, my future suddenly filled with endless possibilities.

"I hate to break it to you," Anne says, "but you may need to go further than your uncle's. We don't know what Lord and Lady Goldings' reaction will be; they may come after you."

"You make a good point." I bite my lip, thinking. "He lives just outside Tanhorpe which is the direction I will take anyway, so I may as well stop in on my way through. That guarantees me food and a warm bed for a few nights."