It Started With a Sword

Chapter 1

The horse’s hooves clattered on the cobblestones as Prince Scott navigated him through the bustling marketplace crowds, surprisingly busy given the current weather conditions. He nervously glanced behind him at the black storm clouds that were quickly headed for him and urged his horse, Cedric, to go a bit faster up the path towards Castle Alydar, hoping to get there before the storm hit.  The castle was where he and his family were staying for a royal feast and ball in a fortnight that would bring many more to Alydar.  His family, the royal family of Pantera, was close friends with the ruling family in Alydar and were the only ones who had arrived days early for the feast.

Pushing past a few small crowds of people, Scott directed Cedric out of the marketplace and towards the path that led through a forest and towards the castle, praying that the people behind him would be able to also get out of the storm. He soon arrived in front of the open castle drawbridge, nodding at the guards as he rode past the gate and straight for the stables. Dismounting right in front of the stable entrance, he grabbed Cedric’s reins and led him forward just as it began to drizzle a bit. The bay horse snorted and shook his head, trotting after Scott and into the stable complex.

Scott led his horse down one of the dark aisle ways to his designated stall. Because Scott’s family was only visiting, their horses were given stalls along the far side of the stable complex, one of the few aisles with windows. Through the window in Cedric’s stall, Scott could see that it was downpouring now, a true thunderstorm. A flash of lightning lit up the dim stable complex, and the following rumble of thunder caused Cedric to skitter away in panic. From the amount of nervous neighs coming from the rest of the stabled horses, Scott could tell that the thunder had spooked them, too.

Once he got his own horse settled, Scott walked around the stable complex, trying to calm the other horses. He met a few stable hands who quickly shooed him away, and he complied, cheerfully whistling a tune as he walked away.

He decided to take the long way out of the stables, through the door closest to the castle, because he didn’t wish to get caught in the rain. As he walked down one of the stable aisles towards the back, he heard a quiet thumping noise coming from the very back of the building.  Curious, he walked as quietly as possible in the direction of the noise that sounded somewhat like an inconsistent drum beat. He soon discovered that the noise was coming from a room behind a partially open door. Tiptoeing over to the doorway, he peered in, careful not to be spotted.

Scott was surprised to see Princess Lyla standing in the center of the room, her back to the door. She was aiming a bow towards one of five large targets on the wall, a sheath with about a half quiver slung around her shoulders, not wearing a dress but instead a tunic, leggings, and boots. As he watched, she released the arrow, sending it flying towards the center target, where it hit dead in the center.

Not having anything better to do and wanting to stay dry, Scott decided to stay and watch the princess, also hoping to possibly get some archery tips. Lyla seemed to know what she was doing.

After a few minutes, however, he felt a tickle in his nose, and was unable to prevent a sneeze, no matter how hard he tried. Immediately he ducked back behind the door into the shadows as Lyla whirled around to face his direction. “Who’s there?” she said hesitantly, and then Scott heard her take a few steps towards the doorway.

He swallowed nervously, then stepped cautiously into the room. “Um, it’s just me. Sorry to bother you.”

A small smile spread across Lyla’s face; she looked almost relieved. “Oh, hello, Scott! Did you come in here to get out of that rain? Is that why you were spying on me?”

“No. I wasn’t spying! Well, partially, but I was out riding Cedric and came back just before it started raining and didn’t want to go out and get wet, then heard you in here and came to find you and decided to stay.  I don’t have anything better to do…and I didn’t know you had all this,” Scott said, motioning towards the targets and quivers of arrows. “Does Diana know?” he asked, referring to his twin sister, who was at that moment sewing decorations for the upcoming feast.

Lyla nodded, sighing and walking all the way over to the door. “Yeah. It’s kind of my secret place, please don’t tell anyone!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Scott replied, noting the bit of alarm and desperation in her eyes. “If you don’t mind my asking, why is this place a secret?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Lyla answered, looking down at her feet, which were covered in boots. “You sure you have time?” Scott nodded, and she tilted her head towards a bench inside the room, inviting him in. They walked over to the bench and sat down, and Lyla began talking.

“As you know, I’m the eldest child in the family, next in line for the throne of Alydar. I would be the first one anyone would try to kill off. But Father says girls shouldn’t learn weaponry of any kind - it’s ‘unladylike’ - which makes absolutely no sense at all. I can’t rely on guards my whole life. So I got one of the guards, Felix, to begin to teach me a bit of archery about a year ago. He still helps me every once in a while, but I mostly do it on my own now. One time I tried to get him to teach me sword fighting, but he refused, so I’m stuck with just archery. I just want to know some kind of defense for myself, you know?” Lyla sighed and looked worriedly at Scott, who sat back against the wall and studied the setup of the room. “You won’t tell anyone, Scott, will you?”

Scott smiled slightly and shook his head. “I promise, Lyla, I won’t tell anyone.” 

So that’s chapter 1 :) It’s actually a short story, and I’ll be posting the rest soon. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks so much for reading! xx

Dedicated to @xAshxIrwinx because she's amazing and made me the beautiful cover. Thanks so much, Ash! ily :) xx