Medieval Thing

Chapter One

Prince Ottokar Octavias VIII crept quietly through his hall, his metal bundle clanking quietly with each step.

Once outside, he opened the bundle and fitted on his armour, adding the large red cape, which he had used to transport the armour using the grey metal clips to fasten onto his blue clothed shoulders.

He didn't really know why. Maybe it was just the fact that he was bored. Maybe it was . . . He didn't know why. He had just decided that he would sneak away and try to kill a dragon. He had decided yesterday, and just this morning there had been three different attacks on three different villages, so he had decided that was his reasoning.

Ottokar snuck over to the stables to find his horse and saddle; then he chose a sword and carefully did it into the saddle sheath and buckled his shield onto the other side.

He wore his full suit of blue armour, and his red cape and the red-blue striped crest on his helmet showed his position.

He then put on his ordinary riding boots over his knee-high fighting ones. They were black, with a red two-inch stripe around the top of each one, and on the outside-facing side was a red octopus.

His shield was blue, and on it was the same red octopus. His kingdom's emblem was a red octopus on a blue background, complete with an angry black frown, so their traditional colours were red and blue.

Prince Ottokar slid a black booted foot into the stirrup and swung his other leg over the horses back as it started walking.

He rode it out of the stables, then stopped suddenly when he saw a small figure, insistent on wearing clothes that were too big for him, watching him wide eyed.

He was carrying a three legged stool that was almost as tall as himself, and he set it down when he saw Ottokar.

Ottokar slipped off the horse and rested his hands on the small boy's shoulders. He was about to tell him not to tell anyone, but instead there was a small, whimpered "Why are you taking Cookies?"

Prince Ottokar frowned in a mixture of anger, at himself, for forgetting Tommy's morning visit to his favourite horse everyday, which he had named Cookies because it was white-grey with brown speckles, and he was sorry, for Tommy.

He moved the stool out of the way and, instead of talking sternly, embraced him and murmured, "Oh, Tommy. I'm sorry, but I need to borrow Cookies for a while." Not that it really is borrowing, seeing as he's mine anyway, he added in his mind.

"Where are you going?" he asked in his sweet little voice as Ottokar sat back and straightened Tommy's yellow paper crown.

"I'm just going on an adventure," Ottokar told him, brushing Tommy's black hair out of his eyes. Black hair. Tommy and their sister, who was between the two boys, had both inherited their father's, but Ottokar was the only one to have their mother's brown, but even then he had his father's waves.

Ottokar raised himself to his feet then turned around and walked back to Cookies. As he rode away he turned back to look at Tommy.

Prince Thomas Edward II watched as his older brother rode away on his favourite horse, trying to stop the tears from welling up in his eyes. He wiped just in time to see Ottokar blue him a kiss before putting his helmet back on.

Thomas wiped his eyes again and wondered if he would ever see Cookies again, before picking up his three legged stool and going to see the other horses instead. Just in case he would need to make a new friend if Oddie got him killed.

Slowly, his young mind or together all the pieces: Oddie sneaking off on an adventure + Armour + Cookies maybe getting killed = Oddie might get killed too!

He dropped the stool in horror, then ran quickly away to ten the most clever person he thought he knew.

                           * * * * *

. . . Any name suggestions for the horse?

Um, as you read, it would be a real help if you could think of name suggestions for the book, because it would be nice to be able to call it something other than "The Medieval Thing".

Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying it so far, and please remember, feel free to point out any grammatical errors, even if you're not sure, thanks again for reading,

—Bee