Royally Simple

Chapter 6: The Dress Was Nice While It Lasted

The Scroll Keeper nudges me and when I open my eyes I'm blinded by the light shining in my eyes. I glance at him and he seems careless. "where are we?" I ask

"Venezuela. In the mountainous regions"

"And my group of men? Where are they?"

"They will be landing here shortly"

"Oh" I mumble. I can't believe I'm about to lead a team of men through Venezuela in my pink birthday dress. They're going to ridicule me I just know it. "here we are!" the pilot shouts. I think he does not realize my headphones are still on. As we start to descend I realize we are landing on a huge rock mountain. I have no clue how I'm going to get out of this alive, let alone take a group of men with me. To my left I see more helicopters landing. So many thoughts are running through my head and I'm trying to be calm but these people are depending on me. My heart aches for my father but I quickly refocus.

The Skroll Keeper climbs out of the helicopter and then watches me stumble out as I try to gather up my dress. "That will not be helpful in your challenge Princess." he states as if I didnt already know that. I pull out my sword and stare at him. Then in one swift motion I grab may dress and start slicing through it. Im extremely surprised at how easily it cuts through and what I'm left with is a knee length dress although I'm sure I cant wear this for a month.

Out of the helicopters to my left men pile out and I try to keep my composer as I scan them. There are ten men all together. Most of them clearly take good care of their bodies. I struggle to keep my mind focused.

As the men line up so that I may see each of them, I quickly remind myself that I am a princess. I stand a little taller, keep my face a little stricter, and tuck my hands behind my back. "Hello men..uh...gentleman." On of the men tucks his face down and I can tell it is to keep me from seeing him laughing. I know they arent taking me seriously and all I can do is start over. " Hello gentleman I'm Princess Natalia. I will be trekking with you through Venezuela." There's a horrible silence as they wait for the rest of my speech and I realize I have none. "Well. Lets go." I mentally kick myself. How am I supposed to be Queen if I cant even give a speech to ten guys.

A tall black man in a white tank top and camo pants pulls a map out of his backpack. " We can go along the river which will be easier to survive but take so much longer we might end up frying more than Mr. Shills potatoe spuds. Or we can cut here and get there quickly but I'm not sure theres water around here."

"Lets follow the streams. I'd rather get there slowly than to not get there at all."The man nodded and the rest turned to follow him. I glanced to the Scroll Keeper. When he doesn't reach for my bag I pick it up myself. I don't know if I should be offended or happy that hes not underfoot bowing and scraping. I follow behind the men quietly praying that we will get through this.

I turn to look at the Scrool Keeper again and see his face is red. Not an embarassed red but more like an angry red. It stops me dead in my tracks and as he passes me he seethes "Get. Up. There." I'm sure all the color has drained from my face. I dont understand why he is so angry with me. I rush to the front and walk next to the man with the map who seems to have taken charge. He looks at me and nods. " I don't believe we were formally introduced." I say. "No we were not. I'm Tanner"

"Hello Tanner." I wasn't sure what to say after that so I asked the obvious obligatory question. "So where do you come from?"

"I'm from Artemis. I have been there since I was tall as an ear of corn." he chuckles. Tanner's laugh is warm and I can see the wrinkles by his eyes scrunch. Artemis isn't the best place to grow up in within Bella Luna. They are mostly farmers there but they dont make much off of the land. A lot of the boys enlist in the military when it gets too hard to get by. We pay the military a hefty wage and a lot of soldiers send most of it back to their families since they have housing and food provided anyways. I wonder if Tanner is here for that same reason. We chit chat as we walk and I look around.

Everywhere is covered in green. The water is even green tinted. As we walk past the river I contemplate how proper it would look to dunk my head under and then go for a swim. Sweat drips down my forehead and before I decide to take the plunge, Tanner stops and pulls a bucket out. "Alright men! We are gonna get some clean drinking water and fill up our canteen. Shane! Start a fire. Drink up from your canteens and we will come around to refill them." Tanner's voice is so loud and intimidating.Its so different from the gentle man I was talking to. I watch in awe as all the men scatter and obey him without questioning. They drink at least half or all of their canteens and then grab sticks and tinder to bring to the man named Shane. He quickly starts a fire and they step back to allow me to fill up first. I get my canteen and watch as each of them fill then sit down to rest or cool their faces down with a splash of water. The Scroll Keeper sits on the bank reading something from his bag.

I glance at Tanner. He smiles and winks at me. "Now what?" he says. I stare at him for a while and then announce in my best Tanner-immitated voice "Alright men! Lets go! We have to cover a lot of ground before we can set up camp!" The men jump to their feet and pack up. I feel proud of myself. As I glance towards the Scroll Keeper I see him walking towards the group and one corner of his mouth twitches up. I cant tell if its a smug grin or something else.