Fairy Tale Wedding (Book One: The Road to Ever After)

Chapter Nineteen

While Princess Adeline ceased to worry over her impending wedding, her rescue party raced across Fairy Tale in search of her. The land of Distress was a three day journey and already the troupe was behind schedule from the time it took for Gill to get back to Once-upon-a Time, inform the others and set off with all necessities. As Dark Journey, Knightley, and Adeline's horse, Avory, traveled ahead, they realized the trip to Distress would be especially difficult for a reason very different from exhaustion.

The trouble of keeping their journey's purpose a secret could prove almost impossible due to Prince Darrik's celebrity. If he was recognized, questions would certainly arise. While it could be argued he was only on his hasty way home, the presence of Eudora and Gillroy would not be so easy to explain away. The trio of humans had to be very careful to maintain anonymity. Speed and cloaks solved the problem so far, but who knew how long that would last?

For now, the six creatures were settling down for a few hours of rest. They could not waste much time recovering from the constant wear of riding cross-country at top speed. Gill and Dark Journey did not feel the fatigue as strongly as the others; they had built themselves into endurance riders with practice and competition. But Prince Darrik and Eudora, yes and even Knightley, were becoming accustomed to two states: numbness or soreness. There were no other options any longer.

As Prince Darrik slowly inched himself down to the ground near their makeshift fire, he felt every muscle in his arms, legs, back and buttox pull and pound in pain. He groaned as his rump finally hit the dirt floor. It felt like he was sitting on granite and needles at the same time. Apparently those daily rides had been meager exercise. He was in no way prepared for the physical grind of an actual quest. At this second, he was pretty sure even his pride was screaming out in actual agony.

"Here," Eudora said, offering the prince a blanket. "This should soften the blow; let you get a little rest."

"Thanks," Darrik replied. "But I doubt a blanket will make a difference. I'm so tired I think I could sleep on a porcupine. In fact, with the way my butt is tingling, I kind of feel like I am."

Eudora smiled quietly. "I know what you mean. It's been a long time since I've been on horseback, and even then it was never for this long."

"Well, you ride exquisitely for someone out of practice. I couldn't tell, which sort of makes me wonder," Darrik turned an inquisitive eyebrow upon her, "How you learned to ride so expertly?"

Eudora tucked a brown strand of hair behind her ear, then began to play with her riding habit. "I suppose I grew up in a situation that demanded a great deal of riding."

The prince lifted a finger in protest, "Ah, but you said it was never for such long bouts of time, which implies the riding was for leisure, not labor. You were a child of privilege then who was required by the laws of social snobbery to know how to ride with grace and poise. Admit it, you were a lady of standing, or were brought up to be such."

"Perhaps," Eudora smirked, wrapping her arms around her bent knees. She rested her chin upon the knobby bones of her legs. "What about you? Tell me about your coming of age."

"It was great, wild fun and smooth sailing most of the way. I rode, I swam, I learned to sword fight, send a punch and take a punch – all boy, all the time. My voice changed, I got even better looking and then," Prince Darrik rolled his eyes. "The worst came."

"What happened," Eudora asked.

Prince Darrik extended his body on the dirt, placing his hands beneath his head as he glared at the stars. "Then that dopey princess in Rainbow's End ruined life for every maturing royal. Now there is a person who doesn't deserve to have her name remembered. Best thing they did was scratching her out of the history books. For real, I mean, what was she thinking? Didn't she realize how her actions would affect other kids coming up for the throne?"