It Is You I Have Loved

Chapter 11

Alastor, meanwhile had reached the other end of the corridor. Through a window, he could now see a slender tower wrapped in a stairway. It was connected to the keep by a stone walkway.

"Well at least we know where the princess is." He said to himself. "But where's the-"

"Adze! Ahhhhh!" Angel screamed having just found himself eyeball to eyeball with the aforementioned creature.

A 350 ft, terrifying moth screeched out him in the most ear-spilling tone imaginable. It was massive, lavender-skinned creature with white hair lined on it's body, feathery antennae and four large black wings that could cause a huge storm with each flap. One of it's eyes was missing and the one eye that remained was full of savage, animalistic rage that had Angel petrified for about three seconds. Then he finally ran for his life.

Down the hall, Alastor saw Angel headed straight for him and the adze close behind. The enormous insect started rise higher and higher, locking it's sight right on Angel, then swooping down to attack.

"Angel look out!"

Instinctively, Alastor grabbed Angel and dragged him along as he ducked in cover. This action caused the moth adze to miss it's intended target and increase it's an anger. It went up again and again came down for another attack by Alastor quickly threw a handful of dirt into it's good eye.

"Quick! While it's distracted! Under the debris!" He said crawling under the fallen bricks and stone walls. Angel followed suit.

"A spider being hunted by a moth." Angel groaned at the irony. "This violates the laws of nature on so many levels."

"As long as we're sheltered that thing can't get to us in it's largest form. If I'm right, it'll eventually decide to try to catch us by growing smaller which will put me at a better advantage to slay it."

"How small do you think it'll get?"

"Well it'll shrink to the size of an average moth or shrink to the size of an average human. Either way, I can kill it with my bare hands as long as it's not as big as it is now."

Naturally the moth adze's destructive fury and determination to feed on the intruders, could only create an orchestra of extremely loud noises that couldn't go unnoticed. The ruckus soon woke the damsel that resided at the tower Alastor had recently discovered. The one who the dreaded creature had been guarding for years. The princess who had been waiting and waiting for her rescuer.

"Oh what is it now?" She yawned, pulling herself out of bed. "Can't Vaggie just let me have one morning where I can sleep in?"

She looked out the window to see what had put her "captor" in such a foul mood this time. However when her gaze fell upon the knight dodging the strikes of the adze, she was instantly wide awake and her frustration transformed into joy.

"Oh my God! He's here!" She gasped cheerfully. "He's finally here! My prince has come at last!"

Her excitement was furthered when she saw said knight doing whatever he could to protect his comrade.

"And he's every bit as courageous and noble as I knew he'd be! Oh it's just like how in my storybooks! He's strong, he's quick, he's heroic, and..." She took note of his physique. "Huh...He's
a lot more skinny than I expected him to be. I mean I wasn't expecting a body builder but I thought he would at least have a little bulk. But who cares? Fat, skinny, bulky, all that matters is I'm finally getting out of here!"

She suddenly noticed that her attire wasn't exactly decent at the moment.

"Oh God! I can't let him see me like this! I have to get dressed, fix my hair and make up, I also have to pack."

She ran to her wardrobe and began combing through all her dresses that hung inside.

"I hope he doesn't have to slay Vaggie." She said while searching for the right ensemble. "I know it's a given in these kind of situations but she doesn't really mean any harm or ill will."

She decided on her favorite dress in which the outer garment was apple-red and the inner frock was apple blossom-pink. As fast as she could, she changed out of her nightgown and into the dress.  Next and just as fast, she packed up all her possessions into a medium suitcase, then finally set to work styling her hair and beautifying herself.

"He couldn't have come at a more perfect time. At dawn, when I look my very best." She said checking her appearance in a hand mirror. "Pretty as a princess. Now what approach am I going to use?"

She grabbed a storybook from her nightstand and began flipping through the various tales of princess, looking for ideas.

"Let him climb up my hair?" She put a hand to her locks which stopped at her back. "Nope. Not long enough."

She flipped a few more pages.

"Sing of my woes to him?" She heard the adze release another screech. "There's no way he'd hear me over that."

Just a few more page flips.

"Lie unconscious so your true love may bestow a kiss upon you?"She considered the notion.  "Well the message is a little creepy but at least I'll get kissed. Yeah, that'll work."

She then put the book into her suitcase and slid the bag underneath her bed. After that she smoothed out the wrinkles in her dressed, put every strand of hair in place, checked her breath, and lastly, laid herself down in an elegant position. She waited.

"Oh I almost forgot."

She leaned over and grabbed a bouquet of flowers which she clutched to her breast, resuming her Sleeping Beauty pose.

"Perfect." She thought. "Now all I have to do is wait for him to find me, kiss me, and this will all finally be over. No more spending day and night trapped in a tower, no more reading about happily ever afters happening to other princesses, no more constantly waiting and waiting and waiting. Yes. It has to be today. It just has to be. He's come further than all the other knights so he has to be the one to rescue me."

She was laying perfectly still and not making a sound but inside she was exploding with desperation and anxiety. This knight was her last hope. If he didn't make it, if he ended up like every other valiant man who had tried to save her, then she was sure that she would never be free. That she would spend the rest of her life in this damn tower.

"No! Stop thinking like that Charlie!" She internally scolded herself. "You will get out of here today. You will. All those years of hoping and praying and dreaming are finally going to pay off. Today you are going to have what every other princess has. A true love who will carry you away from your long-suffering misery and into a life of well-earned happiness. You only have to do a few more moments of waiting."

Yes her wait would be not much longer now and what she would receive would be well worth that wait. However she wouldn't exactly think so once she saw the face that was underneath her knight's helmet.

At least she wouldn't at first...