The Princess Knight by: Tauriel Rogers

Chapter 40

"What are you going to do?" Prince Rorick asked when he caught up to the Queen.

"You remember that old hag that sells fruit in the market?"

"Of course! She has no respect for authority," the evil prince remembered.

"It is not the first time she has made a mistake and I think it is high time that we give her a proper lesson of who is in charge around here. What do you think?" the Queen asked with a sneer.

"I think she needs to be taught a lesson yes," Prince Rorick agreed.

"Would you be willing to send a battalion of your bandits to her farms  first thing after lunch?" Queen Rosalind asked.

"I only have to give them my word."

"Good," the Queen smiled evilly, "tell your men to burn her crops."

The Princess watched her mother and the Prince walk away with a cold stare. When they were out of sight, she turned back around to look at the group of men.

"No one has ever stood up to your mother like that before," Hue said.

"We are all brave, but not brave enough to do what you just did," Jacob admitted.

"I will not allow her to talk down on any of you, especially after getting to know so many of you on a personal level," Princess Alice said. "You have all earned my respect and in turn, you have given me yours."

"That's how it's always been," Larry shrugged.

"But in all my years in the guard, a woman has never trained among us," Sam pointed out. Thomas nodded.

"I have never heard of a woman wielding a sword, but when I have children, they will hear the tales of Princess Alice the Mighty," Thomas promised. Alice smiled. Captain Riley put his arm around her again.

"You have trained very hard today; perhaps you should call it a day?"

"Perhaps I should," Alice agreed, "but I'm not too tired for a horse ride through the market."

"Is that an invitation?" Derek asked happily.

"Maybe," the princess teased with a small laugh. Derek lead her to the armory.

"I would be delighted to come as soon as I get this armor off," he said. Alice smiled as she began to untie her bracers. She stepped out of her leg armor and returned everything to the area under the Captain's shelf. She turned back around and chuckled when she saw Derek struggling with some of the straps on his chest armor.

"Having trouble there?" she teased. Derek scoffed.

"I can't see where the strap is," he answered, still fumbling with it. The princess came up beside him and started untying the strap.

"Maybe you should asked for help from time to time. If you take your shoulder armor and bracers off first, it helps," Alice told him, stepping in front of him to unty the other side. Derek watched her as she untyed the rest of his armor and gently laid them on the floor with the other pieces. The Captain raised his arms so the princess could take the big piece of chest armor off of him. Alice put in the pile and when she looked back up at Derek, she gasped as he pulled her in and put wrapped his arms around her waist. She instinctively put her hands on his chest to steady herself.

"Jumpy are we?" he teased. Alice smiled and shook her head as she looked down at the floor.

"I wasn't expecting you to pull me in," she said, drawing her gaze back up to Derek's handsome face. The two looked into each other's eyes and Alice could feel Derek's hold tighten a little as he started to lean in. Alice moved on of her hands to his shoulder to stop him. "You know, if we don't get going now we're gonna miss out of the fresh pineapples."