The False Princess

Chapter 13

Edited

I guess that I should probably explain. My name is Eadu. Eadu Jade-princess of Faiyria. Not a fake princess like the one that Gai is training us to be. But a real, true blue, born and raised princess. Except....I didn't really fit the mold of a princess.

I was a active kid, always running with her skirts hiked up to her thighs, and climbing trees. I insisted on taking sword fighting lessons with my older brother Mithil. I pulled pranks and was stubborn and rebellious. I was the courtroom joke.

One day, when I was 11, I crossed the line. I went way too far. My governess was nasty to me. She was awful and made me look really bad. I tried for her. I swear I did. But I guess she didn't like me or something, because she still treated me like a insolent child. So I decided to get revenge. I filled a bucket with burning hot tar, and placed it above her doorway. Then I placed a trip wire right in front of the door, that rigged a bucket of feathers to rain down on her. Also did I mention that I greased the floor with pig fat? I was prepared for some serious revenge. She made me look foolish-why shouldn't I do the same to her? The thing I didn't count on, however, was my nurse maid to enter the door. So instead of my nasty governess getting tarred and feathered, the booby trap was triggered by my sweet, loving, nurse maid.

With that last incident, my father reached the end of his rope. He had suffered enough humiliation because of me. I needed to act like a 'real' princess. So he decided to send me to a boarding school in the north of Echininare. I didn't want to go. I mean-I just had turned 11. I wasn't ready to leave home. But my father insisted. I swore that if they sent me away, I would run away and they'd never see me again. My father had just shrugged his shoulders, obviously not believing me. He didn't realize that I was dead serious. But my mother did.

Later that evening, while I was sulking in my room, my mother had come to talk me out of it. She had begged me to co-operate, and to just stay at the school for one year. That was all I needed to do. I lied. I agreed to set her mind at ease. But I knew there was no way I was going to spend a whole year at that school. I left the very next morning, with no fancy send away, and no entourage.

I was supposed to board the ship in Baracudma. I did. Technically. But as part of my plan, complained of a headache as soon as we boarded, and went down to my cabin. I left my tiara on the dresser, as a symbol of leaving my old life behind in my cabin, and snuck out of the ship and onto the dock. Soon they'd realize I was missing. Then they'd tell my parents. I intended to stay missing long enough to teach them a lesson.

Except it didn't exactly work out that way.

The ship set sail without me. But it never saw another shore line. Less then two hours after it set sail, the ship was attacked by pirates. There were no survivors. The pirates thought they had killed me. For me to reappear in society would be a death wish for myself and my country. Although the rest of my family believed me to be dead, my mother suspected I was alive and tried to find me. I let myself be found in a cathedral up north. Once she found me she gave me the bad news.

Obviously the pirates attacked my ship because they were paid to do it. If I came back home, we would politically have to declare war on Baracudma because I would serve as proof that it was their pirates that attacked me. The people were already looking for an excuse to fight, and I would be the perfect reason. Faiyria would never come out of that war alive. We would be destroyed. But if I stayed missing, then there would be no proof who attacked me, so my father wouldn't have to start a war. For the sake of my country, I had to leave my family. Not just for a year, but for much, much longer.

"My darling Eadu. The time will come one day for you to rejoin us. But Faiyria is too unstable right now. If I could take you back home with me, I would. I promise I would. But it's our duty as royals to put our country before ourselves. My dear baby. I'm going to miss you. Be brave. Be strong. I love you so much." She sobbed, holding me too her tightly.

"But Mother-" I started, tears welling up in my own eyes, but she put a finger to my lips. She grabbed my shoulders, and directly in the eyes.

"Now, when you do come to reclaim your title, there may be others. Impostors. They may act like you, look like you, and many may be fooled. But I'll know it's you because of this. And if something happens to us-if we die before you reclaim the throne, I'll leave a letter with your nurse. You will come back to us Eadu. I know it. We will see each other again." My mother had told me. She gave me a necklace with a pendant of a flame on it. Then she gave me some money, kissed my head, and left.

When I left the church we had met in, I was no longer Eadu Jade-princess of Faiyria. I became Lynx Jade-orphan of the streets of Preiston.

Every so often, my family would pass through the streets, waving to the peasants. I would stand, and watch them pass. My mothers eyes would linger on me. My father would follow her gaze, and try to stop to talk to me.

But I would've already disappeared.