Sirius and the Forgotten Princess

Into the Woods

 Leah continued to run further into the woods. She ran not bothering to find a path. The bag bounced on her shoulder with each step. Leah could hear Moon's soft grunts coming from inside the bag with each step.

Her legs hurt.

She could not have been running for very long. The light of the manor had disappeared behind her but she needed to go further before she could rest. Leah wished that she had more stamina.

Leah ducked under a low hanging branch.

As a princess, she had always been discouraged from running, or sports of any kind for that matter. She was supposed to carry herself with grace, keep her shoulders back and her head straight. She was supposed to be proper. In addition, it would be difficult to run with the amount of skirt layers she preferred anyway.

She jumped over an exposed root.

Leah was glad that she had shed her dress for a more sensible pair of servant's pants. She could not imagine having to flee wearing so many layers.

Her lungs were burning.

Leah could feel herself moving slower. Fatigue setting in on her limbs. She had to push through it. She could not stop now. If she did, they would find her. The Aldhara family would drag her back to the manor and strengthen the security. This was her only shot.

Moon poked her head out of the bag. She clung on the sides of the canvas material as not to be thrown out.

"Your Grace?"

Leah ignored the fairy. Moon looked up at her princess. Her face was flushed and her breath was ragged. While she looked tired, she was clearly determined. Moon sunk back into the bag.

She tried to make herself comfortable. While whatever cloth surface she was soft, it was not enough for her too truly relax. She tried to close her eyes to get some sleep.

That thought was quickly interrupted by something banging against her head. The fairy winced. She pulled whatever it was out from behind her. It appeared to be a smooth piece of metal. It was too dark to see clearly. Moon tried to position herself so the light off her wings could illuminate whatever had just hit her. On the side facing her, there was a simple hinged clip. She recognized it as the pin in the princess's hair from earlier. She flipped it over to see what was on the other side.

Moon didn't know what she expected, maybe a pretty flower or an intricate design. Maybe there would be a gemstone set in the center of it. However, it bore none of those symbols. Instead it had a simple four-pointed star set inside two rings. The bright golden material had no other markings. Actually, upon holding it the pin did not even appear to be gold. It was far too light.

What could it be? Moon tried to think back on the royal crest. She had seen some in the royal castle before. It had been displayed upon many banners among it's great halls. Yet, all she could remember was some three pointed, half open flower. It had been a long day. It was strange to think that she had only arrived to the nation of Canis Major yesterday. However, the symbol did seem familiar somehow. She had most defiantly seen it in the past two days, somewhere in the castle but where?

Ah yes! Now she remembered. She had seen several of the royal servants wearing them. If Moon had to guess, she probably would have been issued one if she was not part an outside organization. She repositioned herself to put the pin in her lap, the pin taking up all of her lap space do to her decreased size.

Why would the princess have and wear a servant's pin?

Before she could continue on that thought, Moon was suddenly lurched forward. She and all of the bag's content tumbled out to the ground. Moon tried to catch herself with her wings. They softened her fall but failed to stop it all together. She rolled on to the grass, safely. She lifted her head to survey what had happened.

Then princess had not been so fortunate. She saw Leah lifting herself from the ground. Dirt ran down the front of her shirt and arms. The palms of her hands appeared to be scrapped. The contents of her bag were on the ground. The princess started grabbing all of the contents of her bag to put them back in. The fairy walked forward, handing her the hair pin still in her arms.

Leah grabbed both fairy ad pin and shoved them in the bag as one. Moon escaped immediately.

"Your Grace,"

She was ignored again.

"Your Grace,"

"What?"

"Please slow down. You could have been seriously injured."

The princess kept her head down, continuing to put her items back in the bag.

"Help me find my things, Alba."

Moon focused on increasing the amount of light her wings gave off, surrounding their area in a soft blue light. Leah reached for her last item. Moon then noticed a small series of scratches going down the side of her arms. Her tunic had been torn and she appeared to be bleeding.

"My Lady, your arms."

Leah looked down. She had not noticed her scratches. She could tend to them later. There was only so much time she had before the guards started to search for her. They had horses, she did not. This meant that she had to stay off the paths and run through the underbrush. IF that meant she would be scrapped by the brambles then so be it.

"It's fine Alba. Get back in the bag."

"Your Grace, please let me bandage you."

"Not yet we need to get further away from the manor. According to the maps in my office there should be a creek about 5 kilometers from here. We can rest there."

"As you wish."

Moon flew up to the Princess, settling down in her breast pocket. Moon provided no value in the bag. At least she could provide a light for her princess to see by. They should be at least 1 and a half kilometers away from the manor by now.

Leah began to move forward away, the light helping her dodge some of the larger branches. Moon looked down at the ground. Her glow provided about a meter radius of well-lit area. She hoped that it would not get them spotted.

Moon wandered what it would have to take to get a princess to run away. Surely this marriage could not have been that terrible. She had had some clients that had to escape some pretty nasty relationships, but never before had she had a client react like this. What was going on? Moon never thought of herself as a nosy person. Whatever the princess's situation is was none of her business. But one thing was apparent, the princess was hiding something.