Mischief - Part 5

Prince Riverqo walks out into the flower garden and he finds Mal there. Sitting on a marbled bench, gazing out into the distance, as if she were contemplating something... or daydreaming. 

He walks over and sits next to her. They remain in silence for a few moments before he says, "So when exactly am I suppose to announce our engagement again, dearest?"

She laughs, "Not for another week or so. I mean, we have to make this believable don't we?"

"Well, your act is quite convincing. Are you sure that you're not an actual duchess?"

She raises an eyebrow, "Positive."

They remain in silence once more.

"Don't you get bored of this life, Rivie?"

"Everyday. Which is why I go beyond the palace walls."

"How dull it must be... To be a high class lady... No adventure, no freedom, wearing these, urghhh, god awful dresses."

He turns to her and flashes another one of his charming smiles, "I think you look quite lovely in this one."

And she blushes slightly. The young girl didn't even know that she could do such a thing! She turns her face away, not wanting to show him how vulnerable she could be. She did not want to be known as weak... Never again...

She stands up, looks at him right in the eye and says, "You don't have to charm me Rivie... We're already getting engaged anyway."

And then she quickly walks away, leaving him to just stare at the back of her gown.

                                                             -----

Mal taps against the walls and listens intently for an internal sort of echoing. She had picked up this skill from an old friend long ago. It still proves to be a handy bit of knowledge when she's looking to make a quick escape. Her small stature made it quite easy too.

She still couldn't quite figure out what it was she looking for exactly....

Her hand was already getting numb from the repetitive movement when suddenly she heard the familiar sound that she was searching for. She wipes away the layer of dust from a particular brick to see a symbol staring back at her. A sort of upside down heart with an X in the middle. 

She leans her head against the symbol as she tries to remember where she's seen this before. Was it from her childhood? Had this been coded to her in some way before?

As a million thoughts and memories race through her head, she could hear footsteps approaching. Quickly she notes down the location of the symbol, wipes away the dust from her forehead and walks away from the location, putting on the best 'I'm lost' face that she could muster.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A lost little lamb?", a voice erupts a few feet away from her.

Mal looks up to see an unfamiliar figure. Blue eyes, jet black hair and a face that girls in the kingdom would swoon over. She did not like the looks of him. He gave the impression of being a slippery eel.

Still, she curtsies and addresses him appropriately, "My apologies good sir, I have no idea as to who you are but I am indeed just a tad lost in this massive castle."

He moves closer to her and traces his fingers down her bare arm, which on the inside causes her to shiver and hurl at the same time. 

"My name is Prince Arizel. I'm Prince Riverqo's cousin," he responds as he smiles at her suggestively.

The seriousness of the situation finally dawns on Mal.

"Lovely to meet you, Prince Arizel. I really should go. Prince Riverqo is expecting me," she replies with a hopefully, convincing lie and is about to walk away when he grabs her by the arm forcefully.

"Ah, you're not going anywhere..."

Mischief - Chapter 4

"Welcome back, my lord! We're so glad that you're safe," exclaims a short, round and boy-ish old man, who seemed to be wearing a uniform of some kind.

Riverqo smiles cheerfully, "No need for worries, Wordsworth. I just had a bit of trouble but it's all well now."

Wordsworth thows his hands up in the air in a dramatic manner that only thespians would use, "When Brutus came back without you, why, I almost had a heart attack!"

Mal tries his best to contain her laughter at the comical and stout man, as she stands by Riverqo's side.

He finally notices the now decently dressed Mal and raises an eyebrow at her, "And who is this with you, your highness?"

Mal curtsies like a proper lady, "I was rescued by Prince Riverqo. It's a miracle that I'm still alive. Those bandits never stood a chance against his skills..."

She says all this while looking at him with the most affectionate look that a woman could ever give a man... And yet, you could tell that she was teasing him. Just as a squirrel would tease you from up in a tree.

                                                           -----

Of course, soon after that, word got around about Prince Riverqo's daring feat of rescue and Malora was welcomed into the castle with open arms.

Inside this castle, she was no longer Malora, the hunted. Here, she would be regarded as Malora, the young duchess from the far of country of Ermosta. 

No one doubted her status as she was approved by the King himself. She was playing the part perfectly. The epitome of a charming socialite.

This made Prince Riverqo even more curious. How did a supposed thief and murderer come to play the part so well? How did she know the ways of high society?

                                                          -----

That night as Mal laid in bed combing her hair, the moon was out in its full glory. The white light softly made its home on her red bedding...

She didn't notice any of this. She has to think of her next move. It wouldn't be long till people started getting suspicious. The charade couldn't last forever. 

She looks at the small silver key that is attached to her bracelet and sighs. 

"I hope you have the answers I need..."

Mischief - Part 3

Mal can tell that Prince Riverqo is confused. No one has called him that in ages.

"Wait, Rivie? Do I know you?" he asks. In case you weren't paying attention, she still has the dagger to his throat.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Who can say for sure?"

She lets him go and stashes the dagger away. He turns around and looks at her. Properly this time. Studying her face and her being. Trying to figure out, if he did actually know she was...

"Best not keep looking to hard, Rivie. You may just fall in love with me...", she says teasingly as she slowly keeps her net away. She knows that he will not run.

"So... I guess I owe you a favour. What is it, urm...." He pauses, unsure of himself.

Mal walks up to him and and smirks, "Tis Malora, Mal for short."

"Malora... That's an interesting name."

"Ah but the interesting thing here will be the favour you grant me."

She then smiles and circles around him. He studies her and you can tell that he is intrigued. Like this is all just one mystery, waiting to be solved.

"Well, pray tell, what is it that you want then, Malora? Gowns? Money? A castle?" he asks her.

She merely shakes her head and chuckles, "A gown is useless to me, Rivie. No, what I want is something else..."

She finally stops in front of him, grabs him by his very expensive silk collar and you can see that her eyes are glistening. He is awestruck by them for a second before her next words almost give Prince Riverqo a heart attack.

"Make me your bride..."

Mischief - part 2

Mal merely looks at the captive and shrugs, "Well, well, for a prince, you don't seem to have very good manners. Not even a please?"

He tilts his head and looks at her, clearly confused.

"If you know, who I am, why won't you let me down?"

She shifts her eyes up and looks at him straight in the eye, "As mentioned before, your manners leave a lot to be desired, dear prince. Perhaps you wanna try that request again?"

"Oh beautiful lady, would you please let me down?" he responds earnestly.

She laughs, amused by his words. "Flattery doesn't work with me." But she proceeds to cut the rope holding the net up, causing him to fall to the ground abruptly with a 'oomph'.

She crouches down to his level and their faces are close now. So close that they could hear the other breathing.

"C'mon, how about you earn your freedom?"

He stands up straight and raises a questioning eyebrow, "You aren't going to let me go?"

"I didn't say I would, now did I? Also if you do try and run, there's another trap here just a bit away that would probably kill you. So your best bet is to stay here and earn your freedom in a fight with me."

The prince smirks at her last words, "You really think you can beat me don't you?"

With a flick of her bangs, she looks straight into his eyes with determination, "Perhaps. You won't know unless you fight me. Also, I'm talking just plain street fighting. No weapons. That is... If you're not too scared..."

"You're on. When I win, I earn my freedom..."

"Ah! If you win... If I win, you'll do me a favour, no questions asked, and you remain with me till I say you can go."

He flashes her a smile and tosses his sword to the side, "I give you my word."

Mal raises her fists up in a fighting stance and he does the same. This is it. This is her chance to finally set things right... She wasn't going to let this slip away so easily.

She attacks first. Her right hand aims for his jaw but he avoids it in time and aims for her gut. Her reflexes are quick and she dodges it and instead kicks him to the ground swiftly. He doesn't see it coming and falls on his back. He tries to bounce back but Mal is quicker.

Before he can even do anything, she has her right foot right on his throat and is applying just enough pressure to keep him pinned.

"Looks like I win."

She takes her foot off slowly and he begins gasping for air. He stands up once again and quickly aims for her left side, which actually hits her. It usually takes a while for people to recover but he must have had sufficient training.

She feels the impact against her side but ignores it and instead calculates her next move. Mal feigns falling to the ground and it works. He is thrown off by this and doesn't expect her to zip in behind him and hold her dagger to his throat. Which she does.

"You really have left your manners back at the castle haven't you, Rivie?", she whispers into his ear, as she clutches the dagger.

Mischief - Part 1

A huge, hairy knuckle comes swinging right towards the face of our lead character. It belongs to a man of no importance. What I can tell you though is that he is big and brutish in nature with a considerable amount of scars on his face.

Our lead ducks swiftly out of the way, takes out a silver dagger of appropriate size and cuts the man at his throat. All within one single minute. And yes, he is now dead.

A stray hair is blown away from the face and the dagger is casually placed back to its home,"That's what you get for touching something that isn't yours."

                                                              -----

People often mistook Malora, Mal for short, to be younger than her actual age. This suited her fine. The less people knew about her the better. 

She had a delicate and small face but her eyes, which were a dark concrete brown, somehow always glowed with a fierceness that could rival that of fabled dragons. Her hair was a cross between mossy green and sapphire blue, which came from her father. She hated this as a child as she was always teased as being a tree, you see.

In stature, she was petite and feminine but underneath that, she had the strength and agility of a great warrior. As well as the skill to go with it, of course. 

Besides these few details, very little had ever been discovered about her. And she intended to keep it that way. 

                                                               -----

It was a Thursday when Mal had been wandering in the Alexion forest, inspecting her usual traps. She knew that it was Thursday because the local bakery had their special berry pies for sale, which only happened on yes, Thursday.

So, there she was, our heroine, looking over the traps that she had laid out through the forest. She could hunt, without a doubt, but she liked to save her energy for fighting when she needed it. For some reason, she needed it quite frequently lately. 

The royal guards seemed to be slacking in their work and there were a lot more bad people around. Not that she wasn't used to it. Still, she wondered why...

It was during this pondering that she spied something caught in her big net. She raises an eyebrow at the victim, who is trying to cut at the net and free himself with his massive sword.

Amused by his lack of attention, she asks, "You need a hand there?"

He looks at her this time and she immediately recognizes him merely by his tousled chestnut hair and his grey eyes. 

He flashes her a charming smile and says, "Any chance you could get me down from here?"