No matter how many times Keaton attempted to strike up a conversation, the princess never turned her face from the window. As the carriage rattled along the forest path, he finally gave up and leaned into the plush cushioning of the carriage seats. If there was anything good about this job, it was the comfort he was given. Comfort and money. Keaton was used to the more... "ruffian" type jobs that included rude retorts and cheap inns. When he heard that the king, of all people, had an offer for him, Keaton was nothing more than shocked. Now, watching her rosy curls bounce around her hidden face, Keaton understood that perhaps the king had simply wanted someone who could put up with his troublesome daughter.
The carriage pulled to a stop, and Keaton let out a sigh and straightened up. He ran through the plan once more in his head: Accompany the princess into the forest, lead her safely through the forest into the small village, find the inn where someone will be waiting. That was about all Keaton knew, but all he really cared to know. He was getting paid a mighty fine sum of money for this simple job, and he could deal with a bratty princess for a day or so.
He jumped out of the carriage and offered his hand to the lady. She blatantly ignored it and stepped to the ground without even lifting her skirts. Keaton tried not to grimace as the princess' dress raggedly collected dirt. She looked around impatiently at the trees, as if scolding them for staring at her. Keaton shook his head and motioned towards the driver, letting him know his job had been fulfilled.
"Princess, if you would please follow me, we have a schedule to keep to." Keaton swung one arm towards their destination. For the first time, the girl looked at him, then straightened her self and began to follow him into the woods.
Keaton continued to trudge through the greenery, but he stole a quick glance back at the girl. He had imagined she would still have her head held high, with some sort of disapproving glare in her eyes. Instead he found her watching the ground, her fingers dancing with each other.
"Princess, are you nervous?"
She sighed. "I shouldn't be. And I told you. It's Breane. I'm not a princess anymore."
"Right, Breane. What do you mean you are 'not a princess'?"
"Well, I'm walking to my death sentence as we speak, so there's no need to keep with formalities."
Keaton stopped and turned around, Breane almost walking straight into him. "What?" She calmly stared back at him. "Your death?"
"What did my father tell you about this job?"
"That I would accompany his daughter, yourself, to a small town where I would be given further instructions as the inn."
"Right. Your instructions will be my death."
"That's horrible. Why would a king send his own daughter to die?"
Breane let out another breath. "I'm the middle child, you see. And my family was unfortunate enough to be granted three daughters, no heir. My elder sister is to be married off to our cousin, the new heir. My younger sister, was gifted with the most frail beauty a girl could ever posses, and my parents hope to marry her off to a rich young prince. However, our family is not necessarily well known. We may be royalty, but there are many kings in this land. And, as for me, I have never been anything special. I am not beautiful, I was not the eldest, all I appear to have are my wits."
Keaton began piecing the picture together. "And your parents are going to kill you off to, what, get a name for themselves? Won't that be bad attention?"
"Some attention is better than none at all. Plus, my family hopes that, with the news of my death, many princes will fly across the lands to protect my sister from my own fate. Truly, she is beautiful, and deserves a handsome young prince."
"That's ridiculous. They're going to kill their own daughter for simple publicity?"
"They believe in the end it will help them." She shrugged. "Now, shall we continue on this quest?"
Keaton, a little taken aback at how calm Breane was about this matter, simply nodded and returned to their rhythmic walking. He couldn't believe what he had just been informed. How could someone be so arbitrarily selfish? Who would trade someone's life for their own fame? Keaton thought. Apparently, a king. Still, she was his daughter. Almost a piece of himself and he was sending her--Suddenly everything whirred around Keaton. He found that Breane was upside down, as was the rest of the forest. Or, rather, as Keaton quickly realized, he was the one out of place.
Breane began to laugh. Not some girly giggling, but a real doubled-over-choking-on-her-own-breath laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She finally managed. "Your face was just so funny."
"Great. Thanks. Now if you don't mind, princess, I'd like to not be somehow dangling upside down by a rope."
She grinned and started towards him. "Right, no need to be so angry. you do happen to have a dagger or something sharp I could use?"
"Yeah, hold on a second." Keaton pulled his non-trapped leg towards his body and awkwardly wrestled a knife out of his boot. "Here." He handed it to her. "I hope you know how to use it, princess, because I would much rather not be stuck her for days while you chew your way through the rope."
Breane began sawing through the rope near his foot, ignoring his pointed comments on her title. "Don't worry. I'm quite clever, I know how to handle more than you might expect. My life would be quite boring if I did nothing but watch after my sisters all day."
With a painful thud, Keaton was released. "Right." He picked himself up and began dusting his shirt off. "Now, could I please have my knife back?"
She gave him a sly smile. "Now now, are we sure that's a good idea? What if you get caught in another simpleton's trap?"
He glared at her and quickly snatched the knife out of her hands before she could taunt him more. "Let's so move on, shall we?"
She giggled at his pouting. "Ah right, off to my demise." With that Keaton snapped out of his childish behavior and remembered their objective. The two continued on in silence.
As they finally reached the edge of the town, Keaton began to feel a prickling anger seep through his stomach and into the rest of his body. I am a fool, He thought. He was no better than that king. Someone threw money towards him and he took it, no questions asked. He closed his eyes. If only he had known. No, even if he had refused, someone else would have been easy to pick for this job. Here, he could do something. He glanced over at Breane. It was obvious she was a princess. Her dress alone, even with its dirt, was clearly of higher status. Now that they were here, there was no way he could hide her. But she wasn't even a princess anymore. She may look the part, but she had been cast aside. Breane no longer had her titles, she was walking to her death completely beautiful and unafraid.
At the entrance she turned to him and granted him with a smile. Her last real smile. Then she lightly touched her lips to his cheek. "Thank you, Keaton. This is where we must part ways. I hope you have a prosperous life." And with that, she turned from him and walked through the door.
Keaton stood for a moment, heart pounding, trying to collect his thoughts. Nothing was staying clear in his mind, except that he did not want this girl to die. He took a breath and began to walk away from the building. Was he supposed to just do whatever he wanted now? The king had only given him half of his payment (the other to be given to him upon his return), however, half was still more than he was usually given. Even just the thought of returning to that bastard made Keaton's muscles begin to tense. But there was something he had to do.
With his mind made up, perhaps too late, Keaton stormed back to the inn and strode through the doors to where he saw Breane talking with a cloaked man. Breane turned and her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before her mouth gave the hint of a smile and her body flooded with relief. She had been ready to die, but she did not want to.
"It's time to go." Keaton returned her smile with a grin and smashed the cloaked man's head into a table. Not very subtle.
Breane's face stretched with shock, but it could no longer hide its joy. "Keaton! We'll get arrested for something like that!"
"I've escaped worse." He bragged, and grabbed her hand. "But, of course, that involves running." Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she lifted her skirts with her free hand and ran towards her first true adventure.
