Sword and Arrow
Prince Dylan frowned. “I thought you weren’t going to follow us.”
Prince Franco shrugged and looked at his sister. “It’s getting close to noon, and you need to eat, Francesca. You’re not going to let Prince Dylan’s offer you down, are you?” They both looked at each other for a few seconds before the princess nodded. “Let’s go inside, and we won’t stay here any longer. It’s a long journey back to our palace, and it’s yours too, Prince Dylan.”
Prince Dylan nodded, and they entered the small diner together; Adira was left outside.
While Adira was standing, her stomach suddenly made a noise. She remembered that she didn’t eat her breakfast because it wasn’t what she should have eaten before leaving the palace.
She simply touched her stomach. “Don’t they feed their soldiers every time something like this has been out for nearly an afternoon and hasn’t eaten?” she asked in her mind, but she couldn’t bear it anymore, so she spoke without facing the soldiers next to her. “Can I ask a question?” she asked, but no one answered immediately. A few moments later, the soldier who had given Dylan an excuse earlier spoke up.
“What is that, young lady?”
“At this time, aren’t you eating?”
“Do you mean to eat because it’s time to eat lunch?”
“Yes.”
“Every time we leave the palace, we eat so much that we have enough to eat until dinner.”
Her mouth slightly fell open at what he said. “Why is that?”
“Because we’re a soldier. We can’t lose our focus on Prince Dylan and his companion, even on King Stephen. If we’re going to eat, it’s a big loaf of bread if we’re just traveling while riding a horse.”
She winced. “It’s hard to be a soldier here; apart from not being able to lose focus on the prince, it’s very heavy, and it’s hard to move in what I’m wearing now,” she complained in her mind.
An hour passed, and Prince Dylan also left the cafeteria and slowly walked away from the market there, but Prince Dylan and Princess Francesca went under the big tree, and it looked like they were planning to get to know each other there. Adira, on the other hand, stopped not far from them.
She walked a few steps away from the soldiers so they could rest and sit. After all, they were almost the only ones in that place, so the others with her were also satisfied.
When she was sitting on a big rock, stunned into nothingness because she was already hungry, suddenly someone spoke behind her. She didn’t turn around and kept looking in front of her.
“You look tired, soldier?” She neither spoke nor moved.
Prince Franco frowned at the soldier because he did not answer. “Even your voice is tired because you can’t give me an answer.” He stepped forward and sat next to Adira.
She slowly faced the other direction so that all that could be seen on her face was what looked like a helmet on her head.
“Aren’t you going to answer my question?” Prince Franco asked again.
She sighed. ” He really won’t stop asking,” she said in her mind. She found a thin piece of wood and used it to write in the sand, “We had a break, so I’m fine, dear prince.” It took her a long time to write her answer because she had to erase one word to write the next.
“That’s why you didn’t want to answer me earlier because you can’t speak.”
She nodded and didn’t let go of the thin wood she was holding.
Meanwhile, while Prince Dylan and Princess Francesca were talking, Prince Dylan accidentally looked at where Prince Franco and Adira were sitting. He frowned slightly at that scene, and he looked at the two for a long time. His focus was only taken away from the two when the princess spoke.
“Prince Dylan, are you listening? I’ve been asking you for a while, but you’re not answering me.” There was a hint of irritation in the princess’s voice.
Prince Dylan blinked a few times and hesitated to smile at the princess. “I’m sorry, Princess Francesca. I just saw something, so I didn’t hear what you were saying.”
Princess Francesca frowned. “What is that?”
Prince Dylan just shook his head and asked the princess’s question again. “Can you repeat your question?”
“If you have gold in your palace?”
Prince Dylan was surprised by the princess’s question, but he also answered. “If we talk about gold, we have it, because that’s what we use to pay for what we need.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then mother and father are also in our palace?”
He smiled a little. “You are not wrong in what you said; all the palaces here have it.”
“Very good.” Princess Francesca smiled and clapped like a child.
The two didn’t know that Adira had been looking at Prince Dylan’s place for a while. She also saw how the prince looked at the princess.
“Tsk, does he see that the princess looks beautiful-that’s why he looks like that?” she suddenly said.
Prince Franco, who was next to him, was shocked because Adira said the words not in his mind but in his mouth.
“Soldier, are you fooling me?” Her eyes widened when she realized what she had done. “You can speak, but why did you pretend not to and write on the ground what you wanted to say?”
She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the wood. “I’m sorry,” she just answered him.
Prince Franco grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to face him, and because of the strength of his hand, she ended up facing him.
He stared into her eyes as if through them he would know who she was.
“Adira?”
She frowned slightly at the name he said. “It’s impossible for him to recognize me by my eyes and my voice. I don’t get to be with him often or talk to him in this country,” she said in her mind, and their eyes kept staring at each other.
“It’s you, young lady!” Prince Franco seemed to cheer up and smile when he found out that Adira was hidden in the soldier’s outfit. It came out as a handsome man.
She looked away and removed his hand that was still holding her shoulder. “Why are you wearing that outfit?” asked Prince Franco.
She sighed, and it seemed like there was nothing she could do because he already knew who she was and it was hard to lie. “I just want to,” she answered shortly.
Prince Franco turned his head to the left at Adira’s answer. “You just want it?” The prince seemed even more confused.
“Yes.”
“You probably know that it’s heavy, and the body doesn’t move much when wearing that.” She nodded. “But why did you still wear it?”
She turned to him. “I just want to. Why do you ask so many questions?” she answered grumpily.
The prince smiled and shook his head. “You’re mean to me, young lady.”
“Because you’re repeating yourself. I already answered, didn’t I, and then you’re going to ask again.” She glared at him, but the answer she got was a smile. “Crazy.”
Prince Franco’s happy face turned serious again. “You’re Prince Dylan’s servant, aren’t you? What are you doing here, you’ve become a soldier?”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
She stopped for a moment, but she couldn’t answer the prince’s question either because she saw an arrow going to Dylan’s place. She quickly stood up and ran, but even if she ran faster, she couldn’t make it. She couldn’t think anymore and suddenly pulled the sword from her side and threw it to block the arrow going to Dylan.
The sword twirled in the air while the arrow quickly fell. Adira was breathing fast while looking at the two things in the air now. She almost fell because her sword blocked the arrow, and she fell to the ground. In that scene, her knees went completely soft because if the sword had not stopped the arrow, it would surely have buried itself in Prince Dylan’s back.
The other soldiers became alert and quickly approached Prince Dylan. The prince was still wondering, but when he saw that there was a sword and arrow near them, he decided to take care of himself because he was with the princess.
“What’s happening?” asked Prince Dylan.
As the soldiers surrounded them, one of them spoke. “There is an enemy around, dear prince. We must leave this place.”
The princess was clinging to Prince Dylan’s arm. “Then let’s go, but wait-” Prince Dylan stopped speaking and looked for the new soldier. “Where is your new companion?”
“She rests away from us, dear prince, and thanks to her too because her sword was used to block the arrow that was supposed to be buried in your back.” Prince Dylan turned to where Adira was, and he just stared at her place.
Meanwhile, Adira remained standing, and her heart beat faster. He felt someone coming up behind him, and he was sure it was Prince Franco.
“Please talk, and no matter what happens, don’t ever get rid of the thing on my head,” she said breathlessly.
Prince Franco was surprised at what Adira said. “What do you want?” Prince Franco couldn’t finish what he was going to say because Adira was slowly falling to the ground; that’s why he quickly caught her.
Prince Dylan was worried and quickly approached where Prince Franco and Adira were.