Price Elamdar sighed and gave a futile kick to his horse's belly.
"Hurry up ye old nag!"
The horse sighed back in response and managed to walk a smidge
faster than before. It was tired of princeElamdar and had a serious
urge to buck him off. Theonly reason it didn't was for fear of
being whipped. Contrary to Xylia's thoughts, the prince was anything
but intelligent and gentle. Though he did have a very handsome
quality about him (certainly not from his father) he was cruel,
self-centered, and about as smart as his fathers cows.
Suddenly a feminine scream burst from the path ahead of him.
Prince Elamdar urged the horse ahead quickly, not really thinking
about what might have caused thescream or how to deal with it.
To him all women werefickle creatures who fainted at the mere
sight of a drop of blood. But as he burst upon the scene of thecrime,
the petty prince let out a rather feminine scream of his own.
* * *
After about a quarter of an hour's worth of weeping, Xylia finally
stood up and wiped her face. Self-pity was obviously going to
get her nowhere, except for in the gloomy realm of depression.
She grabbed her sack, slung it over her shoulder, and started
out on the road once more. As she walked she wondered where she
should go. She'd heard of a few villages along the way, but she
would find no work with simple farmers who already knew how to
cook and clean. No she'd have to go to the city, where if sheplayed
her cards right, she could probably find work at a tavern.
Her mind made up, she sped up her walk and added a bit of bounce
to her step. She was free, free to do whatever she chose! Oh what
an exhilarating feeling! Her emotions were just bouncing up and
down today, and those naughty little chemicals certainly weren't
going to be good for her near future experience.
Xylia heard a not-too-distant rumble. She drew her knife and
looked about warily. Hearing nothing else, she decided it must
be her all-too-vivid imagination. The rumble sounded again, this
time much closer. Xylia turned around. Her eyes grew wide and
she felt suddenly short of breath.
A twelve-foot troll with greasy black hair, andslobber covering
his whole torso, stared down at herand grunted primitively, "Crunch
& lunch!"
It was all Xylia could do just to produce one scream in her
terror.
* * *
The prince rode up to the screaming figure of Xylia and stopped
dead in his tracks. Gibbering with terror, his horse bolted, and
he fell to the ground in a heap.
The troll then turned upon the prince, who just happened to
have much more meat on him than Xylia did. "More to eat! Me feel
like meat!"
"Ahhhhh!" was the prince's stately comment.
Xylia just stared in horror. Why that nasty troll was going
to eat her true love! He would not get away with such an atrocious
act! Not if she had anything to do with it.
Xylia leapt ferociously onto the trolls back and started beating
him with her small fists. The troll,annoyed by this tiny mosquito
of a girl, swung grandly about and threw her off of his back,
quickly and neatly. Xylia gasped as she hit a tree and the wind
was knocked out of her. The troll approached upon the petrified
Elamdar and scooped him up.
"Ahhhh!" was once again all the noble prince had to say.
"No! Elamdar!" But Xylia was too late, he had become troll rations.
The disgusting troll gave a loud belch and out came Elamdar’s
sword! "Lady luck" was certainly with Xylia today!
"Ick, uck! Me not want that ucky muck!"
Xylia deftly grabbed the sword and spun around to face the troll.
"I'll kill you, you heathen! You ate my love!"
"Yep, I shove love. Eat you later, me full with tater."
"Die!"
And with that, Xylia flung herself in a desperate attempt for
revenge. After a short bout of fighting, the girl had neatly beheaded
the filthy monster, and hardly gained a scratch. Which lead her
to think about Elamdar. Why he hadn't even tried to rescue her?!
Suddenly the truth began to dawn on her. Elamdar was indeed
very much like his father, stupid, rude, and above all, arrogant.
He didn't even have the gall to stand up and fight the troll,
while she, a mere "girl" was able to defeat it in a matter of
minutes.
"Thank you! You proved a great lesson to me today," She thanked
the troll corpse. "But now I really must be on my way."
And with that, Xylia set of on the road to a new life,and a
new understanding of that life.
Princes are not always what they seem.
