The Legend of Princess Wildheart (16 page)

  The brothers started pulling back more hay and found Prince Morgan, Prince Tangent and Pricilla.  They continued searching through the hay but could not locate Princess Wildheart anywhere.  Duke tried to wake Pricilla but she didn’t budge, still out cold.  Elise ran over and tried to wake up Prince Tangent and he started slowly coming around.  The brothers decided to dump a bucket of water on Prince Morgan and that woke him up.  They tried the same thing with Pricilla but she didn’t move.

  Prince Tangent woke up dazed with a headache. 

  “Where am I
Elise?”

  “Take it easy my Prince, you are in the stables, someone had knocked you out but you are safe with me now,” said Elise.

  Prince Morgan stood up rubbing his head.  “Where is Princess Wildheart?”

  “She is not anywhere in here.  It looks like someone knocked us all out and took her Morgan,” said Duke.

  Prince Morgan noticed her sword on the ground along with Pricilla’s.

  “The Princess Sword,” he said.  “She would never just leave this on the ground like that.”

  Duke picked up Pricilla in his arms.

  “Help me get Pricilla to the castle Morgan, she won’t wake up,” said Duke.

  “My sister Tori can help her.  She is a trained healer Duke,” said Elise, helping Prince Tangent to his feet.

  “Let us all get back to the castle,” said Elise.

  “Not me!  Not until I find Princess Wildheart.   Someone has taken her hostage,” said Prince Morgan.

  “You are in no shape to travel yet Morgan.  Help me get Pricilla back to the castle and we can both go look.  I can track anyone anywhere,” said Duke.

  “I’ll help you with her Duke.  We need to hurry though so we can find Princess Wildheart,” said Prince Morgan.

  All of them went to the castle, including the Stable Master.  Tori came running when she heard there were injured people inside the castle.

  “Oh my!  What happened?” asked Tori.

  The two Prince brothers filled her in as Pricilla was put on a bench in the hallway.  Tori put bandages on the others who had been awakened while Elise watched over Pricilla.  Tori put some sort of medicine on the lumps to speed healing and reduce the swelling.

The men all stood and watched as Tori and Elise cared for Pricilla.

  “Go and find Princess Wildheart!  I can take care of Pricilla.  Duke
, try not to worry.  She is just knocked out and should be fine,” said Tori.

  Duke gave Pricilla a kiss and he and the other men except for Prince Tangent, all went to look for Princess Wildheart together.  They went back over to the stables to look for any clues that might help.  Duke is an expert tracker and should be able to figure out where she may have been taken.  Duke examined the area where they all had been knocked out.  He found the other swords over to one side of the stable.

  “Well here are the swords, all are here.” said Duke. 

  He continued to examine the area as Prince Morgan gathered up the weapons. 

  “From the way these tracks look I would say a wagon was here.  In fact I remember we were all trying to revive the Stable Master and a wagon was right there.  Now there are just wagon wheel tracks left there and they lead out of the stables,” said Duke.

  Duke followed the tracks on foot and noted that they went toward the front outer gates of the courtyard.  He bent down to look closer and found that something more heavy than just a wagon by itself had made the tracks.

  “See the way this wheel mark digs in here.  Those deep tracks show that this was not just a wagon with load of hay.  Something else was in the wagon along with the hay.  My guess is that Princess Wildheart was abducted and taken away in that wagon,” said Duke.

  “Let’s get our horses Duke.  We can follow those wagon tracks and find her,” said Prince Morgan.

  “Let’s go!  These tracks will be super easy to follow,” said Duke.

  The four men mounted up on their horses taking their weapons with them.  They had just trotted out of the stables when they heard a horse come galloping up and through the front courtyard gates.  It was Princess Wildheart riding in at full speed.  She smiled when she saw the four men on horses in front of her.  She rode up near Prince Morgan and jumped off her horse.  He came down off of his and they both hugged each other, holding on close.  She gave Prince Morgan a big kiss.

  “Are you alright?”  He asked.

  “We were just now getting ready to track you down Princess.  Glad to see you are alright,” said Duke.

  “Prince Darksoul knocked all of you out and abducted me.  I was tied and gagged before he put me in a wagon under some hay to hide me.   He said he would kill you all if I made any noise to prevent him from escaping with me.  With his henchmen holding swords at your throats, I had no choice but to obey,” said the Princess.

  “How did you escape him?”
asked Prince Morgan.

  “I tricked him into drinking some of this knockout powder I got from Chelsi the elf.  I left him sleeping under the wagon and rode the horse back here as fast as I could,” she said.

  “Good job Princess!  Glad your ok.  He didn’t harm you any did he?” asked Prince Morgan.

  “No, he bragged about himself and licked my face but did nothing that harmed me.  He is a mad, disgusting, pig of a man,” she said.

  “He is mad, licking your face.  Quite mad and disgusting,” said Prince Morgan.

  “How is your head?”
asked Princess Wildheart, touching his bandage.

  “I’ll be ok.  Elise had her sister Tori fix me up.  She is very good at healing it seems,” said Prince Morgan.

  “Glad you are ok.  Where is Pricilla?” asked princess Wildheart.

  “She took a hard hit in the head.  Still out cold in the castle.  We should all go back there and check on her,” said Prince Morgan.

  “Did you find my Princess Sword?”

  “I found all of our swords in the stable. 
Let’s go get yours.”

  “Tanner and I are going to go back to the Tavern and have ale.  We will put the horses away,” said Prince William.

  Once back inside the castle they found Pricilla lying on the bed where they left her before.  Tori was watching over her and wiping the big bump on her forehead with a cool cloth when they walked into the room.  Duke went over and kneeled down beside her.  He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.  Pricilla’s eyes then opened.

  “What’s going on?”
asked Pricilla. 

  Duke gave her another kiss and stroked her hair.  He told her that everyone had been knocked out and Princess Wildheart had been abducted by Prince Darksoul.

  “I remember now that he me in the head with my own sword,” she said.

  Pricilla got up and then saw the knot on her forehead in the mirror

  “Wow!  No wonder I was knocked out,” said Pricilla.

  “Don’t worry that lump will go away in a day or so Pricilla.  Let me bandage your head and put some medicine on it for now,” said Tori.

  Pricilla thanked Tori and let her care for her.  Prince Tangent was now wide awake and sitting with his arm around Elise watching Tori bandage Pricilla.

  “I knew Prince Darksoul would try something like this.  If I ever see him again I will run him through with my sword,” said Prince Tangent.

  “If he has any brains at all he will never show his face around here anymore,” said Duke.

  “I could go for ale.  It’s been a long day,” said Pricilla.

  Tori and the others went over to the Tavern to join the two Princes who were working on their second ale.  After the drinks arrived from the Tavern Maid everyone chatted for a while.  Pricilla spotted the three men who had been hired by Prince Darksoul over standing at the bar.  They were drinking and having a great time with the money they had earned doing Prince Darksoul’s dirty work.

  “I am positive that those are
the men who clubbed you Duke!” said Pricilla.

  “That’s them alright!”
said Princess Wildheart.

  Prince Morgan, Duke and Prince Tangent got up and went right over to the men.  The men didn’t even notice them coming until it was too late to escape.

“Well, well.  Look who we have here.  Our little friends from the stables,” said Prince Tangent.

  Prince Morgan was the first to take action.  He grabbed the largest of the men by his collar and rammed his face into the bar top.  Then he pulled the big man back and onto the floor, kicking him several times.  Duke and Prince Tangent had grabbed the other two startled men.  Prince Tangent grabbed a fork that was lying on the bar top and jammed it into the man’s shoulder, and then he took the same mug that the man had been drinking from and broke it over his head.  The man fell in a clump to the floor.  Duke had the other man by the collar and punched him real hard in the face, knocking him back to the bar.  Duke then grabbed the man’s ale and broke the mug over his head, just like Prince Tangent had done.  The same results were obtained as the man crumpled to the floor.  They grabbed the men feet first and drug them out of the Tavern and into the street.  All three of the men were unconscious and just lying out in the dirty street outside.  When the hero’s came back into the Tavern they were met by claps and cheers from the girls and the Tavern patrons.  The men couldn’t help but smile as they walked back over to their table to rejoin the others.

  Suddenly, one of the three in the street came back into the Tavern with a club headed for Duke who had his back to the entry.

  “Watch out Duke!”  Shouted Pricilla as Duke turned to see why she was warning him.

  Duke saw the man come charging at him with the club and he ducked as the man swung the club for his head.  Duke then grabbed the man by the throat before he could take another swing.   Duke hit him hard in the face with his fist, knocking the man to the ground.  Duke picked up the man’s club and struck him hard over the head, knocking him out again.  Prince Tangent dragged the man out of the Tavern again and tossed him in the street near his friends.  More cheers from the crowd inside as the two men returned once again to their table to rejoin the others.  Prince Tanner and Prince William bought the house a round of ale to celebrate the beatings.  The couples were all seated next to each other enjoying being with the ones they loved and everyone was having a merry time despite the interruption.

  “Why don’t you two Princes go get the girls that you are so breath taken with?”  Asked Elise to the Prince brothers.

  “Do you mean Peyton and Lauren?” asked Prince William.

  “Don’t try to play innocent with me Prince William.  Anyone can see by the way you look at them that you have fallen for them.  It’s obvious that you both adore them,” said Elise.

  “Let's go Tanner, you know she is right,” said Prince William.

  The two of them left to go get the girls from the castle and bring them to the Tavern.

  “I didn’t know that they were getting along so well with the girls but I am happy at the thought.  Those two girls are darlings and mother just dotes over them.  My mother will turn them into little Princesses in no time,” said Princess Wildheart, laughing.

  “I have the only girl for me,” said Prince Morgan, giving Princess Wildheart a kiss.

  “All of you make such great couples.  I am a little jealous of you all,” said Tori.

  “Aw, you will find someone Tori.  Just wait and see,” said Pricilla.

  Soon the two Prince brothers returned with Peyton and Lauren, arm in arm.  Prince Marcus came along with them and immediately sat down next to Tori.  He told her that he really liked her and wanted to get to know her better.  Tori blushed and giggled.  She liked him too.  Pricilla was right, she has found someone special.

  “I knew you would find your Prince Tori,” said Pricilla.

  “My brothers need women who can keep them in line,” said Princess Wildheart.

  Everyone laughed as they enjoyed each other and the conversation.  The King soon showed up and came over to join the group.  He was unaware what had happened.

  “What’s this?  It seems you are all having a party without me,” he said, smiling as Duke pulled a chair over for him to sit on.

  Princess Wildheart recounted her abduction story, telling how she had tricked Prince Darksoul.

  “I’ll kill him if he ever sets foot on castle grounds again.  I’m serious!  No one treats my little girl that way and lives to tell about it,” said the King.

  As evening neared the group left the Tavern to return to the castle.  It was time to get refreshed and changed for dinner.  They all dressed in fine castle attire, shedding the fighting clothes for their better clothing.  Peyton and Lauren wore beautiful Princess Gowns, just like Princess Wildheart and Pricilla.  The seamstress had come through and delivered them to the Queen while they were over at the Tavern.  Everyone commented on how beautiful the two girls looked which made them very proud and happy.  Dinner was a grand feast and the entire group was relaxed and having fun together.  The King ordered some musicians to come and play so everyone could dance with those they loved.  He asked the Queen for a dance and the two of them led the way for the others.