Eighteen: Another Fun Game! This One with Arrows!

Valentin’s words, contrary to their content, were designed to keep me up at night, tossing and turning, wondering just what I was facing in the morning.

Unfortunately for him, I’d never been very good at doing what people wanted me to do, and I fell deeply asleep after brushing some of the footprints off my pillows.

Still, I heeded his warning about getting up myself, because I didn’t want to be beat up before even getting to the punishment. At dawn, I was up and dressed in the clothes provided for me in the armoire: brown trousers, a flowy white top that was a size too big – and my own belt from before, which I had kept on my person underneath the maid uniform. Of course, my pirate blade went right back into its hiding place.

Whatever punishment the king had decided for me certainly wouldn’t kill me. There was far too much at stake for me to die right now.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to get hurt. I imagined it was likely flogging, the most common non-lethal punishment dealt by the crown. And Valentin, of course, would be the flogger, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so cheery about it last night.

Getting flogged would hurt like a bitch, and depending on how many strikes, I might be bedridden for a bit, but that was fine. I’d recovered from wounds like that in two or three days before, and then I was back to running around like usual, so it was hardly much of an impediment. It was just the blood and having to sleep on my front that was the annoying part.

I looked down at myself. On second thought, maybe a white shirt wasn’t a great idea.

Just as I was going to change, the door flew open, and there was Valentin, leaning against the doorframe. One side of his mouth lifted in a smile, revealing that savage canine tooth.

“Morning,” he greeted casually, scanning me. Deep down, I knew there was a part of him that was disappointed to find me awake, but aside from a slight eyebrow twitch, he didn’t show it, instead gesturing with his chin for me to follow him. I did so, a skip in my step.

“Morning,” I chirped. Outside, there were two lines of guards stationed neatly in the hallway behind Valentin. Oddly, all of them were carrying bows and quivers on their backs.

…I started to get an odd feeling in my stomach.

Valentin led the way through the hallways, with me right behind him and the two lines of guards following us silently like ants following a scent trail. I glanced back at them just once, only to see a few sympathetic gazes flit away. A couple others had sharp grins, a vicious excitement causing their eyes to practically glow. Like a pack of wild dogs finding an injured rabbit.

Hmm. A bit concerning. Spinning back around, I tapped Valentin’s shoulder. He spared me half a glance. Thinking that we couldn’t possibly have a conversation like that, I sped up so I could walk next to him, pumping my arms comically as I took two steps for every one of his.

“Uhm, your princeliness? I’m quite curious why you need so many strapping young men to escort little ol’ me to my punishment. It couldn’t be that you didn’t think you could handle me yourself?”

Instantly, any trace of amusement fled from Valentin’s face like a muskrat slipping into a ditch. He was silent at first, a muscle in his jaw jumping. A couple of the guards coughed uncomfortably.

After a moment, however, Valentin appeared to think of something that cheered him up, because after taking a deep breath, his smirk returned.

“They’re not your escorts,” he said. “They’re assisting me with your punishment.”

“I see,” I said. “Well, with this many people, I’d say it’s a party, not a punishment! We should add on a few more, make it really exciting.”

“…Be careful what you wish for.”

Valentin led us through the extensive gardens at the back of the palace so fast that I couldn’t even appreciate the wildly blooming flowers and apple orchards. We were going quite far, weren’t we? Did the palace grounds even go any farther beyond the gardens?

As it turns out, they did. Beyond the gardens was a vast stretch of woods. Hunting grounds.

I had a feeling I knew why all the guards had bows with them.

Feigning ignorance of my fate, I shielded my eyes from the early morning sun and hummed, scanning the trees. “How fancy. You know, in the past, royals used to go out to the countryside for their hunts. Now they just go to their backyard. A bit lazy, isn’t it?”

A few of the guards shifted uneasily, unnerved by the casual insult to the royal family, but Valentin outright ignored me, striding over to a nearby tree stump that held a bow made of shiny black wood and a matching quiver. He slung the quiver over his own shoulder and pulled out a single arrow before coming back over to me.

“Today, we’re the hunters. You’re the prey. For fairness, none of us will be using horses,” he said, then held up the arrow a few inches from my face. “Most of the arrows have blunt tips. If they hit you, they’ll bruise, but you’ll live. Probably.”

Indeed, the tip of the arrow was rounded, molded out of what looked like clay. It was safe.

…Probably.

Wait a second. “Most?”

Valentin grinned.

“Yes, most. These guards are my best archers and forcing them to only use these children’s arrows is an insult to them. A certain percentage of their arrows are normal. It is a punishment, after all, but don’t worry, they’re the best for a reason. None of them will aim for anywhere lethal. Not on purpose, anyway.”

Valentin watched my face carefully, waiting for the fear to settle in.

Instead, I smiled and flicked the arrow gently. “Creative! Well, I better get a move on, then. How much of a head start do I get?”

I watched with glee as the hopeful light in Valentin’s eyes slowly died.

Maybe for anyone else this might be a horrifying punishment, but for me?

This was going to be fun! It would be more fun with all regular arrows, but that’s okay.

“…Thirty seconds,” Valentin muttered sullenly, shoving the arrow back into the quiver rather roughly. His boots crunched harshly over the gravel path leading into the woods as he stepped to the side, gesturing for me to go ahead. As I went to pass him, he spoke up once more, in a last-ditch attempt to scare me.

“And by the way…the hunt will last five hours. If you end up incapacitated, we will wait for you to wake up, provided your wounds aren’t too severe. And you won’t get a head start after this first one. Better conserve your energy, Mr. Lyndsen.” There was a grin in his voice, and you know what? I’d spoiled so much of his fun so far that I felt obligated to let him have this little victory. Instead of smiling bigger, I nodded to indicate I understood, blank-faced, and strolled into the woods.

Five hours? Hah.

The trees were densely packed, but wide trails had been carefully maintained for the king and his subordinates whenever they rode through on recreational hunts, so thankfully there wasn’t any dense brush to contend with. The leaves cast dappled gray shadows over the ground, barely there in the light from the sunrise, swaying softly. It was a nice day, perfect for a little stroll.

I took a moment to breathe deeply, enjoying the moment. Birds were chirping to greet the sun. Something small rustled a bush nearby, probably a squirrel or a rabbit. Branches creaked lightly in the breeze, which carried the scent of wildflowers and smoke from the palace chimneys. It was peaceful, a truly beautiful plot of land.

After giving myself time to take it in, I stretched for a moment, and then started lightly jogging down the path.

I thought about climbing the trees, but Valentin knew about that trick. He’d look there. So today, I was going to have to rely on speed and intelligence.

I also briefly considered going on the offensive. Valentin never said what would happen if I knocked all the archers out first. Would there be a rematch? Gods, I wanted to find out more than anything.

Unfortunately, I was supposed to be “Trevor Lyndsen” right now. A commoner. Someone who definitely wouldn’t be able to incapacitate a retinue of guards and the crown prince with no weapons or outside help. I didn’t need to give the king any reason to seriously interrogate me. Yesterday’s meeting couldn’t be called an ‘interrogation’ in any sense. It was for show more than anything, but it still wouldn’t do me any favors to attract any more attention to myself than I already had.

I was running for a while before I decided that was probably far enough, and slowed to a leisurely pace once more. Presumably, the guards had the advantage of knowing these hunting grounds and hiding would be pretty much useless, so I didn’t even bother.

Soon enough, I picked up the subtle crunching of swift footsteps. It was a single set, which meant the guards had chosen to spread out rather than search for me in a group. It didn’t matter if they chose to search for me that way because they each wanted the glory of taking me out on their own, or because they didn’t think I was much of a threat. Either way, it worked out extremely well in my favor. Pausing, I roughly located the guard’s direction and ran towards him.

I wasn’t going to go on the offensive…not completely, anyway. A little bit of a counterattack wouldn’t hurt anything.