Currently Untitled, Work in Progress

1.
Once upon a time, there was a knight. He was the the bravest, most handsome knight in the entire kingdom, and all of the surrounding kingdoms as well, and the princess happened to be madly in love with him. The princess (Agdeline, was her name) wanted to marry him, but he wouldn’t ask. When the princess asked why he wouldn’t ask the king for her hand, he always said the same thing, “I can’t.”

The princess didn’t understand. The king would gladly give them his blessing, but still the knight never asked. Her younger brother, Arila wouldn’t agree, but it wouldn’t be up to him. Now, Princess Agdeline wasn’t used to not getting what she wanted, and as the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, Agdeline grew increasingly frustrated. She was absolutely positive that there was nothing wrong with her, so he must be the one that’s at fault.

One day, when Princess Agdeline’s maid Jenna was brushing the princess’s long brown hair, she brought up the subject of Sir Egan.

“Miss,” She said. “When are you and Sir Egan planning to be married?”

Agdeline was so upset by this question, that she had Jenna banished from the castle (she tried to have her father banish the poor girl from the Kingdom, but that seemed a bit harsh). After that incident, people no longer asked her about the relationship between she and Egan. But, she wasn’t happy about how Egan was supposedly “treating her unfairly.”

After noticing his daughter’s increasing distress, King Rylan went to speak with the respected knight, and asked him why he wouldn’t ask him for his daughter’s hand in marriage. He called Egan in the throne room, and sent his advisors out.

“If you ask, then I will gladly give you my blessing, and one day you will be king and rule with my dearest Agdeline for a long, long time.” The kind king said. Egan looked out of the window, and out at the plains beyond the walls around town. “What is the matter? You seem embarrassed about something.”

His cheeks flushed red slightly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, your Highness.” He managed to stammer out. King Rylan gave him a stern look.

“I’ve been around longer than you think I have. I know when someone is fibbing, and it’s not wise to do so to the King, so you best start speaking the truth.” Egan shook his head.

“I don’t think you’d like what you think you want to hear.” The older man gave the young knight a look that said that he clearly wanted Egan to just say it. The young man sucked in a breath, and quickly mumbled something that the king couldn’t hear.

“What was that? I’m getting old, boy. Be louder, and talk a bit slower.”

“I-I much preferprinceArila.” Egan said the last three words quickly, and the king glared at him, wordlessly telling him to get on with it, and be mature about it.

“I s-said... I m-much pref-fer... Prince Arila.” As he said that, Egan prepared himself to run out of the king’s great hall. And he did.

2.
He ran for a long time. Out of the castle, through the town, and into the woods. He was thinking to himself about how glad he was that he was off-duty that day, and that it would have been awful to have to run in his armor, when he came to a field. He didn’t realize that he had been running for that long, because he frequently came here to hunt, and it was an hour ride by horse from the castle.

How could he go back, after what had happened with the king? Egan sat for hours in that field, thinking about how many different lies he could have told the king, that wouldn’t have had him sitting outside in the dark - for it had gotten dark, while he was absorbed in thought. He moved himself closer to the trunk of a large tree, and leaned against it. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep, but it would have to do. Besides, he’s been in worse places in much worse situations. He tried to sleep - he must have dozed off, because the next thing he knew, the sun was rising and shining on his face. He groaned. What was he going to do? There were probably people out looking for him, and he couldn’t hide forever - he knew that much.

He didn’t have to go back right away, though. He could stay out there for a little while longer, right? After all, when he got back there might not even be anything there for him anymore-then he’d actually have to leave, and he didn’t know where he’d go. Yes, he’ll stay and think and when people come to find him... He hadn’t thought that far into his plan. And it sounded like he didn’t have time to, either. He heard footsteps coming through the woods in his direction. He thought about getting up and trying to run, but sleeping on the ground in the woods isn’t the best form of resting, and he was still exhausted - and hungry as well. He hadn’t even finished that thought when he saw them.

It was a group of about a half a dozen people, all of them knights, he realized. But what shocked him was the man who was riding quickly to catch up with them.

Prince Arila.

3.
Egan was on his way back to the castle again. He was surrounded by the knights, and the Prince was riding ahead of them. Unsurprisingly, Egan was nervous. Prince Arila had been completely silent the entire time, and it was unsettling - Egan always knew him to be outgoing and kind, and to always speak his mind. That wasn’t how he was acting now; his face was emotionless, and his grey eyes gave no hint at what his thoughts might be. It took them nearly two hours to reach the castle, most likely because the rapidly-increasing temperature was making it difficult for the knights to breath in their heavy, metal armor.

The first thing that happened when they got back, which didn’t surprise Egan in the slightest, was a flurry of guards escorting him down into the dungeons. He was put in one of the cells, where he had no choice but to wait. And wait he did; for two days. On the morning of day three, a guard came into Egan’s cell, where he was dirty, cold, tired, and hungry. He was taken back up to the throne room, where the king was waiting for him. But he wasn’t alone. Standing on either side of him were Arila and Agdeline, looking less than amused.

They stood in near-silence, Egan looking at his feet, hands crossed behind his back, while King Rylan thought about how to start this, and put his thoughts in order. Multiple times, he opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but quickly closed it, as if rejecting that way of starting. A quarter of an hour went by, and the king finally spoke.

“S-” He stopped himself, and started again.

“Egan.”

The mentioned looked up, and saw that the three in front of him were watching him intently. Egan could plainly see that princess Agdeline was angry-he could see it in her eyes. But prince Arila... There was nothing. It was as if there was no emotion left in his body. Of course, Egan knew that wasn’t true. If he looked hard enough, he could see that there was a hint of shock and confusion hidden deep inside.

“Egan,” King Rylan said again.

“Y-yes, sir?” His voice cracked from days of disuse, and lack of water. The older man sighed, and rubbed his eyes with one of his thin, withering hands.

“You...” He paused. “You must know what the consequences are... For actions such as what you have done.” Egan nodded. ‘Death by gibbet,’ he thought. He’d seen it happen too many times to count to people he’d known his entire life.

“Alas, I must think more about this. I was prepared to send you off to the rope, but now that I see you...” He drifted off into silence.

After a minute or so, he ordered the guards to escort Egan back to his cell. And once again, he waited. It wasn’t as long as before, though. After about six hours, he heard footsteps at the end of the hall. He couldn’t quite understand what was being said, but the guard sounded angry.

Eventually, a set of footsteps continued down the hall. As they came down, a chorus of hoots and catcalls went with them. And then, Egan saw who it was- Agdeline, with a ring of keys in her hand. Without saying a word, she unlocked the door and pulled him roughly into the hall.

“My lady-Agdeli-”

Agdeline shushed him, and pushed him down the hall, in the opposite direction of which she came. She continued to push and prod him down the length of the hall, passing mostly empty cells, but some with gaunt, long-forgotten, mostly-dead people in them.