Chapter 21: Princess Rescue

“Princess, we have to keep running!” Eric yells with a huff before grabbing her hand and pulling her along.

“HRPH I know, I’m running! Why aren’t more knights here yet!?” she yells back, her breathing ragged. She looks over her shoulder and men clad in the same clothing that attacked her classroom are chasing her down the hill towards the merchant district of the capital.

“The further into the capital we get, the more likely we’ll run into knights. We just have to keep moving until we find help!” Eric answers through strained breaths.

The two run down the rest of the academy’s stone path before seeing a knight at the gate marking the boundary of the campus.

“Knight! We need your help, there’s been an attack at the academy. They’re from the Alarian Empire and they’re trying to kidnap the Princess!” Eric yells at the knight stationed there.

“What!? An attack?” the knight responds.

“Yes, and we’re being chased by the men in tan! Look up the hill, some are coming down right now!” Eric responds.

The Princess is too out of breath from running to say a word.

“Right! Come with me, there are a number of knights stationed at the east wall, we’ll be able to protect you and sound an alarm” the knight responds.

The knight rushes them through the outskirts of the merchant district towards the east wall before arriving in front of an open gate manned by a small number of knights.

“Where’s Sir Beryl? I have an urgent report!” the knight steps past those stationed at the gate.

“We made it Princess, we’ll be safe now” Eric says, the anxiety of their situation starting to drain from his face.

“Safe.. yea thank you, Eric” Princess Sylvie responds with watery eyes, then looks down at the ground shamefully.

“Alfred’s strong as an ox, he’ll survive however many knights get thrown at him, Princess" Eric says calmly, "and it’s safe to say you two are friends now” he adds with a faint smile.

The Princess looks distraught, her face is red from running, and under the surface her emotions are ready to burst.

“You’re right, I must’ve been imagining him not liking me..” she responds without managing a real smile.

An older knight approaches them-

“Princess, I’m Sir Beryl, the eastern wall commander” the knight says with a polite bow, “I’m terribly sorry for the ordeal you’ve been through. Please come with me and bring your friend”

“Sir Beryl, thank you” Princess Sylvie responds with a mechanical curtsy and walks towards the open eastern gate.

“Hey, aren’t we going outside the wall? Isn’t it safer inside the wall or even up on top of it?” Eric asks, confused as to why they’re being led further from safety.

“We had a training exercise today and have a significant number of knights outside the wall" Sir Beryl responds with a comforting smile, "if you’re being chased from inside, this will be safest” he adds.

Eric stifles his complaints.

“Oh.. alright” he responds.

Sir Beryl leads the two out through the gate to a large gathering of knights with horses and carriages.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about a large gather- HRK”

Eric falls face first onto the ground. Just before his eyes go black he sees Sir Beryl pick up the Princess and feels himself lifted into the air.

***
“Hahahaha those idiot kids, running straight for our guys at the gate. Commander was right to station some guys in Sante knight gear” the knight carrying me exclaims.

Ah damn, Eric’s probably dead. He’ll try to fight. I shouldn’t go berserk until they take me outside of the city. But if I’m held with the Princess, I can’t do too much.

Balls.

The knight takes me through the outskirts of the merchant district and out of the eastern gate. He throws me into a carriage with a tied up Princess Sylvie and Eric before tying my own hands and feet.

Eric’s alive, this is better than expected.

The carriage and surrounding knights take off onto the eastern road. Eric is out cold, and the Princess seems to be dissociating. I’m glad Eric is safe, but I can’t chimp out with them here.

I’ll need to meditate on this, I close my eyes and drift off into my own world.

“Alfred, pst, wake up” Eric calls to me. My eyes snap open and turn to Eric.

“Yea, what’s up fellow hostage?” I ask with a silly smile.

“Funny, how the hell do we get out of here?” Eric asks, panicked, but all I can do is sigh.

“I put up the fight I could inside, but they have a big guy who’s strong..” I respond.

“Right hmm..” Eric hums.

He’s contemplating.. nothing he says is going to be a good idea.

“I heard a story about a crazy strong old man who rescued a carriage from some bandits, maybe he’ll come and save us!” Eric exclaims.

He looks like a little kid, hoping for Superman to come and.. wait.

The crazy strong old man is right next to him, but he doesn’t want to be found out.

“Hey Eric, I’ve got an idea. Sit back a little more” I say.

The Princess perks up when I say I have an idea and so does Eric. He obediently sits back more. I start to manipulate my magic and intertwine it with the energy in the air. I push it into the center of his brain and form a circle like Professor Linda did.

Now sleep Eric, I command the magic while imagining him snoring.

He slumps further back into his seat and starts snoring.

“He’s asleep!? Just when we had a plan?” The Princess yells, but Eric is out.

I manipulate more and send it to the Princess’s brain with the same command, causing her to slump over. This magic is going to come in handy.

I pull my wrists apart and snap their binding before opening spatial storage and retrieving the trusty magic infused sword I won as a kid. I slice through the bindings on my feet and take a deep breath in before sending out my magic to scan the area.

Four knights in front on horseback, two on each side of the carriage, and one managing the carriage. One knight directly behind us, and a second carriage full of knights behind him. The ride is uncomfortably fast, I guess Sante would want their Princess back.

I push my magic scanning to the limit, but there’s no one else. Oh, a deer in the forest, no no, I should focus.

I make footholds inside the carriage and dash directly backwards, I swing my sword and decapitate the knight following us. I continue my dash backwards, slicing through half the neck of the knight tending to the carriage behind while decapitating every knight sitting on the right side of his carriage.

“We’re under attack! Protect the carriage from behind!” someone yells.

I slice through the left side of the rear carriage, cutting the remaining knights in half midway through their chests.

“”HIURK””

The six remaining knights direct their horses around the front carriage and face me, each of them drawing their swords.

“It’s the kid! Kill him!” the knight who carried me recognizes me immediately and charges in first.

He wasn’t very gentle carrying me earlier.

I leap from the rear carriage and come face to face with him so quickly it looks like I teleported. I turn my sword and swing the flat of the blade down on the top of his head.

“Ahguu.. ahg” he groans.

His skull caves in as he spits blood and some brain bits out of his mouth.

The four knights that were at the front now sit between the hostages and me. I turn my body in mid air and kick off new magic footholds. I target two on the right and bisect them and their horses at the base of their necks.

The three remaining knights’ faces crumple at the sight, and one turns to escape.

I manipulate condensed magic to fly next to the fleeing knight and grab the top of his head like I'm palming a basketball. I pluck him from his horse and hurl him at the last two knights protecting the carriage. 

“AHHHHHg” he groans and flies through the air.

The airborne knight knocks the other two off their horses and falls on top of one of them. I land on the ground and kick off swiftly. I stop over the stacked knights and plunge my sword through their hearts.

The last knight is on the ground, lying on his back, and crawling slowly away from me.

“No, please no. Have mercy. We’re just soldiers following orders!” he yells.

I lift one finger to my lips and make a shushing sound. I walk up to him and take a knee before him.

“Who gave you these orders, and do you know why they were given?” I ask in a whisper.

“Oh, um, the Prince of Alaria wanted to marry Princess Sylvie, and we were in the capital for them to discuss it. But the interview went bad somehow, and the Prince was furious” the knight whispers back to me.

“So he told you to kidnap her?” I ask quietly.

“Yes, um.. he’s a womanizer. And he’s the Prince so no one can turn him down.. When Princess Sylvie did, he flew into a rage, left the capital, and told us to bring her back with us no matter what” the knight’s voice gets quieter and squeakier the more he talks.

“Right right, hey thank you being honest with me. I’ll put you to sleep now” I say.

The knight’s face lights up, realizing he won’t meet the same fate as those around him.

I manipulate my magic and the energy in the air into his brain and make him slump down on his back out cold. He’s snoring. I plunge my blade through his skull just above the eyes.

Maybe this was the best day for them to attack the school. I couldn’t have done much without seeing that sleeping magic earlier. I turn back to the carriage where Eric and Princess Sylvie are both sleeping.

They’ll be suspicious about just falling asleep before the fight, I’ll break up the carriage they’re in.

I open the curtain to the carriage and see the two snoozing away before placing a condensed magic barrier up and quietly snapping the posts of the carriage. I lay it over top of them gently.

“Ahem – Princess! Eric! Are you two ok?!” I yell while pulling the collapsed carriage pieces off of them.

“Huh, what?” Princess Sylvie looks at me with bleary eyes, not conscious enough to remember what happened.

“Hagawa..” Eric opens his eyes, then shoots up and smacks his head on a piece of the carriage, “ow”

He really does startle awake.

“Eric, wait a second, I’ll get everything off you. Are you hurt? Princess, are you alright?” I ask.

“Oh um.. the Alarian Knights took us? What happened?” Princess Sylvie blinks her eyes until she can see the scene around her.

“Some crazy strong old guy showed up and wiped them out. It was brutal. I wouldn’t look around too much outside” I say while taking the remaining carriage rubble off of the two.

“I’ll grab a sword and cut the ropes you’re in” I say.

I step to the side of the carriage and grab my carrier’s sword to free them with.

“Stay still please, this sword is sharp” I say to the Princess as I cut the ropes holding her.

“Eric, you too, don’t move too much” I say, cutting Eric’s ropes as well, then giving them a hand stepping out of the carriage.

“Alfred you’re covered in blood! Are you injured?” the Princess says with horror while looking me up and down.

“Most of it isn’t mine, I fought one of the knights while the old man cleaned up the rest” I reply.

“So he’s real! The old man of the mountain saved us!” Eric shouts, his eyes have stars in them.

“He did, I thought you were making up a story to make us feel better, but he really came” I say with a smirk “Sante should’ve sent people after us, but it’s probably not safe to stay here. There could be more Alarian soldiers” my smile turns serious as I look at the two of them.

“You’re right, and one of the Sante knights we sought help from was actually Alarian. We have to be careful..” the Princess says and moves her hand to her chin to think through the best course of action.

“Where’s the crazy strong old man? He can escort us back and we’ll be fine!” Eric exclaims.

“Oh, um, he said his back started to hurt, so he went home..” I answer awkwardly.

“His back? Right, the knights mentioned he walked hunched over, maybe an old battle injury..” Eric says.

“Yea that’s probably it, we could take the broken carriage back, but if there are any other Alarian knights on the way, we’ll be in trouble..” I say, trying to change the topic.

“You’re right, even if we run into Sante knights, who knows if they’re really from our kingdom..” the Princess says with a distressed look before turning her gaze to me, “Alfred, you said you hunt the eastern woods, could you guide us back through them?”

“Uh right, I can, but part of the journey would be in the dark, even if we leave right now. We could camp for a night, but unless we’re further up the mountain, there’ll be predators” I respond.

I don’t know what conclusion I expected her to reach; I was just trying to sell the crazy old man helping us thing.

“So it’s dangerous no matter what we choose..” the Princess hums, but I don't want to drag this out.

“I can get us back tonight. I’ve spent a lot of my life in forests, so my night vision is quite good. But it’s going to be scary for you two, you won’t be able to see well, and you’ll be completely relying on me to guide you” I say with a determined look, my eyes staring into the Princess’s.

I don’t want to go camping with Princess Sylvie and Eric. I can tie ropes around them and lead them through the forest like dogs.

“I trust you" Princess Sylvie says confidently, "Eric, do you trust Alfred?” she asks.

“Huh, oh yes, I do” he says.

“Alright, everyone grab a sword from the ground. I’ll check the rear carriage for supplies. Eric, try to find some more rope” I command the two.

I walk to the rear carriage - it’s pure carnage, and it smells. I know I did this, but damn.

I grab the knights' bags and combine anything useful into one, then take some bread and experimental paddle horn jerky out of storage and stuff them in the bag. With those, I return to the front carriage, where Eric has two lengths of rope and Princess Sylvie holds a sword ready to fight the ghosts of the dead knights.

“I got some blankets and food. If you’re hungry, take some now, we’ll be walking for a while” I say.

I pass the bag around, and everyone grabs a handful.

“What are we doing with the rope?” Eric asks.

“You two might not like this, but I want you to tie them around your waists and hand me the other end once it gets dark..” I say with an apologetic smile.

“You’re going to pull us through the woods like hunting dogs?” Eric asks and tightens his face, unimpressed at the suggestion.

“Calm down, it makes sense Eric. Alfred will be able to see better than us, we’ll follow his footsteps, and the rope will make sure we don’t get separated” Princess Sylvie says while glaring at Eric, making him avert his eyes.

“Yea ok, that’s fine” he says.

“Right, let’s get going. If you need water, I can make you some, and I think Princess Sylvie can use water magic as well” I say, gesturing to the Princess.

“Yes, just ask if you get thirsty Eric” she affirms with a nod.

We make our way off the road and into the trees until we’re out of sight and hearing range. I keep my magic detection close to its maximum range so I can get a sense of animals in the forest and anything that comes by the road.

The journey until sundown goes by in a flash. Princess Sylvie and Eric chat while I lead the charge and keep tabs on our environment. Just before dark, I decide on a resting place.

“It’s getting dark, let’s rest, then adjust how we’re traveling” I say, motioning at a spot on the ground to sit.

“Yes, we should rest” Princess Sylvie says.

“Ok, I could use a break" Eric says, "running earlier plus all this walking is hard” he whines.

“Eat some more food, especially the fatty bits of meat. You’ll need the energy” I reply in earnest to Eric’s complaint.

“Alfred, how hard are your hunting trips? You don’t even seem tired” Princess Sylvie asks, partially confused at my stamina and partially jealous.

“They can be hard, especially if I’m far from home and have to carry a large amount of meat back. I guess I could carry one of you on the way back.. but it might reopen the wound on my stomach” I say, quickly trying to rescind the offer to carry someone.

“I’m not asking you to carry me Alfred. I’m jealous of how natural this all seems for you. I’d be a lot more panicked without you here..” she adds with a sweet smile while looking up at me.

Eric shoots me daggers. If looks could kill, he’d be more dangerous than the crazy old mountain man.

“Ahem- I’ve spent a lot of time hunting and exploring areas like this. It becomes like second nature, though I prefer having more supplies when I-“ northwest, something big.

I lift my finger to my lips to impress the need for quiet on Princess Sylvie and Eric. The Princess covers her mouth with her hand, and Eric starts to tremble slightly.

There’s a bear maybe 100 meters up the mountain, it must’ve been sleeping, it shouldn’t be this close without me noticing. There are benefits to being closer though.

I focus some of the magic I’ve been spreading about the area and use it to command the air’s energy to create faraway elemental magic. An earth magic spear shoots out of the ground under the bear, piercing its skull before receding back into the ground.

It flops onto the ground and breaks some sticks on the forest floor loud enough to reach our group. Princess Sylvie lets out a squeak, while Eric’s trembling grows more violent.

“Don’t worry, it’s moving away from us” I say in a calm, quiet voice, “give me your ropes, let’s start moving again. You can keep a hand on my back or shoulder, but don’t restrict my movement, ok?”

They both nod before standing and placing their hands on my back like they’re praying at a religious site. These two aren’t cut out for this.

The rest of our walk back to Sante is uneventful. Anytime a predator nears our group, a spike grows out of the ground and eliminates them before the Princess or Eric can notice.

“Princess Sylvie, Eric take my hands for a moment” I request.

I hold my hands out to the two, there’s barely enough light to see them even though we’re standing so close.

“Um ok, is there bad terrain?” Princess Sylvie asks, then takes my hand.

“No, but I have good news” I say with a smile they can’t see.

I take both of their hands and press them into the eastern wall of the Sante Kingdom

“We’re home, keep your right hand on the wall and walk behind me down the hill to our left” I command.

“We’re actually back..” the Princess says as a tear rolls down her right cheek.

“We need to get the hell out of this dark, c’mon let’s go” Eric says, rushing us. He’s been jittery ever since we heard the bear crashing into the ground earlier.

We make our way to the edge of the forest near the eastern gate. There's a bit of light from on top of the walls that lets us see each other clearly.

“Um, Princess, before we go up to the guards can we get rid of the ropes?” I ask.

“Huh why?" she asks with a puzzled look, "I guess we don’t need them anymore, but I wanted to keep mine” she adds like a child with a toy.

Eric tilts his head at me, sharing in the confusion.

“If you want to keep the ropes, put them in the bag here” I say, opening the bag we’ve been carrying food and blankets in, “if I walk up to the guards with the missing Princess tied up in a rope, I don’t think I’ll survive the night..” I add with a worried smile.

“Ahah, right, sorry, the rope felt comforting in the forest. Eric let’s take them off” she removes her own and prompts Eric to do the same.

The three of us make contact with the knight standing guard outside the gate, and he turns white seeing us. I’m guessing these guys got an earful for allowing the Princess to be taken. That’s tough.

The knight leads us inside and readies a carriage for the royal palace.

“Um.. can I just go back to my dorm? I want to clean up” I ask, looking between the leading knight and Princess Sylvie.

“Nonsense, father will want you thank you. We have baths and fine clothing in the palace. I will be taking care of you for the rest of the night” she says proudly.

Man, that phrasing didn’t sound good. Eric is turning into an angry tomato again.

“Right, ok, I’ll go then”

Resigned to my fate, I take a seat in the carriage.