Brave Knights and Stubborn Princesses 3

Brave Knights and Stubborn Princesses

 Section 3 of 5

April 2007 (age 12)
By Kimberly 

            Sir William felt invigorated. Having just left the excitement in the dining hall, he was eager to save the princess.  As he walked toward the stable, he noticed that the stable boy was already waiting for him with Prince.

            “Here is your horse, Sir William.”

            “Thank you.” he replied.  Prince had an intricately designed purple and gold cloth draped over his back.  Sir William fluidly mounted and trotted out of the Mansion’s gates.  As soon as he began riding through the busy streets, people started asking questions.

            “Where are you going, Sir William?” one shopkeeper called.

            “To save the Princess!”

            “To save the Princess?” an old lady beside him asked.

            “Yes, ma’am.”

            The news spread as rapidly as fire leaping through dry brush. A crowd soon gathered behind him, not wanting to miss the fight.  People cheered and shouted, passing along the news.  Finally there was some action in the town! Sir William was marching to save the Princess!  When Sir William caught his first glimpse of the castle he felt a tinge of fear. Perhaps this wouldn’t be as easy as he thought. The castle was an enormous looming structure of ancient stones.

“Perhaps this was a bad idea,” he wondered. But he shoved such ideas from his mind and with greater determination he continued toward the castle.

            As Sir William rode up the steep path to the old castle with a mass of people trailing behind him, Princess Alexandria was leaning out over the high tower balcony watching. 

            “Someone has finally come to try to save me,” she thought.  She watched as Sir William asked the crowd to remain outside the castle.  Then he pointed his lance and march into the castle courtyard.

            “Oh no! He’s going to kill Mr. Dragon!” Alison trembled, “He thinks he’s so smart! He thinks he can win me so easily! Humph! I’ll stop him yet!” She ran from the balcony in the tall castle tower.  Gathering up her long skirt, she slid down the lengthy banister that wound around the tower’s narrow stairway.

            As soon as she was down, she closed the inner gates of the castle and slid the giant bolt across them. Sir William was confused as he watched the gates close at his approached. He dismounted Prince and tried to push the them open. They wouldn’t budge.

            “I’ll have to climb the wall,” he thought. He was forced to leave his horse, shield and lance. The only thing he could keep was his sword.  He carefully began to climb the stone wall.  Since it was very old the stones had plenty of chips and cracks in them, so he didn’t have much trouble climbing. As he was scaling the wall, Alison ran to Mr. Dragon’s room where he was lazily resting in an enormous bed.

            “This is for your own good,” the princess exclaimed catching her breath. “I’ll lock the door so that he can’t get to you!” She dashed out of the room and locked the door as the dragon stared in bewilderment.

            Next she ran down the few dark stairs to the dungeon. She unlocked it and opened the door widely. Grabbing a short heavy chain, she walked slowly back up the five stone stairs.  As she entered the inner courtyard, she saw that the knight was slowly working his way down the wall. A sword swung from his belt and made a loud clattering noise as he jumped to the ground. While he got to his feet, the princess hid the chain behind her back.

            “Greetings, Princess Alexandria Augustine.” Sir William bowed.

            “Good afternoon,” Alison replied.

            “Someone shut the doors when I arrived so I had to climb the wall, a shame isn’t it.”

            “Indeed a shame.” Alison agreed in a reserved tone. William gave her one of his smiles that made women faint and she calmly smiled back.

            “I am Sir William, but you can call me William.”

            “I have heard of you, Sir William. I am Princess Alexandria Penelope Isabella Marguerite Monica Henrietta Beatrice Augustine. But you may call me Alison.”

            “A pleasure,” Sir William replied. “I’m sure you know why I am here. I hope that you will accept my offer to rescue you, return to the castle, and marry you. If you would be so kind as to show me where the dragon is, then we can soon be on our way.” He smiled again.

            In an instant the princess thought, “Oh, if only he liked animals! But alas, I can’t marry a man who tries to kill my friends!”

            Sir William bowed to the princess as he concluded his sentence. And though she hated to do it, Alison whirled the heavy chain out from behind her back and landed a heavy blow to William’s stomach. Caught totally unprepared he stumbled backwards in pain. As he stumbled doubled over, Alison easily guided him down the five stone stairs, and pushed him into the dungeon where he collapsed onto the ground apparently unconscious.