Flashback Scene

Victoria had spent the morning folding hundreds of blankets by her mother’s side. Now that Autumn was fully upon them, all of the castle servants were making preparations for the weather to become colder. Her mother had sent her outside when she’d finished folding. “Children ought to get some extra fresh air when the weather is turning,” she’d said. 

So Victoria had hugged her mother’s waist and run out to the eastern courtyard. That was where the prince had his lessons with the weaponsmaster. If she was lucky, she could get there before the prince’s lessons and play with the wooden swords for a while. 

Her footsteps echoed throughout the stone hallways. Occasionally, she waved or called a greeting to one of the other servants, each of them responding in kind. Few other children worked in the castle, but the adults treated her well. Still, she fought off a wave of loneliness as she recalled seeing children in town running together through the streets. 

The weaponsmaster, Sir Gareth was setting up targets when Victoria sprinted out into the courtyard. He was a tall and rather imposing man, but Victoria knew from her first time meeting him several months prior that he was as good-natured and gentle as knights come. 

She slid to a stop a few feet from the wooden training weapons leaning against the wall and looked up pleadingly at Sir Gareth. 

“Oh, go on, Miss.” He said, kindly. “Prince Floren will be working on archery today. You can take that training sword and hit that extra dummy if you’d like.” Victoria grinned and picked up the wooden sword. “Thank you, sir,” she said practically skipping over to the dummy. 

Holding the sword in two hands like a club, she twisted around and swung her arms back and sent her full weight into the hit. The impact sent a jarring shock through her arms, knocked the sword from her hands, and sent her stumbling into the dirt. 

“That’s why boys make better knights than girls. You can’t even keep your balance.” A voice taunted from a few meters away. Victoria scrambled up, turned to the voice and curtsied low to the Crown Prince as she had been taught. The boy, only a year older than herself, was sneering down at her. Between his bright wheat colored hair, deep blue vest, and polished shoes, she felt like a brick next to a gemstone. 

Sir Gareth walked over and, after briefly bowing to the prince, picked up the sword and handed it back to Victoria. “Don’t spin your whole body to attack, line up your hips and shoulders and turn just a little. Keep your elbows in. Push with your right hand, and pull with your left. Speed with your arms, power with your feet. Hold like this…” He murmured, while simultaneously correcting her grip on the handle. Turning to the prince he added, “There are many lady knights, your highness. It only requires proper training and a brave warrior can come from anywhere.” 

The prince shrugged, looking mildly abashed though he had not really been berated, and Sir Gareth led him away to practice stringing and unstringing a bow. Yule had come early for Victoria. She practiced swinging as the weaponsmaster had said and found it much easier to stay upright. 

For the next several minutes, she struck at the target while the occasional twang, thunk, sounded from where the prince and Sir Gareth were. She still lost her balance and stumbled a few times, but managed to maintain her grip and avoid falling again. 

Before long, her arms grew tired and she turned to watch Sir Gareth coach the prince on pulling the arrow back on the string and releasing without snapping his forearm. Envy clawed at Victoria as she watched the arrows get closer to the mark. She was confident that if she got proper training, she could learn faster than the young prince. 

Sir Gareth muttered something to the prince before walking over to the target to collect all the arrows. While his back was turned for a time, the prince walked over to Victoria. Again, she curtsied, but was taken by surprise when he yanked the sword out of her grasp and dropped the bow at her feet. “I’ll show you how to use a sword the right way,” he said mockingly. Shocked and offended, Victoria picked up the bow and, without thinking, smacked the prince over the head with it. 

The sword and bow both clattered to the ground as Victoria clapped her hand over her mouth, suddenly aware of what she’d done, and the prince dropped the sword and ran over to Sir Gareth, who was already walking back with a handful of arrows. The stern expression on his face made her want to run and hide, but Victoria stood, ready to face the repercussions of her actions. 

“She hit me!” the young prince exclaimed. “She hit me with my own bow!” 

“Yes, I saw,” said Sir Gareth, frowning at Victoria. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” She apologized profusely as tears began to well in her eyes. Even as a child, she knew it was a severe crime to attack the Crown Prince. 

“I think you did mean to,” the weaponsmaster walked over, and to her surprise, picked up and began examining the bow. “You could’ve broken this. Just use your fists next time you need to defend yourself. Only hit with a bow in great emergencies.” 

Victoria stood, open-mouthed, and looked between him and the prince, whose expression was just as surprised as hers, only more incredulous. “But what about me?” He demanded, and pointed accusingly at her, “she should be punished!” 

Briefly, Victoria thought she saw a look of exasperation cross Sir Gareth’s face, but it was gone in a blink and replaced with pure patience. 

“Perhaps she should, however, you disobeyed my direct order not to move. So, instead of boxing your ears myself, you got hit by merely a little girl. Are you not tough enough to handle even that?” There was a hint of challenge in the weapon master’s voice. Either Floren admitted he had been seriously hurt, making him appear weak, or he accepted being hit as an alternate punishment for disobeying his coach. Even as Crown Prince, he was still only a child and was therefore expected to listen to his teachers. 

The prince stared blankly for a moment before slumping his shoulders, his head hung low. “I apologize, Sir Gareth, I will follow directions in the future.” He looked so defeated, Victoria wasn’t sure how to feel – sorry for his humiliation, triumphant she had proved him wrong, or just grateful to be off the hook. 

“I accept your apology. And in the future, Prince Floren, I expect you to focus on your own training instead of concerning yourself with what others are doing.” Sir Gareth picked up the sword as well and nudged Victoria until she and the Prince were an arms length from each other. “Now, both of you apologize shake hands like respectable people and get back to training.” 

Victoria opened her mouth to apologize, but the prince spoke faster. “I’m sorry for taking your sword miss…” 

“Victoria.”

“Victoria, I promise I won’t do it again.” 

“And I’m sorry and promise not to hit you with a bow ever again.” 

Both of them stuck out their arms and shook hands. Sir Gareth nodded, satisfied, and put his hand on the prince’s shoulder to guide him back to the shooting area. Stealing her courage, Victoria took a few steps towards them and asked, “Sir Gareth, could I keep practicing with the sword?” 

The weaponmaster sent the prince ahead with the bow, walked back to Victoria, and knelt down to hand her the wooden sword. “Anytime you have this hour free, you are welcome to come and train. I think the competition will be good for the prince, and a young lady with a fighting spirit like yours ought to be trained.” She looked up at him in awe and cradled the sword as if her very future lay carved in its grain. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She ran back to the training dummy, swinging the sword over her head, wild with glee, before correcting her grip and swinging the way she’d been taught.