Chapter 5

When we get back to the training grounds, it's almost dark out. You can hear distant laughter coming from the castle. The prince stops and turns around to face is.

"You're all here because all of you are weaklings," he begins. "I suggest that you try your hardest or you'll be here all night."

We start by doing a hundred sit-ups. Once were done with that, we run several laps. By the time we've finished out exercises, I'm exhausted and sore. Everyone around me appears to be feeling the same. The prince however, does not look satisfied. He dismisses us and we all head back to the castle.

"This is terrible," one of the boys says.

"I know. We might as well go home now," another one says miserably.

"What do you mean?" I ask. "I thought any man could become a knight."

"That's what he " the first boy states. "But everyone knows that if he thinks you're weak from day one, you will be sent home."

I feel my heart drop. Day one and I've already screwed things up. Suddenly, I get this anger and determination inside of me. I will not fail this task. If I need to train early every morning and late every night, I will do it. No one or thing will stop me.

When I get back to my room, I collapse onto the bed immediately. Quickly I fall asleep. That night, something wakes me. Confused, I sit up. I hear a thump outside. Still dressed from the day before, I quietly exit the room. The thumping continues. It sounds as if it is coming from the training grounds. I head in the direction. As I get closer, I see a figure in the distance. He appears to be viciously hitting a wooden dummy with a sword. All of a sudden he stops. I quickly dart behind a wall.

"Did I wake you?" The man asks.

Startled that he caught me, I sheepishly walk out of my terrible hiding spot. As the man gets closer, I gasp when I realize who it is. It's the prince! Quickly I bow and say, "Sorry to disturb you, your highness."

He flicks his hand at me and says, "No need for formalities."

"What are you doing out here?" I ask without thinking.

He looks amused by my question and doesn't answer. I begin to walk back.

"Wait," I hear him say. I turn around to face him. In his hands, he's carrying two swords. "Do you want to fight?" He asks.

"I don't know," I say hesitantly.

"Please? Don't be a coward."

Shocked by his words, I grab a sword and we face each other, ready to fight.I make the first move and he easily blocks my attack. We continue like this, striking and blocking, until finally the prince manages to disarm me. I put my hands up in defeat. I probably could've won if I hadn't been so exhausted from the day before.

"You never answered my question," I say.

He looks at me and replies, "Sometimes I just need to get some of my frustration out."

"At three in the morning?"

"Whenever I'm not busy signing papers or doing some sort of work."

At that moment, he looks older and worn out. I can see the bags under his eyes and the exhaustion in his face. We sit there for a while, not saying anything. Finally, I get up and start to walk back to my room. I hear him following me.

When we reach the entrance, the prince grabs my arm and turns me to look at him. His emerald eyes look into mine.

"Thank you," he says. And with that he walks away.

Startled by what just happened, I stand there for a few moments. I snap out of it and run the rest of the way back to my room where once again, I collapse from exhaustion.

The next morning, I can barely drag myself out of bed. I never realized my muscles could be so sore. I knew I wasn't in bad shape, but I definitely thought that I was better than this. I clean up and get dressed. Today I decide to leave my fairly long hair down. I've always been proud of my golden blonde hair. We don't know why my hair is the color that it is because all of my family has dark brown hair.

By the time I get to the dining area, everyone is already seated and eating happily. I take my usual spot next to Zander and begin eating the porridge that has been placed in front of me.

"Tired?" Zander asks.

"You could say that," I reply with a weak grin.

My gaze begins to drift toward the prince who is happily talking with one of his guards. He looks over me and smirks when he catches me looking. I quickly advert my eyes and look down. What is happening to me? I should hate the prince. My feelings are starting to scare me. Confused, I finish my food.

We head back to the training grounds where we have the same partners. The prince gives his instructions and we begin. Somewhat distracted, I mess up what I'm doing and the prince cuts a deep gash my arm.

"Focus!" He yells into my face.

I gasp and the pain snaps me out of my trance and I realize what just happened. My arm is bleeding a lot.

"Dammit. I thought you were better than this so I wasn't being as careful," he says. "I guess I was wrong."

My face burns in anger at myself. He helps me wrap it up. As he is doing this, I notice something in his eyes. It almost looks like he's slightly concerned. I take a glance at the wound and immediately regret it. The sight of so much of my own blood makes my stomach churn.

I grunt in pain when he pulls tightly on the bandage, but then it instantly feels better than before. More determined than before, I fight him again. This time I do it with complete concentration. When I disarm him, I smile.

"Much better," he grunts.

Unfortunately, my wound starts bleeding again. The bandages become blood soaked. Loosing all this blood is making me dizzy. I stumble and grab the prince to catch myself. He grabs onto me and says, "We need to get you to the infirmary."

I nod weakly. He dismisses everyone else and holds me up as we hobble along. When we get there, the nurse looks at my wound and tells me that I need stitches. The prince stays as she starts. When she first pokes the needle into my skin, I scream out in pain and dig my nails into the prince's arm. The nurse gives me something to drink. I down it and it burns my throat and nostrils. It only dulls the pain a little bit.

By the time she's finished, I'm barely conscious with sweat running down my face. Barely, I manage to stand but immediately fall into the prince again. He just scoops me up into his arms and carries me to my room. There he lays me down and I say, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he responds.

I close my eyes for a few minutes and when I open them again, he's still there.

"You can leave," I say.

"The nurse asked me to stick around in case your condition gets worse," he says.

I close my eyes again and I hear him pulling up a chair. Eventually I drift off to sleep with pain in my arm, but also with the comfort that someone is there looking after me.