The Rip

The next morning, I was roughly awoken.

“Get up little Princess,’’ said an unfamiliar female voice. I got up hastily.

“What is the meaning of this!’’ I shouted, half asleep.

In front of me stood an older woman with dark hair. Under her arm, she was holding a cloththat resembled a skirt.

“The meaning of this, your highness, is to finally wake you, and get you washed.’’

Washed! I loved baths. They were one of my favourite pasttimes at home, where I would ask the maid to put lavender in the tub with me.

Ecstatic, I followed the woman.

Even if I was to wear abominable clothes afterwards, a bath would certainly lift my spirits, and make me forget a bit about the awful things I had been told the day before.

While walking, I saw things I had never seen before. Children in rags were playing silly games, throwing sticks and chasing after each other. Men and women were sitting at the big tables we had eaten dinner at. I didn’t see Alexander, Melchior or Baldwin anywhere.

“Could you walk any slower?’’ Asked the woman who was escorting me.

“Excuse me?’’ I said dumbfoundedly.

The woman turned around.

“Are your ears as incapable as your legs?’’

When I didn’t say anything, she continued.

“Move.’’

We were slowly making our way out of the camp. This confused me. Shouldn’t a bath be much closer to my tent? It was all clarified to me, however, when we reached a clearing between the trees. Women of all ages were standing around a small pond, or already swimming in it. Worst of all, they had all removed their clothes, or were in the process of doing so. I let out a small shriek and wailed around, turning beet red. I heard a hard laugh coming from right next to me.

“I can’t believe this,’’ said the grumpy woman who had brought me to the clearing, before proceeding to take her own simple gown and tunic.

“I cannot believe this either,’’ I said, facing away from her. Gone were dreams of a lavender bath. I was to merrily wash myself in a pond. With

others watching! If I hadn’t already faced the atrocious abduction, this would have been the most miserable moment of my life.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot,’’ said the woman.

When I didn’t acknowledge her, she grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around, which brought me face to face with a well endowed bosom. I quickly looked up at her face, because frankly I thought she might very well murder me if she noticed me staring.

“If King Melchior wants you to get washed, then I will move heaven and earth to make it happen,’’ she said these words with such vigor that droplets of spit fell in my face.

King Melchior? As far as I was concerned, Ferrus did not have a King. We only had counts, and my father was one of them. He just happened to be the richest one in the country.

“I bet a fancy girl like you is repulsed by us women bathing in the pond,’’ she said loudly. Several other women turned around, angry expressions on their faces.

“Undress yourself!’’ commanded the woman now, looking at me furiously.

I hadn’t said or done anything, yet her anger was growing stronger with every second that passed. My face turned red of shame, because all women were staring at us now. But worse, I realised that I couldn’t execute her commands. You see, someone with a life like mine is cared for from the cracks of dawn until late at night. All my life, I had happily let the maids, the servants and the nanny take care of me. They had made my dinner, emptied my chamberpots and yes, they had even undressed me and then dressed me again. I am therefore ashamed to say that, until this very moment, I had never undressed myself in my life.

“Yesterday at the feast, I doubted you were Ignacia Collios. But now I’m certain. A woman that can’t undress herself, in a world where women have to provide for everything!’’

Several women laughed. I, however, was near tears. Although an annoying voice at the back of my mind was mocking the woman for calling the food we ate yesterday a feast.

“I can’t believe it,’’ the woman said again, tugging at the hemn of my skirt.

I lifed my hand, trying to stop her, but the delicate fabric made an awful ripping sound. The woman looked at her hands triumphantly. I just stood there, speechless, looking at the golden birds on the ripped piece of fabric in her dirty hands. A deep-seated anger that I had never experienced before came over me. I stepped towards the woman, ripping the piece of my dress from her hands.

“How dare you touch my dress without my permission.’’

“You father takes as he likes without anyones permission, stupid girl!’’ I lunged towards her, raising my hand to slap her, when a strong, rough hand grabbed mine. An old woman was staring intently at me and the woman that had torn my dress. Her own clothes were half undone, and her face was expressionless.

“Stop trying to pick a fight, Alessa, she said to the woman with dark hair.’’

Alessa pulled her hand away from the old woman and stormed off. Some of the other women were whispering as she walked past.

“A Lady doesn’t behave that way,’’ said the old woman as she let go of my wrist. I shrieked, startled, but I did as she asked.

But that did this woman know about being a Lady?

“Turn around,’’ she then ordered. I did as she said. Something about the way she spoke demanded respect. Even when her clothes were undone.

“I worked for months on that embroidery,’’ I said without reserve. I was startled by the quick, harsh, movements of her fingers as she undid the laces on the back of my dress.

“If you call that working, you don't know anything about this world. But that is to be expected from Lady Collios. Remember what I'm doing now. I won’t show you again.’’

She pulled the outer part of my dress over my head, and continued to pull down my underskirt and other garments, until I was wearing nothing more than my tunic. She did all this quickly and efficiently, as if she had done it a thousand times before.

“Where did you learn to do this so swiftly?’’ I asked, blushing as she pulled my tunic over my head.

“I used to be a chambermaid until I joined Lady Silvana.’’

I whirled around, forgetting momentarily that I wasn't wearing any clothes, until I felt a breeze over my entire body.

“I was going to meet Lady Silvana before I got captured!’’

The old woman pursed her lips.

“Then you were lucky.’’

Lucky? How could the old woman talk in this way? What had moved her to leave her life at Lady Silvana’s estate and join this gang of bandits? I would never consider it in a thousand years. Perhaps the old woman had been abducted, too.

“You had better learn to act like a commoner, girl,’’ said the woman with a look of disdain on her face, “Alessa isn’t the only one around here who can’t keep her temper in check, but more importantly, people will use your naivity.’’

I sighed.

“I’m well aware that I stick out like a sore thumb.’’

The old woman sighed and gestured for me to follow her to the pond, where she stepped in without any trouble. I squirmed when the cold water touched my toe, but when the woman looked at me impatiently, I waded in quickly. Around us, women were scrubbing themselves furiously.

Little girls were splashing water at each other, while their mothers reprimanded them. Many of them looked at me expectantly, but I quickly passed them.

“More importantly, your life is in danger, any moment you’re here. Melchior might want you alive now that it warrants your father’s obedience, but have you ever considered that he might change his plans? Or what will happen when your father decides to not condone Melchior’s threats?’’

The water now came up to my neck, and I must say that its coldness was starting to feel quite pleasant.

“My father would never give in to these threats!’’

The woman sighed as she dipped her body deeper into the water.

“I never said he would,’’ she sighed. It was the sigh of someone who had lived a long life and was tired of explaining things. I didn’t like the way she sounded, as if she knew something that I didn’t know.

“What do you mean?’’

“I mea that he may not consider paying a certain sum, or handing over his lands, in exchange for his beloved daughter.’’

Her voice turned sour those last words.

“That is impossible, my father would never abandon me!’’

The old woman didn’t answer.

After some time, we headed back towards the pond, where my clothes hand been thrown unceremoniously on the ground. By this time, they were covered in dirt, and torn. However, the piece of fabric that had been torn off the dress were there. I heard someone walk behind me.

“For you, your highness,’’ Alessa spat at me, handing me a cleaner skirt and tunic. I accepted them without saying a word. The old woman that had bathed with me shrugged.

“You better wash your old clothes in the pond, shame to let them go to waste.’’

When she saw my worried expression, she sighed.

“I’ll show you how.’’

After grabbing a bucket, a board and a brush from the camp, we returned to the pond with my dirty dress. The old woman showed me how to wash it.

“This should be done before everyone finishes breakfast.’’

She got up from the crouch she was in.

“My name is Birch, in case you were wondering.’’

I blushed.

I had never really cared much for commoners.

“I beg your pardon,’’ I said, aware of how ill mannered I was.

The old woman shrugged again.

“After working for nobles for such a long time, you get used to it.’’

*

After taking out most of the stains in my dress, I hung it with the rest of the clothes out to dry. However, I took the little piece of fabric that had been torn from my dress with me into my tent. When I had done so, I walked towards the tables, where some men and women were sitting. Melchior, Baldwin and Alexander were absent, and a woman wearing a ghastly apron was handing out portions of barley porridge. I walked over towards her, my face showing disturbance because of the questionable condition of the food. The girl in front of me handed me a bowl without looking twice at me. I noticed that I wasn’t stared at as much as in the beginning since I had put on the clothing Alessa had given me. I sat down at the table, purposefully next to a boy and a girl who were arguing about something. They were too occupied to notice me. The porridge didn’t taste as bad as I thought it would. Although it looked a bit grey and had a funny aftertaste, enough honey had been added to make it tolerable.

“I have never seen you around the camp before, are you new?’’

I whirled around, to see a grinning Alexander.

“Oh, it’s you, I did not recognise you,’’ he said dramatically.

I swallowed the porridge quickly before I would choke on it.

“Of course you didn’t. This is far from my usual attire,’’ I said dryly.

“You must feel so degraded,’’ he said, but there was not a hint of empathy in his eyes, only pure glee.

“I washed my own clothes in a pond today.’’

He laughed.

“What would your father have to say about that.’’

I wondered about it for a second.

“My father would probably laugh.’’

Alexander sat down next to me. He was wearing a brown gambeson with belts on it. He hadn’t closed it properly, showing the white tunic underneath. His dark hair was ruffled. He had bags underneath his eyes.

“You haven’t slept at all last night?”

He tried to grab the bowl with porridge from my hands, but I quickly evaded him.

“Your presence was so overwhelming that I couldn't bring myself to sleep.”

Without thinking about it, I punched his arm, earning a gleeful grin.

“Someone had to protect the princess from the bandits.”

I scoffed.

“I am not a princess. And aren’t they your bandits?”

He moved his hair out of his face.

“They’re Melchior’s bandits, I’m merely a second-in-command.”

“You mean, king Melchior?”

I said carefully.

He looked at me questioningly.

“Are you gathering intelligence now, princess Ignis?”

He got up from his seat without answering my question.

“You have to come with me today. It will be a good chance to obtain more intelligence,” he said, winking at me.

“And I should follow you without question?”

He looked back at me. Not bothered in the slightest by my critical remark.

“Do you have any other option?”

I got up from my seat. Curious, and also a bit hesitant, to see what this day would bring.

“I just thought a second-in-command would have better things to do.”

The second-in-command gestured for me to follow him.

“What can be more important than taking care of our new-found princess?”

*

We walked past the many tents of the camp, exactly to the opposite side of the pond. The trees grew thicker and thicker, until we reached the horses.

“The advantage of being second-in-command is that I can take whatever horse I want.”

Of course, again picked the white horse that he had stolen from my father.

“What is its name?” he asked. I was surprised by the question. And even more surprised by the lack of an answer in my mind.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly.

I had gone horse-riding before, but not on this horse.

He shook his head, as he stuck out his big hand and gestured for me to get on the horse.

“You are chivalrous, for a bandit.”

Regretfully, he was smart enough not to let me ride a horse alone. Although I didn’t have the slightest idea of what I would do if he would. I didn’t know my way around the area, or how to survive on my own. I couldn’t even put my own clothes on, for goodness sake!

He got on the horse, in front of me this time, and spurred on the horse. We rode off so quickly that I had to grab his broad shoulders. I blushed, I had never touche a man, except for my own father. To my surprise, we rode upward on a narrow road for some time. I had to dodge some tree branches on the way, but other than that, the ride was uneventful. I could even go as far as to say that the ride was unusually quiet.

We reached an enormous tree. To its branches, several horses and ponies were tied. Alexander reached into his large, worn leather pouch to reveal a rope. He got off the horse, and helped me off after. He then calmly led the horse towards the tree, and tied him to it.

“Where are we going?” I asked, a bit wary of the fact that we were now standing alone together on the mountain.

His eyes lit up when he noticed my insecurity.

“Not to worry, princess,” he said, before turning around and walking upwards, into an even narrower path ahead of us.