***
"I want to be the princess!" The girl jumps up and down, messy brown locks bouncing. She's ten, teetering on the edge of her antics being laughed away as that of a healthy child, and being scolded for being unladylike.
Her twin, identical from wind mussed hair to green linen dress, frowns. "No fair. I wanna be the princess. Tell her Innes. Tell her I get to be the princess this time. She can be the dragon."
Ness laughs. It's a rich sound that sends shivers down Bonnie's spine. Jet black hair frames his face in easy waves. Broad shoulders and skin tanned a deep copper speak of the long harvest that dragged out to mid-summer. His muscles flex as he paces the small valley the children have used for such games for as long as she can remember.
"No, over there," Neven says, propping himself up on his elbows to get a better look at what Ness is scouring the ground for. "That one's better. The one you've got is all rot."
Ness raises his eyebrows, but drops the stick he’d selected, and picks up the one Neven points at. Neven drops back to the grass, lying spread-eagled under the hot sun, a satisfied look on his face. There are a lot of things Neven isn’t good at, but finding materials for swords isn’t one of them. He’s been building a steady supply of shields and swords since he found Bonnie fighting over scraps at the marketplace and dragged her home with him.
It’s strange to think that after today all of that will be over.
Ness swings the stick through the air experimentally, dark brows drawn together in concentration. Years of doing a man's share of the work, after his father succumbed to sickness and his older brothers gradually peeled off to seek their fortune, have given him the strength but not the skill. His parries are clumsy, his stance weak. Even Neven would stand a chance against him.
Bonnie clenches her hands into fists as the twins lend him their applause. She hates every inch of him from his stupidly handsome face to his large muscled frame. He gets to play swords without hiding it. He's a whole year older than her, and no one talks about marrying him off. There's even talk of him joining his brothers in the King’s City now that harvest is over. Girls don't get to go on adventures like that. Girls don't get to go anywhere without a man.
"Let's make things fair," Ness says, pointing his sword at Bonnie and Neven. "Bonnie and Neven never join us anymore. Bonnie can be the princess, and Neven can be the dragon. No wait-" He shoves his thumbs in the rope that serves as his belt, and gives an easy grin. "Bonnie can be the dragon, and Neven can be the princess."
The twins break into hysterical giggles, leaning against each other. Bonnie can't tell whether it's the idea of her as the bloodthirsty dragon that does it, or weedy Neven as the dainty princess.
Neven shifts in the grass beside her, his face flushing a bright red.
She jumps to her feet, anger thrumming hot through her veins. "How about you be the dragon. I'll be the knight."
Ness makes a face. "You a knight? You may act more like a pig than a woman Bon, but not even a pig can handle a sword like a man can."
"I'll beat you. You and me one on one. First to land three blows wins," her traitorous mouth says. The moment she processes what she's said a wave of dizziness rushes over her. Her knees feel weak and loose. This is dangerous territory. Even if Ness keeps his big mouth shut, his twin sisters could blab about her acting unladylike. The village would talk. She doesn’t know what Neven’s parents would do about it, but it wouldn’t be good. They might have to cancel the marriage. They might even report her to Porthdon council.
There had been an old woman a few years back from another village. She’d started going senile and wearing her dead husband’s clothes. Someone had reported her, and soldiers had come to drag her away. They’d burned her a few days later as a witch.
That could happen to her if she stepped out of line. Mrs Moore had told her often enough. If anyone saw her sword. If her new husband wasn’t satisfied with her. If she spoke out of turn to the wrong people.
Ness looks at her oddly. “You think me some child to be beaten by a girl? I’m fifteen. That’s old enough to quest to defeat the real dragon.” He cocks his head, some of the swagger coming back into his movements. “And maybe I’ll do just that. Slay the dragon, rescue and marry the King’s beautiful princess, inherit the Kingdom. My family would come to live with me in the palace of course. I might hire Neven too. He’d make a fine squire after I’m knighted.”
Kensa stares up at her brother with wide brown eyes. “The King would knight you?”
“Of course he would,” Ness says, that easy smile back on his face. “The King promised that any man could try and win his daughter’s hand, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to let a pauper marry his daughter. He’ll turn me into a knight, and make my family nobility.”
“That’s why father called him The Fair King,” Kerra says, her little face solemn.
“He’s not fair!” Bonnie shouts before she can stop herself. “And you could never defeat the dragon. You barely know how to fight with a stick, let alone a broadsword. You’d probably fall down the first time you tried to pick one up.”
Bonnie knows before Neven tugs on her elbow that she’s gone too far. Both girls jump back behind their brother, pressing hands over their mouths in identical motions. King Robin may be known as The Fair King, but people called him The Just King as often. It’s bad enough insulting a boy, but insulting a king is something that ends with you tied to a post and set on fire no matter who you are. The King’s justice would see to that.
“You forget yourself Bon,” Ness says, the easy smile gone from his face. “You best go back home now. I don’t want my sisters hearing this talk.”
“She didn’t mean it,” Neven says so fast that the words run into each other. “Honest Ness. She’s just upset. She got betrothed today. She’s nervous.”
“I would be too,” Ness says. “If your husband heard those words, your head would be separated from your shoulders before you finished the sentence. I’ve half a mind to track down the man and tell him myself so he knows what he’s getting himself in for.”
The words have less of an effect on her than they should. They should terrify her, but all she can think is at least then she won’t have to marry that horrible pig farmer. She hasn’t lent as much thought to what she wishes her husband to be like as the other girls do, but him and his sour expression are about as far from it as possible. Not that that should matter. It wouldn’t matter to any of the other girls in the village. They would be grateful to have a husband who could afford to put food in their belly, and she being an orphan ward of poor farmers should be even more grateful.
“But you won’t,” Neven says with enough terror in his voice for the both of them. His hand grips her arm tight enough to bruise. “Right Ness? Please say you won’t tell?”
Ness lets out a large sigh, the warm breeze mussing his hair. “She’ll never learn how to behave if you keep defending her Neven. You have a woman’s heart. I don’t blame you for it, but if you don’t rid yourself of it soon then you’ll end up as doomed as Bonnie. I hear they put cowards at the front of every army they march to the north.”
Neven turns a bright red at her side. The grip on her arm loosens. Bonnie jumps forward, blood boiling as it pounds in her skull. She pushes both hands into Ness’s chest, the highest part of him she can reach. It’s a child’s move. Her father would not think much of it, but he’s caught off guard and topples backward anyway. It’s also a boy’s move, not a woman’s, or even a girl’s.
“What are you doing?” Neven hisses in her ear as he pulls her away. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Ness stares up at her from the ground, mouth hanging open. The enormity of what she’s done hits her. She’s thrown away her whole life, for what? Just because she doesn’t want to become the property of a man? There’s no chance of that happening now. She hit a boy. Ness is perfectly in his rights to kill her right now in retaliation. And if she didn’t then the moment the twins got b
ack to their mother she’d be reported to the council. No force on earth had been able to keep Kensa and Kerra’s mouths shut about anything.
But where the twins stood is empty grass.
"Look!" Kensa shouts. Her sister picks up the cry. "Come look!"
Bonnie turns her head to see them standing side by side at the top of the slope. Adults is her first thought. Some adults, maybe their mother, must have wandered over from the village. The twins are calling them over to tell them what a disgrace Bonnie was being.
Only, they aren't bouncing with excitement like they should be at the thought of sharing such scandalous news. They stand stock still, staring out away from the village.
Kensa turns back to them, her little face pale. She points a shaking arm into the distance. "Look! Look!"
Bonnie, Neven and Ness glance at each other as a noise like thunder floods over the small valley. Bonnie leaves the two boys behind to scramble up the grassy slope. The soft ground shakes beneath her fingers.
"Are they raiders?" Kerra asks, her voice high with fear.
A dozen horses charge across the fields, heedless of the small herd of sheep that scatter before them. Each man and beast is caked with dirt and sweat, but Bonnie sees beyond that to the bright white and red that make up their uniforms. Behind them follows two wagons, each bearing a golden circle against a red background.
"No," Bonnie says. "They're King's men."