Cinderlove Ch 03

Mikona rushed in Grazia's room, flicking on the lights. "Princess, please get up! We need to get ready to meet your mother."

"Ugh, go away, Mikona, it is too early in the morning!" Grazia groaned and burrowed further under the covers.

Mikona frowned. She reached down and grabbed the bottom of the covers. "You need to get up, now!" she cried, pulling the covers right off of Grazia.

"Mikona! You're heartless!" Grazia wailed before stumbling from bed. "Where are we going again?" She rubbed sleepily at her eyes and tried to focus on her best friend and personal servant.

Mikona sighed, already digging through Grazia's closet for something for the princess to wear. "We need to meet your mother and your tutors for etiquette lessons starting today. And we do not have the luxury to be late, either."

"Etiquette my...." Grazia stopped herself and sighed loudly in irritation. She allowed Mikona to help her dress. "All right, lead on, Mikona."

Mikona just smiled and opened the door "Shall we, princess?" she said as she bowed, letting Grazia go out first.

Grazia scowled and swept by her best friend. She was not happy being forced to learn womanly tasks. She shuddered. She had never wanted to be "womanly." She'd rather be out riding or wielding a sword.

Mikona shut off the lights and closed the door behind them. "We need to hurry up. We have ten minutes left to get out to the garden." She quickened her pace.

Personally Grazia would have gone in late but the threat by her mother the night before made her hasten her own steps. Soon they arrived in the garden and Grazia halted a few feet from her mother's chair. "Mother."

Lianice smiled as she turned around. "You made it right on time. Very good." she replied cheerfully.

Mikona just curtsied. "Thank you, milady."

Grazia rolled her eyes. "Can we please hurry and get this torture session over with."

Lianice grimaced. "I can see this is going to take more work than I originally suspected. Perhaps I should go ahead and double your lessons right now?" she asked sarcastically.

Grazia stiffened. "No, my Queen." She opted for tactic. Her mother would be more lenient that way.

"Very well" Lianice grinned. "I'm going to leave you in the hands of your tutors and I hope that you do learn something in the process." she remarked and she stood.

Grazia and Mikona both dropped down into deep curtsies and stayed that way until the Queen was gone. She straightened and sighed, then glared at the tutors. "Well?"

The tutor in the forefront curtsied and stood. "Her highness recommended we begin with table etiquette, milady."

Grazia grimaced, walked to the table and thought of a dozen ways to get back at her mother for what was going to be a torture session. She ignored Mikona and tried to focus on the odious tutors.

* * *

The form quickly darted through the shadows, stopping only to see if he was being followed or noticed. As Khan'strou reached the access door, he carefully opened it and disappeared, the door closing behind him. Within minutes, he came out the other end of a tunnel dug into the mountainside and under the town walls. He would soon reach the hidden spot where he would meet with his amassing army.

Nestled in valley several miles south of the kingdom of Lsky, Commander Lhan'strou stood and critically eyed the men who had rallied to his brother's cause. Soon the Regalsky dynasty would fall and the Strou family line would rule supreme. He scratched at his stubble and contemplated how best to deploy the army. He looked up at the sky. Khan'strou should be arriving soon.

Khan'strou walked swiftly, coming upon the deep valley. Most people avoided going through it because of the steep climb on the outside to get to it and just tended to go around, which opened it as a prime spot for an encampment. Khan'strou made his way down the roughly worn path and stopped at the bottom to catch his breath. After a moment, he made his way to the group of soldiers his brother was training and stood to watch.

"Not that way, you incompetent lout!" Lhan'strou roared and swiftly went to a solider and cuffed him hard. "If you swing like that, you're going to last only a few seconds on the battlefield." He jerked the sword from the young man's hand. "Swing, like this!" he growled and demonstrated the move twice before handing it back to the boy.

Red-faced the boy did the move the correct way and Lhan'strou moved back and training resumed.

Khan'strou chuckled. "A stickler as always, I see."

"If we are to succeed, brother, then I must be." Lhan'strou gestured for Khan'strou to follow him. He took his older brother to the command tent. "Everyone out!"

The staff scattered leaving the two of them alone. "Ale?" Lhan'strou offered.

Khan'strou waved him off and sat down. "No, thanks. What news do you have for me?" he asked, his face getting more serious.

"The messenger," Lhan'strou's lips twitched into a smile, "informed me that he delivered his message to you. Our current count is 5,000 with another possible 1,000 on the way. By the time the Princess' ball arrives, we will be ready."

Khan'strou leaned back in his seat. "Very good! This will truly be a celebration to enjoy. I will ascend to take the throne and our people shall be able to take their vengeance upon the royal family after all these years."

"Yes, brother, revenge will be ours."

Lhan'strou stood. "You'd better get back, brother. Wouldn't want the King to learn of our plans before we can implement them."

Khan'strou nodded. "Very well. You keep things going here. Our time is drawing near."

With that, Khan'strou stood and made his way out of the tent and back up the path.

* * *

Leywis stood outside the royal census office and thought about his plan. First he needed to learn more about Antoni. An idea had begun to form after he'd met the younger man. Leywis chided his sister Mikona for always taking on strays, but Leywis too, had been known on occasion to meddle. He rapped once on the door and entered.

He spotted the elderly gentleman sitting behind the oak desk. "My Lord Recordkeeper, I humbly ask if I might intrude upon your good graces for a moment."

The older man looked up for a moment to eye Leywis and then returned to his manuscripts before finally setting down his pen. "You are always welcome to enter." he said, as he motioned his hand to a seat. "Please, sit down. How can I help you?"

"I thank you. I need to look up the lineage of one of our citizens."

The record-keeper slowly got to his feet and headed into the back. "Do you have a family name to search them by?" he yelled from the back room.

"The last name is Powrinov."

The old man stopped for a minute before continuing his search. "Ah, I see" he mumbled. Finally finding the right volume, he pulled it down and took it back out to the front. "Here you are. It should be in there."

"Thank you." Leywis hurried over to the table and opened the book. He scanned the pages until he found the family name. He frowned. Antoni was a Marquis' son, yet the boy was dressed no better than a servant. Leywis studied the page some more. It looked like Antoni's father had married twice. "Ah, that explains it," Leywis muttered.

Antoni was eligible to join the royal guard ranks and Leywis was going to make sure he did. The kind young man deserved better than what he was living with. Satisfied with his research he returned the volume to the Recordkeeper and left to find Mikona.

* * *

Grazia sat stiffly in the chair and fought back a yawn. Her back hurt and so did her face from smiling so much. She really, really hated the man droning on before her. His bald head made a tempting target. She dearly wanted to fidget but was afraid to move, lest she got chastised again. She glanced over at Mikona and wondered how her friend could sit so still and looked interested at the same time.

"Do you understand?" the tutor asked, his face deathly serious.

"Yes, sir," Grazia muttered. She couldn't take much more of this!

Mikona sighed. "Well, I think it best we take a break for a moment." She stood and stretched. "We shall take fifteen minutes before we continue."

The tutor nodded and got up, walking off to one side of the garden.

Grazia jumped to her feet. She hurried over to Mikona and hissed, "I'm leaving!"

Mikona stared at Grazia. "I wouldn't do that. You know how your mother will react!" she replied.

"I don't give a damn! I can't take this. Please, Mikona, cover for me?" Grazia pleaded.

Mikona looked at Grazia. "Fine. Take some extra time, but we will have to finish this today."

"Thank you!" Grazia hugged her friend and hurried to the opposite end of the garden and slipped out using a secret side passage. She headed for the forest to take the shortcut that would lead to the edge of town.

Leywis, spotted Grazia slipping out the side entrance and frowned. He hurried over to his sister. "Mikona?" He said her name as a demand for answers.

Mikona just shook her head. "Just follow her to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble or tries to stay out all day." she said, turning to her brother.

Leywis rolled his eyes. "Her parents are not going to be happy about this," he muttered before he too left to trail the escaping Princess.

* * *

Grazia swiftly made her way to the forest. The restlessness once again pulled at her. She felt caged. She hated being a Princess and a woman. Why couldn't she have been born a male? Then she wouldn't have to worry about how to curtsy or how to flirt. It was so infuriating!

Her steps slowed as she neared the end of the forest. She came to a halt when her empathic power flared up and she felt HIM. She had felt his kindness and loneliness yesterday during the procession and it had left its mark on her soul.

Grazia changed direction and headed for the source of the emotions.

* * *

Antoni had attempted to stay busy and out of the sight of his step-family. He knew his attempted escape would not go without punishment, but as of yet, it had not happened.

Kyros and Jatin were sulking and nursing bruised heads. They had wanted to get back at their stepbrother but their mother had stopped them. She said she had something else in mind. Angry at being denied they decided to destroy the garden and the kitchen and blame it on their stepbrother. With gleeful laughs, they set about wrecking everything. The Marchioness was away visiting friends and by the time Mother came home, the place would be a mess.

Upstairs, Antoni could hear the moving around of his stepbrothers and tried to force out his mind what they might be up to. As long as he could manage to stay out of their way, he decided he would be okay. He continued cleaning up his room, where the furnace kept the building warm.

Satisfied with their destruction, Kyros and Jatin headed in to town. They would go drink and celebrate their cleverness.

Antoni, noticing the sudden quietness, headed upstairs. "Hello?" he asked with no reply. Slowly checking around the house, Antoni found no one and let out a sigh of relief. "Maybe now I can relax a little."

Antoni headed into the kitchen to find something to snack on and came upon the damage left by his brothers. "No! I've got to get this fixed up or I've had it."

Antoni ran outside to the shed to grab some tools and came upon the wrecked garden. He immediately froze in place knowing there was no way to fix the damage in the garden. Frustrated Antoni just let loose a scream, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Citizen, is there something wrong?"

Antoni stood still and cleared his eyes before turning around. "No, nothing's wrong. Everything is fine."

As he turned around he caught sight of his visitor. "You! Princess! I..I, uh" Antoni stammered in shock.

"At ease. It's just me. I mean, you can call me, Grazia. I hear "Princess" enough when I'm home."

Antoni blushed and nodded. "Sorry. I just, uh...I" Antoni just stumbled over his words. Realizing his surroundings, Antoni lowered his head. "I'm sorry for the mess, Prince...Grazia. There was some trouble and I hadn't yet had time to clean it up."

Carefully she stepped over the small hedge and closer to Antoni. A few feet separated them as she critically eyed the garden. "I don't think cleaning up is going to help. Did an animal get in here?"

Antoni could only smile at the suggestion. "You might say two animals ran rampant in here. Its nothing you need worry about, however. I just need to find a way to fix the mess before mother comes back." he finished, his face turning to the destroyed garden.

"Why? Will she not understand that animals tore the garden?" Grazia stared at him with a puzzled look on her face.

Antoni smiled and looked back at Grazia. "Unfortunately, no. She is not one to take excuses, true or not. For her, it should have never happened to begin with and since I was the one here, it will be my fault." He stared at the house for a moment before a question struck him.

"What are you doing all the way out here anyway, Princ..Grazia? I usually don't see you without some sort of escort, especially out this way." he looked at her quizzically.

"Oh!" She blushed a becoming shade of pink and looked down at her feet. "Well...I...."

"There you are, Princess!"

Grazia's head shot up and she grimaced. She closed her eyes. "Hello, Leywis."

Antoni looked up and noticed Leywis and watched the conversation unfold.

Leywis informed Grazia of how grave her actions were. "Princess, you promised her highness, your mother, that you would attend your lectures, yet I receive notice from my sister that you wandered off and disappeared." he delivered her crime to her with a serious face.

"Leywis, I can explain. It was really boring! I'm sorry, but the lessons are! And mother was unfair to use Mikona as a guarantee that I be forced to attend them. One more minute of, "sit this way," or "tip the cup this way," and I was going to scream. Please, we have to find some way out of these odious lessons."

Leywis shook his head. "I'm sorry, princess, but you made a promise and its one you will have to keep. We will need to return so you can finish you lessons. You can not give your word so lightly." he replied his eyes staring through Grazia before glancing up at Antoni and then back to the princess. "Although we don't have to return right this instant."

Grazia gave Leywis a relieved look and turned back to Antoni. "We will help you. I don't want you to get into trouble with your mother."

Leywis looked over Grazia's head at Antoni and frowned at the younger man.

Antoni shook his head. "You don't have to do that. Its really not necessary. It will be fine." Antoni answered with a half-hearted smile.

"If my Princess commands it, then I must." Leywis turned to Grazia. "Go sit while I help Antoni."

Grazia shook her head. "No, I will help too. The three of us together can get it done faster. And don't," she held up a hand, "try to stop me, Captain."

Leywis winced at her use of his title. "As you wish, my lady." He walked over to Antoni. "Where are the tools?"

Antoni pointed to the shed. "We have some in there. Let me get them." Antoni hurried into the shed and returned carrying the tools.

Leywis and Grazia each took a tool and started at different sections of the ruined garden. No one spoke as they all worked to finish it. An hour later the trio were done. Grazia wiped the sweat from her brow and grinned.

Leywis dusted his hands off and stood, helping Grazia to her feet. "Princess, we must get you back."

"I know." She walked over to Antoni and offered him a hand up.

Antoni took her hand and got to his feet. "Thank you. I don't think I could have finished this on my own." Antoni said with a look of relief on his face.

"You are most welcome. Here," Grazia reached into her the folds of her dress and pulled several gold coins and some silver from her hidden pocket. She pressed them into Antoni's hands. "Go buy what you need. I must go home. May fortune smile on you, Antoni."

Antoni looked up at Grazia and smiled. "You are truly a princess worthy of her people. Thank you." he grinned.

"Come, Princess." Leywis took Grazia's hand and tugged none too gently on it. "Antoni, tomorrow I wish to see you at the training building on Royal Street. Come early and don't be late."

Antoni nodded and watched as they walked away. Now he just had to clean up the kitchen before any of his stepfamily came home. He turned and headed back into the house.