Princesses Don't Fight in Skirts

by Aya Ling

  “Everyone?” Ari said, forgetting to keep her voice down.

  “Correct.” Nadine said, as though running ten laps around the lake was as easy as eating a piece of pie. “Start running; you do not want to be late for your next class.”

  By the second lap round the lake, Ari already felt that her lungs were going to burst. Her breathing came in long, ragged bursts. Had she not elected for dancing lessons back in Linderall, she would have been much worse off. At least she was not completely cut off from physical activity. Georgiana and Marcella, unsurprisingly, were way ahead of her.

  “Are you all right?” someone asked.

  It was Princess Valeria. Her round face was filled with concern.

  Embarrassed, Ari shook her head.

  “You can walk instead,” Valeria said, putting a hand on Ari’s arm. “I know it must be hard for your first time; I was just like you when I came here.”

  “We... can... walk?” Ari panted.

  “Of course,” Valeria said, smiling. “That’s what Ralph said when he was still supervising: run, walk, or crawl, but you have to finish the ten laps. It’s crucial that you finish. If you don’t mind, I’ll walk with you.”

  And so the two princesses started to walk around the lake. When they passed Nadine, Valeria waved and mouthed a few words. The former nodded.

  “Where are you from?” Valeria said. “Your accent does not sound native.”

  “Linderall,” Ari said. “My name is Arianna.”

  “Welcome to Riviera,” Valeria said, giving her a dimpled smile. “I guess this is the first time you’ve been here? And don’t worry; you’ll get better with practice. If I can run ten laps, anyone can.”

  “But I thought you had left the Academy,” Ari blurted.

  “I am no longer taking lessons, that’s true. But I still find it worthwhile to start the day with the morning run. It’s good for me, especially since I’m now the royal food taster. And once you get used to running, it really is quite pleasant. I’ve always liked coming down to the lake when the weather’s nice.”

  “I see.” Ari paused, thinking hard. “May I ask how you managed to leave the Academy?”

  Valeria gave her an inquiring look. “Are you already considering dropping out on your first day?”

  Ari flushed. “I just wanted to ask.”

  “Well, if you really don’t feel like staying, you can always ask Lord Darwar,” Valeria said. “But I didn’t ask until I was perfectly sure the Academy wasn’t for me. It’s tough, but there are benefits. My health would suffer if I just ate all day and did no exercise.”

  Ari wasn’t comforted. She was hoping that Valeria would share some tips on making the authorities decide to kick her out of school. But to her disappointment, the Amarantan princess was on the side of the Academy.

  Georgiana and Marcella jogged past.

  “Arianna, you’d better hurry!” Georgiana called. “You don’t want to be late for the next lesson!”

  When she arrived at the next class, panting and sweating and stumbling, the whole class was waiting. Most of them shot glares at Ari, obviously displeased that she had kept them waiting. A few looked amused, probably because they didn’t expect Lady Matilda’s great niece to be such a pathetic runner.

  The instructor for the hand combat class was a wiry man of medium height with a brown beard. He beamed at them in a jovial manner; Ari recognized him as Giles, one of the people who saw her when she first arrived at the Academy.

  “Good morning, everyone!” The man said, smiling. “My name is Giles, and I’ll be teaching you how to fight with your bare hands. While it is preferable that you always carry a weapon with you, it is always handy to know a few tricks in hand combat. Plus, it’s fun!”

  Ari did not see anything fun in being punched and kicked, but most other students were nodding eagerly.

  “So how many of you had previous training?”

  All hands went up. Ari put hers up a little reluctantly. She wasn’t lying, even though her hand combat training consisted of perhaps less than ten minutes. The Linderall instructor had flipped her over his shoulder, and she had nursed a bruise for days.

  “That’s excellent!” Giles exclaimed. “While we do have years of experience, I expect that some of you, especially those from foreign countries, can show us some new moves. First, however, we are actually not going to do any real hand combat moves. You see, while the technique itself is important, it must also be based on a solid foundation, namely, your strength. What good will a well-placed blow be if it only has the force of a butterfly?”

  He chuckled, apparently enjoying himself.

  “Right, so before I bore you all with endless talking, let’s get started on strengthening! See the tall pine tree over there? It was planted for the purpose of training!”

  Ari looked accordingly, and nearly dropped her jaw. The tree looked to be at least three, no, four stories high!

  “Now, what I would like you to do is to line up under the tree. There are ropes hanging down from the branches—fasten the loops around your waist for safety measures. Take turns going up the tree. I’ve planted several prizes near the top of the tree, so whoever of you manages to find them, keeps them!”

  At the sound of prizes, the students rushed toward the pine tree. All except Ari and Lance. The former wasn’t much interested in climbing trees unless the prize included expensive jewelry, while the latter didn’t seem to display fervor in anything.

  Georgiana was one of the first to reach the pine tree. With a determined expression, she started to climb, digging her boot into the crevices of the trunk. Soon she disappeared into the needled branches.

  When she came down, she was smiling and waving a small bag triumphantly.

  “I’ve got one!” she called.

  The bag contained a bright new arrow, the feathers smooth and straight. Georgiana whooped in delight and carefully wrapped the arrow up. It’d be easier to achieve a perfect shot with it.

  When it was Ari’s turn, however, the princess worried more about getting up the tree than getting the prize. She was suspicious that all prizes were gone anyway, since she was among the last to climb. Besides, she didn’t care for arrows, or whatever knightly stuff that Giles prepared.

  She had an awful time. Struggle as she might, she could barely advance more than a few feet. She huffed and puffed and tried to move a bit higher, but her hands slipped and she let out a shriek of terror.

  “Don’t be scared, Arianna!” Giles called. “Stay calm, stay focused! You can do this!”

  “I can’t,” Ari gasped, clinging to the bough with a death grip. Sweat dripped from her brow. She’d give anything to have both of her feet safely planted on the ground now.

  Below, most students were looking up at her with unmistakable contempt. Giles continued to encourage her, but Ari was too scared to advance up the tree, even with the rope around her waist. Only her pride kept her from bursting into tears on the spot.

  “All right, that’s enough!” Giles finally gave up. “You may return to the ground, Arianna. We’ll give it another try next time!”

  By the time class was over, Ari was completely worn out. Her whole body felt battered and bruised, her tunic reeked so much that she wanted to tear it off, and to top it all, her hair was undone and what little makeup she had was completely ruined. When she pulled out her pocket mirror and took a good look at herself, she almost fainted.

  Never, never in her life did she look so unsightly.

  Ari didn’t think classes could get worse, but they did.

  She had honestly believed that the afternoon class would be better. They had archery, which surely wouldn’t be as bad as tree-climbing. Moreover, Georgiana had mentioned during lunch that the instructor was an elf, who was just as stunning as Queen Eleanor.

  As it turned out, Celestine, the elfin instructor, was unquestionably the best-looking person in the Academy (not that there was much competition). Slender and graceful, with silvery-blond hair falling l
ike a shimmering waterfall down her back, and skin so white that it gave off a faint glow. Quite a few boys stole peeks at her, causing their arrows to miss the target.

  However, though Celestine’s beauty rivaled Queen Eleanor in an unearthly way, her expression was cold and distant, like the moon in a winter night. She looked as though she was here only for the prestige of teaching at the Academy, and that she would immediately leave if a better opportunity came along.

  “Choose whatever line you’re most comfortable with,” she said, pointing towards the court.

  While a few students lined up at the close-ranged lines of two and three; most students opted for the medium ranges from four to six.

  Ari was in a dilemma. No one went for line number one, which was closest to the targets. Yet she knew she couldn’t shoot well, so what difference did it make? It was merely a choice of choosing to be bad or worse.

  With great trepidation, Ari walked to line number two. At least it wasn’t the worst.

  Georgiana let her arrow fly. It fitted squarely in the middle of the target.

  “Good.” Celestine, who just passed by, nodded her approval. “If you can make three arrows in a row, then you ought to move up to line number five.”

  Georgiana blushed and stammered that she would do her best.

  Ari wiped a sweaty palm on her trousers and tried to do her best according to Celestine’s instructions. The bow felt heavy in her hands. As she fitted the arrow, suddenly her courage failed her and she shut her eyes before releasing the arrow.

  Which turned out to be a big mistake.

  A yell emitted from the back of the targets.

  “Ow!”

  Ari opened her eyes.

  A boy, large and muscular, was clutching his bottom, where an arrow protruded. He turned round just when she was lowering her bow, and caught her guilty expression. Instantly, his expression changed into fury.

  Sweet lord, what had she done? Her first day at the Academy, and the first thing she did was injure another student.

  However, most students were laughing. Georgiana, for instance, was bent over with laughter. Even Marcella, who rarely smiled, turned away with her shoulders shaking.

  Celestine walked over to the poor wounded boy. “Go up to the infirmary. I will make a note of your absence—your name is?”

  “Boris,” the boy replied sullenly. “I don’t need to go.”

  “There are no proper bandages at hand,” Celestine said, pointing towards the direction of the infirmary. “Go.”

  Boris went, but not before sending Ari a glare of pure venom.

  She was doomed.

  During lunch, Ari could barely swallow a morsel.

  “That was a brilliant shot, Ari!” Georgiana said.

  Ari’s jaw dropped. “It was an accident!”

  “But it was so well done!” Georgiana said, waving her fork in the air. “I mean, he was bending down to retrieve an arrow, he could have straightened up any time, but you managed to take advantage of the crucial seconds and hit him squarely in the... the back!” She nudged Ari’s elbow. “You’ve been keeping something up your sleeve!”

  Ari took her elbow off the table. “Ridiculous. I can’t shoot, and even if I can, why would I want to harm another student?” She wasn’t suicidal.

  “Oh, but isn’t it obvious?” Georgiana said impatiently. “Boris is from the Quelan clan, and you know the Quelans have always disliked Lady Matilda. They’re the oldest warrior clan in Riviera, so they used to turn out the best warriors, but when Lady Matilda came along, she snatched the title of Best Fighter three years in a row, depriving them of the privilege! Trust me; they won’t be too friendly with you, no matter what you do.”

  Ari felt like throwing up. She never heard that Great Aunt Matilda had an old feud with the oldest warrior clan of Riviera. Wonderful. And to think that she thought the training would be her biggest problem.

  Ari didn’t want to go to the next class. Then a brilliant idea struck her: she could skip it! Perhaps, if Lord Darwar and the teachers found her such a bad student, she wouldn’t be obliged to stay in the Academy anymore.

  “Arianna?” Georgiana poked her head in the room. “The bell is going to ring soon; we have to go to the next class now! Or the teacher will be so mad, he’ll dole out punishment.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute,” Ari said. “I just need to... go to the bathroom first. You go ahead without me.”

  Once Georgiana and Marcella were gone, Ari slipped out of the room and headed to the lake. She had toyed with the idea of simply going out of bounds, but there were palace guards stationed everywhere. Besides, she was blessed with a bad sense of direction and could never remember the right way to go, unless it was to her own bedroom.

  Since the lake was situated right behind the sleeping quarters, it was only a matter of minutes before she reached the thicket of trees.

  It was warmer than in the morning; the air was nice and balmy and scented with flowers. Ari took care not to get her trousers wet from dew or step into muddy areas. When she reached an area with a stone that looked flat enough to sit on, Ari stopped and took out her handkerchief. She checked carefully for caterpillars and spiders before sitting down.

  Hopefully, if she skipped a few more classes, the Academy would expel her and she’d be able to return to Linderall. She pulled out her hand mirror and checked her reflection. Urgh, a number of ugly brown spots had appeared on her skin. No wonder—standing in the sun during the lessons had an adverse effect on her porcelain skin. She had to get some cream to protect her complexion. Remembering the market in Bayeux, Ari was certain that a similar one must exist in Riviera. It was, after all, the greatest kingdom on the Continent.

  While thus occupied in thought, something dropped on her hair. Ari shrieked and bounced up. Was it another caterpillar?

  “Don’t worry, it’s just an acorn,” a voice said pleasantly.

  Ari swiveled around. A young man, probably a few years older than she, was leaning against a tree not far away. He whistled, and a big fat squirrel with a big fat bushy tail scurried down the tree and jumped on his shoulder.

  “Brucie, where are your manners?” the young man said, addressing the squirrel. “Go and apologize to the young lady. You shouldn’t go around messing up people’s hair.”

  “I’m fine,” Ari said. She whipped out her trusty brush and managed to shake the acorn bits out of her hair.

  “Good,” he said, looking at her intently. “May I ask who you are, and what are you doing here?”

  Ari felt herself blushing. Despite tousled hair and wrinkled clothes, he was very good-looking. Tall and lean, with brilliant blue-gray eyes and a handsome chin. Not to mention his voice—it was deep and velvety and pleasant. And he had a nice smile, however crooked and lopsided it may be.

  “I’m Arianna,” she said. “And you are?”

  “Call me James,” the young man said, smiling. “I take it that you’re an Academy student?” He quirked an eyebrow, apparently puzzled that she was not attending her lessons.

  “Yes,” Ari said. Then, half-defiantly, she added, “But it was all Great Aunt Matilda’s idea. Not mine.”

  “Great Aunt Matilda! Are you referring to the Lady Matilda of Linderall?”

  Ari nodded rather sullenly. “I’m not her, but people keep talking as though I should be some warrior maiden, which I’m not and I don’t want to be!”

  He regarded her thoughtfully. “Which is why you are languishing here instead of being in class?”

  Ari glared. “And are you not doing the same?”

  James threw back his head and laughed. “Very true. So if you’re the Linderall princess—wait, aren’t you the one who shot an arrow in young Quelan’s behind?”

  “It was an accident!”

  He laughed again, his shoulders shaking so much that his squirrel jumped off.

  “Wish I had been there,” he said. “It must have been quite a sight.”

  “Well, it sounds fun since you did
n’t shoot that arrow.” Ari crossed her arms and winced; her arms were aching especially after the lessons. “I wish I could find a way to get expelled.”

  “Try releasing a coop of chickens in the archery court?” James suggested. “Or smear all the doorknobs with butter? Place a bucket of soapy water on Darwar’s door?”

  He sounded as if he was an expert in causing mischief.

  “Where did you get all those ideas?” Ari demanded.

  “Oh, sometimes my little sister and I collaborate,” James said, grinning. “Ralph is too law-abiding, so someone has to fill in the flaws.”

  Ari barely heard him. She was mulling over his suggestions. Would these pranks really get her expelled? Or would it merely cost her another detention?

  “ARI!”

  Georgiana suddenly appeared. “What are you doing here?” Then her eyes bulged at sight of James. “Oh, Your Highness!”

  Ari bolted up.

  “Your Highness?” she repeated, looking at him. “Who are you?”

  “Ari, don’t you know who he is?” Georgiana said, amazed. “Prince James—he’s Ralph’s brother.”

  Ari put her hands to her face. No wonder he looked somewhat familiar. His features resembled Queen Eleanor’s.

  She felt awful. She wasn’t wearing any makeup today! Well, he wasn’t too tidy himself, but oh, she didn’t want to appear so plain before such an important person!

  “Excuse me, Your Highness,” she said, rather stiffly. “I’d best be going.”

  “Say goodbye to Princess Arianna, Brucie,” James said, and the squirrel actually held up a paw. “And best of luck with your... er... endeavors.”

  There was still a glint of amusement in his eyes. Ari could not get away soon enough.

  “What were you doing with Prince James?” Georgiana asked, her tone full of wonder. “Did you ditch our combat class on purpose to meet him?”

  “Yes—I mean, yes, I did ditch the class on purpose. I didn’t want to take the class anymore,” Ari scowled. “And no, I did not meet him on purpose. I just wanted to go to the lake, and there he was. I didn’t even know he was a prince! What kind of prince goes around with a squirrel on his shoulder anyway?”