The Chronicals of Navarro: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Princess, the Kings Guard, and the dungeon

Everyone who was anyone, and even the ones who weren't, knew about the princess. She was the “beautiful, kind, gentle, caring, lovable, and smart” princess (quoted from the townsfolk). She was the only child that the queen and king had left. After a great fire, their only son was burned to death so badly that they couldn't even find the remains. Because the princess was so well loved, they quickly forgot about their dead son, except when the subject was brought up of course.

The princess’s name was Hikaru Eikooc from the Kingdom of Navarro. Born on December 19, she was a snow baby, and boy did she love the snow. Born with her mothers straight, thin, dark brown hair, and her fathers bold blue eyes, and a figure that would make angles jealous, it wasn't a mystery to why every man, and even some women, would feel their hearts beat faster once they laid their eyes upon her.

She, being educated since the age three, saw, and understood, everything that went around her. There were some sides that even her parents didn't know about. She was clever, and very cunning. If you got on her nerves, she would find a way to torture you without anyone suspecting her. What was even worse, was if you pointed the finger at her, you would be kicked out of work and black listed.

When she was born to the age of ten, she was guarded by a young knight who was born into a noble family. He actually wasn't born into it– he was adopted.
His ‘parents’ found him in an alley when he was five and took him in. He never spoke much and when they first took him in, he only repeated one word: Zero. Thus, they named him Zero.

Zero knew his real name, but only told his parents once and they have forgotten it now, he even signed his Knight Confirmation paper as Zero. The king, being as kind as he was, allowed him to go under that name. He started to guard the princess at eleven, until he was upgraded to being one of the kings personal guards when he was twenty-one. Usually an older knight was assigned to something so delicate; however, Zero was a promising boy. Always reaching the standard marks and going beyond them. He was the top in all of his classes, and best fit for watching over the young princess.

Once he became one of the kings guards, he stopped seeing the princess unless the princess was with the king, which only happened when they were at a family dinner or a special event. The princess had tried many times to get him to talk, not always succeeding, but when she did she made the best of it.

Zero had been born with crimson eyes, and white hair. His skin was tan from all the exposure to the sun during training. He always worn his personal armor, which wasn't that much armor actually. Claude in a black shirt that exposed his ribs trimmed with white. Black pants, which was covered by a black cape-like fabric, also trimmed with white, that was tied on by a black belt with a skull design as a belt buckle. The only armor on him were shoulder pads, which were covered slightly by armor that protected his collarbone. Then he had armor that was shaped like ribs, but there were only two of them, that covered the part that the clothing exposed. Gauntlets with spiked knuckles covered his arm, which had black clothing over it as well. To top it off, he added a scarf that, when asked, ‘had a long history’, which was crimson red– like his eyes. The scarf billowed behind him for a good five feet when he walked or even in the lightest of the wind. His favorite weapon was a long sword that could have, but did not require, two hands. The blade itself was four inches in width, and four feet tall. The handle gave about four inches of extra room to allow the user to swing down faster and harder, for the hands are apart compared to when the hands are together.
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Even though no one thought it was possible– the impossible had just became possible. The princess was locked up in a tower, never to be seen by the public for a month. Every knight and townsfolk could feel a dramatic change in the ambiance when she was gone. No one was truly happy or cheerful. The smallest of children would begin to cry without any reason. The oldest of the old rocked in their rocking chair without speaking a word to their family. Few people tried to be cheerful, only to feel defeat and become depressed themselves. The one who felt more pain then anyone was the princess.

Being locked up was not her forte. The ‘dungeon’ has up in the highest tower, which was actually only three stories taller than the other tower. It was originally used to imprison people or torture them; however, since she was the princess the main reason was to protect her. The room was circular, and the walls were cold, gray, stones that had less life to them then a sock. There was a barred window right above her stiff, white bed. If she had wanted to grow her hair out and try to escape, it wouldn't have worked. A desk to the right and a cabinet, with a few of her clothing articles, to the left. A rug covered the middle of the room. The rug began blue in the middle and worked it’s way to black in a twirl pattern. The rug being the most interesting thing in the room, she would stare at it for most of the time she wasn't being taught and doing her homework. She slowly began to memorize every nook and cranny of the room in her spare time, aside from when she’s sitting on her bed and staring at the rug. Her bed was boring white with only two pillows. She didn't complain about anything, except when she was first put in here, for she knew she wasn't going to be staying long– she would see to that. Across from her bed was the only exit out of the rat hole. There was a lock on both sides of the door. A small window could be opened from the top so the guards could look in to make sure she hadn't died of boredom.

She got her normal three meals everyday, and tutored at the normal time. The only problem was if she needed to use the restroom, she would have to ask the guards and they would walk her down three, very long, flights of stairs to the next floor where the only bathroom was in that tower. She would watch the bustling village go to work and come back from work every morning and evening. She watched the guards who were going to fight for her practice in the Knights Field. She knew why she was locked up there, and she could remember what the parcel said when her father had told her.

Being as smart as she was, she knew that there was something about the letter that just made her feel uneasy. Questions like: why would they send a letter to warn us? Wouldn't it have been better to attack us when we least expected it? Something about that letter smelled fishy.

She knew she could escape anytime, being that the guards were often tired and dozed off during their shifts. She was even cunning enough to find a way around them without being asleep. Picking locks was something she picked up in her spare time when she still stayed at the main castle.

One morning after around a month of no attacks on their castle, the king decided to hold their annual tournament: The Kingdom of Navarro’s Annual Knights Quest tournament. It was a simple thing of Survivor of the Fittest, being that you had to be a member of the kingdom to participate. Normally eighty ‘knights-in-training’ entered the tournament, and the last five would go on to work in the kingdom as an actual knight.

However, this year was different. Not only was it being held earlier than the normal time, but also it allows the last fifteen to become knights. Something she had over looked when reading the new rules was; ‘...anyone from anywhere could participate in this years event...’. She knew that this was just a ploy to get more guards and knights to protect her with. But this also meant that the king was going to allow her to leave the dungeon, which was the best part. Kissing the tournament rules paper, she jumped up in glee and ran out of the opened door, down the stairs and into her own room where she flopped onto her old bed.

The guards who was showing her the paper and explaining what was happening just stood there in the princess’s wake before he thought to go after her. Shrugging his shoulders he picked up the tournament rules paper from the ground and looked at it indifferently. Knowing this wasn't the smartest idea, he was happy that the princess was allowed to leave the room and watch the tournament. But he also knew many bad things could come out of this as he reread the fifth rule: “Any one from the village may partake in this event, and this year we are allowing anyone from anywhere could participate in this years event as well.”

Walking out of the room, he closed and locked the door as the loud click echoed through empty tower. Heading down the stares he smirked to himself.
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I still don't know if I'm doing this the right way or not. If I am not doing this correctly, please tell me, so I can learn.
Once again, excuse me for any gramatical errors. I don't like to proofread, but I have a friend..er.."editor".. who does it for me. Thank you.