Along Came Life

I know it has a lot of historically inaccurate and/or vague information, but I originally wanted to do this set in a world different from our own (NOT fantasy, but just a parallel earth, maybe?) I have no idea how that plan fell through. I guess I should've researched about Scotland or England more, but if I had put the made up countries of Seminole and Katastrov up...The point is, I wanted those parallel countries to be similar to the geographical size and culture of Scotland and England. So without further ado...

         “I heard fighting,” the King explained when everybody was seated for supper, “Was it you and Metazzia? I hope not.”
         "No, father, the King. It was Metazzia and Sir Ryan.”
         “Fighting! About what?”
         “Nonsense.” Princess Andrea didn’t like talking to her father; she felt powerless beside him. It seemed like he was the King instead of a loving father. Of course, he WAS king, but she felt empty around him.
         The King grabbed a dinner roll and started pouring his desired amount of melted butter onto it. “Applesauce, please,” he said to the squire.
         The squire handed him a bowl full of applesauce.
         Suddenly, a guard came rushing in and said, “Intruders—at the moat!”
         “Do they have horse, shields, anything?”
         “They have everything!”
         Princess Andrea gasped.
         “Room-go-now Andrea.”
         Princess Andrea obeyed her father immediately. She hopped from her seat in the dining hall and ran to her room. It was the safest place of all in the castle…with trap doors, hidden booksheleves, her father had rearranged her room. Intruders were always entering into England.
         Once she arrived on the fifth floor, she ran to her room and closed the door behind her, then whirled around. She screamed. The ladder! It was down! It took several men to pull it back up. Any intruder could come up easily!
         She flung herself towards the window, but it was too late. A knight of another castle was already at the bottom. She kept on screaming, but no one would hear her. The heavy sound-proof door of hers was closed. The knight was quickly advancing up the ladder. Second floor…third floor…Princess Andrea froze. What should she do? She had too many options, and too little of time to sort all of them out properly. Fourth floor…she decided to run into one of the secret bookcase doors. She pulled a book behind the door and ran into a dungeon. It was dark and cold; she wasn’t very familiar with this place. She had been here once before, with her father and a squire. But never alone. Never.
         Metazzia was so good at these things! She loved adventure! She would’ve known what to do. She should’ve invited Metazzia over to stay for dinner.
         Walking along the dungeons now, it seemed more like she was inside a catcomb than a castle. There was the sound of footsteps behind her…small footsteps, but still footsteps. Her heart beat faster. Where was she supposed to go? Was her father alright or worried about her? Was she lost?
         “There she is.” A voice said.
         Princess Andrea felt hands around her arms and she was being dragged back through the way that she came. “Help! Help help help!” she screamed, not knowing what else to say.
         “Shut up, girl.” An evil voice cackled. They shoved a towel in her mouth to follow up on the cackle.
         “Master, I think I hear people coming.”
         “Let us then go.”
         They turned around and went the other way, and Princess Andrea tried to struggle free but the person who cackled pulled out a sword, which could be seen in darkness for its sharpness, stopped her.
         Flinging open a trap door, the person mounted a black horse. In broad daylight, Princess Andrea finally realized who the people were: the Knights of Scotland.
         “You will walk, Andrea. Then when you get to my castle, you will bow to the King and become his slave. If you disobey him at any time of wrongdoing, you will be slayed right away. You will be kept and enslaved in the castle until your father surrenders. England will surrender…if your father loves you.”
         Too much information, Princess Andrea thought. Too much, at too fast a rate. What did you just say?
         “Are you listening, Andrea?” the Knight casually swung his sword to and fro as if it were air. Princess Andrea’s eyes followed, and just as he put his sword down, she moved out of the way. The sword hit the spot of where she had been standing. “ARE YOU LISTENING, YOU ROTTEN SNIDEL?!” the Knight bellowed.
         Why am I doing this? She thought and nodded.
         “Good. Now, I am Sir Jonathan, Master Knight of Scotland while our Prince is away. When the Prince comes back,” he frowned, “he will be Master Knight again.”
         Sir Jonathan looked like he was in his mid-40’s, tall, dark, and loving the King.
         “Mount your horses, men.”
         Princess Andrea walked through many cities, towns, and villages, but showed no sign of exhaustion, which Sir Jonathan was dissapointed at. Many times she tried to escape, but the threatening sword by Sir Jonathan’s side made her stay.
         At last, they reached the country of Scotland. Villagers greeted Sir Jonathan as if he were a hero, the other knights with delight, and Princess Andrea with whispers and boos.
         Princess Andrea rolled her eyes. I bet they’re paid to do this, she thought. I bet they are paid to try and make me feel humiliated. But they fail, for I hold my head up high and represent the Castle of England.
         “Here we are, the Castle of Scotland. Bow before it.”
         If she wasn’t being held hostage by her father’s enemies, Princess Andrea would’ve thought that the castle was nice…bigger and brighter than England’s. There was a moat surrounding it, and the windows were flooded with light. The mixture of coloured bricks and stones were that of the finest around Europe, and they had no drawbridge…or no ladder that intruders can climb up easily.
         Princess Andrea observed what Sir Jonathan did to enter, for if England was to attack Scotland, she could tell them how.
         “Here she is, King George.”