Once upon a time, there was a lady like none had ever seen. But she was like others. But she wasn’t. Okay, sorry for this confusing intro, let me restart.
Once upon a time, there was a human who wasn’t sure. There you go, that seems like a good intro. Well, anyway, this person who wasn’t sure was named Meadow Belford. Meadow was sometimes waiting for a prince but also fought off her own dragons. Until a prince by the name of Aaron Addison came along.
“My name is Meadow Belford. I know what you’re thinking. You’ve heard about me, I just know it. I’m the princess of Ardania after all. Who are you?” I sat. The armored knight took his helmet off. “Aaron. Aaron Addison. Prince of Routhers.” He smiled and brushed his black hair out of his eyes. Something devilish was behind his smile. He sat.
I smiled at him and looked away. He yawned. “Why have you came to the castle?” I asked, looking back at him. “I am here to propose a deal between kingdoms.” He continued to stare at the ground. “Oh. I shall have the knights escort you to…” I lost my train of thought and stood. “I can’t do that. They don’t know I’m out here. I’m not supposed to be out here.” I grabbed the edge of my red dress and hurried. “Go the front gates and they’ll escort you!” I yelled as I raced up through the pasture toward the castle.
After they met and Aaron spoke with King Forde, proposing marriage between him and the eldest princess, they never saw each other again until their wedding day. As Meadow stood in the dressing room being patted down and groomed to perfection, she begged and pleaded with her mother, Queen Samara, to not let the wedding happen. It didn’t work.
I stepped through the doors and into the aisle with my father holding my arm. I wore a long-sleeve white dress and a veil. Wedding clothes. Alexander, my brother, the prince, stood off to the side, his black suit unnoticed amongst the noblemen. This was it, the moment I never wanted.
After being married, Meadow was forced away to live in Routhers. Aaron became king in place of his father and Meadow was given a lavish lifestyle. Two months before their second child’s birth, Meadow was twenty-one. She took their first child, Beverly, and left in the night, stealing away on a horse.
As I rode Aaron’s horse into the woods outside the castle, Bev tugged on my overcoat. “Yes honey?” I asked, keeping my eyes forward. “Why is we leaving?” She asked, her deep brown eyes shining in the dark. “Because we had too.” I responding, trying to sound enthusiastic. She hugged closer to the neck of the horse, seeming to be clinging on for her life.
It was hard to hold on with a large stomach and a five year old child in between me and the horse’s neck, but I had managed to grab hold of the reigns. As we raced through the woods, I saw lights ahead. I had dyed my hair and cut it after Aaron had gone to sleep in hopes people wouldn’t recognize me. I’d also dyed and cut Bev’s hair. She now wore it up in a bun, her brunette hair replaced by black and her usual princess dress replaced by beggar’s clothes. I’d been planning for this day for a long time. Since Bev was born to be exact.
When I reached the path where I’d seen the lights, I found a cabin of sorts. It was slightly off path. It was empty. No smoke came from the fireplace. I assumed it was safe, but had to make sure. I told Bev to stay close as I tied the horse up nearby and pushed open the door. I knew that Sharon, my best maid, had sent for her cousin to set a cabin up for us somewhere in these woods. Inside, I found a note with the words “Fully Alive” and knew I had found the cabin. I went outside after bedding Bev. I cut the horse free and rode it deep into the woods from away from the cabin, then dismounted and walked back slowly. When I reached the cabin, Bev was up and about.
“Bev, why are you up? I told you to stay in bed until I got back.” I scolded her. “But Sharry said I could stay up till you got back. “Sharry?” I looked around. Then quickly headed into the other room of the cabin to find Sharon cooking. “I’ve got two horses outback.” Was all she said as I smiled. “No one will recognize ‘em. They’re from Eirden. My cousin brought ‘em to me after ya left.” She took the pot off the fire and poured some into a bowl then called for Bev.
From this point on, Sharon and Meadow traveled along together. They managed to make it to Eirden where they’d be safe. By this time, Meadow’s second child was due.
I had just delivered my second child- a son. His name was Shiloh. Shiloh Wayweather. We’d completely rewritten our past and ourselves. Beverly Addison was now Bev Wayweather. I was Meadow Wayweather. Sharon was Sharry Silverhood. We’d chosen commoner surnames, made up on the spot like most. Of course, most these days were like Smith for being a blacksmith or Tailor if you were a tailor. But some still held on to the old tradition of keeping your parents surnames.
Anyway, we’d settled in to two shacks next to each other. Me with Bev and Shiloh and Sharry with a dog she’d picked up just inside Eirden. Her name was Dove. After delivering my son, she moved in for just a few days to make sure I was safe and well.
It began when I realized I’d have to re-dye my hair soon. I’d already gotten around to Bev’s hair but I realized my blonde was starting to show. Sharry was the first to notice and brought my coal-dye soon after. Halfway through dyeing my roots, Bev shouted for me. “There’s knights outside!” She called. Sharry quickly washed out my hair and commented on her work then we went to the door.
The knights questioned Meadow and Sharry about where they came from. They’d gotten word of the queen of Routhers had disappeared in the night. When they told them they’d come from their but had only been traveling through the kingdom they were left alone. But the good luck didn’t last long. Soon, Micah, Aaron’s younger brother, has stolen the throne by murdering his brother and taking a wife from Eirden. Meadow was free from Aaron but was now stuck inside a tyranny.
It was three years after Shiloh’s birth. I remember it as plain as day. We’d finally been given the ability to leave the country. As we packed our things and Sharry spoke to the neighbors about how long it took to get a response from our request, she was shot. The arrow stuck from her back and she was dead. Eight-year-old Bev screamed and Shiloh began crying. Dove began barking and pulling on his rope. But no one moved. It was common in the area. Instead of stopping work, I continued, now placing the special toddler carrier onto my horse instead of Sharry’s.
I strapped Shiloh into the toddler carrier as I helped Bev climb onto Sharry’s horse. We’d taught her to ride only the year before in fear of this happening. I tied Dove’s rope to my wrist so she’d be under more control until we’d gone into the forest. And that’s how I left. Without Sharry. With Dove and a small son crying the whole way down the street as people watched me go.
Meadow traveled for another year. She settled down on the edge of her home kingdom Ardania. She met a twenty-seven year old commoner named Benjamin Young. She was twenty-five. He knew sword play and agreed to give Bev, who was nine, lessons. Meadow also got lessons.
He laughed. I laughed, He sighed, and I sighed. He pointed the sword at my chest. I spoke. “How do you do the twisty thing you do?” Benny let the sword drop. “You mean this?” And he did it. He spun in a circle, his muscles rippling, and swiped the head of the practice dummy off. “Uhh, yeah. That.” I nodded. He smiled. “Like this.” He grabbed my arms and helped me through the move. By the end of the lesson, I could do the move easily and finish with a follow-through. I was making progress.
When I got back to my hut, Beverly sat outside with four-year-old Shiloh. She was playing with him. I looked at them and smiled. I’d been right to leave four years before. I was so much happier and Bev was fine. Shiloh had always been a giggly child.
Over the next six months, Ben taught me and Bev how to use swords until he thought we were as good as him. Then he moved into our hut. We were married before the year ended.
At this point, Aaron had been killed and Micah had taken control of the throne in Routhers. Beverly was ten. Shiloh was five. Meadow was twenty-six and Benjamin was twenty-eight. Soon, Meadow was pregnant again. When the baby was born, they named him Ryan. Now Shiloh was six, Bev was eleven, Meadow was twenty-seven and Ben was twenty-nine.
My life seems to always give me tragedy just as I get happiness. Our hut was destroyed by a storm and we barely made it out. We traveled on horses to the small village of Ryespoke where we settled into a small cottage on the edge of town. But then the war began as my elderly father, the king, passed the throne to Alexander my brother.
Benny was called to serve at least a year in the war between Ardania and Routhers. After the year was up, he returned. It took another year for him to recover. He was thirty-one and Meadow was twenty-nine. Ryan was two. Shiloh was eight. Beverly was thirteen. Dove was around ten. She passed and they gave her a proper funeral to remember Sharry.
I stood outside the cottage. It was a rare opportunity these days. I listened for the sounds of war. Footsteps. Anything. But it was silent. I smiled once. But then the ground shook and I felt the floor slide from under me. I looked behind me as I fell and saw Ben pulling Ryan from the wreckage of the house. Bev and Shiloh stood in a hug next to him, both crying. Suddenly, Ben’s face contorted in pain. Bev screamed as he collapsed, an arrow stuck from his back. I screamed and scrambled to my feet. Rushing over to them, I noticed that Shiloh had a large gash on his shoulder. Bev seemed fine and she was now cradling Ryan, who cried hysterically.
I looked around in fear to find where the arrow had come from when I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I reached back and felt an arrow. I’d been hit. I felt a wave of nausea. Looking around, I realized what was happening. “Poison!” I gasped as I hit the ground. Shiloh ran over to me. “Mummy!” He screamed. “I love you my Shy-bug. Tell Bev and Ry-Ry that I, I love them.” Then the darkness slipped over me.
Excerpt from Ryespoke Village Death Statistics Report
Samuel Mason- 35, COD (poison), male
Benjamin Young- 31, COD (arrow to heart), male
Meadow Young-29, COD (poison), female
Gregory Tailor- 28, COD (bombing), male
Bev, Shiloh and Ryan were taken into custody by a man named Shamus Carson who taught them to fight. They all eventually grew up. Bev gave birth to two sons and married a blacksmith. Shiloh went to war and fathered a daughter. Ryan fathered two daughters and two sons, twins and became a successful tailor.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
