Ballad Of The Forgotten: Chapter 6: Part 2:

“Tell us a story, Storyteller”, the old man said.

She was twiddling a piece of straw, twisting it gently back and forth absentmindedly. On hearing his voice, she looked at the Prince mildly, still contemplating. The Prince returned her gaze uncertainly.

“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t harm any of us if I told this particular one.” She tore off the straw.

 

They were travelling in a caravan across the country. While walking, they happened upon a troupe of stage actors, who travelled across the country while performing. While not very successful, they earned decently enough for their acts to support them. The Prince was not so sure of joining this particular group, but the Storyteller was trusting enough of them. So they hopped on.

 

The youngest of the children chirped excitedly, “What story are you going to tell?” 

She scrunched up her eyebrows, “It’s hard to tell.”

“Is it scary?” another one piped up.

“Well…you’d have to decide that.”

“Does it have romance?”

“Why don’t you find out?”

And so the tale began.

 

“There was once a princess, in a far-off land, a long time ago. Back in those days, the people of the land were cruel to each other, and women and children were often hurt by big bad men.”

The Prince looked around uncomfortably. Apart from the children, who were listening with rapt attention, only the writer of the group and the grandfather remained. They looked back at him uncomfortably.

The woman seemed to catch the general mood of the adults, “I’m sorry, is this off-putting?”

The old man shrugged, “It-it’s just, we thought you would tell another kind of story. Meant for—”, he motioned at the children.

The children didn’t miss a bit, “But all the children’s stories are sooooo boring.”

“Al-alright.”

 

“Back in those days, people had very clearly defined roles for men and women. The men were supposed to wage war and protect. The women were supposed to stay at home and make babies and take care of everyone. The men were supposed to have no emotions, and the women were expected to be always emotional. To put it simply.”

“Oh it’s a horror story,” the writer shivered.

“Since they had so many things defined for them, it was very surprising for the people, when their only Princess chose the men’s method of education. Which are sciences, Warcraft, politics, and martial arts. I mean, the surprise is a very mild word. They were outraged.”

“Luckily for us, our princess was the kind of person you will find once in a lifetime. She pretended to heed what her people had to say to her. During the day, she would learn the woman’s way of living, but at night, she would disguise herself as a stable boy and go riding to the prince’s school, where she would pay a hefty amount to the local servants, to just let her watch the boys and their education. As she was a Princess and a pretty well-known one at that, they were afraid of her security and just let her do what she wanted and kept a close watch on her.”

“But you said that she disguised herself. How did they know that it was the Princess?”

“Back in those days, coins could tell you where a person had come from. And schools for Princes had very tight-knit security. The Princess had managed to break past all that and more importantly, she had a way of speaking and behaving that immediately let them know who she was.”

“So she blackmailed them?” the Prince asked.

“Yes. They couldn’t let anyone know that their security had been breached or that a Princess did that, or was present in their palace. It would lead to war.”

“Why so?” one of the children asked.

“Let’s just say…people weren’t too concerned with preserving human lives back then. A lot of people died for seemingly nothing.”

“It sounds so horrible.” The writer piped in.

A look passed in her eyes. “It was.”

 

 

Continued...