Princess

Errand Boy

This was the town of Lost Angels, home to 425 people, not including cows, horses, or chickens. It resided on the southern west coast of the Etheria Kingdom. A beautiful village, surrounded by mountains on three sides, a vast ocean on the other. Its port welcomed trade from many other kingdoms.

Which meant a bustling, diverse marketplace in the town center.

Exotic foods. Precious jewelry. Rare artifacts.

Mark was eighteen years old. He had completed his schooling. His father wanted him to enlist in the King’s Royal Army. But Mark was no fighter. He was physically weak and scrawny to begin with. A little short for a boy his age too. But he was fast. He could run like no other. When it came to sprinting and distance running, there was no competition.

That’s why he became a foot messenger. A courier of sorts, for local hand-to-hand deliveries and urgent postal mail.

Today, he needed to pick something up from the marketplace to be delivered to a wealthy client.

It was crowded today. A new ship had recently docked, unloading its goods from all over the far eastern world. People from all over, even neighboring villages, came to see what goods and spices and trinkets could be purchased. It was exceptionally hot and humid that day as well. Which made the crowds not very pleasing to the senses.

Mark worked his way through the crowd. “Excuse me, coming through, pardon me…” Where was it? He needed to find a specific merchant. His shop had to be somewhere nearby.

Mark bumped into a pretty girl.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” she shouted.

“Sorry!”

He laid eyes on her.

Wow. She was beautiful.

The hair. Those eyes. Her smile. Awww… he melted inside, just looking at her.

“What?” she remarked snarkily.

“Nothing. Sorry. I’ll be on my way.” He pushed through the crowds and left her behind.

There it was! He found the shop.

Goodman’s Curiosities: Magical Oddities from Around the World. That’s what the painted wooden sign read. He stepped inside. Slightly less crowded in there, mainly because everything was too expensive for the common folk.

He approached the trader in the back.

“Excuse me,” Mark said. “Are you Gilbert Goodman?”

Gilbert Goodman had a lazy eye. His clothes were made of purple silk with gold-laced trims. His feet wore leather strap sandals with solid gold buttons. His hair was thinning and balding, but other than that, he was a fairly handsome elderly man. “The one and only,” he replied.

“I’m the messenger you summoned for. I’m here to pick up the item for Lady Bethany Steers.”

“The bard? Excellent!”

Gilbert Goodman unlocked a case and reached deep inside. He dug around for a bit.

“Ah hah!” he said. “Here it is.”

He handed it to Mark.

It was a small exotic glass perfume bottle. Something clearly from a distant and foreign land. Inside was a sparkling pink liquid. Sparkling, as if by magical enchantment.

“Is this magical?” Mark asked.

Gilbert Goodman shrugged.

“If it’s magical, there’s a chaos hazard surcharge.”

“Yes, yes, fine, fine.” Gilbert Goodman handed Mark an extra two gold coins. “Here you go, sonny. Now hurry. She’s been waiting weeks for this. It only finally just arrived this morning. But you know celebrities. They want everything ‘yesterday’.”

Mark held it in his hands. The pink sparkles reflected in his eyes. There was something so alluring about it. He rarely held magically enchanted items. Usually it was just letters or payments or random packages people were too busy to pick up for themselves.

He could probably sell this on the black market for a lot of money. If only he knew what exactly it was enchanted to do. Lady Steers was a popular traveling bard. She sang and danced exotically in one town performance after another. Sort of a local celebrity. She was young and beautiful. Maybe this pink liquid helped her sing and dance better. Maybe that’s why she was so famous. Maybe she had a magical advantage. Maybe her voice was enchanted to make men and women fall in love with her.

Personally, Mark hated magic. It kept the wealthy in power and prevented the poor, like him, from ever getting too far ahead. The system was rigged. He sure wished he could get his hands on some real magic. Maybe he’d cast a luck spell on himself, to get better paying jobs or, you know, get laid a little more often. At least once a year would be nice, even. Running around on foot all day was great. He loved getting a runner’s high. But it didn’t leave much time for a girlfriend. Even when he had one, he’d always come home too tired to do anything about it. She’d want to be all romantic and do stuff—stuff he wanted to do too—but just didn’t have the energy for. The last thing he wanted to do was work more and spend energy pleasing her. He kinda wished he could be the one on bottom for a change, let someone else take over and do all the work. So he could just relax, let go, surrender, and enjoy the moment.

“And tell the Lady her tiara and new costume’s on order, and should arrive on the next ship, sometime next month.”

“Yes, sir,” Mark replied.

“Now go. And be careful! That bottle’s expensive!”

Mark nodded, held securely onto the glass perfume bottle, and headed out the door.

Gilbert Goodman returned to lock up the case where he had pulled the perfume bottle from. Then he paused. Sitting there, among several other similar items, was another glass bottle that looked just like it. It also had a pink liquid inside. This one sparkled too, but not as much. Hmm. Did he give Mark the right one? Meh, probably. More sparkles, less sparkles, what’s the difference? He was sure it was the correct one. Yeah, almost definitely sure.

As Mark left, a girl came in. Her cheap hand-me-down clothes signaled she was too poor to afford anything in here. He almost ignored her. Common folk would pop in from time to time, mostly out of curiosity and to wish and dream about owning some of his wares. But then she said an item had been left for her. Something special by the castle wizard. “Ah, yes, right, of course,” he said. He quickly grabbed the other perfume bottle with the slightly-less sparkling pink liquid inside.

Meanwhile, outside, Mark worked his way back through the crowds. And as soon as he exited the marketplace and found himself back in open space, he hit the ground running.

He ran.

And he ran.

For miles.

Down the road. Up the hill. Into the mountain foothills. Where only the super rich owned property. Large mansions were scattered about the hillsides here. Luxurious parks and stunning landscapes surrounded them. Mark sure wished he could live in a place like this.

But alas, that was not his fate. He grew up in a poor farmer family. And unless he wanted to till the fields or join the army, he didn’t have many other choices. He fought with his parents many times over the right to be a foot messenger. It wasn’t the most prestigious job, but it was one he enjoyed. He got to meet new people every day. Go to different places. Occasionally travel to nearby towns. It paid enough to get by. Not much else. Not the greatest life in the world, but he learned to like it.

He arrived at the Lady Bethany Steers’ mansion. Two tall pillars created a grand archway entrance to her estate. He was quite exhausted. He’d been running the last sixteen miles. After this delivery, he’d walk back into town and find something to eat. For now, a celebrity needed this pink-filled vial. Was it some exotic smell? Made from rare flowers a continent away?

He sniffed it. Couldn’t really tell. The glass bottle was sealed shut. He got in trouble once before for opening and peeking into a package, so he wasn’t about to do that again. Oh well. He’d just have to leave it up to the unknown. It was clearly magical. Normal perfumes didn’t glow like that. Was it enchanted to make her more beautiful, sing more elegantly, dance more erotically, have more success and luck in life? He shrugged. It wasn’t his to use, it wasn’t for him to know.

He walked down the long, marble-stoned driveway that led to the mansion’s large wooden front door. He slowly caught his breath. Clients wanted their stuff A.S.A.P., but they never wanted to see their messengers sweat or look tired doing it. He quickly wiped any sweat off his forehead, took a deep breath, stepped up to the door, and knocked.

He waited.

No one answered.

He knocked again. It was a big house. Maybe they didn’t hear him.

Still nothing.

“Well, perfect,” he said, sitting down on the front stoop. This was his last delivery today. And he was too far away from town. Might as well sit here and wait.

Listen to the birds chirping. Enjoy the cool breeze coming all the way from the ocean, which from this elevation, he could faintly see in the distance. Admire the wealthy mini-palace of a mansion this celebrity could afford…and only dream of such a life for himself.

A few moments later, he heard something.

The clapping of horse hooves.

He immediately hopped to his feet.

He saw a horse and carriage come through the archway entrance. This must be her. The famous Lady Bethany Steers. His heart started racing. He never met a celebrity before. Be cool. Be cool. Act like a professional, man.

The carriage stopped. The horse driver noticed Mark on the front step, but said nothing. The carriage door opened. A lady’s foot extended out.

And as she stepped out and down, Mark recognized her.

The girl.

Not the bard. The girl, from the marketplace. The one he bumped into. The most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. It was her.

What was it about her? She was stunning. He got hard just looking at her.

She turned and spotted him. “You!”

He bowed and lowered his head respectfully. “My lady.” Truth be told, he had no idea who she was. But if she rode in on a horse and carriage, to come to Lady Bethany Steers’ house, she must be somebody rich and important.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, storming towards him.

“I, uh… I’m here to make a delivery, to Miss Lady Bethany—”

She stood before him. Looked at the glass perfume bottle in his hands. “I’ll take that,” she said, quickly trying to swipe it from him.

He pulled it away. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Ma’am? Don’t call me ma’am. I’m nobody’s ma’am. I’ll have you know I’m a free, independent lady, and I don’t belong to no man, nor do I want to!”

Spunk. He liked that about her. And a modern day self-empowered woman too. So hot.

“My apologies.”

“Give it here,” she said, holding her hand out.

“I’m sorry. Code of the Messenger. I can only give this to the client directly or one of her authorized representatives.”

“I work for her.”

“But are you her agent or manager?”

“No… I mean yes! Yes I am. I’m her… uh… costume designer!”

“She wears costumes?”

“Every performing artist needs a costume. Now give it to me.”

He didn’t trust her.

“I’d rather just wait for her, if it’s all the same to you. This is my last delivery today anyway.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Might as well come inside then.”

She unlocked the wooden door, walked in first, and then motioned for him to hurry up and get inside.

Wow. Inside was… stellar. Vaulted ceilings, massive chandeliers, walls lined with life-size paintings from famous artists throughout the centuries. Polished marble floor. Stained mahogany wood bannisters. Plush furnishings crafted by the finest artisans in all the kingdom. Impressive. This bard had to be mega rich. How sweet her life must be.

“You can wait in the sitting room,” she told him.

“Sounds good, Miss…”

“Ariella.”

“Like the mermaid?”

“Yes, like the mermaid,” she repeated mockingly.

“I love that play.”

“It was alright.”

“You think mermaids are real?”

She shrugged. “Why should I care?”

“I dunno. It’s fun to think about. It’s a big world out there. They say we’ve only explored 30% of it. Most of it’s covered in ocean, though. But they’re discovering new islands and continents all the time! Who knows, maybe there’s a whole underwater civilization of mer-people somewhere out there…”

She rolled her eyes again. “Whatever.” She looked around the room. Her eyes landed on a crystal vase, still partially wrapped and sitting in an opened packaging crate. Something someone had obviously delivered earlier. It was probably too big and expensive to send via foot messenger. One day Mark hoped to be promoted to horse messenger. They got all the glorious jobs. Paid better too.

“You ever wonder about stuff like that?” he asked her.

“No,” she said. Ariella walked over to the package, reached in to grab the crystal vase, and picked it up. She examined it for a moment, nodded her head, and then stashed it under her arm. Then she started walking toward another room.

That was odd.

“Demons and monsters and other creatures exist. Why not fairies and mermaids and genies too?” he asked.

“Because no one grants wishes,” she said. “Anything you want in life, you gotta make happen yourself. Now, wait over there, I have some, um, cleaning to do.”

Something about this girl wasn’t adding up. The sitting room was in the other direction, but Mark decided to ignore that and tail her from a little ways behind. Just enough to keep an eye on her.

She wandered into the private library. Tons of leather-bound books and tomes. Several about magic and witchcraft too, by the looks of it. Ariella kept holding onto the vase. She apparently wasn’t putting it anywhere. And whoever she was, that bit about being the bard’s costumer designer was clearly a lie.

She found a pen quill made entirely out of gold. She didn’t know Mark was watching. Her back was to him. She dropped the gold pen down her blouse, between her rather supple and beautiful breasts.

Mark opened to mouth to speak. But what was he supposed to say? She clearly had access to this house. She had a key to get in. He still didn’t know who she really was. Maybe… maybe this was all somehow legit.

Then she unlocked a glass display case. It held several beautiful and large diamonds and other expensive jewelry. Which she promptly began scooping into her hands and stuffing down her clothes.

She turned around and saw him standing there in the doorway. She seemed startled, but tried to play it cool.

“You lost?”

He shook his head. “So… what are you doing?”

“Nothing! I told you to go wait in the sitting room.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I can’t stand men who can’t follow instructions!”

“You’re stealing from Lady Bethany Steers!”

“Am not!”

“I’m gonna alert the police.”

He started for the door. Ariella knew he was a foot messenger. Soon as he got outside, she’d never catch up to him. “Fine!” she exclaimed. “You got me! You’re right. I am stealing from her. But it’s not what you think.”

She had his attention, for the moment.

She continued, “She buys stuff all the time and can’t even remember what she has! She’s not gonna miss any of this stuff. She hasn’t noticed her stuff disappearing for the last six months!”

“Six months!?” Mark exclaimed.

“It goes to a good cause,” she assured him.

“Oh. Really? Like what?”

“Like… me. I’m poor. I was homeless. Both my parents are dead. All my older brothers died in the war. And I… I… I have to fend for myself.” She started breaking down into tears.

Fake tears.

“We haven’t been at war in years.”

“I mean, they were, um… Okay, here’s the deal. You don’t say anything, and I’ll cut you in for… 30%.”

“Excuse me?”

“Okay, fine, 40%!”

Hmm. A little extra coin might not be such a bad thing. He thought about it. She was cute. Super cute. Like, it’d been way too long for him, and she looked way too hot, and just maybe if he played along, and played his cards right, they might, who knew, eventually hook up, potentially. Maybe, hopefully.

This wasn’t his proudest moment, but, he wasn’t exactly thinking with his proper head. He was tired of being so broke and so… single.

“50%.” He held up the glass bottle with the sparkling pink liquid inside. “And how much you think we could get for this?”

She smiled brightly.

“That,” she said, approaching him to get a closer look, “looks enchanted.”

“It is. Although I’m not sure for what.”

“Doesn’t matter. It can be anything we want. By the time the buyer takes it home, we’ll be long gone. Say, you like running, don’t you?”

Duh.

“Want to travel the world with me? You’re kinda cute.”

Oh my God. She said he was cute!

“Seriously?”

“Let me see it.”

He handed the perfume bottle to her.

“Hmm. Yeah. I bet I could get, I dunno, maybe 500 for it?”

“500?!”

“Maybe more. Depends on what we say it’s enchanted to do. Oh! I know! What if it’s a love potion? Men and women will pay top coin for something like that.” She giggles. “Yeah. One spray of this stuff, and the opposite sex finds you irresistibly attractive. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it, got it?”

“Got it,” he said.

Wow. Was he really going through with this?

He felt a little guilty. It was stealing. But, like she said, Lady Steers was rich and never noticed her other stuff going missing. But, no, it was wrong. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t.

She unscrewed the cap. Smelled the contents.

“Hmm. Smells like… plumerias.”

“Plumerias? What’s that?”

“A rare flower from overseas. I first smelled one when I was a kid.” She took another sniff. “It’s pretty.”

“Alright. Enough playing around. Put the cap back on.”

She did. And then she pointed the spray nozzle at him and squeezed.

A sparkling pink spray shot out—and dusted his face.

Mark sneezed.

“God bless you,” she said.

“Aw man, I smell like flowers now,” he said, wiping his face.

“So?” she asked. “Falling in love with me yet?”

He looked at her. Like he needed a love potion to do that.

“Nope. Still the same as before.”

“Maybe it needs more.” She sprayed him again.

“Stop it!” he shouted. He spit a little and tried to clean his tongue. “Ew, gross, you got some of it in my mouth.”

She shrugged. “So maybe it’s not a love potion. Like I said, doesn’t matter. As long as we say it is, you can act like my boyfriend who’s totally smitten with me, who’d do anything to make me happy… and we’ll sell this beauty in no time!”

They heard the faint sound of horse hooves approaching in the distance.

“Then again,” she said, holding the bottle and looking at him, “why split something 50/50 when you can keep it all to yourself?”

“Huh?”

“Thank you for your contribution to the Ariella Fund.”

“Hey! Give it back!” He swiped to grab it, but she pulled it away.

“Lady Steers! Lady Steers!” she began shouting.

“What are you doing?” he remarked. He tried to grab it again. She kept it away from him the whole time, dancing around the room while he chased her.

“Hurry, Lady Steers! Thief! Thief!”

“Stop yelling! Give it back!”

They heard the front door swing open. Several footsteps raced in.

“He’s trying to rob us!” she shouted.

Lady Bethany Steers, and three big strong body guards, burst into the room.

“What’s going on here?” the famous bard demanded.

“This man broke into your house and is trying to steal the new perfume you bought!”

The celebrity saw the pink-filled bottle in Ariella’s hand, which she held back and away from Mark who was still trying to snatch it from her.

“Guards, take him away.”

Her muscle-bound manly brutes descended upon Mark.

“Wait! Wait! No, wait!” Mark shouted. “She’s trying to steal from you, Lady Bethany Steers! I’m the messenger!”

The guards held Mark captive by both arms. He wasn’t going anywhere. They were so big and strong. He felt powerless, trapped. He struggled to move, but it was no use.

“You gotta believe me. If I wanted to steal it, why would I have brought it all the way here?” Mark reasoned.

“He came to rob you!” Ariella said. She still had the crystal vase held under her arm. “He wanted to take this too, and I took it back from him!”

“My new vase!” Lady Steers said.

“She’s lying!” Mark pleaded. “Her blouse! Look inside her blouse!”

Lady Steers gave a curious look. She eyed Ariella up and down. Ariella played it cool, but… seemed a little uneasy. “I have noticed some of my stuff’s been going missing lately…”

Ariella’s face turned pale white.

“Roberto, strip her.”

“Yes, m’lady,” replied her third guard.

Ariella backed up into a corner. She carefully placed the crystal vase on a nearby chair. But she kept the perfume bottle tightly clenched, and somewhat hidden, in her fist. “That’s not really necessary, is it?” she asked. He approached closer. She swallowed hard. Heart racing.

The guard, with one hand, grabbed the front of her blouse and ripped it straight down. All her clothes fell off – along with the gold pen, pieces of jewelry, and several loose diamonds.

“Thief!” Lady Steers declared. The guard forcibly grabbed Ariella’s arm too.

“Please, my Lady, I… I didn’t mean…”

“Save it for the court.”

Ariella started crying. Maybe it was real. Mark still couldn’t tell for sure.

“Please, I’ll be hanged for this!”

“Hanged?” Mark asked. “Maybe a few years in jail, but…”

“No,” she cried. “The judge said if I got caught stealing one more time, they’d punish me the full extent of the law!”

“What you want me to do with her?” the guard asked, as Ariella fruitlessly struggled to break free.

Lady Bethany Steers rubbed her temples and sighed. “I don’t know. If word got out that I sent a thief to her death, my fans would hate me. On the other hand, I can’t let her go free and have a reputation for letting petty criminals take whatever they want from me. I lose everything!”

“How about I cut you in on a deal?” Ariella asked. “I promise to stop stealing from you, and share everything I make from my other stops with you 70/30. The major share going to me, of course.”

The bard shook her head. “This girl’s got to be kidding me. Guards, get her out of my sight. Drop her off at the dungeon and let them decide what to do with her.”

The guard started dragging her out.

“Hey wait! Why not him?!” Ariella pleaded. “He was stealing from you too!”

Lady Steers looked toward Mark.

He shook his head.

“He even negotiated me down to 50/50! I mean, seriously, 50 percent!!!”

“Well, I…” Mark was short on words. He should’ve just denied it. Clearly those could’ve been desperate last ditch words from a girl had already had a reputation for lying and stealing. He, on the other hand, was a licensed messenger. That carried with it a certain code of honor. A list of ethics by which he had to follow. Honesty, swiftness, discretion. It was the honesty part that got him in trouble. “I didn’t actually mean it.”

Well, not for long, anyway.

“Unbelievable,” the wealthy bard sighed. “Thomas, Bartholomew, take him with her.”

“I wasn’t robbing you! I was stopping her!” he swore.

“Let the judge sort them out,” she said, turning away.

“Come along,” said one of the guards holding him hostage. They started walking him—more like dragging him—toward the exit.

“Alright! Alright!” he said, trying to break free of their grip. “I swear I’m innocent, but I’ll go with you. Because I know I’ve got nothing to worry about. Just… don’t you have to man-handle me so hard? I’ll come peacefully. Please let me walk on my own two feet, like a man.”

One of the guards shrugged. Why not? He loosened his grip and let Mark go. The other one, holding Mark’s other side, followed suit.

“Thank you,” Mark said.

“What about me?” Ariella begged. “I’ll come peacefully too!”

Her guard, however, wasn’t so easily convinced. He laughed. “Yeah, right.” He picked her naked body up off the floor and tossed her over his shoulder. Her bare ass hung out in the open air. Her clothes, along with the diamonds, jewels, and gold pen, laid in a mess on the floor. But in all the confusion, no one had noticed she still had the perfume bottle tightly hidden in her hand.

Yet.

Mark and his two escorting guards walked out of the library room, into the main entrance foyer. When the other guard walked past Lady Bethany Steers, carrying the thief girl over his shoulder, the bard’s eye caught a glimpse of the glass bottle that was just a little too large to be fully hidden in Ariella’s hands.

“And that belongs to me!” the bard demanded.

Mark’s guards turned their attention, just for a second, to see what Lady Bethany Steers was referring to. It was the distraction he needed.

Mark’s feet hit the ground hard and fast – and in a blink, he was bolting for the front door. Soon as he got outside, he’d disappear into the woods and they’d never ever catch him.

These men were strong – but Mark had speed.

The two guards chased after him.

“Don’t let him get away!” Lady Steers demanded.

The third guard quickly dropped Ariella on her ass onto the hard marble floor – “ouch!” she exclaimed – and proceeded to chase after Mark too.

The front wooden door – and freedom – were just mere seconds away.

Mark’s heart raced. His feet never moved so fast.

Getting closer.

Getting closer.

SLAM! – the third guard came out of nowhere, crashing into Mark from the side, pouncing him like a wild cougar catching its meal.

The other two men quickly caught up and piled on top of him too.

Mark was going nowhere.

He could barely breathe.

Ariella, seizing the moment of opportunity, ran past Lady Steers and across the marble foyer. She leaped over one of the men’s legs. While they were piled up on top of each other holding Mark on the ground, she had clear access to the front door. She reached for the gold-plated handle and pulled – just as she felt someone’s hand grab her ankle and pull, too.

“Ahhh!” she yelled as she fell to the ground, face first.

A guard now pinned her to the floor too.

Ariella cursed.

Then she opened her hand. The bottle was gone.

She panicked. Where was it?

She spotted it rolling away on the floor.

She cursed again.

Lady Bethany Steers casually walked closer. She knelt down to pick up her magic bottle, and shook her head. “You got greedy, kid,” she said to Ariella. “And here I thought I was doing the charitable thing giving you a job as my maid.”

“It was charity!” Ariella said. “I’m poor!”

The celebrity massaged the stress in her forehead. “Get them both out of my house!”

“To the dungeon, m’lady?” one of the guards asked.

“Yes!” she shouted. “You think I want them talking to other common criminals about how easy it was to steal from me?” She almost sounded hurt. “Lock them up where they’ll disappear forever!”