The Lawless Princess

The door made a few crumbles of stone fall from the walls as it closed hard. The key turned and a loud click made it clear that it had been locked. The door was made of solid wood with strong iron hinges so no one could break out.

Whoever designed the castle dungeon had a weird idea of what was practical. The door was solid but the spaces between it was metal bars completely see-through, which made it all seem a little misplaced. If the bars weren’t enough invasion of privacy, there were also holes made with bars between in the walls to both sides, so you could have a chat with your inmates.

“Well, well. This must be a change of scenery, Your Highness.” The mocking voice was coming from the left hole.

“Shut up.” I mumbled and started making the sad excuse of a bed.

“I would sleep on the floor if I were you. The last guy practically got eaten alive by bedbugs. The rats also fancy the beds, usually as a toilet.” Quickly I dropped the pillow and tried rubbing of bacteria off in my skirt. Then turned to look at the guy, who was now standing up, peeking between the bars in the opening. His features were common, yet his face was near perfectly symmetrical, making him look instantly attractive.

“You must have been here a long time since you´re such an expert.” He turned to lean up the wall still looking though in hole, revealing a tattoo on the side of his neck. A tattoo that was quite infamous in this kingdom. “You are one of the Lawless.”

The Court of the Lawless had been the subject many times around the dinner table the last couple of months. They were highly skilled assassins and thieves, always leaving their mark - an arrow on fire.

“People here call me the Phantom, but you can just call me Riven.” He grinned with eyes that sparkled with curiosity.

I glared at him. The Phantom was one of the names that always bought most yelling and cursing at the table. He was apparently one of the leaders and best fighters. I had heard a lot of the guards and servants talk about how the Phantom had single-handedly done this and done that.

“Now tell me Princess. The rumors say that you are here because you committed treason, any truth to that?” He looked almost amused while asking.

“How did you even hear about that?” I snapped.

“I have my sources. Plus, the guards are very loud.” He shrugged. “You didn’t answer my question, Highness”

“I was just avenging my brother. You can hardly call that treason.” The memory of seeing my dead brother with a sword buried deep in his chest still stung.

“I heard you hired at poisoner to kill Crown Prince Seymour, your other brother, am I right?”

“Half.” My voice was shaking with rage. “He wouldn’t even be Crown Prince, if he hadn’t put a sword in Finn´s chest. I was the only one who saw him do it, but of course he denied it. No one believed me, so they sent me of to finishing school in the other end of the kingdom for two years.” While I was standing leaned up beside the opening, half mumbling half yelling, Riven had reached a hand through the bars and taken something out of my hair. I though that it was just some dirt, so I continued. “I tried getting over it, really I did. But would you be able to live with your self, knowing that the killer of your brother was not only getting away with it, but was now also the next in line for the throne? So, yes I hired a poisoner.”

“U-huh. Why not just do the deed your self? You clearly have the right motivation, and its not like hiring someone and doing it yourself does a big difference. At least not when it comes to this, and your are already charged for treason, are you not?” Riven´s voice was no longer coming from the cell to the left, but from the other side of the wooden door.

“How did you-?”

“Bobby-pins, thanks for the loan.” He then started unlocking the door to my cell, while I finally noticed the strand of hair that had fallen in front of my ear from when he had touched my hair. “You coming?”

“Yeah, but why-?”

“Why not just leave without you? You never answered my question.” He started sneaking down the corridor. “Hurry up before the guards come. You better be able to run in that dress.”

We ran down the corridor somehow avoiding any guards. Riven seemed to know this part of the castle than even I did. When a door leading out to one of the courtyards came into view, he stopped looking at the old brick wall. He found what he was looking for and pushed one of the brick inward. A click later, a passageway opened up. It clearly hadn´t been used in years, cause spiderwebs and whatnot crisscrossed the narrow passage.

“You must really have been here a lot. I didn´t even know that existed.”

Riven started walking, spiderwebs sticking to his hair, clothes, everything. Sighting I follow trying to walk right behind him, so he would shield me from the webs. Luckily, the passage was short and ended out to a small space of grass and the sharp rocks the castle was build on. Below were the ocean with waves were crashing into the stone, making a few drops rain over us. Above us were the big wall shielding the castle and the town from the strong winds.

We followed the wall, making sure to stay as close to it as possible. Guards were stationed on the outer walls keeping out for enemies and storms. By now they must have noticed that we were escaped, I thought.

Riven had started jogging slowly and I tried following as good as I could with my heavy dress weighing me down. Had it been one of my normal dresses it would have been just a tad easier. But today was the coronation of my murderous half-brother, so all morning maids had been putting my hair up and dressed me in a heavy-layered dress in white and gold. Though it wasn’t that white anymore.

“You never answered my question.” Riven had stopped jogging and was waiting for me to catch up.

“W-what?” I was panting, too out of breath to think.

“Why not kill him yourself?” We were now almost at the big gate leading into the capital and the most direct route to the castle.

I was thinking of a way to reply. Truth be told, that thought had never crossed my mind. I wasn´t even sure if killing is something I would be capable of. “I’m a princess, not a killer.” It was the best answer I could think of.

“Why can’t you be both? Neither being a killer or a princess is a personality, it is merely occupations in life.” I looked at him to check if he was being serious. Had he seriously just compared being a killer with an normal job?

“There is more to it than that,” I said not really knowing how much more to it there actually were.

“You sure? Because from what I know about the royal family and what you just told me, um… How do I say this? Your family would do more good buried ten feet under ground than they ever would sitting on that throne.” He looked dead-serious at me, when I was about to open my mouth and defend my family, he continued. “Before you argue, hear me out. I know they are your family and all, which is probably why your kind of blind when it comes to this.”

“You’re really being charming right now,” I interrupted sarcastically. Secretly though, I was intrigued. It had been a long time since I had talk to anybody who dared being completely honest to me.

“I’m always charming, yes. Anyway, hear me out. Your father have pretty much been permanently drunk since even before the became king. Your mother is pure cruelty, isn’t true she made slaves out of the villagers in the north, just so they could mine gemstones for her precious jewelry?” He waited for my reaction. Shamefully I nodded, then he continued. “Now let’s talk about your half-brother. Kind of odd he is the middle child, when the king only have married once and got a child only six months before that. I must say they did a good job covering it up, I could first confirm my source when I had met you.”

I stood in silence for a bit, while Riven stood tall and gloated. “Why do you know so much about my family?” The question had popped up in my head a lot while I had been thinking. Annoyingly, I had to admit the things he told were true.

“Let’s just say the Lawless have been plotting against the throne.” He gave me a sly smile. About to begin yelling at him, he said, “before you start yelling, think about it. What good have your family ever done. I mean you don’t even want your brother on the throne.”

“I… I,” stammering a stared out towards the ocean. There were high-tide which meant the waves were now crashing into the lowest part of the wall. Just a couple of years a ago it wouldn’t even have been ten feet close to the wall. There had also been a beach there once. But since my mother and father had ordered people to build them a whole new castle, just a couple of miles away, the water had started rising and the plants and trees in the kingdom were beginning to dry out. Apparently to build their great castle, a whole river had to diverted and part of a mountain range had to be blown away. I remember experts warning them, but no, they wanted their new castle.

“Let me guess. They never spend anytime with you growing up and you claiming your brother claimed your other brother was just an excuse for sending you away?” There was no pity in Riven´s eyes, while I could feel tears forming in mine. It stung in my chest realizing he was right, but it wasn´t only my family that were corrupted. Growing up in court I had met practically every noble or wealthy person in this kingdom, and they were all the same. Stuck up, selfish and doesn’t give a damn about the kingdom they have sworn to protect.

We walked in silence for at bit, coming very close to the city-gate. When we stepped up on the wide dusty road, everything went black.

My eyes hurt when the sack put over my head finally got removed. I was in a dim-lit room surrounded by Riven and three others. With hand and feet tied and sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, there wasn’t much hope of an escape.

“Sorry about the whole abduction.” Riven gave an awkward smile and looked genuinely sorry. “It was all planned before-hand. I didn’t know you wouldn’t run away as soon as you got free.

“What do mean before hand?” I fussed feeling like a mouse trapped by a gang of hungry cats.

“You are pawn, Princess.” A white-haired beautiful woman spoke. “When you hired a poisoner, you caught our attention. We made our plan fail, got Phantom into prison to sneak you out-”

Before she could continue, Riven broke in. “In short, we need you. Help us bring down the royal family and right their wrongs.” He begged, something I thought I would never see a guy called the Phantom would.

“Aren’t you supposed to be ruthless criminals, breaking laws and terrorizing people? Why do you need me anyway? You could probably do it faster without me.” The words came out angrier than expected, but as it turns out I don’t like being kidnapped.

“Sometimes good people have to break bad laws, even if they get disliked for it.” It was a huge broad shouldered man with dark skin and a bald head.

“Your family knows there are people who want to kill them, so for many years ago they got a wizard to put a protection spell on them and you. Which means it is only someone who shares their blood that can kill them.” My head started spinning, putting puzzled pieces together. They knew. They knew he killed him.

“Pleas-”

“I’m in. On one condition. We burn it all. The whole city. Get the commoners and castle staff out and kill all invited to that coronation.” I was so angry that I had dug my nails deep into my palm.

“How do you plan on getting people out, the coronation is in an hour.” It was the white-haired woman looking at me like I was an idiot.

“Riven is not the only one with allies. Beside the commoners and staff only take up about a fourth of the population her”

They loosened the rope binding me and I quickly wrote three letters. One to the captain´s second commander, my former bodyguard. One to miss Marie, my former babysitter (who is the cities biggest gossiper). And one to the Head of Staff at the summer castle, to ready all the rooms for families that didn´t have anywhere else to go.

Riven´s friends would make sure they got send and take care of the fire-part.

“Ready, Princess?” Riven and I had sneaked into the castle, which was completely emptied out except for those in the throne room.

“I think is high-time you call me Lyra.”

He smiled. “Fine. Are you sure you can use that, Lyra?” He gestured to the bow I was holding in my hand.

“I practiced every day for two years, so yes.” We had sneaked up on one of the tallest balconies in the abnormally large throne room. My mother, father, cousins and other relatives were the ones closest to the bishop waiting for my half-brother to come. Eight in total, eight perfect shots that had to be made. Riven was looking surprised at me. “What? I had a lot of anger.”

Crown Prince Seymour then stepped into the huge room. Riven had gotten the signal from his friends. Everything was ready, now I just had to kill my entire family.

“Ready?” Riven asked.

“There is no going back now,” i said readying the arrow.

I watch my home burn to the ground. My whole family was in there with arrows buried in their hearts, it was apparently my family´s preferred way of killing. They were getting burned to ashes with every noble and wealthy family in there.

“How are you feeling?” Riven had come up behind me.

“Free.”