Charming, Volume 2 by Jack Heckel Page B

bedroom.
    She didn’t know the voice, but she would never forget that awful inhuman tone. She looked into the man’s face and saw the now-­familiar dead expression. He might have been wearing the insignia of the Captain of the Royal Guard, but there could be no doubt, it was Gwendolyn.
    â€œYou witch!” she shouted, and reaching into her basket, picked a garment out and flung it at the captain, “Leave me alone!”
    The captain clawed Liz’s underclothes from his face. “She-­is-­mad. Get-­her.”
    The guards looked at each other, then charged. She threw the basket at them and, turning, ran toward the waiting arms of the trees. She had always been a fast runner, and she knew that she had a good chance of being able to outrun the men, weighted down as they were by their heavy swords and chain shirts. But halfway to the tree line, her foot caught on something. She tripped, tumbling hard down the hill, twisting her already injured arm beneath her. Spots flickered before her eyes. The soldiers surrounded her where she lay.
    She swallowed her fear. “Would one of you be willing to help me up, or do you only like to frighten women?”
    The men looked guiltily at each other, and one gently helped her to her feet.
    â€œWell-­done-­men. Tie-­her-­up,” came the captain’s dead voice. He walked stiffly over to her.
    Just then, a thundering sound of hooves came through the forest. All of the soldiers turned. There was a resounding crash in the underbrush surrounding the glade, and a voice rang out, “UNHAND HER!”
    The rider charged up the hill into the clearing, a sword in hand. He wore no armor, and his clothes were gray and drab and lacked any sort of heraldry. When he got near, the horse reared dramatically, and the man brandished the blade so that the sunlight caught and spun off its edge.
    â€œWho? . . .” whispered Liz, and tried to blink away the flickering spots that were still swirling in her eyes. Then, blade still unsheathed, her savior leapt effortlessly from the back of his horse to land in a perfect dueling crouch on the uneven ground before the four guardsmen. Despite herself, Liz clucked her tongue. She knew who it was now. Only one man was reckless and arrogant enough to try something that dangerous.
    â€œWho-­are-­you?” demanded the captain.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter who I am.” He stopped to pose dramatically and point his sword at the men, moving it from one to the other as he continued. “What matters is that you unhand that lady, or you will answer to me.” He swept his hair out of his face, and his chiseled features left no doubt . . . Prince Charming had arrived.
    â€œPrince Charming!” the guards gasped and released Liz so suddenly that she reeled backward and fell once again.
    â€œWHAT-­ARE-­YOU-­DOING?” the captain shouted. “Get-­him. The-­King-­has-­disowned-­him. He-­is-­not-­our-­Prince-­anymore-­and-­he-­is-­interfering-­with-­my-­plans-­I-­mean-­orders.”
    The guards still hesitated.
    â€œBy-­order-­of-­the-­King-­stop-­him-­or-­I-­swear-­you-­will-­all-­be-­in-­the-­stocks-­by-­the-­end-­of-­the-­day.”
    The men drew their blades as one and advanced toward Charming. The former prince twisted his blade in his hand and sneered at them. “Come, if you will, but I warn you, I will offer no quarter.”
    Liz clambered slowly to her knees, still dazed from her fall and the shooting pains in her arm. She blinked the swimming black spots from her vision. “Don’t hurt them. It’s Gwendolyn. She’s controlling them.”
    Charming’s confidently suave demeanor broke for a moment and he took a step back. “Wait? You don’t want me to hurt them? That will make this rescue more than a touch