Chapter Seven
"How far away is your house?" Justin fell into step next to her as they made their way around the rocks and up the hill. "Oh, it isn't far, we should be there in 10 minutes or so, as long as you can keep up." There was a clear joking tone to her voice that brought a smile to Justin's face. "I don't think it will be a problem. But with the way my day has gone so far, I can't rule out the possibility that I could randomly fall into quicksand. That would put a damper on keeping up with you."
"Quicksand?" Justin chuckled at her question. "Yeah, it is sand that looks like normal sand, but when you step on it, you begin to sink farther and farther into it, until you are completely submerged and you die from suffocation."
Maggie stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. "You have this quicksand where you are from?" Justin nodded. "Yeah, but it isn't that common. The majority of people will go their entire lives without encountering one in the wild. It is more likely that you would die by shark attack than by falling into a quicksand pit."
"What is a shark?" This time, Justin cringed. This line of talk was making his world seem horrible. He had to change the subject. "Oh, it is nothing. Just a big fish that lives in water. But enough about where I am from, tell me about Aldervaile. What is it like living here?"
Maggie started walking again. Justin let her walk in silence without pushing her for an answer. When she spoke, her words came out soft. "I am not sure how to answer that. I have nothing else to compare it to. Aldervaile is just, well, Aldervaile. Other than the issues with the magic and the mythical creatures, we haven't changed much for many, many years."
Justin thought about that for a bit while they walked. "Do you mind the fact that Aldervaile doesn't change? Do you wish for something different? You could always go and explore more of the area. Surely there is more to this world than just Aldervaile."
Maggie looked off into the distance as though caught in the images in her head. "Oh, there is much more to this world than Aldervaile, but I haven't seen any of it and have no ability to."
Justin was surprised by her words. "Why not? Why can't you travel?"
Maggie once again wrapped her arms around her waist as she walked. Justin realized that this was something that she must do when she was uncomfortable. He almost changed the subject to cheer her up, but she spoke first. "My father won't allow it. He says with all of the mythical creatures out there, it isn't safe for me to be out there on my own. I told him I don't have to go alone. He has guards that could accompany me if he would allow it, but he says he needs them to help guard our home from the mythical creatures."
"Wow, your father has guards? Your family must be pretty important to have those. In my world, only government officials and celebrities can afford to have people protect them.
Maggie looked like she wanted to ask him what government officials and celebrities were, but after a second, she thought better of it. "Yeah, I guess you could say that my father is pretty important here. He is important enough that what he says goes. Not just with me, but with most people."
Justin slowed down before coming to a complete stop. Noticing that he was no longer beside her, Maggie turned to look at him. "Maggie, who is your father?" When Justin saw her arms come up around her waist, he knew the answer before she spoke it. "My father is the king of Aldervaile."
"The king? If your father is the king, then that makes you a…." Before he could complete the sentence, Maggie interrupted him. "Yes, that makes me a princess and the heir to the throne. What of it?"
Justin was unsure why she suddenly sounded so defensive. He didn't think he had said anything wrong, but he barely knew this girl, and he wasn't good around them even under normal circumstances.
"I am sorry if I upset you. It's just…" Justin needed a second to gather his thoughts. He had to get things back on track with her. "I've never met a real princess and, well. That is flippin' amazing!"
Maggie stood in stunned silence before busting into laughter so riotous she had to bend over and hold her sides. When she finally spoke, she was smiling. "I have never had that reaction before when telling people I am a princess. If I had known you were going to have that reaction, I would have told you sooner."
"Why didn't you?" Maggie looked away at his question, but Justin saw the range of emotions that skidded across her face at his words. "Everyone around me knows who I am. Because of my station, they feel a need to treat me as though I am some breakable statue that is too above them to interact with. They all like to look at me and fawn over everything I say and do, but no one really knows me or treats me like a human. I am not a statue. I am flesh and blood, and I feel things just like everyone else and sometimes…" Maggie paused and took 3 deep breaths. "Sometimes I just want someone to really see me for who I am, not for what I am."
Justin closed the distance between them and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Well, if it is worth anything, I think you are pretty awesome. Not you, the princess, but you, the person. Justin could feel her shoulder sag under his hand, and her beaming smile told him that all was well.
"Now then, I think we'd better get to your home before it gets much later. We probably don't want to be caught outside after dark if we run into any mythical creatures."
At his words, Maggie turned back around, and they began their walk to her home. It dawned on Justin that since Maggie was a princess and her father was the king, her home was most likely a castle. He remembered her words from earlier and couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?" Justin used his free hand to try to hide his wide grin, but he was failing miserably. "Earlier, you said your home had plenty of space for me to stay. I guess you really weren't kidding."
Catching on to his meaning, Maggie grinned widely back at him. "Nope, I wasn't kidding at all."
Taking his hand in hers, she gently pulled him up over the top of the hill and stood there as he took in the sight before him. Justin had seen many skyscrapers in his life. He had grown blind to their splendor from seeing them every day. But the building that stood only a hundred or so yards away literally took his breath away. While it was by no means as tall as the buildings back home, it made up for it in width and presence. It was a sprawling, massive home that could not be fully seen without turning left and right. Justin wished he had brought a camera with him to try to capture its beauty, even if only in part.
The castle itself was surrounded by high stone walls, with men walking along their tops. Justin pointed in the general direction of where they stood. "Are those your father's guards?" Maggie simply nodded before asking her own question. "What do you think?"
Justin wasn't sure how to respond. "I have never seen anything like it in my entire life." Maggie looked over at him with a question clearly written on her face. "Do you not have castles in your world?"
"We do. All the ones that people live in today aren't made like this, though. They just look like really humungous fancy houses with a lot of decorations. A long time ago, I think we must have had stone castles, but many of them have been destroyed, and the ones that haven't been aren't lived in, but our open for people to come look around in."
"That's odd. Why would people want to spend time walking around in an uninhabited castle?"
"Well, I guess because there aren't many castles left in the world, and people want to experience them. For a while, they want to imagine what it would be like to be a king or a queen or a princess."
Maggie shook her head at his words. "It is lonely. That is what it is like." Shaking that train of thought away, Maggie took a few steps down the hill and called over her shoulder. "Come on. It is time to meet the king."
At her words, Justin's pulse jumped into overtime, and he knew that this was where the real adventure began. He prayed he was ready for it.