Princess Iris
CHAPTER 51

"You need to get on your horse Your Majesty," Sir Arnold says.

I turn to Grenade who is on the left. Prince Jeffery joins me.

I climb on the coach board and jump on Grenade.

"Atta girl," I say adjusting myself on Grenade.

She neighs at me. I turn in time to see Prince Jeffery jumping on his horse. He takes out his sword and cuts the belt-holding Grenade to the coach. He then turns to Sir Arnold.

"Phase two," Prince Jeffery shouts.

Sir Arnold takes out the flare and shoots it in the air.

"They are all yours, Sir Arnold," I say.

I nudge Grenade and we pick up speed, following Prince Jeffery behind and leaving Sir Arnold and the rest of the Knights to deal with the pirates behind us. I hear more voices behind me. I turn I find more chasing us. "There are more of them Jeffery," I yell at him.

"Just a little further, we need to lead away from the farmer's valley," Prince Jeffery shouts over his voice.

"That's the Queen," I hear one say as arrows start flying across my head.

I take my bow and arrow from the left saddle bag. It doesn't take me a minute to get ready. I turn my back to look for the pirate shooting at us. When I find him, I don't hesitate to let my arrow loose on him. I watch him fall to the ground. "Iris," Prince Jeffery calls.

I turn and find a big tree on the path. I nudge Grenade and she neighs.

"Alright just like we have always practiced," I say to Grenade as she increases her speed.

I wait until Grenade is just about to jump over the fallen tree to turn my back and draw my arrow. I release two arrows and they hit two pirates.

I catch up to Prince Jeffery as we increase our speed.

"No one harm the queen. She is all mine," I hear a musk voice shout.

"Yes Captain," they all chorus.

Jeffery and I look at each other surprised.

We exit the forest and reach the spot where King Williams is hiding, waiting for us. We hear more horses approaching as we stop our horses. Prince Jeffery takes out a flare gun. "They are here," I say to Prince Jeffery.

"Don't shoot yet," I say.

The pirates stop their horses when they see us waiting for them. A lot of them came on land, I observe. They all start drawing out their swords. Jeffery and I draw our swords ready to fight.

"Can you use that?" Prince Jeffery asks.

"Yes," I say.

"You seemed to have split up some of my troops," A middle-aged man on a horse steps forward.

He has a cigar in his mouth, his smoky braided hair looks dirty. His clothes are covered in bones and he has a bad eye.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I am Captain James Snotlag. I am the captain of this herd," Captain Snotlag says.

The pirates start shouting and raising their hands.

"Well Captain, I am Queen Iris of Filamonda. What do you want with our kingdoms?" I ask.

"You see I am what you call a merchant by trade. Whatever I like I take and I sell them, then I take again and I sell them. I guess you know where I am headed with these," Captain Snotlag says bringing out his tongue and laughing as his herd joins him and laughs.

"We have a name for those over here and we call them thieves," Prince Jeffery says.

"You know boy; I am about to take over your kingdom. But before I do that I am going to make sure you watch as I make everyone you love scream before me as you beg for mercy," Captain Snotlag says and spits out. "That's too bad captain because you are the only here who is going to be begging for mercy," I say.

Just then Captain Snotlag starts laughing and his troops start laughing with him.

"You hear that boys, Captain James Snotlag will beg a woman for mercy," Captain Snotlag says and his herd starts laughing. "When I am done reducing this kingdom to nothing, I will be moving to yours," Captain Snotlag threatens. "I will make sure to bury you right here," I say.

They all start laughing again

"I like to see that happen," Captain Snotlag says.

I turn to Prince Jeffery and nod at him. Prince Jeffery raises his hand and shoots the flare in the air.

A trumpet is heard behind us. Prince Jeffery and I turn towards the thick forest behind us and just then a knight on a horse holding a flag comes into view. Knights on their horses start emerging from the thick forest all holding their swords in their hands. Just then King Williams comes into view. He raises his hand and more knights emerge surrounding the open field till there is no point of escape for the pirates.

"Do you understand now? Do you understand how much of a disadvantage you are at now?" I ask.

"You knew we were coming," Captain Snotlag says angrily drawing out his sword.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Prince Jeffery says shooting out another flare.

"I thought you would have noticed that by now, your ships are not moving," I say smirking.

Just then shots of cannon are heard from the sea. A pirate ship goes up in flames. More shots are fired as more pirate ships blow up in flames.

"What did you do?" Captain Snotlag shouts.

"While you had one target and I had several. I will make sure you got back home in tears," I say.

"Captain look," A pirate points towards the sea.

We all turn to the sea and smoke has covered up the face of the sea. Just then a ship emerges from the smoke and more ships follow behind. The smoke on the sea rises making the sea clear. More than hundreds of ships are seen on the sea. Each raised the flag of the allied forces.

"Perfect timing Leonard," I say with a smile.

I turn to Captain Snotlag who looks lost in dread.

"Already tasting your defeat captain?" I ask.

"I am going to make sure I feed your corpses to the sharks," Captain Snotlag threatens.

I raise my sword up in the air. The knights start hitting their shields signaling the time to attack.

"Pirates what is our motto," Captain Snotlag shouts.

"The sea rivals over the land," They all chorus, getting ready to attack.

I bring my sword down pointing at the pirates.

"Charge," King Williams yells.

"Charge," Captain Snotlag yells.

Just then Prince Jeffery shoots another flare in the air. More shots are fired against the pirate ships. I nudge on Grenade, she stomps the ground and stands on her two hoofs and neighs. Prince Jeffery and I charge against the pirates. We clash against the pirates and the battle begins. For what seems like an hour and we seem to be pushing the pirates back. After jamming my sword into the chest of a pirate, I look forward and find Captain Snotlag staring at me dead. He walks towards me and I walk toward him. He swings his sword, I swing mine and our swords clashes. We let our swords do the talking as we strive to see who will strike the other first. With one wrong move from Captain Snotlag, he leaves himself open and swings my sword across his shoulders.

He shouts due to the pain. Next, I go for his leg making sure he loses his balance, and then he falls to the ground. I point my sword at his sword signaling the fight is over.

"It's over," I say.

"Even if you win this war, I will be back. And I will make sure your father and mother are the first to taste my blade," Captain Snotlag says.

"Call off your troops," I say

"Over my dead body," Captain Snotlag says.

I take a step forward and jam my sword into his shoulder. He starts shouting because of the pain.

"When my sister died, a part of me died with her. I think I have proven to you just how not naïve I am," I say still pushing the sword into him. "I don't care what happens to me, but if you lift one finger or threaten to harm my family or friends then be prepaid to die by my sword," I say.

He doesn't say anything.

"You see the man I love is in charge of those fleets. I think the name King Leonard rings a bell," I say signaling to the sea.

This time I can see fear in his eyes.

"Oh I guess we both know how impatient he is especially when his target is within reach," I say.

"I surrender," Captain Snotlag says raising his hand and making a signal as his men stop fighting.

The pirates start dropping their weapons to the ground one after the other. And just then more cannon shots are heard on the sea. King Leonard opens fire on the pirate ships remaining on the sea.

Prince Jeffery walks to me.

"We are going to need one ship," Prince Jeffery says.

I look up at King Williams and nod at him. He fires a black flare in the air. We watch more pirate ships get destroyed. Just then the cannons stop and it seems one King Leonard was able to show constrict. One dissembled pirate ship was left. "Do I have your attention now?" I ask.

He closes his eyes and nods at me. I bend towards him and grab his jacket, tightening my grip on him.

"That is your way home," I say signaling at the pirate ship. "You are going to take your surviving buccaneers, aboard that ship and go back to the underworld where you crawled out from. If I get a hint or you give me a reason to think you would step out of line and come after my kingdom or any of the kingdoms, you will not need to worry about coming for me, I will come for you before you know what is happening. Just as you showed my people no mercy, I will show yours no mercy and I make sure your bloodline ends that day permanently. Do I make myself clear?" I ask threatening.

"Yes," Captain Snotlag says.

Just then horses are heard approaching us.

"Frederick," Prince Williams says.

King Frederick approaches us and stops.

"We got them all. We were able to stop the siege. Just as you planned Your Majesty, very few of them survived," King Frederick says.

"Thank you, King Frederick," I say walking to Prince Jeffery's.

I turn to Captain Snotlag.

"Now you can retreat with your tail between your legs," I say.

We watch as the knights gather the surviving pirates and take them away to meet King Leonard waiting for them at the shore. "So... what next?" King Williams asks.

"I bet we are about to receive an ear full by father," Prince Jeffery says.

"Now that you mentioned it, I bet my father has gotten words about what happened here by now," King Williams says.

"I guess that means you won't be returning to your Queen soon," King Frederick says.

"I can just imagine mother all over father," I say.

"Well, there is no need for us to think about what is about to happen. Let us wait for Leonard and we can return to the castle for the inevitable," King Williams says.