Princess Lily

Chapter 27

"Lily the whole village is flooded! We'll have to go around it!" yelled Carl. The rain had stopped and so had the wind but the whole village was flooded. They were on a hill looking down at it.

"Help! Help!" they heard someone calling.

"Carl someone...a little girl she's in trouble," said Lily worriedly. "We have to help her."

Carl sighed. Both were soaking wet and Carl was extremely tired but that wasn't the point.

 "Lily if we stay and help her we might not be able to make it in time for your welcome feast tonight. It's a chance for you to make a good impression on the nobles at court. Someone will come and help her don't worry."

"No Carl. It’s not right. I want to help her," said Lily. "If anything happened to her before anyone got here to help her, I'd never forgive myself."

Carl nodded, agreeing with Lily. "Come on then."

They rode down the hill and reached the part where the flood started. You could just see the roofs of houses and Lily doubted that many people had lived through this flood. At the edge was a small raft that some of the villagers had most likely used to try and travel the flooded waters and salvage their belongings. Tying their horses to a tree, Lily and Carl stepped onto the raft and used long tree branches to move with and reach the little girl. She was sitting on the roof of a house. The water didn't cover the roof and ended a few inches below it. The roof was slanting downwards towards them.

"Help me!" she called. She had black hair and blue eyes. She looked no bigger than seven.

"What's your name?" asked Lily.

"A-Abby!" called the little girl.

"We're going to help you Abby don't worry," said Carl.

He tried to jump onto the roof and climb it but the ledge was so slippery that he fell back into the raft.

"Abby can you slide down the roof?" Lily asked.

Abby shook her head fearfully.

 "I-I'm too sca-scared," she stuttered.

Lily thought for a moment.

Carl had a feeling she was about to do something reckless. "Lily don't-"

SPLASH!

Lily had jumped into the water. She swam deeper and deeper until she reached the doors of the house. Opening them, she started to swim upwards towards the stairs.

*    *    *

"What’s she doing?!" called Abby.

"She's coming up to get you through your attic door I think!" Carl called.

"But I locked that door!" exclaimed Abby worriedly.

Lily was running out of air. She couldn't keep holding her breath for much longer.

'Oh please let me find the attic door fast.' she thought to herself in a silent prayer. Her lungs were on fire.

She swam up another floor and saw a trap door on the ceiling. She pushed and pulled but it wouldn't open. Her lungs were aching and she thought for sure they'd burst. She banged on the door hard. She felt herself start to drift into unconsciousness.

'No.' thought Lily. 'No. After everything that's happened is this how I'm going to die?'

She felt dizzy and extremely tired all of a sudden. She felt like sleeping. She imagined being in her nice warm bed at Wittlesbane listening to the birds chirping in the morning. Lily then felt one tiny hand grasp onto her long and slender one. She was jolted back to consciousness and grabbed onto the now open floor above her. She pushed herself out and sat on the floor while Abby shut the trap door.

"A-are you O.K?" asked Abby and then, to her surprise, Lily laughed.

"Oh I thought for sure that was the end!" she exclaimed laughing. 

Abby looked at Lily, unsure of how to react. Lily grabbed Abby's hand and walked with Abby onto the roof. Lily was now thoroughly wet and she had no choice but to open her wet hair out of the braid her mother had done for her before she left.

 She ran her fingers through her long hair in an attempt to dry it as she took stock of her surroundings.

 "O.K. now come sit in my lap Abby," instructed Lily. "We're going to slide down the roof."

Abby seemed to cheer up at this prospect and sat in Lily’s lap. Lily then situated herself on the roof and pushed off with her hand. She was sliding down the roof with her long hair trailing behind her. Both girls landed with a small thump on the raft. Abby was smiling.

"Can we do that again?" she asked excitedly.

Lily and Carl laughed at that comment.

 "Maybe some other time. Come on now Abby," Carl said with a smile.

They rowed back to land and saw a gathering of villagers standing nearby watching them.

"Was there anyone else?" asked one of them.

"No but we did find this girl," said Lily pointing to Abby.

"Thank you so much," the elderly villager said.

 Lily and Carl untied their horses and began to walk alongside the villagers. Lily was grateful for the sun was out now and drying off her clothes. She must look a sigh in a Fortius guard uniform too big for her.

"Poor Abby lost her parents to the flood. We're the only handful of survivors left,” one of the elderly ladies said sadly.

"That's terrible!" Lily exclaimed. "Why the Empress must have dispatched some guards or people to help you!?"

The female villager shook her head. "No. But we're going to find work close to the palace city. Hopefully, we'll find someone there who'll take little Abby."

Lily nodded. This was so odd. The guards had been instructed to go help nearby villagers. They weren’t at their posts and they weren’t helping the villagers. Where were they? What was going on?

"Lily! The feast!" Carl exclaimed. "We'll never make it in time now."

"We have to try," said Lily mounting her horse. "Carl, I need to dry my hair and get into a change of clothes when we reach the palace. Would any of you happen to have an extra gown that might fit me?” Lily asked the villagres.

"No ma'am," said the village females sadly.

One village girl exclaimed sadly, “All of our belongings have been destroyed in the flood ma’am!”

"Call me Lily, I’m of house Wittlesbane from Leal," said Lily smiling. ”I will do my best to bring this into the notice of the Empress and Crown Prince. You villagers need help to recover from such a disaster.”

"Ms. Lily," they all said in unison. "Thank you for your help and we wish you luck."

"Thank you!" called Lily and rode away.

The villagers all conversed with themselves as Lily disappeared into the horizon. They all decided that she was the most wonderful lady they’d ever had the pleasure of meeting.