Prince Scot’s Meryln the Tarpan

Prologue & Chapter 1

Prologue

It’s a beautiful sunny summer day in the kingdom of Avetmore. Butterflies are flapping their colourful wings, birds fill the sky with sweet melody. It’s Meryln’s first month at Royal academy but she has already had four confrontations with royals who feel she should know her place as a commoner. It’s okay though, they will soon learn that she’s no pushover. Her rebellious nature, disregard of hierarchical rules and ‘unladylike’ hobbies make her stand out. She sits on the tree branch few feets above the ground, brushing and feeding Melody, her new bird friend. She finds solace in animals ever since her parents disappeared at sea three years ago. Animals are smarter and more loyal than humans anyway. As rare and wild as the almost extinct tarpan, she is beautiful, intelligent with a temper as hot as lava. She is the best dancer in the kingdom but her real passion is sailing and swordsmanship. That’s expected from a daughter of a disgraced Princess Mary of Willoville and a once highly decorated King’s swordsman. Rebellion against royals runs in her blood and she wears it proudly like a crown.

The majestic Prince Scot Richard V of Avemore is smart, handsome with nobility aura and an heir to the throne. He commands armies and other kingdoms bow at his feet. Although open minded and modernised, his royal obligations ultimately guide his actions and decisions. Women ought be throwing themselves at him but no one dares go against Princess Emily of Fairdale who has claimed him as hers. On his twenty first birthday he will propose to Princess Emily, they will have a wedding of a century that will bring two powerful kingdoms together and live happily ever after. That’s the future that’s deeply embedded in everyone at Royal academy and gets reminded off on a weekly basis by the school newsletter. The author is of course none other than Princess Emily but he has never disputed it.

Jumping off the tree, she has exactly two minutes to get to her next lesson. Running fast, she slams into Prince Scot who stumbles backwards and holds on to Sir Diago. She ought to apologise but she is on a mission to set the record straight. Glaring at him, she accuses and scolds him for crashing into her before running off to her next lesson, leaving him curious about the identity of a woman who has guts to glare and even scold him. He could not comprehend why such a beauty would commit a punishable offence with so much zeal.

Chapter 1

“Get up you filthy disgusting pig!”

Meryln finally finished her lunch and looked up at the furious princess who has been hailing insults at her for the past ten minutes.The commotion had already attracted a lot of attention with the princes in the next table keeping their distance to only intervene when there is a need. Sizing her opponent up she smiled putting her napkin on the table. “Now that I have finished my lunch, how can I be of assistance Princess Emily?”

“I have been talking to you for the past ten minutes, have you not heard a word I said? Are you dumb?”Princess Emily was furious, no one has ever ignored her like this.

“Forgive me Your Highness, I tend to block out unnecessary noise when dining. Do you care to repeat yourself or is that perhaps beneath you?”

“Let’s just go Meryln” Lisa pleaded with her friend knowing too well what was coming. She loved her friend very much but Meryln was a magnet for trouble.

“Oh but I have not decided if I’m having dessert yet.”She said innocently.

Prince Scot turned around, recognising the voice that scolded him earlier. He could not help noticing the difference in the two women before him. Princess Emily was almost red with anger while her opponent was smiling as if talking to an old friend.

“You are seated on my table, get up and ask other commoners where to seat!” Princess Emily screamed angrily. That had been her table ever since she came to Royal academy. It was wider, had the best scenery and most importantly was adjacent to Prince Scot’s table. Besides her and her friends, no one has ever sat on it until today.

“I happen to like this table Your Highness, perhaps you should bring one from your kingdom that will have your name on it. Better yet, you should build your own cafeteria, you are a Princess after all.”

“You!” She exclaimed. Princess Emily was now livid. She had never been disrespected like this, worse by a commoner. She picked up a glass of juice from the table and emptied it’s contents on Meryln’s head.

Meryln ignored the juice dripping from her head and spoke to her friend softly. “You should probably get going or you will miss your lecture.”

Lisa hesitated, she did not want to leave her friend who was clearly outnumbered with Princesses surrounding them and Princes sitting nearby but Meryln insisted until she left.

Prince Scot stood up expecting Meryln to retaliate. He only met her once but he was certain that the woman who glared and scolded him earlier would most likely be foolish enough to strike a Princess. He needed to put an end to the commotion before it spiralled out of hand. He was relieved when he saw her standing and leaving the cafeteria. For a moment there was harmony as everyone assumed their positions and roles. The common girls from different kingdoms were taking turns to serve the royals to gain their favour. No one noticed Meryln walk back in until it was too late.

“Opps, I think my spider friend just landed on your head Princess. You should have taken my friendly suggestion to build your own cafeteria.”

Princess Emily’s horrified screams could be heard from a distance as her friends moved away also terrified by the huge hairy crawly on Emily’s head.

“Princesses.” Meryln said rolling her eyes. “They were just too soft to fret over.”

“Get it off me, get it off me!” She shouted with a shaky voice as the spider crawled slowly towards her face.

“Oh but he likes you very much.” Meryln said with a smile and melodic voice as if paying Princess Emily a compliment.

“Scoooot, get it offf meeeeh!” she shouted.

Prince Scot whose eyes were glued on Meryln, mesmerised by her beauty and smile jumped up and hit the spider, dropping it to the floor.

“Sorry friend, royals just don’t have respect for nature.”She said, picking it up gently leaving the cafeteria again with her head high.

Princess Emily ran to Prince Scot’s arms, shaking. She intentionally stayed there longer. Only if her friends were smart enough, they would take a photograph and capture this image for the school’s newsletter. Their parents were good friends, they spent a lot of time together growing up and attended the same schools. He always protected her and let her have her way. Even when she claimed him as hers he never disputed it.

“She’s from your kingdom, she must be punished for this.”She said looking at him with misty eyes.

Prince Scot looked back at her, his mind trailing off. The Princesses nearby gasped at the romantic scene, taking photographs. How come he has never heard of the mesmerising defiant girl in his kingdom before? He had multiple banquets with all the kingdom’s maidens attending in their numbers but has never seen her.

“Scot” she called him noticing his blank face.

Mmh?

“You will punish her for this right?” She asked with puppy eyes.

“She will apologise” he said decisively.

“I want her punished” she said with a sulking tone.

“Everyone saw you shouting and pouring juice at her first. If I punish her, I will be seen as unjust.”

“Fine, I want an in person and written apology to be published in the newsletter.” Scot was an heir to the throne, being known as unjust was not a good thing and if she wanted to be his queen one day she had to convince him that she will not cause damage to his reputation.

“Okay.”

He walked out of the cafeteria leaving a joyful Princess Emily and already regretting his promise.

Meryln was sitting on the treetop enjoying the perfect scenery and gently patting Melody when she saw Prince Scot approaching. She sighed and braced herself for second round of royals against her for the day.

Walking tall with an aura of nobility. He was pointed to the tree when he asked around on Meryln’s whereabouts. Never in his life had he ever witnessed a woman climb a tree or refer to a spider as a friend. Meryln was clearly not the typical woman he was accustomed to. “My Lady, could you come down. I need to have a word with you.”

“I am quite busy right now. You could come up if that’s not beneath you your highness” she said innocently.

He smiled and shook his head. She was using the same tone she used on Emily earlier while being defiant and daring him at same time. Climbing the tree, he ignored her comments about commanding an army to help him climb and summoning a royal physician to standby incase he gets a scratch. Getting to the tree top he gasped at the scenery before him. “This is beautiful!” He exclaimed. Not only could he see the whole school, he could see his beautiful kingdom with its majestic river snaking down to meet the ocean.

“It is perfect” she said smiling forgetting the rival before her. It did not matter how many times she has seen it, the scenery still took her breath away.

“My word, you are simply beautiful.” His brown eyes dilated taking her in, lips parted.

His almost hoarse voice brought her back to reality. She ignored his handsome features and how sexy he looked with his lips parted like that. He did not climb up to flatter her, she was sure of it. Her smile vanished and her expression became serious. “How can I be of service Your Highness?”

He sighed, disappointed by her sudden serious tone. “You scared Emily, she was very shaken by what you did. I want you to apologise to her.”

“Are you her saviour, you fight her battles?”

“I fight for the needy, the unfortunate and the weak.”That was one of his many royal roles and one of which he was proud off.

“Which category does your betrothed fall under?” she asked defiantly.

The weak. He was certain she used the word betrothed on purpose and had no intentions of correcting her.

“And I’m strong?” Her piercing brown eyes glared at him.

His warm eyes looked back at her, not affected by the anger reflected in hers. “Are you not?”

“I’m not doing it” she said, her nose lifted up in defiance.

“It is a command” he said sternly.

“Do what you may, I’m not doing it.”

He chuckled. He commanded armies and grown man with ease but could not get this tiny beautiful ball of trouble to apologise. He should be angry with her defiance and punish her severely for it but his power ended the moment he climbed the tree at her command. “If you don’t, I will give an order to cut this tree down.”