14. The Queen
The Queen was watching the progress of battles. Her main force was composed of veteran soldiers and they fought well. However, the enemy fought better than she thought. The Great Warrior King made his impact felt. He was using the different kingdom's troops to disorient the soldiers. Hence her attack was blunted. In time, her main force was being decimated.
Yet, she had an ace in her hand. She had sent an expeditionary force to attack the unguarded enemy flank. Even though this group is composed of inexperienced soldiers, given enough distraction, the defense may falter. Yet, there was no sign of them coming out.
The Queen was wondering about it. When she saw a group of men walking back to her base camp. Peering through the glass, she saw that it was her expeditionary troop. The enemy must have stationed a defending force there. She had to make a quick decision.
"Send in the cavalry to help the main force." the Queen said. "Bring me my horse!" Her orders were obeyed and the Queen rode her horse to her expeditionary force.
Meanwhile, the Princess was dueling with the enemy troops. Soldier after soldiers was wounded, in the arm, in the leg, in the cheek. She handled her sword easily, without effort. The old warrior who was her first opponent slowly realized what a great swordwomen she was.
"So, you are right-handed?" asked the old warrior.
"Yes, I am." replied the princess.
"Then why fight me with your left hand?"
"Because you are so used to fighting right-handed people. By fighting with my left hand, I have nullified your speed by sacrificing my strength. Since you are much stronger to begin with, losing my strength did not matter." said the princess.
The old warrior must admit that it was clever of her to think of it. That she also have a relaxed fighting style that enabled her to keep her stamina up. The old warrior doubt that he could fight as long as she had. One by one, the soldiers lost their duel with the princess.
Some of the soldiers were wounded worse than others, and the princess suggested that they return immediately, instead of waiting for the duel to finish, which could take all day. Still, it was interesting to watch the duel, and no soldier took up the offer.
One of the soldier was stubborn. Even though the princess had clearly drawn blood, he was still fighting. In the end, the princess kicked him in the stomach, and he went down. The princess then turned around to take on another soldier in line for the duel, when the downed soldier rose and ran after her. He didn't so much to say a word, but his face expression clearly showed murder in his intent.
The rest of the troops felt this was unfair and cheating, but the events happened so quickly that they couldn't do anything. The backstabbing soldier brought his sword down from behind onto the princess. The princess didn't even hesitate as she blocked the rearward blow without looking and smoothly spun around, slashing her blade to her opponent's body, cutting his chest open, and without missing a step, resumed her walk back to the troops as the soldier gasped his last breath in the field.
Looking at this, half the soldier took out their knive and cut their hand. Sarge was surprised. "Hey, what are you doing?" he addressed his troops.
"Sorry, Sarge. She got me! I'm bleeding!" was the general answer.
The Old Sarge was a compassionate man, and he cared about his soldiers very much, but this was clearly an act of cowardice, and he doesn't mince words regarding the matter. His screams and insults made the soldiers cowers even more. He was deep into his shoutings when the princess interrupted him.
"Sarge," the princess said quietly, "Let them go."
Sarge was hotly berating his men. Upon hearing these words, he stopped. He looked at the princess, and saw that her facial expression was that of compassion. He sighed. Then to his men, he said, "Those of you who doesn't want to fight her, go back!"
"Thank you." said the princess.
"Let's take a quick break." Sarge said. "You must be tired after all that duelings. Why don't you rest a bit before continuing?"
"Thank you again, Sarge. You're a good man after all." said the Princess.
When the Queen arrived, she saw that there was no enemy troops and that everybody was just sitting around, chatting amiably. This does not suit her at all! She glowered at Sarge, who avoided her gaze by looking at the ground. A quick scan by the Queen told her plenty. Her attention focused directly to the princess. She rode her horse to the princess. The princess stood up, ready to receive the Queen.
"Are you the cause of my troops being turned back?" The Queen's words were cold as ice.
"Yes, I am. I have been fighting your troops." replied the princess.
In response, the Queen took out her pistol and aimed it at the princess.
"Hold it." said the Captain pulling out his pistol and aimed it at the Queen. The rest of the horsemen followed suit. "Our princess has fought all these soldiers single-handedly and won. I doubt you will last a mere 50 of us." He was referring to him and his horsemen. For a time, no one moved.
"Captain," the princess said, "give me your pistol." The captain said nothing but threw his pistol to the princess. She caught it easily and thrusted it onto her belt. Then she looked at the Queen. The Queen put her pistol back to its holster.
"I challenge you to a duel. If I can shoot the feather upon your hat, I win, and you will turn your troops back." said the princess.
"A duel implies 2 participants. If you are to shoot at me, then I am to shoot at you." replied the Queen.
"That's fair."
"Yet, while I have a tall feather upon my hat, you do not have. What should I aim for?" asked the Queen.
"You may nick my arm, if you wish." replied the princess.
The Queen smiled. It would be easy enough to "accidentally" shoot her body. "Very well, then. If all you want to do is shoot at my feather, I accept!"
Quick as blink, by the time the Queen voiced "-cept", the princess whipped out her pistol and shot the feather off the Queen's hat. The feather flopped down to the Queen's face. She was dumbfounded.
The princess threw back the pistol to the Captain who caught it easily. "I win." said the princess. "Turn back your troops."
The Queen was livid. Her face was red with anger. But she had nothing left to say. She had agreed to the conditions and had no choice but to order her troops to turn back.
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