Chapter Text
“You do look lovely miss.” The servant smiled up at her as she tightened the corset.
“You will please address Michelle as ‘My lady’,” Her mother said, not glancing up from the gossip columns in the royal gazette.
The servant looked as if she had been slapped. “Of course your ladyship. You look quite lovely my lady.”
Michelle wanted to reassure the girl that the title didn’t matter at all, or even just accept the compliment, but she couldn’t really do much of anything except try not to suffocate. She hated corsets.
The servant girl gave a particularly aggressive tug, and Michelle let out a sharp squeak of pain. Her mother finally looked up from the gazette. She gazed at Michelle in the dress and smiled.
“That is enough for now.” She waved the servant out of the room.
“You do look lovely my dear. What do you think?” Her mother moved the mirror so Michelle had a better view of herself.
The dress was… interesting, to say the least.
The skirt was massive. It looked like the garish white bottom was wearing her rather than her wearing it. The bodice was full of sparkles and sequins, very overstated and exaggerated and not in Michelle’s style at all.
She hated it. She hated her wedding dress. But then again, she hated the entire process of getting married to a man she had never met, nor had any desire to meet.
“I like it,” she lied. Her mother beamed.
“I am so excited for you dear! This union is the best thing to happen to our family. Why, when I told the ladies in my tea group my daughter was engaged to the crown prince of Mharvule they all went practically mad with jealousy. Wanted to know how I landed such a well off match. And you know I told them…”
Michelle tuned her mother out and gazed at her reflection. Engaged to the crown prince of a forign nation. It sounded like any girls dream. But it sounded more like a nightmare to Michelle.
His Royal Highness Petierenn Benjamin Parker, Prince of the Realm, and heir to the kingdom of Mharvule. Her betrothed.
Michelle didn’t want to get married. She hadn’t even thought of marriage when her parents sat her down and told her she was going to marry the heir of the kingdom across the river. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock.
The last few months had been a whirlwind of preparation, dress measurements and venue details and lots of things Michelle needed to be present for, but didn’t actually have a say in. But those weren’t the only preparations she had been doing.
In between food testing and guest list approval, Michelle had been stockpiling some of the servants work clothes, food, water, and making travel plans.
Michelle didn’t want to get married. So she wasn’t going to. Michelle was going to run away.
…
Three days before the Jones family was set to leave for Schielde, the capital city of Mharvule, Michelle lay awake on her bed. It was just after 1 AM, and she was all ready to execute her plan.
She heard a single tap on her window pane and jolted upright. She stared at the glass, moonlight trickling through the trees outside. A second rock hit the window and she grabbed the bag that was resting at the foot of her bed.
She opened the window and caught the third rock before it could go hurtling inside. Looking down, she saw the man she had hired to help her escape. He waved at her when he saw her. His name was Ned Leeds and Michelle’s confidence in her plan faltered slightly looking at him.
Ned was not the knight in shining armour she had pictured. He looked her age, which was disconcerting, and he was a bit more horizontal than the pictured saviour.
She shook off the doubts. It was too late now.
She gave a small wave back, slung her pack over her shoulder, and climbed out of the window without looking back.
Ned helped her into the wagon, talking nonstop and a bit loud for Michelle’s liking.
“So we’ll get to the river by daybreak, and your boat will be waiting for you there. The ride shouldn’t be too bad, mostly through woods where the only real threat is bandits, but I’ve never been attacked by bandits in my three years of driving this wagon, so I wouldn’t worry about it. You good? Comfy? Ready to hit the road?”
Michelle nodded and gave a small smile that turned out more of a grimace. This seemed to put Ned off slightly, and he remained basically silent as they set off down the road.
She was headed for Idrah, the country down the river from Mharvule and her home country, Breuklinn. It promised a fresh start, far away from courtship and arranged marriages and the suffocating life she had lived.
Michelle stared over her shoulder at the retreating house. Under the stars, it looked very story book. It looked like the happily ever after house the fair maiden and the handsome prince move into after falling in love against all odds. Michelle was happy to see it disappear.
She gazed up at the stars. They held more of a promise for her than the small castle her family had lived in. The stars promised adventure and uncertainty, but they also promised Michelle control of her own destiny. And with that thought in the front of her mind, she fell asleep.
…
She woke to the sounds of the harbor, seagulls and ships bells. She sat up and stretched, suddenly wide awake. She was in the Southernmost harbor of Brueklinn, and the sun was just coming up. Even this far South, her breath still misted the air as she exhaled, and Michelle was grateful for the cloak she’d thrown in at the last minute. Idrah had a warmer climate than Brueklinn, but she wasn’t out of Brueklinn yet.
Ned opened the back of the wagon and helped her out. She adjusted her bag and threw Ned his payment. He dropped the pouch.
Michelle rolled her eyes and started towards the docks. Ned fumbled with the bag of coins and ran after her.
“Are you going to need anymore help? Can you find the ship and everything?” She smiled at his concern.
“I’ll be ok. Thanks!” She waved and headed towards the docked ships. She was sailing to Idrah on The Homecoming under the pretense of meeting her aunt. That story was enough for Ned and the ship’s captain, and it would get her to the new country.
Once there, Michelle had a vague plan of working in an inn or finding work with the boats in the harbor. She wasn’t too worried about not having specifics. The important part was getting as far away from her mother as possible.
She spotted The Homecoming and gave her papers to the deckhand. After boarding the boat, she was shown her tiny cabin and settled in her things.
The voyage to Idrah was uneventful in the way that it was always exciting, that Michelle got used to it. She had worked with boats when she was younger and it was more socially acceptable, and everything about the voyage was exciting to her. Not just to be escaping her old life, but to be truly finding a new one.
One day on board, her favorite sailor, Ben, had told her Michelle sounded too prissy a name for a sailor girl. So Michelle decided to go by her initials, MJ. A true new beginning
The day of arrival dawned cloudy and gray. MJ packed her bag one last time and climbed up to the deck. The ship sailed into port smoothly, and she disembarked from her home for the past six weeks.
Finally at a part of her journey where there was no set plan, MJ wandered a little inland, hoping to find an inn for the night.
She boarded a wagon with a few other people, all heading for Salt and Pepper, a supposedly famed bed and breakfast being advertised near the port.
A few minutes into the ride, the wagon jolted suddenly, sending a few hats and bags flying. A split second later, the wagon jerked to a stop. Several people were thrown forward. MJ tensed.
She saw some sort of wire contraption spread across their path. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she prepared to jump out and investigate. Before she could however, several figures approached the wagon out of the dark trees, surrounding the small group of people.
“Long story short folks, you are being robbed. Throw all your valuables out the back of the wagon.”