Joedan walked towards the house, mumbling as he went, "the most…ungrateful..spoiled..brat..there ever was…" He stomped up the steps to the house and opened the front door.
"Hey son, how'd the work in the field go today?" his dad asked.
"Same as it always does, da."
"Hey ma, I'm starving." said Joedan.
"Dinner will be ready in just a bit. Hold your horses." his mother said.
Sitting around the table, the sun had fully gone down by now, his siblings were bickering, and finally the food was ready. Joedan shoveled his food into his mouth, as if it were a race to get it all down.
"What's got you in such a hurry?" his father and mother asked, at the same time.
"Oh, nothing…just hard day in the field, ya know how it is, da? Tired, wanna get done and turn in for the night." Joedan scraped the last few bites off his plate and stood up, pushing the chair back.
"Alright, if I be excused?"
Both his parents said nothing, only looking at him and then his father gave a small nod. Joedan grabbed his plate, pushed in his chair and stepped towards the sink. After washing his plate and setting it in the strainer, he headed towards the stairway.
Entering his room, Joedan hurriedly shed his dirty clothes and headed towards the bath. After scrubbing himself clean, Joedan grabbed his night clothes and put them on. The house grew quieter as night settled in and Joedan listened impatiently for the signs that his family had turned in for the night. Putting on his boots, tucking the knife in its side, he grabbed a new shirt and threw it over his head.
Quiet as a church mouse, if they were indeed quiet, he tried to descend the stairs as silently as possible. Entering the kitchen, he hurriedly grabbed some of the leftovers from tonight's meal and covered the dish, heading towards the front door.
Descending the front steps, Joedan made his way over to the equipment shed. Knocking twice, he listened for an answer. The door was yanked open, and there the woman stood. She was angry, cheeks puffing, if she could, steam would have been blowing out her ears.
"You are the rudest person I have ever met," the woman proceeded to tell him, as she shoved her finger into his shoulder, again and again.
"I guess, you won't be wanting this food then?" Joedan said, cheekily.
Joedan handed her the plate and pointed her over to a couple of folding chairs near the back of the shed. They both sat down and the woman started to dig into the food.
"My name is Joedan, by the way." And "You're welcome, also." Joedan smiled at her.
She continued to chew, not acknowledging him at all. Finally after almost finishing her plate, "Amelia." she said.
Amelia finished the plate and handed it back to him. "Do you think that guy from earlier made it?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. What I wanna know is what did those two men want with you? Most men don't just kidnap random women for no good reason. What were they after, besides money, of course?"
Amelia looked back at Joedan that moment and said "You really don't know who I am? My father is a duke. The greatest duke, in my opinion. I was in the town with my bodyguards. We went into one of the shops in the market and while I was in there, one of the ladies told me that what I wanted was just in the back and asked me to come with her. When I stepped through the door, there were four men, they got the best of my guards, gagged me, knocked me out and when I woke up, I was with the two you saw me with earlier."
"So they got the jump on you? Do you know who they work for? Those were some pretty rough guys to be coming after you like that."
Amelia shook her head. "I don't know who they work for, but you can be sure my father will hear about it." she said. Joedan looked at her and sighed.
"What?" she said.
"I suppose you be wanting someone to take ya back to your estate?" Joedan said.
"Well, I think, it's only the right thing to do, don't you?" Amelia said.
"This is the town of Blanchard. Where is your estate?" Joedan asked her.
"It's in the city of Restin." Amelia responded.
"That's quite the journey. It will take us about a week to get there on foot."
"You don't have a wagon? Or horses? How do you get around?" Amelia asked.
Joedan shrugged his shoulders, "I don't much be getting 'round, princess. I live here, work the fields everyday, what I always have done, probably what I always will do."
"Will you help me or not?" Amelia said impatiently.
"Aye, princess. I'll help you."
"Stop calling me that," Amelia said. "When can we leave?"
"Let me just grab a few things and we can be on our way."
Joedan stood, grabbed the plate from her dinner, and walked back towards the house. Quietly going inside, Joedan put the plate in the sink and headed for the stairs. Entering his bedroom, Joedan went to his closet and grabbed two more sets of clothes, threw them into his blanket, rolled up his blanket and grabbed his flint from his bedside table. He had saved up a small pouch of coin for awhile now and tucked that into his pocket. Tying his blanket roll snug, Joedan threw it over his shoulder and headed for the door of his room.
"Hopefully ma and da don't worry too much in the mornin'." Joedan said quietly to himself. Quietly closing the door behind him, he stood straight, took a deep breath and headed down the stairs.
Joedan had been away from his hometown a few times before, but usually only a day or two trip with his da when they would bring the harvest to town. He had never been where Amelia lived personally, but he knew of it, and had been around it with his family before. Stepping down the front steps, Joedan made his way to the shed and opened the door.
"You ready?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah, ready as can be." Joedan proceeded to open the door for Amelia to step outside.
"It's still late, but if we start now we should be able to make it to the next town at a good hour. Then maybe, we can find a place to stay and figure out the best plan from there." Joedan told her.
And so the journey to bring the "princess" back to her home began.