By Amanda Pizzolatto (alias: Aurora Mandeville)
Word Count: 448
Rated: G
Summary: A merchant catches the eye of a Knight’s daughter, but it takes an attack of a rival Knight to bring them together.
Once upon a time, there lived a knight who had three children. His two sons had already grown up and left their father’s castle to become knights like him, his daughter not far from reaching adulthood as well. Soon, his castle would be open not only to merchants, travelers, and entertainers, but also to suitors. And come they did, from miles around, doing everything they could to obtain the love of the daughter, and the good opinion of the father. Only one, however, caught her eye, and her attention, and that was the son of the head merchant in those parts. Her father’s only problem with him was that his state in life was lower than that of his daughter’s and could not approve of the match until the merchant’s son had risen to a higher status. The young man couldn’t think of a way to raise his status or find a way around the father’s decision, until a rival knight attacked the castle one afternoon. The castle was in instant turmoil, the chaos spreading like a wildfire to the neighboring farms. Those who were not citizens of the keep were ordered to evacuate with the farmers, everyone in the traveling groups immediately complied, except the merchant’s son. He raced towards the tower where his beloved had her room, trapped by the battle raging outside her door. When he got there, her father had disarmed the soldiers and was taking her out of harm’s way. The young man followed quickly, doing what little he could to keep their backs covered, nearly losing sight of the knight and his daughter a couple of times. It was when they arrived at the guardhouses just outside the gates that things took a turn for the worse. The knight and his daughter were separated during a surprise attack by the rival knight, the merchant’s son quickly stepping in to get her to safety, and the two disappeared into the shadows. No one knows what happened to them after that, her father didn’t live to see another day and her brothers could find no clues after they had avenged their father. The best route might be to ask them for many believe that it is they who haunt the castle as the sun sets. They come right as the sun is nothing but a sliver on the horizon, the guardhouses are lit with an eery purple light then, one is filled with the aromas of exotic spices and the sea, the other is filled with roses and lavender. The lights and the scents move from the guardhouses to converge at the drawbridge, where they travel over the bridge, and disappear into the night.