The Princess Who Went to War

Chapter 12 - The Surprise Guest

[Calysta]

"Fun night, huh?" Ayu laughs as she hands Gwen a green tonic, meant to cure her hangover from all the drinking last night. 

Gwen groans as she slowly drinks the tonic while holding her head. 

"I was surprised at how drunk she was last night. I've never seen her drink more than three glasses of beer." I tell Ayu as she gets other tonics ready. 

"Randall and Uly insisted on some game and I kept losing." Gwen says, her voice hoarse. 

"Mm, you would want to be careful, dear. Men and alcohol are never a good combination." Ayu warns, confusing Gwen and I. 

She looks at us like we're little bunnies she found abandoned in a garden, "You'll learn more when you get older." She says as she wipes her hands on the white apron she's wearing over her healer's uniform. 

Still confused, Gwen stands from the bed she's seated on and we get ready to leave the infirmary. 

"Thank you for the tonic, Ayu." Gwen says before Ayu merely smiles and nods and we both leave the infirmary just as the breakfast bells start to ring. 

Gwen and I make our way to the dining halls to eat and immediately get seated at another far end of one of the long tables. Not long after, Gabriel, and the rest of his team arrive and takes a seat with us. 

"How are you feeling, Uly?" I ask Ulysses, who I remember to be almost as drunk as Gwen last night. 

He only laughs as he replies, "Very well." 

"You're not feeling hungover at all?" Gwen asks, quite frustrated that she's the only one who's unwell.

"We drink a lot. We barely even get hangovers anymore." Randall confesses. 

"We had to ask Ayu for a tonic to help with Gwen's headache and nausea." I tell them.

"Ayu would beat us up if we asked for any tonic because of hangover. She only gives those out for a maximum of three times. If you keep showing up with a hangover, she simply stops giving them out." Ulysses tells us. 

I laugh at this information, imagining how many times these men must have asked Ayu for a tonic in the past for her to give up.

"That's why Gabriel barely drinks." Randall says, looking at Gabriel. I raise my eyebrows in surprise as Gabriel simply continues eating his breakfast. The rest of their team laugh.

"He gets the worst hangovers, and he gets drunk the fastest." Ulysses says as he continues to laugh, even spilling some of his food. 

"Well, one time—" Ulysses starts, but stops as soon as Gabriel gives him a bad sideway glance. 

"No, tell us." I insist, and I can see how Ulysses is debating inside his head whether to tell the story or not. Gabriel keeps his eyes on Ulysses, like warning him not to say another word.

"Come on, it's just Gwen and I." I say, trying to persuade Gabriel. He looks at me, and simply sighs. 

Ulysses face immediately lights up as he swallows food in his mouth and start talking. 

"Well, we were celebrating the completion of our first 'big mission', and the Commander offered Gabriel drinks after another, and he couldn't just refuse." Ulysses starts off. Gwen and I listen keenly. 

"He got drunk at the fifth glass, starting to stagger around and talk nonsense, and before we knew it, he was at his fifteenth glass, throwing up all over the place." Ulysses adds as every laughs, as if remembering the exact moment that it happened. 

"We wanted to help, but he refused any help. Being drunk ourselves, we all just kind of took care of ourselves throughout the night." Randall adds. 

"Well, the next morning, we all wake up, and he's absolutely nowhere to be found. Even through our own hangovers, we looked everywhere." Ulysses says, and I look at Gabriel and see that he is getting increasingly embarrassed as the story progresses. 

"We find him sleeping next to his horse." Ulysses finally says. 

Gwen and I laugh in disbelief, "The stable?" I say, laughing, imagining Gabriel sleeping, covered in hay.

The men laugh as Gabriel only continued to eat, probably hoping that he had skipped breakfast instead of listen through this story. 

"Oh, you'd love to hear stories about Caly getting drunk." Gwen suddenly says, and I immediately look at her, communicating with my eyes to say no more. She simply avoids my gaze as she continues to eat.

"Please, Gwen, tells us all about drunk Royalty." Gabriel says, seemingly amused. I scoff at this. 

"Which do you want to hear?" Gwen asks, teasing me about the multiple times I've done embarrassing things while I'm drunk. 

"The worst one!" Ulysses says, quite excited. Gwen looks at me, as if asking for permission. I laugh as I roll my eyes and nod for her to go ahead. 

"She punched a Marquess." Gwen spills. 

"She what?" Randall asks, unsure if he heard right. Gwen laughs as she nods. 

"Why?" Ulysses asks, probably confused as to what would warrant me to do such thing.

"She was at her twelfth glass of the finest wine offered at a ball." Gwen starts off, and you can hear a collective "ooooh" from the men. 

"A servant had spilled drinks all over the Marquess, as he staggered about, also very drunk. The Marquess got very mad, berating the servant, even going as far as threatening death." Gwen says. I roll my eyes at the memory of the fat, bald Marquess. 

"As if that wasn't enough, the Marquess had the servant get on the ground to kiss his foot, right in front of everyone and mentioned that the only thing that would excuse her mistake was if she was to entertain him in bed." Gwen adds. 

The men all get serious, clearly upset by this whole story. They listen intently as Gwen continues on. 

"Well, Calysta, in her emerald green ballgown flings a wine glass directly at the direction of the Marquess. It hits the wall and breaks, grabbing everyone, even the King's attention. The music stopped at the shatter." Gwen continues.

"The Marquess, shocked, was about to say something, when Calysta, without hesitation, moves in to punch him right in the gut. You can hear the whole party gasp as the Marquess falls to the floor." Gwen says, motioning a punch as she narrated the whole thing. I look at the men, seeming amused at the story. 

"What happened next?" Ulysses asks as he leans forward, clearly eager to hear the rest.

"Sure, the Marquess was not happy?" Gabriel comments as he looks at Gwen and I.

"He was not." I admit. almost laughing. 

"He was embarrassed and demanded that Calysta be held accountable." Gwen tells them. 

"So, did you receive punishment?" Ulwid asks, shocking Gwen and I. He does not talk very much, and this is the first time he's ever talked directly to us. 

"Ulwid gets curious." Randall says, noticing the surprise in our faces. Ulwid averts his gaze, like he's embarrassed. 

"Why would she? She's the Princess of Raziem. Even if she punched a Duke, the Prince Atticus and the King would be quick to her rescue." Gwen replies. 

"They let you get away with it?" Ulysses asks, surprised. I nod.

"Technically, the Marquess was in the wrong. I simply defended the female servant that he harassed because of his own mistake. Even if I was sober, I'd do the exact same thing. Unlike sleeping-beside-a-horse-knight right here." I say, mocking Gabriel. They all laugh at this as Gabriel only raises his eyebrow at me. 

We spend breakfast talking about funny and embarrassing things we've done in the past, and soon enough, we all finish. 

Having no mission for the day, we all head to the training grounds. Gwen and Randall take off to spar, and so does other members of the team.

I simply watch as I contemplate on leaving to the forest by the road that leads to the tavern to train my magic as well. 

"Aren't you going to spar?" Gabriel asks as he stands beside me, also watching the others spar. 

"I want to train my magic today." I reply. 

"Why don't you?" He asks. 

"Well, I can't do it here." I say, stating the obvious. Instead of agreeing, he furrows his eyebrows in confusion. 

"Why not?" He asks, genuinely bewildered. I raise my eyebrows at him. 

"Well, I can't train magic in front of this many people." I reply, gesturing to the dozens of soldiers and knights training. 

He still looks like he does not get the point as he furrows his eyebrows further and says, "You can." 

I roll my eyes at his response, "I can't." I insist as I glance at the other soldiers who are training. 

The truth is, I am terrified that they end up losing confidence in me once they realize just how lacking I am. I am painted to be this Princess is perfect in fighting skills and in magic, but the truth is, there is still so much I have not learned. 

That, and the fear that I might discover some hidden ability in front of everyone like I did during the first mission, and I might hurt the people here in doing so. 

Gabriel sighs, "Here", he says as he quickly drags me by the wrist to a clear space and stops, "Do it here." He says. 

I look around to see that some people are now looking at us. 

"I told you, I can't." I say through gritted teeth, almost in a whisper. 

"You can." He says confidently. "There's your target." He adds as he points at a dummy made of hay. I look around, conscious of the people who have their eyes on me. 

"Just do it." Gabriel says as he steps backwards, giving me a clear line right towards the dummy. 

I hesitate as I lift my hands, realizing this is the first time a lot of them will be seeing me use my magic. The only ones who have ever seen it are the soldiers and knights that I've gone in missions in. 

Slightly panicking, I choose to try a tactic I've always wanted to try, but never had the chance to. 

I lift my hands, channeling the winds. In one flick, I've managed to get the dummy made of hay up in the air as the winds carry it. I stop channeling the wind, and quickly adjust to channel lightning. 

While still in the air, I quickly focus to try and hit the dummy made of hay with lightning. I miss it the first time, as the dummy starts to fall without my control, but immediately hit it as I branch a smaller lightning from the original one. 

The dummy burst into flames in the air as soldiers clap, impressed. I smile at the successful attempt, even if I didn't hit it at my first try.

I look down to see everyone looking up as they clapped. I look to my side to see Gabriel clapping as he looked at me. I smile. 

"Atticus de Raziem, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Raziem!" Everyone turns at the sudden loud announcement.

We all turn to see Atticus in his horse, followed by guards and more than a dozen soldiers, two of which are holding flags that bear the Royal Sigil just behind Atticus. 

Immediately, everyone are on their knees as Atticus smiles and says, "I've come to visit, Caly."