The Warrior Princess

Unexpected Surprises

Mrs Parker was not an early riser. In fact, in her dictionary, early rising means waking up at 11 O’ clock in the morning. So, imagine her annoyance, when someone rang her calling bell, interrupting her beauty sleep, 9 O’ clock in the morning. Persistently.

Groaning, she pulled on her robe and marched down the stairs. As she tied the sash, she was planning murder over whoever was on the other side of her door.

Talk about over dramatics.

Her already half asleep eyes were turning red, her nostrils flaring and her jaw clenched as she opened the door. But she was completely sober the moment she looked at the person.

Standing before her was her niece, her sister’s daughter, looking as white as a sheet. The girl sported a black eye, split lip, scratched along her arms, among other things.

In short, she looked like hell.

Well, Mrs Parker thought, I am not going to get that sleep after all.

Suddenly her niece fell face first into her arms.

Mrs Parker sighed. Try another week.

With the limited strength her petite body allowed, she pulled her niece to the living room. She carefully deposited the girl on the sofa then ran to the front door. Making sure that none of her neighbours was paying attention, she shut the door and locked it. She returned back to the living room to the sight of her niece groaning as she pulled on her t-shirt.

Mrs Parker’s stood shocked when she saw all the claw marks on her niece’s back. Stifling a gasp she rushed to the sofa and demanded, “What ruckus have you got yourself in?”

Still dazed, her niece fell back on the sofa and snorted, “I took over your job.”

“What?” Mrs Parker asked in confusion.

But instead of an answer, she got a painful moan. Rushing to the bathroom for the first aid box, she cursed her day.

That evening, Arianna Sinclairé was torn between deciding if it was her worst day yet or not.

After her near-death encounter with the wolf, she decided to lock every door in the house and relax. Which subsequently led her to take half a nap. Just when she was sure that she could relax further, her doorbell rang.

She clenched her jaw and cursed in words that would have run a fish woman for her money. She was so busy cursing, that it slipped her mind that all her neighbours except for Mrs Parker, didn’t give a rat’s ass about her.

She opened the door for her unexpected visitor.

“Mr Frances?” she asked, the moment her eyes landed on the man on her portico.

“Hello Miss Arianna, I hope you are well?” the man on the other side of the door asked. “Do you mind if I come in?”

Arianna blinked dumbfounded at the slightly short, slightly pale, slightly fat, slightly bald man, who adorned a pleasant smile on his face. She opened the door further and stepped aside.

Syrene du Wulf woke up with a start from the sofa on which her aunt made her rest. Her unfocused eyes ran over everything and nothing around her until it rested on her aunt, who was sleeping near the sofa on a chair. The young girl of twenty-three released a sigh of relief after realising where she was. She tucked her red hair that has fallen in her line of vision and closed her eyes.

Her relief was short-lived, however, when she remembered what happened that morning. She must tell her Aunt what happened before anything untoward happened.

Reluctantly, Syrene shook her Aunt. “Aunt Em!”

But as was her Aunt’s habit, she slapped the offending hand that was shaking her awake. With a growl, Syrene shouted, “Emmeline Gardiner Parker!”

Emmeline woke up with a start. When her eyes landed on her niece, Emmeline released a sigh of relief. “Sweet Goddess! You scared me!!”

Syrene rolled her eyes, “If you’ve landed from your sleeping heaven, we have a very important news to discuss”

Emmeline crossed her arms and looked at her niece, “Would you like to tell me why you look like you brawled in a bar?”

Syrene clenched her jaw and spat out, “That was what I wanted to discuss with you, Aunt.” The deliberate emphasis on the word ‘Aunt’ seemed to ruffle her aunt’s feather, which Syrene ignored. Her mind already going through scenarios, that could have led to the complication that happened that morning. “They found her.”

Emmeline’s childishness vanished with those three words. Her eyes unfocused as if she was in a trance. And Syrene knew better than to disturb her Aunt when she was in one of those moments.

“Syrene!” Emmeline said as her eyes focused on her niece, “We must move her. And we have no other choice than to tell her at least a part of the truth.”

“Are you sure about that, Aunt Em?” Syrene asked tentatively. “We don’t know if she would listen to us.”

Emmeline stayed silent, her mind clearly troubled.

“Miss Arianna,” Mr Frances said the moment he settled in the living room, “Forgive me for showing up at your door without any warning.”

“No,” Arianna said from her seat opposite him. “It is alright, Mr Frances. How are you doing?”

“I am good, I am good,” Mr Frances said. “I hope you doing well as well?” he asked his hand pushing the round spectacles on his nose.

“Yes,” Arianna shrugged. Her mind going hyper with the reasons that Mr Frances visiting her. But she couldn’t find a single thing that could have landed Mr Frances on her doorsteps.

Mr Frances opened his briefcase and withdrew a wooden box. Placing it on the coffee table between them, he said, “Your parents entrusted this to my care. This is to be released to you on this date if something untoward were to happen to your parents.”

Arianna took the box tentatively. She didn’t know what was special about the date or what was so important that was placed in the box. But she had a feeling that it was life-changing. And she didn’t know how right she was.