Least I Can Do

When Rose had gotten a look at Jarek's horse, she realized that it was not his horse at all. It was actually Philip's steed. After the princess had seen the horses freed, the greedy criminal must have claimed the beautiful creature for himself before the fighting began.

Rose recalled her conversation with Philip outside the inn earlier that night. The phrase that Philip had used to train his horse was memorable, after all. The princess only hoped that it would work when someone other than Philip said it.

"Fireball, attack!" Rose yelled.

Jarek cocked his head to one side, confused. "You expect to call down fire from the sky or something? Who do you think you are?"

Fireball twitched his ears, seeming unsure of how to act. He stomped his hoof as if seeking confirmation.

"Fireball, attack!" the princess repeated the command. "Attack him!" With every bit of strength, Rose pulled her head away from her captor, losing some of her precious golden locks to the man's fist.

Having understood the orders, Fireball wheeled around and kicked at Jarek with his hind hooves. Then to punctuate the point, the mighty creature tried to squash the assassin like the bug he was.

The man screamed in anguish as something most precious was crushed. He was incapacitated for the moment. Fireball had done his duty.

The stallion turned to Rose, who had retreated from the meelee to a safe distance. Calmly, Fireball approached the princess and nudged her uninjured shoulder with his muzzle. Because of her broken arm, Rose required a large amount of energy to mount the steed. At last she was able to get in the saddle and ride away into the dark night.

Relief flooded her body when she could not longer see Jarek struggling behind her. She was finally safe.

"Philip protected me just as he promised," Rose whispered to the stallion. "He trained you well."

The princess allowed Fireball to go deeper into the woods. What else could she do? As far as she knew, it was not safe to return to Tatton. There might still be more bandits after her, so it was also not safe to remain where she was. So Rose traveled on and on in some unknown direction.

When her mind could no longer take the pain, and sleep threatened to pull her off Fireball's back, the princess finally reined the stallion to a halt. Finding a small softish patch of grass in a copse of tree, the princess pulled her cloak around herself and laid down.

With weary, worried tears streaming down her face, Rose fell asleep.

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A delicious smell wafted toward Rose's nose as her consciousness came back to the waking world.

'Mmm, bread!'

She opened her eyes a slit as the light of morning filtered through the trees. It took a moment for her vision to adjust to the bright world around her.

The princess groaned and tried to stretch. She cried out. Her injured arm screamed in pain and the break began to throb anew.

All the memories of the day and night before returned to her. It had been quite a horrible adventure. 'Nothing like a storybook...'

Rose had slept through her exit, gotten tackled by soldiers, was humiliated by tavern patrons and finally had been attacked and nearly murdered by a team of assassins. She cradled her arm. 'At least I escaped and can have some breakfast...wait. I didn't make bread, then who...'

Suddenly wide awake, the princess took in the scene inside the copse of trees. There was a small fire nearby with a loaf of camp bread tucked neatly in one side baking. The smell was divine.

Beside the embers, an old woman was snacking on an apple as she waited. "You look very rough dearie," she commented gently as the princess stared at her, terrified. "You want to talk about it?"

"Are you with the bandits?" Rose asked quickly. If the old woman had been left to watch her, Rose might still have time to escape.

The old woman smiled, cracks spreading across her face like a spider's web. She laughed, and the sound of tinkling bells filled the air. "Do I look like a bandit to you? I wouldn't hurt a fly...unless it landed in my pudding. I do value my pudding highly." The elderly lady winked.

The princess looked at the woman. In her decrepit state, she would not have been much use to the vicious men that attacked her hours before. But there was still something odd about her.

"Then why are you out here?" Rose looked sidelong at the woman, still wary.

"No one wants to take care of a crazy forest lady, so I take care of myself. It is peaceful out here among nature, haven't you noticed?" Pausing, the woman looked around and then closed her eyes, as if listening to some unsung song. "It is going to be a wonderful day, I can feel it."

The princess missed the hint of mischief in the old lady's voice.

"Anything has to be better than last night," Rose mumbled. Her heart was heavy at the loss of Cole and Philip. Her eyes began to fill with tears.

The elder's smile faded as she looked at the broken girl. "Ah, yes, you mentioned bandits. You poor thing. You must have been through a lot. Got separated from your group when they attacked, did you? That breaks my heart. Can I help you find your family again?"

"I wasn't traveling with my family." Rose didn't want to get into particulars with a stranger, no matter how kind.

"Oh... I see." The woman quickly changed the subject. "Well, the bread will be ready in a moment. In the meantime, may I take a look at that arm of yours? It doesn't look quite right."

The princess glanced down at the space between her left elbow and hand. About a finger-length from her wrist, a large bulge protruded from her arm where the bone threatened to poke through. The purple skin around it testified to the internal damage.

"Are--Are you a healer?" Rose gritted her teeth as a new wave of pain washed over her.

"Well, I cannot very well make it any worse, now can I?"

Before Rose could argue, the old woman was suddenly at her side.

"Bite down on this," the ancient woman said firmly, holding out another apple.

The princess wondered where the apple had come from. The fresh piece of fruit had appeared from nowhere and beyond that, the princess had not seen any apple trees nearby. However, she complied and bit deep into the succulent red fruit.

'What is she going to...' The princess screamed loud and long as the old woman suddenly gripped her arm. Passing out for a moment, Rose awoke to find the bulge in her arm was gone. The pain, however, was not.

Ripping the apple from her mouth, she yelled at her elder. "What did you do?!"

"I had to set the bone. There was no way for it to heal when it was out of place. I have seen some horrid things from bones that have healed improperly. You are far too young and pretty to be deformed, dearie." The old woman helped Rose sit up and touched her cheek gently. Her hands were icy cold, yet soothing.

"I don't want to be deformed, but does it have to hurt so much?" Tears freely made their way down the girl's cheek and fell to the ground.

The old woman's eyes softened. "Putting things right can hurt, but the end result is worth it." She pulled out a water skin and passed it to the young woman. "Drink this water. It will help."

Rose took the container with her good hand and brought it to her lips. It was almost as cold as the woman's fingers and tingled on the way down. It was utterly refreshing. The princess could almost swear the pain in her body was lessening from the water's flow.

"Thank you ma'am..." the princess paused, realizing she did not know the woman's name.

"You can call me Hanna," the old lady's colorless eyes sparkled, "and you are very welcome indeed. It is the least I can do after all you have been through."