Chapter 3 - Prince Pete

Chapter 1-3: Prince Pete
As I walked out of the garden I came across another one of the princes. I knew he had to be a prince because he had a crown. Besides that he had black hair that covered one of his eyes and one black eye that was showing. He was wearing a tight, dark red shirt and black pants. This prince also had a few buttons of his shirt undone. (Were all of these princes trying to look sexy?!) I didn’t feel quite as intimidated by this prince as I was by Prince Victor.
“Hello there,” I said with a smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Princess Kel,” he smiled and bowed.
I apologize; I don’t have the greatest memory. Could you please refresh my memory as to which prince you are?”
“Prince Pete, at your service.”
“Oh, it is a pleasure.”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
Well, I must say that meeting Prince Pete was a great deal more pleasurable than meeting Prince Victor. He was definitely making me blush. I held out my hand and he grabbed it and kissed it. I blushed again. At this point I felt comfortable enough to make conversation with Prince Pete. Maybe we could discuss the topic that I was very curious and a bit worried about. I thought that he and some of the other princes may be able to shed some light on the subject.
“So, what kingdom do you come from?” I asked completely ignoring my passing thought.
“I come from the kingdom of Soligonta,” he replied, grinning as my cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.
“Is that far from here?”
“Just a bit. It’s two hours by horse.”
“Oh, that is a long ride.”
“Yes, but it’s well worth the ride to see such a beautiful sight.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, you are as beautiful as a rose.” His words made me blush yet again.
“Wow, that’s very sweet of you.”
He smiled when he noticed I was blushing again.
“Well, I was told to tell the truth, so I did.”
“You’re making me blush.” I felt my cheeks turn a darker shade of pink.
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to be sorry. I like it.” I giggled as I continued to blush.
Prince Pete was smiling at me. I decided that it was time to bring up the subject I was worried about.
“Prince Pete, I have a few questions. I want to know if the things I’ve heard from my father about jousting are true,” I said hesitantly.
“Fire away,” he replied, dismissing my hesitation.
“Do they really kill eachother?”
“No, that is, I’ve never killed anyone.”
“Well, I really didn’t like the things my father said. They have me the impression that you were killing yourselves for my sake.”
“If I do die, it was most definitely a pleasure meeting you.”
I let out a long, loud sigh. “I don’t want anyone to die. I don’t like the idea of people putting their lives on the line to marry me, a princess whom none of them have ever met. That sounds just horrid to me.”
“Death really isn’t as bad as it sounds.”
“But that hardly seems fair.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“So, what did you mean when you said that it isn’t as bad as it sounds?”
“Well, you go to a better place.”
“Yes, that is most definitely true but people shouldn’t have to die for me.”
“If they truly love you, it is an honor.”
“I guess I never really thought of it that way before. Not every prince will love me though.”
He nodded his head. “But that’s why I’m willing to die.”
“If you say so.”
“I must get going.”
“Then I guess I will see you at the jousting tournament. Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
He bowed and departed. Prince Pete was not exactly what I was expecting. I didn’t want to believe that there was a prince, other than Prince Kyle, who could affect me in that way. I didn’t want the remainder of the princes to be like Prince Victor but…I didn’t want them to be like Prince Pete either. That would prove to be a severe problem.
* * * *
Prince Pete was on his way back to his camp when he ran into Prince Victor. Apparently Prince Evil had something he wanted to say to Prince Emo Bangs. HE was just casually leaning against a tree when Prince Emo Bangs walked by.
“Hey you,” he shouted just before Prince Emo Bangs was out of earshot.
He turned around.
“Hey what?” he asked confusedly.
“You’re Prince Pete, right? The one from Soligonta?”
“Yeah.”
“In that case, I have a little proposition for you.”
“What is that?”
“Say we should be paired up some time in the tournament. You wouldn’t have any trouble throwing the match, would you?”
“Sorry, not interested.” He started to walk away but Prince Evil jumped in front of him.
“Wouldn’t you like to know what would be in it for you?”
“Whatever.”
Suddenly Prince Victor grabbed Prince Pete by the collar of his shirt, threw him to the ground, and put his foot on his chest to hold him down.
“If you throw the match, I won’t kill you,” he spat with anger.
“If I loose, I might as well be dead,” Prince Pete replied, not backing down.”
“DO you really want the king’s money that badly?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know, the only real incentive to win the tournament. The king gives you his daughter too but who really cares about that?”
“You’re a moron.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m not going to agree to you’re little proposition.”
“So, be it.”
Prince Evil put his foot back on the ground and Prince Emo Bangs got up and dusted himself off. He looked at Prince Evil with an angry scowl.
“I am curious to know what you are interested in besides the king’s money,” Prince Evil said in a tone that implied that he thought Prince Emo Bangs was an idiot.
“Like I said before, you’re a moron,” he said continuing to scowl at Prince Evil.
Prince Evil scowled at Prince Emo Bangs. He realized that this prince was not going to play his little game and it made him angry. He walked away without saying another word to Prince Pete. He may have walked away this time but he was not about to give up so easily. He would get respect from Prince Pete even if he had to beat it out of him.
* * * *
Prince Victor walked back to his tent where his sister was waiting for him. She wanted to know all about what happened that day. They both knew that they would be in trouble if they didn’t come home with the money. Neither of them really cared what happened to me. As a matter of fact, they weren’t even royalty. Victor was pretending to be a prince just so he could get my father’s money.
“How did it go?” she asked eagerly.
“Well, I didn’t make a good impression with the princess but that doesn’t really matter.”
“Did she look smart?”
“It was difficult to tell but it doesn’t matter as long as her father buys into our disguise.”
“Did he buy it?”
“Most definitely.”
“Then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Not quite.” His pleased expression turned to a nasty scowl, “I met all of the princes, save one.”
She began to look worried. “So they weren’t what we were expecting?”
“Most of them were exactly what we expected. Two of them were not. Prince Martin, Prince Joe, Prince Jesse, Prince Cookie, and Prince Edward all seemed to have no skill and don’t seem to be smart enough to suspect me.”
“That’s only five. Weren’t their eight of you?”
“Prince Kyle and Prince Pete are the only flaws in our plan. I didn’t actually meet Prince Kyle, but I saw him practicing. He’s strong and he has enough skill to easily defeat me in a jousting match.”
“Would you like me to eliminate him for you?”
“If at all possible. I have a backup plan though. Prince Pete may also cause a problem. He seems to be nosy and obnoxious. He completely ignored my death threats and may be getting too attached to the princess.”
“You shouldn’t have any problems with him. Princes like that are often foolishly bold and it leads to their downfall.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. He is smart enough to discover our plan and he will spill it to the king.”
“We’ll find a way to make things work. Prince Pete will be dead before this all ends.”
“Now I think I’m starting to understand this. It’s just that I can’t figure out what we are going to do with the princess after I win the tournament.”
“We can dispose of her on our way home.”
“Excellent… my dear sister, it appears that our plan is officially foolproof.”

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