The Apprentice and the Handmaiden
DragonKnight19

A long time ago, in a faraway kingdom, there lived a young man who was an apprentice under the kingdom's master warrior-wizard, a knight who could also use magic. In the same castle lived a beautiful maiden who was one of the princess's handmaidens, or female servants. The apprentice was deeply in love with the handmaiden, but she ignored him whenever he admitted his feelings to her. She felt that he would never amount to anything.

The apprentice's training was almost complete when his master, the warrior-wizard, was sent off to war and never returned. Since his training was almost complete, the apprentice felt that he was ready to go off on his own into the world. He went to the handmaiden to confess his love for her one last time, but again she ignored him. He told her that he was going on a journey to find his place in the world, and that he might not come back for a very long time, if at all. She didn't say anything, so he said his farewell, then turned and left. As he was leaving, the apprentice began whistling a mysterious tune. It was slow and somber, just perfect for a parting. But it also had another, deeper, underlying tone to it, that sounded as if the song was saying, 'Goodbye, I'll return someday.' The handmaiden thought nothing of the tune at the time.

But as time progressed, instead of going away. The tune got stuck in her head and wouldn't leave. She kept thinking about the apprentice and how much he loved her, and soon she realized that she loved him as well. She realized what a fool she had been to ignore him all those times, and decided to go after him.

The handmaiden got permission from the princess to go on leave for a while, then packed her things and started a journey of her own. In town, she got news from a local shopkeeper that the apprentice had left town three weeks earlier in a caravan with other travelers. They had headed north, towards the next town over. She thanked him and started off north.

The next day she arrived in the next town, and while walking through the market, she heard that tune her lover had been whistling when he left. She turned around and saw that the source of the sound was the local sheriff, walking his patrol. He told her that he had heard the tune from a young warrior-wizard who had helped him catch a thief who had been eluding capture for weeks. He had then gone northwest, towards the coast. He told her that he had left about two and a half weeks ago, which meant that she had gained two days on him.

She arrived in a port city on the coast a few days later. Near the harbor she again heard that tune. This time it was an old sea captain, who told her that a warrior-wizard fitting her description had won local renown after sneaking aboard a pirate ship that had been marauding the coast, captured the pirate captain, then guided the ship back to harbor, where the rest of the crew was arrested. He left the city two weeks ago, heading west. She had gained another day on him.

Everywhere the maiden went, the mysterious tune led her to the discovery of news of his heroics: a rural village where a statue was erected in his honor for saving them from a raid from bandits; a lesser king who had named his newborn son after her lover after he had turned the king's untrained, ragtag group of soldiers into an experienced, battle-ready army, then led them to victory against invaders; and a lonely old hermit woman who he had nursed back to health after she was on the brink of death.

Every time, she was told that he had left not long ago, and with every stop, she gained more time on him, until one day a woodcutter told her that he had just left the day before. She had almost caught up to the man she loved.

The next day, she was walking through a forest when suddenly she heard that tune again. Thinking it was the apprentice she started running, hoping that she had finally caught up with him. She was in such a hurry that she didn't even see the wire until she tripped over it, setting off a booby trap that made a net fall, ensnaring her.

The whistling stopped, and up walked a burly, dangerous-looking highway robber. When he saw what he had caught in his trap, he laughed maliciously, and asked her what a girl like herself was doing traveling alone. She told him that she was in search of her lover, and asked him where he had learned that tune. He laughed his cruel laugh again and told her that he had heard it from the young warrior-wizard he had killed the day before. The maiden started weeping, since after all she had been through, she was now too late. The thief told her not to worry; she would be joining her lover soon. He planned to kill her at sunrise.

The maiden didn't sleep at all that night. It wasn't because she was scared of what was going to happen to her; if her lover was dead, she didn't want to live, either. She spent all night mourning him. Just before sunrise, the thief awoke and asked her if she had any last words. She didn't reply, just looked up to heaven. The last thing she saw before the thief blindfolded her was what appeared to be the silhouette of a man standing on the highest branch of a nearby tree. Then a blindfold was placed over her eyes, and she couldn't see anything.

After being blindfolded, all the maiden could hear was the scraping of the thief sharpening his blade. All of a sudden, the scraping stopped and the thief cried out. Then the maiden heard the unmistakable sound of steel on steel. The thief was fighting someone.

The battle only lasted a few moments, then there was a loud snap as one of their swords broke in two. The sword fell to the ground, and the maiden heard the thief laugh evilly. Then she heard the whooshing sound of a magical fireball, and the thud as it struck its target. She heard a body slump to the ground, and all was still.

She trembled as the footsteps came closer to her. Since she had heard the thief laugh, she assumed that he had beaten whoever had come along. But then she felt the blindfold being removed. When she could see again, the maiden looked up into the eyes of her savior, and saw the familiar blue eyes of the apprentice.

She held him tight and they shared a passionate kiss. She confessed her love for him, and he told her that he still loved her as well. He told her that after leaving the castle, he used his training to help people everywhere he went, and soon became a hero to everybody he met. Now that they were together again, he planned to settle down and become a master warrior-wizard, and have an apprentice of his own.

The maiden told him how the thief had learned his tune from a young warrior-wizard he had killed, and how she had thought it was he. He told her that he had been traveling with a fellow warrior-wizard, but had parted ways the day before. The thief must have killed him.

The two lovers started off back to the castle as the sun rose on the first day of their being a couple. Both their journeys had ended; they had both found what they were looking for: they had found each other.