Step 1

Will opened the front cover to reveal that the first page was covered in titles of other happily ever after stories. Once he read through all of them, which took forever because there was like a million of them, he turned the page again to finally find the prologue. It began, ‘So you want to live happily ever after? Well, here’s the book for you. What you need is to first remember that in order to have a happily ever after is that you need to be a prince, or you need to marry a princess. But the only way you can marry a princess, is if you save them from a tower or a magical being. But how do you do that? Well, that’s a very good question. First off, the ‘damsel in distress’ is the most important part and it can’t me messed up.

So then again you ask this wonderful book that you’re reading, how do you save a damsel in distress and how will that give me a happily ever after?

Read on and you’ll find that these lovely steps and explanations will guide you on your way.’

“Wow.” Replied Will while he continued on.

He turned the page where the heading read ‘Step 1’.

‘Step 1. Welcome back. Anyway, the first step of this long journey is to have the skills of a knight in shinning armor. The way to do this is to be an expert in the art form of a sword, at least knowledgeable in the arts of martial arts, and if wished, a bow and arrow.

As a prince, you should already have begun some of these classes, but before you are ready to save a damsel in distress, you need to have the skills to save her.’

‘For the dimwitted, this basically means that you need to be able to save the damsel, so skills in the sword, martial arts, and the bow and arrow are necessary.’

Will laughed at this explanation.

“The book really wasn’t kidding about having another explanation. I feel really bad for the guys who didn’t understand that paragraph.” He laughed again out of pure amusement.

“Lets see, I all ready have the skills in the sword. I need to work on my martial arts, and a bow and arrow might be useful. Maybe the head guardswoman could help me with those two.” Will walked out of the library with the book tucked up under his left arm and he went to the castle yard to see if she was there.

“Head Guardswoman!” Will yelled at the top of his lungs so she could hear him.

“What is it?” she shouted back. They both started to walk towards each other after the Head Guardswoman shielded her sword. They met up at the middle step.

“What is it?” she replied again after taking off her helmet. Her hair was tied up in a small bun just small enough so her helmet could fit over it.

“I was wondering if you or one of your men could teach me some kind of martial arts and the bow and arrow.” She paused a second to think on who could teach him.

“Hum…” she replied the continued, “The only person I could think of that could teach you the bow and arrow would be lady Jacklyn, and for the martial arts, I would say Nile.”

“Why Nile?”

“He’s the only expert we have available right now. John and Richard are on thirty day leave right now.”

“Okay.” Replied Will. “Do you know where I can find them?”

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” She gave Will a stern look.

“Never mind.”

“That’s better. You better hurry off. I have business to attend to.”

“Yes Head Guardswoman.” She still scares me. Will thought to himself.

He headed off to the firing range. Lady Jacklyn was indeed there practicing different shots from different points. She did moving shots, still shots, long distance targets, and pretty much anything you could think of. Will always treaded lightly, so right before lady Jacklyn shot her knocked arrow, she spun around and just before she was about to let go, she stopped herself.

“Didn’t your aunt or uncle tell you not to sneak up on people?” she dropped the aim of the arrow so it now pointed at the ground.

“Sorry.”

“Umh. I wasn’t expecting to see you prince Will.”

“I know. I was wondering if I could get a few lessons on using a bow and arrow.”

“Took you long enough.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Never mind then. You want a lesson? Fine then. First I want to see what you can do.” She handed Will the bow and arrow what was in her hand. He brought his left hand up so the bow and arrow was pointed at Lady Jacklyn. She stepped to the side of him.

“First lesson! Never point a knocked arrow at your instructor! Always keep it pointed at the ground or at a target!”

“Sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again!” Will walked over to one of the positions to shot an arrow. He held the bow with his left hand, pulled back with his right hand, and left go. The arrow went streaming to the target and hit the white outer circle.

“You need to aim. Take your time. It’s not a rushed thing.” She said a little more calmly. “Try again.” Will did. This time he did a little better.

“Soon it will become second nature.” Will continued for the next two and a half hours practicing. Every arrow he shot he would get better and better. Lady Jacklyn was quite impressed, but she didn’t show it much.

“Will that’s enough.” She replied. She came to him and gently pushed the bow down.

“That’s enough.” Will handed the bow and un-knocked to lady Jacklyn. “I expect to see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be here.”

It was dinnertime and Will headed up to the castle dinning room to share a meal with his aunt. They both were silent and neither of them was going to break the silence. It had quite silent since the king had died. The queen was still mourning the loss of her husband while Will didn’t share much with his aunt period. After desert of apple pie, Will went to go find Nile.

Nile was in his room meditating from the stressful day of teaching classes. He was welcome in the castle because he was one of the king’s best friends. When the king passed away, he was welcome to stay and help fill the halls of people.

“Nile?” replied Will after knocking on the door to his room.

“Um…Um…” replied Nile.

“Nile?”

“Um…”

“Ni—“

“WHAT?” he replied after finally hearing Will. Will opened the door just enough to slide his body in so he could talk to Nile face to face. Nile was a dark tan color with brown almost black hair and electric green eyes. He was in his forties, but he didn’t show it.

“Will you teach me martial arts?”

“Will I teach you martial arts? That’s a very good question. Another good question is will you not interrupt people who are meditating?”

“I won’t if you teach me.”

“Okay. But this is your warning. The next time you do, I’ll stop.”

“Okay.”