Candle Holder

Chapter 6

I woke up to a soft knock on the door, "Miss? Are you awake yet?"

Pulling off the covers, I stretched, sighing. I walked over to the door, "Good morning, Grace."

She smiled, "Good morning, Miss. Did you have a good night's sleep?"

I nodded, "Yep, did you?"

Grace nodded, "Yes, Miss, I did, thank you for asking, may I come in?"

Stepping aside, I motioned for her to come in, "Sure."

Grace asked, "Do you have any riding leathers? Or do you want me to go to town to buy some, Miss? Or maybe I could ask some ladies to spare some?"

"I have leathers. They are in my trunk." I walked over to my trunk and opened it, taking out my leathers, "Here they are."

She nodded, "That is good, it is time for breakfast now, Miss. I will leave you to get dressed and then I will come back to bring you to the dining room in 5 minutes, Miss." She curtsied and hurried off.

Bending over, I grabbed my tunic and pants, and slipped them on, then stepped into my boots.

Walking into the bathroom, I splashed some water onto my face.

Going back into the room, I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling above me. Ugh, this was so boring. I rolled off the bed.

I looked around the room, I haven't gotten around to do it yet. I looked around, the candle holder had a pattern on it. They were so pretty and detailed, I traced them gently with my finger.

Suddenly, I heard a clanking noise. Oh no, did I break it? I bit my lip, I should probably have left it alone, but I was curious and touched it again, clink-clink, I froze, clink.

I stared at it, nothing else happened, I sighed, it was probably just old. I was about to move away from it, then I heard a creaking noise, I turned towards it, clink, the candle holder dropped open, I had a mini heart attack.

Walking towards it, I peered inside the hole where the candle holder had opened up. Before I could reach inside it, something fell out.

Looking down, I saw that it was a disk-shaped thing. I had no idea what it was, I picked it up and looked at the hole. I looked inside it again, there was a scroll in there, it looked like there was something else near the scroll, too.

Before I could take the things out, I heard the door opening and shoved everything back in, putting the candleholder back in place the best I could.

Grace asked, "I'm back, are you ready, Miss?"

I nodded, "Yep, yep, I'm ready, let's go." I'll have to figure out what was in that hole later.

After breakfast, I told Mark, I needed to change into my riding clothes.

Getting to my room, with Grace's help of course, because I still didn't know the castle quite well enough to navigate it by myself without the risk of getting lost, I switched my normal clothes for my riding gear.

Grace helped tuck everything in, she led me to where Mark was waiting for me.

She curtsied, "Enjoy horseback riding, Miss. After you finished, and after your bath, I will need to take your measurements for the dress."

I asked, confused, "Dress? What dress?"

Grace told me, "The dress the queen asked us to sew for you. It is for the ball."

Oh, I had forgotten about that, "Oh yeah, that slipped my mind. Okay, thank you, Grace. Have a nice afternoon."

She curtsied, "Of course, Miss, you too."

I walked over to where Mark was, "Hello, Prince Mark, sorry to keep you waiting."

He smiled, "That's alright." He gestured to the man, "Bring out the horses." He looked at me, "You do want to ride your own horse, right?"

Smiling, I nodded, "Yes, I do. Thank you."

He nodded, "Good to know."

The men lead the horses to us, I mounted mine.

The man told me, "The lady's name is Butternut."

I smiled, "Great." I patted the horse, "Your such a pretty girl."

Butternut snorted and neighed. I smiled.

Mark asked, "Ready to go, Princess Edith?"

"Yes, I'm ready, let's go."

We started at a slow pace, trotting gently along the trail.