My Savior

Agnes returns with bandages and clothing. I am so grateful she is here to help me. I can recognize that she is a sweet, kind, caring woman. She is so cute and tiny I want to take her home. I know she will get along with my mother. “What’s your name dear?” “My names Juliet.” “Oh my! How lovely to meet you. Juliet is such a beautiful name! I want that name. It’s very sweet. My name is Agnes, I am the nursery maid here at the castle. It’s very nice working here. I work with knights all the time. When they come back with injuries I am the one to fix them up! I’m glad I don’t have boys because that would be a nightmare. It gets very hectic, but I love the job.” She blabs her whole life story before I can even say anything more about myself.

 

 "What happened dear?" She says dear too much. “I was running and the prince shot me." "Oh my!" She also says 'Oh my!' too much. "I'm sure he didn't mean to." Of course, she will defend him immediately. She can't even ask if I am okay. Although it is fairly obvious that I am not okay. "He doesn't want to hurt people." I am going to tell her it is unmistakably an accident. That I know he doesn't mean to hurt me but she keeps talking as she wipes the blood off my leg. "He would never hurt a human being! He is so sweet and kind and loving." I find that hard to believe.

 

"We'll have you fixed in no time. Where's the wound?" I turn over and lay my head on the pillow sideways. "Oh my!" She exclaims, "It really got stuck! Where's the rest of the arrow?" "It broke off when I fell," "Oh my!" She interrupts. "It's probably still in the road," I finally finish my lie. "Well, well, well, you were quite stuck!" She laughs. "Yes," I reply, "Luckily the guards carried me here or else I would still be in the road!" I joke. She laughs at least someone here understands my humor. I think I might as well be amused at her love for the family. It is much better than being angry. Especially while my leg is throbbing with pain.

 

I know that the prince and the guards treat me poorly. However, that is all I know. Those are the facts. My opinion is that the guards and the prince are always rude to everyone. Not just towards me, in that moment. I don’t want to mix up the truth with what I think, especially in front of Agnes. I really just don't see their side of things. I’m not in the wrong. Just the wrong place at the wrong time. Which sounds like I'm in the wrong but trust me I'm not. I presume Agnes loves and respects everyone in the world. That is how I view the kingdom, a world within these walls. It is a whole other spot, a separate world from Hartwell in itself. The atmosphere is stranger. Vaguely familiar but then again, the air might be funky in here. However, that is a completely different situation, this time I’m here against my will. Although it may be for the best.

 

"How did all this start?" Agnes asks as she finishes wiping the back of my leg and starts pulling out the remaining pieces of wood. "Well I was in the woods." I cringe as she yanks the lingering parts of the arrow out of my wound. "Those woods are dangerous!" Agnes shouts. Well there isn’t any reason to lecture me now. I am already out of the woods. Obviously "Oh no," I whisper "Jonathan." I remember someone can catch him! I don't know what I'll do if I find out someone caught him. Now that I think about us running, I realize that when the men caught up to me (only because I was shot) Jonathan wasn't with them. He must have made it home safe. That idea helps me calm down. Does he know I didn't make it home safe? By now, he must have realized. Mother is probably worried about me now.

 

"Go on!" Agnes urges me to continue my story. All I want to do is rant about how I hate the prince and his stupid incompetent men. I want to let Jonathan and Mother know I am all right. I mean I am in no way able to walk but I am not dead! I want them to be able to sleep at night. Not go out looking for me. They probably have no idea what happened to me. Unless someone tells them. However, I am stuck inside here and will never know. I will have to spend a couple of nights here before I can walk. My leg is in so much pain that I think I will be lucky to ever walk again.

 

Agnes finishes pulling out the splinters and I am debating on what to tell her. I can say the elk scared me and I got caught in the cross fire but that will be a lie. Well it is partially true. The elk did scare me; and because of that I was shot. But I don't want to do that to her. That is so mean, and that lie will soon be revealed because the guards and prince have to question me. "I was in the forest and the guards started to chase me. I was stupid and afraid so I ran." "Oh my..." She says softly. I laugh. She says it so often I wonder how many times she says it daily. Then again, she must not be in front of poor peasants too often. If she is, she probably never ran into trouble making peasants. So she doesn’t need to give them their sympathy.

 

"I ran into town to get away from them. When I was crossing the road, an elk was running down the road. It ran right in front of me and leaped off towards the forest. When we crossed paths, the prince shot at it and I ran right in line with the shot. It hit me...and well...here I am!" "Mm" "Yeah so I've been really immoral and now I'm paying for it." "Don't be hard on yourself!” Ha! She doesn’t know how immoral I really am. “Were you just exploring?" "What?" I ask I am still thinking about Jonathan. Did the guards even see him? Probably not if they were both chasing me. "Did you go into the forest for something?" "No," I lie. If I have to lie this will be the one time.

 

"I was just exploring. There isn't too much to do in Hartwell. So I go on long walks." "Oh, how lovely!" I hope that story is believable, because I will have to tell that story repeatedly to whoever requests it. I don’t like to lie to people but I do it all the time. Ugh, I am such a bad person! I lie just about every day. It's always about the same thing. People ask where I am when I'm gone and I tell them the forest. They ask why, and I always lie and say ‘looking around’. "All done!" Agnes chirps. I look over my shoulder at my left calf. She cleaned it up, wrapped a bandage around it, and put cloth over it.

 

I turn back over onto my backside. "Let’s get you changed," She stated "Oh, no that's okay," I tell her. I don't have anything to hide, but I don't think I can stand up to change. I am totally drained of all my energy. "Oh nonsense!" She exclaims. "You can’t wear those dirty clothes!" She is actually right. I glance down at my clothes and not only is my skirt bloody but it is covered in dirt. When I got shot, I slide to the ground and kicked up a bunch of dust that coated my shirt. I look at the white bed and it has spots of dirt on it along with my blood. What a beautiful sight.

 

"Can you sit up?" Agnes asks nicely. I sit up. "I don't think I have the energy to stand," I confess. "I probably need help." Agnes walks over to the wardrobe and opens it. I don't expect it to be full. Yet it has various tops and bottoms. It has a lot for a little wardrobe. She pulls out a long olive green skirt, a white short-sleeve top, and a deep red vest that cinched in the middle with thin black string. "Here! This should fit!" She places the clothes on the bed and walks over to my left side. Then she helps me up and out of the bed. "Put your weight on me," I giggle. She must be joking. "Come on!" she orders. I lean on her expecting her to collapse. When I do not fall, I realize she is helping me stand up. "Wow!" It is my turn to be loud. "You're really strong!" "I have to help knights too dear."

 

She helps me change and then lays me back down on the bed. These clothes are much tighter than my worn out attire. "I'm going to have these washed." She holds up my shirt and skirt. "You need to get some rest. I'll be back in tomorrow to change the bandages." She turns off the oil lamps and closes the door on her way out. Agnes is so interesting to me. I am not sure why. I then close my eyes and drift off.