Disclaimer: See chapter one!!
Elle spent the night in the loft of Old Joe's barn. The next morning she went about perfecting her disguise. Binding her rather voluptuous chest was able to wear the shirt and trousers without to much trouble. She wore a tattered set of old shoes and a pair of thick leather gloves, to disguise her hands. However, when it came to her hair she ran into trouble.
She was willing to cut it off short, boy-style, but Farmer Joe wouldn't hear of it.
"I'd rather cut of both my legs then let ya cut off that beautiful hair." He told her.
So she settled for winding it up under a large hat that hid most of her face. Once her disguise was complete she went to the old farmer for inspection.
"You look like a boy if I ever seen one." He told her. "Now let's put you to work. I got people comin' and goin' all the time and they'll be real suspicious if my new hand ain't doin' nothin'."
So Elle spent her first day weeding in front of Farmer Joes cottage, and tidying up the flower beds. She collapsed into bed that night, tired, but happy. She finally felt useful and wanted, for the first time in her life.
Back at the castle things were not as well. The king had ordered for Elle to be brought before him, only to have one of the maids inform him that she had not come into bed that night. Furious he sent people searching high and low for her. Near sunset they came and told him that they had searched the entire castle and no one had been able to find her.
"She's not in the castle milord, we have searched everywhere." They informed him.
The king then thundered, "Send out a proclamation. Whoever returns the princess shall receive a reward of five hundred pieces of gold."
With many bows the couriers went scurrying away. Before dawn the next day there were posters and bulletins posted everywhere offering a reward on the return of the princess. The whole kingdom was buzzing with the news. Everyone wondered where she was and who would be the one to find her.
Lord Chanton had also heard. He was secretly glad that she had gotten away. He was still rather disturbed by what he had seen, and was not surprised that she had fled.
Later that week Elle was pitching hay in the barn when she heard wagons drive up. This was not unusual. Farmer Joe had people coming and going from his farm all the time. However this wagon also held some young farm hands from the neighboring farm. She heard the driver talking to Joe when the barn door opened and a young man wandered in. Spotting Elle he walked toward her.
"Hey, are you the new hand here?" He asked her.
Elle just nodded her head in reply.
"What's your name?" He continued.
Elle shrugged. She really didn't want to talk to him. She kept forking hay, praying he would lose interest and go away.
"What's the matter, too good to talk to me?" he taunted.
When Elle ignored him further he got riled. Walking over to her he gave her a rough shove on the shoulder.
"Hey, I'm talkin' to you!"
Elle pulled away from him and gathered another fork full of hay. This pushed the young man over the edge. He grabbed her arm and threw her across the barn floor. She landed just before the door, and as she fell her hat went flying as well, letting her hair loose to tumble about her shoulders.
The young man was flabbergasted. He stared at her in shock. She knew she had to act fast. Gathering her hat she ran out the barn and down into the root cellar which was nearby. Thankfully no one had seen her in her flight.
'This is not good.' She thought. 'He's certain to tell somebody and the whole country is looking for me.'
She waited for about two hours before emerging from the cellar. Running to the house she gathered her things. Farmer Joe was at the table when she came down.
"What's goin' on?" he asked when he noticed her bundle.
"One of the neighbors' hands saw me. I have to leave before he can tell anybody. I've taken all my things and cleaned so there's no evidence I was here." She explained.
"Was it the young sandy-haired one? He come running from the barn and headed down the road as fast as he could pelt." Joe scratched his head.
Elle paled. "That means he's had plenty of time to get to the castle. I've really got to go."
Joe was about to protest when they heard horses out in the yard. Looking out the window they saw at least a dozen horses coming towards the house.
"Go child!" exclaimed Farmer Joe.
Elle turned and ran for the back door. As she ran she heard crashes coming from the house. Running as hard as she could she headed for the road. However, when she got to the road she almost ran into a soldier mounted on his horse. Startled, she darted into the woods and kept on running.
She heard the soldier shout to his comrades and soon she heard hooves pounding behind her. It was a moonless night and she had a hard time seeing where she was going. She knew she wasn't far from the road. Suddenly an idea came to her. Looking around quickly she spotted a large bush. Ducking behind it she found a large rock which she held in her hand while she waited. She listened as the soldiers came closer, and then peeked around her bush to watch them thunder past. When they were almost past she took aim. Throwing hard she hit the last soldier on his helmet. He halted to see what had hit him. Elle grabbed the branches of the bush and shook them a little. Seeing this, the soldier dismounted and walked toward the bush. As he came around one side Elle went around the other. Picking up another rock she threw it as hard as she could. As the soldier went toward the sound she ran over and mounted his horse. She was a few feet away when the soldier realized what was going on. He started yelling for the others.
The other soldiers had realized to that they were not chasing her anymore and had turned back. They heard the shout and doubled their speed. But as they came closer Elle went racing past them. The commander ordered one man to go for the horseless one and the rest to follow him. They turned heel and gave chase.
Elle had never ridden so fast in her life. She urged her horse on faster as she heard the soldiers behind her once more. Bursting onto the road she pushed her animal to even greater speeds. Going on for several miles she spotted a large manor house looming in the distance. She raced toward it, her mind working furiously. Stopping at the gate she dismounted her horse, and then slapped it on the rear so that it took off down the road by itself. Crouching down, she heard the soldiers going past once more. She waited until the sound faded before getting up.
'I need somewhere to hide.' She thought. 'They're going to realize very soon that I'm not on the horse.'
She ran around the large house and towards the barn. However when she got there the door was locked with a big chain.
'Oh no!' she looked around desperately.
Then she noticed the house one of the windows was hanging open. As she ran towards it she heard the soldiers returning. Hoping for the best she ran and climbed through the window. Once inside she quickly shut the window. Letting out a small sigh of relief she turned to see a large looming figure before her. Before she could scream a large hand clamped itself over her mouth. She was dragged across the room and thrown into a chair as the figure lit a few candles. It turned and Elle was looking into the piercing eyes of the great Lord Chanton.
Gasping, they both asked at the same time, "You?"
A/N: Yay! Cliffy! Let me know what you think!!