arer.Lysander awoke to the feeling of his hair being brushed gently with human fingertips. He slowly opened his heavy eyelids and focused on the figure before him. Her hair was a soft blond, and fell in tangled knots to her bosom. She wore a torn pink dress, covered in layers of the earth. Her nose was not a pretty little pug nose of a princess, but longer and more protruding. Though she was sixteen, her face was covered in freckles and her lips were chapped and dull. Her eyelids were thin and her lashes weak in color. “Young man, you’ve finally made my rescue.”“How long have you waited, maiden?” Lysander was careful not to say princess, because by the look of her, she was no princess. Serpents can be deceiving.“Oh, I’ve waited weeks.”“Weeks.” Lysander answered, disappointed. Not a very long time. Perhaps he should have waited a month or two for a more glorious victory. Lysander rolled over and felt a pang of disgusting vermin intrude his mouth. He lowered his tongue and let it spill out. The girl frowned and moved away, but did not squeal or screech as a princess would. Definitely not a princess.“You were drunk yesterday,” the girl responded nonchalantly.“Oh boy, do I feel it.” He sounded immature and he realized it afterwards. He was supposed to be some great hero that fought fiery serpents and fierce vines. But she was supposed to be a pretty little princess, clean and squeamish.“Won’t you liberate me from these chains and carry me out of this dreadful place?” the girl played a little with the fantasy game she knew Lysander itched for.“But, are all the obstacles gone?”“The snakes, the overgrowth, the holes, the sand piles?”“Yes, ma’am. Not things for a lady to see.”“Ha, lady, am I? I’m but a girl. But I got personality… I got interesting things to say...
