"Rida you're digging that thing in my leg!" Rayyana grumbled as the carriage rumbled underneath her feet. After many protests Alejandro had sent Balisto and the guards to drag them into a carriage and sent out to the woods.

The girls tried causing noises and protesting in hopes the carriage driver would get tired and abandon them somewhere. Honestly, anywhere was better than the palace and the woods.

"Sorry, this thing is just so big and there's no room." Rida said adjusting herself again. "God I'm so sweaty." Rida mumbled pulling on her collar. The girls had been given a very basic outfit with a black full sleeve shirt and camouflaged cargo pants to "blend in" the outfit was comfortable though and very different from the maid outfit they've been wearing ever since they were appointed as maids. 

The carriage came to a stop making the girls lurch forward. Rayyana and rida who were across from each other bumped heads hard making them both yelp. "Ha!" Marium laughed at them.

The door opened and the very grumpy driver grumbled out a "get out." The girls one by one exited the carriage and gathered their surroundings. Unfortunately, while the woods was very beautiful they could see nothing but trees for miles.

The man pulled out a cigar and lit it eyeing the woods boredly "okay I'll be back later to get you." He turned around to climb back "wait! When is later?" Rayyana asked already scared.

The man shrugged "Before dinner time...or something." Without another word he snapped his whip on the horse and they rode off leaving 4 trembling girls alone with the crossbows.

"So what exactly are we hunting?" Fatima asked struggling to hold her crossbow. "Anything really, just some animal that will give us steak." Rayyana said panting. It was very hot out in the woods and not to mention damp.

"Honestly could they not have dropped us off at a farm or something? We could have gotten a cow!" Marium said waving her hand around herself. They're were a lot of mosquito's, in fact what season even was it?

"For real." Rida said sighing. The girls had been out for god knows how long travelling around the woods. They had lost the beginning of where they started a long time ago but they were too tired to go back and retrace their steps.

"Do any of us even know how to use a crossbow?" Fatima asked in the quietness. Rayyana had thought that but then Rumaisa had distracted her. "We did archery in gym class." Archery and crossbows weren't that different...were they?

"So you know how too!" Rida said perking up, hope in her eyes. "Well yes and no."

"What do you mean no?" Marium asked with an eyebrow raised. Rayyana also noticed how deflated she looked which was rare, she didn't remember the last time she saw Marium so deflated. "Well the difference is that archery was with a bow and arrow and this is with a crossbow. A crossbow is much heavier and requires a lot of strength. Other than that it should be the same."

Rayyana and the others didn't have strength. That was the huge problem besides the fact that it was getting dark and they had no idea where they were.

Before anyone could say anything a snap was heard. "What was that?" Fatima asked. Everyone shushed her and watched the bushes where the sound came, they all watched as the bushes moved again signalling that something was there. 

"Move!" Rayyana whispered pushing the girls towards a log. They ducked down and watched as a bison emerged from the woods. The bison didn't look like a normal bison though, its eyes were glowing yellow with his fur being purple. His hooves were a light pink and his tail was a stripe of blue and green.

"Wow...that bison has a lot going on." Rayyana muttered. Marium nudged her "get your crossbow!" Oh yeah. Rayyana struggled to hold up her crossbow but finally she managed to hold it up. "H-help me!" She struggled to say.

Marium held her elbows as Rayyana squinted her eyes to aim. The bison had stopped to eat grass and was deadly still. "I feel bad." Rayyana said but Marium pinched her "shoot! Or we're never going home!"

Rayyana sighed and squinted her eyes again. She took a deep breath and... before she could shoot the bison looked up and ran off.

The girls all gasped "what happened?" Fatima asked getting up. "It saw something and got spooked." Rayyana answered putting her crossbow away.

Thank god she didn't have to shoot it anymore, or hold the crossbow. The girls all got up and looked around trying to see what spooked the bison.

"Ow!" Rida yelped making the girls turn to her. She had her back facing them, looking up at a guard who looked very different from Alejandro's. "What the hell was that for?" Rida rubbed her back groaning at the guards spear. 

"Forget that, who are you?" Marium asked eyeing the guard down, she tentatively took a step back also sensing the danger. "HALT!" The guard yelled loudly stomping his foot. "We aren't moving?" Fatima asked confusingly now hiding behind Rida. 

The guard moved to the right, a figure emerging from the darkness behind him. A woman, dressed in a royal blue dress stood tall and mighty eying the girls, she looked to be in her 20's. They're were guards beside her each holding sticks with fire on the ends of them illuminating the pathway. 

"who is't art thee all." She said in a haughty voice. The girls introduced themselves one by one, each time a name was called the woman's eyebrow raised. "t seemeth thou art not from h're." Rayyana shook her head "We aren't...who are you?" The same guard from before stomped his foot again "COMMONERS HAVE NO RIGHT TO ASK THE PRINCESS WHO SHE IS."  

Rayyana regarded that last stement. She had a feeling this woman was royalty not from just her bajillion guards, but from Balisto. He had mentioned that only royals were required to learn shakesperian. "Princess? I thought the only Royalty here was Alejandro?" She asked. 

The woman sneered at Alejandro's name "Art thee familiar with that gent?" The woman was gritting her teeth hard as if she wanted to kill the girls right here right now. "well, I guess?" Marium said looking around for confirmation "we're his fiances maids." Rida finished. 

"Fiance?" The woman hummed and looked at one of her guards. without a warning, the woman tilted her head towards the girls and said  "taketh those folk." Before spinning around, the guards following her besides 4 of them. 

"Wait-" Fatima started but she stopped when one guard grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her back. The other 3 guards each went to one of the girls grabbing them and also putting their hand behind their back. "Wait why the fuck are we being taken?!" Fatima protested twitching her body. 

"Silence!" The guard said moving them forward by force. The girls continued protesting until they got pushed into the back of a carriage. "Not a word, or I'll put my spear somewhere you don't want it." The guard warned before slamming the door. 

"Oh for fucks sake!" Marium yelled kicking the side of the carriage. Rayyana went to her knees and looked out of the window to see Alejandro's driver walking forward with a flaming stick in his hand. "HELP US!" Rayyana called out to him. The girls noticed and started yelling too as the man noticed the carriages moving. 

He stood there for a moment, before to the girls dissapointment turning around and running away. "NO GET BACK HERE!" Rayyana yelled slamming her fists against the window. "HELP US YOU BITCH OR NO FUCKING STEAKS." Fatima yelled, not like they had any steak. 

But the man didn't come back, and the girls were now far away. Rayyana watched as the woods drew farther apart from her vision. She suddenly wished that she were back there, at least it was safe. 

The girls were all silent as the carriage continued on to God know's where. Rayyana didn't know what time it had been as the carriage finally stopped and the girls were thrown out of the carriage. Rayyana was picked up harshly by her hair, she winced hard and looked at the palace with one eye open. 

Unlike Alejandro's tacky palace, this one was normal. Brick walls all coloured in rich colour shined in the moonlight, with flaming sticks around giving light to the slightly glowing palace. 

"Walk forward." The guard said still holding harshly onto Rayyana's hair. The girls were brought inside to the palace and they didn't stop walking until they ended up in the basement of the palace. A guard opened a jail like cell and threw the girls in, locking it behind them. 

"Wait, why are we being locked up?!" Rida yelled to the guards turned back "Yeah we weren't doing anything!" Marium said rubbing her head. The guard turned around and just smiled an evil smile as he said "Enjoy your visit girls." 

And then he left the girls alone in that basement for a reason they didn't know.