Sleeping Beauty chapter 2
Title: Rapunzel
Rating: T
Summary: If you got hit in the head with a building, literally, what would you dream of? Wally wakes up to find himself prince of the Kingdom of Flash. Now he must journey across the land on a quest to awaken his true love: the "princess" of the Kingdom of Bats! DickWally
Author's Note: Now for the fun stuff. Welcome to Wally's dreamworld. =)
Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was, there would be some clever hidden photo of Robin in his short pants somewhere in the background.
Previous Chapter
Wally woke up feeling decidedly less than asterous. (Asterous? Was that even a word? Ugh, his head! He couldn't think about this right now. . .)
He sat up with a groan, letting the silk sheets he was lying under glide down his body and pool in his lap as he held his sore head.
"Man, what did I do last night? I feel like crap. . ."
He slowly left the comfort of his king-sized bed and made his way to his gold-lined closet. The closet extended back about the length of a football field, but Wally found an outfit within the first few feet: Red tights and a long gold tunic trimmed in white with billowing sleeves and a large red lightening bold embroidered on the front. He cinched the tunic with a red belt and pulled on a pair of golden boots, followed by a pair of red gauntlets that were hanging off the closet door. It was a casual outfit, but it would do. Before leaving, he took a gold crown from the dresser by his bed and placed it on his head.
He traveled down an expansive hallway, paying little mind to the many portraits of himself that hung from the walls, and reached his destination: the grand hall, where the king was waiting for him.
"Wally! About time you woke up! The decennary newspaper came today!"
Wally took in the appearance of his Uncle, Barry Allen, ruler of the Kingdom of Flash. The man was wearing red satin shoes paired with gold tights and a red tunic. The tunic had puffy sleeves and each poof, striped with red and gold lightening bolts, was easily the size of the man's head. He had a thick gold belt on as well as dashing gold gloves. Atop his golden locks sat an impressive gold crown, much more heavily ornamented than Wally's.
Wally sat down at the long table. "Decennary newspaper?"
King Barry nodded. "Yup! You were only five when the last one came out, so you probably don't remember. Every ten years a newspaper is delivered to every prominent household on the continent, so everyone can keep up on the events of the world."
Wally raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be better if it was every year? Or even every month?" He almost suggested every day but stopped himself. Getting a newspaper every day would be silly, there wasn't that much news in the world.
His question was met with a rolling of the eyes. "Have some respect for the writers of this thing Wally. Each newspaper is written by hand, and all these pictures are done individually by oil painters. They would never have the time to make as many copies as they do now every year!"
He nodded, that made sense. Still, shame there wasn't some sort of. . . device or something that could make a perfect copy of something in mass. He almost laughed aloud. What a deranged, futuristic thought! "Does it have anything good in it?" He reached across the table and grabbed a croissant.
His Uncle grinned and spread the paper down on the table. "Tons. But there was one article in particular I was looking at, with you in mind."
"Mmph?" he questioned around his pastry.
King Barry's jovial expression melted into a more serious one. Wally was about to get "spoken to." He refrained from groaning aloud.
"Wally, your Aunt and I have been talking and. . .we think it's time you found a princess to settle down with. With no sons, you're the sole heir to my kingdom. I'm. . . getting old Wally. I'll be 34 next month. I'm not sure how much longer I have left. Your Aunt and I want you to be settled down before you inherit my throne."
Wally glanced down at the table, expression solemn. His Uncle was so cheery, it was easy to forget how old he was. Most men only lived to be about 42, and that was if they were healthy. Uncle Barry ate an awful lot (not that he could talk), and he couldn't think of a single time in which the man had his blood drained by leeches. That couldn't have been healthy.
Barry continued, "There's an article in here about a princess trapped in a tower surrounded by a forest of thorns," he pointed at a spot on the paper and Wally stood to glance over his shoulder. "It says she's been cursed with eternal slumber and the only cure is true love's kiss. Whoever wakes her is promised her hand in marriage." He looked over his shoulder at his nephew. "It would do you good to prove yourself to the people before becoming king. Show them you have what it takes to rule the Kingdom of Flash. What do you say Wally? Think you can handle a quest?"
Wally was beaming. A dangerous quest to save a beautiful princess? You couldn't get any better than that! "Definitely! Oh man, this is soooo awesome! I bet she's such a babe! Where's the tower!"
Barry skimmed the article, "Hmm, the Kingdom of Bats? That sounds kind of familiar. . ." he shrugged dismissively, "Anyway, it says it's North of the Super Kingdom, which I'm pretty sure is West of here. Other than that I guess you'll have to find it yourself. . ."
Wally didn't care, he was too excited. "Yeah, that's cool. Traveling unknown areas is part of the quest, right? At least I know to go West. . . Well, guess I'd better get going."
King Barry looked startled. "So soon?"
"Yeah! I have to get a jump on this Uncle Barry, or else some other prince will come along and snatch her up!"
"Wally, it doesn't really matter who gets there first. She'll only wake up if her true love kisses her. In fact, you might get there and-
"Tell Aunt Iris I love her! I won't be gone too long!"
"Wally! Wally wait, you should at least. . ." he sighed heavily and rested his chin on his palm, "Kids. . ."
Wally traveled for about three hours before he started regretting not bringing anything with him. He'd grabbed his sword on the way out and it was now safely harnessed to his back, and he had his money pouch tied to his belt, but other than that, he hadn't taken a thing with him. He was currently lost in the middle of the woods (which was stupid because he was pretty sure he was still in the Kingdom of Flash and the Prince of Flash should never get lost in his own kingdom) and, more importantly, he was hungry. Stupid croissant. Thing was practically made of air.
He held his grumbling stomach as he trudged through the woods, batting away the never ending assault of twigs on his face. While fighting with a particularly large twig (it almost constituted as a full branch), Wally tripped over a rock and fell into a bush. A bush full of twigs. He refrained from cursing.
While attempting to distract himself from the leafy nuisance, Wally heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like angry murmuring. The murmurs turned into full blown complaints and Wally ducked down inside the bush, undoing any process he'd made at freeing himself.
"Stupid Ollie and his stupid...girl...I didn't even want her...I work best alone!" A sigh, accompanied by a red head in a beaten red tunic and an old yellow hat, came from behind a group of trees and walked passed Wally's hiding spot. He had a bow and quiver on his back, both of which looked valuable, but other than that the man gave off a decided air of poverty. Wally tried to crouch down deeper. He'd heard rumors that sometimes poor people who couldn't afford food ate other people. Princes especially.
"So annoying...she's lucky I put her in that tower...I could have killed her..." The man paused then turned around and shouted, "I could have killed you!" He turned again and angrily kicked the rock Wally had tripped on. "All the crap I do...brat's not even grateful...why couldn't he give me a dog..." He paused again to shout, this time to the treetops, "You could have given me a dog, Oliver! Or a hawk! Or even a mouse! Anything!" And then he stomped away into the forest, his grumbling about stupid, ungrateful girls fading away. Wally carefully stood up, glancing around to see if the potential-cannibal he'd just witnessed was really gone. Seeing no trace of him, Wally fought his way free of the bush as quietly as he could.
He pondered over what he just heard. The potential-psychopath had said something about a tower. . and a girl. His heart leapt. His princess! He'd found her already! A large grin found it's way to his face as he sprinted through the forest toward the direction the potential-drug addict had yelled. After only a short while he came to a clearing and he slowed to a halt.
Looming before him was a tall, stone tower with a single window at the very top. It was shorter than the tallest tower in Uncle Barry's castle (then again, they had one random, usually tall tower, made for the sole purpose of allowing the king to run up and down the stairs when he was bored), but it was still somewhat impressive. Scaling it would probably prove challenging.
But he was willing to take on any challenge in the name of love! Wally found a handrest on a stone and, searching til he found the next one, began his trek up. He was about a quarter of the way up when he found himself confronted with a dastardly section of smoothness. Stupid tower-builders and their good craftsmanship.
He swore loudly and began searching for a stone that would allow him to go left or right until he found another handhold that would permit him to continue his journey up. A head poked out of the window above him.
"What are you doing? Do you need help?"
Wally almost fell off the tower. "What the hell! Give a guy a little warning would ya! I could have died!" For tower's of this height, a quarter of the way was still quite a ways. Definitely "die if you fall" distance from the ground.
He looked up to see a young girl with blonde hair staring down at him. She didn't look impressed.
"Who are you?" he asked. She couldn't be his princess. His princess was asleep.
She scowled. Yup, deeeeefinitely not his princess. His princess would have a nice smile. . . after she woke up, that is. "I should be asking you the same thing. You're the one trying to break into my tower, after all."
Ah-hah! This must have been the evil witch, guarding the tower! The article didn't mention that! He cleared his throat. "My name is Prince Wally, of the Kingdom of Flash! I'm here to rescue the princess!"
The girl (witch) raised an eyebrow. "Is that so," she drawled, "Well, in any case, come on up before you fall off and die." She disappeared from the window and Wally frowned. Come on up. Like it was that easy! Stupid witch. . .
His brooding was interrupted when a cascade of silken blonde hair came barreling down the side of the tower, nearly knocking him off. He yelled out in surprise.
The girl (witch) appeared again. "Go ahead and climb that."
"Is this hair!" Eww, that was weeeeiiiird.
She scowled again, "Yes it's hair, and it's much nicer than yours so stop being a baby. Either climb up or go away, firecrotch."
"Fire. . . why I outta. . .you just wait til I get up there missy! I'll show you!" He grabbed the mane of hair quickly, before she decided to pull it back up on him, and started his ascent. His progress was much quicker this time.
He got to the window and the girl (witch) grabbed under his arms and helped haul him into the room. Wally watched as she sat down on a small bed and began coiling her hair. It took a while, but finally she had it all back through the window. While she was doing that, Wally allowed himself to look around. The room was a decent size, he supposed. Smaller than his room at the castle, no question, but his room was the size of small marketplace, so that really wasn't surprising. There were tall, precariously stacked towers of books littering the room as well as a few other odds and ends lying about. Some papers here, some fabric there. A yoga ball.
"Where's the princess?" he asked, glancing around. He hoped she wasn't buried in the mess. It seemed possible.
"You're looking at her, Prince Dimwit."
She stood up and Wally finally allowed himself to take in her appearance. Aside from her long blonde locks, she had tan skin and blue eyes. She had on a dark green corset dress over a lighter green short-sleeve top. She was wearing dark green combat boots (they kinda contrasted with the whole "princess" look but Wally supposed they were practical) that were only visible because the length of her dress had been hiked up and tied in a large knot to the side, presumably to allow her more ease of movement. Or to show off her legs. Either way, she was awake, which wasn't really what Wally was expecting.
"The princess is supposed to be asleep. . ."
The "princess" (wiiiiitch, she had to be a witch!) raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be asleep? It's the middle of the day. . ."
"Be-because! You're suppose to be in an enchanted slumber! Did-"
Oh no. He really was too late!
"Did another prince already kissed you!"
Her cheeks turned a light pink and her scowl deepened. "Hate to break it to you Prince Clueless, but you're in the wrong tower. I wake and sleep as I please and, aside from me and you, the only person to ever come up here is a rude archer." She paused. "And he most certainly has never kissed me, nor will he ever."
Wally sat down on the windowsill with a frown. "What tower is this then? And who are you?"
"I'm Princess Artemis, niece of King Oliver, ruler of the Arrow Kingdom."
The Arrow Kingdom. . . he'd heard of that. It was a small kingdom that lay just on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Flash. He hadn't traveled far, but at least he was out of the kingdom. He felt better about getting lost, in any case.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm looking for the Princess of Bats. . ."
Artemis' eyebrows furrowed. "Of the Kingdom of Bats? I've heard of that. . ." She got down on her hands and knees and started riffling through the mess on her floor. Finally she grabbed a paper with a small exclamation and spread it out in front of him. It was a map.
"I knew it! The Kingdom of Bats, right here!"
Wally grinned brightly and, joining her on the floor, poured over the map. He found the Kingdom of Flash easily enough, it was a big kingdom, and next he found the smaller Arrow Kingdom. He glanced at Artemis' finger. It was pretty far from the Arrow Kingdom but. . . well, he could handle that. It was for his princess, after all.
He smiled gratefully at her. Maybe she really wasn't a witch. "Hey thanks. I really appreciate your help." He moved to take the map and she yanked it away.
"You can't have it! It's my map!"
Witch! "But you live in a tower! Why do you need it!"
"In case I ever escape, moron!"
He paused, hesitating. "You mean you're stuck?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well yeah, who would willingly choose to live in a tower their whole life? I can't very well climb my own hair down and the tower is too smooth to climb. . ." Her shoulders slumped and she held the map a little closer.
Frowning, Wally crossed his legs and leaned forward, trying to catch her eye despite her bowed head. He got a glare for his efforts. "Have you really been here your whole life?"
She shrugged. "Almost."
He waited for her to continue but when she didn't, he prodded further, "Becaaaause. . .?"
She sighed heavily, as if telling the story was a burden. "My Uncle, King Oliver, is an expert archer. He always thought he was the best in the land until. . ."
"Until?"
"He was given a magic mirror, as a gift from the Lantern Kingdom. The mirror would answer any question asked and, instead of asking something useful, my vain Uncle asked who the greatest archer of them all was, expecting to hear his own name.
"He was disappointed. The mirror told him the greatest archer alive was a young boy, only a few years older than I was, who went by the name Roy Harper. Uncle Ollie was furious and he searched the land for months until he found him. He discovered that Roy made his own arrows by hand and he convinced himself that his excellent craftsmanship was the reason behind his skill. So one night, he snuck into the boy's home and stole all of his arrows. My Uncle was a fool though," her grip on the map tightened and Wally watched uneasily, afraid she would rip it, "He allowed himself to be seen, not just by one person, but by multiple people in the village! Everyone knew the King had stolen the arrows and it was only a matter of time before they rebelled. They stopped paying taxes. The King's men were attacked if they entered the village. The crime seemed small, but Uncle Ollie broke their trust. . ."
"So what did he do?"
"He didn't do a thing. Roy was the one to eventually confront him, demanding payment for his arrows. My Uncle told him he would give him something more valuable in exchange. Roy was probably expecting money. Instead, he got me."
"He gave him his niece!" Wally tried to imagine Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris handing him away to a stranger for keeps. It was an upsetting thought.
Artemis nodded solemnly. "I was seven at the time, Roy was ten. He was nice at first, though I don't think he was ever happy with the arrangement. But he shared his home with me, kept me fed and clothed, and tried his best to teach me his trade. He was kind of awkward, but sweet," she smiled lightly and Wally couldn't help but think it looked a bit sad, "I wasn't good enough though. . . I made mistakes. He would get aggravated with me and in turn, I would get angry at him. Soon we were fighting almost every day. So he locked me in this tower."
"So, let me get this straight. You're trapped in this tower. . . because you're annoying? More or less?"
She threw her hair at him, knocking him over. "Thanks for being understanding, jerk."
Wally sat back up and threw her hair off him. "Wait so then, the potential-rapist. . . that must have been Roy!"
An eyebrow went up. "Rapist?"
"Potential." He tapped his bottom lip a few times. Artemis didn't seem like the nicest traveling companion (she scowled a lot), but she had a map. Besides, he did feel bad for her. He would probably be a little rude too if he was forced to spend most of his life locked alone in a tower. "What do you say about striking a deal with me, missy?"
She eyed him warily. "What kind of deal?"
"I'll climb your hair down, then I can catch you!" he flexed, "I'm a pretty strong guy, so no worries!"
"You want me to jump out the window!"
"I'll catch you! Geez. Anyway, I'll help you get out of here and in return, you can help me find the Kingdom of Bats. You should probably get as far away from the Arrow Kingdom as you can anyway, so it all works out!"
She cast her gaze down and started idly playing with her hair. "I don't know. . ."
"Oh, come on! What's the problem?"
"I've never. . . I mean, it's been years. . . since I've been out of this tower. What if I don't. . ."
Wally smiled and took her hand, pulling it away from her hair. "You'll be fine. Besides, you'll have me with you. That's better than going it alone, right?"
She met his eyes and seemed to recognize the sincerity there. She nodded with a smirk. "Right. I can't let a little thing like the unknown scare me. I'm all for this! Let's go find you princess, Wally!"
Wally jumped up with a large grin, pulling her with him. He grabbed the pile of hair gathered on the floor and tossed it out the window with a shout of, "Tally-ho!" Gripping her hair firmly, Wally scrambled out the window and made his way to the ground. Once he was firmly on his feet he looked up and held his arms out. "Come on!"
She stood on the windowsill and stared down. It was an awfully long way to fall. "You swear you'll catch me!"
"I swear!"
"Alright, but if you try anything Prince Nimrod, I'll castrate you! Even if I have to come back from the dead to do it!"
"Just jump!"
Map clenched firmly in her hand, she cast one last look at the room she was leaving behind. Then, with a deep breath, she jumped.
Next Chapter (coming soon)
Rating: T
Summary: If you got hit in the head with a building, literally, what would you dream of? Wally wakes up to find himself prince of the Kingdom of Flash. Now he must journey across the land on a quest to awaken his true love: the "princess" of the Kingdom of Bats! DickWally
Author's Note: Now for the fun stuff. Welcome to Wally's dreamworld. =)
Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was, there would be some clever hidden photo of Robin in his short pants somewhere in the background.
Previous Chapter
Wally woke up feeling decidedly less than asterous. (Asterous? Was that even a word? Ugh, his head! He couldn't think about this right now. . .)
He sat up with a groan, letting the silk sheets he was lying under glide down his body and pool in his lap as he held his sore head.
"Man, what did I do last night? I feel like crap. . ."
He slowly left the comfort of his king-sized bed and made his way to his gold-lined closet. The closet extended back about the length of a football field, but Wally found an outfit within the first few feet: Red tights and a long gold tunic trimmed in white with billowing sleeves and a large red lightening bold embroidered on the front. He cinched the tunic with a red belt and pulled on a pair of golden boots, followed by a pair of red gauntlets that were hanging off the closet door. It was a casual outfit, but it would do. Before leaving, he took a gold crown from the dresser by his bed and placed it on his head.
He traveled down an expansive hallway, paying little mind to the many portraits of himself that hung from the walls, and reached his destination: the grand hall, where the king was waiting for him.
"Wally! About time you woke up! The decennary newspaper came today!"
Wally took in the appearance of his Uncle, Barry Allen, ruler of the Kingdom of Flash. The man was wearing red satin shoes paired with gold tights and a red tunic. The tunic had puffy sleeves and each poof, striped with red and gold lightening bolts, was easily the size of the man's head. He had a thick gold belt on as well as dashing gold gloves. Atop his golden locks sat an impressive gold crown, much more heavily ornamented than Wally's.
Wally sat down at the long table. "Decennary newspaper?"
King Barry nodded. "Yup! You were only five when the last one came out, so you probably don't remember. Every ten years a newspaper is delivered to every prominent household on the continent, so everyone can keep up on the events of the world."
Wally raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be better if it was every year? Or even every month?" He almost suggested every day but stopped himself. Getting a newspaper every day would be silly, there wasn't that much news in the world.
His question was met with a rolling of the eyes. "Have some respect for the writers of this thing Wally. Each newspaper is written by hand, and all these pictures are done individually by oil painters. They would never have the time to make as many copies as they do now every year!"
He nodded, that made sense. Still, shame there wasn't some sort of. . . device or something that could make a perfect copy of something in mass. He almost laughed aloud. What a deranged, futuristic thought! "Does it have anything good in it?" He reached across the table and grabbed a croissant.
His Uncle grinned and spread the paper down on the table. "Tons. But there was one article in particular I was looking at, with you in mind."
"Mmph?" he questioned around his pastry.
King Barry's jovial expression melted into a more serious one. Wally was about to get "spoken to." He refrained from groaning aloud.
"Wally, your Aunt and I have been talking and. . .we think it's time you found a princess to settle down with. With no sons, you're the sole heir to my kingdom. I'm. . . getting old Wally. I'll be 34 next month. I'm not sure how much longer I have left. Your Aunt and I want you to be settled down before you inherit my throne."
Wally glanced down at the table, expression solemn. His Uncle was so cheery, it was easy to forget how old he was. Most men only lived to be about 42, and that was if they were healthy. Uncle Barry ate an awful lot (not that he could talk), and he couldn't think of a single time in which the man had his blood drained by leeches. That couldn't have been healthy.
Barry continued, "There's an article in here about a princess trapped in a tower surrounded by a forest of thorns," he pointed at a spot on the paper and Wally stood to glance over his shoulder. "It says she's been cursed with eternal slumber and the only cure is true love's kiss. Whoever wakes her is promised her hand in marriage." He looked over his shoulder at his nephew. "It would do you good to prove yourself to the people before becoming king. Show them you have what it takes to rule the Kingdom of Flash. What do you say Wally? Think you can handle a quest?"
Wally was beaming. A dangerous quest to save a beautiful princess? You couldn't get any better than that! "Definitely! Oh man, this is soooo awesome! I bet she's such a babe! Where's the tower!"
Barry skimmed the article, "Hmm, the Kingdom of Bats? That sounds kind of familiar. . ." he shrugged dismissively, "Anyway, it says it's North of the Super Kingdom, which I'm pretty sure is West of here. Other than that I guess you'll have to find it yourself. . ."
Wally didn't care, he was too excited. "Yeah, that's cool. Traveling unknown areas is part of the quest, right? At least I know to go West. . . Well, guess I'd better get going."
King Barry looked startled. "So soon?"
"Yeah! I have to get a jump on this Uncle Barry, or else some other prince will come along and snatch her up!"
"Wally, it doesn't really matter who gets there first. She'll only wake up if her true love kisses her. In fact, you might get there and-
"Tell Aunt Iris I love her! I won't be gone too long!"
"Wally! Wally wait, you should at least. . ." he sighed heavily and rested his chin on his palm, "Kids. . ."
Wally traveled for about three hours before he started regretting not bringing anything with him. He'd grabbed his sword on the way out and it was now safely harnessed to his back, and he had his money pouch tied to his belt, but other than that, he hadn't taken a thing with him. He was currently lost in the middle of the woods (which was stupid because he was pretty sure he was still in the Kingdom of Flash and the Prince of Flash should never get lost in his own kingdom) and, more importantly, he was hungry. Stupid croissant. Thing was practically made of air.
He held his grumbling stomach as he trudged through the woods, batting away the never ending assault of twigs on his face. While fighting with a particularly large twig (it almost constituted as a full branch), Wally tripped over a rock and fell into a bush. A bush full of twigs. He refrained from cursing.
While attempting to distract himself from the leafy nuisance, Wally heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like angry murmuring. The murmurs turned into full blown complaints and Wally ducked down inside the bush, undoing any process he'd made at freeing himself.
"Stupid Ollie and his stupid...girl...I didn't even want her...I work best alone!" A sigh, accompanied by a red head in a beaten red tunic and an old yellow hat, came from behind a group of trees and walked passed Wally's hiding spot. He had a bow and quiver on his back, both of which looked valuable, but other than that the man gave off a decided air of poverty. Wally tried to crouch down deeper. He'd heard rumors that sometimes poor people who couldn't afford food ate other people. Princes especially.
"So annoying...she's lucky I put her in that tower...I could have killed her..." The man paused then turned around and shouted, "I could have killed you!" He turned again and angrily kicked the rock Wally had tripped on. "All the crap I do...brat's not even grateful...why couldn't he give me a dog..." He paused again to shout, this time to the treetops, "You could have given me a dog, Oliver! Or a hawk! Or even a mouse! Anything!" And then he stomped away into the forest, his grumbling about stupid, ungrateful girls fading away. Wally carefully stood up, glancing around to see if the potential-cannibal he'd just witnessed was really gone. Seeing no trace of him, Wally fought his way free of the bush as quietly as he could.
He pondered over what he just heard. The potential-psychopath had said something about a tower. . and a girl. His heart leapt. His princess! He'd found her already! A large grin found it's way to his face as he sprinted through the forest toward the direction the potential-drug addict had yelled. After only a short while he came to a clearing and he slowed to a halt.
Looming before him was a tall, stone tower with a single window at the very top. It was shorter than the tallest tower in Uncle Barry's castle (then again, they had one random, usually tall tower, made for the sole purpose of allowing the king to run up and down the stairs when he was bored), but it was still somewhat impressive. Scaling it would probably prove challenging.
But he was willing to take on any challenge in the name of love! Wally found a handrest on a stone and, searching til he found the next one, began his trek up. He was about a quarter of the way up when he found himself confronted with a dastardly section of smoothness. Stupid tower-builders and their good craftsmanship.
He swore loudly and began searching for a stone that would allow him to go left or right until he found another handhold that would permit him to continue his journey up. A head poked out of the window above him.
"What are you doing? Do you need help?"
Wally almost fell off the tower. "What the hell! Give a guy a little warning would ya! I could have died!" For tower's of this height, a quarter of the way was still quite a ways. Definitely "die if you fall" distance from the ground.
He looked up to see a young girl with blonde hair staring down at him. She didn't look impressed.
"Who are you?" he asked. She couldn't be his princess. His princess was asleep.
She scowled. Yup, deeeeefinitely not his princess. His princess would have a nice smile. . . after she woke up, that is. "I should be asking you the same thing. You're the one trying to break into my tower, after all."
Ah-hah! This must have been the evil witch, guarding the tower! The article didn't mention that! He cleared his throat. "My name is Prince Wally, of the Kingdom of Flash! I'm here to rescue the princess!"
The girl (witch) raised an eyebrow. "Is that so," she drawled, "Well, in any case, come on up before you fall off and die." She disappeared from the window and Wally frowned. Come on up. Like it was that easy! Stupid witch. . .
His brooding was interrupted when a cascade of silken blonde hair came barreling down the side of the tower, nearly knocking him off. He yelled out in surprise.
The girl (witch) appeared again. "Go ahead and climb that."
"Is this hair!" Eww, that was weeeeiiiird.
She scowled again, "Yes it's hair, and it's much nicer than yours so stop being a baby. Either climb up or go away, firecrotch."
"Fire. . . why I outta. . .you just wait til I get up there missy! I'll show you!" He grabbed the mane of hair quickly, before she decided to pull it back up on him, and started his ascent. His progress was much quicker this time.
He got to the window and the girl (witch) grabbed under his arms and helped haul him into the room. Wally watched as she sat down on a small bed and began coiling her hair. It took a while, but finally she had it all back through the window. While she was doing that, Wally allowed himself to look around. The room was a decent size, he supposed. Smaller than his room at the castle, no question, but his room was the size of small marketplace, so that really wasn't surprising. There were tall, precariously stacked towers of books littering the room as well as a few other odds and ends lying about. Some papers here, some fabric there. A yoga ball.
"Where's the princess?" he asked, glancing around. He hoped she wasn't buried in the mess. It seemed possible.
"You're looking at her, Prince Dimwit."
She stood up and Wally finally allowed himself to take in her appearance. Aside from her long blonde locks, she had tan skin and blue eyes. She had on a dark green corset dress over a lighter green short-sleeve top. She was wearing dark green combat boots (they kinda contrasted with the whole "princess" look but Wally supposed they were practical) that were only visible because the length of her dress had been hiked up and tied in a large knot to the side, presumably to allow her more ease of movement. Or to show off her legs. Either way, she was awake, which wasn't really what Wally was expecting.
"The princess is supposed to be asleep. . ."
The "princess" (wiiiiitch, she had to be a witch!) raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be asleep? It's the middle of the day. . ."
"Be-because! You're suppose to be in an enchanted slumber! Did-"
Oh no. He really was too late!
"Did another prince already kissed you!"
Her cheeks turned a light pink and her scowl deepened. "Hate to break it to you Prince Clueless, but you're in the wrong tower. I wake and sleep as I please and, aside from me and you, the only person to ever come up here is a rude archer." She paused. "And he most certainly has never kissed me, nor will he ever."
Wally sat down on the windowsill with a frown. "What tower is this then? And who are you?"
"I'm Princess Artemis, niece of King Oliver, ruler of the Arrow Kingdom."
The Arrow Kingdom. . . he'd heard of that. It was a small kingdom that lay just on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Flash. He hadn't traveled far, but at least he was out of the kingdom. He felt better about getting lost, in any case.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm looking for the Princess of Bats. . ."
Artemis' eyebrows furrowed. "Of the Kingdom of Bats? I've heard of that. . ." She got down on her hands and knees and started riffling through the mess on her floor. Finally she grabbed a paper with a small exclamation and spread it out in front of him. It was a map.
"I knew it! The Kingdom of Bats, right here!"
Wally grinned brightly and, joining her on the floor, poured over the map. He found the Kingdom of Flash easily enough, it was a big kingdom, and next he found the smaller Arrow Kingdom. He glanced at Artemis' finger. It was pretty far from the Arrow Kingdom but. . . well, he could handle that. It was for his princess, after all.
He smiled gratefully at her. Maybe she really wasn't a witch. "Hey thanks. I really appreciate your help." He moved to take the map and she yanked it away.
"You can't have it! It's my map!"
Witch! "But you live in a tower! Why do you need it!"
"In case I ever escape, moron!"
He paused, hesitating. "You mean you're stuck?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well yeah, who would willingly choose to live in a tower their whole life? I can't very well climb my own hair down and the tower is too smooth to climb. . ." Her shoulders slumped and she held the map a little closer.
Frowning, Wally crossed his legs and leaned forward, trying to catch her eye despite her bowed head. He got a glare for his efforts. "Have you really been here your whole life?"
She shrugged. "Almost."
He waited for her to continue but when she didn't, he prodded further, "Becaaaause. . .?"
She sighed heavily, as if telling the story was a burden. "My Uncle, King Oliver, is an expert archer. He always thought he was the best in the land until. . ."
"Until?"
"He was given a magic mirror, as a gift from the Lantern Kingdom. The mirror would answer any question asked and, instead of asking something useful, my vain Uncle asked who the greatest archer of them all was, expecting to hear his own name.
"He was disappointed. The mirror told him the greatest archer alive was a young boy, only a few years older than I was, who went by the name Roy Harper. Uncle Ollie was furious and he searched the land for months until he found him. He discovered that Roy made his own arrows by hand and he convinced himself that his excellent craftsmanship was the reason behind his skill. So one night, he snuck into the boy's home and stole all of his arrows. My Uncle was a fool though," her grip on the map tightened and Wally watched uneasily, afraid she would rip it, "He allowed himself to be seen, not just by one person, but by multiple people in the village! Everyone knew the King had stolen the arrows and it was only a matter of time before they rebelled. They stopped paying taxes. The King's men were attacked if they entered the village. The crime seemed small, but Uncle Ollie broke their trust. . ."
"So what did he do?"
"He didn't do a thing. Roy was the one to eventually confront him, demanding payment for his arrows. My Uncle told him he would give him something more valuable in exchange. Roy was probably expecting money. Instead, he got me."
"He gave him his niece!" Wally tried to imagine Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris handing him away to a stranger for keeps. It was an upsetting thought.
Artemis nodded solemnly. "I was seven at the time, Roy was ten. He was nice at first, though I don't think he was ever happy with the arrangement. But he shared his home with me, kept me fed and clothed, and tried his best to teach me his trade. He was kind of awkward, but sweet," she smiled lightly and Wally couldn't help but think it looked a bit sad, "I wasn't good enough though. . . I made mistakes. He would get aggravated with me and in turn, I would get angry at him. Soon we were fighting almost every day. So he locked me in this tower."
"So, let me get this straight. You're trapped in this tower. . . because you're annoying? More or less?"
She threw her hair at him, knocking him over. "Thanks for being understanding, jerk."
Wally sat back up and threw her hair off him. "Wait so then, the potential-rapist. . . that must have been Roy!"
An eyebrow went up. "Rapist?"
"Potential." He tapped his bottom lip a few times. Artemis didn't seem like the nicest traveling companion (she scowled a lot), but she had a map. Besides, he did feel bad for her. He would probably be a little rude too if he was forced to spend most of his life locked alone in a tower. "What do you say about striking a deal with me, missy?"
She eyed him warily. "What kind of deal?"
"I'll climb your hair down, then I can catch you!" he flexed, "I'm a pretty strong guy, so no worries!"
"You want me to jump out the window!"
"I'll catch you! Geez. Anyway, I'll help you get out of here and in return, you can help me find the Kingdom of Bats. You should probably get as far away from the Arrow Kingdom as you can anyway, so it all works out!"
She cast her gaze down and started idly playing with her hair. "I don't know. . ."
"Oh, come on! What's the problem?"
"I've never. . . I mean, it's been years. . . since I've been out of this tower. What if I don't. . ."
Wally smiled and took her hand, pulling it away from her hair. "You'll be fine. Besides, you'll have me with you. That's better than going it alone, right?"
She met his eyes and seemed to recognize the sincerity there. She nodded with a smirk. "Right. I can't let a little thing like the unknown scare me. I'm all for this! Let's go find you princess, Wally!"
Wally jumped up with a large grin, pulling her with him. He grabbed the pile of hair gathered on the floor and tossed it out the window with a shout of, "Tally-ho!" Gripping her hair firmly, Wally scrambled out the window and made his way to the ground. Once he was firmly on his feet he looked up and held his arms out. "Come on!"
She stood on the windowsill and stared down. It was an awfully long way to fall. "You swear you'll catch me!"
"I swear!"
"Alright, but if you try anything Prince Nimrod, I'll castrate you! Even if I have to come back from the dead to do it!"
"Just jump!"
Map clenched firmly in her hand, she cast one last look at the room she was leaving behind. Then, with a deep breath, she jumped.
Next Chapter (coming soon)