Setting: Medieval Times

Diana was running as fast as she could in order to escape her problems at home. She was taking a quick glance behind her to see if anyone had spotted her, when she ran into something. She fell to the ground.

When she looked up she realized that she had run into someone. It was a peasant boy with blonde hair and beautiful green eyes.

"I'm so sorry." She said while helping him up.

"No, don't be sorry. I was in your way." He said.

He looked at her and realized that she was a beautiful girl. She was petite with dark auburn hair and gorgeous brown eyes.

"Where were you off to so fast? If I may ask." He questioned.

"Of course you may. I was trying to get away from my father."

She was trying to carefully state her words so that he would not know her true identity.

"You see, he is trying to marry me off, and I don't agree with it."

"I understand." He said. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, how silly of me, it's Diana, and yours?"

"It's Lance, and you have a beautiful name." He said smiling.

"Why thank you." She blushed.

He looked at her closely. Her skin was like porcelain and she looked so fragile. He couldn’t quite understand how such a beautiful girl, could be dressed in rags.

"I couldn't help but notice that you are a lovely girl. I just don't understand how a lady of such beauty is only a mere peasant as I am."

"Well, you're just handing out the compliments today, aren't you?" She asked teasingly.

"I only tell the truth." He said smiling back.

"Oh stop." She said laughing.

"So tell me Diana, why is it that a girl like you is dressed in rags?" He questioned.

"Oh, well, I don't think money makes the person. What matters to me, is what's on the inside." She explained. "That's part the reason why I'm here right now. My father doesn't think I have the right to chose who I marry. He thinks that the man must be of the same social status as I."

"So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you want to marry someone with more money, but your father wants you to marry someone who has very little, like you."

She stumbled for words.

"Uh…yes…that's it. But I don't necessarily want to get married right away. I believe in fate and falling in love. You understand, don't you?"

"Yes, I think I do. You believe that there is one person out there for everybody and that fate will bring you together."

"That's exactly what I mean." She said smiling. "You are the first man I've ever met who understood exactly how I feel."

"Maybe fate has brought us together." He said looking into her eyes.

She liked how open he was with her. She had never met someone who would be so willing to say precisely what he was thinking.

"Why don't you come take a walk with me, maybe we can get to know each other a little better." He said reaching for her hand.

"Sure."

She took his hand and the two of them started walking along the outer edges of the woods. She momentarily forgot about her problems and was simply wrapped up in his charm.

As they continued walking she learned that he had a wonderful personality. And despite the amount of money he had, she was falling for him already.

However, there was one problem, he did not know who she really was.

'I'll tell him when the time is right.' She thought to herself.

The two of them continued walking, and they both knew that there was something growing between them.

"Diana, I don't know how I have been so lucky to have been blessed with your presence this afternoon, but I'm very happy. I think that we may have something going for us. I feel like I've known you my entire life." Lance said sincerely.

"I feel the same way Lance, but there is something that you have to know."

"What is it?" He asked with concern.

"You see, I am…" She was cut off by a loud voice.

"There she is!" A well-built man shouted.

"It's the royal guards…Lance…run!" Diana shouted.

Still holding tightly onto his hand, Diana turned around and began running.

"I don't know how they found me." She said out of breath.

"What's going on?" Lance asked.

"I'll tell you later."

Lance stopped dead in his tracks.

"Well don't stop." She demanded. "I won't leave without you."

"I'm not going anywhere until you explain." He said sternly.

"Please, just keep running, I'll explain it all later."

He saw the look of pain in her eyes.

"Diana, what's going on?" He asked.

"Please, just run." She cried.

Just then one of the guards grabbed her by the arm.

"Your father has been worried sick about you Diana. How dare you leave the palace without getting his permission. You could've been hurt." One of the guards said.

"I'm fine. Now, let me go." She demanded.

"We will not." Said the other guard.

"That is an order by the princess…let me go!" She shouted.

"Ah, yes. That may be an order by the princess, but the order we were given by the king was to find you and bring you back home to the palace." He explained.

"The princess?" Lance asked, still very surprised. "That's what you were trying to tell me? You are the runaway princess that the town has been turned upside down looking for?"

"Yes." She said looking into his eyes.

"Diana, we're taking you back right away. We need to keep you from these peasants." The guard said.

Diana looked back at Lance with tears in her eyes. She felt ashamed that she didn't tell him the truth from the start. She should've known that she would be able to trust him.

"I'm sorry Lance." She said.

He stood there silent while the guards dragged her away. He didn't know what to think.

He now knew what she had meant before and he felt so ignorant. He thought she had meant that she wanted to marry someone of a higher status, he didn't know that she was royalty.

It all made sense now. She was beautiful and well taken care of, but she dressed in rags to try to hide. She was running because she wanted to escape the King marrying her off to a rich man whom she had no feelings for. She simply wanted the choice to be left up to her, and she wanted fate to bring her to the man she loved.

The only thing Lance was very unsure of now, was her feelings for him. The idea of a royal princess falling for him seemed too good to be true, and it probably was.

::BACK AT THE PALACE::

"I will not marry him!" Diana shouted.

"It is an order. Tomorrow you are going to marry Michael. That is final." Her father said.

"You can not force me to marry him Father. I do not love that man, and I refuse to marry a man that I don't love." She said.

"As long as you are a princess in this royal family, you will do as I say."

"Well, maybe I won't be part of this royal family any more." She snapped.

"Diana, that's silly. You would give up your crown as princess in order to marry a different man?" He asked.

"That I would." She cried. "Don't you believe in love Father? Don't you remember when you fell in love with my mother? She wasn't married off to you. She was an ordinary woman on the streets, and it was love at first sight. Are you so cold hearted that you will not let me do the same? You will not let me follow the footsteps of my loving and now passed away mother? Because if that's how you feel, I swear on her grave that if you do not let me make my own decisions…" She paused. "Then I will…I will no longer be a part of this hypocritical royal family."

Her father sat silent for a moment.

"Diana, I'm sorry. I had no idea that you felt so strongly about this."

"Well I do feel strongly about it, and I will stay true to my word." She said.

"I am not cold hearted Diana. I loved your mother and I love her to this day." He explained. "I see a little more of her in you every day. I want you to be happy, and I want you to smile that beautiful smile that she gave you."

"So, that means…"

"You do not have to marry Michael if you do not wish to."

"Oh, thank you!" She said while hugging her father. "You make a wonderful king."

She gave him a kiss on the forehead and headed toward the door.

"Where are you off to?" He asked.

Diana did not hear him; she was long out of sight.

She ran out of the palace and into the city streets. She looked frantically about until she saw him.

"Lance!" She shouted.

"Diana, you're back!" He said while embracing her in his arms. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."

"Oh come now Lance, don't you believe in fate?"

~The End~