Redeemed - Sleeping Beauty 3

Redeemed - Sleeping Beauty 3

“Come on, Samson. Let’s duck in here and get out from under the gaze of the Forbidden Mountain.” Said Prince Phillip as he encouraged Samson under the cover of the forest.
Samson readily agreed, the storm above the Mountain raged with Maleficent’s wrath, the rest of the sky was clear enough, though, which seemed strange.
“Be careful of the ground.” Warned Phillip. Samson slowed as his eyes adjusted to the heavy shade under the trees. The air was much cooler here and the grass smelled delicious. There were lots of sudden drop offs and rises so close to Maleficent’s home.
“She made a mess and its going to take a long time to recover from.” Samson knew his rider was talking about Maleficent. They had spend lots of time training in case they had to face her. They had become friends as Phillip had finished his armor a couple of years ago, and begun training with a knight in Northern France.
Now it was time for Phillip to go home.
Samson was glad to get under the shade. The morning of this later summer day wasn’t too hot yet, the evening might be hot though. He was feeling pretty good still. They had been traveling quietly and slowly to be at King Stefan’s castle in time for the return of the Princess Aurora.
There had been many people on the road the last couple of days. Not all of them were going to King Stefan’s castle. Phillip was guessing that King Stefan had ordered people to mill around to help disguise the movement of his daughter, the Princess Aurora, and the Three Good Fairies.
His rider was hoping the fairies would wait for the sun to set before returning the princess, just to be safe. They needed to be married once she was of age to cement the alliance. And today was that day.
“Do you want some berries?” Phillip asked as he grabbed some. Samson turned his head and accepted a few berries, and then continued on as Phillip ate some himself.
Phillip saw on the map that this was crown land, protected from poaching and harvesting, but as a prince he wouldn’t get into any real trouble. As long as they took him to the castle first.
“It’s been quite an adventure, but it should be over tonight. Just a few more hours.” Phillip said.
“I must say sending my baggage ahead to wait for me in my old room was a good idea. If she sees that, it might throw her off balance enough not to notice us.” Samson was glad to not be carrying very much. The pack horse had been okay, but a trifle dull to be around.
“It will be good to see father again.”
Samson shrugged.
“Wait ’til you meet him. He’ll like you.”
They cantered through the forest for a short while.
“I had that dream again. It has to be Aurora. She’s a princess and she’s so beautiful. Why do I always wake up when I try to take her into my arms?”
Samson sniggered. Phillip had been having that dream since before they became friends.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll find out tonight.” Phillip sighed.
They came into a clearing along the edge of a small lake. As Phillip looked around, a beautiful sound echoed through the trees.
“Hear that, Samson? Beautiful! What is it?”
Samson shook his head. They had a castle to get to.
“Come on, let’s find out.”
Samson resisted the reins and walked resolutely toward the castle. Phillip had a wedding to get to.
“Oh, come on! For an extra bucket of oats, and a few carrots?”
Carrots! He loved carrots. Samson nodded.
Phillip swung them around and shouted “Hop boy!”
They raced through the forest trying to find the beautiful singer. They kept running into dead ends, but they raced on and as they leapt a log trying to make it over the stream, Samson felt Phillip fall off.
Samson stopped and walked back. Phillip had been caught on a branch and was now sitting in the middle of the stream. Samson took the wet hat off his friend, looking contrite.
Phillip splashed some water at Samson.
“No carrots.” Said Phillip. Well, at least there was a chance at some tasty oats.
They climbed out of the stream and Samson nibbled some of the nice green grass as Phillip wrung out his clothes.
“You know, Samson. There was something strange about that voice.”
Samson rolled his eyes, Phillip could be quite the romantic sometimes. It seemed to be a nice enough voice. It was just some girl calling the animals to play. Samson couldn’t go play with her, they had serious business to attend to.
“Too beautiful to be real. Maybe it was a mysterious being, a wood sprite....”
Samson turned toward his rider, they did not need to get involved with a wood sprite. Then he saw some rabbits and birds taking off with Phillip’s boots and cloak.
Samson neighed an alert.
“There, stop!” But they kept running.
Phillip and Samson dashed after them but Phillip kept stepping on rocks and branches in his stockinged feet.
Poking their heads around a bush they found a blonde girl dancing with Phillip’s clothes that were being worn by the animals that had stolen them.
They looked at each other, not quite believing what they were seeing.
Then Phillip gave the hand signal to stay and Samson watched as his rider grabbed his clothes and toss them and the animals in them aside.
Samson wished he could facepalm, they didn’t have time for this. They had to get to the castle so Phillip could get married.