"Damn," she a dit under her breath. Luckily, there seemed to be an alternative root. It led into a forest. pois, pea blew the dust off a sign in front of the trail that read Mystic Hollows: Only The Strong Survive. pois, pea immediately recognized the name Mystic Hollows...the infamous forest full of dark magic and spells...all so dangerous that approximately one in every eight hundred people to travel through it survived. "Oh well, it's either this ou jump off the cliff."
Very soon after making this hasty decision, pois, pea began to regret it. There were ghoulish, phantom voices all around her, echoing evil sounds. Out of fear, pois, pea began to run. She ran as a fast as her feet could carry her but stumbled on a branch and came tumbling down a hill. She landed on haut, retour au début of a large brownish rock. As she started to pick herself up, the rock began to move...it was a forest creature! And not the kind that sings Whistle While toi Work and helps toi clean up. The huge creature had razor-sharp fangs and claws and began to growl viciously. Just as it was about to drop pois, pea into its wide open mouth, an Arrow shot through its arm. The creature dropped Princess pois, pea and scurried away, yelping in pain.
"Don't worry about those things," a dit the young man who had shot the arrow. "Its bark is worse than its bite. Honestly, it's just a cowardly bully."
"Well, thanks..." pois, pea said, slightly embarrassed to have been caught in such vulnerability. She quickly looked around for her tiara, only to have it handed to her par the boy...the incredibly handsome boy who'd saved her. "I'm Princess Pea."
"My name's Conrad," the boy smiled, his bright blue eyes twinkling. "So, what are toi doing in Mystic Hollows anyway? Do toi have a death wish?"
"No!" snapped Pea. "I've been exiled from my kingdom and have been traveling for many days now. I don't have anywhere to go so I'm pretty much just wandering around."
"Well, I happen to be headed in no particular direction myself...mind if I rejoindre you?"
"To be honest, babe, you're better off just moving on. I'm doing quite fine on my own."
"Yeah, I could see that the way toi almost got devoured par a forest creature..." he a dit teasingly.
"Fine," pois, pea rolled her eyes. "You can come, but don't try anything cute, I only rendez-vous amoureux, date princes."
As Princess pois, pea and Conrad continued their journey, they found themselves bickering with each other almost constantly. Conrad had that sort of arrogance where he was clearly a good guy but sometimes just had fun being a jerk. And of course, as we know, Princess pois, pea could be a bit of a jerk herself.
"So, why are toi on your own anyway?" asked Pea.
"My father and I don't see eye to eye," answered Conrad. "He wants me to step into his shoes and work in the family business. It makes decent money but it's a total bore...I told him that I needed some time to clear my head..."
"Well, that shouldn't be tough for you," pois, pea smirked. "Oh look! The sun is rising!"
"Princess Pea," began Conrad. "Do toi miss your old life?"
"Of course!" pois, pea said, as though the answer were obvious. "I had one-thousand-two-hundred pairs of designer shoes, three hundred and twenty seven jeweled tiaras, about two hundred dresses...And now I have one dress, one tiara and this muddy pair of high heels...you do the math."
"So that's all toi want in life? Dresses and shoes? There must be something else..."
"Will toi please stop analyzing me? You're not my therapist!"
"Okay, okay..." he answered. "All I'm saying is if those are the things toi care about, why not just marry a prince? Surely, there are rich princes who have asked your hand in marriage."
"Well, yeah," replied Pea. "But I don't want to marry just for those things."
"So, there are other things that matter to you," answered Conrad smugly.
pois, pea was about to blow up after realizing she'd been duped but stopped herself when she saw the forest trail end and a sign in the distance. Welcome to New Orleans.
(End Of Part 12)
