Friendly Sir Samuel and the Frozen Pond Princess

Snow crunched beneath Sir Samuel’s winter boots as he neared the northeastern edge of the village. So far, the cobblestone road had been fairly free of the fallen flakes. Here, however, the townsfolk had left the drifts alone. He gazed back at his good friend Akira-kun to check on his progress.

The younger boy carefully picked his way along Sir Samuel’s trail by cleverly using his footfalls. Akira-kun glanced up at Sir Samuel and flashed a lop-sided grin.

Sir Samuel had set out on this adventure with plenty of preparation. He had no less than four muffins carefully secured in his haversack (a shoulder-slung satchel). He wore his heavy fur-covered armor (actually, a fur-lined coat, so not far off of his imagination this time). He’d also packed his brand new magic dagger (stole his mother’s gardening trowel).

Sir Samuel had taught Akira-kun how to prepare for an adventure just the other day, so the younger boy brought his own gear. He donned enchanted vestments (a colorful quilted jacket with its own fur lining) and carried a crossbow blessed with divine might (a simple slingshot).

The cobblestone road they’d been traveling curved back toward the heart of the village. It was at this point Sir Samuel and Akira-kun stopped. Houses lined the road except where the land dipped sharply away from the village.

Sir Samuel spread his feet wide at the top of the slope, hands on his hips in his best warrior pose, and considered how the two of them might navigate their way down. The slope ended in a tiny valley with a rise on the other side. That hill was a bit higher than where Sir Samuel and Akira-kun stood. It would be quite the trudge.

Akira-kun tapped Sir Samuel’s shoulder and pointed off to the right. The nearest house, like most of the homes in the village, had a wall of stone around the front yard. Sir Samuel squinted. A pair of boots had left a trail in the snow. It began halfway along the wall and continued behind the home.

Akira-kun leaned to see more of the bootprints. “That way looks easiest.”

The tracks took advantage of a much shallower dip in the landscape. Sir Samuel nodded his agreement, and the pair of boys marched through the snow.

Sir Samuel paused when he reached the wall, peering over to see inside the yard. Just as he suspected, the boot trail actually started at the front door.

He pointed over the wall. “Look, more tracks.”

Akira-kun tapped Sir Samuel’s shoulder once more. Sir Samuel turned to his friend, and Akira-kun gestured to the taller wall as compared to his own height.

“I can’t see over it,” he said wryly.

“Oh, oh yeah.” Sir Samuel’s cheeks flared with heat. “Sorry, Akira-kun. The tracks start at the door of the house and lead here. Whoever left the tracks must have hopped the wall.”

“So, they’re tall, too…” The shorter boy’s dejected voice trailed off.

“Must be,” Sir Samuel confirmed. “Come on!”

Akira-kun forgot his height-based disappointment in the face of Sir Samuel’s excitement and followed him.

The path unfolded easily before them as they chased the ruts in the snow. Sir Samuel’s eagerness grew with each step. He didn’t know anyone had moved into the house closest to the road’s curve, and his heart leapt with the prospect of making another friend.

The tracks led around the house and down the shallower slope. Sir Samuel admired the intelligence of his soon-to-be friend for not heading down the steeper part of the hill. It might have been fun going down, but getting back up would’ve been quite the struggle.

They soon climbed up the rise on the other side of the valley. Partway up, Sir Samuel stopped to catch his breath. While the going was definitely easier by following the grooves in the snow, it wasn’t exactly the same as walking in the grass in summer.

His breaths filled the air with temporary steam clouds as he considered the crest of the hill just ahead. The wind hadn’t kicked up, so the chill hadn’t seeped through his clothing yet. In the still silence of the moment, Akira-kun made a concerned sound. Sir Samuel looked at his companion and noticed Akira’s intent expression, as if he were trying to listen for a sound to repeat itself.

A thud echoed from over the hill. Sir Samuel’s eyebrows shot up. Too soft for a minotaur’s stomping hooves, the noise resounded like a single strike of an axe on timber.

Sir Samuel spun to look at Akira-kun, who gave a single nod to confirm that as the noise he’d heard. Sir Samuel waved to signal moving forward. He slowed his pace despite the enthusiasm flooding his limbs. Whatever made the sounds would be visible as soon as they reached the hilltop, but they would be visible as well. It was best to be cautious.

As the pair neared the snowy summit, they hunkered into low crouches. The view spread out below the hill in a huge swath of flat land and the solid bluish-white of a frozen pond. Across the pond stood the edge of a snow-covered forest that stretched toward a distant mountain. The sight that captured both boys’ attentions, though, stood in the center of the frozen water.

She posed with a bowstring drawn back, an arrow nocked, and aimed the sharp point at a dead log leaning against a snow drift. A pair of stubs like tiny arms jutted out from either side of the log. Sir Samuel thought it looked to be holding up its arms in surrender. Half a dozen arrows stuck out so that it resembled the knives Miss Mindy’s cheese log had jammed in it during the last winter festival.

Even from this distance, the furs the girl wore stunned Sir Samuel. The finely crafted layers still allowed her to move freely, but even from this distance he noted the hardened hide supporting the fur.

She loosed the arrow, and it struck the dead log directly between the two stubby arms. She reached over her shoulder to the finely made quiver on her back and drew out another arrow.

Sir Samuel started to descend the slope and promptly tripped. He rolled down the hill, gathering snow as he went, the world spinning all around him until he sprawled at the bottom. Dizzy, he struggled to find his feet and stand.

“Who are you?” The unfamiliar voice had a unique accent Sir Samuel had never heard.

He blinked until the snowy landscape stopped whirling. Her face came into view for him then.

Her rich copper-colored eyes squinted at him suspiciously. A muscle in her jawline clenched beneath the warm reddish-brown of her flawless skin. “Well?”

This close to the bow and arrow, Sir Samuel realized that it was a very real weapon. “I-I’m S-sir Samuel,” he stuttered.

“You look like a snow monster,” she replied, a playful gleam touching her eyes.

Sir Samuel looked down at himself. His fall had coated his fur-lined jacket in a thick layer of snow. He did look like a snow monster. “I’ve n-never b-been a m-m-monster before.”

She relaxed her pull on the bow and lowered it in the face of his obvious fear. Sir Samuel noticed that she was about a hand taller than him (a boy’s hand, though, so probably half an adult’s hand).

Akira-kun’s voice sounded from halfway up the hill. “We didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

Sir Samuel turned to look at his friend and noticed he’d pulled his crossbow (slingshot) out. Sir Samuel remembered his own weapon, the magic dagger (gardening trowel). He felt for it and sighed in relief when he found it still in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out, just meaning to check that it hadn’t been damaged in his fall.

The girl laughed. “Were you going to do some winter gardening?”

Sir Samuel’s cheeks turned red as heat crawled up from his neck. “No, we were going on an adventure.”

“With a trowel? At least the slingshot might wing a bird. The trowel’s only good for digging up fishing bait.”

Sir Samuel ignored her words and tried to figure out her age instead. She talked like she was older, but she looked like the girls in the village who were his age.

Akira-kun came to Sir Samuel’s defense. “That’s his magic dagger. This is my blessed crossbow.”

The girl’s voice shifted from teasing to curious. “So, Sir Samuel and…?”

Sir Samuel paused for a moment. “He’s Akira-kun… The Chosen.”

“The Chosen?” Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

“Yeah. He’s blessed by all the gods of fortune.” Sir Samuel glanced back at his friend to see Akira-kun blushing. Sir Samuel hoped he wasn’t embarrassing his friend. He turned back and caught the girl smiling at Akira-kun.

She noticed his attention, and the smile disappeared.

Sir Samuel failed to brush the snow from his coat. “What’s your name?”

“Ahku’a the Amazon.” Her eyes lit up as her smile returned.

“Did you just move here?” Sir Samuel’s head tilted a bit with genuine curiosity.

“Yes. My dad is a tanner, and my mom is a hunter.”

“Wow, really?” Sir Samuel’s eyes widened at the news.

“So, the two of you were coming to play?” Ahku’a looked around the frozen pond.

Sir Samuel nodded, then realized she wasn’t even looking at him. “Yeah. We go out and have adventures together. Rescuing bowls from bulls and helping spirits find their way out of the forest. Very important stuff.”

“Why don’t you use real weapons?” Ahku’a the Amazon removed the arrow from the bowstring and held the bow up to emphasize her point.

Sir Samuel worked hard not to feel discouraged. She didn’t seem to be judging them, just curious.

Akira-kun the Chosen spoke up before Sir Samuel could. “Our parents won’t let us. I have to keep this hidden.” He lifted his slingshot up in a mirror of Ahku’a the Amazon’s own gesture.

“Oh, my parents insisted I learn how to hunt and use a knife.” She turned her body and peeled up a small flap of red fur that concealed a curved dagger at her hip.

“Wow!” both boys exclaimed at the same time.

Sir Samuel filled with hope at the prospect of learning to use an actual weapon. “Could you show us?”

“Well…” She hesitated. “I guess so. Just don’t tell your parents, okay?”

Akira-kun’s voice held an edge of worry. “Why not?”

“Because they might stop us from hanging out.” Ahku’a almost sounded sad at the thought. “And I’m hoping we can be friends.”

Sir Samuel’s chest warmed at Ahku’a the Amazon’s words. “That would be great!”

Akira-kun backed up Sir Samuel’s sentiment. “It’s hard not to be friends with Friendly Sir Samuel.”

The three of them spent the rest of the day taking turns shooting Ahku’a the Amazon’s bow at the already-dead log. They would go on to have many adventures together, but those are all tales to be told another time.