The Princess and the Soldier: A New Fairy Tale by Burke H. L

Author:Burke,H. L.
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2014-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

–The End–

Copyright © 2014 H. L. Burke

Please keep reading and enjoy the following excerpt from H. L. Burke's Young Adult Fairy Tale novel, An Ordinary Knight, now available in eBook and paperback from Amazon/CreateSpace

www.hlburkeauthor.com

An Ordinary Knight

Percy turned seventeen during his fifth month as Dog Keeper and celebrated by playing sick for the first time in his life. As soon as Ivan had sulked off to do Percy’s work, he sneaked out of his quarters and into the library where he picked up a book he had been saving just for the occasion. The title, Exploits of the Great Warriors of Ithelia, sounded promising, and he planned to read it all in one sitting. He sat on the floor with his back against a shelf, two apples he’d purloined from the kitchen at his side, happy to have a day to himself. Even if he got caught, it would be worth it. How could one demote a Dog Keeper? Make him Goldfish Keeper? He laughed as he opened the book. At least goldfish were cleaner than dogs. Let Ivan find him.

“Ahhh ... ahh ... ”

Percy shut his book and looked around.

“Ahhh ... ahh ... ” The voice came from the shelf before him. Dust rose in the air, floating towards Percy and tickling his nose.

“Ahh ... ahchoo!”

The sneeze exploded, followed close by another, and another, and another. Percy smiled. It was impossible to think of the sneezer as a threat. He stood up and glanced over the shelf.

“Bless you,” he said, suppressing a smile.

“Th ... ah ... ah ... thank ... ah ... ah ... choo!”

The sneezer was an older man, perhaps sixty, only a bit over five feet tall, and covered from head to toe with a thick brown layer of dust. He had clear, impish, blue eyes. He smiled back, breathed deeply, and stepped around the shelf to face Percy.

“I can’t abide dust!” he said. “But one has to deal with it when one is dusting, does one not? Dust seems to be my lot in life. You simply can’t escape fate, even if it is a dusty one.”

“I suppose you can’t,” Percy mumbled. Fate had never been his friend.

“Well, fate is often in a name. Mine just happens to be Dustin, Dusty if you would like. And you, my young fellow?”

“Percival, but I prefer Percy.”

“I prefer it as well. A fine, friendly name. Yes, indeed, one can trust a nice, honest name like Percy. How old are you, Percy?”

“Sixteen ... I mean seventeen.”

“Is it hard for you to remember your age?” Dusty laughed.

“Well, I was sixteen yesterday and today I am seventeen.” Percy shrugged.

“Then today is your birthday!” Dusty exclaimed. “Happy birthday. Seventeen is an illustrious age, an age of action, an age for celebration! No one should spend their birthday sitting in a dusty corner. Come with me, young man! We shall celebrate in a manner befitting this great day.”

Percy shifted from one foot to the other. He cleared his throat and searched for an excuse. They really couldn’t because .

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