Tyranny of Steel

After the debacle in the main harbor of Wallachia in the town known as Brăila, Honoria had confined herself to her room. After being touched inappropriately by one of the local Boyars who threatened to take her life for resisting, the young and naive girl had much to think about. As such, she was stuck in her room with nobody for company except for Heraclius, who until recently had been ignoring her as punishment for her actions.

The galley traveled at roughly 3 knots during cruising speed, in other words, approximately 3.5 miles per hour. As such, it was a long and slow journey to Austria. The distance between Brăila and Kufstein itself was roughly 1,008 miles. Assuming the crew rowed for 12 hours a day, it would take them approximately 24 days to arrive in Kufstein.

Honoria had been trapped in the cabin for a total of seven days at this point, and the crew had just begun to leave the borders of Wallachia and enter Hungary. She was greatly vexed by the boredom she had to suffer in the room. However, she never complained; after all, Agnellus was nice enough to help her out, despite knowing her position, for which she was thankful.

Heraclius was commonly let out from the cabin so that he could fly about and catch prey. As such, he was in a perfect mood. After all, he flew at a speed of roughly 50 miles per hour; no matter how long it took him to catch prey, he could easily catch up with the ship.

While Heraclius was enjoying himself, Honoria honestly had nothing to do except think about her life and daydream about what it would be like when she arrived in Kufstein. After encountering the Boyar, she realized that there were people in this world were not good-natured.

As the princess thought about this she realized that there was a possibility that Berengar was also a wicked man. However, she instantly put such thoughts aside because Arethas had assured her that Berengar was benevolent and kind to his loved ones, and that gave her hope for the future. Still, there was a nagging suspicion that she would merely be trading one cage for another once she arrived in Kufstein.

Despite the horrible situation, she found herself in a while in Brăila, the brief period she spent running about as free as an eagle was enough to fill her with wonder. She didn't want to be another caged bird; now that she had spread her wings and learned to fly, she wanted to know more about life. The Boyar's actions had spurred something inside Honoria, a belief that she should be self-sufficient, after all, if not for Heraclius' intervention she could have been in danger back in Brăila.

However, to do such a thing in this world was not easy. Especially for a woman, thus she hoped that when she finally arrived in Kufstein. Berengar would provide her with the safety and security necessary to allow her to grow as a person. She did not wish to spend her life in Kufstein the way she had done while in Constantinople, which was confined inside the Royal Palace for her whole life as nothing more than a pretty face.

Thinking about this, Honoria concluded that she could be utilizing her time aboard this ship in a more constructive manner. After all, there was much she could learn from these sailors. Thus the runaway princess exited the cabin after putting on her shawl and walked around the ship for a bit before making her way to the helm where Agnellus was currently located.

Agnellus was currently steering the ship and noticed that the princess had arrived. Thus he put on a friendly smile as he began to chat with her.

"Your majesty, I was beginning to wonder when you would finally leave your seclusion. I hope nothing too serious happened back there in Brăila."

Honoria gazed into the night sky above for a few moments in silence before voicing the concerns on her mind.

"I've had a long time to think, and I have decided I don't want to be a bird in a cage anymore. I want to be an eagle that soars in the sky. So there was something I was wondering that you might be able to help me with?"

Hearing this bold statement, Agnellus was uncertain where this was headed; however, since the princess had asked him for help, he could not very well turn her down. Thus he begrudgingly inquired what it was she needed help with.

"Whatever you require of me, if I can fulfill it, I swear to do so."

With this, a pretty smile formed on Honoria's luscious pink lips before she nodded her head in excitement. After doing so, her expression shifted to a pleading gaze as she made her request known.

"Teach me to sail!"

This was not a request that Agnellus was expecting, and thus it took a while for it to register in his brain. When he finally realized what the princess was asking him, he broke out into laughter. This reaction was not what Honoria expected, and thus she began to pout.

Seeing the cute look on Honoria's face, Agnellus eventually stopped laughing and agreed to her terms.

"If it is something so simple, I would be happy to teach you to sail. But we have less than 20 days to go over everything, so the most I can give you is a crash course."

To Honoria, this was good enough, and thus a charming smile formed on her lips as she thanked the jewelry merchant.

"Thank you!"

With that said, Agnellus spent the remainder of the night on the Danube teaching the princess of the Byzantine Empire how to sail a galley. The galley was not much of a sailing ship; it was more like a massive rowboat, so there were not too many things he could teach her about sailing on such a vessel.

Still, Honoria went to sleep when the dawn rose with a satisfied smile on her face. There was not much to do while onboard the vessel, but at least she could learn some valuable skills on the way to Kufstein. She slept for a total of eight hours before waking up.

When she finally opened her eyes, she noticed that Heraculies was sitting next to her, watching over her as she slept. As such, the princess rubbed her eyes before stroking the eagle's glistening feathers.

"Good morning Heraclius!"

the mighty eagle cawed in response to the treatment he received. Shortly after playing with the bird Honoria heard a knock on the door, and a familiar voice followed.

"Your Majesty, are you in there? You have been asleep for some time. I have something for you to eat."

When Honoria heard this she quickly rushed to the door and opened it to see Agnellus' smiling face. In his hand was a bowl of meat porridge. There was also a wineskin alongside it. Honoria happily took ahold of the meal and thanked the man for his kindness.

"Thank you, Agnellus; I will make sure not to waste a drop!"

For whatever reason seeing the princess happy made Agnellus happy. He had no way of knowing it, but he was starting to get attached to the beautiful young princess from the Empire. As for Honoria, she had no lingering feelings for the man; to her, he was at best a friend. After handing Honoria her food, Agnellus thought of something and spoke his mind.

"We will be docking in Győr soon; why don't I show you how we dock the ship?"

Hearing this, a broad smile appeared on Honoria's face as she questioned the reality.

"Really?"

Agnellus merely smiled and nodded in silence. Hearing this news Honoria had an excited expression on her face. She was eager to learn more about the functions of the ship and thus she decided to devour her meal as quickly as possible so that she could learn the docking procedure.

"I should eat this while it is still warm... I'll be out momentarily, don't dock without me!"

Afterward, Honoria shut the door behind her, and Agnellus began to laugh at the girl's over-eager nature. To him, it was just simple docking; there was not much to be excited about. However, to Honoria, the most mundane actions seem to hold significant meaning, and thus she took joy in everything she learned how to do. It was refreshing to have such a level of optimism around.

Honoria ate the beef porridge and drank from the wineskin. To her dismay, it was not filled with wine but with water instead. Because of this, she began to pout as she hastily ate her meal. Heraclius noticing that there was food nearby immediately jumped by Honoria's side and stole the piece of cooked beef that was on her fork before he gulped it down for himself.

The act of which shocked Honoria, she was visibly outraged by the bird's actions instantly began to chastise her pet eagle.

"Heraclius shoo! This is my food! Get your own!"

To this, Heraclius responded by snagging another piece of her meat from Honoria's bowl and quickly devoured it with a smug expression on his face. The look in his eyes was asking Honoria a simple question.

"Who is going to stop me?"

Thus the gauntlet had been lain, and a contest was held between a princess and an eagle to see who could eat the meat in the porridge-filled bowl the quickest. If anyone else were to witness the sight, they would either be greatly entertained or deeply confused. One thing was sure this bird was brilliant.