Chapter 3: Rising Action
Practicing the fighting techniques and her vivid imagination, would calm her anger until she was able to face the world again. She would smile and place the book back in it's hiding place, and resume her duties as Princess. But spending so much time in the tower, was beginning to make the Prince angry. When ever he needed her for something, no one knew where to find her. And when he demanded she tell him where she was, she would smile and say she felt like taking a walk. It was really pissing the Prince off that she was never around to answer his summons. He was losing the respect of everyone in the Castle, because his wife was doing as she pleased, instead of being at his beck and call.
He couldn't stand it anymore.
His anger finally boiled over one day, when he clapped his hands to summon her. For a change, Cinderella was near enough to hear his summons. But the cumbersome gown she was wearing, really slowed her pace. By the time she finally reached him, his anger was beyond control.
"YOU CERTAINLY TOOK YOUR TIME GETTING HERE! I SHOULD STRIKE YOU FOR YOU INSOLENCE!" the Prince shouted.
Cinderella looked him square in the eyes and said, "if you dare strike me, I will strike you back."
He looked at her and laughed. "You? A dainty female striking a Prince. How amusing. My male body would dispatch with you in no time," he said confidently.
"If you're so confident, oh great Prince, then fight me," she replied.
"You can't be serious" the Prince said. "You wouldn't stand a chance." The Prince sneered condescendingly.
Cinderella looked at him and smiled. "I'll fight you anytime and anywhere. Just say the word. Unless of course you're a coward," she challenged.
That was the last straw. The Prince couldn't let Cinderella speak to him in such a manner. It would be all over the Castle in a very short time that the Prince couldn't control the Princess. He was fed up with her insufferable attitude he was forced to bear the last few months. She needed to be reminded of who she was and be put in her place.
"I accept my little commoner. I will announce the battle myself. It's time I tamed that wild spirit of yours and showed you who is in charge around here. It will be a very painful lesson for you to learn, but you leave me no choice My Lady. We will fight on the Sabbath at high noon in the gladiator arena. You will know your place when I'm through with you. And I will make sure you remain in it. I guarantee it," the Prince said.
Cinderella's jaw dropped in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. This wasn't part of her plan. She had only meant to jab him a little, to make him realize that she wasn't some fragile doll to be pushed around. She didn't want to actually hurt him.
But it was too late to back down now. The challenge had been issued, and the entire castle had heard it.
"One of us will be in a great deal of pain and learn their place My Prince. But it won't be me," the defiant Cinderella told him. "I have wanted to beat that cocky attitude out of you for quite a while now. You will still be a Prince when I'm done with you. But you will be my obedient Prince. And one more thing. I will not fight you in a cumbersome gown. Instead I will wear a homecoming dress." Cinderella said. "One that I can move freely in." She added with a wink. A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
"That's fine," the Prince said. "And when the fight is over I will give you a good spanking after I prove I am in charge of this marriage. With your pretty face swollen and your bare butt blistered from the spanking, you will behave yourself and follow my rules," he said.
"Then it's settled," Cinderella replied. "I will meet you in the gladiator arena on the Sabbath at high noon. Then I will beat you senseless and make some new rules around here. And you will obey them or I will keep beating you until you comply. Good day my Prince," she said as she stormed off.
The Prince laughed at her confidence, not wanting to suggest that he took her threats seriously.