We moved along the mountain path. The moonlight was very bright, and there were rocks everywhere. She offered me money for her release. All I did was laugh and jeer at her. She promised… Ha, she had promised me her love all those years ago, and now she was marrying another man. What was that worth? The vow of a woman? I tried to concentrate on the stars, I just couldn’t meet her eyes. With no warning, I spun off the path, heading into wild terrain, pulling her behind me. She stumbled; I pulled her to her feet; again she fell; again I righted her. “I cannot move this quickly.” “You can! And you will! Or you will suffer greatly. Do you think I could make you suffer greatly?” Buttercup nodded. “Then run!” (Goldman).I cried, and he broke into a run myself, flying across rocks in the moonlight, pulling the Princess behind me. I was angry, I was heartbroken, everything she had said seemed to prove that she no longer loved me. She then spoke of her prince, but she did confess that she did not love him. I decided that she was simply not capable of love. We ran again for hours not speaking. We were running along the edge of a towering ravine. I saw the Armada, the waters of the Florin Channel were full of ships. It seemed like every ship in Florin was ordered after her. She offered me safety if I were to let her go free. She would just waltz back into the prince’s waiting arms. I was not going down without a fight, despite everything, I still loved her. I was desperate to know if she loved me in return. She seemed so cold, I couldn’t be sure. “I loved once,” Buttercup said after a moment. “It worked out badly.” “Another rich man? Yes, and he left you for a richer woman.” “No. Poor. Poor and it killed him.” “Were you sorry? Did you feel pain? Admit that you felt nothing—” “Do not mock my grief! I died that day” (Goldman). She loved me, despite everything she still loved me. My thoughts were interrupted by whent the Armada began to fire signal cannons. I stared as the ships began to change formation. While I was distracted, I got shoved down the ravine by my one true love. And down I went. Down, down, rolling over rocks, spinning, out of all control. Above me I heard her say, “You can die too for all I care” (Golman). I responded with a warm, weak, “As… you… wish…” (Goldman). She realized it was me, she began to make her way down the ravine and towards me. I cried out to her saying, “‘Whatever you do, stay up there! Don’t come down here! Please!’” (Goldman). I doubt she heard me because down she came. Tumbling down, down, down. Our reunion was pure bliss, I held her perfect face in my hands. She was more beautiful than I could have ever thought possible. I did so much in hopes that we could be together, traveled half-way across the world, survived, befriended, and became the Dread Pirate Roberts, fenced, fought, outwitted, braved the Fire Swamp, Snow Sand, ROUS’s, and much, much more, just to lose her again for a time. It was nearly dusk when we at last saw the great ship Revenge far out in the deepest part of the bay. I looked just outside the Fire Swamp and sank, beaten, to my knees. For between me and my ship “were more than a few inconveniences. From the north sailed in half the great Armada. From the south now, the other half. A hundred mounted horsemen, armored and armed. In front of them the Count. And out alone in front of all, the four whites with the Prince astride the leader” (Goldman). “‘I accept your surrender,’ the Prince said. I held Buttercup’s hand. ‘No one is surrendering,’ he said. ‘You’re acting silly now,’ the Prince replied. ‘I credit you with bravery. Don’t make yourself a fool.’ ‘What is so foolish about winning?’ I wanted to know. ‘It’s my opinion that in order to capture us, you will have to come into the Fire Swamp. We have spent many hours here now; we know where the Snow Sand waits. I doubt that you or your men will be any too anxious to follow us in here. And by morning we will have slipped away.’ ‘I doubt that somehow,’ said the Prince, and he gestured out to sea. Half the Armada had begun to give chase to the great ship Revenge. And the Revenge, alone, was sailing, as it had to do, away. ‘Surrender,’ the Prince said. ‘It will not happen.’ ‘SURRENDER!’ the Prince shouted. ‘DEATH FIRST!’ Westley roared. ‘…will you promise not to hurt him…?’ Buttercup whispered. “What was that?” the Prince said. “What was that?” I said. Buttercup took a step forward and said, ‘If we surrender, freely and without struggle, if life returns to what it was one dusk ago, will you swear not to hurt this man?’ Prince Humperdinck raised his right hand: ‘I swear on the grave of my soon-to-be-dead father and the soul of my already-dead mother that I shall not hurt this man, and if I do, may I never hunt again though I live a thousand years.’ Buttercup turned to me. ‘There,’ she said. ‘You can’t ask for more than that, and that is the truth.’ ‘The truth,’ I said, ‘is that you would rather live with your Prince than die with your love.’ ‘I would rather live than die, I admit it.’ ‘We were talking of love, madam.’ There was a long pause. Then Buttercup said it: ‘I can live without love’”(Goldman). My heart broke again. I simply couldn’t understand how she could do this. Love, true love, doesn’t happen everyday. After everything I lost her again. Off she rode, with her ruffian prince.
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AuthorWestley began as a farm boy on Buttercup's farm. He and Buttercup fell in love and he left to find his fortune across the sea so he could marry Buttercup. He was reportedly killed on the high seas by the Dread Pirate Roberts. This crushes Buttercup. She gets engaged to Prince Humperdinck of Florin and subsequently gets kidnapped by a Sicilian and his team who were hired to start a war with Guilder. The kidnappers are apprehended by a man in black who soon best the swordsman and giant who work for the Italian. He then defeats the Sicilian in a battle of wits and rescues Buttercup. Soon it is revealed the the man in black is Westley, who was the new Dread Pirate Roberts. He is tortured and then killed by Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen. He is later revived by a miracle man and saves Buttercup from Humperdinck, her would be husband, on her would be wedding night. Quotes“Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.” “As you wish...” “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.” “To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye. Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever with your perfect ears.” “We are men of action. Lies do not become us.” |