The Warrior Prince

Could it be true? 13

Valeria looked out through the bars with a frown on her face. Drem's words as well as the words of the other women in the cell raced through her head. Was there a chance they were right and she was wrong? Hearing the door suddenly open she looked over to see a red haired women thrown inside.

"Adira!" Runia said instantly recognizing her and going to her side. "Are you alright?"

"I'm in a dungeon Runia!" She said angrily as she got up from the stone floor by the door. She brushed herself off before turning to look at Runia. As her eyes fell on Valeria however she stopped.

"Yeah pretty sure she's Valora's daughter," Pilar told her. Adira raised an eyebrow at her. "Valeria was raised in Benola. We think Lora and Valora are one in the same."

"Drem is also certain after he made us enter the arena and saw her fight," Denasha added. "At this point even she doesn't seem..."

"Why does she suddenly look scared?" Runia asked. The woman all looked over to realize Valeria was staring at Adira with what looked like fear and was shaking her head no.

"Valeria?" Sage said watching her. "What is it?"

"That's not possible. It can't...She can't! My mother cannot be from a warrior kingdom!" Valeria said sounding like she was starting to panic. "She was proper! My mother was....but you...."

"You've seen garments like Adira's before," Sage said realizing.

"Where?" Etana inquired. Valeria didn't answer. "Your mother had clothes like these didn't she?"

"She didn't wear them!" Valeria said quickly. "They were in a trunk. Or at least she had something similar. Except she had...A band. A brown leather band that went across one's forehead with stones in it." Valeria no longer saw the other occupants in the cell or even the cell itself. Instead her memory took her back several years ago before her family was killed. Her youngest sister hadn't even been born yet. She remembered opening a trunk and finding a few things.

She'd come across some leather garments and asked her mother about them. Valeria's mother said they no longer mattered. She'd picked up a leather strap with beads on it and asked what it was. She could still remember the smile the woman got on her face as she took it and wrapped it across her forehead demonstrating how it was to be worn. Valeria had seen other things in the trunk as well. One of which had been a set of daggers and a sword.

"Valeria?!"

"Hmmm?" Valeria said snapping out of her memory. She almost jumped back seeing Princess Sage so close to her. "I have to get out of here." Valeria stepped away from her. "I have to know."

"Know what?" Adira asked.

"The truth. I need to know who she was," Valeria replied. She walked to the window and looked out. Valeria had an idea of how to get out of the cell but not passed the dragons. "Do dragons sleep?" she asked and looked over at the group.

"Yes, but we're stuck in a cell," Pilar told her.

"The cell isn't the problem," Valeria said dismissively. "I can get out of the cell. I don't know anything about dragons or what kind of control Drem has over them."

"We've been trying to escape here for months!" Kiona said annoyed.

"You were using the wrong tactics," Valeria replied simply. The blonde woman noticed more than one eyebrow raised at her. "Please don't think I'm brushing you off. I'm sure you're all very skilled. You look at things the way Drem does; as a warrior." They nodded. "I don't," she informed them. "If I get us out of the cell can you get us past the dragons?"