The Three Kingdoms

Chapter ten - Truce

And this is how the last three days of their ride through Hillon had started. The hills and forests were already behind them. Ahead were now grassy flatlands, which were slowly replaced by dunes.
Lavena would not break the silence, at least in the beginning. She just slept, ate and waited. Benen could feel her uneasiness every time she had to mount the same horse as him or, especially at night, when they slept next to each other.
He wondered at her reaction on the first night. He had tied both her hands to the frame of the tent, but not too tight, to still allow her to lie on the makeshift bed. When he had approached her to lie next to her, she had immediately stiffened and terrified opened her eyes widely. This had annoyed him. He'd been aware that tying the Princes in his tent would suggest only one thing, but he did not give a damn about the feelings of others. He was not going to allow her to escape again.
"Don't flatter yourself, Princess," he had said coldly. "The only thing I want is to get some sleep.
Lavena had just turned her back to him.
"Oh, and by the way, I am a light sleeper," he had added in case she had considered doing some more digging under the tent.
He tried analyzing Lavena's relationship with men. After losing her mother years ago, she had been left without a woman's care. This was at least what his father had told him. So mainly men surrounded her. There were not as many women in the Garlanian army as there were in the Hillonian, so also after the war had started she must have been dealing mainly with men. It had been visible in the way she would speak to him or to the Hillonian knights who were actually strangers to her. It seemed natural to her. When dealing with Duana however, Lavena would keep the distance, she even seemed lost. He wondered if she had been involved with someone, back in Garland; a general or an ordinary knight? Judging by the fear in her eyes, when he had lied next to her, she had not.
When he woke up before dawn, Lavena was sleeping with her face towards him. As much as the tied hands allowed, she had curled up close to Benen. She looked like a little girl. He fought the urge to touch her hair that was spread across the bed. He got up, wanting to save her the embarrassment she would surely feel, waking up so close to the man she openly despised.

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Lavena would not admit it, not even to herself, but riding wrapped in Benen's arms made her feel safe. He led the horse, moving his hands only slightly, but still every now and then he would accidentally touch her thigh or her side. She ignored the tinkling she felt when he did. She hated him after all.
The Princess had not uttered a word since the previous day. She could see the Prince was surprised at that. He did not comment on her behaviour though. Lavena felt her failure deeply; anger and disappointment took over. She saw her silence as the only option of rebellion she had left.
One thing however would not leave her thoughts, so after a few hours ride she finally decided to speak.
"What happened to them?" she asked quietly.
"Pardon?"
"What happened to the group of Garlanian knights your men attacked on the meadow yesterday?" She hoped he could not hear the emotions in her voice.
Benen sighed.
"Nothing happened. They just left." When Lavena stayed silent, he added, "Actually, we had not attacked them. We just wanted to pull them away from there... You were very close and they would have noticed you any moment."
"You leave nothing to chance, don't you?" Lavena asked, feeling like a novice who carelessly walked into a trap.
"Nothing... if possible..."
Did that mean that the Garlans were still following her? Or maybe they had already turned back? None of the options made her feel optimistic. Even if they stayed in Hillon and tried to rescue her, the bloodshed would be inevitable, and judging by the number of the Garlans, the blood would be theirs.

The Prince suddenly hastened his horse, which pulled Lavena out of her reverie. At first she was not sure why they were moving to the front of the column. Soon however she noticed Radogast riding ahead among a group of knights. She could hear laughter and cheerful shouting coming from the group. She sensed that Benen was about to speak to his friend, but something he heard made him stay quiet. Lavena started to listen in to the conversation as well.
"Exactly! Why can't we just kill the spitfire?!" one of the knights called out.
"We will first have some fun with her and then kill her!" added another and the rest started laughing.
Lavena instinctively stiffend hearing those words. Unconsciously Benen wrapped his arms tighter around her.
"Why are we wasting so much energy on a Garlanian maid?! Princess or not, she's a Garlanian!" another knight called out. He wanted to say something more, but Radogast's roaring voice stopped him.
"Since when have Hillonian knights been questioning their King's orders? If Hillmar ordered us to bring the Princess to Hillon, this is what is going to happen. Your tiny brains don't have to understand that. If I see even one hair fall off the Princess's pretty head, you will be the first ones to answer for that. If you as much as look at her the wrong way, I will be the first to notice that. If you feel doubtful as to the orders of your King again, let me know, and together with the Prince we will grant you a couple of days in the stone prison. This will for sure dispel your doubts." The knights stirred at the mention of the Prince using his powers. They dropped their heads and did not utter another word.
"There's loyalty you can count on," Lavena whispered.
"Radogast!" Benen spoke after a moment. The knights looked up at him horrified, unsure as to whether the Prince had heard their words.
Radogast turned his horse around and rode away from his men. He smiled widely at Benen and Lavena after having joined them.
"It's so good to be going back home. So many days on the road can be tiresome; especially the monotony..." He gave Lavena a cheeky look, but she pretended not to get his meaning.
"Barbro in the back?" the Prince asked as if nothing had happened. Lavena wondered why he would not comment on the behaviour of the knights. Maybe he did not want to talk about it in front of her, or maybe it had not been the first time something like that had happened and Benen wasn't really surprised by that conversation...
"Yes, Barbo's team is in the back."
"When we stop for the night, I want to talk to her."
"Sure." Radogast acknowledged the Prince's request, but continued riding alongside him. Lavena would have expected that he would carry out the order right away and would ride off in search of Barbro. He however seemed not to think that necessary. Similarly, Benen also seemed not to mind the fact that Radogast is putting off his request for later.
Lavena had already noticed, during those few days, that the relationship between the Prince and his men is different, than what she'd known in Garland.
"Does that work?" she asked as her curiosity got the better of her pride. When both men looked at her surprised, she added, "Does the freedom you give to your men not to carry out your orders or even to question them, work?"
Radgast snorted.
"All these knights fight for their land," Benen answered after a moment's consideration. "Most of them are here because of their sense of duty, and some are here for revenge after losing their loved ones. It's a coincidence really that I was born in a royal family, while they were born in a farmer's, marchent's or nobleman's family. We are all here for the same reason though. And because of that we all can have an opinion about this war."
"For what these knights said a moment ago," Lavena added, "for questioning the king's orders, they would have been flogged in Garland, at best."
"Believe me, Princess," Radogast interjected, "Both the Prince and me are glad this is Hillon, not Garland."
Benen laughed at the words.
"You can be flogged for a foul tongue in Garland as well," she added with a trace of humor in her voice. Radogast laughed heartily at that. The Princess smiled gently, but the moment she realized a smile crept up to her lips, she again assumed the grim expression. She felt that any kind of gaiety under these circumstances, meant consent to her current state, to being kidnapped by the Hillons, to having her hands tied and to complete lack of privacy. She rebuked herself for that smile.

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It had only lasted a couple of seconds, but both he and Radogast had noticed it; the smile on the Princess' face. It had lightened up her sad face for a moment, it even crept up to her eyes. For that short moment they had both seen a young girl in her, instead of a stubborn warrior. But the smile had disappeared as fast as it had showed up and they were both wondering whether they had for sure seen it.

Barbro showed up the moment he dismounted. She gave Lavena a suspicious look. The Princess blankly followed one of the women from Barbro's team to the tent.
"Any news?" Benen asked, watching the Princess walk away.
"They're keeping at a distance for now; a couple of miles. They are tracking us."
"Good, let them track us." Benen looked back at the road that had just led them here, as if fearing a Garlanian attack. "Still only ten of them?" he asked, and when Barbro nodded, he added, "let them track us to the castle. Once the Princess is behind the castle walls, they will not be able to get her. This is when we will surround them and invite inside as well."

When he returned to the tent, Lavena was sleeping with her back to the entrance. One of Barbro's warriors was standing over her and watching her closely. Benen hid a smile at the sight of a serious and engaged look on the young girls' face.
"Thank you, Hana, you are free to go."
"Yes, my Lord." The girl took a bow and left.
Benen put his sword down, far away from the Princess just in case. He pulled out a rope, the same one he'd been tying up her hands each night. Even though she had not tried to escape during the last two days, he still did not trust her. The Princess was not stupid, she knew she would not be able to escape with him around. Still, Benen wasn't going to risk it.
He grabbed her hand gently, not to wake her up. Lavena however turned to him with her eyes wide open.
"You have scared your people with your magic very effectively," she said in a cheeky manner. "That girl would not take her eyes off me. I bet she was afraid that you would turn her into stone if she did."
"Into stone... hmmm. Haven't tried that yet," Benen answered in a similar tone, but noticed the Princess trying to control her emotions again and hide the smile. "You know, your father cannot see you now," he said carefully. "He will not know that you smiled at a Hillonian..."
"My father does not need to see me, to already have an opinion of me," she answered coldly. "Surely, by now in his eyes I'm a weak maid who cannot even escape from the enemy... he would definitely not call me a warrior..." Lavena shot a sad look at the rope around her wrist and did not add anything else. She again turned her back to him.