Warrior's Heart (Book 1 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 2

Maids moved aside, bowing their heads hastily as Leyla walked away from the Healers rooms. Berk, the fool boy, had passed out halfway to the castle, forcing her to carry him into the inner keep on her back. Despite being younger, he was a head taller and quite a bit wider, which made for some awkward lifting. She could have left the recruit to the Warriors that rushed forward to help at the sight of them entering the Keep, but that wasn't her way. Leyla had led Berk into the fray; she had to make sure he was cared for.

Sighing, she took swift steps out into the main hallway, comforting herself with the knowledge that the boy would be good as new in a matter of hours. Using the strange crystals and medicines that they brought with them from the Giant Tree Forest, the Healers could cure just about any wound if they handled it in time. Her lips pursed, stretching the tight skin of her scar and making it itch. They would have been able to cure Leyla's face too, if the orphans hadn't locked her in the basement of the Home after cutting her.

Turning right, Leyla stepped out onto the second floor mezzanine that surrounded the inner-keep quad, her eyes catching the shimmer coming from the top floor walls. While the Warrior castle was built out of dull grey stones, the outer walls and top floors of the keep were covered in thick, fire repellent glass that shimmered and had an ice-like appearance. An invention of the Land of Light, the material was gifted to the previous Warrior King some thirty-years ago.

Many Warrior officers believed the gift was a strategic error, after all, with the cover of ice-glass, the Warrior Kingdom's defensive walls became almost impossible to scale. According to them, giving such a tactical advantage to a foreign Kingdom, ally or not, was sheer stupidity on the part of the Land of Light. But Leyla had studied the movements of the most mysterious Kingdom in Gaia for a long time and she knew they would never make such a mistake; if they had the ability to make the material, it only stood to reason that they could destroy it. In her experience, many Warrior officers underestimated outsiders abilities in tactical warfare. Could that be why no one had caught onto the bigger picture behind the recent shift in Bone Eater strategy?

As Leyla walked along the mezzanine, she considered how to approach Captain Leo. She had dispatched messengers to alert the council of the imminent arrival of captives and would have to brief Captain Leo about the incident, but how could she get him to listen to her theory? He was not only incompetent, he disliked having to do anything over the absolute minimum. As it was, she was likely to get an earful for being the one there during the ambush since it meant he was now going to have to appear in front of the council...

CRASH! A sudden shattering sound pulled her out of her thoughts. What on Gaia? Then the unmistakable scream of Princess Mira had Leyla flying up the staircases. Her hand on the hilt of her sword, she burst into the Princess's chambers and just managed to side step a flying vase. Sharp pieces of crystal scattered every which way after shattering on the wall behind her.

The Princess, who had thrown the vase, hadn't bothered to see where her aim landed and was calmly resuming her seat at her gilded mirror, not a hair out of place. The carpeted floors were strewn with broken glass and red roses while a group of maids were huddled in the far corner shaking with fear. No assassin in sight.

Leyla raised a questioning brow at the royal guards who saluted her silently from the other side of the double doors. Their leader, a flat-nosed guard called Katuna, gave her a tight lipped nod to indicate the lack of danger. By Tevvuk's beard, was the Princess just throwing another tantrum?

"Didn't I say that I wanted pink roses today?" The 17-year-old royal pain-in-the-ass stared daggers at the chambermaids as she picked up her hairbrush. The maids were grabbing at their skirts with white knuckles, the youngest among them looking as though she would burst into tears at any moment. Leyla took a slow breath. The delivery of roses had obviously not made it in time because of the ambush. Clearly the maids were either too afraid to tell their mistress about the delay or they hadn't been granted time to explain. In truth, even if they explained, they would get punished. Someone had to suffer when Princess Mira was dissatisfied. It was unjust, but it wasn't Leyla's place to interfere. Her hand on her sword, she took a soft step back.