Blood for her Crown

Chapter Three

Ciden

They've been on the move for two days now. To his misfortune, mostly through the woods. He hated them, had been afraid of them ever since he was a child. Every noise nearly gave him a heart attack. He was just hoping his companions didn't notice, but he was certain they did, though they didn't mention that. In fact, they never spoke to him at all.

It wasn't like they had much to talk about anyway.

Ciden still didn't trust them, and he probably never would, so he wasn't complaining about that.

They were on their way to Picatto, the biggest city in the Kingdom of Merrisan.
The king, Ayvon Feltain, was a good man, but too old and sick to reign and protect his kingdom and its people.
No one knew where his sons, his heirs, were. They disappeared nine years ago. Just when the oldest son was supposed to take over the throne.

Rumor had it one of them had poisoned the king and only waited for his death to return. Others believed they had been kidnapped, maybe even killed.

Fifteen years ago, Merrisan was the most beautiful kingdom of all. Everyone wanted to visit it. They called it "The Kingdom of the Kind". But without a suitable king, the land degenerated over the last few years. The people who were once nice, happy and gentle have become cruel, ruthless, and selfish.

He'd never been to Picatto before, and he didn't know if he wanted to see it, since word was it wasn't only the biggest, but also the deadliest city in Merrisan.

Neither Grace nor Jamie had told him where exactly they were going, so Ciden could only hope their true destination wasn't Picatto itself.

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It would get dark soon.
A storm was coming up and they needed to find a cave soon.

Grace and Jamie had more than enough gold for an inn, but they said it'd be too risky to sleep around people now. Especially here. With that much gold, they basically had a target on their backs.

He wondered where they've gotten so much of it since they were living in that old, dilapidated house in one of the worst quarters in the whole of Ernagin. He figured it was better not to ask, though.

His legs were getting tired. He needed a break, or even better, a shelter for the night. He wasn't used to walking for such a long distance.

"We'll need to find somewhere to stay for the night. It's almost dark and there's a storm coming up."

Grace rolled her eyes. "I noticed."

And she continued walking. Jamie shot him one quick concerned look before shrugging and following her. Ciden sighed and went on laboriously.

About ten minutes had passed when he finally spotted a cave behind some dense trees.

Jamie had noticed it as well. He slightly nudged Grace and pointed his head towards the cave.

When Ciden wanted to ask what was going on, she put her index finger to her mouth in a subtle warning to be quiet.

She sneaked up to a tree near the cave and signaled Jamie and Ciden to hide behind the two trees next to them.
Careful not to make a sound, she moved closer. As Ciden looked closer, he could see the shadows of a fire dancing across the stone walls. Someone was in there.

Grace drew her twin–swords and casually swirled them around while walking inside. They couldn't see her in the shadows, but less than five seconds later, they could hear the sound of swords slamming against each other.