Betrothed to Him

Chapter 1 - My beginning

The Betrothal set in stone, the prophecy states 'Once the fighting begins, and everything seems lost, the marriage of the ancient lines are critical. To combine the creatures and their unique abilities, it will start a new world order. One Kingdom. One family.'

Castle Dawn

The streets were busy in the morning and everything went together. Almost the exact same as the neighbouring kingdom across the river, both were basically the same apart from.. different species.

Two kingdoms.

The back streets were the only things practically deserted, so we decided to take them to the docks.

"If the guards catch us!" Was whispered but it cut through the sound of the waves and boats hitting the dock.

"They won't, I told mother that we were in the library, don't worry Vima." I said as I looked around the tall pillars holding up the sailors' bridge- "Eberin!" I felt a pair of hands pull me away from where I was looking as a guard walked past right where I was looking. "See! That's what I warned you about Rin." Vima looked so serious I almost laughed at how she looked.

"We don't have to see him today, we can go tomorrow?" Vima suggested hopingly, but I shrugged her off. "No, Father said the rain will set in before the sunset. I must see him if the prophecy is true." My head hung low as I remembered my duty.

I was to marry someone I've only heard stories of. A shifter. He was the 8th king of the Warrd.

"Eberin, they don't call him the Beast lightly or for no reason, he could hurt us." Her voice filled with discomfort. Vima didn't believe the seer, even after the war broke out. "I'm betrothed to him V, I can't get around it. I have to marry him, and I have to meet him once before we're wed." she went to argue but I shot her a look which made her silent.

The dock was as old as our first King, Dahion. It was a risky move to even consider attempting crossing Sourwood lake, said to be littered with ships. But my pull of curiosity towards the King was too strong.

"Eberin, please." I heard Vima call my name as I walked toward the raft. The remains of Village Rayhaven looked ghostly. Stories tell of the family who once resided there, they were brave and resilient although, they refused to borrow anything from the surrounding villages, so eventually they all passed. So now all that remains is the crumbling village.

Just beyond Rayhaven, I could see a glimpse of Fire hill forest, the entrance to Warrd. The village houses were scattered throughout the forest. I didn't know how I was going to get through the village undetected. I didn't even know the Kings name, and yet I'm betrothed to him.

I know I needed to meet him, Mother and Father said we were to meet two days before the wedding, but that was 4 moons away. I couldn't wait that long, I looked back at Vima "I have to meet him before the wedding, what if he's mean? What if we don't get along? I need to know before my name becomes his." I look down at my feet as I talk.

I feel hands touch my own "It's okay Rin, I'm scared but I understand. you don't want to marry a crazy man." Our eyes meet and we both start to laugh.

A slash of white light made us both look to the sky. I stepped out to the street, looking both ways for more guards "Cost is clear V, I'm going for it before the rain sets in." She looked back us the side street before running up to catch to me.

"Okay, I'm coming. But we better get over to the other side before the rain hits!" she puffed as she pointed upward, I didn't look as I was to busy with the ropes holding the boat to the dock.

* * *

Not too long before the boat untied from the dock with us in it. Sourwood was like the stories told, what looked liked reeds were broken masts poking through with moss growing all over them, and not being taught to sail it was difficult to manoeuvre between the wreckage.

"Rin, look!" Vima pointed towards the castle Rayhaven, and its surrounding village. it was even spookier up close. Only some of the carcasses of huts were visible, the rest were overtaken with vines and wildlife. The castle had both of its towers gone, and most if not all of the surrounding walls were gone, crumbled away into Sourwood.

We both paddled faster to get behind Rayhaven, the sun was starting to set which meant rain. Dark clouds lay above Firehill, as we reached the pebbles on the shore we knew this would be hard.

Warrd

"Rin, are you sure about this? I mean really, you can literally see the smoke rising from the forest floor!" Vima anxiously stated while hopping out of the boat. After I tied the boat to a small stub, I took her hand to try and comfort her, we started our journey to Warrd.

Firehill was as scary as the stories told, smoke rising from the ground and houses beyond every tree, the ones closest to the lake's edge seemed to be abandoned. "V, look. The Warrd crest. We're in Lochgate." I said picking up a small medallion in front of what seemed to be a tavern. "Cyan Wolf" Vima announced, I joined into where she was looking. A large drop-down sign read 'Cyan Wolf Tavern' the exterior of the building was fairly new, with woven hay on the bottom layer and the top, birch wood planks.

"I don't think these are abandoned Eberin," Vima said as she looked around to see if she could see anything or more importantly anyone. "No one's going to hurt the Crown Princess of Dawn Vima, and no one's going to hurt you either," I said smiling, even though I was also scared about who we might see. We were in another kingdom now, they might not recognise that it's me.

We continued through Lochgate, looking at everything while staying off the path. the treetops in the forest were now completely blocking the rain and wind. Everything was silent. Crunching leaves caused me to flinch and turn around, it was Vima. She had stumbled on the root of a close-by tree. "Ouch! Who put that there?!" Vima whispered as she collected her self, I shook my head and laughed.

After 20 more minutes of walking in silence, I could see the surrounding area changing. The leaves in the trees fell still, there was more of a crunch when I walked, and my body was getting colder. Warrd was snowing. I could see snowflakes falling from the grey sky just beyond Firehill. "V, we must be getting close! Look, it's snowing.." I said picking up my pace. I heard her puffing behind me.

I pulled my cloak hood over my head and hugged into it. We reached the forest edge and saw Warrd. Its towers were dark and its wall was tall, but I wasn't about to turn around now. "Come on," I said continuing our journey towards Warrd. "Eberin, How in the hell are we going to get in there? We can't exactly go and knock on the gates and ask them to let 'Princess of Dawn' meet their King now can we?" Vima stated, I smiled at her and continued to walk.

***

First part!!

Finally! only took me 2 months to write. I will try to update at least twice a week because I want these parts to be longer. Like a real book. So maybe when I'm editing this later I can merge some chapters together. I hope you like this book!!

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