Blood Rider [Alonia's Queenslayer #1]

13

"But I thought you wouldn't have to work at all!" Tanya said, throwing her hands in the air in defeat. Her face was set in a scowl, and Eli felt slightly afraid.

"Yeah," said Eli, "I thought so, too. But apparently, Valda was serious about this. I have to get up at dawn every day and patrol the whole castle, and did I mention that I ride out and patrol the coast every second Sunday?"

"Ugh! Today's Sunday!" Tanya said, slumping down onto Eli's bed.

"I completely agree. Besides, the castle keeps... shifting. My room was on the second floor yesterday, and now it's on the first."

Tanya grinned. "Exactly! I told you about that in my letters. But you get used to it after a while. When are you going out with the boat? Can you even row a boat that far?"

"Well, Linos isn't exactly far, it's around an hour or two of rowing at most, Tanya. I thought you were the smart one," Eli joked. Tanya rolled her eyes.

"I don't know everything. And I've looked through the capital library and found nothing on dead monsters coming to life, so I don't hold much hope as it stands. But it's true that this library might tell us something..." Tanya said. Eli shot her a sideways glance. "I'm just trying to tell you not to get your hopes up. This might as well remain a mystery forever. Wanna hear my theory?"

Eli shrugged, still staring at the map which was sprawled on her desk. "Sure, go ahead."

"Look at me first," Tanya ordered. Eli rolled her eyes and faced Tanya, leaning onto the desk. Eli's room was better than her room back at the school, that was certain. It was just as small, but the bed was more comfortable, the room itself was much warmer, she had a nicer view and her bathroom had warm water. She also had a lamp hanging from the ceiling, which turned on whenever she tapped it – a courtesy of an enchanter. Her dragon was sleeping at the foot of her bed, rolled into a cosy ball. He had taken a liking to Tanya, and Tanya was playing with him rather than speaking with Eli for a whole hour when she arrived. Eli managed to drag her to her room after the dragon became too tired to play.

"I say a band of mages decided to overthrow the elves," Tanya said confidently, brushing her long blonde hair out of her face. Eli let out a stiff laugh, forcing Tanya to break her confident smile and frown threateningly.

"You think some mages are aiming to overthrow Notrhl? Fat chance!" Eli laughed, grinning from ear to ear as Tanya fumed.

"Eli, mages have been known to rebel for centuries! But none could break the barrier. This is serious, you almost died!" Tanya said seriously. Eli ceased her laughter, but kept smiling.

"It's not like it's my first time nearly dying," she said. "I'm used to it. Actually, I'm pretty sure that I'm immortal."

"You're not immortal! You just have dumb luck!"

Eli snorted, rolling up the map. "It's called years of training."

"It's not years of training that brought harpies to you to save you from the elven commander!"

Eli frowned at the memory. "I would've won, just so you know."

"Ha! He would've cut you to pieces!"

"No way! I'm so much better than him!"

"Nah."

"Tanya!"

Tanya simply burst into laughter, waking up the dragon and having him open one fiery eye before he closed it again.

"Very funny," said Eli, hands crossed before her. Her cheeks were flushed red from annoyance, but were slowly returning to their original colour.