Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 4: Part 1

It was nearly dark when we stopped for the night. We were in what felt like the middle of nowhere, but Ulric said we were just a few hours' ride to the walls of the capital city of Ithica, which is Himmelsk.

We sat around the fire with the wolves amongst us, and Fenrir took his spot at my side as he frequently did now. I fed him some of my cake as we nibbled on our dinner. My mind was still racing. I was beginning to get nervous thinking about tomorrow and what it would hold. What if they didn't believe I was the princess?

I leaned my head against Fenrir's side and tucked some of my hair behind my ear. I hoped I would get to bathe soon at the palace. I was greasy and grimy, and I needed a fresh change of clothes desperately.

"Amberleigh, what happened to your ears?" Gerard asked, and Ulric's blue gaze snapped to the non-existent tip of my ears.

"Oh." I ran a nervous hand over the rough, raised scar on the top of the helix of my ear. "When my adopted parents found me, my ears were bleeding as if they had been sliced. I think, if I really am Princess Amberleigh, that the points were cut off when I was a baby."

Ulric got up from his spot on a fallen log and walked towards me. He knelt down and inspected the silvery-white scars on my ears under the firelight. His fingers, while rough in texture, were feather-light against my skin and gentle as he tugged on my ears to inspect them.

"How did I not notice this?" I heard him whisper faintly to himself.

Eventually, I reached up and gently pushed his hands away from my ears after tiring of him inspecting them. He moved back to his seat across the fire from me.

"It is quite interesting that your ears were cut. It was likely the doing from the individuals that abducted you from the start. They clearly hoped that no one would find you, and I doubt they will be happy that you are returning. Returning to Erivale may have been more dangerous than you ever imagined." I shivered and wrapped the cloak tightly around myself at Gerard's ominous words.

Fenrir, seeming to sense my distress, wrapped himself around me like a security blanket, and I relished in the feeling of being protected. By tomorrow night, I would no longer have Fenrir or Ulric, and that thought, even with his tumultuous past and history of the Dark Elves, scared me.

"Gerard, are you still willing to be my servant?" I blurted suddenly.

"Y-yes, of course, Amberleigh." He was surprised at my outburst but recovered quickly.

"Thank you, Gerard. I need a friend and someone I can trust as I enter life at the palace. I'll need you, so I'm not alone."

"It will be my honor." He bowed his head once again, and we lapsed into another bout of silence. It seemed everyone was lost in thought of tomorrow.

That night I barely slept a wink. I was sandwiched between two wolves next to the fading embers of the fire. The aurora was bright above me and was somewhat mesmerizing to stare at. My hand absentmindedly stroked Fenrir's fur, which he seemed to like as he quickly dozed off.

My brain was too full to even fathom sleep. Not only was I replaying the information Gerard had supplied regarding the history of Erivale and the Dark Elves, but I was also wondering more intently about my mysterious arrival in the earth realm and my apparent abduction.

It was quite odd to think about the fact that I was apparently abducted. I was scared that those who did it in the first place were still out there, and when they find out I'm back, they will want me dead, not just lost.

Another tiny piece swirled in my head, and that was why the Elven royalty became rulers of all of Erivale. If there was a council composed of each nation, why didn't they just remain sovereign nations but make decisions that impacted the whole as one council? I could hardly imagine a scenario when a bunch of countries readily agreed to suddenly be subjected to the rulers of a different nation, especially when they had lived separately for so long.