It was cold. Somehow in the time she spent devising a plan to escape her guardian, Elysia had failed to remember the bitterness of the season. While she was dressed warmly enough, a thicker blanket for the night would have been nice.
The temperature was cool enough for snow, though the Princess prayed against it. The last thing she needed was for her footsteps to be trackable by others. Thus far she hadn't bothered covering her tracks, knowing it would only slow her down.
Entering Nieblan territory had been the scariest part. Tucked away in her clothing was a forged document allowing her passage from Lyra into Niebla. Getting into Niebla was fairly simple with a seal from the King. Traveling safely through Niebla as a foreigner was the difficult part.
She had been stalked for the first ten miles by a pair of bounty hunters, looking for her brother she presumed. When they started to flank her, she urged the horse to slow. Running would only cause them to chase. Instead, she hoped allowing them to draw closer might make her seem less threatening.
Eventually they drew close enough for conversation. "What's your business here, foreigner?" The voice came from her right. She eyed the man briefly before answering. His hair was buzzed short. He had an oddly shaped scar on his cheek and Elysia noticed his ears were disproportionately sized. She also noticed a weighty looking sword in his scabbard.
Likewise, the man looked her over, noticing her bow and arrows. When he met her gaze, his eyes widened, finally noticing she was a woman.
She was dressed in men's clothing. It was significantly easier to ride in and more comfortable for a long journey. It also helped her avoid from standing out. A woman alone in the woods was only asking for trouble.
She decided to reply before he got any ideas. "I'm on my way to visit family. My sister is ill."
"Why do you and your sister live in separate kingdoms?"
"She fell in love. Married and moved here. Anything else you'd like to know, or can I be on my way now?" She regretted the attitude instantly.
The man's eyes darkened and she felt the presence of the man on her left draw closer. They were practically pinning her in between their horses. Her own horse whinnied at the proximity.
"You're on foreign territory, little miss. You would be wise to cooperate."
She said nothing, her gaze staring straight ahead. Her pulse quickened. She did not have a good feeling about this interaction. With one hand keeping hold of the reins, her other crept closer to her belt. The knives Shade gifted her were there. She touched one inconspicuously, their presence giving her courage.
"Why do you need a long bow to visit your sister?" The man on her left questioned.
She sweetened her tone. "It's a long journey. At some point I'll have to hunt down food."
"Seems suspicious to me," the man on the left said to the other.
He agreed. "Miss, you'll need to stop your horse so we can search your things. Show us your papers while you're at it."
She slowed her horse down, but had no intention of dismounting. Her advantage was to remain seated, able to gallop away if necessary. Quickly, her mind raced with possibilities. She could make her horse run and hope it would be faster than theirs. But her horse was tired; she had been giving it breaks and walking next to it as often as she could. If her horse was able to gallop, she would have to use her bow and take the two men out while riding. While she was an excellent shot, she would prefer there was only one of them.
A decision made, she let her right hand find the handle of a throwing knife. She pretended she was preparing to dismount. Instead, she took the knife and slammed it into the man's chest. Then she turned to her other side as quickly as she could and sent another knife with her left hand.
The other man was a few yards away and her knife dug into his shoulder. He struggled to turn his horse away from her and managed to gain a little distance. Elysia turned her horse quickly and grabbed another knife with her right hand. She pulled back far, knowing she would need a good amount of force behind her throw to do damage.
She released the knife and heard the sickening "thunk" as it embedded its blade into the back of the man's skull. She had been aiming for his back.
Bile rose up in her throat and she fought to control her emotions. Both of the men were dead, their horses frantically shrugging their riders off to flee. She tried to tell herself it had to be done.
Quickly, she looked around in every direction to assess the scene. No one else was within sight, or had been for miles. She was fairly certain there were not any others to worry about. The bodies, however, were another issue. She certainly didn't have the time or energy to bury them. She could only hope no one would be wandering by and stumble upon them. The last thing she needed was to be hunted down.
All the thoughts in her head were overwhelming. There was guilt, fear, nausea. She tried not to think about their families, whether or not they might have children. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She forced her mind to clear and focused on what Shade would do in this situation.
Finally, she dismounted her horse and approached the first man she had murdered. Bending down, she grabbed the hilt of the knife. Then she turned her head away as she pulled the weapon out from the man's chest, ignoring the sound it made. Keeping her gaze away from him, she walked to the next man. She did the same thing, pulling the blades out quickly.
She bent to the ground and wiped the blades on the grass, removing as much blood as possible. Once the blades were clean she returned them to her belt and climbed back onto her horse. At the next lake she would try to remember to clean her blades better. Until then, she set her course and continued on.
When it grew too dark to travel, Elysia settled into a spot that provided some cover. Her horse seemed thankful for the rest. The Princess had chosen the castle's best endurance horse, knowing they had a lot of ground to cover. She tried her best to provide breaks and walk alongside the horse, while also covering as much distance as possible.
There was little comfort to be found laying on the ground. Her blanket was thin and she feared the night's chill would keep her up. She needed to rest but her body trembled with the cold. The urge to light a fire was strong. However, she knew doing so would be a mistake. Her location needed to remain secret. No use drawing attention to herself.
For most of the day she had been successful in distracting her thoughts. Now her mind wandered to her guardian. Worry consumed her as she could only hope she hadn't killed him. She had carefully calculated the dosage, making sure it would be enough to knock him out for a while, without killing him. The amount was questionable, as she was unaware what his tolerance was. She knew he would have built up a resistance to most poisons, taking a non-lethal amount each day.
The plan had been to keep him under for a couple days at most. When learning about this particular poison, if a large dosage was consumed and did not cause death, it sometimes left the victim in a prolonged coma. Otherwise, it generally kept the victim under for a couple days. If Shade was alive, he would probably be waking up about now.