Solien --> Language of Delstaten Solen (might seem obvious but for those who wouldn't have guessed it!! xD)
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I don’t know what was normal when you were waiting for a battle to come. But I’m sure this wasn’t it!
The soldiers had lit several fires spread out in the camp right after the tents were set up. Normal since it was getting dark. What I don’t think was normal was the fact that they were singing and drinking as if the war was already over and we had won. I noticed that the knights didn’t take part in all of that as they stood on top of the hill watching over our camp and the enemy’s. Once in a while, one of them would come down and calm things down.
I found Daniel somewhere in the mess that our camp was. I stayed around him because he was one of the few that weren’t drunk already. Even if most of the men considered me a dragon knight here and not the princess of their kingdom, I felt awkwardly out of place. And I finally understood why men always said that a battlefield is not for women.
The alcohol of the wine changed the atmosphere among everyone but as soon as I went to stand by the knights the tension almost palpable. I didn’t like the feeling of it; it made me nervous and more than a little afraid of what would happen next.
Robin stayed close to me as well and I was glad about that. But once in a while he would disappear and reappear as if he had never left. I didn’t know where he went but I didn’t ask either. Zjarr was somewhere high in the sky, above the clouds so no one could see her.
At some point I found myself seated between Robin and Daniel, around one of the many fires. One of the soldiers was telling a story but I think he just made it up as he went along since it made absolutely no sense. We never got to hear the end because the man fell asleep halfway through his story. Some of his friends took care of him and brought him back to his tent. That was when Robin got up and left again.
“Where are you going?” I asked this time because I was getting kinda curious.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it.” It was all he said but it didn’t satisfy my curiosity. I was about to get up and go after him when somebody took his place. He didn’t seem drunk nor did the cup in his right hand smell like alcohol. I moved a little closer to Daniel nevertheless.
“Good evening Princess.” The man said, turning to me with a smile. “I’m Derek. I work in the castle as well but I’m not sure if you remember.” He added.
“Are you the one who is always running around with my father’s messages?” I asked him, not entirely sure of whom he was.
He just smiled and nodded. “Yes, that is me. And that is basically why I’m here. I’ll be the messenger tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked.
“The generals still think they can convince the enemy to turn around.” Derek said but he sounded hopeless.
“They won’t. I have had an encounter with Prince Ron a few days back and he is just too arrogant and pride to go back to Mataharie.”
Derek took that in and seemed to think about it for a while. “And do the generals know?” He asked after a while, still not focusing totally on me.
“I don’t know what Zjarr and Robin told them. I haven’t exactly spoken to them and General Black doesn’t seem to like me very much.” I admitted wondering if Zjarr or Robin told them about my meeting with the prince and the army in general.
“No we didn’t say a thing. If you want them to know you’ll have to go yourself.” Robin said as he reappeared from between the tents and sitting down behind me since Derek was in his spot.
“Thanks a lot. But don’t worry, I get the feeling I’ll get another try.”
Derek looked at me strangely but Robin didn’t seem surprised by what I just said. Before any of them could add anything I got up and excused myself before walking off. I wasn’t sure if Robin or Daniel were following me but I didn’t check. I was tired and I wanted to see Zjarr again before I could retire to my tent. I called her in my head and she answered immediately, asking if she needed to come down.
I got a few images from her and saw that she was soaring over the clouds peacefully, enjoying the night breeze under her wings. I assured her that she didn’t have to I let her floating among the stars. My tent was close to the hill because that was where the knights’ tents were as well. They had said that if something happened they would be closer because after all the protection of the princess came first. I thought that it was unnecessary since Zjarr would be close as well and I didn’t believe that anyone could me stupid enough to try something with her next to me.
But for now, my tent was empty.
“Are you okay?” I heard someone ask behind me, making me jump.
I turned around to find Robin looking at me with concern. I sighed. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little, I don’t know, out of place I guess.” Robin looked confused but I couldn’t blame him; I had a hard time turning my feelings into words even for myself. It was just a feeling I couldn’t quite place, which was why I had said I felt out of place.
I wasn’t where I was supposed to be and my conscious was telling me. Why did I have to be so stubborn and insist on doing my part in this war? It must have been one of the stupidest things I had ever done, and I had done quite some stupid things in the few years I had lived. This one might actually be the last one, unless I did something stupid between now and the beginning or the fights.
“You’re too proud to let anyone fix your mistakes for you, you fight your battles.” Zjarr said, trying to make me feel better. I didn’t know what to say at her statement, it didn’t really make me feel better even if it probably meant for that. I just pushed my thoughts back and tried to clear my head.
“Zjarr is absolutely right though I don’t know why she only just told you now.” Robin said, making me look up. His face was clear of any expression and it was too dark for me to read anything in his eyes. “Come on; let’s go for a midnight swim.” He extended his hand for me to take it.
I looked at his hand for a while, hesitating if I should take it. The wind made the tent behind me ruffle, reminding me that there a bed waiting for me right inside. Somewhere not too far away, between the tents I heard some of the soldiers laugh loudly. Let’s face it; there was no way I could sleep like this.
So I took his hand and Robin immediately started leading me through rows of tents to the border of camp. He seemed to know where he was going though I was sure he had never been here before. “Elves are bound to earth; we have a special connection with it. I can feel every tree, every plant and every animal a few miles radius.” Robin explained when I asked him how he knew.
After a minute or so of passing through trees and bushes, we got to a clearing. It wasn’t very big but it wasn’t small either. There was a pond on the other side surrounded by rocks. The surface reflected the moonlight that passed through the trees and I could hear water running; probably a creek.
Robin didn’t let go of my hand just yet and led me through the rocks to the waterside. Once I was sure I wouldn’t fall over anything that I hadn’t seen in the dark, I let go of his hand and walked to the water. It was clear but it was too dark outside to see more than a few feet. I put my hand in the water to find that the water was strangely but pleasantly warm.
I listened to the sound of the running water, which was closer now, and to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. It took me a while to realize that I didn’t hear the noises from camp anymore. That made me wonder just how far we were from camp exactly.
“Maybe we should go back.” I said a little unsure. I still had my hand in the water and it was really nice but I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with being so far away from camp.
Robin didn’t reply for a while but I heard his breathing. “If you really don’t want to, ask earth to show you the path back to camp.” He said.
Wouldn’t he go back with me? I turned around to face him, about to ask him that question when I noticed he was taking of his shirt before throwing it next to his boots. He ran past me and dove into the water. The surface of the water wrinkled where he had touched the surface and where he came back.
As he hit the surface for air he turned to face me and shook his air out of his face. I looked at him for a moment. The pale skin of his face, neck, arms and chest stood out against the dark whereas his hair was only visible because of the moonlight on the water droplets. The pond had to be deeper where he was because only half his chest was visible before the rest of his bode fade to black.
“So are you coming in or not?” Robin asked with a smile, knowing I couldn’t resist the temptation now.
I smiled to him and took of my shirt as well, suddenly feeling glad I wore something lighter under it. I jumped in and swam back to the surface before joining Robin. I had to keep moving to stay with my head out of the water but it was clear Robin could stand. He swam around the pond a little while I just drifted on my back, looking up at the sky.
It was so peaceful here it was easy to forget that two armies were camping just on the other side of those trees surrounding the pond. The water was nice and I could feel myself relax more and more every second thanks to the temperature. Time didn’t seem to matter here; it didn’t seem to exist, until Robin called me back to earth.
“We should go back to camp. I think almost everybody went to sleep except for those who have the first watch.” Robin said, breaking the silence.
I turned around in the water to see him sitting on one of the big rocks looking at the sky. When had he gotten out of the pond? I realized I hadn’t heard anything, not Robin getting out of the water, not Zjarr landing close to camp where I could feel her now. Oh dragon, there was something out this pond and the water in it that made me forget everything.
Realizing that I quickly swam to the side and climbed out. The wind was cold and I immediately started shivering and was tempted to jump back in the water. I shook my head to clear it of that thought, I couldn’t go back in the water again; I wouldn’t come out ever again.
“I should have taken something to cover myself with.” I said more to myself than to Robin.
“Aren’t you the one who has the elements on her side? Ask fire to dry you or air to blow you dry.” He said. I looked at him surprised. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I was so surprised I hit myself on the head before letting out a little complaint, making Robin laugh. I was tempted to ask air to push him in the water but I resisted and instead asked fire to dry me. The request made her laugh but the element dried me anyway.
I put my shirt and boots back on once I was dry and looked up to see Robin waiting for me, holding out his hand again. I took it because I knew I would fall if he didn’t guide every single step I took.
It seemed as though we needed twice as long to get back to camp but once we got there I saw Robin was right and there everybody had gone to sleep except for the soldiers who had the first watch. Robin guided me back to my tent and just before I went in I thought I saw General Black standing on the hill, looking straight at us.
I shook the thought away and disappeared in my tent. I let myself fall down on what was supposed to be my bed. It was more comfortable than sleeping on the ground but for some reason I just kept turning around until I couldn’t take it anymore and contacted Zjarr.
“Where are you?” I asked her.
“At the foot of the hill. Watch out for the guards and General Black if you are coming.”
I got up with a smile and slipped out of the tent after making sure there was nobody around. I joined Zjarr at the foot of the hill and she just opened one golden eye to look at me before extending out wing and going back to sleep. Under her wing it was nice and warm and after settling myself against her side, I quickly fell asleep.
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When I woke up I thought I heard somebody call my name. I wasn’t fully awake yet so I couldn’t be sure. Only a few seconds later did I hear it again. Yes, somebody was definitely calling my name. I knew I should probably answer to the call but I just didn’t want to move.
Zjarr growled, sounding just like a cat, but it didn’t seem as though she was angry with me. I sighed before crawling out from under her wing. In front of her several people were standing but my eyes had to get used to the brightness first before I could make out who they were.
There was an angry looking General Black and another general whose name I thought was Cross but I couldn’t be sure. There was only so Robin but he didn’t seem angry at all, and a few other soldiers who I probably saw last night but again, I couldn’t be sure.
“I told you she was here.” Robin said sounding just a little bit annoyed.
I could see that General Black was ready to tell me what he thought of the fact that I wasn’t in my tent and that he had probably been worried but before he could let any of it out I spoke. “Before anybody gets mad at me, could I at least take a swim in the river?” I asked before remembering. “Oh no, I can’t there is an army there.”
“You can always go swimming in the pond.” Robin said before offering his hand. Was that becoming some kind of habit?
I just crawled a little further from under Zjarr wing so that I could stand and instead of taking Robin’s hand I just turned him in the direction where I thought the pond was and started pushing him, telling him to show me the way.
The water of the pond was just as warm as last night but I allowed myself to swim only five times the length of the pond before getting out again and asking fire to dry me. When we got back at camp, I just followed Robin because he seemed to know where he was going. On the other hand, it wasn’t hard to guess; the dark blue and silver tent was clearly visible and they hadn’t even tried to hide it.
Inside, the knights were gathered around a table, and only one was sitting. I didn’t know who he was though; I never bothered to learn all the knights’ names because there were more and more each year or something like that. The one sitting was writing while the others just looked. Only General Black was passing around.
I walked over to Derek, who was standing in a corner of the tent. “What are they doing?” I whispered to him.
“They are writing my first message.” Derek answered me without taking his eyes away from the knights.
I raised my eyebrows at that but nobody noticed. Did they really think that Delstaten Solen would turn around and cancel war? That they would just forgive me for my mistakes and let us go back home as if it never happened? Was I the only one to see that it would never happen? I usually wasn’t a pessimist but this situation was pretty hopeless. Still I was not pessimistic enough, not even at that time, to tell the knights that they were wasting their time with this message.
A few minutes later, the letter to Delstaten Solen was sealed and put in some kind of container and as if it was time for him to leave before he got the message, Derek had left the tent as soon as the sitting knight was sealing the letter.
Every one walked outside and I followed them. Outside Derek was already sitting on his horse, which he had trouble keeping in place. General Black gave him the message, saying that he trusted Derek. The messenger just nodded to everything the knight said before putting the message in a leather bag.
He bowed his head one last time to all of us before pushing his horse into a draft and going up the hill. I watched him ride away on his horse, keeping one hand on the bag that contained the message.
“And now we wait.” General Black sighed.
To kill the time, Robin and I trained. I used my dragon sword because I still found the long double sword a bit difficult to use; I wasn’t even sure I would use it in the battles even though it would cause more damage. That thought scared me a little; when had I started thinking about killing people? Daniel found us not to long after we started and we offered him to train with us but at the sight of my long double edged sword he refused and decided to sit down and watch us.
After what seemed like hours but were probably just thirty minutes or so, Zjarr stood up on her hind legs, so that she could just see the other camp if she extended her neck to a maximum, and made it clear that Derek was coming back.
General Black was waiting at the exact same spot as where the messenger had left. Robin and I approached, Zjarr just behind us. Only then I noticed that Daniel was gone; normal since he wasn’t supposed to be with us.
At first I only heard the galloping of the horse on the other side of the hill but once it got at the top I saw its rider. Immediately I tried to read Derek’s expression. Only I couldn’t. Horrified I noticed that the horse was carrying a body, without a head.
I turned my head away, closing my eyes at the same time. Robin passed an arm around me and, not thinking clearly, I buried my face in his chest, trying to rid myself of the memory of what I just saw. Tears were already welling up in my eyes.
“Oh dragon, what did they do to him?” I heard General Black say. If I hadn’t been so shocked or horrified I would have given him an answer with a lot of sarcasm but right now, I couldn’t utter a word.
Not wanting to know what was happening around me, I concentrated on the earthy smell of Robin’s shirt, his arms around me and the light touch of Zjarr’s mind on mine. I forced myself to take as deep breaths as possible and exhale slowly. Slowly but surely I got myself back under control and the tears stopped coming; I felt them dry on my cheeks.
I vaguely heard General Black talking like he was reading something. I tried focusing on his words but they didn’t have any sense to me. After a while of listening to him reading the same thing a few times, as he was, just as me, confused by those words, or if he just didn’t understand. Finally the words started to make sense to me and I concentrated on them. I figured that whatever he was reading was probably the answer to our offer, even if I didn’t know what it consisted off.
“We have to decline your generous offer and are waiting for your next move. If you do send another messenger, make sure that he is polity, unlike this unfortunate man. Signed, General Rock.” General Black finished reading.
“How dare they say Derek wasn’t polite!” I said angrily, turning to face everyone there. “He has been walking around in the castle for as long as I can remember but I don’t recall him ever being anything but polite!”
“Princess, calm down! You are still chocked by what you saw.” General Cross tried to calm me down.
I brushed his excuse away. Sure, the sight of Derek’s body without his head still haunted my thoughts but that just made me angrier. But I had to keep myself in control and fight other tears back. By doing that I was able to speak in a loud voice instead of a small whisper.
“No, I’m not so much in shock by that. Now I am just angry. I want to know why they did this and more important, who did it!” I said taking everybody by surprise.
“Why they did it I don’t understand either.” Robin admitted.
“We are not supposed to kill the messengers because they are neutral in everything that has to do with the messages but sometimes it does happen simply because the enemy wasn’t pleased with the message. Unfortunately it is always the messenger who pays.” General Black said. The sadness was clear at the end of his explanation and even though he didn’t show it, I knew he too was affected by what happened to Derek.
And he was just the first of many. That thought took me by surprise. Since when did my thoughts know exactly what to think about war?
“Okay, but I still want to know who did it and I want his head on my plate.” I raged. “So I’ll be the next massager and go get the answer to that question myself.”
They were all clearly surprised by that before there expression changed and then they all looked at me like I had gone mad. Some were about to speak but Zjarr was faster, using her manner of speaking so that everybody could hear her.
“Don’t waste your time thinking you can change her mind because you cannot.” She said in a neutral tone. “One of the reasons why I chose her was because when she makes up her mind she stays with her decision. So give her the message, the elements will protect her.”
“Thank you Zjarr.” I thought to her, feeling grateful for the trust she had in me.
“But Princess what do you want us to write in the message? They refused to retreat which means we will have to fight them.” General Cross said.
I thought about that for a moment. Although I like writing and reading in my free time I wasn’t fond of anything serious so I didn’t know what could be written in a letter. Now that I was thinking about it, thinking about my previous encounters with Prince Ron, thinking about what my father had thought me, thinking about what I knew about Delstaten Solen’s history and such, I knew exactly what I wanted in the message but once the words would have been written down they would lose their intensity.
“I will go with my own message, and I will make sure that it goes all the way to Prince Ron. He will answer me personally and not hide behind his generals; unlike me, he did get a military education so he knows very well what he is doing.”
“Unlike you who acts on impulse.” I heard a knight say. The observation was clearly not meant for my ears but I turned to the knight and just looked at him long enough to see him go pale. Was I really that scary? The thought made a smile appear on my face.
“Exactly. And so far it has been working great.” I said before turning around and walking away.
Only Robin followed me, Zjarr kept close to my mind. The others were entirely silent as I walked away. Robin was just as silent. I saddled Bruin before turning to face him. He was just looking at me, not saying anything but guarding his mind and so stopping me from entering. It seemed like he was once again having an inner struggle and even though I was looking at him, he didn’t seem to be able to clear his thoughts. Since he kept silent, I led Bruin back to the generals and other knights. There I got on Bruin’s back and looked at them.
“Do you want me to say hi to anybody?” I asked knowing that they had nothing to add in a message.
“You shouldn’t go. It’s…” General Black started.
“Hold that thought for when I come back.” I cut him off.
I sent Bruin galloping out of the camp, up the hill. When I got to the top I was surprised to see that Delstaten Solen’s camp had moved away from the river, as if they had picked it up and moved it further inland. It took me about five minutes to cross the land to the river Vidiecky. Bruin didn’t slow down in the river. I could feel the droplets of water falling on my clothes and soaking them a little.
It took me another five minutes before I finally reached Delstaten Solen’s camp. Unlike those two days I had been keeping them on their side, it were no longer the knights who seemed to guard it. Two soldiers forced me to stop Bruin even though they would have moved out of the way if I hadn’t. The surprise on their faces when they found out I was actually a girl annoyed me a little but I forced myself to stay calm.
I asked them to bring me to whoever was in charge because I wasn’t supposed to know Prince Ron was here and I forgot the general’s name who signed the message earlier. The men didn’t say anything and just showed me the way. Every person who saw me pass looked surprised and I really had to put all my willpower in the effort of not showing how annoyed I was.
We stopped in front of a big red and golden tent, similar to the one General Black and General Cross had in our camp. One of the men went inside before coming out a little while later with a knight who I assumed was a general. I recognized him as one of the knights who tried to cross the river before fire had pushed them back.
I got off Bruin and left him in the care of the other man, menacing him that if something happened with my horse, I would hold him responsible. With those words still floating in the air, I followed the knight inside.
The insides of the tent wasn’t anything special, a big wooden table and a few chairs. Most of the people seat had their back to me and were forced to turn around. At the look of the table and the chairs I guessed they had to be heavy and I wondered how they got them here. I pushed the thought back and focused my attention on the people.
“Well, this is a surprise.” I heard someone say and watched as that same person walked around the knights and came to stand in front of them. Prince Ron. He really looked surprise even though that arrogant look he always carried had not left his face yet.
My father had never bothered to tell me how to react in a case like this one for the simple reason of us being leaders and not messengers. Did I bow or not? If it had been only the knights I wouldn’t have. Their status was below mine, they should bow and yet they didn’t. Prince Ron should bow to follow etiquette and if he did, I had no choice but to do the same. But did normal etiquette apply in a case like this one? I had no idea.
Since Prince Ron didn’t bow, neither did I. I just stood there and watched him, waiting for him to say anything else, which didn’t take too long.
“You were the last person I expected to see here. Why aren’t you in your castle?” He asked, all surprise gone, and no sign on the horizon of etiquette.
“I could ask you the same question because I knew you were here and I am not the slightest bit interested in the reasons. As for mine, I am here because I have a few questions.” I said without any hesitation. I was on enemy territory and yet I wasn’t afraid for my life at all. I looked at the guards around me and at the knights. “And tell them to put their weapons away, I’m unarmed myself.”
“How can we be sure?” Prince Ron asked with a smile.
“You can check for yourself. But since I don’t want anybody touching me, you’ll have to ask your Mages to use their magic to check.” I replied before adding. “Why not ask the one who was in charge of the burning fields mission so that I can hit him once he is done. I’m sure he got back in time for your war expedition.”
Everybody looked surprised by the fact that I knew about the Mages and that I knew that they had been the cause of the burning fields. Memories of that dark night came back in my head. I saw the dark night, the big orange flames reaching high into the sky as if they wanted to reach for the stars. The smell of the smoke in my nose and the smoke itself burning my longs and throat. I shivered at those memories and pushed them back.
Prince Ron had sent a guard to get a Mage while I was lost in my memories and was now looking at me. No one spook while we were waiting; it didn’t take too long for a Mage to get here. He appeared out of thin air as Vadmin liked to do; he had promised to learn it to me one day. He bowed to his prince and he just inclined his head a little to me.
The guard must have told him what was expected from him because he got straight to his magic. He started reciting a complicated spell to invoke the elements all at the same time. I don’t know how I knew because his words seemed like some ancient language, probably old Solien. I suppressed the smile that was forming on my lips; thanks to Zjarr all I had to do was ask, which was good because there was no way that I could ever remember such a long spell.
Slowly it was as though there was a person forming in front of me, slowly taking form and because clear. Only it stopped halfway in the process of becoming visible and stayed only half visible and half transparent. The person created by the elements bowed before me and I did the same. Even if these were not the elements I used to call upon, I had to respect them nevertheless.
The elemental person started at my feet, checking it there was something in my boots and made its way up. It took only a minute and once the elemental person was sure I had nothing he turned to the Mage.
“She had nothing that can hurt anyone, except if you count her fingernails.” With that the elemental person dissolved. Well that was surprising; the elements had some sense of humor.
“Now that we know that, let’s have a seat.” Prince Ron said after he got over his chock caused by the elements.
He walked back around his table and sat down in his seat. One of the guards brought me a chair as well and I sat down, crossing my arms and legs. I waited. I waited for Prince Ron to say something. He might throw the etiquette out of the window but I surely wasn’t. When you weren’t in your own castle, or tent in this case, you must always wait for the owner to speak first. Unless you’re King or Queen.
“Well, do what do we owe the visit? Have you come with another message? I can’t believe your generals just let you go.” Prince Ron finally said.
“Derek.” I didn’t say anything else. But since they had no idea who I was talking about I had to elaborate. “Our messenger. You cut his head off because he supposedly wasn’t polite. And now that we’re talking about him, I would like to take his head back with me.” I said thinking of Derek’s body without its head. It should be buried in one piece.
“Ah, of course. So you have come with another message.” The prince sat back in his chair and looked at me as if waiting for me to get a message out of the bag that I didn’t have.
“I’m not here with another message. I don’t know what was in the message but whatever it was I’m sure it was not worth killing over. Maybe I should have told the generals that it was no use to send a message but they would have sent it anyway. In that way you and the Tanah Bulian knights are were much alike; stubborn beyond my comprehension.
“Now I am just here to collect Derek’s head since he deserves a decent burial. But I am also here to tell you that you and your father are completely crazy! Because I have the bad habit of speaking before thinking you decided to declare war. Still I’m not stupid enough to not know that it was just an excuse; you have wanted a war for months! You forced all those men out of their homes, away from their families just for your own pleasure.
“There is just one thing I don’t understand; why? Do you want this war? Why is it so important? So that you can prove you have a great army? That you are powerful? I’m a girl so I don’t think like men but to me it seems all really stupid and just a waste of time, money and of all those thousands of lives outside.” I paused to breathe but I never looked away from the prince. “And one other question; who was the one responsible for what happened to Derek?”
“That would be me.” A knight said stepping forward. I looked at him for a little while debating whether he was stupid for admitting what he did, if he did it to see my reaction and wondering what I would do, or if he just wanted to brag about it.
Suddenly I felt something cold on my throat and I looked down to see a sword. “Since this is war, there won’t be any severe consequences if I involuntarily let my sword slip, so I would think twice of critiquing my prince.” He smiled.
I rolled my eyes at him and pushed the point of his sword away. “Put that away. I thought being a knight was about honor; I have seen none so far. I am unarmed so wouldn’t that be an act of dishonor if you killed me now? And just so you know; you will be the first to die once the fights start, and I will be the one killing you.” I told him as I pushed his sword even further away.
He put his sword down but stayed close to me. I turned my attention back to Prince Ron and waited for him to speak. Just because I was focused on him didn’t mean that I didn’t see the other knights looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and worry on their faces. Zjarr moved around in my head and from the feelings she sent me I could tell she was proud and disappointed at the same time, probably because of the threat.
“What exactly to do want, princess? You have given us your speech but it seems better to write it down for the history books than for this.” Prince Ron said, gesturing around him. “You are here for that messenger of yours but I don’t see why. You have all these questions but do you really want an answer? Why are you really here, Princess Blanchefleur? We all know that a battlefield isn’t a place for a girl.
“I am curious though. Are you here to just watch the battles and encourage your soldiers? Probably. The little that I saw in Mataharie told me you are neither swordsman nor an archer; your friend was but not you.”
Friend? Was he talking about Robin? Probably since Robin was good with sword and his bow. “A lot can change in a few weeks.” I said slowly, thinking about my meeting with Zjarr, the sword and magic training, my dragon sword, the prophecy. So much had happened. “As to why I’m here, I am here to tell you one last time to pack your things and go back home. Since my father blames me mostly for this war I’m not going to lose it but I don’t want thousands of deaths on my conscious either. Just pack your stuff and go otherwise it is going to be a defeat which will go down in the history books.” I said.
I had been surprised I mentioned my father but I knew it was the truth; even if he hadn’t said it in those exact words I knew he blamed me for making it happen. It didn’t matter to me; I blamed myself as well.
The part about the defeat was absolutely not true. Destaten Solen’s army had twice as many men, maybe even more. There was no way we could win. Maybe if Zjarr set everybody on fire but I knew that was tiresome for her and against the things she stood for, I could feel it. I just hoped and prayed that the men here would think it was true and go back home. If not there was no way we could win. We would lose this battle and retreat, Destaten Solen would advance and slowly we would lose grounds, the army would only get smaller and eventually we would have to surrender.
I shook my head getting rid of all negative thoughts; that was not going to help me now.
“My Mages scanned the area last night. Your army isn’t as big as you claim and they only sensed two persons capable of magic.” Prince Ron let that sink in.
I felt my eyes go wide which caused him to smile, he probably mistook my surprise. Did they scan camp when Zjarr was in the air? That would give us an advantage. Maybe this was the right time to scare him a little even though I wasn’t sure it would work.
“You seriously have no idea who you’re up against do you?” I asked, shaking my head I looked to the ground hoping that my hair would hide my face.
Because I wasn’t looking I was surprised when I felt something poke in my side. I looked to find a sword in my side; the discovery made me jump to my feet, sending the chair flying back a little. My eyes went up the sword, up the arm and I wasn’t surprise to find it belonged to the same knight who had threatened me.
“Maybe we should keep you here and see what your army does then.” Prince Ron said as he walked around the table, his sword drawn as well.
I tried to swallow. Maybe that last sentence was a little too much; I actually felt threatened with two sword pointed directly at me. The other knights hadn’t drawn their swords yet but it could happen anytime now. How was I going to get myself out of trouble this time?
“Remember what dark and earth told you when you got your dragon sword.” Zjarr said.
I needed to do the think work as well? That wasn’t really helping. I tried to remember.
“Take care, young knight, as the road ahead is long and dangerous. This sword will help you and protect but it does not come without a cost.” Dark said.
“You must trust it with you life and it will never fail you.” Earth said.
“This would be the right time to trust it with my life but I’m not sure about the cost.” I thought to her.
“It just wants to be rewarded. Just choose an element you want to help and you will be able to reward.” Zjarr sounded really calm and I wondered where she was for a second and if the generals know how things were going. “Only Robin knows.” Zjarr enlightened me.
I let out a sigh of relief, completely forgetting the situation around me. “Get her to a tent and make sure she doesn’t come out.” I heard Prince Ron say.
What?! His sword was still on mine as well as the knight’s, the others had drawn their swords now as well. Well this was it, all or nothing. I extended my arm, closing my eyes and imagined the sword in my hand. I could feel the familiar weight forming in my hand but it seemed slower and I wondered if it knew I needed help.
“Water, please help me. I’m scared and I need help and comfort.” I whispered so low the others probably didn’t hear me.
“Of course, young knight. I’m proud you admit being afraid, not many have the courage.” Water whispered to me softly and I felt the sword taking form in my left hand. “And I’ll tell you later how you can reward me.”
With that I felt her leave my head. I didn’t know where she went or how she would help me, I could just hope she knew what she had to do. I opened my eyes to see my beautiful sword in my hands. As I looked up I saw everybody looking at me, all swords were drawn now, looking back at my sword I could feel water flowing through my veins and heard the voice of the sword in my head.
“Let water and me take over. No one needs to die just yet. Don’t worry; we’ll get you out of here.” And as the sword spoke in my head both the blades beamed with a slightly blue glow.
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So... What do you think?! Let me know!
I'm having trouble writing the chapters =S I know what I want to write (mostly) I'm just having trouble focusing on the writing for several reasons... I challanged myself to read all the books I hadn't read in my room, plus I'm kinda a Tudors and Gossip Girl fan at the moment so I watch the episodes... oh yeah and the pokemon game for the Nintendo DS! xD
So basically, the best moment for me to write it around midnight... when I have to go to bed! It's when I focus best but because of that I don't get a lot done... So please be patient!!
Thanks!! ~~ Bye ~~