Meenu was surprised when Seliaryn walked into her room that evening. She didn’t even know he was back, but was very happy to see him.
He, however, didn’t look too happy.
“We have to leave immediately.” He said to her.
When she asked about her stuff, he told her that he would return it all soon. Then, he got her onto a horse and they were riding away from the castle in a matter of minutes.
The ride was quiet and when she asked him what had happened, he simply stated that there was a commotion that morning and that the King wanted her to return home.
She immediately thought of Blood. He must have had something to do with that, though she couldn’t think of what it was.
But it didn’t matter to her. Because soon, she was approaching Amberdyse and a feeling of relief overwhelmed her.
They hadn’t even crossed the border when Knight came running towards the horse, startling it and forcing Seliaryn to have to calm it down. And though she just saw him the night before, she was still so happy to see him.
Moments later, they arrived at her home. She jumped off the horse, ignoring the fact that she was ruining her dress, and ran into her teary mother’s arms.
She hugged her mother for a long time, telling her how happy she was to be back home.
But without saying much, Seliaryn said his goodbyes and rode off back to the capital.
Meenu didn’t really mind right now, she was just happy to be home.
She spent the rest of the day with her mother, telling her how horrible it was at the castle, except when Seliaryn spent time with her.
But when night came, and she noticed that her father wasn’t home yet, she turned to her mother. “Where is papa?” She asked as she stroked Knight’s fur.
She knew the answer, but felt the need to ask the question anyways.
Her mother hesitated before she threw some wood into the fireplace. “He went to call off your engagement.”
They had avoided the conversation all day, but her mother seemed relieved that she said it.
Meenu simply nodded her head. “Oh. Okay.”
Lady Kyrus looked at her daughter. “Meenu…” She started. “Who is Blood?”
Meenu shrugged, honestly. “I don’t know much about him. But he’s my friend.”
“You trust him?”
She nodded her head at her mother.
“When you know nothing about him?”
Meenu realized now how odd that must have sounded. “Well… yes.”
Her mother frowned, but didn’t argue with her. “Just… stay safe, love. Do you understand?”
Meenu nodded. “I will, I promise.”
She would try.
The next day, Meenu decided to get back into her regular routine. So after spending some time with her friends, she made her way to the Feyran Forest. It had been a while since she practiced with that sword of hers, and she knew she had to get good if she wanted Blood to be impressed with her.
But when she got there, she could instantly hear that she wasn’t alone.
She could hear horse hooves snapping twigs… and the sound of a wheel.
Knight pointed his ears as he looked around, and Meenu knew it couldn’t be an ogre. Knight looked too calm for it to be an ogre.
“Follow the sound.” Meenu said, letting her curiosity get the best of her. She’s never seen people using Feyran as a path to get anywhere.
They must have been brave, and Meenu wanted to know who it was.
She ran after Knight, making sure that she was as quiet as possible. When Knight slowed down, she two slowed down and crouched down behind some bushes. She looked down at the old cobblestone path that had been unused for years. It was now covered in dried up, withered, old leaves and twigs and dirt.
But Meenu watched as the three knights made their way down the path on their horses. They were rather loud and spoke in a way that made it hard for Meenu to understand.
As the got closer, however, she saw their sigils and knew they were Raffyrian knights. Specifically, knights of the capital.
Behind them was a wagon with a cage that was filled with people. The wagon, along with the people, was being pulled forward by one of the horses. Initially, Meenu assumed they were criminals.
But she changed her mind when they got even closer.
Her heart stopped when she saw the white hair and white-ish, gray-ish eyes of the people trapped in the cage. Their pointed ears and cheekbones frightened Meenu… but she knew who these people were.
Destynians.
Meenu was suddenly reminded of what Blood said to her a couple of nights before, about the King’s desire to invade Destyn. She was also reminded of the rumors she would often hear in the castle about the coming war against the Destynians.
She never really took it seriously though.
It was a world away from her…
But now… too see these people right in front of her… this whole Destynian problem was suddenly too close.
At first, she didn’t know what to think.
However, when she saw some children and even an infant or two in that cage… she knew something was wrong.
Why would Raffyrian knights be arresting children and infants?
What could they have ever done wrong.
She wanted to do something… but she was too scared too.
What if she was wrong though? What if they were all evil?
She had heard all the rumors of how strong these people were… what if even the children were strong and had the capability to hurt her?
Suddenly though, she heard Blood’s voice in the back of her head, reminding her to trust her instinct.
She closed her eye and thought carefully.
After a moment of contemplation, she knew the answer.
They couldn’t be bad.
Her instinct told her that something was wrong.
Meenu sat quietly and listened carefully to the knights, trying to understand what they were saying and hoping they would say something that would give her a clue as to what was going on.
It took a while, but eventually, she was able to make out some phrases.
Including “Destynian bitches,” “the king was right to want them all dead,” and “white devils.”
Now, Meenu knew she had to do something.
She pulled out her bow and arrow, thinking up a plan as fast as she could. Soon, she figured out what she was going to do.
She held her finger in front of her lips, signaling Knight to stay silent, before she loaded an arrow and pulled the string of her bow.
She shot the arrow.
Knowing that her bow could attain a speed that was unachievable by others, she waited for it to hit a distant tree and distract the knights.
It worked.
The three knights hesitated before looking at each other. They didn’t see the arrow fly past them, but they heard the sound.
All three of them then got off their horses and then made their way towards the tree that the arrow hit.
When they were far enough into the wood, Meenu turned to Knight. “Stay.” She said to him, knowing that he might scare the Destynians and cause a commotion. All she knew was that she had to be quick and quiet. She couldn’t risk these people screaming at the sight of Knight.
Knight nodded his head in understanding as Meenu quickly stood up and ran towards the cage.
She pulled out her sword as she ran, startling the Destynians.
But somehow, they knew she was coming to help them.
“Stay back!” Meenu hissed as she approached the cage.
They did as she said and started to whisper something in a language that Meenu couldn’t understand. “Nandaku, nadaku, nandaku!” They repeated.
But she ignored it and held the sword over her head.
She swung it down at the lock, hoping it would snap off.
It didn’t work.
So she went to try again.
Trying to ignore the shouts of the Destynians, Meenu swung her sword again. The sword hit the lock hard but again, it wouldn’t come off. And the Destynians got louder.
She groaned and held her finger over her lips. “They’ll hear you!”
“Look out!” She suddenly heard. However, the accent was too heavy and it took her a moment to understand. But it only really hit her when she heard Knight’s growl as someone grabbed her by the hair.
She screamed as she was pulled back.
“How stupid do you think we are?” The Knight that was standing behind her asked. “That is an old trick.”
Meenu’s heart raced as Knight ran over to them, startling the other men who were standing in front of her.
“Knight, attack!” Meenu yelled, but suddenly, the man behind her held a knife at her neck, stopping Knight in his trail. “It’s yours?” He asked, voice quivering.
“Call it off.” The second man said.
The third suddenly grabbed the arm of a child from the cage. “I’ll cut this child’s arm off if you don’t call that monster off!”
Meenu gasped. “Fall back, Knight! Go!”
Knight whined but took a step back.
“Hurry up!” The third man yelled.
“Go!” Meenu repeated, eyes watering.
Knight took another couple steps back, whining some more before disappearing.
But Meenu knew he wasn’t far off.
The knights turned back to her, the second walking over to her.
The man behind her tugged her head back and pushed her down until she was on her knees. “You’ve got some nerve, bitch.”
The second man laughed, his eyes were cold and dark. “It would have been nicer if a prettier girl came to try and save these shits.”
The other men laughed.
Meenu ignored them as she eyed the sword in the sheath of the man in front of her.
She could grab it.
If she was fast enough, she could grab it.
Injure the man in front of her and startle the man behind her.
But it would only work if the man behind her stayed startled long enough.
And if the third didn’t react fast enough.
How could she be sure?
“This will have to do though.” The third said as he walked over to them. “Better than nothing.”
“We needed a break too. How long have we been working?” The one behind her said.
The third suddenly grabbed one of her arms, trying to pull her back up, but the man behind her stopped him. “Did you hear that?”
Meenu’s heart stopped as she heard Knight growl again.
The knife at her neck pushed against the throat, hard enough to make her gasp but not hard enough to hurt her.
But then she heard the sickly sound of flesh being impaled.
She sat there, froze, as the men in front of her stared in shock and the man behind her dropped the knife at her neck.
Meenu lifted her eyes and looked up at the sword that stabbed through the man behind her. It was right above her head.
She turned around quickly, seeing the man’s eyes wide open and blood escaping his lips.
He then fell over, dead, to show the man standing behind him.
Blood.
Meenu blinked and as she did, she heard the other two follow behind their comrade.
It took Blood less than a second to kill those men. Meenu couldn’t even catch her breath in that time.
When she did though, she turned around to look at him and saw him facing her.
“Blood.” She gasped. It came out as a whisper.
“Blood!” Some other woman yelled. “We were told not to kill them!”
A woman in a mask suddenly appeared beside Blood. “Why would you do that?” She yelled. “They were supposed to lead us to the rest!”
Blood ignored her as he stepped towards Meenu. “Are you insane?” He hissed at her, startling the other woman.
Meenu gulped and Knight approached her. He looked at Blood with a defensive look, but didn’t growl.
“You could have gotten yourself killed!”
Meenu’s heart was racing so fast that she felt faint.
But she wasn’t really scared.
Not of Blood, at least.
And that was what scared her.
This man…
He killed three men before she could finish blinking.
But for some reason, she couldn’t be scared of him.
It didn’t make sense to her.
“People aren’t as stupid as you think they are, Meenu.” Blood continued to scold. “These are the King’s Knight’s you are dealing with! They are the best knight’s in all of Raffyre! Did you not even consider that?”
“I’m sorry.” Meenu said. She still couldn’t find her voice as that too came out as a whisper.
“You’re apologizing?” That seemed to anger him more. “Don’t apologize! Use your senses and don’t get yourself killed!”
Meenu nodded her head, looking down at the floor.
He stood there for a moment, watching her, but then walked past her to the cage.
He placed his hand on the lock and then in one quick pull, snapped it off. “Fury.” Blood called. “Take them back to Destyn. Inform King Karuna of what’s going on.”
Meenu heard Fury scoff as Blood opened the door to the cage and released the prisoners. He bowed his head as the prisoners got out. “Nadaku, nandaku.” They repeated.
Suddenly, Meenu wondered if that meant thank you.
“But Master–”
“Fury.” Blood said, sternly. “What more information do we need? Dukaryn is taking Destynian prisoners. This is all the proof we need.”
Fury dropped her shoulders. “And you?”
“I’ll catch up.” He said. “I need to take this girl home.”
Meenu’s body stiffened when Fury looked at her.
Fury then sighed as she jumped onto the horse that was pulling the wagon.
Blood lifted the large cage off of the wagon with ease and tossed it aside. It crashed into the dirt and against a tree, knocking down many of its leaves. He then started to say something in that Destynian language that Meenu couldn’t understand.
The Destynians nodded their heads and returned onto the wagon, this time, not in the cage.
They all looked relieved and happy, repeated their thank you’s.
But moment’s later, they were off back to their home.
And Meenu had to face the harshness of Blood as he took her home, refusing to talk to her.
For some reason, she hated that more than him yelling at her.
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