As the day moved on, commoners returned to their homes, and the nobility moved into the castle proper. Most of the higher ranked ones were given rooms in the guest wing, but others had rented rooms at the various inns located in the city itself. However, the day was not over for the people of
Falanthyst. Parties were held all over the city, but the most important one was at the castle itself.Fenryn's first act in front of the crowd of noble onlookers was to knight Lynnette and the other squire's that had made it into full knighthood. So far, this had gone fairly well, and most people kept their racism behind tight lips. Fenryn's second action was a few speeches, followed by a toast. The third event of the evening was a lavish meal with entertainment. Lastly, he invited everyone into the ballroom for a night of drinking and dancing.
Lynnette had never seen so many people in such a confined space before. Going through the city had been one thing, but this was somet
The clear night sky was perfect for stargazing, and Lynnette joined Vaughan in the activity. She was glad to spend some time outside in the fresh air, and away from the large crowds. She wondered if this was how Fenryn felt, whenever he went off on his little adventures. She enjoyed the music and learning about human customs, but she did not enjoy the judgemental looks, or the fake compliments, and snide comments.The sound of shoes running towards their direction caught Lynnette's attention. She looked down in time, to see a young girl, of perhaps nine or ten years old, leaping towards Vaughan. “Uncle Vaughan!” She yelled, her long, hazel locks, fluttering behind her as she jumped up, and clung to his neck, taking him completely by surprise.A woman quite a bit older than Vaughan, but by no means old, arrived not long after. She seemed quite out of breath, as she held onto the door-frame of the balcony. “Sorry, Vaughan...” she said, breathlessl
A couple of months had passed since the tournament had taken place, and now it was early summer. The nobles had returned to their own homes, as had Elena and her father, and the castle had gotten a lot quieter. However, it was no less chaotic. Many of the nobles that lived in the city itself, would often request to see the King, and Fenryn had to deal with each of them. Sometimes it would take all day, and today was one of those days.“And so, we humbly request for an expansion of the east-side wall.” A man in his late fifties was saying. “Of course, this will mean the orphanage will need to be reconstructed as well, but now that we have been in peace for so long, there are not as many children there, so it should not be too difficult to re-home them until a new orphanage can be made.”Lynnette and Vaughan stood either side of Fenryn, and in this summer heat, both of them were at the limit of how much more they could take. They had been silent d
The afternoon sun warmed Lynnette's face as she did her best to keep up with Fenryn. The horse she chose, did not seem overly pleased with her as its rider, and every now and then, it attempted to wander in another direction. Lynnette cursed the King inwardly for choosing a faster, more wellbehaved horse. Truthfully, it was her lack of skill as a rider, that was at fault and not the horses at all.“I am glad you followed me, rather than tried to stop me,” Fenryn said as he slowed his horse enough, allowing Lynnette to catch up, “but can you please keep up? If we take too long to escape, Vaughan will find me.”“He won't drag you back to the castle,” Lynnette said with a frustrated sigh. “And I cannot help it, this horse will not see reason!”Fenryn gave an annoyed mumble before he turned his own horse around, and with little effort, encouraged Lynnette's horse to continue onwards. “You still haven't learned h
As the morning sun began to inch its way up into the sky, Fenryn could make out the treeline of the Lightmist woods. It didn't take long for the Lightmist village to also come into view, and so far, things seemed peaceful. He couldn't see any bandits, but that didn't mean a thing.“Halt!” Vaughan called out to the army, and for a moment there was silence.Fenryn rode his horse over to the Captain and followed the man's gaze. “Is that one of our new scouts?” He asked as he saw one of the Malruthiia moving towards them.“Indeed. I'll go ahead and meet with her.” Vaughan replied, and then swiftly rode over to the woman. After a brief moment, he returned. His expression was not one of worry, and Fenryn gathered that this was a clear sign that they had gotten here in time, if not early.Vaughan confirmed the King's assumption by saying, “the bandits are not far, but the village is prepared to fight if it comes to that.
Tensions mounted as the two armies stood either side of the river. A small bridge was the only thing guaranteeing that neither side suddenly attacked the other. Silence hung in the air before the bandits made the first move. The leader moved to the centre of the bridge followed closely by Zhen. The man seemed to have seen better days and no longer had one of his arms. Likely a result of Lynnette's flame-sword.Meeting them in the middle of the bridge Vaughan and Fenryn stood a few paces away.Fenryn was the first to speak, “I'm not sure if you're brave or stupid for standing against me and my army, but I shall not allow you to escape this time. Attempted Kingnapping is treasonous enough, but to then threaten one of my settlements? No way I am letting that slide.”“I'm surprised to see you here yourself fool King.” The leader said with a smirk. “How you got word of my people moving on Lightmist village is surprising. However, it seem
The force from the first strike of the man's attack was enough to push Vaughan backwards. He managed to grip his heels into the dirt but even that was only enough to steady himself for a short moment. He was thankful that he had brought along the Immortal Wanderer's two-handed claymore with him. A strike from that axe would have probably broken most other weapons, especially with the force the other man put behind his strikes.A bead of sweat dripped down Vaughan's forehead as he held his blade steady. He couldn't find an opening in the other man's attack that didn't cause Vaughan to become vulnerable himself. Unlike most men who would be slowed down by such a large weapon, this person did not seem hindered at all. Vaughan noticed, however, that despite the man's brute strength, he lacked any real battle knowledge. If he could only use that against him. Vaughan, however, was not as fast with his blade, nor as strong. He was the best human warrior in the land, this was true, b
With the Enerawyn's hands now bound with non-flammable chains, Fenryn returned his attention to Lynnette. He made sure she was still alright. She had a slight temperature and so he dabbed a cold damp cloth over her forehead. He still could not wake her up, however, and this worried him. Her so-called 'brother' did not seem to be willing to help Fenryn at all with any information. All he got from the other man was a few glares here and there. The guard that had been knocked out not long before, was now recovering in one of the rooms down the hall. “Look,” Fenryn said while glancing back towards the other man, “if she really is your sister, you have to help me. I don't know what magic you used, but you have to wake her up... cure her, or something.” The man glared at Fenryn again but said nothing in response. Sighing deeply, Fenryn now moved over to the man and knelt down in front of him. “Hate me as much as you wish, I do not care, but your sister is important
As the first fireball eliminated a group of bandits, Vaughan knew that the tide of this battle would finally go his way. He had kept on Asher's tail for the most part of the fight, but Zhen had done what he could to keep his leader safe. Despite not being as skilled with his left hand, he still put up enough of a challenge. It wasn't until Vaughan's blade was engulfed in flames, that the bandit became nervous and distanced himself a bit. Arias had been told to go straight into the town with some of the other men and women, but he had seen an opportunity to help Vaughan first. The two shared quick and subtle nods of greeting before Arias hurried onto his own task. He and some of the others had been given the honour to protect the King should he need it. It had been a direct request from the King, or so the roughly written scroll had ordered. Arias had felt a little honoured that either Fenryn or Vaughan had asked for him by name, but he hadn't let it go to his head either.
Greetings to all my wonderful readers!As you've likely noticed, I have actual artwork of my characters for the cover of my book now. This was a commission I paid for from a very dear artist friend by the name of Rydi on DeviantART also known as lucia-garcia on ArtCorgi.We've known each other for a long time now, and I was super happy she gave me permission to use the old commissions in this way, so if you like her style, feel free to check her out.Thanks for reading my story and feel free to check out my others also here.Have a wonderful day!
The wooden stocks around Asher's wrists felt like they were cutting into his skin. He could feel it rubbing and with each movement, it sent a wave of sharp pain throughout his arms. He wasn't too impressed by being caught and locked up again and he gave the two men a smile that dripped with hatred. “Asher,” Fenryn said as he ignored the man's smile, “how nice of you to join us.” “Not by choice, but here I am,” Asher replied, he looked between the King and Vaughan for a moment. “I'm surprised you even found me. How was it that you did that, hmm?” He then asked. “Oh, my people get around,” Fenryn said with an air of politeness, “we wanted to ask you some more questions if that is fine with you?” “Do I have a choice?” Asher asked in return. The knight escorting him, forced Asher to his knees before Vaughan waved the man away. “You always have a choice,” Vaughan said as he waited for the three of them to be alone, “you could refuse and then I'd fi
Several weeks passed since the bandits had been dealt with, and things had mostly returned to normal. Fenryn and Vaughan had returned to the castle, but they had reluctantly left Lynnette in the village. She had wanted to go back with them at first, but Athera convinced her to stay there until her health improved, if it ever did.In the meantime, Athera agreed to stay in the village with her. There she acted as Fenryn's diplomat between their people. She couldn't guarantee that other clans would want to work alongside humans, but she offered what help she could give. The clan was unsure of their leaders choice, but in the end, they too made the village their temporary home and offered to help bridge any gaps between their races.Lynnette was able to move around with the help of the Rattus' invention. A chair with wheels. It wasn't a perfect mode of transportation, and she had to be pushed if she wished to travel anywhere, but she felt better with what little freedoms i
An hour passed by before Fenryn sent a few people to 'search' for Asher. He wanted to give the illusion that the man had escaped, and that he wanted to re-capture him. He knew the man would be long gone by now, and with Vaughan's spies keeping track of the man, he wasn't too worried that someone would find him. Fenryn wasn't sure if he wanted to re-capture Asher for real just yet, and Vaughan had said that it might prove beneficial to allow the man to go if only to find out what his next plans were.Athera gave the news that Lynnette had finally awakened, and seemed to be doing well. Though Fenryn could tell that his friend was not her usual self. She seemed to be unable to move much and some parts of her seemed unable to move at all. Sometimes Lynnette's hand movements would be fine, but now and then she would lose the ability to grip anything.It was obvious that she would not be able to continue her Knight duties if she ever was able to function properly as a person
It was another few hours before Teo knocked on the door to alert Fenryn and Vaughan that the procedure was over and that Lynnette would survive. Though despite this, Teo had a worried look written all over her face. As the two moved into the room, Lynnette was still in bed. She was not awake, and Athera sat next to her on a stool.The elder woman looked over to Fenryn as he and Vaughan entered. She seemed as worried as Teo and this worried the King.“She'll be fine, won't she?” He asked cautiously. “We got back in time, didn't we?”Athera's lips thinned, as she returned her attention to Lynnette. She placed a cool cloth on the woman's forehead to keep the fever down. She then said uneasily, “we could not remove all the venom, but she will survive.”Teo moved into the room and took a small bowl from the bedside table. Within the bowl was a small metal object. “It was a good thing you brought Athera here, as she kne
Another whole day passed by before Fenryn saw the familiar shapes of human buildings. The mist had almost lifted entirely during the journey back to the village, though he never once saw another Fae during that time. He was curious about it, but the clan leader named Athera gave no explanation on the matter and merely smiled at him. Fenryn wondered if the Fae merely knew without communication, but he could tell that he would get no answers. At least not from Athera. He wondered if Lynnette would explain it more to him later.If she survived...The clan seemed overly nervous when they reached the edge of the woods and Fenryn could tell that they very rarely came this close to human civilisation. Some of them seemed less afraid, but not by much. He wondered if those had a little more experience than the others when dealing with humans, but it couldn't have been much, especially when comparing them to the Malruthiia.He attempted to calm them down, but no matter wh
The morning sun had not yet disturbed Fenryn from his sleep. The little wolf was curled up next to him, her ears twitching every so often as a fly landed on them. The two seemed quite happy to stay asleep all day, but the unicorn had other ideas. He had woken up before dawn and for a time, he wandered about the area of the woods that they had stopped to rest in. He had taken the moment to feed himself and to watch a small family of foxes playing. Once they had returned to their den, the unicorn returned to his new companions. Lowering his head, the unicorn prodding Fenryn's cheek with his horn. The man grumbled something or other that included another human's name, then rolled over onto his other side. The unicorn made a disgruntled noise before it decided to 'walk' over Fenryn and 'accidentally' hit the King's head with his hooves. Fenryn woke with a start and sat straight up, startling the pup in the process. “What-what was that!?” He almost yelled as he looked aro
Morning couldn't come quick enough for Vaughan. He had been up all night with worry. His bruise had healed well enough that the apprentice that Teo had ordered to tend to Vaughan's needs was happy enough to leave him alone now, but he had been given strict orders, not to overexert himself at all. That did not mean he had listened, of course. He paced the edge of the woods for the best part of the night, even though he knew Fenryn would not be likely to return so soon. The other half of the night he spent his time checking on Lynnette. She seemed to have lost quite a bit of colour in her cheeks since she first had been hit by the spell, but she was still alive and he had to be thankful to Teo's skill for that. Naturally, all this worry kept him from any real sleep and now he had less patience for those around him. Most of the Knights kept their distance from Vaughan, for fear that he would force them into some unreasonable training exercise. Only a few people braved g
Moving once more through the wood with the wolf pup in hand, Fenryn wondered how Lynnette was doing. He hoped he could find her clan in time, and convince them to return to the village with him. He could only pray that they would trust his word and go with him. He tried to think of a compelling speech that would be enough to win over her people, but anything he thought of sounded forced. The pup in his arms had settled down to sleep, and he couldn't help but think that she was adorable. However, he knew that she wouldn't stay so small and cute for long, not if she grew to be as big as the rest of her pack. He wondered if there were others like her pack in the world. So much was unknown about the Lightmist woods, and he was unsure if anyone would ever know more about them. Shaking such thoughts free from his mind, Fenryn returned his thoughts to his mission. “Do you think the Fae are watching us?” He asked the pup but expected no response. “Lynnette said they helped p