As Fenryn was led into the bandit stronghold he noticed the entrance was only accessible via a pressure plate. He took a mental note of this. There were several more bandits inside, but they were busy with other tasks. The bandit leader stood at the far end of the encampment. He was a tall man with short black hair. Fenryn noticed the man was giving orders to some of his underlings, but he himself did not look like much of a fighter. He assumed the man was more brains than brawn, and it had likely been his idea to build the pressure plate at the entrance.
“What have you brought me this time, Zhen?” The leader asked as he looked over to Fenryn and the bandit that had captured him. He gave a thoughtful frown, then said to Fenryn, “you look familiar.”
Fenryn gave a nervous laugh, then replied with, “I get told that a lot. I just have one of those faces.”
“I caught this one by the chasm that opened up recently. Looked like w
Lynnette couldn't wait any longer. As an Enerawyn, she had little faith in humans, let alone bandits. She knew better than to trust that they would keep Fenryn safe. She had never cared about the safety of any human before, but now she did. She was amused with herself since she had only met him yesterday. It usually took a great deal for her to care for others outside of her race, but something about Fenryn made her believe he was worth looking out for.Against the innkeeper's wishes, she stormed out of the inn and made her way to the edge of the town. She was fully prepared to fight off a horde of bandits on her own if no one else was willing to aid her. As she made her way back the way she had come, she noticed something moving in the forest across from her. Blinking in disbelief, Lynnette saw Fenryn, and another younger man following closely behind him. He didn't look like a warrior or a bandit, so she assumed he wasn't one of his enemies.“Fenryn!” She
The late evening sun was slowly beginning to set, and the three relaxed on a bench near the inn. Roy had brought them something to eat and drink but had otherwise kept to himself. He had given Fenryn a knowing look, then left to deal with another client. Lynnette could tell the man had a deep respect for Fenryn, despite the fact that he got into trouble wherever he went. She smiled at him a little as he spoke about some wild tale of his, where he had gotten lost, and how much trouble he had gotten into with the Knight captain afterwards. It was during this moment that Lynnette came to understand why people seemed to like Fenryn so easily, which could include her, she supposed.“You're like a little puppy.” She said finally, she hadn't meant to say such words out loud, so her words had come out rather composed.Fenryn looked at her with a puzzled tilt of his head. He wasn't sure if he should be flattered or insulted by the remark but chose not to comment on
As the small group made their way out of the inn, Fenryn adjusted his sheath to a more ideal location. He had thought of getting another sword so that he wouldn't have a knights sword on display since he was not wearing the correct armour to match. However, he had decided against it after some thought. He was going home, so there was a smaller need to pretend he was just a commoner than when he had left on his adventure.Lynnette watched Fenryn as he held his head. She held back a chuckle as she realised he was still suffering from his hangover. The way he reacted, was evident that he rarely had the pleasure to drink to the extent he probably had. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and then smiled to herself. She knew that in all honesty, she would have done no better in his position. Her people did not venture into towns and never drank. She wasn't sure if other clans were different, but hers avoided humans as much as possible.Her attention soon shifted to Arias, w
Closing the door leading to the bathroom behind himself, Vaughan gave a rather irritable sigh. He looked over to Lynnette and Arias who waited in the lavish bedroom. It was only now he paid attention to the young man, and he gave Arias a critical look. It was enough to cause Arias to fidget uncomfortably.“So,” Vaughan began, his eyes constantly fixed on Arias. “Why are you here, without your guards, and no silver? If I recall you were the worst magic-user I have ever had the displeasure of yelling at.”Arias blushed deeply, his restlessness only getting worse now that all attention was upon him. “The bandits mistook me for a son of a noble, and killed the guards, then sold the silver bracelet.” He explained. He hoped Vaughan wouldn't get angrier at him than he already seemed to be.“And why were you outside the Guild to begin with? I'm surprised you were given permission from the Guild-master, seeing as how you always m
I was fairly young when I first met Vaughan. I was sparring with my elder brother, Valantine at the time and with our mighty wooden swords, we were practising our swordsmanship in the castle gardens. As he taught me how to fight, I knew that one day we'd become mighty warriors. Of course, being so young I was never any good at it back in those days, so it was more playing than actual fighting.My mother and father, the King and Queen were standing near the fountain and beside them was another couple. I knew them as high-standing nobles, but I was still learning names and ranks back then. Anyway, clinging to his mother's skirt was a young Vaughan. He was really shy back in those days. A vast difference to how he is now. As my brother and I finished our training, we moved over to the adults. We were pretty tired, but both of us were enthusiastic about making our parents proud. My brother was an especially handsome person, you can ask anyone that knew him. He had dark-blond hair
Once Fenryn had finished telling their life story, he allowed Arias and Lynnette to take it all in. Vaughan seemed less than amused with the subject matter being shared, but he said nothing on the topic.“Wait a moment,” Arias said as he blinked at Fenryn. “You're engaged? I never heard about that!” He continued, surprised.Fenryn gave an awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It is a complicated matter.” He said softly.Lynnette seemed annoyed but mostly confused. “Is it usual for your elders to choose a life partner like that? I mean how do you know if you love someone if you don't make your own choices?” She asked.Vaughan spoke up now as he said, “it is not about love. It is about land, riches, power, and sometimes to solidify unions in order to prevent wars. Only if you are lucky, do you end up with someone you might like.” His words were laced with disgust. It was quite evident t
With the Knights distracted with clean-up duty and tending to the wounded, Lynnette took this time to speak with Vaughan. “You've hit your head.” She said with a frown.“What?” Vaughan asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “I am not hurt at all.”“No, I mean you have knocked your head so hard, that you've lost any sense,” Lynnette said, her tone serious.Fenryn chimed in with a gentle, “sarcasm goes over his head. You need to be a little blunter than that.” He grinned a little, then continued to allow Arias to check his wounds over. The boy was no healer, but he at least knew the basics of healing herbs.Sighing heavily, Lynnette nodded. “What I am saying, is that you have lost your mind. Saying you want me to be in your army? Like a knight? You're joking with me, right?” She said, folding her arms as she considered Vaughan critically.The man in question, however, merely stared at
The castle was something to behold. Lynnette almost couldn't see the whole thing, it was that immense. It was nothing like she had ever seen before. It looked old but was so well maintained that nothing looked out of place or broken. Knights stood guard along the bridge leading over to the castle, and water splashed below them. Lynnette couldn't see the bottom of the moat at all, leading her to believe that it was exceedingly deep.Once inside the gates of the castle, there was a large open area. To one side of the area were the stables, and on the other side held a training ground for the knights to use for practice. Several people were taking advantage of the targets for their archery skills, while others fought one another inside a ring of other knights that cheered them on.Vaughan dismounted his horse, then helped Fenryn down from his. “How does it feel to be home, Your Majesty.” He asked, hiding a small smile from any onlookers.“Like a b
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