Chapter 2

When the King didn’t close the carriage’s door, Ayla knew she was meant to follow him. She looked outside. It had stopped snowing, but the day appeared to be as grumpy as King Rhobart. She wrapped the cloak tighter around her and wondered if she could keep it once she was in the Royal Palace.

    Ayla still could not believe Galian had given her away as if she was worth nothing. In a blink of an eye, she went from being a princess to being a slave. She didn’t exactly have a rosy life in Myrthana, but while she was still a ‘princess’ and kept in her golden cage, there was no King of Nordmar with onyx eyes full of hatred to order her around.

    Not that she blamed King Rhobart. After all, it had been her father who started the war by attacking and destroying a clan from Nordmar. All the villagers were killed that day. The clan had been closer to the border with Myrthana. Since then, thirteen years have passed—thirteen years of war, pain, and death. King Rhobart lost all his family members during the war. He became King at seventeen years old.

    Ayla had been only nine years old when the war started—a child, while King Rhobart had been a young boy of only thirteen years old.

    Her father, King Amul, proposed to King Hagen, former king of Nordmar and King Rhobart’s father, a trade with exotic goods. In exchange, he would get more magic ore than the other kingdoms. When King Hagen refused. King Amul started the war wanting to control Nordmar’s magic ore mines. The magic ore mine would have made Ayla’s father the most powerful man on the continent. A single magic ore nugget was worth at least ten gold coins.

    Four years after the war started, King Hagen was killed. King Amul was convinced he would conquer Nordmar but did not expect King Rhobart. Even from her golden cage, Ayla heard how the Barbarian King killed countless men in cold blood. If the rumors were true, no one had ever defeated King Rhobart in a fight.

    Inhaling deeply, Ayla put her left hand under her cloak. She wrapped her fingers around her mother’s amulet and sent a quick prayer to Addanos—the Water God.

    Mustering up her courage, Ayla got out of the carriage. The King and his men were waiting for her next to the horses. She felt intimidated by the men and stopped in her tracks.

    “My lady!” Milton said the moment he saw her. “Over here!”

    Ayla barely heard the Fire Mage talking as her eyes landed on Kerra. The snowcat was in her battle form. Ayla gripped her cloak and swallowed hard. She knew Kerra would be much bigger in her battle form, but she didn’t remember reading about magical snow cats having long saber-like teeth and claws so strong they could kill a mountain troll—one of the biggest and strongest creatures in the world. Kerra was as deadly as King Rhobart.

    Shivering from the cold, or fear, maybe both, Ayla walked towards Milton and King Rhobart, her gaze fixed on the frozen ground. Even if the cloak was warm, she could not stop shivering, and she hated King Rhobart even more for bringing her to Nordmar. And Galian as well for giving her away as if she was an old dog. When she reached Milton and the others, she stopped and waited for instructions.

    “We still have around twenty minutes left until we arrive at the Royal Castle. From here, you will ride on a horse,” King Rhobart said in a voice cold as ice.

    Ayla jerked her eyes first to King Rhobart’s face, then to the horses, then back to King Rhobart. “Can’t the carriage take me to the Royal Palace?”

     “Did I not make myself clear when I said you will ride a horse?” King Rhobart asked angrily.

    “I have had very little practice with a horse,” she said, a shiver running down her spine.

    If Ayla was entirely honest, she never had been on top of a horse. Her father always said women were to travel only by carriage.

    Rhobart narrowed his eyes. “One of the carriage’s wheels broke. You either get on the horse or walk. Either way, you will make it to the Warrior Clan, T’xoria.”

    Several Paladins and knights laughed while Ayla swallowed loudly. When the King looked at them, they stopped making any sounds.

    ‘T’xoria? What in Addanos’ name does that mean?’ Ayla thought.

    She tried to protest. “But—”

    Before Ayla could finish what she was about to say, King Rhobart turned his back to her and got on his horse. “Come, Kerra. Let’s go home,” he said before leaving.

    Kerra looked one more time at Ayla before following her master to the Royal Palace.

    One by one, the Paladins and the knights got on the horses until Milton and Ayla were the only ones remaining.

    The Fire Mage grabbed the reins of one of the two remaining horses. “Let’s get you on the horse, Princess Ayla.”

    Ayla laughed bitterly, “I am not a princess, Milton. Not anymore.”

    “Look at me, Lady Ayla.” Ayla didn’t want to look at him, but when Milton waited patiently for her to do as he asked, she finally rested her gaze on Milton. His soft brown eyes were warm and kind. “Never forget who you are, no matter what happens. You are and forever will be a princess. And as for Rhobart, he is not an evil man. I promise you; he will never harm you.”

    “There’s no way you can know what King Rhobart would do to me.”

    “Yes, I do. I’ve known Rhobart all my life,” Milton said softly.

    Ayla shook her head. “But my father… He was King Rhobart’s enemy.”

    “You are not your father, so you are not Rhobart’s enemy. Now get on the horse. The sun will set soon, and you don’t want to be out here when that happens. Trust me.”

    Ayla looked around the forest, expecting a shadowbeast to emerge from it. Or worse—an Orc. “Milton?” Ayla said while her eyes still scanned the trees. When Milton didn’t reply, she continued, “I have never ridden before.”

    “I’zoratxu,” Milton muttered under his breath.