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A Stroll On Castle Grounds
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It had been a month.
A month and counting since she last saw her mother and father, a month and counting since the last time she was in Dragonsbane. A month and counting since she had gotten here. They said she was important to the kingdom of Astaroth but they had not told her anything more than that, not the reason she was here or how and why she was important, just that she was.
At least now she had the freedom to move about with the castle grounds, maybe because they knew she would not escape, or that she could not escape. The castle was not fully guarded when ever Ryder was around, that was something she had observed, he was probable capable of protecting himself and the people in the castle, and just like Tezani had told her, he had killed three soldiers with a wave of his hand instantly, chopping them into large pieces. Lyra had listened to her for the sake of her company, not that she believed it.
“I’m telling you that it happened.” Teza
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The ride was anything but boring.Tezani was happy that her Lady had allowed her go on the ride with her as she could not remember the last time she had been able to leave the castle’s grounds, she was excited, but clearly not as excited as Lyra. Lyra could not sit still in the carriage and she kept looking from one window to the other, asking Tezani what this was and what that was. She liked Kilead, it was a busy village once they had gotten far away from the castle and unlike what she had imagined the people to be like; frustrated and abused and malnourished and hungered, it turned out that the opposite was the case.The people here were living in affluence and prosperity and she wondered how having a cold ruler such as Ryder, could not affect the people. Or did he treat them differently? Could not be so, but still, she felt like she had come to a totally different place.“Isn’t it strange?” She asked the question to Tezani but kept her
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She ran.The forest was dense, and thick with darkness, and although she could see no light ahead or could not tell why she was running, still she could not stop, so she kept on running. Her feet were bare and her cloak was heavier, it restricted her and she felt like someone was constantly pulling on it, causing it to choke her whenever it was pulled. She should unclasp it, yes, but she didn’t. all she wanted to do was run.“It comes for you, Lyra of Dragonsbane.”Someone pulled at it again and she choked. She gasped and panted.“Your destruction calls for you, Lyra.”Another pull, and then she felt something pierce into her foot. She screamed in absolute pain and tumbled to the ground. Her foot was stuck and she could not move, but the urge to keep going was too great to ignore and so she started crawling, but her foot would not move.“Osyron calls for you.”And she screamed.She bolt
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She gasped and screamed in pain.The pain she felt was immense as the blade tore through her abdomen, going in and coming out the other end. Her eyes were wide, she looked down to her abdomen where the blade had gone into her and her hands came down to hold on to the blade, she looked up at Ryder’s face and saw that he had a surprise look on his face. Surprise, shock and regret. She groaned and leaned forward into him, causing him to snap back and he quickly pulled the blade out of her and then dissolving it into the dark mist it was formed from. He caught her in his arms.Eris gasped and yelled as she fell into Ryder’s arms, both of them slowly falling to the ground. Anger welled up in him and he reached out for Lyra, pulling her away from Ryder but he snapped, his eyes turning black as he pushed him away with so much force that he sent the man flying halfway across the yard.Lyra trembled in his arms, one hand pressed against the wound and the othe
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Xanth watched him.He stood in front of the man that had snuck into the castle and tried to seat Lyra away from them, he had found the man tied up and held by one of the guards, and together they had brought him here, to the lowest parts of the castle where the dungeon was. The man was tied up in a chair and unconscious, stripped of his armor and leaving nothing on him save for the very thin shirt he had underneath, which was now stained with blood resulting from his bruises which was caused by Ryder when he had flung the man across the yard with one hand.Xanth could imagine that the man suffered from a few broken ribs, broken or cracked or grazed, whatever, but the pain could not be denied. He had a bucket of cold water and a towel beside him where he stood, he knew that he would need to wake the man up before Ryder got here, because he would definitely come, and he would be expecting to know some answers, answers he was supposed to get from the unconscious man.
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He needed to calm down.That much he knew, that he needed to calm down but then everything was irritating him and causing him to be restless, even the simple task of climbing up the stairs annoyed him and rather than just walk up the stairs, he could not help but stomp his way up. He paused and sighed when he got to the last stairs, rubbing his temple with this thumb and index finger. Everything was a mess, he was used to chaos as he was always the bringer of it, but this was something else, it started with Lyra and ended with Lyra. Ever since she got here, ever since the burden of the year of Osyron came, it was all a mess.Hopefully, this would be the last. He would have to do as his uncle had suggested; for him to go look for another Khione and not put all his eggs into one basket. He walked down the hallway, making his way to his room where Lyra was, as soon as everything here was settled, they would go out across the kingdoms in search of another Khione, he didn&r
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The sun was high up in the sky and blazing down but the weather had gotten chilly. Winter was coming, they could feel that in the air.Iris and Ryder sat on their horses and stood side to side, neither of them saying a word to the other, or planning to. They waited for Xanth and Lyra so they could be on their way towards the Eldham border where Ryder had planned to cross into Rocheveron after he must have settled the issue of land dispute, and he would settle it his own way.Xanth approached Ryder, Lyra walked close to his side, she had her head down, not to the ground but she didn’t look up to meet Ryder’s gaze. Both her hands had been bandaged and by the pained look on her face, anyone could tell that the pain from her burned hands still stung something painful.“Could we delay for a day or two?” Xanth asked Ryder as he walked up to him, patting his horse’s head. Ryder frown and looked down at him.“Why?”
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“They are close now,” Vixra said as she galloped on her horse. She had Pythias riding beside her, Royn and the rest of the warriors rode just behind. “I can sense the girl.”She pulled out the bow hanging on the horse behind her and an arrow, she let go of the horse’s reins but still managed to stay perfectly positioned on the horse. She positioned the arrow in the bow and drew it as far back as she could, closed her eyes and whispered a spell then released the arrow to fly. Without delay, she drew another arrow, whispered the same spell, and let it fly as well.She flung the bow to the side and gripped the horse’s reins, taking control of the animal’s movements. Within seconds, Ryder and his team were within sight. Vixra smirked when she saw that Lyra had been knocked down to the ground, one of the arrows had pierced the horse she had been on, and the other arrow had struck Ryder in the shoulder, causing him to fall off his horse as well.“Do not let them escape!” she yelled out the c
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