“What are you up to, Dimian?”
He smiled at her as he walked into his room, shutting the door behind him. “Isn’t it too early for you to come to me, my queen?”She threw her legs off the bed but did not get up, she crossed her legs and placed both hands on the bed behind her to support her body leaning back, she had her attention on him. “What were you thinking bringing the Lord of Astaroth to Rocheveron.”He walked to the dresser and began taking off his clothes, looking at Lynorr through the large mirror. “Somehow, it could not be helped, he totally destroyed us at the border and he wants to cross, he intends on going past Rocheveron.”She picked up interest and leaned forward. “Past Rocheveron? But there is only the Oerth forest and beyond that is that kingdom of the abnormal.”Dimian turned to her, having taken off all his clothes and standing stark naked now, he walked to her and stood befHow long do you plan on staying here?” Iris asked, although they had only gotten here just this morning, she was already eager to leave this place and hit the road to continue on their journey.Ryder frowned. It was high noon and the sun was blazing down on them. They stood on the other side of the fence where the horses were set free to roam, with Ryder gently petting his midnight black horse. He looked back towards the castle and let out a breath.“A day or two. We would be needing food and supplies and a guide to take us from the capital to the edge of the forest.” He replied her.“Or we could just head down to the Tajon river,” She shrugged her shoulders. “The forest is right at the edge of the river.”Ryder shook his head at her suggestion, yes they could do that but he wanted them to stay just a little longer. Something seemed off with the Rocheveron royals and it was more than just the affair the queen was having w
The dinning room was not in any way a better condition than the banquet hall, except for the fact that it was void of most people, it still reeked of alcohol and the stench of sweat.Ryder frowned, his expression was tight and he walked with an air of authority, higher than that of the king of Rocheveron whose kingdom he was now in, but then what authority could this king even posses? He was a drunk and a party lover, totally clueless of his kingdom’s external affairs and most definitely clueless of its internal affairs as well. His gaze shifted to the queen seated beside him and he wondered how it could be that a beauty like that could have allowed herself get married to a man older than her by that much years.But then to be fair, he was a being above four hundred years old, trying to make a fifty six year old Khione girl fall in love with him. He sighed and let go of the thought, everyone had their reasons for doing things, maybe it was for the power or the wealth
The lunch was over for him when Duras agreed for his request for more supplies and a guide to be provided for them, he only lingered a while because he wanted to see just how desperate and how far Lynorr could go in trying to match her daughter with him, but it was no fun because the girl was too damn shy and quiet and she only spoke when her mother kind of permitted her to.“Go on, Rei, tell him what you like to do for fun.”“Rei, won’t you tell him how old you are?”“Rei is a beautiful singer, isn’t that right Rei?”He sighed and shoved his hands int his pockets as he walked away from the castle to where he had been before Dimian had come to find him. Iris and Xanth were still there, and it seemed like they were both very bored. There was almost nothing to do here since this was not their kingdom and neither was it their castle but they were allowed to roam around freely. It was kind of inevitable not to feel bore
There was a loud “bang!” just outside the dining room and the sudden noise had caused Lynorr to spill the hot tea on her dress. Everyone was startled, more than startled as they all looked to the door, expecting someone to walk in at any moment. And someone did walk in, but not in a way that they would have ever thought of.The wall around the doors shook violently and cracked and everyone in the dining looked on in shock and surprise as the two very huge doors gave way and fell away from their hinges and support, making a noise even louder than the “bang!” they had heard earlier as they fell to the floor.The princesses screamed and ran behind their mother, who instinctively reached out for Dimian who had come to stand protectively behind her. He frowned as he looked in the direction of the doors and from behind the rising dust, Ryder stormed into the dining area, accompanied by Iris and Xanth.“Ryder! What is the meaning of this insolen
Ryder rode with Lyra in front of him, one had around her waist and the other holding the reins of his horse. It had gone dark and the rain was coming down now in showers but still, he rode even faster through the forest. Lyra was delusional, her breathing was shallow and she could not stay stable on the horse. She whimpered a lot and it was evident to see that she was in a lot of pain and desperately needed any sort of healing and release.“Hold on a little while longer Lyra.” He whispered to her and whipped the reins on the horse even harder.By the time they arrived at the castle, the rain had intensified and it was now nearing the midnight, Lyra had passed out a couple of times on their way here which had caused Ryder to be worried sick out of his mind. They got to the castle faster than the time it had taken them to reach her and without even waiting for his horse to steadily stop, Ryder jumped down, pulling Lyra with him safely into his arms and running in
King Duras was shaken into sobriety, the horrific sight before him, seeing his own commander’s severed head, seeing Dimian Tekren’s severed head on the platter was terrifying enough to do so. He was up on his feet and shaken to the bone, what did they say he had done to be punished in such a manner? And… he turned to look at his queen who looked just as terrified as he did and could not take her eyes of the head on the platter. They had said she had something to do with this as well, but what exactly had they done? What did they commit? And what was their crime?He turned his attention back to the other lady who had been kept in here with them to ensure that they don’t go out of this room. She was just as scary and her laughter sent chills down his spine. She looked determined enough to server their heads as well if she was given a command or an opportunity to do so. Duras swallowed and took a careful step back, his mind could not wrap around what exa
Her sleep this time was dreamless and she was grateful that she did not see that same woman. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes, parts of her body ached, but otherwise, she felt pretty rejuvenated, like a bear fresh after hibernation. She sighed and blinked once then looked around her, she felt her fingers in someone’s hair and she looked down towards her left hand. Ryder was seated on the floor beside the bed with his head resting on it and his long black hair spread out on the bed. He had his eyes closed but Lyra was sure that he was not asleep.She tried to moved to sit up and his eyes flew open immediately. He turned to her and she paused, frozen in her movement as his eyes remained on her. She flashed him a smile and he frowned, then pushed himself up from off the floor and sat by the edge of the bed. She sat up and rested her back against the head board as an awkward silence descended upon the room.“Do you…?”“How
They rode solo.All four of them; Ryder, Lyra, Iris and Xanth, having left a few of their soldiers in Rocheveron and a number sent back to Astaroth to get more troops. Ryder had the intent of keeping Rocheveron under the control of his army until he had the time to deal with them on his own and he intended on dealing with them. All throughout the ride, he could not take his mind off the things that had happened and he rode steadily beside Lyra, constantly keeping his eyes on her.They had left the Rocheveron castle a little later than Ryder had wanted them to but still in the morning, Iris led the way for them and they only stopped twice in their journey to rest, mostly for Lyra’s sake, much to the annoyance of Iris but she could not do anything other than shoot the girl with death stares and glares.The Tajon river was up ahead, they could see the waters shimmering under the evening light as the sun descended on the right side. They were riding sout
“Lord Dixon and lady Annora won’t be staying, they wish to travel the lands, and maybe find settlement somewhere unclaimed.” Xanth said to Ryder as he joined him on the balcony. He had dismissed the elders and generals, taken Iris body to be prepared for burial, settled with Lady and Lord Axeris d’Croix, Ryder’s parents, and arranged with Syrana for her stay and departure the next morning. “They have been away too long,” he sighed. “I can understand that they would feel strange in this place which they once considered to be their home.” “Iris’ body will be buried tomorrow.” he said and then sighed. “Her mother can not be consoled, she was hacking away at Mavrek’s body down in the courtyard outside the castle doors.” Ryder frowned in unbelief and looked at Xanth. “Hacking away?” “With a sword,” He nodded. “It is a mess down there, Ryder.” He looked away from Xanth and leaned on the railing with his elbows, then lowered his head. “Mavrek’s body was never going to be buried anyway,
“He’s killed her too.”He allowed the talk spread around the room without saying a single word as he watched the men talk and whisper among themselves, picking out with his eyes those who believed and those who doubted by the way they reacted to the talk spreading around the room. “How many of you in this very room knew of Mavrek’s journey to Fang Peek and the reason he was going?” he spoke up and everyone hushed.The room fell silent and nobody was willing to give him a reply as they all feared what he might do. He looked around the room once more, studying the expression on their faces, none of them had their heads lifted to meet his gaze and he was beginning to get impatient. He gripped the reins of the horse and whipped it so the animal neighed loudly, stood up on its hind legs, and fell back down on all fours.“How many of you knew?!” he asked again, this time in a louder voice.“All of us knew,” Ulric spoke up. “He had called for a meeting to announce it, but he had known of th
“That’s Iris’ body in the snow over there,” Tezani said to Xanth in a whisper. It had been a day and a half since they moved from Mavrek’s camp, the warriors journeyed with them as they made their way back to Astaroth. The cold here was minimal but the snow was still thick on the ground. Mavrek shivered in the cold, his body and feet were bare and Ryder had not for once stopped to rest. They didn’t run the horses, Ryder didn’t seem to be in a hurry, and all through the journey, he had kept to himself, even Xanth knew to keep a distance because he knew this ruler of Astaroth was troubled and in pain and anger, but he would have to disturb him now as Tezani had just shown him something.He lifted and fist up in the air, signaling for the troop to stop which they did, then he snapped the reins on his horse, hurrying it up to get to Ryder.“Ryder,” he called out, fishing him out of his thoughts and drawing his attention away.“Hmm?” he hummed and turned his head to face Xanth. He was ti
"Xanth and I will enter the tent, the rest of you, wait outside, where he cannot see you."They sat on their horses afar off, where Mavrek’s camp was now visible to them, Tezani had led them here and they had found his camp to be exactly where she had predicted it would be. The general journeyed slowly, and it was not just the size of the warriors that slowed him down. He had already spent weeks on a journey of just a few days, it was the general’s pride, to think he could make it to Fang Peek before Ryder would.“His tent would be the one positioned close to the forefront,” Tezani said to Ryder. “And it would be the largest too.”“Good,” Ryder hummed and kicked his horse in the side. “That should give us the advantage of surprising him.”* * * * * * *“General?” a warrior positioned at the tent’s entrance as a guard called out to Mavrek from outside. “You have a er…”Mavrek frowned, struggling to take off his armor. “I have a what?!” he yelled out in frustration, nothing
“Ryder…” Xanth called calmly as he quietly approached Ryder who was kneeling down by the edge of the ledge. The fiery pit had grown cold and was quiet now and the cave was slowly losing the heat, welcoming the cold.“She is gone,” Ryder said softly and lifted his head up to the cave ceiling. He let out a sigh, folded his lips, and raised his eyebrows, his eyeballs darting from left to right as he felt tears coming. His heart ached terribly and his body shivered. “She is gone,” he repeated with another sigh.Xanth turned around when he heard footsteps running, only to see Syrana and Tezani. Syrana looked at him asking him questions with her gaze, but he just blinked once and looked away from her. She sucked in a breath and her body crashed into the cave wall, she clutched on to her dress around her chest area and slowly fell to the floor as tears pooled out of her eyes.“Lyra…” she sobbed. “My baby girl.”Ryder turned his head to see who had just come into the cave and he saw the white
His wound refused to heal and he was losing blood fast, he groaned and leaned on the horse as it slowed down to a gallop, approaching the mouth of the cave. His body felt extremely weak and he wondered what indie must have applied on that sword she stabbed him with that was stopping his body from regenerating.He groaned as he fell off the horse and onto the hard, hot ground. Never in his life had he felt this way, and he hated it, the feeling of being vulnerable as he was now. He knew that if anyone was to come for him, to kill him, they would succeed in that, he couldn’t even muster the strength to use his powers.He managed to get on his feet, leaning against the cave walls, he stumbled further into the cave where he found Borox, sitting up and propped against the cave wall with a small knife wedged into the side of his neck.“Borox,” Ryder called and went to him, crashing on the ground on his knee beside him, he took the man’s hand and had genuine pain in his eyes. The pain of see
They had all heard the noise, the loud bang from far behind, toward their far left and they had turned just in time to see a mushroom of fire rise up and then die out. The noise had spooked the horses and they stopped riding.“What was that?” Tezani asked no one in particular.“The wizard maybe,” Xanth replied. “But a blast of such magnitude? What is he doing?”“Practicing spells?” Syrana chipped in. “Prepping for a battle.”They both turned to look at her and Xanth’s heart fell, if they could not find Ryder in time and get him to perform the sacrifice with Tezani, then Osyron would break free of his prison and it would be bye-bye to the world as they knew it to be.“What if we can’t get to Ryder in time?” Tezani asked Xanth as if she had been reading his mind.He let out a breath. “Can you go back to Mavrek?”She shook her head and looked down at her horse, she didn’t want to go back to him. She couldn’t. She hated herself for still loving him when all he had ever done was lie to her
“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
The group traveled in silence with Lyra at the forefront, Ryder just tagging behind her, Borox and the rest of his men followed behind. They had ridden way past the city of Beor and were far away from the Erstonian castle so it was safe for them to just allow the horses to walk for a bit.The landscape was slowly changing the further they journeyed, the snow here was lesser, and from a distance, she could see mountains different from the ones she had been used to seeing in Erstonia, these had no snow covering them and nothing grew in the ground around them.“Fang Peek,” she whispered and felt a chill run down her spine. Fear engulfed her as the weight of what she had agreed to do rested on her heavily. In only a couple of hours, she would be dead, Ryder would head on back to Astaroth and life would continue for them just as normal.She thought of Xanth, the man was softer than Ryder, and a lot more understanding, and yes she would miss him dearly. The last time she had seen him was we