They had been on the road for two days.
And for two days she had been riding with Ryder as per his order, and not that she did not find it quite comfortable because then her hands could rest from pulling on the horse’s reins, but being so close to him. Being that close to him. For the two days they had spent on the road, Ryder had been beside her at all times, changing and dressing her injured hands with a frown on his face always, and even the simple task of feeding which she could do herself without much needing to stress her hands, she was not allowed to. Ryder would not allow her to.His behavior towards her confused her and for the first day she tried hard to adjust to his new attitude, but with the death stares Iris shot at her at every given opportunity, she knew better than to get too comfortable with Ryder’s behaviour. Xanth on the other hand was indifferent and he didn’t see anything quite wrong with what Ryder was doing or how he was behaving.It was utmost and total chaos.The wind had picked up fast and drastically, and accompanied by the encroaching darkness signifying that night time was near, it seemed like a god had been finally let off his chains after years of wrongly suffering and coming for vengeance. And it came in all its might for the Rocheveron army camp.The energy surrounding him was as black as the night, and as thick as ink. It swam in the air around him and moved as he did, dispersing dark shadows of himself per second. They had only one purpose here, and that was to bring destruction and death to the camp of the enemy in whose side of the line Ryder now stood. But he knew what he was doing, he was not blinded with the power he wielded, nor did he allow the necessity of crossing into Rocheveron overwhelm his control.He was not totally about destroying the camp, but to instill just the right amount of fear and a bit more so that he would be taken seriously without having to repeat his wor
The doors were gradually shut behind them, muffling the partying sounds of moans and orgy noises. The woman who had introduced herself as Lynorr, Queen of Rocheveron stood before them, giving her best “stay calm and everything will be alright” kind of smile. And although they could guess that she was in her middle age, she was still much too young to be married to that… man. The drunk and orgy party excited king of Rocheveron. Of all the welcomes Ryder had had to face and deal with, this was the most unexpected, and to think that this was the kingdom disturbing his border at Eldham.He had gone to meet with the king Duras Krinn of Rocheveron, accompanied only by the queen not too long ago while Dimian stayed with Iris, Xanth and Lyra behind the door and away from the banquet hall. He was more than displeased and he did not try at all to hide it and when the drunk king had tried to make bum drink the wine from his goblet in his merry, Ryder had pushed aside th
It felt good to finally be at a place, indoors, away from the sun and not having to ride on the same horse with Ryder. He was seemingly protective of her. Maybe a bit too protective, and that worried her because she never could tell when he would switch and return to his normal self of not caring about anyone but himself. She sighed and took in as much air as her lungs could allow, and she smiled. It was the first time she had been in Rocheveron, she had never gone too far from Dragonsbane. Heck, she had never gone too far from the castle in Dragonsbane, so a part of her was actually happy that she could be free in a way and go on adventures, but she had been kidnapped and even her kidnappers protected her like her family had done but they did not restrict her as much. There was a sudden light knock on the door and Lyra turned away from the balcony and stepped back into the room. “Who is it? She asked. “Come in.” The door was opened and a servant girl w
“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 bef
How 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…” 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
The girl is still alive.The thought rang in his head as he entered his chambers in the castle, one wave of his staff and he had his doors locked with a spell.“The girl is still alive!” he yelled and flung his staff away, it collided with the wall without making a noise and came back to him, floating in the air beside the wizard. He took in a deep breath but was unable to calm down, he thought he had dealt with everything that would hinder Osyron from rising. He thought it was finally all over.He paced the length of the room, from the window to the door, back and forth, deep in thoughts. He stopped abruptly and walked to a part of his room where a he curtain was hung over a wall, he reached behind the heavy curtains and slid out a huge, ancient mirror. The mirror held no reflection and was just black, he reached for his staff which was floating beside him and placed it to rest against the mirror so that the red jewel touched it.With a pin he pricked his index finger, placed that o
“So,” Borox walked up to Ryder atop his horse and took hold of the reins. “No detours anymore, I’m guessing?”Ryder glanced over at Lyra, who was being helped to mount her horse. She had agreed to the sacrifice and with that, he knew a part of him had died. He shook his head to respond to Borox. “No, no detours.”She sat on the horse and picked up the reins, adjusting the fur cloak she had requested for to protect herself from the cold. They all stood by the cave’s entrance, looking out, she, Ryder, Borox and about a dozen of his men were ready for the long ride to Fang Peek.“Erstonia lies in between this place and Fang Peek, is that correct?” Lyra asked Ryder as they eased their horses outside of the cave, behind them, Borox followed with his men.“That is correct,” Ryder answered her question. He could feel her coldness towards him and he hated it, the not caring attitude she had now developed was something he was sure he would never get used to. But then he sighed, he would not be
The night was long. Long and quiet.Tonight she had been made to sleep in her own tent instead of having to share one with General Mavrek, the warrior that had delivered the message to her had said it was because the General would be having an all-night meeting with the men in command of each section of the troop, but she knew it was because he had just killed someone in there and the blood was still fresh on the ground, and the smell of blood was still very heavy in the air. She was sensitive and would pick up the scent in an instant.But she was grateful she had not been made to stay with the General in his tent tonight because it might have been more difficult sneaking out of his tent. She didn’t wait for the morning, she didn’t even know what time it was, all she knew was that she had waited for everywhere to be quiet. It was easy staying awake as sleep had eluded her after finding out Mavrek’s plans for her.She felt heartbroken and betrayed because truly, she did love the Genera
“There has not been any earth tremor for days now, has Ryder completed the sacrifice?” General Mavrek asked Iris as she crashed into a chair in his tent, gulping down cup after cup of water. A day’s journey in the cold and snow-covered land had nothing on her, as her body could withstand some levels of extreme temperatures, but her body could not go on without water. She had not thought of that really.She had stumbled into Mavrek’s camp as they were making their way up to Fang Peek, and Mavrek had been shaken, expecting to see Ryder coming up a distance away with Xanth. But after a couple of hours with no sign of either men, he began to relax a bit.Iris looked away after her last cup of water, she had heard his question but what could she say in reply? That the girl they had all their hopes on was dead? That they should go home and prepare for war, promising death by the hand of the bloodthirsty god, Osyron? “We encountered some complications on the way.”“Complications?” that conf