Unexpected Visitors

Opening the door to my room, I yank the cloak off the coat hook, and take off. I decide to out the east door, which is closest to my room.

The French doors on the east side is framed by flowers, and it looks beautiful in the moonlight. Wrapping the cloak around myself and tying the strings at the nape of my neck, I push the doors open.

The frigid wind blows across my face, and I blow out a breath. It is not quite cold enough to see your breath yet, but winter is just around the corner. The paths around the castle are lit by the lanterns hanging around.

I curve around the side of the castle to the front, and I spot the crown prince on a black stallion waiting. Looking at the horse reminds me of the grey stallion who was my travel partner escaping Clairemont.

I feel bad for leaving him on the forests and outskirts of Arcana. I wonder why Lexie told me not to go into these forests though. Did she know about the kingdom here?

The crown prince approaches me, and I tilt my head up. He points to a bay mare tied onto a post to the side. The mare is gentle as I greet her, and I saddle up.

"Where are we going?" he enquires.

"I was thinking the forests on the outskirts of the kingdom."

He pauses to think. "There is a small gathering of trees and a pond a little ways from here that I think we should look at first."

I do not want object, so I just nod. I already know that there are blood flowers on the outskirts of the kingdom; it would be easiest to get them there as I saw them climbing over the wall. But I roll with it.

The hooves of the horses stomping on the match the rhythm of my heart, and we stop at the little pond he wants us to look at. We both dismount and we scour the area, looking for tiny red and orange blossoms next to shimmering light. After an hour or so, he decides that we should look further out, and I resist the urge of rolling my eyes.

We ride out to the outskirts of the kingdom, searching for the blood flowers. The dense shrubbery and trees are hard to walk through, so we had to walk by feet, the horses trailing behind us. We eventually split off in different directions, but still staying close enough for safety. Both for mine and his.

Jumping over a dead log, I kick a large rock out of my way. A little shimmer of light is seen in my peripheral vision and my heart jumps. Following the blue-tinged light, I come upon a gorgeous moon flower glowing brightly in the presence of the moonlight. Moon flowers love to grow in dense forests, and usually in these areas blood flowers are next by.

The crown prince is behind me, but I do not call him over just yet. I need to find the flowers first before giving him the sense of relief of finding the last ingredient to the precious antidote.

Branches and thorns scratch me, blood welling up the surface. Ignoring the tiny stings, I dip down to scan the area around the moon flower. Tiny buds of a crimson red and orange petals stick out and I breathe a deep sigh of relief. Thank the heavens.

Taking my dagger out, I carefully dig out the blood flowers, as I need the roots as well. I examine the flowers carefully, realizing that the flowers are beautifully fully grown, the roots healthy and the whole thing itself unblemished.

I place the blood flowers into a cloth sack, anxiety leaving me, securing it tight.

"Your highness!" I call out, happily. "I got them!"

A hear a sound of rustling and my guards immediately go up. There is someone else in the woods with us. I do not recognize the presence of this being.

The aura in the forest is beginning to change into something darker. Turning sharply to my left, I narrowly dodge an arrow flying at me. I start sprinting over to the crown prince, and I find him with his sword drawn.

"Where are the horses?" I whisper.

"They are beyond the trees about ten paces from here."

Arrows come flying our way, and in the darkness, it is not the ideal time to have a battle. We can barely see in front of us, our fingers only a dark wash of black. We left our lanterns with the horses as we needed the full darkness to find the subtle light given off of the moon flowers.

The sound of footsteps gets closer to us, and I bite my lip. I can barely make out the crown prince's face in front of me, but I can tell he is frowning. It is easy to recognize the anger that radiates out of his body.

More footsteps follow one another, and I look up to the night sky. There is more than one person out there. About four, if I had to guess. Either way, the crown prince and I are outnumbered.

The crown prince turns to me, pulling up my hood and whispers, "Try not to slaughter them. I want to take them in to question."

And without warning, he runs out from the protection of the tree, and a shout is lodged in my throat. Immediately placing a barrier spell over him, I hear arrows deflecting on the magical barrier around the crown prince.

The shrill sound of metal clanging on metal makes my heart race. I need to get out there to help him.

I creep around the tree to attempt to see what is going on, I see that the crooks are battling him unfairly. I throw a blade at one of the shadowy figures that is not my ally, and he falls to the ground howling in pain. I light the area of trees on fire, creating scorching hot light. An arrow that is about to contact my skin, wilts and disintegrates to the ground.

The crown prince's sword disappears into the chest of one of the attackers, and before another one can creep up behind him, I swoop in kicking his feet from behind, making his knees buckle.

I bring us arm up, cracking it, and I see the white of the man's eyes roll back into his head. A second later, his body levitates off the ground, and his head whips up.

Another arrow is flung, and I stop it mid-air with my hand. Throwing it to the ground, I retrace the journey of the arrow, seeing the archer. Up in a tree about three paces to my left, I dig out another blade throwing it at the angle that will perfectly hit him right in the artery in his shoulder, blood spurting out. Black particles start to reside on his skin and flutter around him.

I swing my back around, avoiding the broken arm man's sword. He is supposed to be dead. But this is the power of dark magic. My dagger gets lodged deep in his heart before his pitch-black eyes close.

To kill a creature possessed by the dark arts, strike the corrupted heart. The decay of the mind and body are present, and I can detect magic on the dead bodies. Who is the witch behind all of this?

I spin back around and my back meets with the crown prince's. His labored breathing is a soothing balm to the chaotic mess around me, and I feel the grittiness of blood drying on my skin.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I tuck my blades back into my dress that is now torn and dirtied. Without a word, we walk back to our horses, and I glance at him. He does not look like he wants a conversation right now.

A few minutes past of us cleaning the grit and blood off our faces and clothes, he mutters, "I will get the guards to come clean up and investigate tomorrow morning."

I nod, mounting my horse, and he does the same. In the light of the lanterns, the prince looks as if he had his evening walk, instead of battling some attackers. His hair is effortlessly tousled in a way that does not look like he had a battle.

The horses take off, mine trotting after his, as if this was a normal routine. Inwardly smiling, it feels good to be fighting again. The smell of death is not ideal, but there is some comfort in doing something I have been trained to do since I was a child.

Analyzing the battle over, I realize that the arrows being used seemed very similar to the ones Holden were shooting at me a while back ago.

Tucking that red flag of information into my head, the ride back to the castle is short.