16 Call Of The Whistle

"It's perfect," Sierra chimed as she laid down to rest on the bed.

Opal, her snake, slithered out of her sleeve and coiled herself next to her on the bedspread.

"Look who's decided to finally show herself. It's a nice room, isn't it, Opal?" Sierra asked as she carefully brushed her finger against the scales on Opal's head.

Ida was confused. She wondered who Sierra was speaking to. When she got closer, she almost leaped out of her skin and shrieked when she saw Opal the snake.

"Your Highness! Is... is that..." her voice was shaking and so was her hand as she pointed at Opal.

Realizing she had not introduced Opal to Ida, she quickly made the introductions.

"There's no need to be afraid, Ida. Opal here does not bite. Well, she does but only to people who aren't very nice. Isn't that right?"

Opal lifted her head and hissed, seemingly in response to Sierra's explanation. Feeling a little more confident, Ida walked up to Opal to take a closer look at the little snake.

She reached out her hand, hoping to pet it on the head, just like how Sierra did a few moments earlier.

Her hand was still shaking in fear. Opal noticed what she was trying to do. Without any fear, Opal stretched her body out, allowing Ida to pet her.

"Her scales are so smooth!" Ida exclaimed in amazement as she stroked the scales on Opal's back.

Ida, like most people, assumed the scales on a snake would feel rough. Hence she was pleasantly surprised to know that this was not the case.

"She likes you," Sierra chimed with a smile.

After unpacking her belongings, Sierra decided to change out of the gown she was in. She put on a casual outfit, a loose-fitting white blouse, a leather vest, and a pair of pants. When she came out from behind the dividers, Ida looked at her in shock.

Before the maid could ask, Sierra spoke first, "I'm just going to head out to check out the horse stables and the archery grounds."

She buckled her swords on her belt, casually slipped a knife in her boots, and headed out of the door. She tied her hair up as she made her way down the stairs and out of the lodge.

Sierra went to the horse stables first. To her surprise, some of the other princesses were here too. Princess Agnes were amongst them, showing off the horse she had with her.

It was a proud stallion, much larger compared to the others owned by the other princesses. Sierra did not say anything, but she already knew that it was Agnes' prized horse.

Sierra looked for the stablemaster. He was a short man, with a beer belly. She could smell the alcohol lingering on his breath but she kept her comments to herself.

"Stable Master, may I know if a horse had been sent for me?" Sierra asked.

He glanced over to her, and then down at the parchment he had in his hands. She could see that her name was not on it.

"No, Miss. There ain't a horse for you," he said in an annoyed tone.

His blatant disrespect was enough to piss off any princess. Especially since he did not use the proper honorifics to address Sierra. But she did not mind. She knew this man would not be able to take good care of the horses anyway.

But without a horse, how was Sierra going to compete? She was certain she had her horse brought to Drakin with her. She was a mare Sierra had named Midnight. Her coat, just like her name, was the color of the night.

"Could you check for me again, Stablemaster? Perhaps my mare was simply brought to the wrong location," she asked politely with a smile.

"Perhaps you just don't have one to begin with," one of the princesses scoffed.

Sierra glanced over to her. She kept the smile on her face as she walked over to her and introduced herself.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure of getting to know one another just yet. I'm Sierra, and you are?"

"Princess Coralina of the Sofoam Kingdom," the princess introduced herself before continuing, "Princess Sierra? Ah, you're King Frederick's illegitimate daughter, yes?"

Though she had predicted someone would eventually use this at some point to insult her, it still hurt to hear it in person.

All Sierra could do was to force a smile upon her face.

"Yes. You're from the Sofoam Kingdom? The one that's by the sea and constantly experiencing storms as of late? Are your parents well?" Sierra asked.

"You!" Coralina was angered by her words.

She raised her hand, ready to slap Sierra across the face for the disrespectful comments and the tone of her voice. However, Sierra dodged it. It happened so quickly, no one knew what happened.

Coralina lost her balance, she was falling forward. Everything moved in slow motion, she could see that she was about to face plant into the muddy ground before her. She flailed her hands, hoping someone would catch her.

She squint shut her eyes as she feared for the worst. But a hand grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back. To everyone's surprise, it was Sierra who saved Coralina from falling.

Sierra pulled her in, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second. A cold chill ran down Coralina's spine as Sierra glared at her straight in the eyes.

"Be careful, Princess. It would be a shame if you were to be handicapped before the tests even began. It wouldn't be a fair fight anymore," Sierra reminded her.

She helped the princess to stabilize on her feet before letting go of her hand. No one knew what to say. They were all too stunned to speak. How did Sierra move so fast?

None of them could see her movements. Sierra looked over to the stable master, hoping he would finally have an answer for her. He simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as he walked away to deal with other matters.

Sierra let out a sigh. She looked through every stable, even the empty ones but there was no sign of Midnight. She even called out her name, but there was still no reply.

Just when she was about to give up, Sierra bit her lip as she knocked on her own head with her hand. How could she have been so forgetful?

"This should do the trick," she muttered to herself as she rummaged through her pocket and took out a silver whistle.

It may look like an ordinary whistle, but it is in fact a horse whistle. Blowing into it would release a high pitch sound that only horses could hear.

But the whistle in Sierra's hand was even more unique than that. It would only call for her horse, Midnight. Sierra blew into the whistle. Then, she waited.

Realizing it might take a while, she found a bench to sit on while she waited. Princess Myra entered the stable grounds. She noticed Sierra sitting on the bench and went over to speak to her.

As they struck up a conversation, Myra asked, "Are they preparing your horse for you?"

Sierra shook her head with a grin on her face, "I'm waiting for her to arrive."