Young Writers Society

Chapter 6

My horse moves, anxious to run, and I rub his head, trying to soothe him. Finally, Prince Alexander leads his horse out from the stables, mounting it and smoothly positioning himself beside me.

“I don’t know if you’ve met them, but-“ He gestures grandly to the vampire soldier and the lady behind them. “-these are my cousins, Lord Cyan and Lady Cassandra.”

I narrow my eyes at them. “And why, exactly, have they been following me around ever since they arrived?”

Lord Cyan answers my question. “My apologies, your highness, but I am charged with the protection of my prince.”

I raise an eyebrow, but don’t pursue the subject, not wanting to keep pushing the diplomatic boundaries. “Of course.” Glancing around I don’t see Blathen, so I gesture to the path, hoping to leave him behind.

“Rionach?” Blathen’s voice sounds from behind me, and I twist around, masking my annoyance.

Making my voice sweet, I say, “Blathen. I thought you wouldn’t make it.”

He smiles at me. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, your highness.”

I smile back for show, and the five of us set off. Eventually, we leave the castle close, and the people around us drop away. A few guards follow us at a distance, should anything go wrong. Alexander and Blathen ride on either side of me, and Cassandra and Cyan ride side by side, talking, a bit behind us.

When we reach the woods near Lindon’s camp, I subtly turn us away, not wanting anyone to stumble upon Lindon and my secret place. The clearing stays hidden by the trunks of trees that look too close together to get through, even when we pass directly by it. The sun barely makes it through the leaf cover, and insects play lazily in the warm breeze that has picked up.

“Your highness, would you dine with me tonight?” When Blathen asks the question, Alexander allows himself to fall back and laughs at something Cyan says.

“Of course, your highness.” I ignore him, and he takes the hint, an expression of rage on his face. He slows down for a second and waits for Cassandra to catch up, and starts to flirt with her. Her laugh rings out in the relative silence, but the forest quickly absorbs it.

Slowly, the light grows as we ride, and I let myself go a little faster. Soon, the mud beneath the horses’ feet is damp, long grass, and the sound of a stream of water reaches my ears. When I hear a horse approaching, I turn, and meet the eyes of Cyan. He studies me, his brown eyes flicking over my face.

“Lord Cyan, you do realise it’s considered rude to stare at people?” My voice is filled with sarcasm, and I hear a low snort from Blathen that the others miss.

His expression turns to one of confusion, but the he gives me a guarded smile. “Funny, none of the ladies ever say that.”

I smile back sweetly, saying, “Will you at least stop following me around like a lost puppy now?”

“Lost puppy?” He raises his eyebrows mischievously. “More like a wolf on the hunt, I do believe.”

“You believe.” I glance forward, making sure we haven’t reached the invisible drop off yet. It looms in the distance, and I rein my horse in, wanting to slow down. Raising my voice, I say, “Careful, there’s a cliff up ahead.”

“A cliff?” Cassandra’s refined, delicate voice reaches my ears. “Why would you bring us to a cliff, to kill us all?” She laughs mockingly, reining in to a halt.

I twist around to answer her, masking my irritation at her shallow jab. “There’s a path down to a sprite pool. The waterfall is quite pretty, and it’s a lovely place to picnic.” We start off again, and nobody speaks. The air is tense; the people impatient. When we finally get to the path, Cyan snorts.

“That’s not a path, your highness, that’s a death trap.” Still, he nudges his horse forward until he sees the path more clearly.

Lady Cassandra also comes forward, her fingers holding the reins in a death grip. “I am not going down that thing.” Her voice is contemptuous, and filled with fear. I want to snap, “Well, who asked you to come?” but I refrain, controlling myself.

“It’s not as bad as it looks, and the horses can take it just fine. Besides, it’s not even very steep.”

She still shakes her head, too afraid to go further. Alexander tries to reason with her, but gets nowhere. In the end, she rides with Cyan, clutching her brother’s waist so hard I wonder how he can breathe. Alexander leads her horse, and we set off in single file. The soldier escort rides at the head, and I follow behind him, with Blathen behind me. Cyan and Cassandra follow him, and Alexander riders at the rear, with the riderless mare obediently trotting behind him.

We get to the bottom without incident, and I sigh in relief when we all dismount. I dismount and hand my reins to one of the guards, who takes the horse away and ties the reins to a nearby tree. We all sit on the ground, and I let my hand skim the water. A calm falls over the group, and we chat about nonsense calmly.

“Do you know what flower this is, your highness?” Cyan holds a tiny white bud in his gloved hand, an eyebrow raised.

“How could I not? That is a thrallflower, Lord Cyan. Fae enchanters mix their essence in our wine to create thrallwine.” I toss a blade of grass at him, smiling mischievously, and he smiles back.

Cassandra daintily pulls off her boots and lets her feet dangle in the water, which sparkles merrily at us. I stand up and fetch the basket of food from my saddlebags, opening it and taking a piece of crystal sugar. Alexander lazily snatches a small loaf of bread and offers half to Cyan. “Do you even eat, your highness?”

Alexander’s question takes me by surprise, and I hesitate before answering. “Of course I eat! We don’t eat meat, or anything with salt in it. I’ve heard people say that our food is sweet, because we put honey in everything.”

Cyan nods affirmation. “That’s true. It’s a nice change from what we eat back home, though.”

“It’s a shame that our countries have warred so much that we hardly know anything about each other anymore.” Cassandra’s high voice cuts into our conversation, and after muttering a few things, we fall into another awkward silence.

Eventually, the sun dips in the horizon, and we brush ourselves off and get up to leave. Cassandra rides with her brother up to slope, and we journey back to the castle in relative silence.

We dismount and give our horses back to the stablemaster. I bid Alexander and his cousins goodbye, and Blathen approaches me. “Your highness, when will I see you tonight?”

Pretending to yawn, I say, “Prince Blathen, I would love to dine with you tonight, but I’m quite exhausted now. Perhaps we can meet tomorrow.” Inwardly, I hope he’ll say no, that he’s busy, but I know that that will never happen.

Inclining his head, he replies, “But of course, your highness.” He steps closer, and grips my waist, too quickly for me to react. “I do hope you won’t cancel on me again, Rionach.” His fingers dig into my hipbone hard enough to bruise, and I struggle in his grip. Letting go as quickly as he had grasped me, he vanishes in a shimmer of light, his eye glimmering evilly.

Trying to put Blathen out of my mind, I walk back to my rooms, knowing I’ll have to get ready for my tryst with Arianna in the woods.