Chapter 19

Freya's POV

A few hours earlier...

When Ronin and I arrived at the border a sadness overwhelmed my heart as I realised that I had to say goodbye.

"I guess this is it." I said as I looked at the path ahead.

"It is. Thank you Freya for everything. You are a great friend and I will always cherish our friendship and time together." Tears welled in my eyes at his words and all I could do was grab him in a hug.

We stood like that for a while before Ronin pulled away.

"Go on then. Return to your family." He said and I nodded. I gave him a last smile before I continued on my walk.

The walk home was long and I enjoyed the peace and tranquil feeling I felt when I walked through the forest. My energy buzzed within me and I felt right at home, but there was something missing...

After a few hours I finally arrived at the lavish fae castle. The guards that were posted outside immediately recognised me and ran to greet me.

"Princess Freya, you're back!" One exclaimed joyfully.

"Are you alright, princess?" Another asked.

"Yes I am. Can you please take me to my parents?"

"I can take you to your father, he is in a meeting with the elven duke. Your mother is unfortunately not here, she and the Echantress left this morning." He said.

I was quite dissapointed that my mother wasn't here but my anger at the duke quickly took over, he dare hold a meeting with my father after what he had done!

The guard noticed my face and immediately led me to my father. When we arrived at the door he quickly announced that I returned before I stepped inside.

My father, Javier and Rhid were all standing in a row in front of the door with my father in the middle. When I saw them tears formed in my eyes and I rushed to my father.

"Daddy!" I exclaimed as I hugged him.

His body was stiff and he did not return my hug. When I looked up into his eyes they looked lifeless. My brother and Rhid's eyes looked the same.

"Ah Freya finally you returned!" I heard duke Aerolf say as he and a dark cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows.

"What did you do to them?" I asked angrily.  

"Ah I just gave them something small, a potion of sorts, that lets me control them." He said with an evil grin that sent a chill down my back.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as he walked closer to me.

"Because my dear Freya, I want you and I am a man who always gets what he wants." He said as he traced his thumb across my cheek, before I pulled away quickly. I looked away from him, but he suddenly took my chin between his forefinger and thumb and brought my face back to him. He looked into my eyes before he let my face go.

"So it's true." He said.

"What is?" I asked perplexed.

"You're in love." He stated and my confusion only grew, how did he know that I was in love?

"How did-"

"How did I know? Well you see Freya I have spies everywhere. But you see I can't have you in love." He said.

"Well there is no way you can change my feelings." I said.

"Yes, you're right I can't stop you from being in love, but I can turn that love into hate." He said with a smile.

"And how do you propose to do that?" I challenged.

"By killing the one you love." He stated and the life drained out of me.

"No, you can't! You leave Ronin out of this. Auliria must be here and her father, they will notice that something is wrong and they will stop you."

"No Freya, nobody is going to notice anything. I already spoke to them and told them to get a group of knights ready, we are going on a little hunt. A hunt for a big, fluffy teddy bear." He said.

"No, I won't let you do this!" I said as turned around to leave the room when the duke stopped me.

"Guards take her away and lock her up." He screamed at two Elven guards who grabbed my arms.

"No, daddy do something. Rhid, Javier please." I screamed as the guards started to drag me out of the door, but the duke stopped them before we could leave.

He took my face in his hands, "One last thing we will be married when I return."

I gave him a cold stare before I struggled against my restraints and spitted in his face which resulted in him laughing as they dragged me out of the room.

They took me to my room and locked me up. I pounded on the door and screamed at them to release me, but it was all for not.

I went to my window and saw the duke along with my father, brother and Rhid saddling up with a small group of knights. The duke looked up and gave me a small smile before he ordered the men to go and off they went to kill the bear I loved.

My body fell to the ground and I felt completely helpless. I didn't know what to do. I was still busy thinking of a way to escape when suddenly my door was unlocked. I quickly stood upright as a man and a woman entered my room. The man was the dark cloaked one that stood at the duke's side and the woman had a small baby in her arms.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Tiberius and this is my wife Enya and our daughter Tinya. We are skin changers here to help." He said.

"Why would you help me?" I asked.

"Because it is all my fault..." he said and then he told me how he was the bird who was perched on the duke's shoulder and he was the one who notified him about my return. He told me that the duke captured his wife and child and he had no choice. He said he was also the one who told the duke he sensed a lot of power from me. The duke heard about the legend and knew that there was a strong power in the fae realm, he then found a skin changer who could smell power and started the search for the fae with the mind power.

He looked ashamed of what he did and I quickly told him that I understood why he did what he did.

"What do we do now?" Tiberius asked.

"I need to get to Ronin and I need to stop Aerolf from hurting him and my dad...my dad I need to get Carling. We need her to bring my dad, Javier and Rhid out of whatever spell Aerolf placed them under." I said as I thought things through.

"I can find Carling and Queen Rose for you, they only left this morning I might still catch them." Tiberius said.

"Thank you, I will take a horse and go to Ronin." I said.

"What can I do?" Enya asked as she rocked the baby in her arms.

"You stay here, you and Tinya will be safe here." I told her and Tiberius nodded in agreement.

Tiberius told me that he will get Carling and my mother and bring them to me as fast as they could. After that we went our seperate ways.

I sneaked through the castle to the stables, grabing my sword on the way, making sure nobody saw me, I was scared of what the duke told the knights. I can't believe the duke went this far.

I quickly headed to my horse who neighed when she saw me.

"Hey girl, we are going for a little ride." I told her as I saddled her up.

When I was done I quickly sped towards the skin changer realm, I could only hope that I got there in time.

  -*-
Auliria's POV

I was completely shocked when I heard about Freya. My uncle told us that she was captured by a bear and she escaped this morning. He told us that we needed to kill the bear, because he wants Freya for her powers.

And that is how we all saddled up and left. The king, Javier and Rhid were all quiet which was completely strange, but I couldn't question their behavior. Afterall Freya was locked up by a heartless bear and I could only imagine the vengeance they wanted.

I wanted to see Freya before we left, but my uncle told me she was tired and completely shaken up and I left it at that. I could only hope that Freya would be fine after this whole ordeal.