Allair

We had been riding for two days now and my butt was so sore I thought for a moment it might fall off and start running away in the other direction. The sun had set some time ago to be replaced a midnight blue with thousands of stars dancing across it. The moon was full and lighting up the forest in a white blue glow.

I've been trying to sleep for hours now but the wet dew on damp ground was tickling back through the sleeping bag. The only warmth came from the next sleeping bag over where Jonathan slept. I was sure he was asleep this time since I've been moving and tossing around repeatedly and it's been hours since he's stirred.

A loud wailing sound echoed through the camp making me jump and my eyes widen. Bertram was screaming in his sleep.

I stood up and started walking over to Bertram hoping to wake him up from his bad dream to stop him from screaming. As I got close, I felt an arm wrap around my waist and yank me off my feet.

"Don't even think about it little Miss." Demetri whispered, his lips close to my ear and his breath on my skin the only warmth in the cool Northern air.

He pulled me closer towards a tree and let me down. His arm lingered until both my feet were firmly planted on the floor and nodded to show I had my balance. "But he needs help." I whispered my concern, fully aware of the others sleeping around us.

"Aye, I agree he needs all sorts of help but there is nothing that you or anyone around here can do for him."

"But..." I started to protest again but stopped as Demetri's hands cupped my face and tilting my eyes up to face him.

He blended into the shadows so well. Born a thief and raised a shoulder, he knows nothing but the shadows. I envied that. What I would give to step into the shadows and loose myself.

His eyes, the only clear aspect of his body that could be distinguished from the shadows, focused on me.

"Listen to me Miss. He has nightmares all the time, we've tried to wake him before but it doesn't end well. He thrash around, and can get violent if we wake him. Better leave him."

"What's wrong with him?"

"He has a tragic past."

"What happened?" I stared at Bertram tossing and turning in his sleeping bag, thrashing his head about violently with small screams escaping as a memory danced across his mind.

"That's not my story to tell."

I nodded and looked down, showing him that I understood and that I was ashamed to have asked.

"Hey," he lifted my face and my gaze back up to met his. "It's okay to be curious Miss. But sometimes it's better to be curious and silent."

I sighed. "Is that what you do?" I asked him but then quickly regretted my words. Wasn't I just doing the opposite of what he just said? Damn my mouth.

"Yes. It's what all of us are trained to do." Demetri gave me a small sad smile and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was about my curiosity and my mouth. "Where we're going, you need to smile and nothing else. If you get too curious or they see the holes in your lies you won't a chance."

I nodded taking in his advice. Smile and look pretty, don't talk and when you have to, say as little as possible.

"Now, go get some sleep. You'll need to be well rested and have your wits about you tomorrow." He smiled encouragingly at me.

I smiled and nodded my head in agreement. "Goodnight Demetri."

He returned my smile. "Goodnight Little Miss."

***

"Oh thank the gods!" Nicolai sighed deeply on a white stallion next to me. "I've never been so bloody happy to see that damn marker."

A three stories high wooden hut stood alone on a wide field of green vegetables that looked like lettuce from a distance. There were no stairs leading up to the top of the building and guards stood watch. In fact, it looked much more like a large bonfire than any other marker than I have been familiar with. But I suppose that was exactly what they were used for, whereas back home our markers were made of stone and maned by a guard that sounded a gong when we were threatened, this one would just be lit up in a large fire that could be seen for miles without a single guard having to stand by.

"Does that mean we're close?" I asked eagerly. All along I could see farmlands scattered with farmers picking the vegetables and turning the dirt ready to plant the winter vegetables. If a marker was here, the palace walls must not be too far away now.

"Yeah not too far now, We'll miss lunch but I bet I can sweet talk the cooks into giving me some bread." Nicolai winked at me making me laugh.

The first thing I saw were the fags: black with a blue griffin. There were three flying from the three highest peaks.

As we rode closer towards the palace I was momentarily mesmerized. I had seen many castles in my life, some made of white stone, some of red stone and others of grey. But never had I seen so much black stone and metal works in one building.

The palace itself was made of a dark grey stone that no doubt started off as black but the sun had bleached it grey of the years. It sat building into the cliff, with the natural caves acting as rooms completed with balconies. While the sea surrounded half of the palace, a wide wall of black stone surrounded the other half with steel plates making it impossible to climb over. Before the walls thousands upon thousands of houses ran littered the ground running down the hill slopes until they were meet with another wall, just as large and just as strongly built as the one closest to the palace.

It was beautiful, but more importantly: It was strong.

I leaned forward and rubbed my horse's - Nippy - neck, encouraging her forward until she rode beside Jonathan.

"Impressive." I said to him.

He was silent, looking forward as if he didn't notice my arrival.

"Why black stone and metal?" I wondered out loud.

He cleared his throat and grabbed a hold of the rope that tied my horse to the back of his saddle. Reaching over he handed my rope to Nicolai. "Keep her at the back of the second company, take her in through the kitchens. Don't be seen." He ordered the young shadow night without a second glance at me.

I turned slightly confused to Demetri hoping for some much needed guidance. He only shook his head at me.

I took a deep breath as Nippy was led closer to Nicolai's stallion and he started dropping his pace so that we would fall to the back of the second company of men which just happened to be somewhere in the middle of the small hoard of men.

As the gates opened and the men marched Nicolai quickly broke off from the large gathering as people moved to welcome back loved ones. We walked through a number of back streets off the main road and I looked around curiously. People were just as poor here then they were anywhere else, but yet, there were no rats in the gutters, and no children begging on the streets - older people yes, but not children. I was so used to the sight of beggars during a royal march that I could imagine it as clearly as any other memory. I remembered the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I clung to my mother. I had been as young as they were and yet I had so much. Back then the thought unsettled me but I been too young to comprehend the difference between us.

What had Jonathan done with all the child beggars?

Nicolai stopped his horse and quickly dismounted before coming to stand along side me. "Come on Little Miss." He reached up and grabbed my waist, gently dragging me down.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now," He grabbed a hold of our horses. "Pull up the hood and stay close. Try to walk like a man if you can."

I scrunched up my nose and made a face at him. "That's the best advice you have?"

Nicolai shrugged. "Fine, be difficult if you want. Oh and if your horse bits me I'm going to expect compensation."

"I don't have any money remember." I informed him as we started to walk towards a small stable just inside the second wall, closer to the palace.

"You just had to ruin the illusion for me." He shook his head playfully. I could see he was trying to lighten the mood but part of it felt forced as if underneath his jokes and conversation, he was truly nervous.

I kept my head down as we dropped the two horses in the stable with a stable boy and made our way towards the kitchens. I had rarely been into the castle kitchens before at home, only when my brother was ill and having trouble breathing would my mother taken him down into the kitchens and make him sit over a pot of boiling water. I went with him to keep him company but I remembered it as hot, loud and intimidating.

This kitchen was nothing less. The heat hit you as soon as you opened the door. Every stove was burning at high heat as they rushed to prepare dinner for the entire palace. Dishes piled up by a sink and wash maids busily tried to keep up with demand. Cooks shouted at one another, yelling instructions and screaming out when something hot was headed their way.

Nicolai gripped my hand and ducked his head under a pot that a maid was carrying. He stopped half way to grab a loaf of bread off the counter and then rushed me towards a staircase that lead further into the palace.

As we came up onto the main floor of the palace, Nicolai immediately pushed me back until my back hit the wall hard. "Stay against the wall. We have to stick to the shadows. Pick up your feet and whatever you do, don't sneeze." He smiled at the last part and started walking.

I held onto his hand with a tight grip. It was difficult to see in the shadows. The walls that enclosed the walkway weren't walls at all. They were glass - or more appropriately glass that hid us from the view of those walking but allowed us to see through with perfect clarity except for the tint of black on the glass.

"This is amazing." I whispered once I saw there was no one on the other side of the glass.

"Yeah, Jonathan had these installed when he became King. No ones knows about them except him and his Shadow Knights." He whispered his answer. "And now you. You do know he will kill you if you even think about this again."

I nodded even though he had his back to me. "Considerate forgotten." I lied. There was no way I wouldn't spend the rest of the night thinking about these false walls and all they hid.

Once we reached the end of a corridor Nicolai let go of my hand and gently pressed against the glass. Slowly it swiveled allowing for him to quickly flip it around until the passage was covered and we were now standing in the open hallway for all to see.

"Quickly, go through the door and wait. And for your own sake, don't touch anything." He nodded his goodbye and started off down the hall, whistling a careless tune as he put his hands in his pockets.

Not at all conspicuous Nicolai.

I smiled at him and quickly turned the doorknob and entered the room.

The room inside was warm with a fire burning bright in a fireplace carved out of the wall. I recognized the walls of the space inside as the cave walls, rough and rocky from years of decay at the hands of the sea water. On my right a glass wall separated the room from the large balcony that I could see from the outside overlooked the rough seas plummet into the rocks below. Just a few feet from their a large bed stood with white and grey furs and more pillows than one person could possibly need. The floor was the same as the corridor, black pavers, but with a large white rug stretched out to cover the middle of the room. And lastly two armchairs sat in front of the fire with a small round table holding two books.

The room was not as grand as what I might have imagined a King's room to look like, but it was enough.

I pulled off my hood and sat down the edge of the bed feeling at the furs on the bed. A part of me petrified of what was to come. I knew which part that was: Little Miss. But another part, the princess in me, didn't dare tremble from fear. It was a contradicting predicament I found within myself and it made everything that much more confusing.  

***

Monday is going to be my new update day until I run into another writers block moment. I know his chapter was a little boring but things will start happening soon. xx

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