I'm not interested in being easy on the eyes,
I want them to flinch, think twice before they reach out their callous hands to brush. I want to be a constant reminder to men that not everything is theirs for the taking.
- Unknown

-----❅-----

- Victorine -

-----❅-----

We flew for hours. I noticed that we did not fly exactly to the direction where it was best to cross the river in order to stay in flight line as much as possible and not lose time, even though I had plotted the point to Nicolas. Apparently he had a different plan.

The sun was hot and unmerciful in the cloudless sky. I was sweating under my armor and helmet, yet I did not want to undress. This way I was protected from a sudden attack and sunburn. The others did the same. Only Orestes had taken off his helmet and was grinning good-humoredly. Stupid idiot.

Except for a few breaks that I used to relieve myself in the woods, I had no choice but to sit, sweat and look around. At those times, it was always hard not to think about my loss and worry for Crescentia.

You can't run away from grief and fear. Never could I have left them in Spero. They accompanied me since the first step of my journey and would accompany me until the very end. My grief even until the end of my life.

After an eternity, I saw a small kingdom in the distance, towards which we were heading. An uneasy feeling came over me and I blinked over at Nicolas. I had not received a warm welcome in the last kingdom.

When we landed at the village gates, I immediately unpacked my map. Nicolas strolled past me and pointed out the spot we were at as we passed. "Kingdom of Gloria." It was so small or new that it wasn't on the map.

Finally, we took our luggage and watched as the dragons flew in the direction of the woods. Deidamia and I took our time saying goodbye, although it made the others impatient.

Nicolas led the way. Since he hadn't taken off his helmet, we didn't either, which caused an alarming feeling in me. The village was small and the people lived in poor conditions. Most of them seemed to be hiding from us. Arriving at the castle wall, Nicolas was talking with two castle guards. I saw that some parts of the building were under reconstruction or expansion.

The gates of the castle were opened to us and we entered the entrance hall.

"King Nicolas Talesin Artemas of Cadwallader," spoke a thick-set man as he descended the steps toward us. "What do you think of my choice of marble flooring? It was the most brilliant material that could have been found." As the man stepped closer I saw his greasy hair, round face and matching nose. He was also quite short, though he wore heeled shoes.

Nicolas took off his helmet, whereupon we did the same. "King Archelaus Wolstan Tresillian of Melancthon," he said in his always deep, firm voice. "We seek a night in your abode and a supper so that I may discuss a scheme with you." As expected, he wasted no time in responding to the other king's ridiculous question regarding his ground.

"How fitting that I just had my castle expanded. But that will all come at a cost, I'm afraid," Archelaus commented, running a hand over his dark beard.

Castle? Had this man ever seen a real castle?

"Of course. I will send a writing to Sanguis today so that your payment will be sent," Nicolas settled the business further.

"Wonderful. Servants, show our guests to their rooms."

Thus we were each shown to a small room. As always, I memorized the way to the castle's exit and paid attention to every detail.

The bed was large and dressed with an expensive looking bedspread, but when I sat down the mattress was hard and the frame squeaked. The closet was made of beautiful wood, but there was dust in it.

Unheedingly, I washed and changed my clothes. Then I lay down on the bed with a sigh and closed my eyes. When there was a knock on my door only seconds later, I startled. It had become a little darker outside. How long had I been dozing off?

"Dinner," Orestes said unkindly as I opened the door.

"Well?", I asked, because he was still standing in place.

"I'm supposed to keep an eye on you," Blondie explained to me in a bad mood, to which I furrowed my eyebrows suspiciously. Why? What was I not supposed to notice? What was I not supposed to do?

Finally, I had no choice but to follow him to the dining room. Here, too, I noticed the little things like in the room. From the outside everything was noble, but in the details one became careless. There was dirt under the huge table and the windows had not been cleaned for a long time.

The table order was clear. At the beginning of the table was dry bread with soup and the further you let your eyes wander, the richer and more fancy the dishes were. At the very back I discovered my people, here at the beginning probably sat employees and servants.

"You don't move from my side," Blondie ordered me as he escorted me to our seats. We sat down with our other soldiers and I became puzzled. Where was Nicolas? Or King Archelaus?

While Orestes was stuffing his belly and drinking masses of alcohol I noticed individual servants constantly using the door to the next room. Slowly chewing my meat, I looked around, then made eye contact with a dark-haired woman sitting very far at the head of the table. Finally, I waved her over to me as unobtrusively as possible.

"I offer you my seat here. You can eat anything you want. You just mustn't speak. Always look to your left, cover your face behind your hair."

Orestes was already so drunk that he didn't notice anything of our conversation, nor of our exchange of places. The woman was beaming from ear to ear, eating and behaving exactly as I had instructed her.

Tryphosa stared at me and I hoped she wouldn't raise an alarm. But then I saw a small smile on her face and she turned back to her food.

With my head held high, I walked to the door of the adjoining room, as if I were allowed the entry as a matter of course. As I pushed the handle and entered I could hardly believe my luck, but then I was faced with two grim looking employees.

"What do you want here, woman? Women aren't allowed."

For a moment my breath caught, but then my blood was already pounding in my temples. "First, I command you to speak in an appropriate manner, you are standing before the Royal Highness Victorine Zuleika of Arphaxad of the Kingdom of Spero right now. Now clear the way for me, I seek King Nicolas Talesin Artemas of Cadwallader."

The servants stared dumbly at me and did not move.

"Let her through," I heard Nicolas' deep, unmistakable voice.

The men stepped aside and for the first time I had a glimpse into the room.

It seemed to be the most noble in the whole castle, with glittering chandeliers and golden ornaments. About twelve men were seated at the round table, and four or five chairs were unoccupied. I could feel people staring at me, which is why I took on an even more self-conscious posture. Without another word, I sat down on the vacant chair next to Nicolas and remained silent until the others slowly resumed their conversations. King Archelaus looked at me suspiciously, then at Nicolas, then turned away again.

"You were supposed to stay with Orestes," Nicolas murmured to me, barely looking at me, drinking wine. He sat right next to Archelaus.

"You didn't really think I would listen to him, did you?" I whispered back angrily. What was happening here? What were they discussing here without the other soldiers and me?

But for now, everyone was talking about completely irrelevant things, while I squirmed inside under the gaze of the other men. Time passed, more alcohol was drunk, and the stares grew worse. My fingers clutched my glass so tightly it almost burst.

"Archelaus and I have to leave for a moment, just five minutes. Be polite," Nicolas informed me.

Distraught, I stared at him, not wanting to stay here alone. And I also had to be polite.

He noticed my meaningful look. "If someone gets too pushy, just stab them."

"What do you mean, stab?"

"You know what I mean. Just in a polite way."

His jokes didn't help me.

Stiff as a board, I sat in my chair and watched the two kings walk away. I thought it was likely that Nicolas was to send the writ to Sanguis with the order to send the costs. Or did Nicolas want to discuss our problem with Fluxus Profundum so privately?

A few minutes passed before a drunken man finally sat down next to me and leaned over. He looked quite similar to Archelaus, which is why I concluded that he was the king's son.

His breath stank terribly, which is why I leaned my head back as he spoke. "Princess Victorine, then. Let me introduce myself, I am Prince Andaus," he purred.

"Pleased to meet you, but I'm not in the mood for conversation," I evaded.

"I'm very interesting, I can promise you that much," he babbled on, whereupon I felt his hand on my thigh.

"Don't touch me," I warned.

Andaus laughed softly. "Why so dismissive? You know, I am the prince of this kingdom." His hand continued to slowly move upward.

Breathing calmly, I grasped his hand with my left. His eyes widened as I pressed the pointed blade of one of my daggers against his palm.

"Shh," I whispered, leaning over to him until our cheeks were almost touching. "You don't want to scream out loud or even cry, do you?"

Slowly, the dagger penetrated his skin and I felt blood seep out. His whole body seemed to tense and his breath caught.

"You will now dutifully return to your seat. If you tell your father a word of this, I will slit your throat in the night."

I heard the squeak of a door and resumed my original sitting position. Andaus moved away, holding his injured hand. The two kings settled back into their seats while I wiped my bloody hands and the dagger blade on my napkin.

Nicolas stared at the blade, to which I merely shrugged. "I was very polite about it."

The king looked me expressionlessly in the eyes, then a tiny smirk stole onto his lips. The next moment he became serious again. He leaned over to me and was so close that I could feel the warmth of his breath on my face. "I have discussed our request with him. He knows the right people and is organizing a ship and crew for us."

"That sounds wonderful," I replied in the same covered voice.

His voice lowered to a low whisper. "Yes, but I don't know if he won't let Cephas know about it. He is very greedy for gold as you must have noticed. He might try to sell the information about us."

"I see. How am I supposed to get close enough to him?"

"You met his charming son earlier, didn't you? I'm sure Archelaus would appreciate your interest in him," Nicolas suggested.

Unenthusiastically, I switched places with Nicolas. It had to be done if we were going to be safe. But I would take a slightly more dignified route.

"Honored King Archelaus, would you have a moment?", I politely caught his attention, hoping that I had not made a mistake in interrupting his meal.

In the next moment I realized that he was not interrupting his meal at all, but simply continued to eat and smack his lips while looking at me. "Royal Highness Victorine," was all he meant.

I stared into his eyes. Not only because of my ability, but to not have to see the leftover food in his mouth. "I want to thank you very much for letting us stay with you in this beautiful castle. By the way, I noticed that Gloria is not on my map of the country."

"Oh, that's because I only recently arranged for it to be built."

A dark shadow lay over his mind. Half-truth. There was something behind his words, only what? Annoyed, I noticed how his nauseating smacking distracted me. Focus, Victorine.

"Newly built kingdoms always offer wonderful potential and new enrichment to the land. I could possibly approach my brother, King of Spero, about an alliance," I suggested in a businesslike tone.

"It's worth considering," the king nodded. When we briefly made eye contact, I recognized it. The dark shadow finally broke before my eyes, revealing everything. I felt his piercing fear. Within a split second, I recognized his position.

He shunned all alliances with kingdoms attacked by Cephas. He was afraid of Cephas and therefore had retreated here, built a new kingdom without map registration. Archelaus had no contact with Cephas and never wanted to have it. His fear was greater to him than the desire for gold and wealth.

After finishing the meal and waiting a reasonable time after the meal, Nicolas and I said goodbye to the king and the others. The dining hall of what must have been the 'low class people' according to Archelaus was empty and tidy.

Thoughtfully, I thought back on the situation. It was unfair that the hardest working people got the most meager meal and the villagers were starving outside the castle gates, while the fat Archelaus didn't even stop eating during a conversation.

"We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow," Nicolas spoke into the silence. "Get some rest and have a good night, Highness Victorine."

"You too," I replied, watching him turn off in the other direction. Then I made my way to my room and went to sleep as soon as possible. We really had a busy day ahead of us.

❅

Orestes woke me up the next day. He banged unnecessarily loudly on the door and stared angrily at me when I opened it. I didn't want to know how angry he must have gotten last night because of my trick. After all, it wasn't my fault that he was such a bad chaperone.

The look on his face told me that we weren't going to be friends in this lifetime. Not that I ever had any interest in that.

"Unfortunately, I forgot to wake you up in time, my apologies. We plan to leave in a few moments," he then smiled.

I stifled the insult and inwardly cursed, throwing all my things together. When I finally ran to the village walls, sweating and panting, Blondie grinned at me provocatively. I swallowed my anger and was amused by the idea that he had probably only done this because he must have been so upset with me and himself yesterday.

Wordlessly, everyone got on their dragons. The sun was just rising and an optimistic feeling came over me. Soon we would have crossed Fluxus Profundum and come another big step closer to our goal.

The sun was high in the sky, fighting its way through a gathering cloud cover when we finally arrived.

The ship was the only one docked in the small harbor. It looked neither particularly large nor new. So for our purpose, it was very advantageous.

A young man about my age climbed down from the deck on a hanging ladder and, with the help of other men, set up a thick, sturdy wooden plank for us to climb onto the ship.

"King Nicolas, welcome aboard my beautiful ship Celera," he greeted the king, then surprisingly turned to me. "Royal Highness Victorine, it is a pleasure to meet you. Call me Vane." Friendly, he extended his hand. I returned the unfamiliar gesture and found it authentic, if not quite appropriate. Nevertheless, it did not bother me at all.

Vane had dark blue eyes, like the stormy sea. He wore brown leather trousers and a rather loose white shirt. He must have frantically put his half-length brown hair into a pony tail, because some strands had already come loose and were moving in sync with the wind.

One after the other we entered the ship. I was not seasick, but the shaky ground unsettled me a bit and I already wished for solid ground under my feet again.

"Archelaus told me about you. You really have tough features. I like that," Vane suddenly blabbed out of nowhere.

Astonished, I looked at him and didn't know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. Laugh because he wore such a mischievous grin or cry because I thought of my sister's soft, beautiful face. How I just wanted to hold her in my arms again.

"You don't have much experience dealing with royals?", I surmised with amusement, following him below deck to our cabins.

"No, I've been at sea almost all my life. The land and castle walls are not for me," he explained in a proud tone.

"Here is room for your luggage," he announced loudly a short while after and we put down our bags and numerous weapons, making them clink and clash.

Vane stared at the pile, then turned briskly. As he climbed the steps to the deck, he started another attempt to tame his hair. "Then I wish you a wonderful voyage on the honorable Celera."

We followed him onto the deck. I leaned on the railing and looked down into the deep, choppy water. Then up into the sky, to the dragons above us, and finally to the horizon. A dark blanket of clouds loomed in the distance.

The ship cast off. There was no turning back now.