Theroutine was similar to home, but my father’s soldiers had always kept me at arm’s length.They’dalways been too wary of a princess amongst them to get comfortable.I’dfucked most of them, but that had never meant anything.Theyfeared my father, and as my skills had improved over the centuries, they feared me as well.Nothingmade men more uncomfortable than a woman who couldn’t be controlled.Well, at least that is whatI’dthought.Here, it was different.Ialmost felt likeIwas one of them.Somuch so, thatIhadn’t even tried to pursue a single one of them.
Avlyn, it turned out, was the most obnoxious of the bunch, always standing on tables, recounting stories of all their heroics and, much more amusingly, their failures.
“So, it’s the middle of the night, see, andNokihere is supposed to be keeping watch.Butthis bastard had stayed up all night the night before, losing at cards at some shitty tavern.”
Theywaved their hand atNokiaccusingly, “Hey, in my defense, the bartender saidIcouldn’t lose.”
“Youjust thought he was pretty.”
“No,Ithought he was verrrrry pretty.”Hisseatmates jostled him as they all laughed.
“LikeIsaid,Nokiwas being an idiot, so he fell asleep on watch.Iwake up to him snoring, soIgo out to lay into him and find it’s not him snoring at all, but an enormous hellcat who has gotten into our food stores and passed out.Igo to sneak up on the thing, butIfucking trip overWatchmanSnoozeover here.Scareeveryone awake.Idon’t know who screamed louder, the beast orNoki.Butthat thing’s tail fluffed up like a goddamn housecat and booked it beforeIcould lay intohimfor eating all my sausages.”Everyonewas laughing now, myself included.Avlyn’seyes twinkled as they looked down at me, “Toobad you weren’t there,Princess, you probably could have had the thing eating out of your hand.”Imade a rude gesture atAvlyn, but we both laughed.Kaleosprodded me in the ribs, “Yeah, we all know how these beasts really fancy our princess here.”Weall laughed, and it was easy.
Butas the afternoons crept on, no matter how many booksIread, or guarded walksItook around the castle to explore, the darkness would always creep back in, like the tendrils of theLeviathanitself, coming to pull me down into the deep.Thiswasn’t my home and guilt about how easyIfound the mornings ate at me.Ishould have been doing more.Workingharder to plan an escape, working to find more information about whereJunwas, what had become ofNiata.Memoriesof blood coated my dreams, andIcould find no respite there.
Irarely slept well, and tonight was no exception.Ihad dreamed of thick red blood running down the marble-white sides of theNiatanpalace, andIheard my mother and father screaming to saveJun, to take anyone butJun, whileIstood still, unable to move.Iawoke, my hair plastered to my face with sweat, my jaw aching from grinding my teeth.
Ihad to get toJun.Mystay in theDragonKingdomcould almost be considered pleasant— almost.ButJunhad been taken byHadeonhimself, andIremembered the look in his eye when he had pulledJunup to the dais.Likea snake, coiled to strike and swallowJunwhole.
Iscrambled from my bed and tried to pry open all my windows again.Ihad tried the first few nights, hoping that by switching my room, they might have forgotten that detail.Theyhadn’t.Butmy mother’s screams still rang in my ears, andIpried at the frames, until one of my nails broke, bleeding freely.Imuffed my aggravated yelp.Ilistened, but neither of the guards outside my door moved, so they must not have heard.
Istomped to my washroom to clean up my hand.Thenail had already regrown.Themoon was full, and light shone through the tiny window inside the shower stall.
Mybreath caught.Thewindow was small and high up but was likely just large enough for me to wiggle through, andIhadn’t tested it.Myhands shook asIpulled in a small end table and used it to hoist myself up to the window.Itopened without resistance.Itwas only designed to open a small amount, butIsnapped off the bar holding it in place easily and was able to swing it wider.
Ipushed my head out, and the frigid night ocean breeze blasted me, but it felt like freedom and was exhilarating.Ilooked and saw my room was on a corner, which wasn’t surprising based on the hallway layout inside.Theremust have been a room nearby, maybeIcould reach it and sneak out.Theonly problem wasIwas more than three stories above the rocky cliffs that held the castle and would be climbing in the near dark.Butthat had never stopped me before.
Ipushed my shoulders through the window, and it was tight, but not difficult.Ihooked my hands on the inside ledge of the windowsill and used the leverage there to slowly send my backside and legs out, unfurling along the castle wall until the muscles in my arms screamed.Imanaged to flip one hand, and then the other, turning my stomach to the wall, and found a tiny crack between the bricks thatIcould place my toes on.It’sno different than the sea cliffs back home.Irepeated it to myself a few times untilIalmost believed it.ButIcouldn’t hang there forever, soIstarted to move.Islid my toes along the crack and found tiny but usable holds for my fingers.Ireached the corner of the building and was able to peer around while the wind grabbed my hair.
Inearly yelped with joy.Thenext room over had a balcony, andIwas only a few feet from it.Iscrambled then, basically launching myself over the railing.Thedoors to the room weren’t even locked.Itlooked unused, a fine layer of dust covering everything.Imade my way to the main door and it was locked, but a quick search revealed the key in a vanity.Mostpeople didn’t expect a break-in from the inside of a room.Iunlocked the door and opened it the smallest crackIcould.Noone was in the hall.Iknew my room was around the corner, but the guards weren’t going to change their shift for an hour.
Mygut screamedrun,but for onceIdidn’t listen.Iknew my best shot was to explore, learn more about the castle, and make an escape plan later.Ipressed out of the room as silently asIcould and made my way down the hall.
So,Ispent my days training and my nights exploring the castle.Occasionally, this would be broken up by a gala.Ilearned whatIcould from the nobles, butIfound the conversation to be very similar to those of the court at home.Thatis to say, shallow and almost completely worthless.
EachnightIclimbed from my window and returned the same way before dawn broke.Imapped the castle, both its main halls and its secret servants’ passages, and every night the thrill of sneaking gave me the taste of freedomIneeded to quell the guilt in my heart, at least a little bit.Ieven found a massive library, and on most nightsIwent there to read from some ancient tome.Imemorized the route through the mountains fromXyrtoKoronon massive maps, planning the routeIwould take and whereIcould stop.Itried to read aboutHadeonand his magic, but everything was basically a love letter to our esteemed hero, and none of it was useful whatsoever.
Butstill,Icontinued planning, only daring to write the tiniest scraps of information in a small notebookIhadacquiredone night in the library, lest anyone discover it.Buteach stroke of my pen was a defiance, a small piece of myself that was still free.Jun,Iwas coming for you.
Chapter19
Tori
Mycohort was obviously one of the more advanced groups of soldiers, and as such they had more duties around the city.Theirafternoons were often spent out on guard runs.Niatahad a very small army, so most of the lords had taken up small private bands of mercenaries to patrol their lands.Butin truth, these bands were used more to police their own people than protect them.Ihad visited a few estates where the intimidation had been so blatant that the people rarely left their houses outside their working hours.
Ihated to admit thatIhad come to truly enjoy the company of my cohort, soIhated to think of them out in the city, stalking the citizens, for they were truly an intimidating force.Idid my best not to think about it.Thatwas until one day when it was my turn.
“I’mtired of having you mope around the castle all afternoon,Princess,”Avlynhad declared. “Besides, what better way to have you out and about than with seven burly escorts.”Itseemed that guard runs were performed in groups of eight, andIcounted as one of them, exceptIwasn’t given a weapon.
Butafter our rowdy lunch,Kaleos,Noki,Raula, andIjoined the others and made our way out of the castle.Wemarched around the outer wall that bordered the rolling green fields of theDragonKingdom.Icould see the edge of the cliff that dropped off into the bay where we trained every day and the rolling ocean beyond.Wemarched two by two, andIwas paired withNoki.Ittook all of five minutes for him to start complaining.
“Ugh, wall duty is so boring!Nothingis ever out here, why do we even bother?”
Raula, ever the orc, quipped back, “Thoseare the orders, and we follow them.”
“Bah, don’t act like you don’t get bored out here too.Let’shead into the city, much more entertaining there.”Mystomach sank.
RaulaandNokibickered for a bit longer, andIdid my best to calm my mind, staring out at the mist and waves of theShadowedSea.Icouldn’t bear the thought of acting the enforcer with them, seeing that side of them.
