AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My hand shook, and I nearly dropped the pathetically small bidog. Dyf and Daeary stood next to me like giant body guards, but compared to some of the other competitors, they seemed small.
“What’s your plan?” I asked, my voice shaking.
Dyf looked at me without emotion. “No plan. We will keep you alive as long as possible. Your death would mean ours as well.”
I wanted to curl into a ball and moan. I knew Daeary depended on my life force. But Dyf? That had been a weird statement, one I needed to ask him about. After. If we made it out alive.
“Rise for the mayor of Aelwyd,” boomed a magically enhanced voice from the platform. Obediently, the spectators got to their feet.
The fat man stood up and waited until he had the crowd’s attention. Then he waved his hand, and when he spoke, I could hear him as clearly as if he stood next to me.
“Welcome, brave souls,” the mayor addressed us, his voice dripping with false warmth. “In these trials, you will face challenges that will test your strength, cunning, and loyalty.”
He paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. “Only those who prove themselves worthy will be granted a place in the king’s guard.”
The contestants shuffled, some rocking on their toes and heels, their nervousness infecting us all. The odor of sweat overpowered the smell of fried sweets that wafted from the audience.
“Let the trials begin!”
Chapter thirty
BLEDDYN
Fordays,wehadfollowed Beth’s trail. Every time we had gotten close, she evaded us yet again.
My heart stopped when her track led straight through the territory of a pack of grimalkin. The cats were even more cantankerous as usual.
“Wonder what made them so mad?” Mal commented after we drove off the last of the noxious predators.
“It’s her. She would drive anybody crazy,” I muttered while my heart sang with relief when we found an abandoned camp deep inside the Vale of Shadows.
I did not know who the men with her were, but they did a good job protecting her.
That night, we stayed in an inn a mile away from the town of Aelwyd. I found it hard to sleep. My mind was full of images of the wisp of a girl I had been ordered to arrest and if necessary, kill.
I would rather take my own life before I hurt a hair on her head. Not only because of my feelings for her, but also because I was convinced that she held within her the answer to why our world was dying.
Eventually, I slipped from the narrow bed without waking the former commander. When I lighted a candle at the other side of the room, he rolled over and grumbled, but did not stir any further.
I retrieved the scroll I had taken from the palace, flattening it on the tiny desk. The dim firelight flickered across the ancient parchment, casting eerie shadows over the text.
I traced the brown ink scratches, silently repeating the words of the prophecy. The more I stared at the runes, the more I knew in the deepest corners of my heart that Beth’s appearance in the Fae realm was the reason for Cegid y Bwlch’s specter rising after millenia, threatening Gwerin’s existence.
“Curses,” I whispered under my breath, my fingers curling around the edge of the scroll. What would happen if the people found out about this and made the same connection?
Would they believe Beth to be their savior, or would they jump to the easy conclusion that the Hidden Princess was the reason the ancient evil was returning?
I was so deep in thought, I missed Mal rising from his slumber. When he shuffled to my side, looking over my shoulder, I repressed the urge to hide the text from him.
My companion studied the writing, then moved so he look at me. “What are you going to do?”
My mind raced, but I knew what I had to do. My loyalty to Prince Prys had always been unwavering, but my path was set.
“I need to find Beth.” My voice faltered, betraying my inner turmoil.
“And when you do?”
“I will defend her against any who wish her harm.”
