"Has the princess been found yet?" Valric's voice sounded calm as he sat on the throne, his wavy jet-black hair; falling past his waist.His icy blue eyes piercing the guards around him with fear.
One of his guards spoke up "we didn't …. but we did manage to kill the prince".
Valric cut him off.
"I didn't ask whether or not you did your job right. It should be a given that you killed him, what I want is to know whether the princess has been found!. " Valric's sharp voice held venom.
"Uh….well the prince gave her an open window to run and-"
"So what I'm hearing, is that you all are incompetent and let her get away?…is that it?." Valric wore a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"We…tried to…but we lost sight of her." The guard explained, he was trembling.
Valric calmly got up from the throne,taking deliberate slow steps until reaching the guard.
"You all tried…but simply trying isn't enough." In one swift movement, Valric raised his hand, touching the guard's shoulder. The moment Valric touched the guard, Valric's powers activated and the guard let out a choked scream as his soul was instantly absorbed. Until the now withered dried up body of the guard dropped to the floor, did Valric let go.
Valric's fake earlier smile dropped, replaced with an annoyed disgusted expression.
"See what I'm forced to do? He didn't have to die if all of you had done your job right, but I am quite merciful aren't I? So I will give you all one last chance….bring her to me, alive. By all means bring her back…kill those around her if you must, I could care less but I want her." Valric returned to the throne and waved his hand, dismissing all the remaining guards but his closest one.
Valric twirled a strand of his hair, seeming bored as he spoke to his guard.
"Thorne, Hire some assassins too…only one guard managed to get away. Erydor…he must be with Luelle, I want him dead".
His guard, a tall, muscular elf with a missing eye nodded.
"Oh brother Arionthar….such a shame you died before witnessing your son die, I would've loved to see what your face would've looked like…It's all your fault, you know? If you had willingly handed over the throne; I might've taken pity on you and your firstborn" Valric smiled at the bloody headless body of his brother, a few feet away from the throne.
Luelle felt exhausted, she had been walking for almost 6 hours, being a princess. That was the most she had walked in one day. Arydor however seemed fine;to be expected, he had trained for centuries so walking this much didn't phase him. Every now and then, they would spot the occasional fairy or gnome. They seemed wary of Erydor but not Luelle, in fact the fairies seemed drawn to her.
As Luelle walked alongside Erydor. Out of her peripheral vision, Luelle saw a flicker of sparkle pass by, making her eyes widened. Then a small fairy with blue hair and a dress that seemed to be made of water, floated near Luelle's shoulder.
Luelle seemed amazed, she had never been in close proximity with a fairy before. The fairy started making chirping noises which made Luelle stare with curiosity. Luelle smiled, however the next second Luelle's smiled faltered as Erydor flicked the fairy with his finger, sending the fairy tumbling away with a loud chirping sound.
Luelle gasped "Erydor! Why'd you do that??"
"I don't trust fairies, they seem friendly but they're mischievous little creatures…. Not to mention how annoying that chirping sound is " Erydor didn't seem guilty over flicking the poor fairy, sending her flying who knows where to.
In Luelle's mind, she finally understood why the past few creatures they've run into. Have looked afraid of Erydor. Scary guy indeed. No wonder he had no mate.
"Where are we even headed to?" Luelle asked. Genuinely curious.
"A small hidden village, far far away from here,you'll be safe there. The village I was born in." Erydor seemed happy.
Luelle's ears twitched with interest. " That's where you go every 2 years, right?"
"Correct princess, I have two younger sisters who live there." He said.
"Don't call me that…princess, we'll live in hiding, correct? Just call me Lue…." Lue was actually the nickname Terry used for Luelle.
"Very well…Lue" Erydor seemed to be thinking.
"Listen Lue…if it's alright with you… I would like to take you in as a daughter." Erydor stopped walking and looked directly at Luelle, whatever her answer would be, Erydor would be okay with it. He couldn't bring his dead best friend to life, so the best thing he could do was protect his friend's daughter as he promised, she needed a family and he would be her family.
Luelle froze for a moment but she didn't seem against the idea, in fact she had to look away because flashes of her family came back. "As of now ... .you're the last closest thing I have to a family. I….agree"
Another hour passed and Luelle couldn't take it anymore. "Are we there yet?"
"Not even close "Erydor answered
Luelle's tummy suddenly growled quite loudly, instead of telling Erydor, she decided to look for something to eat herself.
By the time Erydor looked behind him, Luelle was nowhere in sight, she had wandered off the path.
Luelle followed the sound of fast-flowing water, as she kept walking the sound just kept getting louder and louder. She eventually found a stream, she was about to get closer but stopped as she spotted a white horse on the other side of the stream, it was beautiful. With long silver wavy hairs and a pointy horn….horn? Oh no that was a unicorn!.
It's fine, as long as it did not see her;she'd be fine!.
Is what Luelle thought as she took a step back, but the snap of a twig gave her away. She had stepped on a twig. The unicorn raised its head, its eyes landing directly onto her, water dripping down its mouth.
This was it ... .that unicorn would run across the stream faster than she could blink, pierce Luelle's body with its horn; and her insides would go flying everywhere.
Luelle stupidly closed her eyes and raised her hands in front of her, as if that would stop a unicorn. However…nothing. Nothing happened. Luelle cautiously opened her, which to her surprise, the unicorn was already gone.
"Huh…perhaps those stories about unicorns were exaggerated?" She sighed in relief , And after a moment, she approached the stream.
Luelle had never directly drank from a stream before, her maids always got her water and everything she wanted.
"This surely won't kill me" if that unicorn had drank from it, it should be okay, right?.
Luelle was too thirsty to think about it twice, she knelt down and used her hands to pick up water. She kept drinking and drinking, she had been quite thirsty. At some point she submerged her head into the water and pulled back gasping.
As she chuckled to herself, she hadn't realized someone was stepping closer and closer behind her.
The next second she let out a terrified loud scream, as she felt someone touch her shoulder.
Luelle lost her balance and was about to fall into the water before the hand grasped her, it was Erydor.
"Don't wander off like that, you could get lost" Erydor scolded.
"I was thirsty". She grumbled, still shaken up.
"Are you hungry?" Erydor asked as he pulled out some edible berries.
"A lot," Luelle answered as she held her hand out.
After they ate. Erydor found a good spot for them to sleep. After all that walking, Luelle fell asleep right away. Erydor watched over her. Erydor was used to not needing much sleep. Throughout the night, he noticed Luelle was tossing quite a lot, possibly nightmares. He felt ... .pity for her.
"It'll be okay Lue…. I'll make sure no harm comes to you" He whispered as he let out a tired sigh.