TBA Prologue
Prologue:
The night air was thick, so much that it felt like she was breathing water. It tasted of death, a sensation that she would have rather spent her whole life without. It felt deathly as well, the smell, feel, and pull of it bringing her low to the ground, as though the murders and lives lost wished to keep her from moving on and following the maniac who led her. She gasped and held back a strangled scream so many times that she lost count, except for the times that the man reached back and clamped his hand over her moth to prevent her from giving their position away. That was worse than the air because then she tasted it. Blood, bile, and gore. Even if they were clean, his hands always seemed to have that lingering odor.
Just keep moving, Princess. You’ll be fine soon.
Those words stuck to the back of her mind and played in her ears like an old chant. He’d tried to get his voice back to the tone and content that he’d possessed when they first set out, when she had trusted that he had her best interests in mind. Back then she didn’t have the capacity to wonder if he was a terrible man, nor would she ever expect such decay to be lingering behind his unnatural violet eyes.
Now she followed him because she knew that the alternative was death…or was he lying about that too? No, it was now that she feared more what he would do if she insisted on getting away or returning to the temple. She had a mission to do, and that was what kept her going. She could never understand what had possessed the Priestess to make this man her escort, but there must have been some sort of motive to allow their prized possession to be accompanied by a madman. Protected by a complete lunatic.
The sound of weapons clashing again in the night and magic scouts around them set her heart pounding hard in her chest again. She clasped her arms around her body tightly and ducked down, just to feel his damned arm close around her arm and drag her back to her feet again. She stumbled along after him, closing her eyes and trusting that his footing was steady. They had found them again, and she could hear everything, the sound of his sword thickly squelching through human flesh and the alarmed cries of the men who were dead as they hit the ground. She could almost feel his smile and feel the full effect of the sick gleam in his eyes. He was remarkably quiet for someone who was having the time of his life, but he didn’t necessarily want to draw any more attention to them so he was being unusually silent.
“You’re not getting away.”
The two of them immediately came to a stop and she finally opened her eyes. She stepped back, alarmed to see the face of the noble who had been pursuing them for days. His very presence had even set them an on edge, and his grip tightened painfully around her arm. The man pulled his arm back, showering the tall grass beside her with something wet and dark that fell, dripping, from the end of his blade.
“To what do I owe this honor? You’ve been following us for days yet you haven’t even consider negotiations…till now. This is the first I think I’ve ever heard you speak.”
There was that tone, the one that had fooled her into thinking that the man could possibly be sane and human. The noble hand his left hand behind his back and on the hilt of the sword that was strapped to his lower waist. She wanted to scream at him to run, but he seemed cautious enough and she feared setting something undoable into motion.
“I thought it would have been easy enough just to mass you with soldiers and get the girl the usual way…but you’ve been remarkably tenacious. I’ve come to try and bargain with you,” the noble remarked. His face was in shadow to her eyes, but she could tell from his tone that he was wearing a forced smile.
“I’ve been entrusted with this damn burden of a princess so I’m afraid that you’re out of luck. Of course, you’re welcome to try but then you might do something you regret.”
Silence stretched between them. This wasn’t an unlikely outcome since he had managed to shake off their pursuit thus far. Clearly, it was a longshot and the man was more than prepared to go to blows.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere or the oppressive aura that the man gave out, but even the noble seemed to hesitate to do more than just stand ready for combat. The man’s sword was still at his side, as he honestly seemed to expect the noble just to move aside and let them pass.
“Then you leave me no choice. I shall have to slay you and take the girl myself,” he finally said. She heard the sharp sound of his silver blade being extracted from its sheath and she held her breath to see how it gleamed with its own light, making the noble seem grand and inescapably pure in contrast to the shadowed, filthy man who held her arm.
“I wouldn’t do that. I’m in a pretty bad mood so I won’t be held accountable for what I’ll do to you…” the man said in a bored tone. His head fell back and his eyes glanced up to the stars. This seemed to somewhat infuriate the man he was supposed to be fighting, and he lifted his blade and charged with a low cry that made her all the more anxious.
“Wh…what are you doing?” she whispered. She pried at his fingers with her free hand, desperate to get away. He was just standing there, looking up at the sky as death with a shining blade ran at him in the dark. He was so close.
“Your choice…” he finally said, closing his eyes and pulling on her with seemingly inhuman force.
She only had a moment to speculate his plan when she suddenly met the shocked green eyes of the noble, a fraction of a second to realize her doom just as the silver blade of their supposed enemy pushed through her chest and out, parting her hair. Endless pain, only accompanied by the feel of another blade passing through her middle and cutting the noble through his stomach.
The world spun around her in a red haze and she thought she heard laughter and horrible burning before she felt her body finally give out.
Hurrah!
1124 / 50000 words. 2% done!
The night air was thick, so much that it felt like she was breathing water. It tasted of death, a sensation that she would have rather spent her whole life without. It felt deathly as well, the smell, feel, and pull of it bringing her low to the ground, as though the murders and lives lost wished to keep her from moving on and following the maniac who led her. She gasped and held back a strangled scream so many times that she lost count, except for the times that the man reached back and clamped his hand over her moth to prevent her from giving their position away. That was worse than the air because then she tasted it. Blood, bile, and gore. Even if they were clean, his hands always seemed to have that lingering odor.
Just keep moving, Princess. You’ll be fine soon.
Those words stuck to the back of her mind and played in her ears like an old chant. He’d tried to get his voice back to the tone and content that he’d possessed when they first set out, when she had trusted that he had her best interests in mind. Back then she didn’t have the capacity to wonder if he was a terrible man, nor would she ever expect such decay to be lingering behind his unnatural violet eyes.
Now she followed him because she knew that the alternative was death…or was he lying about that too? No, it was now that she feared more what he would do if she insisted on getting away or returning to the temple. She had a mission to do, and that was what kept her going. She could never understand what had possessed the Priestess to make this man her escort, but there must have been some sort of motive to allow their prized possession to be accompanied by a madman. Protected by a complete lunatic.
The sound of weapons clashing again in the night and magic scouts around them set her heart pounding hard in her chest again. She clasped her arms around her body tightly and ducked down, just to feel his damned arm close around her arm and drag her back to her feet again. She stumbled along after him, closing her eyes and trusting that his footing was steady. They had found them again, and she could hear everything, the sound of his sword thickly squelching through human flesh and the alarmed cries of the men who were dead as they hit the ground. She could almost feel his smile and feel the full effect of the sick gleam in his eyes. He was remarkably quiet for someone who was having the time of his life, but he didn’t necessarily want to draw any more attention to them so he was being unusually silent.
“You’re not getting away.”
The two of them immediately came to a stop and she finally opened her eyes. She stepped back, alarmed to see the face of the noble who had been pursuing them for days. His very presence had even set them an on edge, and his grip tightened painfully around her arm. The man pulled his arm back, showering the tall grass beside her with something wet and dark that fell, dripping, from the end of his blade.
“To what do I owe this honor? You’ve been following us for days yet you haven’t even consider negotiations…till now. This is the first I think I’ve ever heard you speak.”
There was that tone, the one that had fooled her into thinking that the man could possibly be sane and human. The noble hand his left hand behind his back and on the hilt of the sword that was strapped to his lower waist. She wanted to scream at him to run, but he seemed cautious enough and she feared setting something undoable into motion.
“I thought it would have been easy enough just to mass you with soldiers and get the girl the usual way…but you’ve been remarkably tenacious. I’ve come to try and bargain with you,” the noble remarked. His face was in shadow to her eyes, but she could tell from his tone that he was wearing a forced smile.
“I’ve been entrusted with this damn burden of a princess so I’m afraid that you’re out of luck. Of course, you’re welcome to try but then you might do something you regret.”
Silence stretched between them. This wasn’t an unlikely outcome since he had managed to shake off their pursuit thus far. Clearly, it was a longshot and the man was more than prepared to go to blows.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere or the oppressive aura that the man gave out, but even the noble seemed to hesitate to do more than just stand ready for combat. The man’s sword was still at his side, as he honestly seemed to expect the noble just to move aside and let them pass.
“Then you leave me no choice. I shall have to slay you and take the girl myself,” he finally said. She heard the sharp sound of his silver blade being extracted from its sheath and she held her breath to see how it gleamed with its own light, making the noble seem grand and inescapably pure in contrast to the shadowed, filthy man who held her arm.
“I wouldn’t do that. I’m in a pretty bad mood so I won’t be held accountable for what I’ll do to you…” the man said in a bored tone. His head fell back and his eyes glanced up to the stars. This seemed to somewhat infuriate the man he was supposed to be fighting, and he lifted his blade and charged with a low cry that made her all the more anxious.
“Wh…what are you doing?” she whispered. She pried at his fingers with her free hand, desperate to get away. He was just standing there, looking up at the sky as death with a shining blade ran at him in the dark. He was so close.
“Your choice…” he finally said, closing his eyes and pulling on her with seemingly inhuman force.
She only had a moment to speculate his plan when she suddenly met the shocked green eyes of the noble, a fraction of a second to realize her doom just as the silver blade of their supposed enemy pushed through her chest and out, parting her hair. Endless pain, only accompanied by the feel of another blade passing through her middle and cutting the noble through his stomach.
The world spun around her in a red haze and she thought she heard laughter and horrible burning before she felt her body finally give out.
Hurrah!
1124 / 50000 words. 2% done!