Lissana: The Guardian Princess

Guardian Princess

Lissana woke up to a voice telling her.

"Get up. Something dangerous is approaching."

Without thinking twice, Lissana instinctively stood up and woke Uzziel, who was sleeping deeply beside her.

“Wake up.”

Uzziel turned over and replied.

“It's still early, let me sleep a little longer.”

“Get up now, Uzziel!”

Hearing the urgency in Lissana's voice, Uzziel jumped up and asked her.

“What's happening?”

“Something is approaching, can you feel it?”

Uzziel closed his eyes, used his power to listen to everything around them. There was something strange in that forest, and it was heading towards them at great speed.

“Something is coming, and very fast!”

“And it doesn't seem to be anything good, so get ready.”

Uzziel took his sword and got into a defensive position, Lissana used her silver fire to illuminate the cave and purify whatever was approaching.

When it finally stopped, Lissana saw a very thin, completely black figure at the entrance of the cave, who kept his distance from the silver flames.

“Guardian Princess, I thought it would take longer to see you again.”

He spoke in a dark, cold voice that made her skin crawl.

“Who are you? And how do you know me?”

“We all know you, we've heard of you, the guardian princess who killed our king.”

“I thought they had all been exterminated, I guess there are still some left.”

“There are few of us in this world, but not for long.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You'll soon find out; we'll make sure of that. We won't forget you, guardian princess.”

Lissana launched an attack with her fire flames, but at that moment the creature vanished. Lissana extinguished her silver flames and went after him, Uzziel followed, but they couldn't find him; he had disappeared.

As they walked through the forest, Uzziel remarked.

“I don't understand how that monster was in this forest, they were supposed to have been hunted and destroyed after the war, and it's been many years. How is it that no one mentioned them?”

“It seems they have hidden very well, and they are not the only ones; you heard him, there are more like him hiding out there.”

“I think we should head back home and tell our uncles; they need to know there are still monsters in this world.”

Lissana didn't want to return yet; her journey had just started, and it had taken a lot of courage to leave. Going back wouldn't change anything, as she didn't know where those monsters were hiding either; that one had appeared in the forest, but she doubted it was still there.

“Not yet, I can't go back yet; if you want to return, go ahead.”

“But we need to let them know what's happening.”

“And we will; we'll send a message from the nearest town, but we won't go back; it wouldn't change anything anyway.”

“Lissana!”

“We won't get sidetracked anymore; we'll head straight to the elven kingdom. I need to reach the land of the fairies; I can't go home without seeing Tarik.”

Uzziel, seeing the determination in his cousin's eyes, knew that nothing he said would change her mind.

“Alright, but we'll get a few teleportation scrolls in the next town.”

Lissana looked up at the sky and said, “Now I regret not bringing my mount.”

“That wouldn't have been very useful right now.”

Lissana and Uzziel took the entire afternoon to get out of that forest, as the paths were unclear and confusing.

They arrived at a small village that was bustling despite the day coming to an end.

Uzziel approached a young woman, who couldn't take her eyes off him, and asked about the nearest tavern.

“There's only one tavern; it's a few streets from here.”

She replied while casting flirtatious glances at Uzziel.

“Is there an inn?”

“Yes, the innkeeper manages it, so it's a bit noisy. If you're looking for a place to spend the night, I could host you at my house.”

Uzziel took the young woman's hand, kissed the back of it, and with a gentle smile, said.

“I appreciate your invitation, beautiful lady, but I'm not alone.”

He replied while pointing to Lissana.

The girl sighed in disappointment at the response she received.

“What a shame.”

Uzziel returned to his cousin, and when they had moved far enough away from the girl, she said to him.

“Don't you think you went a bit overboard?”

“I was just being friendly.”

“Never mind.”

When they got to the inn, Uzziel talked to the owner, and after their conversation, the owner called a young man from the kitchen.

“Nil, come out.”

The young man who came out of the kitchen with flour-covered clothes seemed to be around twenty, tall and slim, with light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

The innkeeper told him.

“He will deliver your message.”

Uzziel knew that often members of the information guild had other occupations, so he wasn't surprised that he also worked in the kitchen.

“I'm part of the family, I need some things.”

All those who were members of the information guild had been told to help anyone who said they were part of the family, so he didn't ask any questions about his identity and just said.

“What can I do for you?”

Uzziel kept glancing at the innkeeper, waiting for him to catch on that they wanted to talk privately, and when he didn't, Uzziel said.

“We can talk over there.”

He pointed to the table in the corner of the tavern where Lissana had sat.

“Of course.”

The young man was captivated by Lissana's beauty—her dark brown hair, fair skin, and golden eyes like an eagle's, eyes in which he felt ensnared.

“Are you listening or not?”

Nil turned his gaze away from Lissana to focus on the conversation.

“What did you say?”

“I asked if you have any teleportation scrolls; we need a few.”

Teleportation scrolls were very expensive, so ordinary people couldn't afford them, but members of the information guild always had a few, as they were necessary to deliver information as quickly as possible.

“Yes, I have a few, but I need some for delivering information, so I can only spare two.”

“The two scrolls would be enough to get them to the city of Farell, where their grandfather was.”

“They will be enough.”

Nil asked, “Lar mentioned delivering a message; where should I take it?”

Lissana joined the conversation saying.

“You must take it to the royal palace; the message is for the King and Queen.”

Nil raised an eyebrow; although they were part of the famous information guild of Farell, he doubted they would even let him through the gates.

“I can deliver the message, but I doubt they'll even let me through the gates.”

“Don't worry about that, just tell the guards it's an urgent message from Lissana, and they'll let you into the palace without any issues.”

Upon hearing her name, Lissana, Nil realized who she was—the crown princess. Questions about what a princess was doing in that place flooded his mind, but he didn't voice any of them.

“How urgent is the message?”

He asked as he turned his attention back to Uzziel.

“Very urgent, I'd appreciate it if you could deliver our message as soon as possible, as Lissana said, it's urgent.”

“It's already late today, I'll leave tomorrow morning.”

Uzziel knew that traveling at night was a bad idea, especially since they didn't know if there were still monsters out there.

“That's fine, we'll write the letter, could you get us some paper and a pen?”

“Give me a moment, I'll bring them now.”

Nil got up from the table and returned to the kitchen. Once alone, Uzziel said to her.

“It seems I'm not the only one who catches people's attention, that boy couldn't take his eyes off you.”

“Don't say nonsense, Uzziel.”

“It's not nonsense, it's true that I attract attention wherever I go, but you do too. Even though I don't see you as a woman, I recognize that you're beautiful, you resemble Aunt Abril a lot.”

Lissana knew she was beautiful, but she doubted she resembled her mother; she was so beautiful that sometimes she wondered why she had only inherited her eyes, golden like the sun.

“I don't look like her.”

“I think you do.”

Lissana was about to argue again when Nil returned, placing a small wooden box on the table containing the teleportation scrolls and some sheets of paper with a pen and inkwell.

“I must return to the kitchen, so let me know when you've finished writing the letter. The scrolls are in the box; you can keep it.”

“Thank you very much.”

“You're welcome.”

Nil replied, while casting some nervous glances at Lissana and starting to walk away quickly.