Through the Storms

CHAPTER FIVE Compared to Keon, Beolyn was a small country at the border of the Realm. Arya knew at once that one couldn’t get lost easily in this place. She felt the band on her hair loosen and soon enough the band came off. Arya noticed the cliff ahead in time and quickly grabbed the reins of her horse. Midnight stopped right on cue. She was breathing hard from the rough ride she just had but she knew she enjoyed it. That feeling of freedom and careless abandonment. Nick approached Arya as soon as she stepped down to give Midnight some time to catch his breath. He had a worried look on his face. He said something she didn’t catch and Arya stared up at him from where he was sitting. She blinked her eyes rapidly when she caught his gaze and couldn’t help noticing how handsome he looked once again. She had anticipated this ride and didn’t take a close look at Nick earlier. His brown curly hair was nearly falling across his eyes and it looked good on him. Almost giving a dangerous look though. His grey eyes looked piercingly at her and she felt queasy. She climbed her horse and looked back at Nick questioningly. “It’s dangerous out here, my Princess. You shouldn’t run off on your own again” Nick said with a solemn look on his face. Arya rolled her eyes and trudged off with Nick following close behind. NICK’S POV When the princess suddenly took off with tremendous speed, I felt stunned that a princess would do that. For a princess, she sure wasn’t behaving like one and it suddenly struck me that Arya wasn’t just any princess. Rumors had it that the princess performed all the duties a prince would do. Why King Aurthur would let her do that was beyond me. He knew too well that princesses were never allowed to participate fully in the politics of the realm and he wondered how the king of Keon had let his daughter do all that without anyone truly finding out the truth. He didn’t know if it was true or not but if it was, then Arya and her father had something that needed digging up. These thoughts ran through my mind rapidly before I climbed my horse and followed Arya. The end of the road she took ended off with a cliff and piles of stone underneath. If she fell off the cliff, she would die and he didn’t want that. Worse still Arya was going at a very high speed. Midnight liked such riders. His owner had been like this too and it had been long he took a ride. I felt my heartbeat increase as Arya neared the edge of the cliff. Even if I shouted she wouldn’t hear because the wind was blowing and the damn princess was too interested in riding to pay attention to her surroundings. She stopped abruptly and I heaved a sigh of relief when she did that. For some reason I didn’t know, I felt really protective with Arya and didn’t want any harm to come to her. I wanted to appear stern with her and cursed under my breath when I found it difficult to control myself. Arya looked unperturbed as she stood beside Midnight and tried to catch her breath. If Arya was what rumors said she was, then there was barely a need to be bothered. I couldn’t take any risks with some unfound rumors I had heard. Arya was staring at me and it seemed she had blanked out. I squinted my eyes and stared directly into her eyes. If Heather was here right now, he would knock my head from behind and swear at me for staring directly at a royal like this. When the princess got herself, she quietly climbed her horse and turned back to look at me. That was when I told her how dangerous it was to be moving out here with careless abandon. She didn’t say a word and rode off at a slower pace this time. I followed close behind and tried to make a conversation with her. ARYA’S POV Nick was following behind again. He looked stern when he said something about Beolyn being dangerous. I could protect myself but I doubt if he knew that. I heaved a sigh of relief when I thought of the cliff that was behind me and how I nearly fell of it with a horse I had ridden for the first time. Nick broke the silence with a question, “How do you view Beolyn?” I wondered why he asked what I thought of this place and didn’t even know what answer to give him decided to tell him exactly what came to mind. “I have no answer to that, your majesty. I’ve only been here a few days and can’t exactly decide that yet.” Nick was beside me now and he nodded his head in affirmation said no more. He asked that we hurried back and we rode back in silence. I was back again. Into this strange place that seemed drab and dreary. Diane was waiting for me when we got back. From the looks of it, she was going to be my new maid here. Father had never allowed me to make friends with any of the maids back at home and due to that, my maids were changed on a weekly basis which made it hard to make anyone of them my friends. The only person I could call friend was the jolly fat cook who had worked for my father since I was a kid, her name’s Sara. To me, she was the mother I never had. My mother died when I was young. So when other royals were learning how to be ladylike I whiled my time away with the cook and learning swordsmanship with the warriors who were willing to teach me. When I turned sixteen, father started my lessons in earnest. Lessons I skipped whenever I got the chance to because it bored me to listen to the teachers. Most of them were old and couldn’t handle a mischievous girl like me. It took five years for me to learn all I needed to learn. It would have taken a shorter time if I was serious at the beginning. I only became serious when father hinted about me inheriting his throne. Little did I know it was just a ploy to prepare me for marriage to a king I heard about. I didn’t even know his name until I got here. Funny as it sounded this were some of the happenings in my life. They were still a few things father had hidden from me. He promised to reveal the things I didn’t know. I wondered what I didn’t know though.