Chapter Edge of Blackmoor
869 Words
By dawn, the rain had finally stopped.
The world looked washed clean.
Seraphina felt anything but.
Every muscle in her body ached as she and Elara followed a narrow game trail through the foothills north of the capital. Mud clung to their boots. Their clothes were torn. Sleep had become a distant memory.
And for the first time in her life, no one knew where the princess was.
The thought should have terrified her.
Instead it felt strangely freeing.
Until she remembered the assassins.
Until she remembered Cedric standing in the rain.
Until she remembered Captain Rowan collapsing with a crossbow bolt through his chest.
Then the freedom vanished.
Leaving only reality.
"You haven't said anything for an hour."
Elara's voice broke the silence.
Seraphina glanced sideways.
Her friend looked exhausted.
So did she.
"I'm thinking."
"Dangerous hobby."
A faint smile tugged at Seraphina's lips.
Then disappeared.
Because the question she couldn't stop asking had only one answer.
"Someone betrayed us."
Elara's steps faltered.
The reaction was small.
Almost invisible.
But Seraphina noticed.
She always noticed.
"Someone knew where I was."
"Cedric has spies."
"Not in the archives."
Silence.
The trail wound upward through dense forest.
Birds sang somewhere overhead.
The peaceful sounds felt wrong after the nightmare of the previous night.
Seraphina stopped walking.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Elara turned.
"What?"
The princess studied her friend.
The woman she'd known since childhood.
The woman who'd laughed with her, cried with her, stood beside her through every royal obligation and lonely year.
And yet...
Something felt wrong.
Not enough to accuse.
Not enough to condemn.
Just enough to question.
Who had known about the archives?
Who had known about the documents?
Who had known where Seraphina would be last night?
The list was very short.
Too short.
Elara's face tightened.
"Don't."
The words were barely above a whisper.
Seraphina's stomach dropped.
Because innocent people usually asked why.
Only guilty people asked not to be questioned.
A crack echoed through the forest.
Both women froze.
Not a branch.
A crossbow.
Seraphina moved instantly.
Years of training took over.
She tackled Elara sideways.
A bolt sliced through the air where they'd been standing.
Another struck a tree.
Then another.
"Down!"
Voices erupted from the woods around them.
Men.
Several.
Closing in.
The assassins had found them.
"No," Elara whispered.
Fear filled her voice.
Real fear.
Seraphina grabbed her arm.
"We have to move."
They ran.
The forest exploded into chaos.
Branches whipped at their faces.
Crossbow bolts buried themselves into trees around them.
The assassins weren't trying to capture them anymore.
They were trying to kill them.
Which meant something had changed.
Or someone had given new orders.
Ahead, the ground dropped sharply.
A cliff.
Seraphina skidded to a stop.
Below stretched a narrow river cutting through a rocky gorge.
The fall wasn't impossible.
But it wasn't safe either.
Voices approached rapidly behind them.
Too close.
Too many.
They were trapped.
For one terrible moment, Seraphina thought it was over.
Then a howl split the morning air.
Everything stopped.
The assassins.
The birds.
Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
Another howl followed.
Closer.
Much closer.
A chill ran through Seraphina.
Not fear.
Instinct.
The sound felt ancient.
Wild.
Powerful.
The assassins clearly recognized it.
Because panic flashed across their faces.
One man actually stepped backward.
"No."
Another cursed.
"We're too close."
Too close to what?
A third howl answered from somewhere deeper in the mountains.
Then a fourth.
The forest suddenly felt crowded.
Watching.
Alive.
The lead assassin drew his sword.
Not toward Seraphina.
Toward the trees.
That frightened her more than anything.
Because these were men who had stormed a royal palace.
And they looked terrified.
Movement flickered between the pines.
Fast.
Impossible.
A shadow.
Then another.
The assassins tightened formation immediately.
Weapons raised.
Breathing hard.
One whispered a prayer.
The first scream came seconds later.
A man vanished.
Simply gone.
Dragged into the trees so quickly Seraphina barely saw it happen.
The forest erupted.
Panic.
Shouting.
Steel.
Blood.
Something crashed through the undergrowth.
Large.
Fast.
Deadly.
Another assassin screamed.
Then silence.
Heavy.
Sudden.
Terrifying silence.
The remaining men backed away slowly.
Eyes fixed on the trees.
Waiting.
Hunting.
Afraid.
And then he appeared.
A man stepped from the forest.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dressed in dark leather.
A scar crossed his throat.
Golden eyes locked onto the assassins.
Predatory.
Unforgiving.
Dangerous.
He wasn't alone.
Three more figures emerged from the shadows behind him.
One silver-eyed and cold.
One smirking despite the blood on his hands.
One massive enough to block the sunlight.
The assassins went pale.
The golden-eyed man looked at them once.
Then spoke.
His voice was calm.
Deadly calm.
"You brought crown business into Blackmoor."
The lead assassin swallowed.
"We're leaving."
"No."
The single word felt like a death sentence.
Then the rogue's gaze shifted.
Past the assassins.
Past the blood.
Past the chaos.
Directly to Seraphina.
For one impossible second, the entire world seemed to stop.
His eyes narrowed.
Not in recognition.
In surprise.
Like he hadn't expected to find her here.
Like fate had just changed the rules.
And somehow...
Seraphina had the terrifying feeling that meeting this man was going to alter the course of her life forever.
- Writer
