Chapter 4 The gate beyond the kingdom
835 Words
Fear lasted exactly three seconds.
Then training took over.
Seraphina had been raised in a palace, but she had also been raised as the future ruler of a kingdom. She knew how to ride, fight, negotiate, and survive long enough to reach safety.
What she had never expected was needing those skills against her own people.
The masked assassin stood between them and the only escape route.
Rain streamed from the edge of his hood.
His sword remained pointed toward the ground.
Relaxed.
Confident.
Like he wasn't facing two desperate women.
Like he was facing two inevitable prisoners.
"I don't want to hurt you, Princess."
His voice was surprisingly young.
Not much older than thirty.
The calmness unsettled her.
"You should have considered that before trying to kidnap me."
The assassin laughed softly.
"You still think I'm the villain."
A strange answer.
Seraphina tightened her grip on the second dagger hidden beneath her cloak.
"You work for Cedric."
"No."
That gave her pause.
The assassin tilted his head slightly.
"I work for someone much older than Cedric."
Lightning flashed.
For one brief second she caught a glimpse of silver eyes behind the mask.
Then darkness swallowed them again.
Elara moved closer.
"What does that mean?"
The assassin ignored the question.
His attention remained fixed entirely on Seraphina.
Almost studying her.
Evaluating her.
Like he was comparing her to something he'd heard about.
Then he sighed.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be."
The words had barely left his mouth when movement exploded behind him.
A crossbow bolt shot from the darkness.
The assassin reacted instantly.
Steel flashed.
The bolt shattered against his blade.
But the distraction was enough.
"Run!" a voice shouted.
Seraphina didn't recognize the speaker.
She didn't stop to figure it out.
She grabbed Elara's hand and sprinted toward the old gate.
Another bolt flew from the darkness.
Then another.
The assassin cursed violently.
Someone was attacking him.
Someone was helping them.
The world dissolved into chaos.
Seraphina slammed into the rusted gate.
Locked.
Of course it was locked.
For a brief moment panic threatened.
Then she remembered.
The hidden release.
As children, she'd discovered it by accident.
Her fingers found the loose stone hidden beneath ivy.
Twisted.
Pulled.
A loud metallic click echoed through the storm.
The gate swung inward.
Freedom.
Beyond the opening stretched dark forest.
Wild land.
Unclaimed land.
A place no royal patrol regularly traveled.
A place where the kingdom's control weakened.
Behind her, steel clashed again.
The assassin was fighting someone.
Or several someones.
She couldn't tell.
Didn't care.
"Move!" Elara shouted.
They plunged into the darkness.
Branches slapped against their faces.
Roots threatened every step.
The palace vanished behind them.
For the first time in her life, Princess Seraphina Valen stood beyond the borders of her carefully controlled world.
And she was completely alone.
Hours passed.
Or maybe minutes.
The storm made time meaningless.
They pushed deeper into the forest until neither could run any farther.
Finally, they collapsed beneath a massive pine tree.
Both gasping.
Both soaked.
Both shaking.
Elara laughed first.
A slightly hysterical sound.
"We escaped."
Seraphina looked back toward the distant glow of the capital.
Tiny lights flickered on the horizon.
Home.
Or what she used to think was home.
"No," she said quietly.
Elara frowned.
"What?"
Seraphina stared at the kingdom she'd spent her entire life serving.
The kingdom that had just tried to imprison her.
The kingdom built on lies.
"We didn't escape."
The truth settled heavily between them.
"We became fugitives."
Silence followed.
Then Elara whispered the question both were thinking.
"What do we do now?"
Seraphina reached into her cloak.
Her fingers found the hidden documents from the archives.
The evidence.
The reason this entire nightmare had started.
The reason people were now dead.
She stared at the papers.
Then at the forest surrounding them.
Then at the mountains looming in the distance.
Dark.
Ancient.
Forbidden.
Blackmoor.
The rogue territories.
The place every royal history book described as savage.
A place no princess should ever willingly go.
Which was exactly why she knew the answer.
Because Cedric would search every city.
Every village.
Every noble estate.
But there was one place he would never expect her to run.
One place the crown feared more than rebellion.
More than war.
More than the truth.
Blackmoor.
Elara's face drained of color.
"No."
"Yes."
"Absolutely not."
Seraphina almost smiled.
Almost.
"Then suggest somewhere safer."
Elara opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Because there wasn't one.
Cedric controlled the kingdom.
The roads.
The cities.
The army.
Every place they could think of.
Except Blackmoor.
Thunder rolled across the mountains.
The dark peaks seemed to watch them.
Waiting.
Calling.
Warning.
Seraphina felt a strange chill crawl down her spine.
As though the wilderness already knew she was coming.
As though something in those ancient forests had awakened.
Far away, deep within Blackmoor, a wolf howled.
The sound echoed through the storm.
Ancient.
Powerful.
And somehow...
It felt like the beginning of everything.
- Writer
