Fire and Ice

CHAPTER 4

Once out of the protection of the castle walls, Queen Joselyn slowly trotted along instead of her normal galloping speed. She had so much on her mind. She still needed to send messengers to her three allies to announce a ball which would also be a way for her to speak to each King about a possible war. She needed to speak with them personally to ensure they were on her side. She also needed to deal with her head advisor about his treacherous act. Lost in her thoughts the sound of clanging metal snapped her back to the present. She could see men fighting behind the rock she always goes to. She sped up until she could see behind the tree line. There were at least 10 men fighting one man. She didn’t recognize any of them, but she knew ten men against one were not great odds. She went into a full on gallop as she pulled her dress up on both sides and began slinging her daggers. She automatically aimed for their heads. One by one they started to go down, but she didn’t realize how quickly she arrived to these men fighting. All at once six men that were left standing turned their attention to her and came after her. She realized then, it was her they were after. As quickly as she could she grabbed her daggers and began throwing them. A couple went down, but others hid behind the tree line. The man they were fighting was seriously wounded and lying almost lifeless on the ground. Queen Joselyn continued to throw her daggers as quickly and as straight as she could. There were three men left and she was out of daggers. The Queen pulled her sword and began to fight. She was trained to fight, but she wasn’t trained to fight 3 men at the same time. She looked in front of her as the three men began to come closer. She didn’t notice the man lying on the ground had managed to get up, and he came up behind the three men. He immediately stabbed one in the back before he fell back on the ground. The Queen immediately knew he was not there to harm her. She began fighting with all the strength she had in her. She was fighting hard, and managed to kill one man. As her sword twisted into his stomach, she heard “Look Out.” Joselynn quickly moved but not before a sword slit the top of her arm. She yelled out in pain and dropped her sword. As the man came closer to her, the unknown stranger reached up and cut the mans leg. The man turned to kill the stranger but Joselyn had already retrieved her sword and she made it in time to hit the man on the back of the head before he could kill the man who saved her life. She quickly grabbed some rope and tied the unconscious man to a tree and with difficulty placed her handsome stranger on her horse. She rode as fast as she could back to the protection of the castle walls.

Rowan was on the towers when he saw Queen Joselyn riding fast toward the castle with a man laying across her horse. He immediately yelled to his guards to open the gate as he rushed down to help her, hoping she wasn’t injured. Rowan met her as she entered the gates and frantically cried out, “Joselyn, are you hurt?” She responded through half breaths, “Not as bad as he is.” Rowan knew his Queen would not bring someone back to the castle if he had tried to kill her, but he also knew something or someone endangered her life. Queen Joselyn automatically went into ruling mode and began giving orders. “Rowan, take this man to a guest chamber upstairs, I need to tend to him. Have several guards ride into town and check on my people.” As she was giving orders Rowan noticed her torn blood covered sleeve. “My Queen, you have been injured!” She looked at him with a glare and said, “I don’t have time for this, do as I command. There are more pressing matters here than the wound on my arm.” Rowan knew her tone of voice was serious. He answered her “Yes My Queen, I will dispatch the guards into town now.” “Rowan, after you send the guards meet me in the guest chamber” she turned to enter the castle and without another word Rowan immediately went to dispatch the guards.

The man who saved her life was lying on the bed in a guest chamber and was severely wounded. Joselyn was amazed he was still alive after attempting to fight 10 men. As she was telling her maids to boil water and get her herbs for medicinal purposes Rowan rushed into the room. “Joselyn, what happened?” She looked at him and tore off her ripped sleeve, leaving her arm and part of her upper body exposed. Rowan was used to this, he has seen parts of her lower body and knew she was not the modest Queen she pretended to be. When he looked at the deep gash on her arm his heart almost jumped out of his chest. Her arm was severely injured. The maids brought in her herbs and she began to wrap her own arm while telling several maids to tend to the man on the bed and one to send for the royal physician. As she placed the herbs on the wound and began wrapping them she looked at Rowan. “There were ten men behind the rock I go to everyday on my ride. This man must have happened upon them and they tried to kill him. However, when these men saw me, their focused left that man and all of them started towards me. I threw my daggers and killed most of them. There were three left and I had to use my sword. I killed two pf them, however another was behind me. The man on the bed yelled and I moved, but not before he stabbed my arm causing me to drop my sword. He managed to cut the mans leg with his sword and I was able to retrieve my sword and knock the assassin unconscious with the end of my sword.” As Queen Joselyn was explaining this to Rowan he listened however he was angry. He asked, “What do you want me to do Joselyn?” “I want you to send guards to retrieve the man with the injured leg. I tied him to a tree. Throw him in the dungeon, but mend his leg. He needs to feel every pain of the interrogation. I will also need my daggers retrieved. ” “Understood,” Rowan stated as he started toward the door. “Rowan.” The Queen said. He stopped in his tracks awaiting another command. “Find the head advisor and place him in the dungeon as well. No one outside these walls knew I took a ride to the same place everyday. He sent a message to the King of Doran, and I believe I know what it was.” Rowan nodded and went to send soldiers to retrieve the man tied to the tree, he however went to get the head advisor to the Queen.

Queen Joselyn finished mending her arm as she watched the Royal Physician examine the man on the bed. She watched closely as he did his work, however she was unimpressed. Her medicinal herbs were boiling in the pot when the physician looked at her and plainly stated, “He is injured too badly, he will not last.” Queen Joselyn quickly realized she needed a new Royal Physician as he just looked at the wound instead of trying to mend it. “I will take it from here, thank you.” She told her physician. After the physician left, Queen Joselyn took over attending to the man. She quickly assessed his wounds and understood why the Physician thought he would not make it through. However, she was going to do everything she could to save this man’s life, she owed him hers. There was a large gash along his right side, his left leg had also been sliced, and he had swelling on his face…probably from being kicked while on the ground. She grabbed the laudanum and attempted to pour it down the man’s throat. He coughed up most of it, but that just let her know he may have enough strength in him to survive. She knew the mending would be painful on him, but it had to be done. She grabbed her herbs from the pot and laid them on a cloth. She knew she had to make the bandage with some type of healing medicines. Hopefully, the cloth would soak up enough of the concoction of herbs. She looked at his side which had already lost a lot of blood. She would only have an hour for the cloth to stay wrapped around him before she would have to stitch the wound or else he would die from loss of blood. She took the cloth and began to tightly wrap it around his side. He cried out in pain, but she continued in a rush. She managed to get the cloth wrapped tightly around him so his side would bleed less and get medicine as well. After bandaging the worst wound on his side, she turned her attention to his leg. The wound was not as bad and could easily be stitched up. However, she chose to wrap it in cloth as well to prevent infection and fever. She had just finished wrapping his leg when Rowan walked in. “Joselyn, the man from the road is in the dungeon. We wrapped his leg as you wished, and I have your head advisor waiting in the court hall.” She stood up, gave another look at the man who saved her life, then walked toward Rowan. “Take me to the dungeon first.” Rowan led the Queen to the dungeon where the prisoner was being held. After arriving she looked at him for a long while. He had the look of a man who would kill anybody for the right price. His leg had been mended so he was no longer losing blood. She finally spoke to him “Why were you trying to kill me?.” The man did not answer her. Instead he gave a snort in her direction. “Please know that I will only be asking simple questions, depending on your answer will determine how much pain you receive. I will not persuade you to talk, the Commander of my guards will. The way he chooses to do so is his decision, and I will not stop him. Now I will ask you again, why were you trying to kill me?” The prisoner once again let out a derogatory snort in her direction. At his response Rowan grabbed a chair and forcefully tied him to it. Rowan then grabbed a dull blade and began sawing the tip of one of the prisoners fingers. Through the shouts of pain, his fingertip finally hit the floor. The Queen stood there coldly when she asked again, “Why were you trying to kill me?” The prisoner stated, “Why don’t you ask your head advisor.” Rowan then took a hot poker from the fire and held it to the man’s face. His cries of pain could be heard throughout the castle. “Answer the question correctly,” the Queen stated. The t*****e she witnessed did not phase her at all. He nodded his head and replied, “Your head advisor sent a message to the King of Doran. I don’t know what it said. But the King sent for me and my men. He told us you took a daily ride behind that rock with the tree line not far from the castle and you were always alone. He gave us each a large amount of gold as down payment to wait for your daily ride then kill you. After we were finished we were to go back with your head and receive the rest of our gold.” The Queen looked at the man who tried to take her life. She had nothing but coldness in her eyes which made a chill go up the man’s spine. “Thank you for telling me. Rowan, when you are finished with this man, make sure his head is on a pike. I need to change into different clothes and will meet you in the court hall to address the head advisor in one hour.” Rowan acknowledged as he picked up a knife and started for the man’s right eye. He screamed, “My Queen, I told you everything, I promise.” She looked at him and in an eerily calm manner said, “I am not your Queen. I know you told me everything, but you will still die. The way you die is up to my Commander of the Guards.” With that she turned and left hearing a heart wrenching scream of pain behind her, however all she felt was revenge.