The Royal Flame

There you are

I walk in the middle of the group of soldiers, with enough distance between me and them. The silent journey through the woods towards a town they call Ancia gave me enough time to think about Frost and Ari.

He was my brother, the family I never had. Now I have lost him as well, yet I couldn’t believe it. Or I did not want to. The doubts on his survival further enhance my desire to return. But I am not planning to end my life to remove those doubts.

Ari’s existence forms the key to my return and acceptance back in our pack. Her faint scent that I now completely lost, gave me a purpose. The scent reassured me she was alive, that I am not chasing a ghost. On the other hand, the thought of handing her over was eating me up inside. She would not survive. Neither did I, my whole life I have felt suppressed. Living because the sun rose. Patrolling the borders because I was told to. Only because the thought of being ripped apart alive, feeling all the pain and sorrow, that was my greatest fear. Having to endure physical pain. I am such a coward.

All my life, I was locked up from all this without knowing. The muddy forest floor did not feel as good as I imagined it to be from the stories of those that were send to Hillstone. Still, it was better than the never ending cold. However these lands are not without their own dangers. I should not forget that while kind for now, these men surrounding me will become hostile as soon as they find a reason to.

Slowly the woods clear and a small city appears on the horizon. Approaching what seems to be Ancia, the stone houses with their snow covered triangle shaped roofs look very cozy with the soft dimmed lights glow through the windows. The city is surrounded by farm lands. A small farm here and there, scarecrows in the fields with snow at their foot and a stone fence separating the path towards Ancia from the fields. The mud path gradually changes into stone cobbles under my feet. Very slippery in the absence of a fresh layer of snow and the cold weather.

Upon entrance of Ancia the atmosphere immediately changes. No matter how cheerful all the hanging flags and cloths look in their various colors, nor the amount of soft lightening glowing through the city from the windows could lighten the heavy atmosphere that had fallen. Various men, women and children stop their activities upon the sight of my entourage.

We get up till a small rounded square with a statue of a man with a walking stick in the middle, where we are stopped by the crowd.

“You are not welcome here.” A hefty farmer steps to the front of the crowd.

“We are not here to stay. Yet you are harboring fugitives and we are not leaving until they are handed over to us.” With the announcement of the chief soldier the crowd starts murmuring in anger.

“What makes you think you can come walk into our city and order us around!” Anger among the villagers rises.

“Because the Queen has allowed you misfits so far to live here in peace!” He slowly loses his patience. The soldiers’ nerves can be felt as we are being fully encircled by the villagers.

A wave of a familiar smell was all I needed to find the courage to abandon the pack of soldiers. Slipping through two soldiers who were too occupied with the forming crowd, I disappear in the crowd who gladly let me pass through. Closing the space behind me immediately, not leaving the soldiers any chance to immediately follow me.

Wading through the emptier streets in soldier cloths I keep getting weird stares from various villages. Some even grab me by my shoulders, but immediately release me, upon looking at my face. I have come to the realization it must be my eyes that one of the soldiers was so scared of last night. All the villagers I pass have colorful eyes, just like back home. But for some reason only the eyes of the soldiers were a monotone grey color.

As long as nobody further bothers me I do not pay much attention to the stares or the noise of the crowded discussion at the small square. This time I will not lose the faint scent of Ari.

Her sweet fragrance leads me through a couple of streets before I end up in front of The Longing Pumpkin. No place for a woman of her kind. I have known her for less than a day, yet this is no place for a woman of any sorts. A place filled with filthy men whose minds are not any cleaner. Sliding the doors open, I am welcomed by the sight of men drinking ale. Seated at long tables, placed along the walls of the inn. Men seated at a bar and those swinging dangerously through the space with their cups of ale, singing about their dull past adventures. My eyes slide through the crowd that looks suspicious at me. A young lady with black raven hair walks up to me.

“My apologies but I will have to request you to leave. We do not serve any servants of the Queen.” She almost spits the words in my face.

Looking over her head I spot the most wonderful creature of the whole room in the crowd. This time I am the unusual dressed on, as she instead looks completely in place here within the inn. The woman I have been searching for, placing with a straight face ale in front of men while kindly conversing with a darker toned girl with yellow colored eyes.

The black raven haired girl tries to grab me by my arm, to drag my attention towards her. Shaking her off I walk right up towards my target. The yellow eyed girls’ eyes widen as I approach them. She calls for Ari, but in a way that I am unfamiliar with. Giving me slight doubts if I was wrong and it isn’t her. My doubts are soon removed as I grab her by the wrist, spinning her around towards me.

“There you are.”