Magdalene Stormheim, Queen of Stormheim, eyed her breakfast with disgust. A bowl of indifferently cooked meal, a handful of jerky, and a skin of water. There was a wineskin, but the wine was so coarse it was nearly unpalatable. She had very nearly emptied it out of the carriage in disgust.
There would be no lunch, and another bowl of meal, perhaps supplemented with some mysterious meat that the guards had hunted for dinner.
She had to admit that her lieutenant had been absolutely correct about the inconveniences they’d suffer in their trip.
She was worn out, tired, and felt unimaginably filthy. There was no place for her to bathe, she relieved herself in a box that grew more and more foul the longer she used it, her food was indescribably unpleasant, and her nights offered her no satisfying rest.
Strange animals slithered, hopped, or trotted past her carriage during the night. The air was split with howls, growls, snarls, chatters, and other unspeakable noises at all hours of the day and night, not to mention the coarse mutters from her guards.
The entire trip was unbearable. She found herself dreaming of the simple luxuries she’d taken for granted back in Stormheim.
Water was at a premium, so the best she could do was wipe herself down with a cloth.
“Your Highness.” A voice, the voice of her lieutenant, spoke up from her carriage. Her maid tensed.
“Report.” Magdalene replied crisply, despite feeling absolutely miserable.
“We’ve sighted the Redstone Spire. It should be no longer than a day to arrive. Two on the outside.”
Magdalene let out a sigh of relief. Almost there, which meant they’d nearly arrived at the halfway point.
“Thank you.” She replied, reminding herself to respond in a dignified tone. She was deeply regretting her choice to come along on this expedition.
She ordered her maid to break out the barrel of water they used to wash themselves, a barrel of water that the soldiers eyed with stone faces and contemptuous, greedy eyes. It was written in the blankness of their faces- how dare someone use precious water- water that could be better used to drink, water the horses, to bathe?
Her maid helped her wipe herself down, unbraid her hair, soak her head, dry off, and then helped her into one of her dresses that she’d unfortunately had to rotate through as if she were a peasant- and then she had to wait impatiently as her maid tended to herself.
Once they were presentable, she signaled the troops to advance.
“I do hope this goes well.” She muttered to herself. She would reclaim her daughter, bring her back to her rightful place at Stormheim, prepare her for her social debut, and perhaps, just perhaps, she could work on mending her relationship with Toril. He hadn’t done wrong by her, not really, but he could be oddly stubborn at times.
“Well,” she admitted to herself, “I suppose that I can be a bit stubborn, myself.”
It was the next day that everything went horribly wrong.
Magdalene had finished her bland breakfast of boiled oats with some sliced fruit her lieutenant said was edible- That was it? It was edible?- and returned to the riding carriage, expecting another long day of bumps, jostles, and a sickening swaying sensation she was never able to quite get used to.
About halfway into her ride, there was a shout, and the sound of steel being drawn.
A loud, clear voice called out.
“Name yourselves if you wish to live!”
*****
Magdalene peeked out the curtains, and saw a young woman with tousled black hair standing on a boulder.
She was dressed in some leather outfit of crimson red with brilliant yellow streaks, and brandished a massive bow she aimed down at them. She stood there, proud, defiant and dangerous, glaring with the surety that she could slaughter all of her troops before they reached her.
Stolen novel; please report.
Suddenly, she realized that she was terrified of the young woman.
“Lieutenant.” Magdalene called through numb lips.
“My Lady, stay in the carriage, and stay low, if you can. We have a situation.” her soldier replied back tersely. Sweat was trickling down his face, and he seemed nervous, jittery.
“That might be who we need to meet.” She replied back, struggling to keep her voice even.
She hadn’t told her troops that they were coming here, to this stone, to retrieve her daughter. Commoners- even soldiers- liked to gossip, and she didn’t want any more rumors spreading as necessary.
“What shall we do?” Her lieutenant called back hoarsely.
“Ask her what her name is.” Magdalene replied. “If it’s Sheilah, that is who we are to meet here.”
*****
Sheilah spotted the troops coming long before they arrived.
“Fialla, pack up the camp as much as you can.” She instructed. “We have guests, maybe the ones I’ve been waiting for.”
She picked out the troops marching in a protective formation around the carriages; she wasn’t certain why such a thing was necessary, so she decided to wait until the carriages were within bowshot. She’d been able to kill beasts and dragonlings with her bow before, a flimsy thing of wood and metal would be easier prey.
“Should I circle around them?” Fialla asked.
“You forgot your bow.” Sheilah replied. “Stay here with me, out of sight.”
“You never taught me how to make my own.” the smaller girl retorted hotly.
“A mistake I regret to this day.” Sheilah replied casually, vaulting to the top of the boulder, releasing Supremacy the way Adlan had taught her, rather than the way the Dragon wanted.
She nocked an arrow, drew it to her cheek, and hollered out her challenge.
“Name yourselves if you want to live!”
Her first shot would go right into the heart of the carriage. They were arranged about it in a protective formation; to take that away from them was the first crucial move.
The soldiers all drew their swords at the first sight of her; as Supremacy washed over them.
After her challenge there was a small stir among the men and one of them rode his horse a little ways away from the protective knot. It was obvious from the ways the horses behaved that they absolutely felt the effects of her Supremacy.
He sheathed his sword, and raised his hands in the air. “We were instructed to meet someone here. If you could tell me your name, I’m sure we could-”
“I told you to name yourself, first.” Sheilah replied, dipping her bow to center on him.
“I am Lieutenant Thorfin of Stormheim.” He replied, nervous. “And you?”
“Sheilah, first blood of the Dragon Clan.” She replied.
“We’ve come for you.” He immediately shot back. “Can you lower your weapon so that we can talk?”
“Oh, I don’t have any problems at all talking like this.” She replied sardonically.
He gave her a frustrated look, which made her smile. She relaxed the draw on her bow and tucked her arrow in her quiver. She slung the bow over her shoulder, adjusted the sword on her hip, and called to Fialla in a low voice. “I’ll go talk to him. If I blast him with fire, I think you know what to do.”
“How am I supposed to protect you this way?” Fialla growled in a strangled voice. “I’m coming too.”
Sheilah leapt from the top of the boulder to the ground below, and approached Thorfin easily, mentally going through the exercise of drawing her sword and taking his head off. Would it be better to follow it up with a blast of flame, or should she immediately duck behind a tree and use her arrows?
Thorfin dismounted, and Sheilah grinned. His horse would make excellent cover, and a decent meal when it was all over. The horse was between the troops and Thorfin, so any attack the soldiers made had to first go through the horse.
He knelt in front of her and bowed his head.
She stopped in her tracks. What was this? Her father hadn’t taught her anything about this.
“My Lady, please allow me to escort you.” He announced hoarsely.
“So am I to ride one of these beasts, or do I sit on the pretty wagon?” She asked, and he gaped at her, quickly smothered.
“I, uh-” He began, but cut himself off.
“Lieutenant, I will speak with her.” A woman’s voice called out.
Sheilah’s eyebrow went up at the sound of the woman’s voice. She reached under her coat and produced a small waterskin, which she handed to Thorfin. “For the time being, it seems as though we’re not killing each other. Drink up.”
He took the small waterbag, popped the cork, cautiously sniffed the contents, and drank quickly, throat working as he swallowed. He turned back to offer his thanks, but she was already moving past the horse and heading towards the carriage.
She approached the carriage, trying to figure out how to open it up. Obviously it did, people climbed in and out of it, right? It didn’t look like any cart or wagon that she was familiar with, however.
Part of the side opened up, revealing a plush interior with cushioned benches on either side. There were two women inside, both eyeing her expectantly.