Rosalis blinked and looked around at the lake that she was submerged in. Looking down, she saw her sword glinting at the bottom. Rising up to the surface, she gasped, catching her breath. Sucking in two lungfuls of air, she swam down to the bottom and retrieved her sword. Swimming back up once more, she climbed out of the lake and crawled onto the shore, spluttering. She coughed out some water, followed by small specks of blood, as a result of the gash in her neck. On her hands and knees, she crawled over to a tree and rested her back against it. She felt her neck wound, wincing. Taking off her gauntlet and vambrace, she tore off the sleeve of her tunic. She wrung out the water and tied it around her neck, stemming the flow of blood from her wound. With nothing left for her to do, she sat there, resting.

Rosalis returned to Wolfholde and sat at the chair as the physician sewed her neck up. Rosalis changed into a new tunic that was made for her. It was then that she realised that she was now the sole ruler of Wolfholde, with Uliraf dead. She looked at her neck in the reflection of a window and felt the stitches. Suddenly, she heard the doors open and spun round. Two knights carried Uliraf’s corpse and placed it down onto a large obsidian slab. One of the knights placed Uliraf’s sword onto his chest and then left him. Rosalis walked up to her deceased husband and looked down at him sadly. Leaning in, she placed a kiss on his forehead. She made her way to the throne room and looked at Uliraf’s empty throne, occupying it after a couple of moments. She sat there, motionless, staring into a blank space. Her custodian and herald walked into the throne room and stopped in front of her.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“My lady,” He said. “you must rest, for you seem to have lost a lot of blood.”

Rosalis stood up from the throne and stepped over to a window, looking at her reflection. After a small while, she walked out.

Rosalis awoke from her slumber some time later, an idea suddenly hitting her. She quickly dressed herself in her armour and strapped her sword to herself. She opened the door and turned her head, seeing her custodian and herald walking up to her, going to check up on her. She walked up to him. “What is the fastest way to Bellburn?” She asked him. He frowned.

“Why would you want to go to that accursed place?” He asked her, confusion hitting him like a stone wall.

“I need to recruit some people.”