Sound like me so far? I was very different back then.

More arrogant. Less aware of the horrors that the outside world was yet to show me.

But I still thought my story would be a triumphant one. I was unaware of the ending that was awaiting me…

Have you ever experienced anything like that, intruder? You think your path will go right, when in fact… it goes left?

-

The travel shelter was an assortment of log wood lodgings surrounding a fire pit marked out in a little crook in Lliwio Plains made by Tristwch Road as it branched off northwards towards Alaru and Deilen. Should the group head down the eastward branch, a one-day trip to Marwhol village would then grant access to Eiledu Path, leading to the estuarine coast town of Glannau. The group arrived tired and slightly dehydrated, having ran out of water two hours prior to their arrival.

“I’ll go and pay them,” Cai muttered, concentrating more on rummaging through his bag. He looked up. “Hey, vampire! Give me your bag.”

Eryk complied, and Cai examined it briefly before selecting a pocket and retrieving a fistful of coins. He began to count them out in his hands.

“You seriously gave all of our money supplies to the vampire?” Owen asked.

“Yes?” Gwyn answered for the distracted knight. “Why do you ask?”

“What if he, I don’t know, ran off with it or something?”

Gwyn shot him an exasperated look. “Eryk wouldn’t do that... right?”

“I assure you, I would not.” Eryk answered good-naturedly.

Just then, a young lady approached the group from the shelter and made her way towards them. “Hello everyone, are you looking to stay here today?”

The lady’s easy-going smile and honey-brown hair instantly charmed the men. Owen leaned into Gwyn and whispered. “She’s very pretty.”

Arwen rolled her eyes, and Cai spoke up when none of the others did. “We need lodgings for five. I have the money here with me.”

But the lady wasn’t listening to him.

“Oh Gods, is that the Princess of Cyfoeth?” she gushed. “I can scarcely believe it!”

Arwen beamed, delighted that someone had recognised her at last. “That’s me. Now, have you space to spare for us?”

“Yes, I do! My name’s Ava. Ava Bethel. It’s an honour, your Teyrn,” Ava finally seemed to notice Cai. “Oh, don’t worry about that, it is my absolute pleasure to lodge the Princess and her lovely companions for tonight, no charge.”

“I insist that we-”

“I gladly accept your humble offering.” Arwen cut off Cai’s protest. “Thank you.”

Ava bowed and then proceeded to show them to their cottage, which ended up being a rather large rectangular bedspace with a wood-burning fire linked to a stone chimney. Six beds were lined, three on each side, and though they were small, they looked infinitely more comfortable than the sleeping bags. “You just settle in here, okay? The fire will keep you warm for tonight, though I ask that you use the firepit outside to cook any food. There’s a stall, ran by me of course, that sells food and water if you need.” Ava paused, then added as an afterthought. “Though, we do get a lot of merchants stop by, so feel free to ask them if they’ll sell you anything!”

“I’d like to browse your stall,” Cai took Ava up on her offer.

“Of course, young man!” Ava smiled widely. As they left, she engaged the knight in casual conversation, remarking on his good-looks and commenting that she felt she recognised him from somewhere.

Arwen arched a brow at Gwyn. “You get used to it,” Gwyn shrugged. “Cai’s popular with women.”

“She looks, like, four or five years older than him.” Arwen stated.

“You think that’s a bad thing?” Owen scoffed. “We men don’t care about that. That woman’s a catch, anyways.”

“You’re vile, Owen.”

The archer shrugged nonchalantly. A heavy thud bounced off of the walls as he dumped the sleeping bag sack onto the floor. Arwen had returned the thing to him just an hour after the Hopys attack, and Owen silently took it with him for the remainder of the journey here.

“Forgive my intrusion,” Eryk’s sudden question was jarring. “But may I see this Light Gem you spoke of this morning?”

Arwen’s hand reflexively went to her pocket. “Why?”

“I merely wish to see it. It is an artifact after all, one of few in the world.”

Owen face took on a slightly panicked mien. “Are we sure you want to be frolicking around with it, Princess Arwen? What if it activates accidentally?”

Arwen shook her head. “I agree with Owen, I am afraid. I do not want to risk it activating unless I really need it.”

Eryk bowed his head. “Of course, I apologise if I overstepped.”

“Yeah…” Arwen unsteadily acknowledged the apology. The vampire was so ruthlessly polite that it unnerved the Princess greatly. She almost wanted him to get angry, snarl, growl, anything! Just to show her his true colours. The unknown made the vampire with his clean, striking features and his intense sky-blue eyes all the more eerie to her.

-cut-

It was now fully dark, settling the travel lodge into a quiet lull of inactivity. The group were sat on log seats by the pit fire in the centre of the circular layout of buildings, watching the insects flutter and flitter around the smoke in an entrancing dance. The faint rustling of the fire was accompanied by faint pops of burning wood and an ensemble of crickets in the surrounding Lliwio Plains. They were alone by the fire pit, as most travellers were already asleep for a long journey towards the Kingdom the next day. As Gwyn had explained, most were heading towards the Kingdom and not Alaru, for fear of confrontation with Helvetia. Unlike Arwen and her retinue, the common men and women were rather uninformed of the war, for news of Cyfoeth’s standing and territory spread slowly across its scattered villages and towns.

Cai had informed Ava of the Hopys they had encountered, who reportedly grew rather concerned. Such an attack was incredibly rare, she claimed, and its presence on Tristwch was worrying to her considering the hive of travellers and merchants ready to depart for the Kingdom the next day.

As the fire burned and crackled, a thought struck Arwen. She regarded Cai. “You can burn steel with your light magic, yes?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Cai nodded and looked a little perplexed, but said nothing.

“How does your sword not melt?” Arwen reached her true question.

“The same way you stop your lightning magic from jolting yourself, I imagine,” Cai answered. “With great practise and concentration.”

Arwen nodded before relaying her next question. “Also, can you not just use your magic to light fires and such, instead of using that rock you were using before?”

Cai cocked his head. “… I actually never thought to do that before.”

Arwen smiled, feeling a nice sense of superiority. “There you go.”

“Okay, Princess.” Owen stood, bothered by her smarmy look. “Want to prove your use in battle?”

Arwen’s smiled faltered. “You… uh, want me to fight you?”

“Not me, Gwyn.”

“Me?” Gwyn sounded scandalised. “Why?”

“Arwen can disable opponents up close. Great! But she’s too afraid of confrontation to act in a fight and I suspect she can’t deal with any form of range. What is a polearm expert such as yourself good at? Creating and maintaining space. A double-whammy practise session for the Princess.”

“Owen, you’re missing a crucial step,” Gwyn gestured towards his lance, propped up against the log benches. “We have no practise weapons.”

“Just grab yourself a stick, then.”

Gwyn scowled at that. “I do not want to make a hobby out of attacking the Princess.”

“Hey,” Arwen intervened. “I thought I said I wasn’t going to fight… that’s why you are all here. But…” a hesitant sigh, “I think there is something I can do, that may be of use to you.”

Owen perked up. “Oh?”

“I will give you all two minutes to hide from me. After that, your job is to sneak up on me by any means necessary. If any of you touch me, I lose. My job will be to locate you and throw a stone. If I hit, you’re effectively ‘dead’ and out of the game.”

“You’re asking us to play hide-and-seek?” Gwyn appeared bemused.

“Humour me, please.” Arwen appealed to the Sentinel’s loyalty to her.

The boys shot each other cursory glances. Gwyn shrugged. “Let’s do it.”

Ten minutes later, after travelling some distance behind the travel lodge and gathering a handful of stones to lay by her feet, feeling the cold from the absence of her fire. Arwen stood with her eyes closed and finished her countdown. “Begin!” she called, though not loudly out of consideration for the sleeping travellers in the nearby lodgings.

The game had started.

An uncertain frown plastered itself across the Princess’s face as her irises turned a viridescent purple. But her confidence slowly grew when, using her magic-assisted sight, it was easy to spot nearby presences as her extensive magic training kicked in.

A sea of stars exploded across her vision. Big patterns of blue humanoid-shaped lights dotted around her whilst tiny little pinpricks of light were scattered around the floor. The hard part came in interpreting the information. Within the nearby lodgings, the blue patterns could be identified as sleeping visitors. They would likely not move, so she could safely ignore those. The tiny dots of light were insects, so those were not a factor too. Her ears pricked, ready to hone in on any sound that would give the boys away, but Arwen focused not on her sense of hearing, for it was likely that trained soldiers would barely let a noise escape their sneaking advance.

She turned a full three-sixty, before focusing on a brightly lit star of radiant white. Cai. She knelt down and retrieved a small stone from the pile before her, taking into consideration its weight and shape in her delicate fingers. The radiant knight was taking advantage of the knee-height shrubbery surrounding the Princess to sneak up on her whilst laying prone. She arched her arm back and let loose the stone in her hand. It missed, and Cai appeared to freeze. He was unsure whether or not he had been made, and his hesitation allowed her to try another throw. A moment later, the bright star flashed in pain as the second stone connected with the knight. “Cai!” Arwen called softly.

She immediately focused on another anomaly. Someone had climbed into a nearby tree and was surveying the scene from a hunched position, hidden utterly by the multitude of branches and leaves from normal sight. Considering the height advantage he had gained and his quiet scrutinization of the ground below, she made a guess that it was Owen who she was currently seeing. There was no way she’d be able to hit him, however, with so much debris in her way. No matter, she began to turn to seek out new foes when a slight rustle of grass behind her alerted the Princess of an oncoming ‘attack’. She immediately ducked down, scooping up a stone in her right hand and throwing it in a smooth underarm arc. The white light flashed, signalling her rushed aiming had proven true. A small grunt escaped the blue light’s form, unrecognisable to Arwen, but she called out her guess regardless. “Eryk!” he was the only one she figured was inexperienced enough to make such a mistake.

Now for Gwyn. The man was smart, and had probably figured out that the Princess was using some sort of method for spying on their whereabouts, so he had chosen to hide behind the building of an occupied lodging just ahead of her, likely moving whilst she was distracted with Owen and Eryk. Fortunately for Arwen, his attempt to mask his presence behind that of another only served to make him more obvious. Keeping an eye on Owen’s position nestled in his tree, she scooped up two stones and began to quietly walk towards Gwyn’s hiding spot, aiming to achieve an angle to which to hit him from. As she approached, however, the outspoken man had one final trick up his sleeve. The patch of grass behind the building immediately burst into a cacophony of noise as he began to charge her. “Gwyn!” such was the unexpectedness of the charge that Arwen let loose a shrill cry where she had wanted a confident call. On instinct, she threw one of her two stones at the rapidly enclosing figure and cringed when he cried out in pain. Based upon the humanoid web of light’s movements, she guessed she had clocked him square on the forehead. Oops.

With that done, she decided enough was enough and returned to her remaining pile of stones where she called out in a hushed tone to Owen. “Are you going to move up there?”

She watched as the last patch of suspicious blue light lifted an appendage- his head, Arwen assumed- from behind the cover of his tree branches. A quick stone throw would’ve connected squarely if Owen’s quick reactions didn’t save him. “Alright!” Owen called, then began muttering something as he climbed down from the roof.

Arwen’s eyes returned to their normal blue hue as her starlight vision turned mundane. Cai hadn’t moved when he had been hit, but he now stood and let out a low curse. Gwyn rubbed his forehead and joined Arwen. Eryk and Owen were also now approaching.

Once they all gathered, Gwyn was the one to speak first. “How did you do that?”

A wave of dizziness blanketed the Princess, who remained disciplined enough not to sway. The use of magic had taken its toll, she knew. She felt about ready for bed.

“Everyone has a form of lightning inside their bodies,” Arwen tried an explanation, though by the confused expressions surrounding her, she knew it fell on deaf ears. “I can channel magic into my surroundings and see each signature. Neat, right?” she was proud of her ‘lightning sight’, the fruit of a skill to which she has honed since coming into her magic. The effort required to keep the small motes of magic from slowly burning her own body was monumental, though practised as it was to be second nature by now.

“That makes no sense.” Owen unfortunately failed to share her sentiment.

“Whether it makes sense or not doesn’t matter.” Cai appeared a mix of impressed and annoyed. “What matters is that it works.”

“Magic is truly impressive.” Eryk mumbled to himself.

“How could you tell us apart?” Gwyn asked.

“I couldn’t,” Arwen shrugged. “But I used contextual clues to make educated guesses. For instance, Cai appears different to everyone else, being a mage. Owen seemed to be the only one who’d want to climb a tree, being an archer and all. Eryk made a mistake, which I attributed to him due to his inexperience. After that, all that was left was you, Gwyn… if that makes sense?”

Gwyn appeared baffled. “You did all that using magic, then?”

Arwen was delighted at his expression. “Yes. I was trained on how to make use of my unique vision capability since I was twelve. My father would throw all sorts of scenarios at me to train my ability to assess danger. Reading cues is a vital aspect to the skill.”

“Useful to avoid ambushes or otherwise evasive foes.” Cai said. “But only if you have the foreknowledge to use the technique in the first place.”

“I see the versatility,” Owen cut in. “But detecting ambushes and fighting them off are two very different beasts.”

“The point is not to get ambushed in the first place,” Arwen appealed to everyone else, even the vampire. “Right guys?”

“Owen’s right,” Cai disagreed and gestured towards Owen’s ankle, who after a slight hesitation, realised his intention and reached down to yank a small dagger from its sheath before handing it to Cai. The knight then offered it to the Princess. “Take it. It’s not going to help you at all, but it’s something. Perhaps simply having a weapon will make someone think twice about attacking you, and you at least have something to defend yourself with if your magic should fail. But for Gods’ sake, try not to stab us at any point. Think before you wield it.”

“I think I know how to hold a dagger without injuring allies,” Arwen snapped, wounded that Cai would think so little of her. She had no idea what to do with it, however, so she simply tucked it into the small of her back for now. “I do have a brain inside this head, you know.”

“Could have fooled me,” Owen muttered, though Arwen thankfully did not hear.

The fire had dimmed considerably from their lack of attention when they returned to the travel lodgings, and a cold wind sent a shudder around the group. “I think it’s time we get some sleep,” Gwyn said. “Before we wake anybody up.”

A collective nod followed, and underneath the darkened night with its pale moon sky, they returned to their lodge and fell asleep.